Happy October 🍁🍂🧡 It’s been such a warm September that it barely felt like Fall. It’s about 80 degrees as I’m typing this, and the forecast says it’ll be 90 degrees, whoa!! I actually love the crisp Fall weather before it’s suddenly brrrrr here in Minnesota!
I’m excited for TCFF in a couple of weeks, Oct 16 – 25 to be exact. I’ll be blogging about which movies I’m looking forward to, but in the meantime, check out their official site.
SEPTEMBER VIEWINGS ON LETTERBOXD
(In the order of my rating)
I saw 15 new films in September (no rewatches). To close out September, I saw ANEMONE, which marked the big comeback of Daniel Day-Lewis. He went into temporary retirement eight years ago after working on Phantom Thread in 2017, but somehow his own son Ronan Day-Lewis managed to coax him out of retirement.
FULL REVIEWS
Downton Abbey: Grand Finale
Eleanor the Great*
Swiped*
A Big Bold Beautiful Journey
Queen Of the Ring
One Battle After Another
Time Travel is Dangerous
REVIEWS COMING SOON:
Mr Blake At Your Service
The Lost Bus
Anemone
MINI REVIEWS
Freelance (2023)
We were really in the mood for a fun action comedy, and this one totally delivers. My husband and I are both fans of John Cena, who doesn’t seem to take himself too seriously (unlike his WWE buddy with those high Oscar dreams, ugh). The plot is actually smarter than it looks in the trailer, but the silly situations and slapstick humor go way overboard. Alison Brie does a decent job, but the romantic angle with Cena feels more icky than sweet. I’ve never seen Juan Pablo Raba before, but he’s a blast to watch, while poor Alice Eve is stuck in a thankless role as Cena’s wife. Plus, it gets way too bloody towards the end, which takes away from its frivolous fun vibe.
Bill & Ted Face The Music (2020)
I didn’t think we’d be watching another time-travel comedy so soon after seeing Time Travel Is Dangerous, but hubby and I just came across an interview with Alex Winter and Keanu Reeves, so we decided to watch this one. I barely remember the first movie and skipped the second, but I don’t think I miss much, as it’s still as dumb as ever… perhaps even more so.
We became quite bored after around 20 minutes, so we began browsing the web while watching this. The segments about bringing together some of the greatest musicians in history, Mozart, Louis Armstrong, Jimi Hendrix, and others, are mildly amusing. The only moment that made me chuckle a little was when they encountered the not-at-all-ominous Death (William Sadler), who eventually joins their troupe. Not sure why the talented Samara Weaving wants to be a part of this drivel. I’m surprised it’s got 83% at RT, really guys??!
52 Films By Women – 2025 Challenge
I am once again participating in this challenge. Per Women In Film (WIF) organization, the basic rules are simple: watch 52 films directed by women within one year and share what you watched on social media, using the hashtag #52FilmsByWomen to spread the word, and get more people talking about the women filmmakers that don’t always get attention.
I saw 4 new-to-me films #directedbywomen in September, which brings the year tally to 42, so 10 more to go until goal!! I’m really hoping that there will be more female-directed movies during award season, so I can at least come close to last year’s tally of 63. I ranked the movies on Letterboxd; you can follow my #52FilmsByWomen list as I will be updating it regularly.
TV WATCHES
We watched quite a lot of TV series last month. I might do a mini-review later, once I’ve reached the end of the season.
Hostage (Limited Series)
Only Murders In The Building S5
Slow Horses S5
SEPTEMBER MOVIE OF THE MONTH
ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER
It’s an easy pick this month. After a series of meh and rather disappointing movies, especially this one, it’s nice to see that the latest PTA movie lives up to the hype!
The movie maintains its momentum throughout, which is impressive given the nearly 3-hour runtime. PTA’s direction and the remarkable performances provide a captivating experience. Plus, it features a fulfilling and emotional ending that reinforces the father-daughter story at its core.
As award season is upon us, I believe its chances for an Oscar are quite strong; I’m confident it will receive a nomination for Best Picture and probably a nomination for PTA in the Best Director category.
FLIXCHATTER FILM BLOG 
My pick of the month is the same as yours. Honestly, the amount of praise this film is getting is phenomenal. PTA really knocked it out of the park and then some. There’s still things in my head that I’m enthralled by as well as moments that live rent-free in my head that made me laugh my ass off.
John Cena is taking the right path with his film career unlike the Crock who is trying to get people to take him seriously though he lost a lot of support from wrestling fans. He will not get an Oscar or an Oscar nomination. The person that is going to do that is Dave Bautista. Like Cena, he doesn’t take himself seriously either.
Glad we agree on PTA’s movie 🙌 I think the praise is well-deserved. I just rewatched some clips of it and they made me laugh, the parts between Leo + Benicio are so funny!
