The Media I've Consumed
June 2017
Flicks
I killed it in June, and maybe myself a little. Livin' that it's-summer-got-no-care-do-whatever-eat-whatever-teacher-life-thing happening. A lot of catching up on doing nothing. Days in pajamas. My wife was laid up on pain pills from a surgery, so we marathon'ed. Just straight up ran 'em the last week. All-in-all best movie month in a long long time. Much needed. Now time to start exercising again.
June 1st -7th
Apocalypse Now
The Town
Did get a week of a sort of vacation. When the Nashville Predators made a run at the Stanley Cup, and I was there for it. Not actually at the stadium but I was in the shit downtown. It was badass. Also, badass is revisiting Francis Ford Coppola's Vietnam war masterpiece. God! It's so good! Washed that down with Ben Affleck's sophomore effort The Town, which I found weak considering how much better it's been done (see Heat and Hell or High Water).
June 8th-14th
Days of Thunder
The Color of Money
Cocktail
Collateral
John Wick: Chapter 2
Got back into the Tom Cruise marathon Amanda and I are into. Ten more to go to be a completist. Of these four, Michael Mann's Collateral takes the prize. Perfectly solid thriller with one of Cruise's few best performances as Vincent, the greyed hitman with a code. His scenes with Foxx (most of the film) are outstanding, and Mann's early digital cinematography never looked better. John Wick: Chapter 2 is fine until about Kill #53 when I zoned out.
June 15th-21st
Masterminds
The Founder
War of the Worlds
Why Him?
Interview with the Vampire
So, the engagement photo scene from last year's Masterminds is just about the best comedic moment I've experienced in a movie in years. The movie itself is a bit over-the-top, but I laughed more than I didn't. Great cast. Why Him? on the other hand is one of the laziest pieces of shit I've ever seen. Huge waste of a major league cast. The Founder was a bit of a disappointment, sort of Sorkin-lite. Not a great Tom duo, though he's pretty fierce as Lestat.
June 22nd -27th, Part 1
A Fistful of Dollars
Edge of Tomorrow
Fist Fight
About Time
Wedding Crashers
Old School
Forgetting Sarah Marshall
Hell or High Water
Trying to start back up with my Sunday morning Western. Didn't actually watch either of the two on here on a Sunday morning, but then again every day is Sunday morning these days. Amanda was leading the charge on this stretch. She's pretty much exclusively romance, romantic comedy, or comedy in her movie taste, so one thing led to another here. About Time was a surprising Amanda selection. I love Domnhall Gleeson, and this is just a sweetheart of a movie with some cool twists, even if the time travel logic is a bit wonky.
June 22nd -27th, Part 2
The Virgin Suicides
Lost in Translation
Marie Antoinette
Midnight in Paris
Wet Hot American Summer
Somewhere
Baby Driver
The Sofia Coppola Retrospective of 2017 went down. Directed by post soon. The Virgin Suicides is a stellar re-watch every single time, and I really enjoyed by first watch of Somewhere, which is a movie that sort of defies enjoyment then somehow finds it in spades. Amanda caught a couple in the middle there, but she was with me on the Coppola as well. She digs. My review of Baby Driver is up. See that movie. It's the shit.
Tube
Damon Lindelof and Tom Perotta pulled off some just crazy good, crazy crazy television with the final season of The Leftovers. I can't even begin. I loved every weird second of it. Also took down Aziz Ansari's brilliant Master of None, a loving ode to food and technology and love. For pre-bedtime wind-down, it's a re-watch of Cheers, starting from season 1. Gonna take awhile.
Tunes
Paul Thomas Anderson's video of a live cut of Haim's newest single "Right Now" is so great. Really looking forward to the new album. June was also good to me with Jason Isbell's new one dropping the same day as the new, long-awaited Fleet Foxes. Both stellar, if not as perfect as the last on both accounts.
Reads
I've been asked to read and lead a professional book study on Ruby Payne's Framework for Understanding Poverty by my bosses at work. It's a fascinating read, delving into some of the misconceptions teachers and policy makers have in terms of understanding the mindset behind generational poverty. Consider it a researched version of J.D. Vance's Hillbilly Elegy. Also, I got my YA fix with the verse novel about middle school twin brothers with basketball, girl, and Dad problems. Amanda and I are reading aloud Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale as we plan to watch the series soon.
Links
A round-up of good reads around the Interweb.
Dell, unlike me, is still on his Blind Spot plan. Here he reacts to a first watch of The Farrelly Brothers' There's Something About Mary.
SJ lets us know what's wrong with the Best Picture Oscar in 1978.
Sonia watched L.A. Confidential, one of my faves, and Once Upon a Time in the West, which I plan to watch myself soon.
Brittany reviews the live-action Beauty and the Beast.
Alex reviews Sofia Coppola's The Beguiled. Look for my review Tuesday.
SJ lets us know what's wrong with the Best Picture Oscar in 1978.
