Film Diary: July

The yearly count is up to 249 now. That’s a lot of movies. I’m so far ahead of schedule now that I don’t even try to squeeze in movies anymore, and yet I saw 26 this month. One of them I saw twice, because “The Frozen Dead” was so nuts that I had to show it to Tim and Dave at our mini movie marathon the following week.

I’m finally done with the BBS box set. Great films, but so downbeat. “The King of Marvin Gardens” was probably my favorite of the bunch, but that’s like choosing a best depression. Fortunately I had Stephen Chow’s 2-part Monkey saga “A Chinese Odyssey” to revive me with fart jokes and wire-fu.

My recommendations from the month’s viewing would be “The Secret World of Arrietty”, Studio Ghibli’s gorgeous adaptation of The Borrowers; “Under the Skin”, an art house sci-fi film that’s very near to very good; and “Holy Flame of the Martial World”, which lowered the sanity bar for Shaw Brothers films so far that sewer lines had to be moved (it has a disco ball of death!).

Arachnoquake (2012)
Attack of the Monsters (1969)
The Bay (2012)
Best Friends Forever (2013)
A Chinese Odyssey Part One: Pandora’s Box (1994)
A Chinese Odyssey Part Two: Cinderella (1994)
The Eagle (2011)
Entity (2012)
The Frozen Dead (1966)
Gamera (1965)
Grave Encounters (2011)
Grave Encounters 2 (2012)
Haunt (2013)
The Hidden Fortress (1958)
Holy Flame of the Martial World (1983)
Intruder (1989)
The King of Marvin Gardens (1972)
The King’s Speech (2010)
The Last Picture Show (1971)
Ninja III: The Domination (1984)
The Perfect Host (2010)
Perfect Stranger (2007)
Ponyo (2008)
The Secret World of Arrietty (2010)
Stitches (2012)
Thale (2012)
Under the Skin (2013)

Advertisement