Biggs' Zone

A Gamer Geek's Cogitations, Conjectures and other Cortical Experiences

Category: Monthly Movie Theme Page 2 of 3

MMT: Halloween Month (October 2022)

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On November 3, 2022

In Monthly Movie Theme, Movies

October is Halloween Month. This should be no surprise. Therefore the theme is essentially scary/thriller movies. My approach this month is a little different. Usually, I have a predefined list of movies I plan to watch for each themed month. However, during Halloween Month there are at least 2-3 movies we/I watch every year; The Nightmare Before Christmas, It’s the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown and Hocus Pocus.

Oddly enough The Nightmare Before Christmas is the only one that we did watch. Perhaps the month went by so quickly that we didn’t get around to the other two. Below are the other movies that I also watched this month.

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MMT: Martial Arts Month

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On October 4, 2022

In Monthly Movie Theme, Movies

September (2022) is Martial Arts month. I really enjoy watching martial arts films so I really wanted a month for them. It doesn’t matter if its English, dubbed or subtitled. Jackie Chan is probably my favorite martial arts actor but I have a lot of respect for Bruce Lee. Jet Li and Chow Yun-Fat are also some of my favorite martial artists. Below you will find that I have covered all of them in my selections this month.

The Legend of Drunken Master is, hands down, my favorite Jackie Chan movie. It’s terribly dubbed but at least Jackie Chan always dubs using his own voice. Enter the Dragon is the Bruce Lee movie. If you only watch one Bruce Lee movie, it should be Enter the Dragon. These two movies are the quintessential martial arts films (IMO).

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon is a wonderful movie starring Chow Yun-Fat, Michelle Yeoh and Ziyi Zhang. I watch most of these movies as background while I am working (since I’ve seen every movie on my Plex server at least once). The lesson I learned with this movie, it’s hard to watch a movie with subtitles and work. A note for next time. I also learned, this movie has a sequel which I will have to check out sometime.

I’m not going to say much about the live-action Mulan, I’ve covered quite a bit when I wrote a review. It’s easily my favorite animation to live-action adaptation.

Bonus/Special Event Movies

There isn’t a special event movie in September, that I could find. If you know of some date reference in September that warrants watching the associated movie, let me know in the comments. However, I did get in a bonus movie. As I am trying to stay caught up in Phase 4 of the MCU, we watched Thor: Love and Thunder. I did enjoy it, with just a few minor criticisms.

(Click here to see last months theme selections)

film real

“The screen is a magic medium. It has such power that it can retain interest as it conveys emotions and moods that no other art form can hope to tackle.” 
– Stanley Kubrick

MMT: Mystery Movie Month

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On September 20, 2022

In Monthly Movie Theme, Movies

August (2022) is mystery movie month, again, for no particular reason. I do enjoy a good mystery whether it’s satirical, serious or comedic. The kinds of mystery movies I really like are ones that have subtle clues throughout the film and, if you follow them, you can figure it out before the end. Of course these kinds of movies are great the first time you watch them. Obviously you can’t experience that again when you re-watch the movie. However, if acting is good and the story is entertaining, then you can enjoy watching it again despite knowing “who dun it”.

Here are the mystery movies I chose to watch for August:

  • Clue
  • Knives Out
  • The Bone Collector
  • Gone Girl
  • Mystic River

I feel like Clue and Knives Out are practically default choices for this genre. Clue is such a classic with a great cast. It’s probably the most entertaining movie that’s based off of a board game. Watching Knives Out was timely given that Rian Johnson recently released a trailer for the sequel. It’s looks so good.

Bonus/Special Event Movies

The special event movie for August is the 29th which is Judgement Day from the Terminator franchise. It is the day Skynet became self aware. I think, for this day, you could watch either the first one or the second one (although the second one is more relevant to the date). I chose to watch the first film this year; perhaps I will watch T2 next August 29th.

The bonus movie (i.e. a movie that I had time to watch and doesn’t necessarily pertain to the theme or a special event) is Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile. It stars Zac Efron and it is about Ted Bundy. Portions of this movie were filmed just across the river from where I live. If you don’t mind how creepy Ted Bundy is, this film is quite interesting. It’s available to watch on Netflix.

