As usual, February was an Oscar-filled month, wherein I watched some movies playing during TCM’s 31 Days of Oscar program, as well as some movies nominated at this year’s Academy Awards. And that included rounding out the Best Foreign Language Film category, as I was able to see three of the remaining nominees I hadn’t seen yet before the ceremony, which is something I’d never managed to do before! Much of that is thanks to my local arthouse theater, a place I’ve frequently been going to since my move to Sacramento. Anyway, March is usually the month where I actually start seeing the new movies of the year, and there are a few that I’m looking forward to seeing within the coming weeks. But before then, a look back at what I watched in February…
New-to-Me: 27
Re-Watched: 9
New-to-Me Films by Decade:
- 1920s – 0
- 1930s – 2
- 1940s – 1
- 1950s – 1
- 1960s – 2
- 1970s – 6
- 1980s – 1
- 1990s – 4
- 2000s – 5
- 2010s – 5
List of New-to-Me Films:
- A Touch of Class (1973)
- Mikey and Nicky (1976)
- Fantastic Voyage (1966)
- The Sunshine Boys (1975)
- The Criminal Code (1931)
- The Constant Gardener (2005)
- RBG (2018)
- Chungking Express (1994)
- Travels with My Aunt (1972)
- Romance on the High Seas (1948)
- Marie Antoinette (2006)
- Dogtooth (2009)
- Ida (2013)
- Sólo con tu pareja (1991)
- Save the Tiger (1973)
- 25th Hour (2002)
- A Little Princess (1995)
- Shoplifters (2018)
- Capernaum (2018)
- Sayonara (1957)
- Mutiny on the Bounty (1962)
- Agnes of God (1985)
- Never Look Away (2018)
- Roma (1972)
- The Rains Came (1939)
- Shadow of the Vampire (2000)
- Dracula (1992)
A Few Favorite Discoveries:
Romance on the High Seas (1948), directed by Michael Curtiz
Romance on the High Seas was my favorite discovery from this year’s 31 Days of Oscar festival on TCM, and I enjoyed it even more than I thought I would. Much of that is thanks to such a wonderful film debut from Doris Day, who was fourth-billed and plays somewhat of a secondary character to the plot, but she easily steals the show. The Oscar-nominated tune she sings called “It’s Magic” is what initially drew me to the movie, as it’s one of my favorite of her songs, so seeing where it originated from was nice to see. Just a really fun, cute romantic comedy all-around.
A Little Princess (1995), directed by Alfonso Cuarón
Around Oscar time, I like to try to catch a few of the nominees’ prior work, and with Alfonso Cuarón’s Roma being one of the big awards contenders, I had to check out a couple of his other movies Netflix had available. I’d heard a lot of good things about his English-language film debut, so, fortunately, it lived up to my expectations. A Little Princess is a very charming movie, and it’s really beautifully made, from its production and costume design to its cinematography by Emmanuel Lubezki, who for this film earned the first of his eventual eight Oscar nominations (and three consecutive wins). I only wish I had seen it as a child because I’m sure it would’ve been one of my favorites growing up, but even seeing it now as an adult instead, it’s still quite a moving film.
