I watch a ton of films every single month, having cumulated over 1200 films in the past four years (since I began tracking them on IMDb). These have been a variety of great films, terrible films, and everything in between. This is a relatively incomplete list of the films I have seen. I have a rule that before a certain date, the day I started my IMDb page, any films I watched will not be rated. For example, I have seen The Lion King plenty of times in my youth. However, since I haven't seen it since May 5th, 2013, I have not yet rated it. I do this for a few reasons, but mostly because I feel like my film viewing experience changed when I started my IMDb page. I took a more serious and devoted approach to watching movies. I feel like it's only fair to review these films again.
Each month, I will list out the films that I watched in those 30 (or 31/28) days in order, as well as my rating for them. I will highlight both the best film I saw, the worst film I saw, as well as the one that surprised me the most and the one that disappointed me the most. I feel like this will be useful in a few ways; firstly, I will be able to share everything I have watched, and who knows, there could be something on there that you've never heard of, but appeals to you. I take pride in recommending quality films to people whenever I can.
Also, I feel like this could help me personally reflect on these films after the fact of watching. Admittedly, I watch so many films that sometimes I don't properly reflect on some of them. That is something I feel deserves blame on both sides. If I don't think about them much, the honest truth is that they probably weren't that good, but I should still give some times to think about it and collect my thoughts more coherently.
Without further a do, here is the list of films I watched in July of 2017:
1. Wonder Woman - 8
2. Rocky IV - 8
3. Grown Ups 2 - 8
4. Spider-Man: Homecoming - 9
5. Avalanche Sharks - 1
6. Hardware - 7
7. Inherent Vice - 6
8. War for the Planet of the Apes - 6
9. Scary Movie 3 - 5
10. Naked Lunch - 7
11. The Deer Hunter - 9
12. The Theory of Everything - 7
13. Cobra - 5
14. The Equalizer - 7
15. Dog Soldiers - 6
16. The Mummy (2017) - 6
Best Film: Spider-Man: Homecoming - I came into this film with high expectations, and not only did I leave the theater satisfied, but even more impressed by what I had just seen. This film is just fantastic. It is a Spider-Man film that is finally free from being dragged down by the cumbersome task of being an origin story. I mean, I think it makes a lot of sense; we know who Spider-Man is! If you are seeing this film, there is a VERY good chance that you know who Peter Parker and his alter ego are, so there is really no need to tell me about the death of Uncle Ben, and that his parents are missing, or whatever. This is simply a film about Spider-Man saving the day as a teenager in Manhattan, and it's done wonderfully. Some people don't really like the Marvel film "format", and while I agree that all of the films do follow a noticeable progression timeline, I would say that, well, if it ain't broke, don't fix it.
Worst Film: Avalanche Sharks - There is no one to blame but me for watching this movie. I wasn't dared to, nor did someone have it on and I decided to watch along, or it was on TV and I was doing things while it played in the background. Nope. I sat down, looked through Netflix and saw Avalanche Sharks, and said, 'I am going to watch this movie.' My God is the movie a piece of fucking garbage. It is insultingly bad. I mean, firstly, let us get to the elephant in the room. What exactly is an avalanche shark? According to the film, it is an "ancient" shark that would actually swim in snow, and not, well, water. Regardless of the various biological reasons as to why this is possibly the stupidest concept for a shark film of all time and incredibly impossible in all ways, shapes, and forms, the shots look horrible. You can tell it is a computer generated shark fin that they stuck into a shot of snow. It is AWFUL. Plus, I just don't get how the shark can make it into some of the places it does in the film. Like, okay, here, watch this scene:
HOW DID THE SHARK COME THROUGH THE BOTTOM OF A HOT TUB. SOMEONE PLEASE EXPLAIN THIS TO ME. PLEASE. Like, sure, if you want to think that it is plausible that there can be a shark that, okay, a shark that can breath in SNOW, and live in SNOW, a FISH that can live in SNOW, you can not POSSIBLY explain to me just how he makes it in here. You can't. Man... I need to calm down. This shit is just too ridiculous.
