Watched, Read, Reviewed: April 2024

Quickly posting this so I can start posting my May & June reviews. Saw some good ones! Already posted all the below movie reviews…

MOVIES WATCHED IN APRIL (ranked best to worst):

Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence – 9/10
Assault On Precinct 13 – 8.5/10
Lawrence Of Arabia – 8/10
Wild Strawberries – 8/10
The Circus – 7.5/10
The Gold Rush – 7.5/10
Suzume – 7.5/10
The Holy Mountain – 7.5/10
The Zone Of Interest – 7.5/10
Lake Mungo – 7.5/10
The Greatest Hits – 7/10
Wish – 7/10
Toni Erdmann – 6.5/10
Música – 6.5/10
Strawberry Mansion – 5.5/10

Movies Rewatched In April:

Barbie – 8.5/10
Donnie Darko – 8/10

Documentary:

Koyaanisqatsi

BOOKS, TV, MUSIC, MISCELLANEOUS IN APRIL

TV SHOWS

Superstore: S3 – Still enjoying this. Will definitely finish watching them all. Already sad that I don’t know what the next sitcom is that both my daughter & I will enjoy… (And there will never be another Community!)

Grey’s Anatomy: S20 E1-5 – Yep. Still watching. Why would I stop now after 20 years?! Honestly don’t mind the newest batch of characters, at least. Sometimes the new interns have really sucked.

Baby Reindeer: S1 – What the hell was this?! This was kind of traumatising. Did he really go through all that?! Just very sad for all involved. Thought it was going to be a dark comedy but it was just… Dark… Poor guy. Good show, though, I guess. Just not my type of thing.

Fallout: S1 E1 – Ummm. I wasn’t feeling the first episode so didn’t continue. And, wow, way more violent than I was expecting!! Did like the vibe of the bits with that bug-eyed girl from Yellowjackets – those bits reminded me a lot of the only good part of that weird A Boy And His Dog movie. Would’ve liked more of that but then they had two other storylines going on that didn’t interest me at all. I dunno – is it worth ever continuing?

Curb Your Enthusiasm: S1 E1-3 – Continued from the start after accidentally watching an episode from later years. Like what I’ve seen but feeling no need to binge these or something. If I’m in the mood, maybe I’ll stick one on.

Saturday Night Live: The Ryan Gosling episode – I’ve not watched SNL since the early to mid-90s. Also, it wasn’t available to watch at all in the U.K. when I moved here 23 years ago but it didn’t look like I was missing much anyway. Well, it’s been available here for quite a while now (I think) but I never bothered with it until seeing Ryan Gosling dressed up like Beavis on Twitter (I’ll never call it X). So I watched the whole episode. Loved that skit! The whole episode was pretty good. Maybe I’ll watch them more regularly again?

MUSIC

Justice – Hyperdrama: Need to listen to this a bit more to form an opinion but have enjoyed having the album on while working. Justice are (is?!) great – I remember when it was thought that Justice were maybe actually Daft Punk under a different name. I like Justice a lot, as did my husband. So I was happy but also very sad when I noticed that they had a new album out. My husband would have been very excited about it & would have listened to this album a lot by now. I wish I could share it with him & hear his opinion on it. Something new breaks my heart every day.

BOOKS

The Picture House Murders by Fiona Veitch Smith – This was quite a lightweight but fun mystery. Did I buy it simply because the setting for the crime was a movie theater? Yes, I did. It’s about a woman who takes over her uncle’s detective agency in 1929. I see it’s a series, as I expected it probably would be. Would be fun to follow the character as she solves various mysteries. But, for me, it’s not really my type of thing so unlikely I’ll read any more. Could see these making a good TV series, though, and could also see these books definitely having a fan base. – 3/5

BLOG PLANS FOR THE COMING MONTH

As always, just trying to catch up on things here…

Upcoming Movies I Want To See:

LOVED Inside Out 2! 🙂 And I see Deadpool & Wolverine tickets are already on sale. Looking forward to that one (and my daughter especially is – she’s a big fan of both characters & of all the X-Men & Deadpool films). And I’m excited for the Quiet Place prequel. Oh! And not gonna lie – I can’t wait for Despicable Me 4 as well.

Here’s that absolutely gorgeous piece of music from Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence:

https://youtu.be/1OZDaRhHHyM?feature=shared

Assault On Precinct 13, Lawrence Of Arabia, Wild Strawberries & Suzume Movie Reviews

Here are my Letterboxd reviews for four good films I watched back in April. 🙂

Assault On Precinct 13 (1976) – Been wanting to see this for years. Fantastic stuff, especially the score (which I already knew & loved – John Carpenter’s scores rule). I always love a good, gritty ‘70s film. Also loved the Night Of The Living Dead feel, with people trapped in a single location & fighting to survive. Is there a name for that?! Always enjoy that setup. The ice cream scene will stay with me forever. Yikes! Brilliant film.

I’ve ranked this highly on my John Carpenter Movies list. It’s close between this & Escape From New York. I need to rewatch that one now… – 8.5/10

Lawrence Of Arabia (1962) – Finally watched this for my IMDb Top 250 Project & Best Picture Project. It’s gorgeous. I miss this epic kind of filmmaking. Can’t fault this masterpiece but I watched Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence just before this & that blew me away. I instantly loved that in a way that didn’t happen with this one. But so glad I finally watched this beautiful film – my expectations were maybe just too high in thinking it would also be an instant favorite.

Imagine starting a film with a blank screen while the score plays for ages nowadays. Loved that. – 8/10

Wild Strawberries (1957) – Watched this for my IMDb Top 250 Project as well. Only other Bergman film I’ve seen is The Seventh Seal when I was young & now don’t remember it. So I’m not qualified to “review” this. I’ll just say I found it moving. Very good stuff. But anything to do with aging & memories of the past makes me very emotional at the moment. Will definitely watch more of Bergman‘s work. – 8/10

Suzume (2022) – Gorgeous film, as I’d expect from Shinkai. Didn’t find it quite as moving as his other work, especially Your Name, and thought the story got a bit too messy at the end. But still a great film from a favorite anime filmmaker of mine. Always excited to see Shinkai‘s work. Trying to decide if I preferred this or Weathering With You… Good excuse to rewatch that one now! – 7.5/10