I watched a ton of movies last month, so I saw relatively less in September, though as usual with my viewing habits that’s not saying much. At home, I caught up with some more movies from TCM’s Summer Under the Stars as well as a few films leaving the Criterion Channel at the end of the month. But much of the past month’s movie-watching excitement came from the screenings I attended: Academy Museum screenings of Dog Day Afternoon with Al Pacino and Places in the Heart with Sally Field; Darling and Kuroneko introduced respectively by married filmmakers Augustine Frizzell and David Lowery; and Talia Shire in conversation before The Godfather. And Beyond Fest just began this week, and a couple of days ago I went to the West Coast premiere of The Banshees of Inisherin, and to cap off the month in style, last night’s glorious screening of RRR at the TCL Chinese Theatre! More on that further on, so let’s get to what I watched over the past 30 days.

New-to-Me: 45

Re-Watched: 19

New-to-Me Films by Decade:

• 1910s – 0
• 1920s – 2
• 1930s – 6
• 1940s – 8
• 1950s – 14
• 1960s – 3
• 1970s – 2
• 1980s – 3
• 1990s – 0
• 2000s – 2
• 2010s – 1
• 2020s – 4

List of New-to-Me Films:

1. Great Day in the Morning (1956)
2. Dallas (1950)
3. Lightning Strikes Twice (1951)
4. Adventures in Babysitting (1987)
5. Hit and Run (1957)
6. The Mysterious Lady (1928)
7. Wild Orchids (1929)
8. The Nice Guys (2016)
9. The World, the Flesh and the Devil (1959)
10. Xanadu (1980)
11. Young Tom Edison (1940)
12. Edison, the Man (1940)
13. I Love You, Alice B. Toklas! (1968)
14. The Common Law (1931)
15. Rockabye (1932)
16. Scandal (1950)
17. I Live in Fear (1955)
18. This Woman Is Dangerous (1952)
19. Two Guys from Milwaukee (1946)
20. Two Guys from Texas (1948)
21. The Naked Street (1955)
22. Requiem for a Heavyweight (1962)
23. Foreign Intrigue (1956)
24. Tokyo Joe (1949)
25. Passage to Marseille (1944)
26. Cocktail Hour (1933)
27. Counsellor at Law (1933)
28. The River’s Edge (1957)
29. Lure of the Wilderness (1952)
30. Swamp Water (1941)
31. Don’t Worry Darling (2022)
32. See How They Run (2022)
33. Walker (1987)
34. Accused of Murder (1956)
35. Kuroneko (1968)
36. Silver Streak (1976)
37. Blue Collar (1978)
38. The Bravadoes (1958)
39. The Gleaners and I (2000)
40. The Gleaners and I: Two Years Later (2002)
41. The Banshees of Inisherin (2022)
42. Men Are Such Fools (1938)
43. The Wagons Roll at Night (1941)
44. The Return of Doctor X (1939)
45. RRR (2022)

A Few Favorite Discoveries:

I finally caught Adventures in Babysitting on a weekend matinee at the New Beverly. Elisabeth Shue leads a fun cast of characters, including a couple of recognizable faces in small roles such as Vincent D’Onofrio and Bradley Whitford. I also enjoyed the soundtrack, which coincidentally includes two songs that are also in Goodfellas three years before Martin Scorsese’s film was released.

The Nice Guys was another movie I finally caught up with at the New Bev, which I saw on a double bill of Ryan Gosling movies set in Los Angeles (with the other film being Drive, my favorite of his films). Gosling and Russell Crowe make a great on-screen pair, and Angourie Rice holds her own against them as the former’s spunky daughter. I’d love to see a sequel for this!

Sure Xanadu is quite kitschy, but I had a lot of fun watching this on a double feature with Grease honoring the late Olivia Newton-John. Though the story and the effects can be pretty silly at times, the music is what really makes it work for me, featuring the Electric Light Orchestra and of course, Newton-John’s beautiful voice. Plus I enjoy the backdrop of the protagonists working toward building a roller disco, combined with some Greek mythology. And I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention the legendary Gene Kelly in his final film role, he’s a delight as usual

I had seen so many people raving about RRR through much of the year, but didn’t get around to seeing it in a theater back when it was out a few months ago. So when I saw that Beyond Fest was hosting a special screening of the film at the TCL Chinese Theatre with S. S. Rajamouli in person, I knew I had to jump on the opportunity. And I’m so glad I did because I could not imagine watching this spectacle at home. And seeing it with an audience of 900 people (most of whom had seen the movie before) made it all one of my very favorite experiences in a theater (a few people even got up and danced!).