/cheers

MMT: Action/Adventure (July 2022)

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On August 9, 2022

In Monthly Movie Theme, Movies

July (2022) is Action/Adventure month for no particular reason. I wanted a month for Action/Adventure movies and July was available. I used to have genre statistics on my movie collection and I feel like Action/Adventure and Comedy are the top two. Suffice it to say I am a big Action/Adventure fan. In fact two of the movies on the list this month are in my Top 5. So without further ado, here are July’s selections:

  • Gladiator
  • The Rock
  • Walking Tall
  • The Losers
  • The Rundown

There are not many movies I know as well as I know all the Star Wars movies. The Rock is one of those rare cases where I almost know the movie line-for-line. Every time I watch it I am immediately taken back to high school. I enjoy this movie so much and still one of my all time favorites! RIP Sean Connery.

Bonus/Special Event Selections

If you live in the US then you know it’s the month we celebrate our independence. Therefore it’s only fitting that the special event movie for July is Independence Day starring Will Smith, Bill Pullman and Jeff Goldblum (to name a few). This is such a fun movie with many quotable lines, many of which I still use to this day (“must go faster”). I know there is a sequel, I have not seen it but I’ve heard it isn’t very good. Let me know, in the comments, if you’ve seen it and what you thought.

A “bonus movie” is a new movie that comes out on a streaming service. In this case the movie 1Up was released on Amazon Prime. It’s not really an action/adventure movie, but I had already watched my list for the month and I heard about it on a podcast so I decided to check it out. The movie is OK; you can click the link to see my review.

/cheers

MMT: Super Hero Movies (June 2022)

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On July 12, 2022

In Monthly Movie Theme, Movies

The Monthly Movie Theme for June is Super Hero Movies. I chose June for super heroes because it always seems like a new Marvel movie is released in June. However, I won’t limit the movie selections to just Marvel movies. In fact this year I focused on DC super heroes, specifically Batman. The inspiration to choose Batman movies comes from having watched The Batman earlier this year.

If you saw my Top 5 post a while back then you know that I would not have watched all of the movies. I just picked the movies that I think have the best portrayals of Batman, which are:

  • Batman
  • Batman Returns
  • Batman Begins
  • The Dark Knight
  • The Dark Knight Rises
  • The Batman

A New Top 5?

If you are familiar with all of the Batman movies then you may notice that the only movies I watched have Michael Keaton and Christian Bale. As I mentioned in my Top 5, they are my top two favorite Batman actors.

Since The Batman was my inspiration for the selection this month, I watched it again. I may go so far as to update my Top 5 Batman portrayals because I’m fairly satisfied with Robert Pattinson’s touch. I may not really care for his Bruce Wayne but the movie is called “Batman”, not “Bruce Wayne”. “BatDad” may be ousted from the list and Will Arnett may be moved down a spot.

There are not Special Event Movies for the month of June, at least according to my Geek Calendar. Although, we did celebrate the death of Internet Explorer, which was decommissioned last month. Perhaps that should be the day I watch Antitrust.

/cheers

MMT: Fantasy Movies (April 2022)

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On May 5, 2022

In Monthly Movie Theme, Movies

The Monthly Movie Theme for April is Fantasy Movies (the orcs and elves kind, you pervert!). I didn’t really have a reason for picking fantasy for April. After making a list of themes I wanted to use, I chose in them in order (unless one fit a month more appropriately).

Here are are the fantasy movies I picked for 2022:

  • The Lord of the Rings Trilogy (Extended Editions)
  • Big Fish

Twice As Many And 14 Hours

I forgot how long the extended edition movies are. The Two Towers and the Return of the King are each 4+ hours long. Therefore about 12 hours of the movies in April span three of the movies on the list. Regardless of their length, they are great movies. Honestly, they are so enjoyable, your hardly notice how long you’ve been watching (until you look at the clock during the credits and go “oh s#!* it’s late!).

Big Fish is a great, feel good movie. I debated about including this movie as fantasy or drama. The “tall tale” themes is what convinced me. If you haven’t seen it, I recommend checking it out (you may need tissues for the end). It stars Obi-Wan Kenobi’s Ewan McGregor (of course I had to connect this post with Star Wars).

Special Event Movie(s)

April has two special event movie days (at least that I know of and/or that I observe). The first is April 6th which is First Contact Day. April 6th 2063 is the date man makes first contact with the Vulcans. I am, and will always be, a huge Star Wars fan, but that doesn’t mean I don’t enjoy Star Trek. I have respect for the Trek. Every year, on the 6th (if its possible) I watch First Contact, which I have fond memories of seeing in the theaters with friends.

The second special event movie is a little more personal and one I don’t expect many other people to follow. I don’t like to get political on here and I try to avoid religion; however, during the week prior to Easter, I try to watch The Passion of the Christ. The operative word is “try”. As a religious person, there are sequences in that film that are very difficult to watch but I endure it because it gives me a greater appreciation of the message of Easter.

(See Last Month’s List)

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