The summer season is heating up as the weather here in the South has been pretty brutal. Especially if you’re driving a gas-guzzler with no air conditioning as it’s something myself and my parents have a hard time dealing with. This was not a great month for me personally as I’ve been kind of burned out a bit. I ended up not watching a lot of things and some of the things I wanted to do took a little longer than I expected. So I took some time off for a while which is why I haven’t posted every day as of late. It’s not just that there’s other things around me that is happening but it’s also the fact that I don’t want to watch films every day. Sure I have two marathons as one of them will expand into the fall due to the pace of everything that I do. Yet, I would rather take my time with everything than just finish it on that day and go do something else an hour later and feel tired.
In the month of July, I saw a total of 27 films in 15 first-timers and 12 re-watches plus two episodes of Twin Peaks. The same as last month though it’s not much of a surprise as one of the highlights of the year has been my Blind Spot assignment in My Darling Clementine. Here are the top 10 first-timers that I saw for July 2015:
1. Inside Out
2. The Straight Story
3. Ride the High Country
4. Good Night, and Good Luck
5. Calvary
6. Begin Again
7.7 Days in Hell
8. Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore
9. Fool for Love
10. Lava
Monthly Mini-Reviews
The Judge
This was an OK film as it played into a lawyer trying to help his father who is accused of murder. While it has a great cast, it is a film that tends to be overly-drawn out and meanders at times. Despite a great performance from Robert Duvall, it’s a film that wants to be a lot of things as it includes a silly subplot where Robert Downey Jr. struggles with the idea that he slept with Leighton Meester who could be his daughter. The result is just a film that is very boring as it wants to do something good but ends up being very mediocre.
This is Where I Leave You
This had the potential to be so much more in terms of a family comedy-drama but since this is a film by Shawn Levy. It ends up being very dumb as Levy really has no clue in how to get the best of his cast. Even as people like Tina Fey, Jason Bateman, Jane Fonda, Rose Byrne, Corey Stoll, and Kathryn Hahn are given anything to do. Plus, there is this recurring gag of a young kid carrying a porta-potty and he sits on it to poo on. It’s a film that tries so hard to be funny and shocking and ends up just being absolutely fucking stupid.
Top 10 Re-Watches:
1. Live Aid
2. A History of Violence
3. Snowpiercer
4. The Player
5. Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid
6. Moonrise Kingdom
7. The Color of Money
8. Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
9. Beerfest
10. The Faculty
Well, that is all for July. Next month, the only theatrical release I’m interested in seeing is Ricki and the Flash and that is probably it. The Star Wars marathon will conclude this month while the Twin Peaks will expand to September and maybe October. Aside from films by Alain Resnais, Michelangelo Antonioni, Ingmar Bergman, David Lean, and Jacques Tati. Auteurs pieces on Bennett Miller and Gaspar Noe will come in as the one on Tati will get started once I finish the one on the latter. Until then, this is thevoid99 signing off…
© thevoid99 2015
I saw Ride the High Country in January, and it remains the best western I've seen all year. Good story and memorable characters. Happy you enjoyed it as well!
ReplyDeleteIf you don't want to watch a film every day, then that's fine. It's your blog, take some breaks, and do what makes you happy.
Nice set of films. Good Night, and Good Luck is awesome. Strathairn and Langella are perfect.
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