I can’t believe I’m doing yet another monthly roundup. I swear I just did this not that long ago.
The last day of July also marks a milestone for me as I finally got to type those elusive two words at the bottom of my script!!!
Now I’m going to lock it away for a month (an advice I took from a screenwriting site) before I tinker with it again… so no, I haven’t got to that coveted FINAL draft yet. But still, it took me nearly a year to finally get to this point so it’s quite exciting!
Well it turns out I did watch quite a bit of movies in July, both new-to-me and re-watches. August screenings include Suicide Squad, Florence Foster Jenkins, Pete’s Dragon, Anthropoid and The Light Between Oceans. Still hoping to get a screener link of Equals, the romance sci-fi by Drake Doremus w/ Kristen Stewart & Nicholas Hoult, so hopefully I get that soon.
So anyway, here are movies I saw this month:
New-to-me Movies
Captain Fantastic (2016) – review upcoming
The Adventurer: The Curse of the Midas Box (2013)
The Secret Life of Pets (2016)
Ghostbusters (2016)
Star Trek Beyond (2016)
Absolutely Fabulous (2016)
Jason Bourne (2016) – review upcoming
Laura (1944)
Life (2015)
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Look for my review of Jason Bourne and a guest review of Café Society sometime next week!
Blindspot Pick
Rewatches
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Gladiator (2000) | Pride + Prejudice + Zombies (2016) | BBC’s Sense & Sensibility (2008) | Superman Returns (2006) | Toy Story 3 (2010) | The Dark Valley (2014) | Becoming Jane (2007) | Working Girl (1988) | The Age of Adaline (2015)
I ended up re-watching a ton of movies this past month. Most of these are on Netflix and Amazon Prime, so I might as well watch them when they’re still available. Some of them I own the Blu-ray (PPZ, Toy Story 3, Superman Returns and BBC’s Sense & Sensibility) and you know my penchant for period dramas, naturally I have to watch a few every month 😉
I hadn’t watched Working Girl for at least a decade and I have to say it’s definitely shown its age but it’s still pretty enjoyable. Boy whatever happened to Melanie Griffith? I mean Harrison Ford is definitely still relevant and so is Sigourney Weaver, heck even David Duchovny who’s only credited as a guy at a birthday party still has a pretty good career now.
I’m participating in Movie Rob’s Genre Grandeur and the this month’s topic is Foreign Language so of course I’m picking one featuring Sam Riley… Das Finstere Tal (The Dark Valley), so watch for my comprehensive review of that in the next few weeks.
TV Series
I’ve only gotten to two episodes of Season 1 but I enjoyed it so far. Julia Louis Dreyfuss is a hoot as the Veep herself Selina Meyer. I didn’t realize there are 5 seasons already but the good thing is it’s only a half-hour sit-com so it’s easier to catch up on.
MOVIE(S) OF THE MONTH
It wasn’t as easy to select my movie of the month of July. But out of the contemporary films I saw last month, Captain Fantastic is one I still think about the most. I’m hoping to review it soon, but it’s certainly one of the most unique films ever and Viggo Mortensen is well, fantastic.
I’ve been wanting to watch Laura for a long time. My friend Vince reviewed it for me back in 2011 and he highly recommended it. It’s one of the most acclaimed classic noir mystery and was nominated for five Oscars. Well, it certainly lived up to the hype. I was quite mesmerized by the beautiful Gene Tierney.
Well that’s my viewing recap of July. What’s YOUR favorite film of the month?
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FLIXCHATTER FILM BLOG 
That is wonderful Ruth! That is quite an accomplishment. Definitely something I wish I could do but cannot – so impressed!
Thank you Vince!! It’s not final by any means, but it’s quite a milestone as I never thought I’d get to this! I was going to write a novel but abandoned that one 2 years ago after about 60% there, ahah.
Btw, glad I finally saw LAURA. Love it!
Oh, congrats on that script, Ruth. That’s awesome news. Please continue to keep us posted on the effort. 🙂
Thank you. Will do 🙂
Congrats on your almost finished script Ruth! Writing screenplay is not easy, now comes the hard part, try to make it come alive on the big screen!
I think I only saw 3 news films in July, Star Trek 3, Jason Bourne and The Purge 3. Bourne and Star Trek definitely my favorites of the month. I re-watched a few movies at home, Mission Impossible 5, The Revenant, Star Wars 7, High Plains Drifter and Mad Max Fury Road.
Thanks Ted! I still can’t believe I finally finished it, I had been struggling on a scene towards the end for over 2 months! Yes, the tough part would be bringing it to life, but hey, dream big as they say 🙂
Glad to hear you like Bourne too. I plan on writing the review tonight but I think I like it more than most critics. I should rewatch MI5 again since I have the BD!
As long as you’re going after your dreams, might as well dream big! Heck I’m sure Diablo Cody thought the same thing when she wrote her big break screenplay Juno here in MN!
This is one of the films where I didn’t understand why some people like it, I mean it’s a Jason Bourne film, not sure what they were expecting. It’s similar and as good as the first three films, heck I think it’s better than the first film. I like that Greengrass decided to bring in the current state of tech and political climate into the film and laid out the plot for more films.
Oops! Meant to say: This is one of the films where I didn’t understand why some people DIDN’T like it…..
Ahah, well I’m never gonna equate myself as Diablo Cody who’s so talented. But yeah, we gotta dream big!
Yeah I totally agree with your last sentence there with the current tech and geopolitical climate being woven into the plot. I like what they did w/ Riz Ahmed’s character.
I’m assuming that Ahmed’s character might get a larger role for the sequels, I think Greengrass is bringing elements from the books for these newer films. In the books, Bourne discovered that the CIA were working with a secret organization that plans to take down the government worldwide. Would be very cool if Ahmed’s character is part of that group or we may know he’s the one who created it.
