Hi, it is Bill and Teddy the Chihuahua again and time for our JUNE Barking Mad About Films Newsletter, in which we look back at all our entertainment related pasttimes of the previous month.
So, without any further ado, welcome to our May review….
BARKING MAD ABOUT MAY
We continued our quest to watch at least one film a day, so included may classics as well as new titles.
The highlight from our home viewing, having read the book, was Conclave, a brilliant film, and perhaps made more significant following the recent passing of the Pope, it felt relevant.
We also inspired by the local elections, watched The Candidate a great political drama from 1972 starring Robert Redford.
We also scratched an itch to revisit the classic From Dusk Till Dawn, which we had been thinking of rewatching, since seeing Sinners.
As a side note to this, we still can not stop playing that great Sinners soundtrack.
We watched another 70s classic in The Cassandra Crossing, which saw Richard Harris trying to stop a train, due to be left to run off a failing bridge to contain a virus strain which is on it.
We also watched The Masque of the Red Death from 1964, starring Vincent Price, based on the classic short story by Edgar Allan Poe, which we had recently read,
Directed by Roger Corman, it is definitely one of his best films.
A remake was also teased online, reportedly with Sydney Sweeney interested in starring.
One film that has very mixed opinions was Netflix new horror, Prom Queen, made as part of their Fear Street series.
It was based on the book by R L Stine, which we had read.
We would say very loosely based on, but we enjoyed it, but appears many think it was awful.
Whilst not awful, we did like, not love the latest Jason Statham movie. A Working Man.
The book it was based on, Levon’s Trade, was a quick and easy read, yet its adaptation was stretched to 2 hours.
We did however have a lot of fun, and forgotten how much we enjoyed it, with Cellular, which had Statham play the bad guy for a change.
We also watched two completely opposite movie musicals in Repo: The Genetic Opera, a horror based musical about organ marketing.
After all those Missions, we then watched a more lighter turn from Tom Cruise in the rock musical, Rock of Ages.
Other than that, it was a mixed bag of watchable movies, as ever you can find every film we watch by following us on Letterboxd.
BARKING MAD ABOUT CINEMA
May was the start of the HUGE Blockbuster season and to say our cinema trips started with a bang would be an understatement.
We started our May cinema visits with the relentless, under fire action drama, Warfare, from Alex Garland.
You really felt part of the action as it follows a platoon of Navy Seals try to survive a dangerous mission.
Next up was Until Dawn, a watchable horror based on a computer game, which like Minecraft, we had never played.
It was enjoyable but we would not be in a rush to watch it again.
A far better horror experience was Final Destination: Bloodlines, the long-awaited new instalment from this much-loved franchise.
Then it was The Final Reckoning, the possible last instalment in the Tom Cruise led, Final Instalment series, and for us it went out on a high, especially as upon rewatch, we found the last entry, Dead Reckoning, one of the weaker films in the series.
We ended the month with the live action adaption of Lilo and Stitch
BARKING MAD ABOUT ROBIN WILLAMS STILL
We continued trying to watch a Robin Williams film every Wednesday.
He is always a joy to watch, the standout was a rewatch of the outstanding and firm favourite of ours, Dead Poets Society.
For nostalgia, we revisited him in Cadillac Man, which was one of the first films we saw him in on the big screen.
We saw him in The Final Cut, a great concept and performance but a fairly forgettable movie, in which Robin was able to take memories from people’s minds after they had died, to make them a compilation of memories.
We also watched House of D & The Big Wedding, but these were more extended cameos from Robin.
BARKING MAD ABOUT BOOKS
We, as always read a few books in our read list that have been inspired by forthcoming films or films recently announced.
We enjoyed, although did feel odd, as it is a festive story following a hectic under appreciated mum at Christmas, the short story Oh. What. Fun. By Chandler Baker, to be a film with Michelle Pfeiffer.
We loved Anxious People from Fredrik Backman, which follows a group of people being held hostages with some being connected to each other.
The Film will star Angelina Jolie and Aimee Lou Wood.
We also loved Drowning by T.J. Newman, which felt very much like classic disaster movies The Poseidon Adventure and Raise the Titanic, in which a plane crashes into the ocean, and a dramatic mission is put in place to save the passengers, before it sinks to the bottom of the ocean.
