Watched, Read, Reviewed: June 2023

Hi! Sorry I’ve not been around. Needed a little blog break. Guess I better post my June roundup now that it’s almost August. I’ve also just spent the weekend writing reviews for the (20!) films I watched through all of July, too, so I might try to post those this week.

MOVIES WATCHED IN JUNE (ranked best to worst):

Brian And Charles – 7.5/10

The Abominable Dr. Phibes – 7.5/10

Causeway – 7/10

Cha Cha Real Smooth – 7/10

To Catch A Killer – 7/10

Don’t Worry Darling – 7/10

Bros – 6.5/10

To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before – 6.5/10

Smile – 6.5/10

Extraction 2 – 6.5/10

The Worst Person In The World – 6.5/10

Cloak & Dagger – 6/10

Maybe I Do – 5.5/10

Movies Rewatched In June:

I Am Legend – 8/10

Shorts Watched In June:

Oswald The Lucky Rabbit – Better than those Simpsons shorts they keep making…

BOOKS, TV, MUSIC, MISCELLANEOUS THIS MONTH

TV SHOWS WATCHED

Ted Lasso: S3 – Got AppleTV to binge Season 3 of this. Enjoyed this entire show. Was happy with how it ended. If that’s actually the end? I hope so. I really liked the show but hate when they drag shit out for way too long. Read that some people wanted Ted & Rebecca to hook up. Why?! Not compatible at all. Really liked her little romance this season and Ted is in the right place now. The Roy/Keeley/Jamie love triangle was a bit dumb, though. Don’t see why Roy & Keeley even broke up in the first place. The Nathan change was a bit weird too, but I was glad to get “nice Nathan” again because “mean Nathan” never made any sense. Overall, though, a thoroughly enjoyable show about f*^king sports of all things. I hate sports! But I really liked these characters.

And Just Like That…: S2 E1-3 – Ugh. Why do I watch this? It’s actually terrible. But I feel like I have to watch it to see what happens with these characters as I watched all of Sex And The City. Even though I’ve always found them all pretty hateful & can’t relate to them in any way whatsoever. But the first show was well-written & funny at times. This show isn’t. And they’re absolutely destroying Miranda’s character. Rubbish.

Poker Face: S1 E1 – Guess episode 1 was fine but I’d completely forgotten I’d watched this until I came here to finally finish this post & saw that I’d made note of it. So I’m thinking I’m not too bothered about continuing with this one.

Enoyed watching Glastonbury highlights (from the comfort of my own home, of course). Not listened to Guns N’ Roses since high school (when I was a HUGE fan) but seeing them was a nice dose of nostalgia and Slash is amazing. That above image from it is iconic – a silhouette everyone can instantly recognise. Also really enjoyed Foo Fighters & The Pretenders. Blondie & Elton John were worth a watch as well.

Am still rewatching Community & Gumball during supper sometimes. Good fun.

BOOKS READ

The Ballad Of Songbirds And Snakes by Suzanne Collins – Actually finished this in July but I’m so behind on doing this June roundup that I’ll just stick it in this post.

Not ashamed to admit that I like The Hunger Games a lot. And really like that it’s now my daughter’s absolute favorite series. I’ll always love “YA dystopia” and this series is the best of those. It’s a shame people look down on the YA thing so much, so I hate how everything gets that label now. And I’m tired of hearing “It’s just Battle Royale!”. I absolutely love Battle Royale, which I also read (hoping for more story than the movie, but there’s really no more to it). So the main overall idea of kids being made to kill each other is the same. That’s it. The Hunger Games then has way more story to it. I’ve spent the last year & now the last month watching Jean-Claude Van Damme & Bruce Lee movies. SO much fun but, ha!, talk about the exact same story recycled over & over again. So it’s very obvious that people just want to trash YA, especially with a big female fan base.

Rant over! Time to talk about this prequel based on Snow (who we all hate, unlike Haymitch whose prequel story we all wanted). Liked this much more than I expected to and actually found it far less disappointing than the final Hunger Games book. Lucy Gray Baird is a good new character & really liked getting to know much more about Tigris. It also did pretty well at showing how Snow slowly became the evil man he grew up to be. Plus, of course, we get another Hunger Games in the middle of this and that was pretty intense. Wasn’t expecting so much story afterwards as well, although that part went on for a bit too long. Overall, a good story but I still want that Haymitch prequel… – 3.5/5

BLOG PLANS FOR THE COMING MONTH

Well, I wanted to see Barbie so am happy I did actually manage to get to the cinema for that one. I’ll try to review it this week.