Glad to hear you enjoyed Laura! Such a great film and I’m in full agreement re: Tierney — she’s a magnetic presence. Congrats on finishing that script, too!
Hello Lindsey! Yeah I’ve never seen Tierney before but wow, so beautiful and like you said, magnetic. I gotta check out her other work. Oh and thank you, it felt good to have finished it 🙂
I highly recommend Leave Her to Heaven, The Razor’s Edge, and Where the Sidewalk Ends for more Tierney. 🙂 She made so many great films, but I like her best in noir/thrillers!
Oh cool! I haven’t heard of any of them, but LOVE noir so yeah, I’ll look for those, thank you!
Congratulations Rurh, you must feel very proud!
I’ve actually only seen one of your films for the month. That was Working Girl, which I watched on a date, at The Theatre Royal in Hyde,Cheshire back at the end of the 80’s. I enjoyed it at the time, not sure what I’d make of it now though.
To answer what happened to Melanie Griffith? She made the same mistake Meg Ryan did, and ruined her looks. An alleged boob job half way through the filming of The Bonfire of the Vanities didn’t do her any favours either!
Hello Paul! Thank you, yes I’m still quite giddy that I actually finished it. Working Girl is still pretty fun though the plot might not have worked in this day and age. Yeah, I think you’re right about these already beautiful actresses going under the knife, or even too much Botox is just horrible. I think Nicole Kidman did that and it was so grossly obvious!
You pack so much into it. Well done on the script.
Thanks Alex!
For me, July belonged to Shane. I want to see Captain Fantastic as I think it looks really good while I might see Suicide Squad.
‘Captain Fantastic’ is such a unique film, I hope more people will see it. I’m seeing ‘Suicide Squad’ tomorrow, I sure hope it lives up to the hype.
So well done for the screenplay Ruth! You’ve clearly worked very hard on it – keep us apprised of how you get on with it. We’ll all be supporting you!
Awww thank you Mark! Appreciate your loyal support, for me n the blog!
Great variety Ruth and congrats on wrapping up your script. I know you have put so much into it. As for movies it was a weird month for me too. Several big blockbusters as well as so really impressive foreign pictures.
Thank you Keith! Yeah the script consumed me quite a bit, I didn’t even know I was still gonna be able to blog at the same time. It felt good to have reached this point even though it’s by no means finished.
I love that you’re able to mix blockbuster movies and small foreign ones, I try to do that too, and of course period dramas 🙂
Congratulations on finishing a script! Well done.
I saw a few movies during the month…Hail, Caesar!, Room, Independence Day: Resurgence, 45 Years, Youth, and The Legend of Tarzan. I thought Room and 45 Years were brilliant, ID:Resurgence was dumb and I wasn’t a fan of Youth.
I watched the last two Hunger Games movies at home during the month as they didn’t make it to a theatre near me when they came out. I liked them, but thought the book was much better.
Laura is a fabulous movie, isn’t it? It comes on cable every year or so and I try to catch it or part of it at least.
Thank you Stella! I’ve already got another idea for a pilot miniseries that I’ll work on while I’m gonna let this script sit for at least a month 🙂
Glad I avoided ID: Resurgence. What did you think of Tarzan? I’m already so over Hunger Games by the time the last one rolled out, but even less interested in Divergent as I’ve skipped the last two movies entirely, ahah.
Yeah Laura is a good one, glad I finally got around to seeing it.
I think Tarzan was a bit of a guilty pleasure! You know what I mean, a movie that is highly silly, but somehow you just can’t help enjoying yourself! It didn’t hurt that Alexander Skarsgard was ridiculously good looking 😉
Divergent never made it to the cinema in my city. I saw the first one on cable, missed the others.
Congrats on finishing your script! I have been watching a ton of horrors over the past month. Some new, some rewatches, but either way, I have been enjoying them.
Thanks Zoë! Of course it’s never really finished as they say, but right now I’m *locking it up* for a month before I tinker w/ it again. Which movies you rewatched and which one is your fave? I seem to have rewatched more movies than seeing new ones last month, ahah.
I think that is a really good idea!
Oh goodness, so many! I think my favourite rewatch was Absentia this past month. I think my favourite new watch was The Purge: Anarchy or 10 Cloverfield Lane (a load of horrors for me this month, both new to me and rewatches lol).
Seems it was a rewatch month!
Hey Ruth, that is awesome to hear about your screenplay!! 🙂 Are you guarding it? Or could I read if I wanted to? I’d love to read what you’ve come up with
I don’t know if its any different when writing a novel or a screenplay, but my Rehab book has been an ongoing process for four years. Mental health and crap came in the way of getting it done but I’m over the halfway mark and I’m building momentum – goal is to finally have a finished first draft by the end of the year. I really need to get going, that is a chapter a month!
I am sooooooooooooooooo jealous you got to see Captain Fantastic!!!! You know how much I man-crush on Viggo, I really really hope that one makes it to our screens. Glad to hear its good! 😀
Hey thanks Jordan! Well it’s technically not the final draft yet, as I mentioned I’ve *locked it away* for a month now before I tinker w/ it again. I’m not confident in sharing it w/ anyone yet at this point.
I think a novel is much tougher than script. I tried writing a novel about 5-6 yrs ago and got stuck at about 65% there. I pretty much abandoned it and took on this screenplay instead. It took me nearly a year to finish, which felt like a lifetime.
Captain Fantastic is good, well worth a watch just for Viggo alone. Ahah, funny that you have a man crush on him. I think Viggo was my crush Sam Riley’s idol, as I remember he said he was so nervous acting w/ him in On The Road given his admiration.
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