October Summary

October Summary

07/10 - The Descent
04/10 - Trainspotting
06/10 - Carrie
04/10 - Jacob's Ladder
05/10 - The Haunting
07/10 - The Rocky Horror Picture Show
08/10 - Deliverance
05/10 - Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps
09/10 - North by Northwest
09/10 - Rosemary's Baby
07/10 - The Last House on the Left

Quick Facts:
Movies seen in October: 11
Time spent watching movies in October: 1211 minutes (20 hours, 11 minutes)

Best Movie Seen (Overall):
Rosemary's Baby
This film was fantastic from start to finish as Polanski gave every emotion to the movie. There were tense moments, uncomfortable moments, happy moments, and everything in between. The acting was great and the constricting nature of the story really added to the desperate feel of Rosemary. Second is naturally North by Northwest which was great but lacked on some spots. It still had superb acting and featured quite a few perfect scenes. No question that these two were the best of the month.
Runner-up: North by Northwest
[Rosemary's Baby and North by Northwest were first time viewings.]
[Note: These two films will not be included in the next two rankings.]

Best Movie Seen (First Viewing):
Deliverance
Deliverance captured the thriller look I wanted to get this month. There was a complete lack of horror here but I was still on the edge of my seat. What I liked most was the acting of the group as the movie approached some of man's essential questions of life and death and morality. This was a film that far exceeded my expectations. On the complete opposite side of pretty much any description possible, lies The Rocky Horror Picture Show which takes second for this category this month. This movie was a joy to watch as it combined dark humor with extremely catchy songs. There wasn't much to hate about this musical as even the acting was pretty good all around.
Runner-up: The Rocky Horror Picture Show

Best Movie Seen (Repeated Viewing):
None

Worst Film Seen:
Trainspotting
Maybe it was a little bit that it didn't meet my horror and thriller theme so I wasn't really up for the watch from the beginning. Or maybe it was that all the characters were bland and I didn't care about the story. Whatever one "wins" out here caused Trainspotting to be the worst watch of the month. Not far behind is Jacob's Ladder which while definitely unique suffered from a plot that made me ask "so why does any of this matter?" which is never a good thing. At the end of the movie I was asking myself why I even watched it. I had heard good things about both of these films so they were both big disappointments.
Runner-up: Jacob's Ladder

Most Surprising Film Seen:
Deliverance
I was expecting a film of a different kind here but Deliverance gave me a film that asked important questions about life through excellent acting from the four main stars. I was expecting something more like The Deer Hunter for some reason and while I didn't get the 10/10 that The Deer Hunter is, I did get a movie that definitely surprised me for the right reasons. I guess in that regard, it was like The Deer Hunter.

First runner-up: The Descent
Second runner-up: Rosemary's Baby
Both of these films also exceeded expectations. I was going into The Descent viewing with expectations of an average recent horror film. Instead I got one that (for a while) had such an intense claustrophobic and tense feeling that I couldn't help but be really impressed. After the monsters were introduced the film lacked but until that point, it was fantastic. Rosemary's Baby gets the second runner-up spot pretty much because it hit a 9/10 when I wasn't expecting that. Though I should have had higher expectations for Polanski and now I know that I will next time.

Most Disappointing Film Seen:
Jacob's Ladder
I had heard really good things about this film as it completely warped your mind and left you entirely confused (for the right reasons) after it was over. I guess something along the lines of Mulholland Dr. Anyway, the film did nothing of the sort for me as I was glad it was over when the credits begun rolling.

First runner-up: Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps
Second runner-up: The Haunting
Wall Street's sequel didn't get great reviews but I was still hoping for something above average. Instead, I got a confused plot for a lot of the time and a lack of character focus. What was most disappointing though was that this film could have been good with the right story. Douglas was great back in his iconic role and LaBeouf actually held his own. The Haunting is pretty dated now having come out over forty years ago, but I was still hoping for some more scares than what I got. Most of the movie was pretty bland and while it succeeded on some levels, it wasn't the "ultimate haunted house" movie that I had read it to be.

Best Scene Seen:
Deliverance - the conversation following Lewis's killing of the Mountain Man
So much greatness occurs in this scene. The first and foremost thing is the acting. All four main guys here are at the top of their game. The other thing going on in this scene is the great dialogue. The guys are literally discussing life and death and various moral questions. It's a tough conversation but they all must reach a consensus for their own well-being. This causes the tension to mount the longer the scene goes on which is actually quite a bit. All in all, everything comes together to work for this scene which is why it gets this mention.