Even if I did pretend that the idea of a snow shark was plausible, it would still not do anything to help the absolutely abysmal acting and screenplay. Look, as I said, I've watched a ton of films the past few years, and rarely do I rate a film a 1. I save that score for something that is so bad and so insulting that I think it needs distinct recognition. I have given some of the "worst films ever", like Birdemic, The Room, and others higher scores than a one because I actually liked them for how bad they were. This... This is not the same thing. This film is awful and no one should watch it.
Most Surprising: Naked Lunch - I was told about this film a long time ago by a friend of mine who was adamant about me getting to all of David Cronenberg's stuff. It took me a few years to actually take the initiative to watch it however, and, well, wow. This film is hard to describe, and even harder to digest. I feel like I need to watch this film a few more times before I come to realize just the exact nature of the film, like, what is real in the film, and what is an illusion. What is in the main character's head, and what is actually happening? Are these talking bugs taking over the world real?! I really don't know. I knew I was getting into something that was going to be a bit over my head when I started it, but just how insane and confusing it was made it the most surprising film I had seen in July.
Most Disappointing: Inherent Vice - This was another film I had on my IMDb Watchlist for a while, and when I went on vacation to Cape Cod in July, I felt it was a proper time to watch the film, which spanned around two and a half hours. When it was all said and done I was a bit underwhelmed. I realize the film had a lot of good things going for it. I thought Joaquin Phoenix was great in his role as the lead, and some of the story I thought was clever and interesting. All in all, though, I had a hard time staying invested in the film and staying focused on what was happening. I used to get mad at myself when I would watch a film and just find myself distracted during it. 'You could potentially miss a good film!' Then, I saw Gone Girl, which proved to me this wasn't the case. While watching that film, I stopped multitasking and became fully invested in the film for the last hour. It hooked me. From that day on, I decided that if a film was good enough, I would watch it. It's that simple. If a film can't pull me in, then I don't think I deserve much of that blame. This film just couldn't keep me interested for how long it was.
--
We are half way through August (at the time of this writing) and I am on a pretty good pace for watching films. I am at 13 films, which is only 3 less than I watched all last month. That being said, The Defenders is coming out tomorrow, and so that will certainly stall film viewings. Either way, I hope you enjoy this, and if you haven't seen or heard of some of the films on my list this month, feel free to look into them on IMDb and give them a try. You never know which film could become your next favorite.
Each month, I will list out the films that I watched in those 30 (or 31/28) days in order, as well as my rating for them. I will highlight both the best film I saw, the worst film I saw, as well as the one that surprised me the most and the one that disappointed me the most. I feel like this will be useful in a few ways; firstly, I will be able to share everything I have watched, and who knows, there could be something on there that you've never heard of, but appeals to you. I take pride in recommending quality films to people whenever I can.
Also, I feel like this could help me personally reflect on these films after the fact of watching. Admittedly, I watch so many films that sometimes I don't properly reflect on some of them. That is something I feel deserves blame on both sides. If I don't think about them much, the honest truth is that they probably weren't that good, but I should still give some times to think about it and collect my thoughts more coherently.
Without further a do, here is the list of films I watched in July of 2017:
1. Wonder Woman - 8
2. Rocky IV - 8
3. Grown Ups 2 - 8
4. Spider-Man: Homecoming - 9
5. Avalanche Sharks - 1
6. Hardware - 7
7. Inherent Vice - 6
8. War for the Planet of the Apes - 6
9. Scary Movie 3 - 5
10. Naked Lunch - 7
11. The Deer Hunter - 9
12. The Theory of Everything - 7
13. Cobra - 5
14. The Equalizer - 7
15. Dog Soldiers - 6
16. The Mummy (2017) - 6
Best Film: Spider-Man: Homecoming - I came into this film with high expectations, and not only did I leave the theater satisfied, but even more impressed by what I had just seen. This film is just fantastic. It is a Spider-Man film that is finally free from being dragged down by the cumbersome task of being an origin story. I mean, I think it makes a lot of sense; we know who Spider-Man is! If you are seeing this film, there is a VERY good chance that you know who Peter Parker and his alter ego are, so there is really no need to tell me about the death of Uncle Ben, and that his parents are missing, or whatever. This is simply a film about Spider-Man saving the day as a teenager in Manhattan, and it's done wonderfully. Some people don't really like the Marvel film "format", and while I agree that all of the films do follow a noticeable progression timeline, I would say that, well, if it ain't broke, don't fix it.
