As we head into those halcyon summer days which come with the month of August, I just wanted to drop in to let you know I am still here. Granted, I am a couple of teeth down, thanks to a dental emergency.
As far as chronicling my film journey goes, without question, July is a bust. Which sucks because it started out with so much promise. But due to my medical needs, it had to take a backseat.
But have no fear – not all is lost. Here are a couple of key highlights:
Spider-Man: Far From Home
It has been nearly a month, but July kicked off in some high flying and entertaining fashion. The latest installment of the MCU, felt like well-earned coda to the spectacularly epic events of Avengers: Endgame.
Marking the official end to MCU Phase IV (so I hear …), Far from Home sees us with a Spider-Man reeling from the aforementioned-film’s events. With a fun and twisty story, Far From Home balances the good humor, kinetic energy and emotional resonance one would want from their favorite webbed crusader – in other words, it is a good time out. And with Endgame still in theaters and continuing to break records, this packs a good one-two combination for anyone wanting to take their binging tendencies to their local cinema.
All About Alice
My own personal Alice Guy Blaché project caught fire this past May with the Focus on French Cinema – an annual cinematic buffet for Francophiles. One of the featured films in this festival was the award winning, Be Natural: The Untold Story of Alice Guy-Blaché, a documentary on the pioneering filmmaker. During my post-op convalescence, I pulled out the box set Pioneers: First Women Filmmakers (Disk One more precisely) and binged on a marathon of restorations of many of her films.
Directed by Pamela Green, Be Natural played like an episode of some of my favorite history programs such as History Detectives or Who Do You Think You Are?. It was fascinating to watch Green slowly peel away the layers in building a clear case for Blaché’s name to sit alongside all of the names often mentioned as being at the forefront of cinema.
If you do not know about her, I highly suggest you use this film as a great entry point. Be Natural is currently available to view in digital format. For those (like me) who are happy to hold a physical copy of this film, it will be available for purchase starting August 20th.
I have no control when it comes to the Criterion Collection.
At the time of posting, we are still in the midst of a wonderful summer sale at Barnes and Noble – 50% off of all Criterion titles! So far, I am about 3 titles in with possibly a few more to come.
And for those who follow these things, you also know that this sale coincides with the announcement and release of late summer/early fall titles. So more to look forward too :).
Bonus points go the genius who designed this wonderful cover art:
So what have you all been up to? Hit the comments.
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