October was a busy movie-watching month that was basically bookended with two local film festivals; first was Beyond Fest, which started at the end of September and continued a little over a week into October, and then AFI Fest took place in Hollywood this past weekend (which included Greta Gerwig introducing a screening of A Matter of Life and Death). So most of my first-time watches this past month were new releases thanks to those film festivals, along with a couple of other significant new movies in between them, including an advanced screening of The Holdovers featuring a Q&A with Alexander Payne, and Killers of the Flower Moon at the TCL Chinese Theatre with the one and only Martin Scorsese doing a Q&A before the film. There were several other notable filmmakers and stars I saw throughout the month thanks again to Beyond Fest and AFI Fest, but I’ll just mention one more that I saw outside of those festivals, and that was Sofia Coppola at both a special signing for her new book and a double feature of her films Lost in Translation and The Bling Ring. And to wrap up the spooky season, I spent my last two days of the month watching three classic ’50s thrillers in 3D at the Aero: Dial M for Murder, Creature from the Black Lagoon, and House of Wax. Now comes my favorite month of the year, Noirvember! But before going deep into the world of film noir, here’s a rundown of all the films I watched over the past 31 days.

New-to-Me Films by Decade:

• 1910s – 0
• 1920s – 0
• 1930s – 1
• 1940s – 1
• 1950s – 2
• 1960s – 0
• 1970s – 0
• 1980s – 2
• 1990s – 2
• 2000s – 0
• 2010s – 0
• 2020s – 12

List of New-to-Me Films:

1. Anatomy of a Fall (2023)
2. Foe (2023)
3. Saltburn (2023)
4. All of Us Strangers (2023)
5. Passages (2023)
6. Prom Night (1980)
7. The Slumber Party Massacre (1982)
8. Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour (2023)
9. The Big Caper (1957)
10. Star Dust (1940)
11. In the Mouth of Madness (1994)
12. Dark City (1998)
13. Killers of the Flower Moon (2023)
14. Casque d’or (1952)
15. Murders in the Rue Morgue (1932)
16. The Holdovers (2023)
17. The Bikeriders (2023)
18. Memory (2023)
19. American Fiction (2023)
20. Maestro (2023)

List of Re-Watched Films:

1. Whiplash (1948)
2. Cinema Paradiso (1988)
3. Hairspray (1988)
4. The Iron Giant (1999)
5. Deception (1946)
6. Days of Heaven (1978)
7. The Wicker Man (1973)
8. Lost in Translation (2003)
9. The Bling Ring (2013)
10. Apollo 13 (1995)
11. Frankenstein (1931)
12. Bride of Frankenstein (1935)
13. The Untouchables (1987)
14. Carrie (1976)
15. A Matter of Life and Death (1946)
16. Don’t Look Now (1973)
17. Experiment in Terror (1962)
18. Dial M for Murder (1954)
19. Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954)
20. House of Wax (1953)

List of Films I Saw in Theaters (re-watches marked in italics):

1. Cinema Paradiso (1988)
2. Anatomy of a Fall (2023)
3. Foe (2023)
4. Saltburn (2023)
5. Hairspray (1988)
6. All of Us Strangers (2023)
7. The Iron Giant (1999)
8. Days of Heaven (1978)
9. The Wicker Man (1973)
10. Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour (2023)
11. Lost in Translation (2003)
12. The Bling Ring (2013)
13. Apollo 13 (1995)
14. Frankenstein (1931)
15. Bride of Frankenstein (1935)
16. Killers of the Flower Moon (2023)
17. The Untouchables (1987)
18. The Holdovers (2023)
19. A Matter of Life and Death (1946)
20. The Bikeriders (2023)
21. Memory (2023)
22. American Fiction (2023)
23. Maestro (2023)
24. Dial M for Murder (1954)
25. Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954)
26. House of Wax (1953)