Hey all! I saw some good movies in September because some decent ones actually popped up on my services. Yay! š But life still sucks.
Oh – Happy October! I wasn’t up to doing a Halloween Horror Month this year.
Here we go with what I watched last month…
MOVIES WATCHED IN SEPTEMBER (ranked best to worst):
– The Red Shoes – The Red Shoes is yet another absolutely beautiful piece of work from Powell & Pressburger This is the third film of theirs that Iāve seen. I first saw A Matter Of Life And Death a few years ago & was blown away. That film should as well known as the likes of Itās A Wonderful Life but Iād not even heard of it while living in America. So I then watched Black Narcissus which was also stunning & have been desperate to see The Red Shoes ever since. I was delighted to see it pop up on BBC iPlayer (available 16 more days if youāre in the U.K., FYI. I highly recommend).
Iāve been back & forth on if this or Black Narcissus would rank second after A Matter Of Life And Death for me. I think Black Narcissus has the edge as, quite literally, the visuals of that bell on the edge of that gorgeous cliff will stay with me forever & I loved the overall look and mood of that whole film. The Red Shoes is a very close third, though. The only thing that lets it down slightly is that itās all about the performance of the Red Shoes ballet in the middle of the film, which is easily one of the greatest dance numbers Iāve ever seen in a film. Maybe the very best. Itās breathtakingly perfect. So I think the rest of the film just doesnāt quite manage to live up to that big moment but the story is still good and there are other great visuals & dance moments to enjoy. And, man, I loved her red hair & how that looked with those red shoes. They truly donāt make them like this anymoreā¦ – 8.5/10
– Santa Sangre – Where do I start with this?! Itās an Alejandro Jodorowsky film so I guess I got what I was expecting. Itās violent, utterly bizarre, and strangely fascinating. I want to watch every film heās made (as well as those he didnāt – his Dune would have been insane).
Think I slightly prefer El Topo mainly because itās even weirder (which is saying something). Santa Sangre has an almost coherent story in comparison – Itās really just an even more fucked-up Psycho. I do absolutely love a circus setting so enjoyed that a lot & really liked the mime/tightrope girl who befriends the main character (again played by a couple of Jodorowskyās sons). I liked that part of the story & as always liked watching something so strange & completely unpredictable.
I think this film has grown on me since I watched it. Maybe I actually prefer it to El Topo. It’s one of those films where I want to do a separate full review with lots of images as there are so many interesting ones but I’m too lazy so I’ll just stick two extra images below. Iāll certainly never forget either of the two films of Jodorowsky’s that Iāve seen so far, which is something I appreciate. Guess I need to finally see The Holy Mountain now too. – 8/10
– Thor: Love And Thunder – I have serious superhero burnout but I like the content enough to continue to watch all the Marvel films & TV shows. Some are good, some are not-so-good, but I wouldnāt really care if they stopped making them all. With the movies, I prefer when they donāt take things so seriously. I find many of the dark & dreary superhero movies pathetic (but thatās not the MCU). So I loved Guardians Of The Galaxy & I enjoyed when Thor went āsillyā with Ragnarok as, quite frankly, the character of Thor was pretty but bloody boring before Ragnarok. But this one looked like it was going to be a little too silly & reviews seemed very mixed so I had low expectations.
I enjoyed this. Ragnarok is still better & this does indeed get a little too silly at times but I liked the villainās & Janeās stories. Christian Bale was a fantastic villain (and Iām not a Bale fan). I also thought they handled Portmanās role in this very well without it feeling like forced āgirl powerā which just doesnāt work. I wanted much more of Thor with the Guardians Of The Galaxy as I think theyāre hilarious together but at least we got a little bit. Liked the jealousy thing with Thorās weapons, too. And the nudity. And all the Guns Nā Roses making me feel like I was back in high school (Iāve just dated myself).
