Happy April everyone!!
Let’s start off with some lists and non-review posts
- Chris is back with his ‘What is’ series, this time he posted about Aspect Ratio
- Sati posted 11 things she looks forward to in Game of Thrones 5
- Mike posted about the superb contemporary noir that is Michael Mann’s HEAT, part of his Looking Back 20 Years series
- The entries to Andrew’s A Fistful of Moments blogathon‘s been popping up a lot this week, I really love Irene‘s and Anna‘s lists, which include two films that’ll surely be on my own list!
- Speaking of lists, Dan just posted about Top 10 Crazy Movie Doctors
Now on to reviews!
- Mark reviewed Inherent Vice
- Stu reviewed Animal Kingdom
- Cindy reviewed Vincente Minnelli’s 1958 classic Some Came Running
- Jordan posted his Bite Sized Reviews on Digital Shortbread, including Russell Crowe’s scariest performance as a skinhead in Romper Stomper
- Steven just reviewed one of 2015 Oscar’s Best Foreign Language nominee Wild Tales
- Last but not least, Michael just reviewed a space film classic Apollo 13
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Before I get to my March recap, I simply have to share this awesome video mash-up… SUPERMANDREAS. A guy by the name of Nick Acosta decided to re-edit the San Andreas trailer to take out Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson and put in Christopher Reeve as Superman in the 1978 film. It’s such a hoot!!
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I saw a dozen new-to-me movies this month, quite an improvement over January and February. Minneapolis-StPaul Film Fest (MSPIFF) is coming in mid April so I hope I’ll see more movies this month! Plus the weather’s getting nicer, MUCH nicer than it was around this time last year, so I think I’ll be getting Spring Fever in no time!
Posts You Might’ve Missed
Music Break: 5 Fave Sci-fi Scores About Robot
Music Break: Disney’s Animated Classic Cinderella
St Patrick’s Day Special: 5 Scenes set in Ireland
BLOGATHON:
Thursday Movie Picks #35: Fairy Tale Adaptations
Thursday Movie Picks #36: Movies adapted from Young Adult Novels
Thursday Movie Picks #37: Mother-Daughter Movies
March Blind Spot Pick:
New-to-me Movies:
Antarctica: A Year on Ice (2013)
Furious 7 (2015)
Shaft (2000)
The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (2015)
The Congress (2013)
The Importance of Being Earnest (2002)
The Two Faces of January (2014)
Woman in Gold (2015)
I’m so behind on new releases reviews, I’m more caught up on writing the ones I saw on rental. I have both The Congress and Shaft reviews done in my draft folder, but I’m planning on writing my review of The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel and Woman in Gold this weekend. I enjoyed both though neither is far from perfect, but I think the casting of three of my favorite Dames: Judi Dench & Maggie Smith in Marigold Hotel, and Helen Mirren in Woman in Gold made me like ’em more. Well, I saw Furious 7 on IMAX last night and here’s my initial reaction:
#Furious7 takes ridiculous car stunts to a whole new level of crazy. All the riotous action looks & sounds great @IMAXMN!
— FlixChatter (@FlixChatter) April 1, 2015
Rewatches:
Phantom of the Opera (2004)
Mansfield Park
BBC’s North & South (2004)
BBC’s Jane Eyre (2006)
Movies of the Month
I can’t pick between these two, so it’s a tie! I’ve been lucky in picking my Blindspot films as Wings is yet another classic that lives up to the hype… and then some. As for Cinderella, well what can I say? I enjoyed it and it’s definitely a movie I’d add to my collection once the Blu-ray is released.
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Hope you enjoyed today’s post… stay tuned for our list of ‘Perfect Cinematic Moments’ sometime tomorrow!
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FLIXCHATTER FILM BLOG 
Thanks for the link! You’ve been busy this month. Lots of good stuff to look back on 😀
Pleasure! Well I’m not as prolific as you 😉
That’s some great news, Ruth. Well done. As usual, you’ve blessed readers with a mountain of gold in film links. Thanks for that, and including moi among a marvelous set of content providers. Always appreciated, my friend.
It’s April Fools 😉 Great review btw, pleasure to have included that here.
Dang it! I always fall for these 😉
Hihihi… I did clue ppl in when they click the link 😀
Great April Fools there Ruth!!! Haha you had me.
And just as a friendly update, it’s Digital Shortbread, not Digital Shortbread Blog. Thank you.
He..he.. I couldn’t help myself 🙂
Ah ok, I’ve fixed it on the post.
It was a great idea. I got excited very much for a second! Lol.
And thanks for the edit, I know it seems nitpicky. I’d just prefer to have the site represented as accurately as possible.
No problem, I just wanted to clarify that it’s a website, I could’ve said Digital Shortbread site I suppose but I left it how you wanted it.
Ya know I’ve been kicking around ideas to change the site title. It really is weird.
She had me too!! I’m too damned blond!! Thats two in the space of 30 minutes.
Ahahaha! Sorry guys, but hey, all’s fair game on April Fools!
