2021 MARCH MOVIE RANKINGS:

It’s crazy to think that eight years ago in the month of March, I started reviewing films. The website came a few months later (I edited the dates of the posts to line up when I originally published them to Facebook), but nevertheless I’ve been at this for some time. In a way, it’s been my journal; a log of my film viewings and how my tastes have shifted over time. What I would have considered a top-rate movie eight years ago would probably be considered B-rate now. I’ve held to my guns on most things, but there are certainly others that I would love to take a second crack at for further analysis. However, my original thoughts will stay here, as they are a keepsake of sorts.

What bums me most is the lack of time I have for film watching these days. It used to be my bread and butter. Now it’s whatever scraps I can get to at the end of a meal. Do I expect you to care? Not really. You’re here for entertainment, as am I. And I apologize for making these rankings a means to voice my concerns over my inability to provide hefty review counts. They’ve merely become a check-in of how poorly I did over the course of a month. And when you’ve only reviewed two features… why would you not say something about it?

There’s always hope to improve. But is improving watching more films? Is that all there is to life? Not really. But it sure does butter my bread.

#2- “Only Yesterday” (1991) (English Dubbed)
81%= Juicy Popcorn
Pros: Fantastic hand-drawn animation, peaceful score, reflective story, and solid voice acting (though Dev Patel seemed to be the only Brit-sounding of the bunch).
Cons: Being a tale of inter-connecting moments, a lot of the value in this film hinges on how it speaks to you as a viewer. For me, the scenes ranged between poetic and entertaining, though I won’t say I walked away with something all that memorable.

#1- “The Elephant Man” (1980)
94%= Juicy Popcorn
Pros: Beautiful story, terrific performances, great production design, awesome cinematography, full of heart and an overall better film than I expected going in.
Cons: Holds a theme that we have seen before in other works of cinema, but don’t let that stop you. Also, there are some stylistic choices that left me a bit unsettled (whether I like that or not is questionable).

Without much competition, David Lynch’s “The Elephant Man” wins March, and will take on “When Harry Met Sally…,” “Coherence” (2013), and the rest of the Movie of the Month winners to decide who will be champion of this year.