This was fun & a better film than I expected. Itās not gonna win any Oscars. I can absolutely see why some would love it & some would hate it as the sillier side of the MCU isnāt for everyone. I think it helps to balance out some pretty damn depressing stuff going on too. Poor Thor has had a terrible time & watching him go through all this tragedy with absolutely no humour would turn this into the dark & dreary type of superhero movie I canāt stand. At the moment, Iād rank this just outside of my MCU top ten (all ranked here). But I may change my mind & it could move down slightly. – 7.5/10
– Cyrano – Liked this much more than I was expecting. I donāt know the story of Cyrano de Bergerac all that well (mainly just the Steve Martin Roxanne version, sorry!) so itās not a story I mind them messing with as it doesnāt mean much to me. Peter Dinklage is easily the best thing about this & I liked him a lot as Cyrano. Haley Bennett is also good as Roxanne & seemed to be a far better singer than her male co-stars (by the way, I recommend watching her in the great film Swallow). The songs in Cyrano werenāt very memorable but I find thatās the case with most modern musicals. Overall, Dinklage & Bennett and the unique tragic love story make this worth watching but Iām not sure I loved it as a musical. The film is far from perfect but it still has plenty going for it to give it a watch. – 7/10
– No Retreat, No Surrender – Continuing my over-30-years-late JCVD obsession, I found this godawful delight from 1985. A bullied teenage boy is visited & trained by the ghost of his idol Bruce Lee. Seriously. I kind of loved this. Pure ā80s cheese, which always makes me nostalgic. The only downside is that JCVD is barely in this. Plus heās a baddie. I like ass-kicking mullet-head sexy-splits good-guy Van Damme. This one deserves two extra images too. Look at the beautiful pure-eighties-ness of that photo with the boombox! And we gotta see JCVD doing the sexy splits again… – 6.5/10
– A Walk In The Clouds – A Keanu Reeves movie I never saw?! This was fine. Liked the story & the romance. Not always big on romance films but, man, I love the idea of engaging in some sexy grape-stomping with Keanu. Nice. (It didn’t turn into a full-on grape orgy like in Seconds, though. Sorry Film Miasma & Podferatu!). This movie got so ridiculously dramatic at the end that I had to knock off half a point, though. But I still love Keanu. – 6.5/10
– Paddington 2 – Everyone went on about this being the best thing since sliced (marmalade) bread so I figured I better finally watch it even though I barely remember the first film. What are you all on about?! Ha! This movie is fine. Itās very sweet. Very family-friendly. Paddington is a great character & I like the voice work, the animated stuff with the pop-up book is fantastic, the Wes Anderson-y color palette in the prison is fun, and Hugh Grant is a very good villain. Maybe I was just expecting this movie to change my life after all the Film Twitter hype. Nope! Life is still the same. – 6.5/10
– Fire Island – This was good, lightweight fun. Enjoyed the two main romances. We had a good āwill they or wonāt theyā, ālove/hateā connection between two of the characters which I really enjoyed & a more romantic story with two of the others. This group of friends were a lot of fun & Iād love hanging out & playing games with them. How could that guy not instantly know the answer was Marisa Tomei?! Loved that bit.
I see this movie was inspired by Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice. Suppose I should put down the Stephen King for a change & finally read that one someday, huh? – 6.5/10
– Do Revenge – I know Iām an old Gen-X lady but, up until just the last couple years, I still enjoyed teen movies. I could still relate to them as we all went through our teens & know how difficult they can be. The Edge Of Seventeen is a good recent(ish) example – I liked that a lot. Am I now finally out of touch? Because I canāt relate to the narcissistic shitbags in this & in Not Okay in any way whatsoever.
I did like how this started out with Clueless vibes at the school. I later wondered if part of the issue was ārich kidsā because weāre all meant to hate the rich. Right? Did no one see Pretty In Pink?! But then I realized theyāre rich in Clueless too but that movie is great fun and the characters are very likeable. The problem isnāt dark humor, either, as I love dark humor. I just donāt think this movie manages that well (if thatās what itās going for?). So the most obvious comparison in that case is Heathers. Then I realized everyone is a Heather in this movie. Everyone aspires to be a Heather & assumes the audience does too. And, damn, I guess thatās accurate judging by social media & influencers. When Heathers came out, we all wanted to be Veronica. Sorry, slight spoiler: By the end you realize thereās no Veronica in this movie. So who the hell am I meant to care about in this world full of Heathers?
Oh well. I didnāt āhateā this movie as much as it seems. It had a good idea. I liked the thought of teaming up with someone to go after each otherās bullies. Who doesnāt love a good revenge movie? And the twists & turns were kind of fun up until the end when the character you thought you liked turns out to be kind of a shitbag too. And when the main character who got screwed over at the beginning still doesnāt manage to make you care about her predicament by the end since sheās only slightly less of a shitbag than she was at the start. Actually, come to think of it, the boy she hooks up with was a decent characterā¦ Guess heās the Veronica. Their paint scene was good. And having Sarah Michelle Gellar as the headmaster was a smart move to get us old turds to watch this. Hey – theyāre all rich & hateful in Cruel Intentions too but I loved that movie. Because it had one nice character & one who does stop being a shitbag at the end.
