I was on a roll with movie-watching throughout most of July but by the end, my viewing habits dropped off a bit as I was getting ready for a week-long vacation with my family (which I’m on now, in Canada!). But during the month, I took part in TCM’s online course on Alfred Hitchcock, which tied into their month-long spotlight on him. As I had already seen his most famous movies and then some, I caught up with a few I hadn’t seen yet, namely some of his silents and early British talkies. So for once, I actually watched some movies from the 1920s, and it ended up being my most watched decade of the month! Anyway, as I’m in the midst of my vacation, I’m actually only going to highlight one movie in my post, but July was filled with a lot of good discoveries that I’d recommend checking out.
New-to-Me: 24
Re-Watched: 6
New-to-Me Films by Decade:
- 1920s – 6
- 1930s – 4
- 1940s – 1
- 1950s – 1
- 1960s – 2
- 1970s – 3
- 1980s – 3
- 1990s – 0
- 2000s – 2
- 2010s – 2
List of New-to-Me Films:
- The Mission (1986)
- Obsession (1976)
- Freebie and the Bean (1974)
- Places in the Heart (1984)
- In the Loop (2009)
- The Lusty Men (1952)
- Nobody Lives Forever (1946)
- Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)
- The Ring (1927)
- Downhill (1927)
- The Farmer’s Wife (1928)
- The Manxman (1929)
- The Skin Game (1931)
- Rich and Strange (1931)
- Bulldog Drummond (1929)
- The Winning of Barbara Worth (1926)
- Number Seventeen (1932)
- The Big Sick (2017)
- Jamaica Inn (1939)
- Red Desert (1964)
- The Servant (1963)
- The Drowning Pool (1975)
- An Inconvenient Truth (2006)
- Brainstorm (1983)
A Few Favorite Discoveries:
The Big Sick (2017), directed by Michael Showalter
This is such a well-rounded romantic comedy, striking a fantastic balance between some really hilarious moments and more serious, emotional scenes. Written by Kumail Nanjiani and Emily V. Gordon and based on the true story of their courtship, The Big Sick has a very authentic approach to the complications the two face both separately and as a couple. Along with a great leading performance by Nanjiani, I also really enjoyed Holly Hunter’s work in this film playing Emily’s mother.
Red Desert (1964), directed by Michelangelo Antonioni
I posted another entry for the 2017 Blind Spots series a few days ago on Red Desert, another movie discovery I enjoyed watching this past month. My thoughts on the film can be found here.