Thanks, Ruth for the sound out 🙂 Good for you with Wings. I haven’t seen it but Clara Bow is the “it” girl. Looking forward to your review
You’re welcome! I’ve posted my review yesterday. Yes it seems Clara Bow was famous then, she got top billing but for me it was all about Gary Cooper even in his brief cameo.
I’ll get there; I’m super busy and trying to post something today–I will catch up to you, soon 😉
Thanks so much for the link! Oooh definitely gonna see that new Furious movie for Statham, even though I haven’t seen any of the other films in the series 😆
Always a pleasure Margaret! Oh if you like Statham you definitely should see Furious 7, man that guy doesn’t age one bit! Funny how he made him so invincible in every movie he’s in.
Great April fool’s. Ya got me. I was about to congratulate you! Lots of great links. Thanks for those.
He..he.. well thanks for the congrats, wish it were for real 😀
Don’t think of it as April’s Fool, think of it as something it will happen for real. You should think about turning that pitch into a screenplay. You never know, if you can get an agent and the script could fall into the write person in Hollywood, your pitch will become a movie!
I’m glad March is over, now it’s almost summer movie season. Hopefully I’ll enjoy Furious 7 as much as you did, somehow I get the feeling I might not like this one. Mostly because I think James Wan is a bad director, I hope I’m wrong.
Awwww thank you Ted, that’s very kind of you to say… well if I had the time I’d LOVE to work on the script for the pitch, or find someone who’d be willing to turn it into a real script.
Yeah, today’s 80 degrees, man Summer came early, though only for a day it seems. As for Furious 7, I came in expecting simply preposterous action scenes + an emotional tribute for Paul Walker, I think they deliver on that front. I didn’t expect much about the plot & not having seen anything by James Wan, I really have no expectation about him at all.
I used to have a pro membership on IMDB and I can find agents in Hollywood who’ll read scripts since they’re always look out for scripts to pitch to studios. If you can turn it into a full script, you might want to upgrade your IMDB membership and send the script to one of those agents.
I only saw two of Wan’s films, the first SAW film and Death Sentence, I was not impressed by either of them. I thought there were quite amateurish but now he’s working with a huge budget for Furious 7 so hopefully the movie looks like it’s made by a pro. I’ll find out Saturday night I guess.
Thanks for the link-love. I might see Furious 7 this weekend though I think I’d rather wait a week so I wouldn’t deal with a full crowd.
You’re welcome! Yeah it might be wise to wait a week to avoid big crowds to Furious 7, I think everyone’s gonna flock to see it.
You had me going with your April fool’s gag haha. Good stuff. Loving the mash up trailer, this one is really well done.
He..he.. well, hopefully one day it’d REALLY come true 😀 Love that mash-up trailer, that was a hoot!
Thanks so much for the shout out Ruth :):)
I’m looking forward to what you think of the Congress. I loved it but it was so tripped out I couldn’t think of a thing to write!!
You’re welcome Jordan! Yeah, The Congress was trippy indeed, I’ll post my review next week.
Look forward to your take on it. One of the more unique films I have seen in some time. The animation was also gorgeous
Thanks for the mention Ruth, appreciate it!
I like the symmetry of those two posters for Wings and Cinerella, I have no idea if you intended that or not!
I’ve watched very little this month as work has been crazy but I did watch a documentary called Next Goal Wins about the American Samoa football (soccer) team who are apparently the worst in the world. It’s brilliant and definitely not just for those who like football.
You’re welcome Chris! Yeah I saw that in the two posters, it’s interesting how that happens as they’re released almost a century apart!
That sounds like an interesting doc, esp if you’re into football!
I’ve nominated you for a blogging award. https://vinnieh.wordpress.com/2015/04/02/my-fourth-liebster-award/
Hey thanks Vinnie!
It’s my pleasure Ruth.
Thanks for the link Ruth, much appreciated! Looks like March has been a busy month for you, film-wise. I will keep Wings in mind!
My pleasure! Wings is a good one, worthy of a Best Picture win IMO. Hey I sent you my email via DM, looking forward to your FFTF question 😉
You’ve had a prolific movie-watching month. Thanks for the link!
You’re welcome!
Great linkage!
Yeah, thanks to my fellow bloggers 🙂
Interesting tie for movies of the month. I’m really looking forward to Furious 7. 🙂
Yeah, it’s kind of unexpected that I love those two movies so much. Furious 7 was a heck of a ride!
Thanks -as always – for bugging up one of my reviews Ruth. Boy, you always have busy months film-wise don’t you?!
Always a pleasure Mark! Great write-up as always. Actually, not as busy as I’d have liked but hey you can only do so much when you have a full time job.
I hear you!
Big, BIG thank you – Ruth! The link is much appreciated and it’s even better when it’s next to such illustrious writing talent!
You’re most welcome Dan! Sorry I’ve been absent for some time, will try to stop by more often 🙂
Nice post. My movie of the month was “Top Five”. That one was great and definitely underrated.
Hello Fernando! Oh I remember reading some reviews of Top Five, I still need to see that one, looks like fun!
It’s got a great script! And Rosario Dawson really shines 🙂
I like her a lot, so she’s actually the main draw for me.
She was the main draw for me as well. And she delivered!