The Holy Mountain | Cinema Parrot Disco

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

Four more good (well, *interesting* in the case of Alejandro Jodorowsky) movies that I watched in April.

The Holy Mountain (1973) – I think I’m a fan of Alejandro Jodorowsky? I find his films absolutely fascinating and, as I always say, I prefer a memorable film to a dull one. But I may have finally found the Jodorowsky film that was a little too weird even for me? Kind of love Santa Sangre & appreciate El Topo. While I still appreciated the TOTAL what-the-F*^Kness of this one… Seriously, what-the-F*^K?! Some great visuals as always & scenes I’ll never forget but, honestly, I’m already mostly just remembering the lady on the high toilet. How did she even get up there? That toilet is completely impractical!

I think the “story”, which is never coherent in his films, was just a bit too much this time. I already remember less of this film, watched recently, than the other two watched ages ago. Also found it kind of a chore to sit through, which I didn’t with the others. I know I’ll never rewatch this one. Still 100% worth the watch for me, though. I still definitely find Jodorowsky fascinating. But, dude, this one is crazy… The ‘70s were insane, man!

This certainly makes my Weird Movies list. As do all his films that I’ve seen… – 7.5/10

The Zone Of Interest (2023) – Can see why there was so much talk of the sound design in this, which created such a haunting & disturbing atmosphere. Definitely a fan of Glazer’s work & visuals, especially Under The Skin & his brilliant music videos. Art that stays with you. Great understated performances in this too, capturing such cold detachment from the horrors nearby. Good film but certainly an uneasy watch. – 7.5/10

Lake Mungo (2008) – Was glad this showed up on services as people so often mention it. It’s an effective, unsettling horror & the documentary style worked well. It felt real & I thought the actors were great. A slow burn that won’t be for everyone but I can see why it has fans. Probably a one-time watch for me but loved its creepiness (give me subtle over in-your-face gore!). That one scene will stay with me forever… – 7/10

Donnie Darko (2001) (Rewatch) – First time rewatching this since it first came out. Think it holds up well. Still love the story but felt it was less “trippy” than I remembered (I’ve watched a load of weird shit since then). Still an amazing soundtrack/score, too. Love it. Even though the original version of Mad World by Tears For Fears is far superior… – 8/10