HAPPY FALL, everyone! I’ve actually put out my Fall floral decór with pumpkins on my front porch and swapped out my door wreath with sunflowers, pinecones, etc. Autumn is my favorite season here in Minnesota and we get such gorgeous Fall foliage this time of year, so we’re heading out to a state park up north to marvel at the changing Fall colors!
Ok, now on to the movie report…
NEW TO ME MOVIES
I actually didn’t get to see as many new movies this past month, not sure why… but hey, I did get to see No Time To Die at least a week earlier than most, so yay!
Minari (2020)
I saw this on the plane back from LA earlier this month and really enjoyed it. I love the performances, esp. Steven Yeun and Yuh-Jung Youn who won an Oscar for her role. Now, I honestly am not sure if this film is THAT good that it’s Oscar-worthy though, but given how few Asian-centric films are recognized, I can’t really complain that it was nominated.
Here Today (2021)
Crystal is a wonderful performer, and he + Haddish definitely make for a winning comedic pairing, so I’m glad I saw this one.
Shang-Chi (2021)
It’s massively entertaining with dazzling action sequences + fight choreography. Tony Leung and Michelle Yeoh automatically add immense gravitas just by being present in this film and I’m happy to say I’m impressed with Simu Liu as an action hero.
The Eyes Of Tammy Faye (2021)
Despite the extensive amount of Jessica Chastain‘s screen time, in the end it’s a pretty thin character study, as I don’t think I know that much more about Tammy Faye than I did before I saw the film.
Being James Bond
A brief 46-min retrospective doc where Daniel Craig candidly reflects on his 15-year tenure as James Bond. It includes never-before-seen archival footage spanning from Casino Royale (2006) to No Time To Die (2021), though given its brevity, it’s not exactly a deep dive into Craig’s Bond career as I had hoped it would be.
The Guilty (Danish film)
Nordic thrillers are quite popular in Hollywood, hence the countless remakes from Danish productions, but star power and bigger budget don’t always translate to better films. I’m very curious how the Netflix film will fare compared to this one.
My Name is Pauli Murray (doc)*
Review upcoming…
Honest Thief
My hubby and I actually enjoy Liam Neeson action movies! Thankfully there are TONS of them, ahah. Yes there’s a certain formula to them but some of the plots are actually amusingly-clever, and Neeson is a reliable action star. I might do a Neeson action series review compilation one of these days, but I still need to watch Run All Night, A Walk Among the Tombstones, The Commuter and The Marksman.
No Time To Die
Review coming this weekend… in the meantime, I invite you to check out two Bond related posts from last week: Top 15 Daniel Craig’s JAMES BOND Moments and Ranking Daniel Craig’s Bond Movies.
Good On Paper*
I haven’t had much luck with Netflix’s rom-com but I was curious to check this one out after seeing the trailer. Firstly, I knew the smiling-too-much guy is a fraud right away, so it’s just laughable that the protagonist didn’t pick up on it for weeks! In any case, I thought Iliza Shlesinger (who wrote and starred in it) is pretty funny… oh and did Margaret Cho lose a lot of weight recently? In any case, it was entertaining enough… glad it’s only 92 min long so it never overstayed its welcome.
Food Club* (Danish film)
I wanted to see a female-directed film on the last day of the month (and I’m still one movie short for the month)
Movies indicated with * (asterisk) indicates those directed by women. I managed to only three films directed by women in September, gotta do better this month! I am hopeful I can actually complete the 52 Films By Women challenge by the end of the year.
TV SERIES
Apple TV+ FOUNDATION (2021)
I will review this once the series wrapped, but so far I enjoyed the first two episodes and can’t wait to see more! Check out my in-depth post on the sci-fi series here, based on the highly-influential Isaac Asimov’s books that apparently inspired Star Wars, Dune, etc.
Marvel’s WHAT IF? (2021)
Though I’m not always fond of every single episode (can’t even think of my fave episode on the top of my head), I do marvel at the spectacular animation of this series. The visuals are truly a marvel, I even think some of the animated characters are better looking than the actors playing them (*wink* Hawkeye *wink*). I also LOVE Jeffrey Wright‘s voice as The Watcher narrating the series and his character finally getting some action in the latest episode.
Ted Lasso – season 2 (2021)
I love the Rebecca-centric episodes and the latest, No Weddings and A Funeral is such a hoot!! There’s definitely shades of Richard Curtis’ rom-coms in there, and the 80s kid in me rejoice hearing Rick Astley’s Never Gonna Give You Up!
