Blog Archives
June 2021 In Films
So this month I watched far less than in previous months because. . .I watched four whole seasons of The X-Files! It has been years since I rewatched that show (I watched from the day it aired during its original run on TV!) and I feel real hard into a re-watch, which sort of distracted me from my new-to-me goals. That said, I am about forty films shy of 8,000 films watched! I’ll have to make sure #8000 is something really special.
Here’s a look at everything else I did this month! On my podcast Prog Save America I spoke with WilliamScurry about prog rock album art, Rich Bunnell about ELO, and Robert Daniels about Bob Dylan’s “Nashville Skyline”. Over on the Classic Film Collective I contributed a monthly movie rec, wrote a poem about Marilyn Monroe, and joined Jill Blake on the Watch With Jen podcast to talk about Girlfriends. Over at Nerdist I celebrated the 20th (!!!) anniversary of Moulin Rouge! with a look back at the drama of an Ewan McGregor Yahoo! group of which I used to be an active member, for Pride Month I explored the queerness of Venom and looked at 23 of the earliest queer films from the silent and pre-code eras. For my Moviefone column I interviewed Tove director Zaida Bergroth, Skater Girl filmmakers Manjari & Vinati Makijany, Good On Paper director Kimmy Gatewood, I Carry You With Me director Heidi Ewing, and took a look at documentaries about Rita Moreno and Jane Fonda.
As always, after the cut you can find everything I watched in June + some of my favorites from the month.
August 2019 in Films
I almost made it to an average of a film a day in August. I got a little behind because the fourth season of Cable Girls dropped (it was WILD) and I started to watch a new Spanish show called 45 RPM (so far it’s great!), but I think my average for August was pretty damn good. I want to give a big shout out to KJ Relth at the UCLA Film and Television Archive for really making my summer something special with her amazing programming of female directors at the Billy Wilder Theatre. So grateful to see these thrilling films all summer, and especially to see a few of them introduced by their directors (Nina Menkes, Mary Lambert, Penelope Spheeris). As always, you can find everything I watched after the cut plus a few of my faves.
Movie Quote of the Day – The Decline of Western Civilization, 1981 (dir. Penelope Spheeris)
Eugene: That’s stupid. Punk rock. I don’t, you know. . .I just think of it as rock ‘n’ roll cuz that’s what it is. You know?
Penelope: What do you like about it?
Eugene: Well, I like that it’s like. . .something new and it’s just reviving old rock ‘n’ roll. And it’s like it’s raw again. It’s for real. And it’s fun, and you know. . .it’s like, it’s not bullshit. There’s no rock stars now, you know.
Movie Quote of the Day – The Little Rascals, 1994 (dir. Penelope Spheeris)
Stymie: Why don’t go make up with him, Alfalfa? You guys have been friends since you were one.
Alfalfa: He started it!
Stymie: And you should finish it. You’re a team, like Bert and Ernie. Superman and Clark Kent, Milli and Vanilli. At least go talk to him. What could it cost?
Spanky: You mean, besides my dignity and pride?
Stymie: All I know is, you only make a once-in-a-lifetime buddy, once in a lifetime.