Sonia watched L.A. Confidential, one of my faves, and Once Upon a Time in the West, which I plan to watch myself soon.
Brittany reviews the live-action Beauty and the Beast.
Alex reviews Sofia Coppola's The Beguiled. Look for my review Tuesday.
Man, you watched a ton of good movies this week. Of these, some I also watched this:
ReplyDeleteHell or High Water (outstanding)
Masterminds (better than expected)
John Wick: Chapter 2 (a blast, and I might've watched it on July 1st)
Thanks for the link!!!
Sorry so long to respond. I can't get it together these days. You are right on about Masterminds. I like that kind of comedy. And Hell or High Water just gets better every time I rewatch.
DeleteI've never been really interested in watching The Town and now I'm interested even less. You still watched a lot of great films! I didn't like About Time though. It felt like a chick flick for men and the whole time travel thing just didn't work for me. But I loved Domhnall Gleeson.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the links!
No problem. Sorry so long to respond. "Chick flick for men": Good call!
DeleteNice review here man! Thanks so much for the link, I really appreciate it.
ReplyDeleteNo problem. Thanks for coming by.
DeleteI really need to see Marie Antionette, that's the one Coppola movie that has escaped me.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the link!
Do see it. I only like the first hour or so. The end seems very lazy to me.
DeleteNo prob!
Whoa...this is some good shit.
ReplyDelete'Livin' that it's-summer-got-no-care-do-whatever-eat-whatever-teacher-life-thing happening.' This is the best. And the worst. I always head into summer with GRAND PLANS and this is what becomes of me. But June? Shit. I never give a damn in June. But when the 4th rolls around...I'm the saddest a-hole around.
'John Wick: Chapter 2 is fine until about Kill #53 when I zoned out.' It took me a 1,500 word review to almost say what you said in just over a dozen. Well played, good sir. Well played.
I loved About Time. Adored that damn movie.
Hahaha...Understanding Poverty. I have it...but never finished it. The boss who bought that for us lost his school...because he was stealing from it.
haha! Thanks, man. Sorry so long to respond. I agree with everything we both have said here about teachers in the summer. And I love your corrupt school administrator bit at the end here. Those are the best. My first principal (I've had five in nine years) resigned due to getting caught getting it on with the school nurse, so...
DeleteAnd, yeah, if John Wick 2 had ended after the 20 minute cold open, I would've cried masterpiece. Instead, I have no fucking clue what that was. I love badass. But too much of it is like anything else. The Law of Diminishing Return was totally in play.
Awesome film picks for June!
ReplyDeleteLast month was overall good for me movie-wise. I saw Wonder Woman (amazing), It Comes at Night (terrifying), Beatriz at Dinner (excellent), Cars 3 (good), Baby Driver (HOLY SHIT IT WAS AWESOME), The Beguiled (EXCELLENT), & Despicable Me 3 (good). I did see a couple absolutely awful films last month as well: Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Long Haul (cinematic torture), & The Book of Henry (the worst film of the year so far). (If you're wondering why I subjected myself to those films, I wanted to see how bad they would be).
At home, I watched a lot of movies as well: Shaun of the Dead (hilarious), Hot Fuzz (hilarious), The World's End (hilarious), Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (awesome), We Were Soldiers (good, but could've been better), I, Daniel Blake (excellent), Fist Fight (funny), T2 Trainspotting (better than the first), & MacGruber (stupidly hilarious). I also rewatched Get Out (excellent), Pineapple Express (hilarious), Forrest Gump (better the second time I watched it), The Spectacular Now (amazing), & Good Will Hunting (still in my top 5 of all time).
On the TV side of things, I finished binge-watching all 12 seasons of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia. It's probably the funniest TV show I've ever watched.
Haven't really listened to a lot of new music lately, although I have been listening to a lot of Fleetwood Mac lately.
Haven't read a lot, but I do have a lot of books I really want to read.
This weekend, I was planning on seeing The Big Sick & Spider-Man: Homecoming, but sadly, I got sick, so I'll have to wait until next weekend.
Once I get better, I will see those films, & I'm going to watch Rise of the Planet of the Apes & Dawn of the Planet of the Apes before seeing War for the Planet of the Apes next weekend. I'm also going to watch some of the Christopher Nolan films that I haven't seen before I see Dunkirk in 70mm, & I also plan on re-watching all of Paul Thomas Anderson's filmography & watching the only film of his that I haven't seen (The Master). Also, I plan on seeing The Emoji Movie later this month, because I want to see how awful it is.
So much greatness. Hope you got to everything. Sorry so long to respond. Total dedication on that It's Always Sunny. I never caught up after about five seasons.
DeleteI caught up to The Big Sick & Spider-Man: Homecoming. I'll review them sometime today.
DeleteAnd it's alright that it took a bit longer to respond, man.
If you can, get back on It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia. It's so freaking hilarious, & it keeps getting funnier as the seasons go on.