Wrap Up of Films Watched in June of 2009

June brought on a lot of great films and one major change. I decided to forgo rating films. I constantly found myself struggling to differentiate the difference between these rather face value numbers. How exactly do you rate a B-movie horror title like The Last Horror Film in comparison to something like The Godfather? It's hard. Words are the best tool for telling how you really feel about something. Not a superficial and meaningless number out of 10. So anyways, you won't find any ratings here. If you wish to know what I think of a film, please ask me, I'd be more than willing to discuss that particular film with you.

Anyways, I watched 28 films in June, a good amount. 162 is the total after June. If I didn't fizzle out a bit towards the end I would have averaged one a day for sure. I watched A LOT of great films this month, and that isn't an understatement. And yeah, so what, I watched The Godfather and The Deer Hunter for the first time each. Big deal. Below you will find the list complete with a clickable link to IMDB. As always, an asterisk means it was the first time I watched the film. Check after the list for the awards.

January
February
March
April
May
135. 6/1 – M. Butterfly*
136. 6/2 – Drag Me to Hell*
137. 6/4 – Drag Me to Hell
138. 6/5 – Falling Down*
139. 6/6 – Death Wish*
140. 6/7 – In the Heat of the Night*
141. 6/8 – The Deer Hunter*
142. 6/9 – Before the Music Dies*
143. 6/13 – Wise Blood*
144. 6/13 – Man Hunt*
145. 6/14 – The Godfather*
146. 6/14 – The Last Horror Film*
147. 6/15 – Farewell, My Lovely*
148. 6/15 – Road House*
149. 6/16 – Side Street*
150. 6/18 – Ghostbusters
151. 6/19 – Monster in the Closet*
152. 6/20 – Army of Darkness
153. 6/20 – Nothing But Trouble*
154. 6/21 – MST3K: Mitchell*
155. 6/21 – Cape Fear (1962)*
156. 6/22 – Four Flies on Grey Velvet*
157. 6/22 – Young Mr. Lincoln*
158. 6/23 – Groundhog Day*
159. 6/24 – The Hangover*
160. 6/28 – The Friends of Eddie Coyle*
161. 6/29 – The Enforcer (1951)*
162. 6/30 – Elevator to the Gallows*

Best Film (New Viewing): Drag Me To Hell
Was either The Godfather, The Deer Hunter, In The Heat of the Night or one of the other great films I watched this month technically better than Drag Me To Hell? Maybe. But you know what, I don't care. I'm going deep and picking the film that marks the return of Sam Raimi, one of the world's greatest horror directors. If you read my review, you'll know how thrilled I was by this film. It's an absolute flashback to the great kinds of horror filmmaking of the past, something I just hope continues on for quite some time.
Runners-up: The Godfather, The Deer Hunter, In The Heat of the Night, Wise Blood, Elevator to the Gallows, Cape Fear.

Best Film (Repeated Viewing): Army of Darkness
I guess technically I could choose Drag Me To Hell for this too since I saw it twice, but I won't. I didn't see too many films I had already seen this month, so I'll have to go with another one of Sam Raimi's masterpieces: Army of Darkness. It was literally only between this and Ghostbusters.
Runner-up: Ghostbusters.

Worst Film (Any Viewing): Before the Music Dies
I loved the message this documentary was trying to send. Music is definitely suffering heavily from a corporation controlled record and radio industry. The arguments at hand were just mostly boring and one-sided, not giving it much of a balance. I understand where it comes from, because I come from the same believes. It had some interesting points, but nothing that kept me in awe. A mediocre documentary that could have used a little more impacting segments.

Most Surprising Film: Wise Blood
This is a film I became aware of when I spotted it as a notable DVD release a few weeks back courtesy of the Criterion Collection. The film stars Brad Dourif and was directed by the great John Huston. It was unlike anything I had ever seen. You can get my full take on it by reading what I wrote on it shortly after being blown away by the strangeness that is Wise Blood.
Runners-up: Man Hunt, The Enforcer, Young Mr. Lincoln.

Most Disappointing Film: None
Nothing at all disappointed me this month. As I said, I watched a lot of very good films this month. Anything that wasn't great, I probably didn't expect to be great.

Most Underrated Film: M. Butterfly
M. Butterfly is the criminally underrated film from one of my favorite directors, David Cronenberg. The film finally became available on DVD in May and I jumped on purchasing it. It was well worth it. It's very moody, dreamy and impacting. Jeremy Irons is brilliant in this most strange film. Highly recommended film for any Cronenberg fans.
Runners-up: The Friends of Eddie Coyle, Wise Blood, Man Hunt, Road House.

That's that. It was a good month. Lots of time to be wasted on films, and I love that. Sort of. See you later.