And then books coming to TV
The Whisper Man by Alex North, in which a race is on to stop a serial killer.
The book is being adapted by Netflix and starring Robert DeNiro.
The Hunting Wives by May Cobb was possible the closest we have got to reading the sort of storylines we remember from classic TV show Desperate Housewives, and it should make for a fun series.
The Life Inside by Andy West was a memoir about a man teaching philosophy in prisons. It is being made into a drama by the BBC.
Also coming to the BBC, we loved Leonard and Fat Paul by Ronan Hession which saw two close friends take big steps in their lives, from meeting a girl to moving out from their parents’ home.
Much like the films, we do log every book we read and you can follow us on Good Reads.
BARKING MAD ABOUT TV.
We watched some great shows in May:
A brilliant led performance from Amanda Seyfried was a highlight in the adaptation of Liz Moore book, Long Bright River.
Another great Book to TV adaptation was The Last Anniversary, based on the best seller from Lianne Moriarty.
We also loved the TV adaptation of Sarah Vaughan’s brilliant book, Little Disasters.
We loved the comedy drama The Studio on Apple TV.
We also loved the new BBC cosy crime comedy drama, Death Valley.
We also loved the latest season of Doctor Who and whilst we are sure many of you will strongly disagree, for us the best show on TV continues to be Will Trent.
BARKING MAD ABOUT STRONG FEMALE PERFORMANCES.
We watched a few films with great strong female lead performances.
We watched a brilliant performance from Meryl Streep in A Cry in the Dark, the drama based on a true story of a woman accused of killing her baby, as no one believes her when she claimed a dingo took them.
Inspired by watching Long Bright River, we watched another great performance from Amanda Seyfried in Lovelace, a biopic of the mistreated star of the adult industry, Linda Lovelace.
We also because it was on the TV watched Dolly Parton, in the ahead of its time working place comedy 9 to 5, clearly a huge inspiration for the more critically acclaimed Working Girl, starring Melanie Griffiths.
BARKING MAD ABOUT FRANCHISES/FORTHCOMING SEQUELS.
In May, we revisited all the previous Missions in the Mission Impossible series before seeing The Final Reckoning.
We, also every Friday watched one of the three previous Fantastic Four movies, before the new team hit the big screen.
We revisited the Adam Sandler comedy classic, Happy Gilmore ahead of its sequel.
We also watched the Sandra Bullock/Nicole Kidman supernatural comedy Practical Magic after a sequel was announced.
BARKING MAD ABOUT JUNE
Two of our most anticipated films are released in JUNE
For the cinema, we love a shark film so hopefully we will get to see Dangerous Animals, but with so many big box office hits out at present, its hard to tell if it will get a wide release.
The same goes with Clown in a Cornfield, based on the book series which we enjoyed.
Possibly the most likely will be Ballerina, a return to the world of John Wick and m8gan 2.0 the sequel to M8gan will be high up on the to watch list.
At home, Ballerina we shall probably use as an excuse to revisit the John Wick films, especially 2, in which Ballerina first appears.
TV wise, the two highlights for us will be the return of The Bear on Disney+ and the final season of Squid Game on Netflix.
Two shows based on books we really enjoyed are We Were Liars coming to Amazon and The Survivors to Netflix so we will check them out.
And we are also looking forward to St.Denis Medical, a new comedy from the creator of Superstore.
We have not got any real rewatch plans for June so we will probably try and make our way through our extensive watchlist.
How about you, what are you looking forward to entertainment wise, this June?
We would love to hear from you.
You can always keep up with what we are watching by following us on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/barkingmadaboutfilms/
Or you can follow us on Letterboxd to see all the movies we watch: https://letterboxd.com/Bill626/
You can also discover what we read, by following us on GoodReads at https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/28908876-bill-boswell
We hope you enjoyed our monthly reviews and if this has given you inspiration for films to watch or you want more ideas for what to watch then why not check out our digital calendar full of ideas and dates in movies https://barkingmadaboutfilms-com.stackstaging.com/introducing-the-bmaf-film-club-calendar/
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