Yep, Cena is wise that he just sticks to his ‘lane’ and enjoys making movies. He seems like a nice guy too, without the big ego and cockiness that sometimes come with fame. The Crock as you call him, seems to think too highly of himself and it’s off-putting. I refuse to see Black Adam as he thinks he could take over DC, yeah right!! Yeah, Dave Bautista is a much better actor than him, and I think he’s also more versatile than people give him credit for.
I saw more movies in theater this past month than I have ever since pre-pandemic. I typically only see movies at a theater 3 or 4 times a year post Covid, I saw new movies each weekend in September! Lol. I guess my movie of the month is Battle After Another, too.
I watched a lot of TV series as usual. I finished Alien: Earth, I’ll have a review for you soon. One series I highly recommend is Paradise, a show I totally forgot about but it came out way back in January of this year. It’s one of the best series I’ve seen this year. Started the first episode of season 5 of Slow Horses. Season 2 of Peacemaker is very good, if you’re a fan of John Cena, I highly recommend it. Also, started on the new season of Stallone’s Tulsa King.
It’s fall season, so I’m also rewatching the Bond films, I don’t know why but I love watching Bond films in the fall. Also, I watched Chow Yun Fat’s 80s action film called Flaming Brothers. I haven’t seen it in a long time because it was never available ton disc. It finally came out on Blu-ray. It was one of my favorite shoot’em up films of that decade. But seeing it as a grown up, the film didn’t age well when it comes to female characters. Oh boy, it was so sexist of how the female characters were written in Hong Kong films back then. Yikes. Ha ha!
Hey Ted! That’s cool that you get to the cinema more often last month. Maybe this year you’ll finally check out a movie or two at TCFF? 😉
I look forward to your review of ALIEN EARTH. Vince actually recommended it to me but it looks a bit too violent and gross to me. I might check out PEACEMAKER one day as I do like John Cena.
I haven’t rewatched any Bond flick in a while but I might do that later towards the holiday season. Ahah, I’m not surprised that old Hong Kong movies were so sexist, heck even Bond movies in the 60s-70s were so misogynistic! The Connery Bond flicks don’t age well, ahah.
I think I’ll be in LA for a conference during the TCFF week. I’ll check out the schedule and see if there are any movies I want to see and if I’m in town, I’ll check out some of the movies.
Alien: Earth has some violent sequences like the films but there aren’t as glorified as other horror movies. There did a lot quick cuts and didn’t show much of the gruesome stuff. Also, there are very few violent scenes in the show, which is one of the reasons why I was bit disappointed with it.
If I remember correctly, didn’t Peacemaker make an quick appearance in Superman? Also, I heard he might have a bigger role in Man of Tomorrow? Maybe I got confused with another character in DCU. But any case, Peacemaker is a hilarious show.
Ah ok, what conference is it Ted? Well I’ll be seeing you tomorrow for HH with the FlixChatter gang right?
I look forward to your Alien: Earth review, you can just write that after your conference though, no rush.
Yep, Peacemaker was indeed in the latest Superman as surely James Gunn just asked him to come to set, ahah. Oh I didn’t know he’d have a bigger role in Man of Tomorrow, but that’s cool as I like Cena. I might check out Peacemaker later this year!
Happy TCFF month! One Battle After Another steals the September recap. Can’t wait to see that one. I love Leo and PTA🎥🍁🎃
Hey thanks! Maybe one day you can make a trek to MN for TCFF, we also have MSPIFF, another great film festival in the spring. Do you go to film festivals in the Cincinnati area?
Hope you see One Battle After Another this weekend; it’s meant to be seen on the big screen!
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Bill &Ted??? Well, stranger things have happened.
Does Keanu need the money? A general cashing in?
I read all of you fab reviews this month, thank you!
Yes, more WIF! 10 more in 3 months… 🤞
Do they have to be new? 1972 The Heartbreak Kid; director: Elaine May is fun. Big, starring Tom Hanks; director: Penny Marshall – excellent.
Little Dorrit (film); director: Christine Edzard ( a Dickens story with costumes to die for!)
xoxoxoxoxoxo
Ahah, well I doubt that the motivation is monetary for Keanu, he doesn’t seem the greedy type. I think he and his co-star Alex had wanted to do it for some time but man, it’s such a silly and pointless movie.
I’m so honored you even read my stuff, Resa, so thank you!!
I’m hoping I can beat my last year’s tally of 63 movies by women, we shall see. No it does not have to be new movies, just have to be new to me. So I will check out The Heartbreak Kid (it’s available on Pluto!) and Little Dorrit (what a cast!), thanks for the recommendations! I have seen BIG a long time ago; it’s a classic!!
Thank you!! ❦ ♡ ♥
Ohhh, I ope you like the movies!
Little Dorrit is a bit of a masterpiece.
At the worst you’ll have 2 more by women!
I’m rooting for you to beat your record. xoxoxooxoxxoxoxoxo