Kill Zone: Inside Gaza: Dispatches (Source: Channel 4)
I saw a lot of new releases in May, some I wouldn't usually go see. I watched a lot of comfort movies as well, which aren't exactly easy watches, they're just easy because I've watched them so much. It's been a good month for movies, and with Cannes on, the exciting summer period of film releases is approaching.
5th May- Challengers (Luca Guadagnino, 2024)
This did everything it should have done. It was steamy and exhilarating, episodic in the form of a tennis match. The music by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross deserves a special round of applause for its poppy tension building. I honestly think it would have done better had it been released say a month before Wimbledon, but only time will tell. Unfortunately, I did think there was going to be a bit more "action" from the three characters if you know what I mean, as this is what the trailer suggested. Maybe I need to stop watching trailers.
7th May- One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (Milos Forman, 1975)
This is what I mean by a comfort film. I know this movie pretty much back to front and it never bores me. It is so naturalistic and ahead of its time regarding mental health. That's all there is to really say.
Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio (Guillermo del Toro, 2022)
I hadn’t watched a Pinocchio film in ages, I practically forgot the storyline which was a nice surprise. I quite liked this, definitely not one of del Toro's best, I think he works better with adult fairy tales than children's, but it was beautiful and charming, nonetheless. I liked how he incorporated the Mussolini context into a children's film.
Uncut Gems (Benny Safdie, Josh Safdie, 2019)
I revisited this for the score by Oneohtrix Point Never (Daniel Lopatin) after recently seeing him at the Royal Albert Hall and it still blew me away. Lopatin's score is so dense and intricate like the stone Howard (Adam Sandler) owns which works as the McGuffin for the film. It magically plays as we see the versatile layers to it until it slowly transitions into Howard's rectum during a colonoscopy. Julia Fox also has a special place in my heart. Brilliant.
13th May- Baby Reindeer (Weronika Tofilska, Josephine Bornebusch, 2024)
This was a painful watch. The trigger warnings are absolutely necessary, but yet I love how exposing it is. This show has no filter, and it shouldn't. It is vital that Donny (Richard Gadd) is shown to almost allow the stalking to happen, and why. Gadd playing himself, writing it too demonstrates how important this show is when it comes to breaking away from masculine stereotypes in TV.
19th May- Anyone But You (Will Gluck, 2023)
At the moment when watching this, it was exactly what I needed. a cheesy romcom with some hit-or-miss jokes. It felt very much like Bridget Jones but with ultra-hot Americans rather than handsome, reserved Brits. If that's what you’re looking for, it wasn’t actually that bad.
21st May- The Fall Guy (David Leitch, 2024)
This was similar to what I said about Anyone But You, but if your craving was an amalgamation of action and romance. I actually quite enjoyed this film, as someone who's not big on action films, it had just the right length of sequences where my patience didn't go over the edge. Blunt and Gosling are epic, and are central to the film's reliability.
25th May- Pulp Fiction (Quentin Tarantino, 1994)
A classic, this is a film I always come back to when I want to watch something but don't have the energy to watch something new and loaded. It never fails and that's what it’s there for, and if "you've never seen Pulp Fiction" you should.
30th May- Kill Zone: Inside Gaza: Dispatches (Hind Koudary, Ali Jadallah et al., 2024)
This tragic documentary describes itself as "an intimate portrait of life in the face of Israel’s massive military assault". A group of twelve Palestinian journalists brought this piece of truth together to portray the horrific realities of life in Gaza from the 7th of October and beyond. Personally, I have been struggling to put words into actuality from what I have read on the news, and this documentary helped me see these words describing violence and hate, the murdering of children, and the displacement of families in reality. I urge anyone who feels the same as I do to watch this. It is available on Channel 4 for less than a month.
30th May- Better Call Saul (Vince Gilligan, Peter Gould), 2015-2022
I finally completed Vince Gilligan's Breaking Bad universe (except for El Camino, which I still need to idly watch). It is hard to encompass how I feel towards this series given how long I've been watching it, but for the most part, it has served as great entertainment. Although the story is not as gripping as Breaking Bad's, the character building of Saul Goodman is exquisite, and like anything by Gilligan, when you feel you're watching a screen of pure irrelevance, he tricks you by turning it into the most elaborate plot I've seen on tv. The soundtrack is brilliant, I loved the editing style and general aesthetic of Albuquerque, New Mexico in the early 2000s. All of the actors deserve recognition, there is not one I could single-handedly point out as deserving more than their co-stars. So yes, sometimes this show does trail on, but stick with it because it is for your benefit.
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