By Luca Newton
Welcome to first of a monthly article I will be doing. Going every film I've watched in June. Warning: It's a LOT..
This month I have seen a lot of films. The first full month of the Summer holidays, and I've been up to a lot of moviegoing, especially with cinemas having opened for around a month or so. I have been on a roll when it comes to watching movies. So I thought going over everything I've seen each month could be interesting.
In June, I watched 61 films. I won't go in depth with many of them, for the sake of time and energy. But please enjoy this post.
Cruella
The first movie of June, and it was pretty mediocre. As I said in a review I made, it just didn't work for me. With that said, there were elements that I did like that prevented it from being straight up bad.
Spider-Man films
I decided to watch all the current Spider-Man films. I started because I rewatched Homecoming and was in the mood. I hadn't seen the Raimi trilogy, so I watched for the first time this month. The first one is good but a bit overrated, Spider-Man 2 is pretty great, and Spider-Man 3 was a film that was probably the weakest from a critical standpoint, but I got so much ironic entertainment out of it, I couldn't help but like it a lot. I then rewatched the Webb films; The Amazing Spider-Man was pretty good, and The Amazing Spider-Man 2 sucked. I had seen Far From Home at the end of May, so I didn't rewatch that this month.
Raya and the Last Dragon
It finally came to Disney+ for no extra cost, so I was very interested in jumping into this film, as the next big Disney Animation Studios film. I liked it a lot. It had incredible world building, and while it had a pretty predictable story, the film did it well with a very satisfying and fun film.
Crazy Rich Asians
I'm a little bit of a sucker for a good romcom - but I mean the actually good ones and not the crappy cheesy ones. Crazy Rich Asians scratched that itch for me being a really well made and funny film, I was absolutely invested from the start to finish.
Edgar Wright films
I finally watched The World's End, which was the final Edgar Wright film I had to watch before I had finally seen all his films. I thought it was great, but as I made a ranking for Edgar Wright, I realised that I wasn't fully sure of the positions because I hadn't seen some of his other films in a while. I specifically chose to rewatch Hot Fuzz and Baby Driver as I wasn't very sure of how much I liked them. I enjoyed both. Although, Baby Driver more so, as it became one of my favourite movies of all time after that rewatch.
Disney animated films
This month I took it upon myself to rewatch (and watch for the first time) some Disney films. Spanning over the many decades of their animated films. This meant rewatching Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, The Lion King, and more modern ones like Tangled. I, however, hadn't seen a few Disney films. Atlantis: The Lost Empire, Hunchback of Notre Dame, Treasure Planet, The Emperor's New Groove were all first-time watches this month. I currently haven't finished this binge yet - I just rewatched Wreck it Ralph today, so I am close, but these Disney films have taken up a lot of my watched films in June.
Nobody
I finally got to see Nobody as it came to the UK only this month, and I was excited because it was an action movie starring Bob Odenkirk. I didn't review this movie, because I didn't have much to say about it. It was pretty good, some of the action was absolutely gripping and gory and exciting, but the rest of the film lacks that oomph, with a pretty lacklustre villain, and final fight that is pretty underwhelming compared to the rest of the film. Fun action film I enjoyed, but wish it had lives up to its potential more.
Superbad
By the recommendation from a friend, I watched Superbad for the first time earlier this month. I was in the mood for a good old comedy. In all honesty, this movie was genuinely funny thanks to the great cast. All the comedy is based on situational stuff that is really relatable and funny.
Mad Max: Fury Road
I found out a way to watch Mad Max: Fury Road after years of wanting to see it after all the relentless hype over it. I enjoyed it, but other than the exhilarating third act, I thought it was really great but not a masterpiece.
Blade Runner films
Funny story, I went to the cinema in 2017 to watch Blade Runner 2049 without having seen the first movie. Back then I didn't have the same taste in films, and had no context from the first. I was honestly very bored. I decided to watch the first Blade Runner then give 2049 a second chance. I'm really glad I did because I loved both - 2049 went from a movie I really didn't like, to a film I really enjoyed. I guess I appreciated the pace more with my differing tastes. But I definitely want to write about these films later..
A Quiet Place films
I hadn't seen the first A Quiet Place, so I decided to watch it right before going to a cinema to watch the sequel and I loved both - the first one much more though. I want to write about these films too, so I'll keep it brief, but they're great.
