Watched, Read, Reviewed: July 2023

Ugh. Have I not posted my July Roundup yet? Sorry! Life is sucky at the moment. 😦

Here’s my ranking of what I watched in July. I got Mubi in August, so I’ve seen a lot of good movies this month which I’ve already reviewed on Letterboxd, so I may post those here this week…

MOVIES WATCHED IN JULY (ranked best to worst):

Barbie – 8.5/10

Invasion Of The Body Snatchers (1978) – 8/10

Air – 8/10

Possession – 7.5/10

The Big Boss – 7/10

The Way Of The Dragon – 7/10

The Long, Hot Summer – 7/10

Tetris – 7/10

Broker – 7/10

Kickboxer – 6.5/10

Game Of Death – 6.5/10 (8/10 for the Bruce Lee footage)

Watcher – 6.5/10

All The King’s Men – 7/10

Game Of Death II – 6.5/10

Nimona – 6.5/10

The Greatest Beer Run Ever – 6/10

They Cloned Tyrone – 6/10

Ghosted – 5/10

Movies Rewatched In July:

Titanic – 8/10

Juno – 8/10

BOOKS, TV, MUSIC, MISCELLANEOUS IN JULY

TV SHOWS WATCHED

And Just Like That…: S2 E4-7 – God I hate this show so much. At least they brought Aidan back, the only character who isn’t an asshole.

BOOKS READ

Um. Don’t think I read any in July? Things are a bit tough at the moment to manage anything beyond movie-watching with earphones in the wee hours when everyone else is asleep…

BLOG PLANS FOR THE COMING MONTH

None! Catch up on posting reviews of what I watched in August, I guess. Saw some good ones! And some Argento!

Upcoming Movies I Want To See:

Have missed so many. 😦 Really wanted to see the new Indiana Jones even though I know it’ll be disappointing. And want to have time to watch Babylon, M3gan, and Dungeons & Dragons which are now on services. And to binge about 10 to 15 more movies on my £1 Mubi month so I can cancel before it’s full price…

I’ll finish with a song from Air as it had a fantastic soundtrack of existing songs. Lots of Tangerine Dream & of course ’80s pop hits, so I loved it. Hard to choose which one to post as there were so many good ones used in the film. I’ll select the one they used from The Alan Parsons Project, Sirius, to make my buddy Film Miasma happy:

The Long, Hot Summer (1958), All The King’s Men (1949) & Titanic (1997) Reviews

Okay, I have 20 movie reviews to post for all the movies I watched in July. I’ll try! Let’s start with these three, including some sexy Paul Newman…

The Long, Hot Summer (1958)

Directed by Martin Ritt

Starring: Paul Newman, Joanne Woodward, Anthony Franciosa, Orson Welles, Lee Remick, Angela Lansbury

Plot Synopsis: (via Wikipedia)
The movie is based in part on three works by William Faulkner: the 1931 novella “Spotted Horses”, the 1939 short story “Barn Burning” and the 1940 novel The Hamlet. The title is taken from The Hamlet, as Book Three is called “The Long Summer”. Some characters, as well as tone, were inspired by Tennessee Williams’ 1955 play, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, a film adaptation of which – also starring Newman – was released five months later.

My Opinion:

*FYI – I wrote this review before looking up the above Wikipedia synopsis. Guess I was right on the Cat On A Hot Tin Roof comparison! What an idiot. I should’ve read about it first.*

Did I watch this just because young Paul Newman was on the cover? Yep! I didn’t know anything about this one – I’d say it’s similar to Cat On A Hot Tin Roof. Both have a sexy & troubled Newman, horny attractive people, and a fat & grumpy old patriarch. Not as good as Cat but definitely worth a watch to see fantastic actors at work & the chemistry between Newman & Joanne Woodward.

*HELLO!*

Man, I did this quick review on Letterboxd without even mentioning that Angela Lansbury is in this too. Love her! Miss her. Murder, She Wrote rules! Loved seeing her in this as well.

My Rating: 7.5/10

All The King’s Men (1949)

Directed by Robert Rossen

Based on All the King’s Men 1946 novel by Robert Penn Warren

Starring: Broderick Crawford, John Ireland, Mercedes McCambridge, Joanne Dru, John Derek, Shepperd Strudwick

Plot Synopsis: (via Wikipedia)
The plot focuses on the rise and fall of the ambitious and ruthless politician Willie Stark (Crawford) in the American South.[2] Though a fictional character, Stark strongly resembles Louisiana governor Huey Long.

My Opinion:

Watched this while on services as I’m working on a Best Picture Project. It’s a good film. I’ve not seen the other nominees from that year & am sure it was deserving of the Oscar but it’s not as strong as many of the other Best Picture winners. It dragged in the middle & the acting didn’t stand out for me despite acting wins. Did like the supporting actress who reminded me a lot of Judy Garland, though. And I appreciate the timeless story of political corruption. Worth a watch but not ranked very high in my list of Best Picture Winners (all ranked here).

