May was a jam-packed month at the movies, bookended by beautiful 4K screenings at the Academy Museum of Funny Girl and Amadeus, the latter of which was the world premiere of a new restoration of the theatrical cut of the Oscar-winning film. It’s been great visiting the Vista Theater more often, and this past month I went to a few epic 35mm screenings of The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, Once Upon a Time in the West, and Ran. The theater I spent the most time at this past month though was Quentin Tarantino’s other beloved theater, the New Beverly, where I saw a wonderful double feature of two of my favorite midcentury Disney movies, Sleeping Beauty and Cinderella, and a trio of films starring John Travolta (incidentally, his characters won dance contests in all three films): Saturday Night Fever, Grease, and Pulp Fiction, the latter of which celebrated its 30th anniversary. At the American Cinematheque, it was incredible to see a favorite film series all in one night on 35mm: Before Sunrise, Before Sunset, and Before Midnight. And speaking of the director and star of that series, I saw new films from each of them (though not through the AC): Ethan Hawke’s Wildcat, which featured a Q&A with him after the movie, and Richard Linklater’s Hit Man at the Egyptian, which was my favorite new-to-me movie of the month. The last notable theater screening I’ll mention that I attended thanks to the AC was Poolman, where filmmaker and star Chris Pine came out to introduce the movie beforehand and do a Q&A afterward, and he was nice enough to stay and meet with fans, including myself! But perhaps my favorite screening of May happened outdoors, with Almost Famous shown on the field at Rose Bowl Stadium, including a surprise appearance from filmmaker Cameron Crowe. And outside of watching movies but of course very much related, I went to Universal Studios Hollywood mostly to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the Studio Tour, which for a limited time allows guests to step off the tram and onto the iconic backlot of Psycho, with Norman Bates creeping around. All in all, it was another great movie-loving month, and I’m excited for what this summer has in store in L.A. First, a look back at everything I watched in May…

New-to-Me Films by Decade:

• 1910s – 2
• 1920s – 0
• 1930s – 5
• 1940s – 1
• 1950s – 3
• 1960s – 3
• 1970s – 1
• 1980s – 1
• 1990s – 0
• 2000s – 0
• 2010s – 0
• 2020s – 5

List of New-to-Me Films:

1. Mauvaise graine (1934)
2. Wild Bill Hickok Ride (1942)
3. Wildcat (2023)
4. Poolman (2023)
5. The Idea of You (2024)
6. Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (1988)
7. Desire (1936)
8. Stranded (1935)
9. The Magic Flute (1975)
10. So Big (1953)
11. The Big Trail (1930)
12. Beach Party (1963)
13. Take Aim at the Police Van (1960)
14. Hit Man (2023)
15. Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga (2024)
16. Bad for Each Other (1953)
17. The Cheat (1915)
18. The Tong Man (1919)
19. Jason and the Argonauts (1963)
20. The Mind Reader (1933)
21. Carnival Story (1954)

List of Re-Watched Films:

1. Funny Girl (1968)
2. The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966)
3. Dark Passage (1947)
4. Divorce Italian Style (1961)
5. Sleeping Beauty (1959)
6. Cinderella (1950)
7. Follow Me Quietly (1949)
8. Gigi (1958)
9. My Darling Clementine (1946)
10. Saturday Night Fever (1977)
11. Before Sunrise (1995)
12. Before Sunset (2004)
13. Before Midnight (2013)
14. On Dangerous Ground (1951)
15. Once Upon a Time in the West (1968)
16. Pulp Fiction (1994)
17. Grease (1978)
18. Almost Famous (2000)
19. Psycho (1960)
20. Ninotchka (1939)
21. Ran (1985)
22. Amadeus (1984)

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

1. Funny Girl (1968)
2. The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966)
3. Wildcat (2023)
4. Divorce Italian Style (1961)
5. Poolman (2023)
6. Sleeping Beauty (1959)
7. Cinderella (1950)
8. Saturday Night Fever (1977)
9. Before Sunrise (1995)
10. Before Sunset (2004)
11. Before Midnight (2013)
12. On Dangerous Ground (1951)
13. Once Upon a Time in the West (1968)
14. Pulp Fiction (1994)
15. Hit Man (2023)
16. Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga (2024)
17. Grease (1978)
18. Ran (1985)
19. Amadeus (1984)