REWATCHES
King Kong (2005) | Robocop (1987) | Octopussy (1983) | La La Land (2016) | Pacific Rim (2013) | Skyfall (2012)
Some fun rewatches this month! I watched King Kong in the hotel after we went to Universal Studios Hollywood. I actually like that Peter Jackson-directed movie a lot even though it didn’t do well at the box office. Coming back from L.A. where we visited the Griffith Observatory, I was in the mood to see a movie with great scenery of the city of Angels, hence La La Land. Pacific Rim is one of those movies I’d watch for no reason as it’s just so fun and entertaining. Seeing Idris Elba and Charlie Hunnam together makes me wish they’d both be cast in a Bond movie!
As for Robocop, we actually rewatched this on the big screen as my hubby’s colleague actually has this monthly movie night where he rented a theatre showing older classics. It’s still way better than the remake.
Lastly, I rewatched two Bond movies in anticipation of No Time To Die of course. I had rewatched The Living Daylights in August, and was hoping to catch Licence To Kill this past month but didn’t get to it so I’ll rewatch it soon!
SEPTEMBER MOVIE(S) OF THE MONTH
It’s another tie this month… I simply cannot pick one over the other as both are entertaining and meaningful to me.
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings
No Time To Die
FLIXCHATTER FILM BLOG 
I think the best films I saw in September was my Blind Spot film in Pixote and Annette with Shang-Chi in my top 5 of the month. I’m enjoying What If…? though the last episode is so far the weakest though I do enjoy Jeffrey Wright as the voice of the Watcher.
Glad to see Shang-Chi and Annette on your top 5 of September! I’ll be over shortly to read your review of Pixote soon.
I think the What If episodes have been pretty uneven, but I do enjoy Wright’s voice!
I haven’t seen An Honest Thief yet but it’s on my to watch list. Funny you mentioned A Walk Among the Tombstones, I somehow missed that one when it first came out and watched it last weekend. So, it’s one of the new to me movies from last month and I thought it’s one of the better Neeson’s thrillers, it’s more of a noir thriller than straight up action like his other films. The other film I have yet to see is Cold Pursuit, which is a remake of the excellent Norwegian film In Order of Disappearance. I’ll watch that one eventually.
The other new movies I’ve seen were Kate on Netflix and Shang-Chi. With so many shows on streaming, I’ve just been watching those. Billions, Doom Patrol, See, Foundation and so on. I feel like there’s not much time to catch up to all of them. Lol!
Ah ok glad to hear A Walk Among the Tombstones is a good one, will watch that one next. Did you see The Commuter yet?
What did you think of FOUNDATION so far? I like it but it’s a bit on the slow side.
Yeah, I saw The Communter when it came out, it’s one of the forgettable ones. I would say it’s the same as Honest Thief, just watched it last night and I thought it’s pretty lame.
I’m not a really a fan of how they started the show with multiple timeline jumps, I’ll stick with it and hopefully the story will unfold in a linear manner. I’m still not sure which character we’re supposed to invest in. Visually, the show is stunning, it’s obvious Apple spent quite a bit of money on the production side. I hope as the season unfolds, we get to see who the main characters are and what kind of stake we’re supposed to care about.
Ah bummer! It’s got such a great cast, I love Sam Neill and Florence Pugh! Well I’ll still watch it, but I’ll prioritize A Walk Among Tombstones first.
Yep I agree… it’s hard to figure out which character to invest in, that is definitely my issue. I mean right away I like Hari Sheldon but then he disappears in the 3rd episode. I also like Demerzel who’s an android. I thought I read the budget is only $50mil which doesn’t seem like a lot of money for a full season. The visuals are stunning indeed, so yeah I’m still gonna keep watching. Excited to see Wheel of Time that’s also coming later this Fall!
The Commuter was so forgettable that I totally forgot that both Sam Neill and Florence Pugh were in the movie. Lol! To be honest, I couldn’t even remember who Pugh was playing in the movie.
Foundation has no big named stars in it, so a $50mil budget is very believable. Some people tends to forget that most of the $100-200mil budget films, most of the money goes to the big named stars. Look at Netflix’s new film Red Notice, it’s the biggest budget film that they produced so far. But it also stars three big named stars and most of the money from the budget went to them. Lol! From the trailer, the movie looked like it’s lower budgeted film. The visual just looked so cheap and fake.
I haven’t even seen the trailer for Red Notice, I gotta look that up now. It doesn’t sound appealing from what you described though, LOL.
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What a month! I’m so glad to know someone else who loves Liam Neeson’s action movies, although I’ve missed Honest Thief and need to catch up. I loved the remake of The Guilty (but I think I’m one of the few) and I really want to see the original to compare.
Hey Allie! Yeah, I think Neeson has that earnest sensibilities to play an ordinary-guy-who-can-turn-deadly-when-provoked very well, ahah.
I still need to see the Netflix version of The Guilty. I have a feeling I’d still enjoy it because of Gyllenhaal, but I doubt that remake can top the original.