Spring is in the air!! It’s still relatively cool this weekend and the sun was being bashful yesterday so we spent some time at Minneapolis Museum of Art on Saturday during its Art in Bloom exhibition. It’s so lovely to see cherry blossom tree bloomin’ at the park across the street… it was a perfect Spring day!
So here are movies I saw this month:
New-to-me Movies
(click on image to read my reviews on those marked w/ an asterisk)
Films watched at MSPIFF
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I ended up seeing only nine films at MSPIFF on the big screen. Alas, I didn’t have time to watch any of the online screeners, but I hope to watch them later this month. If I had to pick three out of the ones I’ve seen at MSPIFF, it’d be The Fencer, Beeba Boys and Sing Street. So in total I watched 17 new-to-me movies which is quite a lot by my standards! I’ve reviewed pretty much ALL of the MSPIFF films except for Sing Street which I will do so next week!
Rewatches
Of course I’ll always make time for Sam Riley, so I rewatched the WWII drama Suite Francaise with my girlfriends on movie night on the first week of April, and Control which is still as cool and heartbreaking as the first time I saw it. There’s always time for period dramas too, of course, so I did manage to fit in the BBC miniseries of Sense & Sensibility after I saw the delightful Love & Friendship that’s based on Jane Austen’s epistolary novel. I also watched The Mummy, we weren’t planning on it but saw it came across the screen as we’re browsing Netflix and thought, what the heck. It was still pretty entertaining, though the whole time I was thinking about Brendan Fraser’s dismal career trajectory. So apparently the reboot starring Tom Cruise is set for June 2017!
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MOVIE(S) OF THE MONTH
I’ve watched quite a few music-related films lately, be that biopics or fiction, and I’ve enjoyed them quite a bit. It was tough to pick just one favorite this month given how many great indie films I’ve seen this past month. But I picked two that no doubt have awesome 80s-themed soundtracks as well as being immensely entertaining. So it’s three for three for John Carney, as I’ve enjoyed all three of his feature films so far (the first two being Once and Begin Again). Nice to see Carney went back to his Irish roots with Sing Street.
As for Purple Rain, it was a bittersweet experience watching it. I can’t believe I hadn’t seen it before yesterday, but I certainly ended April movie watching with a bang. The live performances were really the reason to see this, but Prince were decent in the dramatic scenes too, plus it’s a treat to see Minneapolis (esp First Avenue club) being featured prominently. Of course I teared up during the Purple Rain scene. Prince was absolutely phenomenal as one would expect, but that song was also very emotional in the context of the film (in which his character dedicated to his dad) and also emotional given the music icon’s no longer with us.
Well that’s my recap of April. What’s YOUR favorite film of the month?
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FLIXCHATTER FILM BLOG 
You saw Purple Rain… FINALLY!!! YAY!!!!!!
Yes, I did! I enjoyed it too, though of course I cried seeing Prince performed Purple Rain, for obvious reason.
We all cry during that performance. Yet, I dance for Morris.
Well you definitely saw a lot movies last month! I think I only saw one new movie, Criminal. But I did watched The Invitation on Saturday night so it doesn’t count since it’s already May. Ha ha.
I don’t remember much about Purple Rain except its music. My friends and I used to hang out at First Avenue every weekend back in our twenties but I didn’t realized it’s the same place that’s featured in the film!
Hi Ted, I’ll be posting your review of Criminal on Tuesday 🙂 What did you think of The Invitation? Would you review it for me? It premiered at MSPIFF as well.
The film was ok, the most memorable parts are obviously the music and Prince’s performances. My goodness he was an incredible performer, wish I had seen him live on stage when he was still alive.
I liked The Invitation, very creepy kind of thriller. I’ll remember to send my review of it to you later this week!
Sounds good Ted, I might rent that one. No rush on the review, anytime this weekend would be great.
Well, my favourite movie of the month was It’s Already Tomorrow in Hong Kong, but also saw Son of Saul, which really was impressive. Also rewatched Finding Nemo which still is as fun as ever.
That’s great to hear Nostra! IATIK was one of my fave films out of TCFF last year. Are you going to review Son Of Saul, that sounds really harrowing.
Have a huge backlog on translating my reviews into English, but will have it up eventually!
You’ve seen a lot! What did you think of Lobster?I’m looking forward to watching Love & Friendship.
Hi Cindy! Well my initial thought is that The Lobster is one of the most bizarre film I’ve seen this year. Love & Friendship is lovely, I definitely wouldn’t mind watching that again, as I would most of Austen films 🙂
Wow that’s a nice selection of movies you’ve watched this month compared to mine. I also watched The Lobster. I had the chance to see Sing Street but went with Green Room instead haha. Hmm, I have yet to see Purple Rain, I really want to. They are showing it in theaters here I think tomorrow for one day only, but I don’t think I can make it.
Hi Eddie! So what did you think of The Lobster? I thought that was very bizarre, even more so than I thought. You should see Purple Rain even as a rental, even just to see Prince perform all the live performances, he was incredible!
Yeah The Lobster is bizarre and it was dark and twisted in a lot of places. I will definitely check out Purple Rain some time and look forward to Prince’s performances and acting.
I honestly don’t even know how to review The Lobster, ahah. It’s one of those movies you should just see without knowing anything.
For me, the most touching part of Purple Rain is when “The Kid” (Prince) lets his emotions loose and discovers a trunk with all his father’s music in it, even though his dad claimed he never wrote any of it down, which then segways into his Purple Rain performance. Glad you got to see it this weekend!
Hi Becky! Thank you for lending me your dvd, can’t believe I hadn’t seen it until this weekend, but better late than never right?
Yeah that scene was definitely very emotional. I was in awe of the stage performances and had even more respect for Prince’s genius!
What a wide range of movies. I love it. Haven’t seen Purple Rain in soooo many years. I remember when it came out. It was quite the buzz.
That’s what I love about these film fests Keith. I never would’ve seen a bunch of these if it weren’t for the film festivals. It’s funny that I hadn’t seen Purple Rain considering I’ve lived in MN for 20+ yrs but glad I finally did. It was entertaining as well as bittersweet now that Prince is no longer w/ us 😦
This is a great list of movies. Interested in reading your thoughts on The Lobster
I’m hoping to review that next week, though honestly I find it hard to review it. It’s intriguing and bizarre to say the least.
Definitely is. And looking forward to the review
As always, a very solid month of viewing there Ruth!
Thanks Mark! Hey, Sing Street should already been released in the UK right? That’s a lot of fun, you should check it out!