June movies

The best film and the most fun I had at a movie in June was for a midnight movie at the Circle--Raiders of the Lost Ark. Aiding the atmosphere was the packed house who were completely into it. What makes Raiders of the Lost Ark such a timeless, wonderful movie is the combination of fun and adventure and technical skill shown by director Steven Spielberg. Spielberg is a master of setting up suspense or orchestrating thrilling scenes and this might be his high point in sheer diversity and control over what he is doing. Raiders of the Lost Ark is pretty much perfect.

I hadn't seen Raiders of the Lost Ark in fifteen or so years and watching it with a full theatre late into a rainy Tulsa night was absolute perfection and was a reminder of why I love the entire movie experience. It's not only about the movie--it's sometimes about who you watch the film with as you are sharing this couple of hours in the darkened theatre. At times, I'm offputted by my fellow movie goers and the talking/cell phone issues--but this weekend, watching Raiders of the Lost Ark, the eagerness and love from the audience toward this movie made the entire experience much more enjoyable. I see a lot of advantages in watching films at home on my big screen but watching them alone or with one or two friends can never approach this kind of bond when a group of people watch a great movie together. It just makes you feel good about being alive!

I also really loved Knocked Up--a hilarious, vulgar but kind of sweet--a tale about a mismatched pair who come together due to an unplanned pregnancy. Jud Apatow (The 40-Year Old Virgin) has made another very funny, adult aimed comedy rife with one liners, memorable scenes and a cast of reminders of his great TV shows Freaks and Geeks and Undeclared. See this if you haven't already. Maybe the hardest kind of great movie to make is a comedy and right now Apatow is at the top of the heap in making smart, hilarious films.

I also saw Sicko and this is recommended as well. It's an important flamethrower into the shameful health care system we have in America regarding HMO's. We have a corrupt, money hungry system that values profit over human life and sort of makes me sick to see another reason why the government has sort of turned its back on the people in the race for $$$ and power.

Here's my June movies--a few of which I rewatched since I was in Helsinki and like watching films in other countries.

Death Proof (2007, USA)----2.5
Shooter (2007, USA)----3
The Departed (2006, USA)----4
Hot Fuzz (2006, England)----4
28 Weeks Later (2006, England)----1.5
Ocean's Thirteen (2007, USA)----2.5
Meet the Parents (2000, USA)----3.5
Paris Je'Taime (2006, France)----3.5
Knocked Up (2007, USA)----4
Gun Crazy (1949, USA)----3.5
Sicko (2007, USA)----4
Raiders of the Lost Ark (1982, USA)----5!