I liked this a bit more than Be Okay, at least. I didnāt find either a waste of time – I just prefer to have fewer shitbags in a movie. – 6/10
– Me Time – This isnāt great but itās also not the worst ādumb comedyā Iāve ever seen. Itās ridiculous but at least the family are likeable while husband/father Hart does stupid shit with his manchild friend Wahlberg. Not gonna lie – I liked the guy desperate to not go back to Legoland. And the stuff with the tortoise. But I wonāt remember a thing about this movie in a few years. – 6/10
– Horror Express – I thought this film was awful. I watched it as it stars the almighty horror icons Christopher Lee & Peter Cushing and I badly need to see much more of their work. So I settled for this on iPlayer when what I really want is for the Hammer Horror stuff to be available to me. I did very much enjoy seeing Lee & Cushing but I canāt recommend watching this for any other reason. It doesnāt even manage to be a āso bad itās goodā movie. But maybe Iām wrong – it seems to have a decent rating from other Letterboxd users. – 5/10
Movies Rewatched In September:
– The Prestige – Still think this film is brilliant after another rewatch for the first time in years. Iām very much not a Christopher Nolan fan but The Prestige is his one film I do love & itās an all-time favorite. Absolutely love the story (I donāt know how much credit Nolan can take on that as Iāve not read the book itās based on). Jackman & Bale have such a fantastic rivalry & the filmās setting in the world of magic is great. And, of course, David Bowie is cool as hell as Tesla. Still love this film. Still hate Interstellar. – 9/10
– Rogue One – When I first saw this one in the cinema, I didnāt instantly love it. But I thought I better rewatch it before Andor & I have to say this film has now gone up in my estimation quite a lot. I think thatās partly due to being so disappointed with the final two films in the Star Wars sequel trilogy, which I find Iām growing to dislike more & more as time goes by. Almost to the point where I now wish the sequel trilogy didnāt existā¦
So I think I now really appreciate Rogue One as a separate story that does no damage to the original trilogy that Iāve loved since I was a kid. And, so far, Iām really liking the Andor series (more than The Book Of Boba Fett & maybe even the Obi-Wan Kenobi series). I think Iāve just had enough of them messing with beloved characters that should maybe just be left alone. I certainly loved The Mandalorian far more than the sequel trilogy, too.
But what Iād really like is a Chirrut spin-off. Donnie Yen as Chirrut Ćmwe & Jiang Wen as Baze Malbus were great & are still my favorite characters from Rogue One. Loved K-2SO too, of course. Star Wars droids are always the best. – 8/10
Shorts, Etc:
– The Simpsons: Welcome To The Club – Oh wow – I don’t even remember this now. Must have been good, huh?! These Disney Plus Simpsons shorts, especially the ones that are just Disney adverts, haven’t been great…
BOOKS, TV, MUSIC, MISCELLANEOUS IN SEPTEMBER
TV SHOWS WATCHED
– Cobra Kai: Season 5 – Still adore Cobra Kai! Yes, it’s really getting “same old same old” now. But I don’t care. It’s so much fun. And I still love Johnny. I really should’ve rewatched Karate Kid III before this series, though, as I don’t remember it so all of those characters didn’t mean anything to me.
– Andor: S1 E1-4 – As above, I rewatched Rogue One because this was starting & liked it way more on a rewatch. I think this show is really good so far. Definitely better than The Book Of Boba Fett. We’ll see by the end if I also prefer it to Obi-Wan Kenobi.
– She-Hulk: Attorney At Law: S1 E3-7 – Okay. You know what? I enjoy watching this show each week. Yes, She-Hulk twerking was absolute cringe. Yes, the show is silly. It’s a sitcom, people! They’ve gone no more silly with this than with the last two Thor films. I can see why some hate this show as you’re either going to love silly Marvel or you aren’t. But the outrage online is scary. Good Lord. As an OLD woman, I can’t always relate to the very millennial & “woke” take this show often has. But as a woman I can still relate to a lot of it. I liked the wedding episode. I liked episode 7 which reminded me a lot of that great Toy Story short Small Fry where they’re all having that group therapy session. I like She-Hulk especially when she’s Jennifer Walters. She has a fun attitude but plenty of insecurities a lot of women will relate to. Is this show hated because it’s so aimed at women? I assume so. God knows. Don’t get me wrong – it’s FAR from perfect & would get an average sort of rating from me if I rated TV shows like I do movies. I don’t know – maybe 6/10? The effects look bloody awful most of the time but, ha, whatever – I grew up with the ’70s The Incredible Hulk TV show so I think I can handle that. Honestly, though, I’d be happier with some different, big-muscled woman just playing the She-Hulk version of Jennifer Walters instead of weird-looking CGI stuff. But, be honest, Hulk looks pretty shit in the MCU films too so whatever. I’m mostly annoyed that her clothes aren’t nearly baggy enough on her when she goes back to being tiny Jennifer. This show is a fun little throwaway comedy that I find entertaining for half an hour each week. Nothing to get mad about.
BOOKS READ
– The Seven Husbands Of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid – This book isn’t very “me” but I have to put down the Stephen King books & the lightweight thrillers & the YA stuff and read something different occasionally. It’s a good story that would make for a really good movie so I’d like to see that happen. Man, Evelyn Hugo is a pretty hateful character, though. I normally hate that but she’s an intriguing character & I of course really went for the fact that she’s a huge movie star telling a writer her life story & it’s all about her glanorous life in the world of Hollywood filmmaking. I’ll always like movie-related stories so I liked that. Why don’t they just make a movie like the story in this book based on a fictional movie star instead of using Marilyn Monroe & making up a bunch of untrue crap about her? – 3/5
Here’s the ballet in The Red Shoes but I’d really recommend watching the whole movie instead:
Cinema Parrot Disco 