September Summary

September Summary

03/10 - Jason X
04/10 - Boss Nigger
05/10 - Friday the 13th
09/10 - Tombstone
09/10 - An American Werewolf in London
07/10 - Pink Floyd The Wall
07/10 - The Green Mile
05/10 - Observe and Report
09/10 - Taxi Driver
07/10 - The Town
06/10 - Wall Street
09/10 - Psycho
07/10 - Vertigo

Quick Facts:
Movies seen in September: 13
Time spent watching movies in September: 1481 minutes (24 hours, 41 minutes)

Best Movie Seen (Overall):
Taxi Driver
In a month where four movies get 9/10 rating Taxi Driver emerges at the top of the pile. Also, three of these four are on the verge of a 10/10. It's just that Taxi Driver does too much right and is the closest to the perfect score that it gets this nod. An American Werewolf in London is perhaps a surprising pick for second as it edges out Psycho. It's close all around but I like how everything works in An American Werewolf in London just a bit more.
Runner-up: An American Werewolf in London
[Taxi Driver and An American Werewolf in London were repeated viewings.]
[Note: These two films will not be included in the next two rankings.]

Best Movie Seen (First Viewing):
Psycho
Naturally Psycho takes here. Nothing else this month compared as a first time viewing. It's an expertly made film and had I not also seen Taxi Driver and An American Werewolf in London I would wager that it would run away with the Best Movie Seen (Overall) pick. It's just that it was a tough month. Vertigo gets almost a distant second here. I liked a lot of what Vertigo did but a lot of what I felt were flaws showed through as well. I think a second viewing will change my mind but for now it gets the distant second place here.
Runner-up: Vertigo

Best Movie Seen (Repeated Viewing):
Tombstone
Nothing else comes close here. This round out the group of four 9/10 movies this month so it's a natural pick here. I wrote a ton on why I love Tombstone so much. The characters are some of my favorite of any movie ever and most everything works great as well - pacing, setting, action, and drama. It was a joy on what was my third watch. Pink Floyd The Wall gets a default pick for second here as nothing else qualifies. It was still a good movie and held up well on a second view.
Runner-up: Pink Floyd The Wall

Worst Film Seen:
Jason X
Okay, Jason X wasn't terrible like most films are for this pick. It paid homage in fun ways to the series and was an appropriate conclusion all things considered. It's just that overall it lacked in a lot of areas. It was a fun movie to watch, sure, but quality factors in heavily to a rating and Jason X lacked there. Boss Nigger takes second for pretty much the same reasons. It was fun to watch, but an overall low production value hurt it's score and overall rating.
Runner-up: Boss Nigger

Most Surprising Film Seen:
The Town
I didn't expect The Town to actually be up there with a lot of recent heist films. I expect a silly, Hollywood action movie with a heist in the plot somewhere. Instead, Ben Affleck created some pretty fun characters and a good twisting and turning plot. It ranked a lot higher than I expected.

First runner-up: Observe and Report
Second runner-up: Jason X
Not much really here. Observe and Report had some really good moments and solid performances by Seth Rogen and Collette Wolfe. It also addressed a wide variety of issues and succeeded in quite a few areas at being a Taxi Driver comedy. Jason X gets second runner-up here because not much else qualifies. Jason X had fun making fun of the Friday the 13th franchise and that impressed me.

Most Disappointing Film Seen:
Vertigo
Like I've said a few times now, Vertigo will almost surely get a higher rating on a rewatch. But until then, certain things bothered me. Maybe when I have more time to focus on characters and their actions as opposed to how the plot is working together I'll like it more. It is considered Hitchcock's masterpiece after all.

First runner-up: The Green Mile
Second runner-up: Friday the 13th
The Green Mile is pretty high up on the IMDb Top 250. Sure, that's not always right or anything, but usually good movies are on there (but sometimes in completely the wrong order). Anyway, The Green Mile's placement led me to have a little too high of expectations. It was still a really good movie, just not the great movie I was expecting. Friday the 13th gets second runner-up here for a different reason. Here, the movie didn't do much to set itself apart from the other slasher entries in the franchise. It's hard to punish it much for that but nothing else that I saw really qualifies as a "disappointment" so it'll have to do.

Best Scene Seen:
Taxi Driver - the scene where Travis Bickle watches American Bandstand
I pretty much devoted my entire post for this rewatch to this scene. Or at least half of the post. Anyway, it's become my favorite scene in cinema (in terms of quality) so it's no surprise it takes this spot. Expect to see it right here come the end of the year as well.

First runner-up: Psycho - the sandwich conversation
Second runner-up: Tombstone - the Johnny Ringo and Doc Holliday duel
Two scenes that build tension come in here. The sandwich conversation in Psycho is one of the most tense moments I've ever seen in a movie as Marion awkwardly talks with Norman. It's chilling as the character of Norman Bates and his twisted psychology is explored via a simple discussion over a sandwich and milk. For the second runner-up, the Johnny Ringo and Doc Holliday duel is amazing. It's well done from a historical perspective (paying homage to three theories of Ringo's death) but it's also completely sums up these two amazing characters.

Best Character:
Doc Holliday (Val Kilmer) from Tombstone
No contest. Doc Holliday is my second favorite film character so it's no surprise that in a month without an Apocalypse Now viewing he takes this. I devoted a ton of space in my comments for Tombstone on why I like Holliday so much. I think he has an amazing character arc along with being immensely likable. But he's also flawed and human. He's just superbly written.

First runner-up: Travis Bickle (Robert De Niro) from Taxi Driver
Second runner-up: Norman Bates (Anthony Perkins) from Psycho
Two psychologically twisted individuals round out this list. Bickle provides one of the most complex characters in the history of cinema. The central question of if he's a hero or a villain is never really answered and that's exactly the way it should be. Just like Holliday, Bickle is a flawed individual but also likable (though not in the same way as Holliday) and this contributes to why he's such a great character. Bates is just expertly written. Twisted and weird, Perkins's masterful performance helps add even more to the character. This was only a first time view of Psycho (Tombstone and Taxi Driver were both repeat viewings) but Bates will stay with me for quite some time.

Voting Update:
06/10 --> 07/10 - Blade Runner
Blade Runner is a quality sci-fi film. I didn't really like a lot of what it did but it's a movie that I want to go back and revisit. Usually that doesn't happen with 6/10 movies (see (500) Days of Summer) and so it gets bumped up one notch.
08/10 --> 07/10 - Gladiator
Basically canceling out the previous change. Gladiator is a really fun movie but it just doesn't belong up there with the 8/10 movies I've seen (stuff like Casablanca or Shane). A 7/10 is more appropriate.

September Comments:
This was one of the best months ever. Sure, I didn't see a ton of movies but what I saw was almost always great. Taking out the few Friday the 13th movies left over from last month and the Weird Wednesday and it's a month where the average is practically an 8/10. These high ranking movies were from all over the genre spectrum too which was even better.

October Outlook:
I'm going to make a special post for what I want to accomplish in October. Sometimes called Shocktober, people want to scare themselves with every movie they watch. I'm not ready for that yet, as I'm just going with Thriller October as I try to hit up some thrillers and horror movies that I've delayed watching. Hopefully I can get really close to that 200 movie goal.