April was essentially a build-up to the highly anticipated in-person return of the TCM Classic Film Festival, which came to an end just a week ago. It was so wonderful for TCMFF to be back in Hollywood, especially to be reunited with fellow classic movie lovers. I’ll recount my whole TCMFF experience later this month. In the meantime, here’s an overview of the movies I watched for the first time over the past 30 days…
New-to-Me: 25
Re-Watched: 17
New-to-Me Films by Decade:
- 1910s – 0
- 1920s – 0
- 1930s – 0
- 1940s – 3
- 1950s – 7
- 1960s – 1
- 1970s – 3
- 1980s – 2
- 1990s – 1
- 2000s – 1
- 2010s – 1
- 2020s – 6
List of New-to-Me Films:
- Hit the Deck (1955)
- Athena (1954)
- Invitation to the Dance (1956)
- The Lost City (2022)
- Everything Everywhere All at Once (2022)
- The Doris Mary Anne Kappelhoff Special (1971)
- Doris Day Today (1975)
- The Volunteer (1944)
- Promise Her Anything (1965)
- The Only Game in Town (1970)
- Town & Country (2001)
- Rules Don’t Apply (2016)
- Apollo 10½: A Space Age Childhood (2022)
- Fresh (2022)
- Deep Water (2022)
- Pagan Love Song (1950)
- The Wild North (1952)
- The Accused (1949)
- Miracle Mile (1988)
- Return of the Secaucus Seven (1980)
- Has Anybody Seen My Gal (1952)
- The Girl Most Likely (1958)
- The Basketball Diaries (1995)
- The Lady Gambles (1949)
- Memoria (2021)
A Few Favorite Discoveries:
Everything Everywhere All at Once (2022), directed by Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert
Though we’re only a few months into 2022, it may be tough for any other movie to beat Everything Everywhere All at Once as my favorite of the year. While the concept of multiverses is the big topic of interest in a number of science-fiction/fantasy-type movies and TV shows (mostly thanks to Marvel), the way the Daniels convey it here feels so fresh. And with so much to absorb on that front, the family at its center is what really makes the film work as well as it does. The whole cast is fantastic, from Ke Huy Quan and Stephanie Hsu getting the chance to really shine in complex roles to legends like James Hong and Jamie Lee Curtis as delightful supporting players, all anchored by the incredible Michelle Yeoh, who really gets to showcase her wide range of talents.
The Accused (1949), directed by William Dieterle
The weekend before TCMFF, I was able to attend the Saturday night double feature at Noir City Hollywood, which included one movie I hadn’t seen before: The Accused. It’s a film noir I’ve been curious to check out for a while, and I’m glad I finally got to see it, especially in this capacity with TCM Noir Alley host Eddie Muller introducing it. Loretta Young is great as usual here, and whenever I see her in a movie, I’m usually reminded of how much I like her screen presence, so now I want to make a better effort to check out more of her films (though I’ve already seen more than a dozen of them). The premise of this film noir also remains relevant today.
Miracle Mile (1988), directed by Steve De Jarnatt
Of the few new-to-me movies I watched at TCMFF, Miracle Mile was easily my favorite, and I’m glad it lived up to my expectations as I had heard a lot of people praise it. Director Steve De Jarnatt introduced his film at the screening alongside Eddie Muller, and fortunately, they didn’t reveal too much about the story beforehand, letting much of the audience who hadn’t seen it before get the full experience of the journey the story takes. So if you haven’t seen it before, I highly suggest going in as blind as possible. What I also enjoyed about this was recognizing the L.A. neighborhood for which the movie takes place and gets its title.
