I actually managed to watch the equivalent of a movie a day this month! (That’s probably because I failed to read a book a week). I also started watching more TV shows. I watched all of Being Mary Jane and You’re The Worst, finished up The Leftovers, continued watching The Knick and Outlander and started watching the last season of Boardwalk Empire. I also watched the pilots for Gotham (well, two episodes), black-ish, and How To Get Away With Murder. Of those three, I’ll probably only continue watching black-ish. Movie-wise, I watched a lot of pre-codes thanks to TCM, and a bunch of films directed by ladies (awww yeahhh). As always, after the cut are all the movies I watched and my five favorites.

1. El espíritu de la colmena (The Spirit of the Beehive)
2. Serious Moonlight
3. Hester Street
4. Female
5. Frisco Jenny
6. Virtue
7. Coal Miner’s Daughter
8. Frank
9. An Officer and a Gentleman
10. Something New
11. Advanced Style
12. Off Ground
13. One Day Pina Asked
14. The One I Love
15. Old Acquaintance
16. The Skeleton Twins
17. Enough Said
18. Mary Stevens, M.D.
19. For the Defense
20. Jewel Robbery
21. Fort Bliss
22. The Single Standard
23. The Office Wife
24. The House of Rothschild
25. Nirgendwo in Afrika (Nowhere in Africa)
26. Edge of Tomorrow
27. Strait-Jacket
28. Homicidal
29. Love & Basketball
30. Semi-Tough
31. This Must Be the Place

If you’d liked to hear more thoughts on what I watched this month, you can subscribe to my YouTube channel where I am posting video reviews of everything I watch.

1880s: 0
1890s: 0
1900s: 0
1910s: 0
1920s: 1
1930s: 8
1940s: 2
1950s: 0
1960s: 2
1970s: 3
1980s: 3
1990s: 0
2000s: 4
2010s: 9

Most of the movies I watched this month I really loved (it was a good month!) and I’ve already written about a few of them (see above), but these five were really special.

Something New, 2006 (dir. Sanaa Hamri)

I’ve actually watched this movie twice already (and ordered the DVD!). I wrote about it a few weeks back for Female Filmmaker Friday. It’s so good. It’s a rom-com that also tackles race issues and it does both beautifully. Not to mention that sizzling hot chemistry between leads Sanaa Lathan and Simon Baker.

The One I Love, 2014 (dir. Charlie McDowell)

I can’t really say much about this film without spoiling it, so all I’m really going to say is it is on VOD and you should watch it because it’s one of the most original films I’ve seen in a long while. It also features two of the best performances you’re going to see this year.

Enough Said, 2013 (dir. Nicole Holofcener)

I don’t know why I didn’t see this last year, but I really wish I had. It would have made my top list for the year for sure. I love romantic comedies and this is one of the most solid ones I’ve seen. It’s all about the characters and their relationships with each other – not just the romantic ones, but friendships and a family relationships as well. Wonderful film.

Strait-Jacket, 1964 (dir. William Castle)

Joan Crawford is the queen of all things and no one is going to tell me otherwise. This is one of Joan’s last films, but she is just as in control of her craft as she ever was. This is another one I can’t talk about too much or I’ll spoil it, but it’s definitely worth a watch for fans of William Castle and Joan Crawford.

Love & Basketball, 2000 (dir. Gina Prince-Bythewood)

More Sanaa Lathan! She’s so fantastic! I love her. I got to see this one at the Cinefamily with the director in person and it was so great. I really enjoyed seeing it with an audience of fans because the love for the film in the auditorium made it even better than it already was. I really can’t believe I had never seen this before. It is so good and I will definitely be writing about it in more depth for Female Filmmaker Friday soon.

So that was September. I’ll still be watching too much television for the rest of the year, but I’ll also be watch a horror movie a day for the month of October and we’re also a month away from Noirvember!