Favorite First Time Viewing
Avengement (2019) - 8.5/10
Just narrowly beating out Top Gun: Maverick as my favorite first time viewing of the month is this violent, intense, gruesome, visceral, and surprisingly funny English action flick. The accents are so strong that I had to watch with the subtitles on, but after you get past that little hiccup, this is a tremendously fun little movie. I had heard of the star (Scott Adkins) and had even seen him in a couple of small roles, but I wasn't prepared for what a terrific action star he would turn out to be. The fight choreography is first rate - right up there with stuff like The Raid - and the level of violence was, at times, absolutely shocking. My wife gasped and outright screamed at a couple of different points and she's seen a lot of violent movie scenes, so that's really saying something. The story centers around Adkins' Cain, who escapes prison and sets out to take vengeance on the crime syndicate who landed him there. Cain is slick (both verbally and physically) and tough-as-nails, but he's not an invulnerable hero type who can take a beating and not be any worse for wear. He gets nearly as bad as he gives and it's refreshing to watch an action movie protagonist actually get beat up on screen. I liked Adkins so much that we watched another of his movies - Accident Man - and started another - Close Range - but both were significant steps down. At the very least, he's made one tremendous movie and that's not too shabby.
Worst First Time Viewing
Free Guy (2021) - 2/10
The "Worst Movie of the Month" award goes to this lifeless, annoying, and incredibly stupid Ryan Reynolds vehicle. It manages to take a somewhat interesting premise - what if you were an NPC in a hugely popular video game that comes to life - and drive it into the ground fast. Reynolds does his same old schtick as Guy, a bank teller who doesn't know what he's missing until he suddenly does. It's the exact performance that you'd expect from him since he hasn't done anything remotely different since Deadpool all those years ago. Congrats on getting a gimmick and running it into the ground, I guess. The supporting cast is mostly dreadful, too. Even the normally fun Taika Waititi doesn't seem to give a shit about his character/script/movie/whatever and just sleepwalks through a generic performance. Honestly, it probably would have been worse if Waititi really shined, since it'd just be wasting his talents on something way below him. The one shining light is Lil Rel Howery as Guy's buddy, Buddy. He was responsible for the one or two laughs in the whole movie. The special effects are nicely rendered, but that's about all the positive stuff I can think of. Free Guy is nearly two hours and might have been slightly more tolerable with a 90 minute runtime, but I'm not sure that could even save it. If you haven't seen it yet, please do yourself a favor and stay far, far away.
Favorite Rewatch
Jaws (1975) - 10/10
Jaws is a perfect movie. One of the very few, in my humble opinion. The writing (plot, characters, and dialogue) is perfect. The acting (from the very smallest of characters up through the leads) is perfect. The direction (from 27 year old Steven Spielberg) is perfect. The music (from the greatest film composer of all-time, John Williams) is perfect. The cinematography (by Bill Butler) and editing (by Verna Fields) and production/costume design are perfect. I've seen it countless times, from my childhood through to middle age. I've seen it on cable on a terrible tube television, on VHS, on DVD, in the theater, and now on 4k Blu-ray and it holds up. Every. Single. Time. It's thrilling and funny and perfectly paced and I can't imagine ever tiring of watching it. After I saw it in the theater 5 or 6 years ago, it went from a 9/10 to 10/10 for me and it's remained there ever since. It's the perfect summer movie.
Worst Rewatch
Top Gun (1986) - 5/10
June was a very good month for my rewatches, so even though I liked Top Gun a lot more than I remembered - I had originally rated it 2/10 on IMDb back in 2001 when I first set up my account, but I hadn't seen it since the mid-90's - it still came in at the bottom of the stack. It's a fine movie with some interesting characters, decent performances, fun action, and a glorious beach volley ball scene. Val Kilmer shines as the somewhat dastardly Iceman and I kept wondering why he didn't become a huge star like Tom Cruise did. Kilmer blows Cruise off the screen here and I'm somebody who generally likes Cruise quite a bit. The romance elements fall a little flat for me and [SPOILERS] I don't find Goose's death all that impactful, either. I can't imagine I'll revisit this one again anytime soon, but I'll definitely return to Top Gun: Maverick, hopefully even again in the theater.
My month, in watch order:
* = rewatch
* Top Gun - 5/10
Top Gun: Maverick - 8/10
Malcolm X - 6.5/10
* True Grit (2010) - 9/10
* Clerks - 8/10
* Clerks 2 - 8/10
A Streetcar Named Desire - 2.5/10
Free Guy - 2/10
Avengement - 8.5/10
Accident Man - 5/10
* The Negotiator - 6/10
* Jaws - 10/10
The Best of Enemies (2019) - 4/10
* Tremors - 8/10
Leonard Cohen: I'm Your Man - 3/10
Top Gun: Maverick - 8/10
Malcolm X - 6.5/10
* True Grit (2010) - 9/10
* Clerks - 8/10
* Clerks 2 - 8/10
A Streetcar Named Desire - 2.5/10
Free Guy - 2/10
Avengement - 8.5/10
Accident Man - 5/10
* The Negotiator - 6/10
* Jaws - 10/10
The Best of Enemies (2019) - 4/10
* Tremors - 8/10
Leonard Cohen: I'm Your Man - 3/10
What about you guys? Have you seen any of these movies? If so, what did you think? Did you watch anything great or really disappointing in June?
Thanks for reading and commenting!