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:

Nimona, They Cloned Tyrone & Ghosted Movie Reviews

Reviews for three “meh” 2023 releases (well, one was slightly better than “meh” & one was pretty terrible). I’ll try to post reviews for three 2023 movies that I really liked tomorrow (if I get the time to write a review for Barbie today…).

Nimona (2023)

Directed by Nick Bruno & Troy Quane

Based on Nimona by ND Stevenson

Starring: Chloë Grace Moretz, Riz Ahmed

Plot Synopsis: (via IMDb)
When a knight in a futuristic medieval world is framed for a crime he didn’t commit, the only one who can help him prove his innocence is Nimona — a mischievous teen who happens to be a shapeshifting creature he’s sworn to destroy.

My Opinion:

This was decent. Wish I loved it but think I just found the girl too annoying. I wasn’t really feeling much for the characters until the end, when we get the full story. And that story was really good & I appreciated the theme of not being accepted so that made the film go up in my estimation quite a bit at that point. I just wish we’d had more of that sort of emotion earlier on.

My Rating: 7/10

They Cloned Tyrone (2023)

Directed by Juel Taylor

Starring: John Boyega, Teyonah Parris, Jamie Foxx

Plot Synopsis: (via Wikipedia)
The film stars John Boyega, Teyonah Parris and Jamie Foxx (who also serves as a producer) as an unlikely trio uncovering a government cloning conspiracy.

My Opinion:

I adore a weird sci-fi mystery so was looking forward to this. It has some great elements: Amazing soundtrack (hubby really loved that), the look, and the overall idea. But it did a terrible job telling the story. I’m not the brightest sometimes but it’s bad when I have to read the plot online throughout the entire film. Had potential but feels too much like it wants to be a Jordan Peele film.

My Rating: 6.5/10

Ghosted (2023)

Directed by Dexter Fletcher

Starring: Chris Evans, Ana de Armas

Plot Synopsis: (via IMDb)
Cole falls head over heels for enigmatic Sadie, but then makes the shocking discovery that she’s a secret agent. Before they can decide on a second date, Cole and Sadie are swept away on an international adventure to save the world.

My Opinion:

Another straight-to-streaming dud with big name stars. A dull movie with attractive people who have zero chemistry. It needed to be half an hour shorter. I’ll give it an extra half a star for the ridiculous spinning restaurant stuff. They should have just made the entire movie that dumb. It’s all that I’ll remember a year from now. Oh, and the distracting cameos too I guess.

My Rating: 5.5/10