Films in 2023: August

I’m going to quote some Taylor Swift lyrics, to sum up this past month to start off this post and just say August slipped away into a moment in time. I’m still coasting on the high from the beginning of August when I saw Taylor Swift in concert for the first time for her Eras Tour. I was even at one of the shows that was filmed for her just-announced concert film, and I did jump on getting a ticket to see it in theaters next month! Along with that excitement, I also saw a couple of concert movies at the Academy Museum as part of its “Summer of Music” series, one being among my all-time favorites David Bryne’s American Utopia (which I did see live on Broadway two years ago), and the other being a new favorite, Homecoming: A Film by Beyoncé. A couple of other amazing music moments on the big screen were from the Academy Museum’s other summer series, “Silent Sundays”, in which I saw Flesh and the Devil with live, improvised piano accompaniment and Safety Last! with a live orchestra playing a score composed by the late Carl Davis (and it was a sold-out screening celebrating the film’s 100th anniversary). I also must mention the other two screenings I saw there in August, Beauty and the Beast on 70mm and To Live and Die in L.A. on 35mm, both of which were thrilling to see in the magnificent David Geffen Theater. And the memorable screenings don’t stop there! At the Aero Theatre in Santa Monica, I saw The Talented Mr. Ripley and JFK in 35mm, the latter of which included a post-screening Q&A with Oliver Stone (I sat just a couple of rows behind him during his 3-hour+ film). And last, but certainly not least, I went to a handful of the double features for Noir City Hollywood (technically in Santa Monica at the Aero); one of those nights had a double bill of noir westerns starring Robert Mitchum, and in between films I spotted none other than Quentin Tarantino in the lobby! As fate would have it, I ended up practically sitting next to him for the second movie (there was just an empty seat between us). So yes, this past month was pretty great, to say the least, and it may be hard to top for the rest of the year, but there’s still much to look forward to! But before we move on to September, here’s a breakdown of what I watched over the past 31 days.