Never saw the 2006 adaptation but would be curious to see how it compares.

My Rating: 7/10

Titanic (1997)

Directed & Written by James Cameron

Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Kate Winslet, Billy Zane, Kathy Bates, Frances Fisher, Bernard Hill, Jonathan Hyde, Danny Nucci, David Warner, Bill Paxton

Plot Synopsis: (via Wikipedia)
Incorporating both historical and fictionalized aspects, it is based on accounts of the sinking of RMS Titanic in 1912.

My Opinion:

This movie sure does divide people. I’m a fan. Not an “OMG I’ve watched this 100 times!” fan, but I’ve always really liked this & am happy my daughter finally watched it with me. Winslet & DiCaprio are lovely together, I still love her wardrobe, and the instrumental score is great until Celine Dion starts singing over it. The scenes with “old Rose” haven’t aged well, though. Cheesy.

My Rating: 8/10

Best Picture Oscar Winners Project

I’ve been working on my IMDb Top 250 Challenge since 2013 & only have 34 movies left to watch for that project. So I figured it was time to also start a Best Picture Project.

I’ve seen 62 of the Best Picture Oscar Winners so far (which I ranked a couple of days ago HERE). I have 31 left to watch. I’ve also reviewed quite a few, especially the most recent movies, so I’ve included the links below.

Here’s the full list of all the Best Picture Winners:

* I’ve starred the films I still need to watch
• These films are also in the IMDb Top 250

2020 Parasite
2019 Green Book
2018 The Shape of Water
2017 Moonlight
2016 Spotlight
2015 Birdman
*•2014 12 Years a Slave
2013 Argo
2012 The Artist
2011 The King’s Speech
2010 The Hurt Locker
2009 Slumdog Millionaire
2008 No Country for Old Men
2007 The Departed
2006 Crash
2005 Million Dollar Baby
2004 The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
2003 Chicago
2002 A Beautiful Mind
2001 Gladiator
2000 American Beauty
1999 Shakespeare in Love
1998 Titanic
1997 The English Patient
1996 Braveheart
1995 Forrest Gump
1994 Schindler’s List
1993 Unforgiven
1992 The Silence of the Lambs
1991 Dances With Wolves
1990 Driving Miss Daisy
1989 Rain Man
*1988 The Last Emperor
1987 Platoon
1986 Out of Africa
1985 Amadeus
1984 Terms of Endearment
*•1983 Gandhi
1982 Chariots of Fire
1981 Ordinary People
1980 Kramer vs. Kramer
1979 The Deer Hunter
*•1978 Annie Hall
1977 Rocky
1976 One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest
1975 The Godfather Part II
1974 The Sting
1973 The Godfather
1972 The French Connection
*1971 Patton
1970 Midnight Cowboy
1969 Oliver!
1968 In the Heat of the Night
*1967 A Man for All Seasons
1966 The Sound of Music
1965 My Fair Lady
*1964 Tom Jones
*•1963 Lawrence of Arabia
1962 West Side Story
1961 The Apartment
1960 Ben-Hur
*1959 Gigi
1958 The Bridge on the River Kwai
*1957 Around the World in 80 Days
*1956 Marty
1955 On the Waterfront
*•1954 From Here to Eternity
*1953 The Greatest Show on Earth
*1952 An American in Paris
1951 All About Eve
*1950 All the Kings Men
*1949 Hamlet
*1948 Gentleman’s Agreement
1947 The Best Years of Our Lives
*1946 The Lost Weekend
*1945 Going My Way
1944 Casablanca
*1943 Mrs. Miniver
*1942 How Green Was My Valley
1941 Rebecca
1940 Gone with the Wind
*1939 You Can’t Take It with You
*1938 The Life of Emile Zola
*1937 The Great Ziegfeld
*1936 Mutiny on the Bounty
1935 It Happened One Night
*1934 Cavalcade
*1933 Grand Hotel
*1932 Cimarron
1931 All Quiet on the Western Front
*1930 The Broadway Melody
*1929 Wings (and •Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans) (plan to watch both as they both actually won the top prizes that year – Wings was later declared the official winner but Sunrise sounds better…)

Out of all the Best Animated Feature Winners, there are only two I’ve not seen. So I will try to watch these as well:
Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit
Rango

And of all the Best International Feature Winners, I’ve seen 11. I don’t plan to watch all of those I’ve not seen but do at least want to watch these for now (and two are in the IMDb Top 250):
•La Strada
•8 1/2
Yesterday, Today And Tomorrow
Fanny And Alexander
Amour

So far this year, I’ve watched & reviewed one Best Picture Winner:
It Happened One Night