Worst Film: Avalanche Sharks - There is no one to blame but me for watching this movie. I wasn't dared to, nor did someone have it on and I decided to watch along, or it was on TV and I was doing things while it played in the background. Nope. I sat down, looked through Netflix and saw Avalanche Sharks, and said, 'I am going to watch this movie.' My God is the movie a piece of fucking garbage. It is insultingly bad. I mean, firstly, let us get to the elephant in the room. What exactly is an avalanche shark? According to the film, it is an "ancient" shark that would actually swim in snow, and not, well, water. Regardless of the various biological reasons as to why this is possibly the stupidest concept for a shark film of all time and incredibly impossible in all ways, shapes, and forms, the shots look horrible. You can tell it is a computer generated shark fin that they stuck into a shot of snow. It is AWFUL. Plus, I just don't get how the shark can make it into some of the places it does in the film. Like, okay, here, watch this scene:
Even if I did pretend that the idea of a snow shark was plausible, it would still not do anything to help the absolutely abysmal acting and screenplay. Look, as I said, I've watched a ton of films the past few years, and rarely do I rate a film a 1. I save that score for something that is so bad and so insulting that I think it needs distinct recognition. I have given some of the "worst films ever", like Birdemic, The Room, and others higher scores than a one because I actually liked them for how bad they were. This... This is not the same thing. This film is awful and no one should watch it.
Most Surprising: Naked Lunch - I was told about this film a long time ago by a friend of mine who was adamant about me getting to all of David Cronenberg's stuff. It took me a few years to actually take the initiative to watch it however, and, well, wow. This film is hard to describe, and even harder to digest. I feel like I need to watch this film a few more times before I come to realize just the exact nature of the film, like, what is real in the film, and what is an illusion. What is in the main character's head, and what is actually happening? Are these talking bugs taking over the world real?! I really don't know. I knew I was getting into something that was going to be a bit over my head when I started it, but just how insane and confusing it was made it the most surprising film I had seen in July.
Most Disappointing: Inherent Vice - This was another film I had on my IMDb Watchlist for a while, and when I went on vacation to Cape Cod in July, I felt it was a proper time to watch the film, which spanned around two and a half hours. When it was all said and done I was a bit underwhelmed. I realize the film had a lot of good things going for it. I thought Joaquin Phoenix was great in his role as the lead, and some of the story I thought was clever and interesting. All in all, though, I had a hard time staying invested in the film and staying focused on what was happening. I used to get mad at myself when I would watch a film and just find myself distracted during it. 'You could potentially miss a good film!' Then, I saw Gone Girl, which proved to me this wasn't the case. While watching that film, I stopped multitasking and became fully invested in the film for the last hour. It hooked me. From that day on, I decided that if a film was good enough, I would watch it. It's that simple. If a film can't pull me in, then I don't think I deserve much of that blame. This film just couldn't keep me interested for how long it was.
--
We are half way through August (at the time of this writing) and I am on a pretty good pace for watching films. I am at 13 films, which is only 3 less than I watched all last month. That being said, The Defenders is coming out tomorrow, and so that will certainly stall film viewings. Either way, I hope you enjoy this, and if you haven't seen or heard of some of the films on my list this month, feel free to look into them on IMDb and give them a try. You never know which film could become your next favorite.
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