Another month is gone and that means many more movies have been watched. The ratio of great to bad has disproportionately favored the good shit. Quite the reversal from the trash heavy start to the year. Starting in February I wanted to watch at least one film for consideration for my top 100 a day. You can see shortly into this month I have pretty much completely abandoned watching new stuff.
Even at my current rate (about 75-ish movies a month) I’m looking at wrapping this project up sometime in July, at least until I forget another 25-30 films I need to add to my list. I will say going forward the distinction of “worst film of the month” will likely fall on something quite excellent, so apologies in advance. At least there are still a few contenders in the early part of April for the title. Even if nothing was particularly awful. Maybe a few trashy movie nights can sprinkle in some “worthy” contenders for that dishonor.
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| Watched my first silent movie in 4k |
The problem of course with devoting all my viewing time to list research means that my watch pile is going to get a little out of hand. So perhaps the month of August will see me dig into all the cool and (hopefully) great new releases I’ve been stockpiling. For those wondering I did not get the Black Emmanuelle bundle, so sadly don’t see myself playing that board game anytime soon. My great accomplishment in January of getting the pile down to zero will begin again in earnest later this summer.
Digging in my mom’s basement I located Jay Slater’s Eaten Alive which I bought when I was particularly interested in all things zombie. So perhaps a deep dive into Italian jungle cannibal films will happen at some point this summer. I’ve also been toying with the idea of a “B-list” composed of my favorite cult films. Simply put, it is getting harder to objectively reconcile “bad” movies with great works of art even if I often love them equally. The biggest hold up with that is where to draw the line? Sure something like Hard Rock Zombies and Night Killer might be bizarro cult films, but how about more mainstream fare like Tango and Cash or Showgirls?
That is a debate for another day or rather another month. I suppose it’s a fair time to discuss some of the movies watched in April. Not much for first-time watches but as a delightful companion piece to the original Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, I watched the 1989 Dr. Caligari. It only took 5-ish months after delays for Mondo Macabro to get their first 4k ready for the public. The wait I’m happy to report was worth it. The film and release were fantastic and although Mondo might have been responsible for releasing my least favorite film of the month, they also hit far more than they miss. For the record the film bares very little to the original, just in spirit. I could not recommend it enough whenever a standard edition gets announced.
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| Not everything this month was good |
I developed a habit over the last month or two of having many themes in my viewing. Sometimes this is simply seeing “It’s ____ birthday today” and watching a film based entirely on that. In fact the last film of the month was viewed because it was Kirsten Dunst’s birthday. There wasn’t a ton of her work on my re-watch checklist, but it seemed a good a time as any to check out the recent-ish 4k release of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. It might be the source material but it didn’t exactly look spectacular even if the actual movie remains one of my absolute favorites. It has also resurrected the time honored debate of whether or not we need to upgrade our TV. The short answer is yes, but when and what will be a very long debate.
For the 2023 edition of my list I opted to avoid things released or originally conceived as a mini-series. Sadly this means both Berlin Alexanderplatz and Carlos will not be on the 2023 edition. It also means for things such as Fanny and Alexander, I had to watch the theatrical version even if the expanded full version might be superior. However, there are still plenty of very long movies I am considering. In April I not only watched the near 4-hour A Brighter Summer Day, but the even longer Satantango. I can’t speak definitively if either film will make the list, but it’s always good to knock out something 7 hours long.
Some may call it cheating but I also consider film series as one entry. I’m not splitting hairs deciding where to slide The Godfather or part 2 as separate films so they’ve always gone together. There are some other extended series I need to get to in the coming months but I finished this month off with my most recent viewing of Satyajit Ray’s Apu Trilogy. I always feel like I’m going to like it more, but my opinion hasn’t really changed much. The final chapter however remains my favorite and I think it’s the most effective from a narrative standpoint. It seems to show Ray’s maturation as a world class filmmaker. I may honestly like some of his later works more, but the trilogy will forever be his most iconic.
So let’s stop talking and get into what I actually watched in April. Pretty similar total to last month, 77 films to March’s 76. The percentage of good to great is probably the highest of the year. For the purposes of making a greatest film list, it does help watching everything together because it really helps the best of the best stand out. As always the 5-star films are in bold.
04/01
The Cabinet of Dr. Calibari (1920) - *****
04/02
La Cienaga (2001)-***½
The Holy Mountain (1973)-*****
04/03
Satantango (1994)-*****
Rio Bravo (1959)-*****
The Earrings of Madame De..(1953)-*****
Ran (1985)-*****
04/04
A Matter of Life and Death (1946)-*****
04/05
Rashomon (1950)-*****
A Brighter Summer Day (1991)-*****
Beast in Space (1980)-**½
The Witch (2015)-*****
04/06
Day of Wrath (1943)-****½.
Seven Women for Satan (1976)-**
04/07
Ugetsu (1953)-*****
Black Narcissus (1947)-****½
04/08
Dr. Caligari (1989)-*****
04/09
Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)-*****
A Man Escaped (1956)-*****
04/10
Slacker (1990)-****½
The Searchers (1956)-*****
Duck Soup (1933)-*****
Aguirre, the Wrath of God (1972)-*****
04/11
Tango and Cash (1990)-*****
Battleship Potemkin (1925)-*****
No Country for Old Men (2007)-*****
04/12
The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014)-*****
Husbands (1970)-*****
The Maltese Falcon (1941)-*****
Eraserhead (1977)-*****
04/13
Cabaret (1972)-****½
The Departed (2006)-*****
04/14
The Great Dictator (1940)-*****
04/15
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975)-*****
City Lights (1931)-*****
All About My Mother (1999)-*****
04/16
Boogie Nights (1997)-*****
Black Girl (1966)-*****
Modern Times (1936)-*****
Ordet (1955)-*****
04/17
A Touch of Zen (1970)-****½
A Page of Madness (1926)-*****
Romeo and Juliet (1968)-*****
Sunset Boulevard (1950)-*****
Come and See (1985)-*****
04/18
Kiss Me Deadly (1955)-*****
Princess Mononoke (1997)-*****
04/19
Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975)-****
The Incredibles (2004)-*****
12 Angry Men (1957)-*****
They Live (1988)-****
04/20
Sullivan’s Travels (1941)-*****
Spirited Away (2001)-*****
04/21
Design for Living (1933)-*****
Stagecoach (1939)-*****
04/22
Carol (2015)-****½
Chinatown (1974)-*****
The Big Lebowski (1998)-*****
04/23
Being John Malkovich (1999)-****½
WALL-E (2008)-*****
04/24
Landscape in the Mist (1988)-*****
Walkabout (1971)-*****
The Turin House (2012)-****½
04/25
Once Upon a Time in the West (1968)-*****
L’atalante (1934)-*****
04/26
The Apartment (1960)-*****
L’Avventura (1960)-*****
Marriage of the Blessed (1989)-*****
04/27
Autumn Sonata (1978)-*****
Natural Born Killers (1994)-*****
04/28
Boudu Saved From Drowning (1932)-*****
La Ronde (1950)-*****
04/29
Pather Panchali (1954)-*****
Blood Simple (1984)-*****
04/30
Aparajito (1957)-*****
The World of Apu (1959)-*****
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)-*****
Best Film of the Month - The Big Lebowski
Worst Film of the Month - Seven Women for Satan
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