April was a terribly busy month for me, so I only saw a dozen new-to-me movies! But I’ll be graduating from college next week, so after my finals and everything I’ll finally have some time to get back into my old movie-watching habits. I can’t say if I’ll ever get back to watching a new movie a day as I used to now that I have to be a responsible adult, but I’ll never be able to give up my love for watching movies, so I’m excited to watch some good ones in May. Anyway, onto my little month in movie-watching.
New-to-Me: 12
Re-Watched: 2
New-to-Me Films by Decade:
- 1920s – 0
- 1930s – 3
- 1940s – 1
- 1950s – 6
- 1960s – 0
- 1970s – 0
- 1980s – 0
- 1990s – 0
- 2000s – 0
- 2010s – 2
List of New-to-Me Films:
- The Smiling Lieutenant (1931)
- Bigger Than Life (1956)
- The Prisoner of Zenda (1937)
- Laggies (2014)
- Macao (1952)
- His Kind of Woman (1951)
- La Strada (1954)
- Broken Arrow (1950)
- Secret Agent (1936)
- They Drive by Night (1940)
- Nights of Cabiria (1957)
- Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015)
Monthly Tallies
- Best Picture Nominees Watched: 1
- Movies Watched from The Criterion Collection: 4
- Movies Watched via the Watch TCM app: 5
- Movies Watched on TCM: 0
- Movies Watched on Hulu: 0
- Movies Watched in theaters: 2
Trends and Notes
- Watched 2 films co-starring Robert Mitchum and Jane Russell in a row.
- Watched 2 films directed by Federico Fellini and starring Giulietta Masina.
A Few Favorite Discoveries:
Keeping it brief again this month, where I’ll only be really highlighting one film that stood out to me (along with my Blind Spot entry for April).
Bigger Than Life (1956), directed by Nicholas Ray
James Mason is terrifying in this film, giving one of his best performances as a suburban family man and school teacher who becomes dangerously addicted to cortisone. Released in the mid-50s, at a time when sitcoms showed the idealistic nuclear family, this film takes a critical look at it and really shows the dark side to living such an ideal lifestyle. I’ve only seen Barbara Rush in Magnificent Obsession (and honestly don’t remember her very well in that film even though she’s third billed…), but she shines here alongside Mason, working well against his antics. Walter Matthau is also great in a supporting role as another school teacher and close friend to the family. This film is also just visually pleasing in glorious Technicolor and filmed in CinemaScope.
Nights of Cabiria (1957), directed by Federico Fellini
I posted my fourth entry for my 2015 Blind Spots series over the weekend on Nights of Cabiria, another great film that I saw in April. My thoughts on the film can be found here.