First runner-up: North by Northwest - the auction scene
Second runner-up: The Rocky Horror Picture Show - "Time Warp"
North by Northwest features a couple perfect scenes but I selected the auction one here. I wrote a lot in my comments for this movie why I liked three certain scenes but really the auction one stood out a bit more. There's collapsing tension and great acting here by Grant and it stands as the highlight in a great movie. The "Time Warp" from The Rocky Horror Picture Show might be the best musical number I've ever seen in a movie (though I honestly haven't seen many musicals). It's without question the absolute catchiest one I've ever seen. It's funny and quirky and just a joy to watch.

Best Character:
Dr. Frank-N-Furter - A Scientist (Tim Curry) from The Rocky Horror Picture Show
This is the overall best combination of acting and character from this month so that's why it gets the mention. Curry pulls no punches as he delivers one of the most absurd, hilarious, and likable freaks from any movie I've ever seen. At the end, I'm actually feeling sorry for this twisted individual and that's mostly thanks to Curry's great acting.

First runner-up: Gordon Gekko (Michael Douglas) from Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps
Second runner-up: Lewis (Burt Reynolds) from Deliverance
There's a huge gap between the above winner and these two runner-ups. And even really another big jump between Geeko and Ross. Anyway, Gekko is actually done really well in Wall Street's sequel. The movie has a bunch of holes but none of them really fall on Gekko as Douglas jumps back into his iconic "villain" with ease and gives him some great new development for the 2000s. His portrayal of the character was probably the best thing in the movie. Really Deliverance is about four characters but Reynolds's Lewis stands out just a bit more than the others in my opinion. He doesn't feature prominently in the second half but he dominates the first half so much that he gets this mention. Reynolds has such a domineering presence it's hard not to like his character.

Voting Update:
05/10 --> 04/10: Die Hard 2
When I think back on the Die Hard movies I can easily point at Die Hard 2 as being the weakest link. There's a lot of bad going on with easily the worst plot in the series (okay, Live Free or Die Hard has a bad plot but the action somewhat forgives it). The surrounding cast isn't that great and the action is only average. All this awards Die Hard a demotion to a 4/10.
07/10 --> 06/10: Rocky Balboa
This was also a really old ranking back when I had lower standards for a 7/10 movie. Rocky Balboa is not a 7/10 but it is a 6/10 movie. It's really good and fun and all that and Stallone sends the character out in a realistic way but that doesn't mean it should have that high a score.
09/10 --> 10/10: Inglourious Basterds
The more I think back on this movie the more I realize how truly awesome it was. Tarantino shows here that he simply loves movies in every aspect. Just like Crowe did with Almost Famous and music, Tarantino does here with movies. They are both deserving of their perfect scores.
07/10 --> 06/10: 10 Things I Hate About You
That 7/10 was given partially due to nostalgia and I think I admitted that in the comments. Anyway, the movie is good and great for the teenage group, but when I look back on it, it's only slightly above average. I think it's one of those movies everyone saw as a kid and loved, but when we look back on it we all realize it's not as great as we remember. Like Space Jam, only not near as bad.
06/10 --> 05/10: The Hills Have Eyes
After seeing more horror movies I realize that The Hills Have Eyes isn't an above average one but rather just an average one. I can't say it's better than stuff like The Nightmare on Elm Street or the good Friday the 13th movies. It is on their level and thus the demotion.

Lots of movies got knocked down a notch this month but those earlier ratings were somewhat inflated and that's what these Voting Updates are for in the first place. Inglourious Basterds joins Groundhog Day as being the second movie to be bumped from a 9/10 to a 10/10 after further thought.

October Comments:
While I didn't have a fantastic Thriller October I did get eleven films in which helps me on my march towards 200. It was the first time I've ever had all new watches as well. Anyway, I didn't get the ten or so movies crossed off my list that I had hoped but I'll try and get some of those in before the year is up. All in all, I don't think I did the genre a great service with the movies I managed to watch but I did at least catch some classics like Carrie. A contributing factor to the lack of watches this month was my continuing quest to finish The Wire which is really really close to being completed.

November Outlook:
The theme for next month will be foreign films (with the working title of Non-Native November). I want to start it off with Låt den rätte komma in (Let the Right One In) which serves as a bridge between the themes of October and November. I think most of the stuff I want to watch is Japanese in origin as it's a movie rich country that I have hardly looked at besides one Kurosawa film. I'm at 180 films for the year right now so as long as I hit ten each month left I'll reach my goal.