Sunday, May 31, 2015

The Films That I Saw: May 2015



Summer is finally on its way although it feels like it has come quite early as it’s hot and sunny here in the South. Yet, it has also arrived in some very unfortunate circumstances in India as I hope whatever Indian readers I have or bloggers that are in the country are OK as I want to express my condolences to those who maybe lost someone due to this awful heat wave. Summertime is often the time where people want to go see big movies and such as a way to stay cool in air-conditioned theaters and fin some escape from the real problems of the world.

The summer time will be a period where I will a couple of major projects as it relates to a few things that I have been wanting to do for the year. Last month, I mentioned about doing a marathon devoted to Star Wars as I am going to do that with not just its original trilogy in its original format but also the prequels and maybe a few things related to the franchise. The project that I’m going to do relates to what will be coming back to television next year and that is Twin Peaks. I have never seen the show as I’ve always been intrigued by it as I am a fan of David Lynch and it’s been something I wanted to do for years. Now that definitive box set of the series has been released along with the film Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me and a collection of lost scenes.

It opened the door for me to do it as I was ready until I heard news that he was off the show for a while which made me want to close the doors down on the project. Now that he’s back and with full control, I am happy to announce that the project that will relate to the series is back on. Along with the Star Wars and my list of the 150 best films of the past fifteen-years coming, this will be a very busy summer along with my Auteurs projects and my Blind Spot Series. I’m not sure when the Summer of Twin Peaks will start but it is going to happen as I will do both seasons, the film, and its lost scenes.


In the month of May, I saw a total of 34 films in 21 first-timers and 13 re-watches. Slightly down from last month which is a bit surprising considering how much I saw as one of the highlights of the month is my Blind Spot film in Charulata. Here are the top 10 First-Timers that I saw for May 2015:

1. Mad Max: Fury Road


2. Mommy


3. Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck


4. Guardians of the Galaxy


5. Au Revoir Les Enfants


6. Ex Machina


7. Mad Max


8. The Headless Woman


9. Force Majeure


10. El Sur


Monthly Mini-Reviews

The To Do List


I thought this was a pretty funny comedy about sex as it was also intriguing that it was told from a woman’s perspective as it’s this story about Aubrey Plaza trying to lose her virginity before she goes to college. It is set in the early 90s where there are some funny moments that involves Plaza trying to discover the world of hand-jobs, blow-jobs, and all sorts of things as it has a great supporting cast in Rachel Bilson, Bill Hader, and Clark Gregg. It’s not a film for everyone but it is quite refreshing to see sex be portrayed with humor from the perspective of women.

Elvis Costello: Mystery Dance


I’m a big fan of Elvis Costello as I thought this was an alright documentary about his career though I wanted so much more. It didn’t just cover aspects of his career but also Costello’s love-hate relationship towards fame as the film plays into his upcoming retirement as he is devoting himself more towards family. The documentary also features interviews with some of his collaborators who talk about his love for music and why he is willing to take on so many genres. I would recommend this for Costello fans though they will understandably be upset into why albums like Imperial Bedroom (my favorite album of his) aren’t talked about.

Top 10 Re-Watches:

1. Gimme Shelter


2. Missing


3. The Celebration


4. A Fish Called Wanda


5. CQ


6. Revenge of the Nerds


7. Real Genius


8. The Jane Austen Book Club


9. In & Out


10. Ordinary People


Well, that is it for May 2015. Next month aside from my Blind Spot series and summertime projects, there will be a couple of Auteurs pieces coming from Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu and Xavier Dolan where the latter is a big deal as I will watch Tom at the Farm this month along with a few Auteurs-related pieces for films by Gaspar Noe, Bennett Miller, and Jacques Tati. I admit to being behind on some theatrical releases as I hope to do The Avengers: Age of Ultron next month as well as Inside Out. Other films I hope to review are some 2014 releases and a few films by Ingmar Bergman, Louis Malle, and Woody Allen. Until then, this is thevoid99 signing off…

© thevoid99 2015

3 comments:

Chris said...

Have fun with watching the original Twin Peaks! Fingers crossed the new season will be worth the long wait.
I need to give the album Imperial Bedroom a listen, Man Out Of Time is a great song. I can see there are lots of bonus tracks added later, are they worth the time, or should I just stick with the 1982 tracklist?

Dell said...

Looking forward to the Star Wars marathon. Thinking of doing one, myself. The To Do List sounds very interesting. Have to check that out.

thevoid99 said...

@Chris-I hope so as I have seen the film Fire Walk with Me but that was a long time ago. As for Imperial Bedroom, listen to the 2002 Rhino Reissue version as the bonus tracks are on the 2nd disc as they themselves make a fine album of its own.

@Wendell Ottley-I'm going to make a formal announcement on the Star Wars marathon as it won't just be on the films including those awful prequels but also a few related stuff including, maybe, the infamous Holiday Special.