The Father
This film finally came out in the UK this film, after waiting so long. It absolutely landed for me. An absolute masterpiece, and honestly my favourite movie out of the Oscar nominations last year. I made my essay on it, but it's astounding how the film uses film form to make us see through from the perspective of someone with dementia. Absolutely a must watch for any film buffs.
The Vast of Night
I decided to look at some lists of the best films from 2020, and this film was mentioned on that list and it just absolutely fascinated me on its premise alone. It's an alien invasion movie set in the 50s, based alone from these teenagers' perspective, using phones and radio transmissions. It's absolutely chilling and haunting by the fact you don't really see much, you only hear of stuff, and it makes it feel so authentic. It was a real gem of the last year.
Luca
I loved this movie quite a bit. Is it one of Pixar's best? No. Is it trying to be? No. It's a smaller scale fun film and I absolutely vibe with that. So much so, I rewatched this film this month too. It was just as good.
The Two Popes
I saw this film was up for some Oscars in the 2019 Oscars, so I was curious to check out The Two Popes. Utterly bored for the entire film. I like films that are just talking in a room - One Night in Miami.. is one of my favourite films of last year, but The Two Popes lacked anything ti make it genuinely intriguing. It was just 2 hours of talking and I didn't care.
Ingrid Goes West
Watched this for Elizabeth Olsen, got some Elizabeth Olsen, packaged in a pretty funny film that was pretty close to greatness until the end kinda mixed up the message of the film in a weird way. That didn't ruin the film though, still pretty good.
Moshi Monsters: The Movie (Rewatch)
OKAY OKAY CALM DOWN, I know.. Why did I watch this.. again. Well, Moshi Monsters was my childhood, and on a whim I found it was on Prime Video for free, and decided to see how it bad it could be. It was better than I remembered, but still really bad. Very nostalgic though.
Jackie
Starring Natalie Portman, I had wanted to watch this film for a while, but didn't realise it was on Netflix. Finally sat down to watch it, and I thought it was great. Pretty slow, but absolutely heart-breaking and absolutely carried by Natalie Portman's outstanding performance.
Boy Erased
I watched this film because I thought it would be interesting to see a film about a gay conversion camp. Instead I got an extremely generic and boring film that happens to be about a gay conversion camp, but I felt like I'd seen film multiple times, and I haven't watched any other gay conversion camp films. It was just structurally too similar to any other film about an oppressed minority
Boy
This was one of the last Taika Watiti films I hadn't seen before, I finally decided to watch it. It definitely felt like a Taika Watiti film, and I thought Taika himself had his best performance in this film. It's a pretty good film, but not one of my favourite from him.
Bumblebee
I don't know why I hadn't seen this before, as I had heard good things from it. I thought the film was alright, it felt like ET but not nearly as good. Still miles better than any Transformers film before it. Also John Cena was hilarious and has the best line in any of the Transformers films. "Should we be trusting these aliens, they're literally called Decepticons".
The Mauritanian
I respect this film infinitely more because it could've been a generic courtroom drama - even though I like them, this would be a disservice to the message it's trying to say. Instead it focuses on the guy who was imprisoned and is a legal battle. The film really becomes an acid trip in the last hour in the best way possible. One of my favourite movies from 2021 so far.
La La Land and Whiplash (Rewatch)
I don't know why, but that night I really felt like rewatching both Damien Chazelle's masterpieces. They're still masterpieces. I made a post about how much I love La La Land, but Whiplash absolutely deserves the recognition as the scariest non-horror film. Very tense.
The King of Comedy
Completely on whim I decided to watch Martin Scorsese's The King of Comedy. I loved Joker, but many people compared it to The King of Comedy. After watching, I can see why. It was very similar, but definitely this better and more nuanced. I was gripped from start to finish.
Steve Jobs (Rewatch)
I saw this in a plane in 2015, and I liked it. Upon rewatch, I absolutely loved this film. It was absolutely incredible. At its core it wasn't just a biopic, it was a story of the relationship between father and daughter. I thought it was beautifully portrayed with Micheal Fassbender starring as Steve Jobs.
The Truman Show (Rewatch)
I hadn't see The Truman Show in a couple years, but decided to rewatch it. Still absolutely love the concept, it's so interesting. I love films with interesting premises. Jim Carrey plays a more dramatic role in this film, which he absolutely owns here. He should do more roles in this vein rather than his signature over the topic persona he always does.
The Devil Wears Prada
Final film of the month was The Devil Wears Prada. I saw some comparisons from this to Cruella and decided to finally check it out. It was pretty good. I don't have much to say about it to be honestly.
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