Let’s end with Bob Marley’s Three Little Birds from I Am Legend…

The Abominable Dr. Phibes (1971), Smile (2022) & I Am Legend (2007) Reviews

Three horror movies for today! One a rewatch that I really like. And one that was disappointing, although it wasn’t bad. Plus a cult classic…

The Abominable Dr. Phibes (1971)

Directed by Robert Fuest

Starring: Vincent Price, Joseph Cotten, Peter Jeffrey, Virginia North

Plot Synopsis: (via IMDb)
Doctor, scientist, organist, and biblical scholar Anton Phibes seeks revenge on the nine doctors he considers responsible for the death of his wife.

My Opinion:

This was interesting. Liked its style & its whole pre-Phantom Of The Paradise vibe (that movie rules).

Shamefully, I have very little Vincent Price experience beyond Edward Scissorhands, House On Haunted Hill and of course Michael Jackson’s Thriller. He was entertaining here with his campy “face acting” and his always cool sounding voiceover. The movie was good, cheesy fun (which is what it was going for, right?). The idea was fantastic with Phibes seeking revenge for his wife’s death & basing his murders on “the Ten Plagues of Egypt from the Old Testament”. That’s some great Seven-type stuff going on there. Then it had a crazy Saw-type ending, which was brilliant (and far better than those disgusting films). This movie has clearly inspired many other horror films since.

This film didn’t quite live up to the potential of its amazing plot synopsis or to its super cool poster on Letterboxd. I feel like it’s probably one where people appreciate their memory of it, as it has some very iconic scenes. In all honesty, Phantom Of The Paradise is the same way for me. Neither film is perfect but they sure are stylish. And that’s something I always appreciate even more than plot, acting, etc, which is why Phantom Of The Paradise went way up in my estimation upon reflection. This may do the same. I can certainly see why it’s a cult classic.

My Rating: 7.5/10

Smile (2022)

Directed & Written by Parker Finn

Based on Laura Hasn’t Slept by Parker Finn

Starring: Sosie Bacon, Jessie T. Usher, Kyle Gallner, Kal Penn, Rob Morgan

Plot Synopsis: (via Wikipedia)
The film stars Sosie Bacon as a therapist named Rose Cotter, who, after witnessing the bizarre suicide of a patient, goes through increasingly disturbing and daunting experiences, leading her to believe what she is experiencing is supernatural.

My Opinion:

Was really looking toward to this one as I liked the creepy trailer & images plus I’d seen it compared to It Follows, which I loved. Was very disappointed. 

Do like the story idea which, yes, is very similar to It Follows. And the smiling faces were creepy as hell but only the first girl really pulled it off without looking a bit dumb (probably why she’s on the poster). Did think Sosie Bacon did very well as a stereotypical “everyone thinks this person is fucking crazy” horror movie victim slowly being driven mad. I don’t know – All the elements are there that I tend to love in supernatural horror films. This one just didn’t quite work for me and I’m not sure why.

Didn’t realise until after that this is yet another one that was a short film first and I find those often feel too stretched out when made into a feature length film. I do think pacing was a bit of an issue. And I didn’t really care about any of the characters. Also thought the ending looked a bit too silly, although I’ve seen far dumber things in horror so I guess I can forgive that. Think I just really wanted to like this one. But it was just okay.

My Rating: 6.5/10

I Am Legend (2007)

Directed by Francis Lawrence

Based on I Am Legend by Richard Matheson & The Omega Man by John William Corrington & Joyce H. Corrington

Starring: Will Smith, Alice Braga, Dash Mihok

Plot Synopsis: (via Wikipedia)
Loosely based on the 1954 novel of the same name by Richard Matheson, the film is set in New York City after a virus, which was originally created to cure cancer, has wiped out most of mankind, leaving Neville as the last human in New York, other than nocturnal mutants. Neville is immune to the virus, and he works to develop a cure while defending himself against the hostile mutants.

My Opinion:

Have always liked this one a lot. Probably my favorite Will Smith movie. I love that dog so much! 😦 😦 😦 😦

Reviews on Letterboxd seem a bit harsh, though. Maybe helps that I’m not familiar with the Richard Matheson novel & am not really bothered by dodgy special effects. I just love post-apocalyptic films. And that dog. And Bob Marley. And loneliness.

My Rating: 8/10