June Summary

June Summary

09/10 - Double Indemnity
10/10 - The Third Man
04/10 - Clerks II
01/10 - Boardinghouse
08/10 - 8½
07/10 - Last Action Hero
06/10 - Edge of Darkness
03/10 - From Paris with Love
03/10 - The Hitchhikers
03/10 - Transformers
01/10 - Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
04/10 - The Men Who Stare at Goats
07/10 - Click
07/10 - The Searchers
08/10 - Shane
05/10 - Hot Tub Time Machine

Quick Facts:
Movies seen in June: 16
Time spent watching movies in June: 1806 minutes (30 hours, 6 minutes)

Best Movie Seen (Overall):
The Third Man
This got a 10/10 for the month so it comes as no surprise. The film has absolutely perfect cinematography and creates an amazing atmosphere. The characters are memorable and the ending is one of the best I've ever seen. Everything comes together so well here. My film noir double feature takes first and second here as Double Indemnity comes in second. It's a tension filled noir that beats out everything else I saw this month.
Runner-up: Double Indemnity
[The Third Man and Double Indemnity were first time viewings.]
[Note: These two films will not be included in the next two rankings.]

Best Movie Seen (First Viewing):
Shane
Shane is one of the quintessential westerns in that it very easily boils the genre down to good versus evil (which is really why the genre is so loved in my opinion). Anyway, it was a cool movie after The Searchers which had a completely different vibe. I liked it for a lot of reasons. Completely opposed to it is second place which is Fellini's 8½. It was bizarre and weird and unique but I liked it a lot.
Runner-up: 8½

Best Movie Seen (Repeated Viewing):
Transformers
Nothing else here to compete against so it wins by default. I did not expect this to happen when I saw that film.
Runner-up: None

Worst Film Seen:
Boardinghouse
I think this is the first month I've ever had two 1/10 ratings. Boardinghouse barely qualifies as a movie so it gets the nod as worst. What a painful experience that "movie" was. And while it's prequel "won" Best Movie Seen (Repeated Viewing), Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen comes in second for Worst Movie Seen. What a bloated piece of trash. Two abysmal films here.
Runner-up: Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen

Most Surprising Film Seen:
Click
Click isn't great but it sure knows how to do well what it's good at. Sandler pulls off an incredibly moving and memorable roll that plucked the heartstrings like I wasn't expecting. Surprisingly good acting as well.

First runner-up: Last Action Hero
Second runner-up: Clerks II
Last Action Hero is incredibly cheesy but also quite fun to watch. Constantly mocking itself - something I love in films - it took me by surprise with its wit and charm. Clerks II didn't really get a great rating at only 4/10, but after that terrible thing that was Clerks. I was actually surprised at a 4/10. A decent story and some okay acting left me with an okay film.

Most Disappointing Film Seen:
The Men Who Stare at Goats
Here I was expecting some fun comedy that was zany but still witty. Instead, it was just a random allotment of scenes featuring people I never grew to care about. The plot was absurd and stupid in the wrong way and I just didn't like it. Pretty much the definition of miss satire in my opinion.

First runner-up: From Paris with Love
Second runner-up: Hot Tub Time Machine
From Paris with Love was supposed to be like Taken since it was done by the same guy - over-the-top action and exhilarating from start to finish. Instead it just turns into a borefest with zero memorable characters and a stupid plot. Hot Tub Time Machine didn't really disappoint me but I kind of was expecting more laughs than I got. It still got a 5/10 but I was expecting something more like The Hangover or (perhaps wishful thinking) I Love You, Man.

Most Enjoyable Film Seen:
Last Action Hero
This is just me I realize but I found this movie incredibly charming. I love movies that make fun of themselves and Last Action Hero did just that. It completely played up the necessary clichés of the action genre but it also raised some interesting questions being based in this fantasy world. Pretty fun to watch and think about later.

First runner-up: Hot Tub Time Machine
Second runner-up: The Men Who Stare at Goats
Neither of these really deserve this award as they pretty much just win it by default due to their genres. The movies each have their share of laughs but Hot Tub Time Machine naturally has a few more than the miss satire (to me) of The Men Who Stare at Goats. Thus the given ordering.

The Film More People Need to See:
The Third Man
Want a lesson on how to do a ton of things perfectly? Watch The Third Man. Simply breathtaking in so many aspects. I recommended it to quite a few people already but sadly I think a suggestion of a film like this frequently just falls on deaf ears.

First runner-up: 8½
Second runner-up: Shane
Usually an old or a foreign film places pretty high in this spot and this month is no exception. The Italian 8½ gets first runner-up because of how it expertly blends dreams and reality while making fun of both in its own way. Shane is a great film of the western genre that is often overlooked by my age group in this more frequently action film loving populace.

Best Scene Seen:
The Third Man - the final scene
Absolutely chilling. A sad and broken ending works one hundred times better for this type of movie than a happy one. It was perfect on every level: the long and slow pace of the cut, the buildling tension, the excitement right before, and the overall emotion overload.

First runner-up: Click - when Michael goes back to see his dad
Second runner-up: 8½ - when Guido is talking to all the movie people
Perhaps two odd choices here compared to the stuff I usually select. Anyway, the Click scene is just incredibly moving. It's done really well and pretty much breaks hearts in the way everything is done. Easily the most emotional moment in an already emotional movie. Sandler actually acts and shows that he's pretty talented. As for 8½, this was just a scene I found hilarious thrown in there. Guido is extremely likable to me and I found this scene just great as he found a funny way to ignore every single person in a huge group. Sure, he talked to everyone but he didn't say anything of value at all.

Voting Update:
05/10 --> 04/10 - The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3
When I saw I gave this a 5/10 and Edge of Darkness a 6/10 and From Paris a Love a 3/10 I realized that this was closer in quality to the later. Thus, I'll bump it down a notch.
08/10 --> 07/10 - Clash of the Titans
Clash of the Titans is a sentimental favorite but having it up there with stuff like The Graduate and Sunset Blvd. is silly.
07/10 --> 06/10 - Jackie Brown
Sadly, I have to knock down this Tarantino film. It's underappreciated by most and while I thought it was really good, when I reflect back on the movie I find it hard to remember very many details.

Three films get knocked down this month. It really just boils down into seeing what these were all in the same bracket with and it forced me to adjust the scales a bit.

June Comments:
I watched a whole bunch of new stuff in June with only one rewatch among everything. I don't think I got around to checking out all the random stuff I wanted to though which is unfortunate. I liked the double noir feature I did to start the month though. There were actually four double features this month which is probably unique for me. Two were really good, one was average, and one was terrible. Odd how that worked out.

July Outlook:
I'll continue just picking up random stuff this month I figure. I have some westerns I want to watch (or rewatch) this month because of The Searchers and Shane. Plus, I've had a desire to see Forrest Gump for quite some time so I'll probably give that a rewatch. No real big marathons this month that I'm expecting though. Oh, and Inception comes out in the middle of the month so I'll definitely check that out.