Welcome to the wrap-up of the past month in movie-watching! August was a little bit of a nutty month, as it usually is. I traveled, started a new semester of grad school, and tried my best to pack in a bunch of films in between, before the time came for coursework to take over my life once again. Let’s take a look, shall we?

(Image via No Pattern Required)
(Image via No Pattern Required)

New-to-me viewings: 20

Re-watches: 4

Total for August: 24

Total for 2014 thus far: 218

New-to-me list:

  1. The Purge: Anarchy (2014)
  2. Pipe Dream (2002)
  3. Couples Retreat (2009)
  4. Hercules (2014)
  5. Check and Double Check (1930)
  6. Glorifying the American Girl (1929)
  7. The Passionate Friends (1949)
  8. Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)
  9. Devil (2010)
  10. Monogamy (2010)
  11. Celeste and Jesse Forever (2012)
  12. Maidentrip (2013)
  13. Let’s Be Cops (2014)
  14. Crime Against Joe (1956)
  15. The Big Knife (1955)
  16. The Giver (2014)
  17. The Hundred Foot Journey (2014)
  18. Expendables 3 (2014)
  19. Love is a Headache (1938)
  20. Alias a Gentleman (1948)

August wasn’t a huge month for me in terms of movies, but I did manage to get in more screenings than I expected to (thanks in part to two days spent at a nearby cinema during my slightly rainy camping trip). While the number of screenings was not huge, the quality of the films I discovered this month was pretty high. Discovered a few that I really loved, top four being Glorifying the American Girl, The Passionate Friends, Monogamy and Alias a Gentleman. I’ve already posted my review of Glorifying the American Girl, and the other three favorite discoveries will be reviewed soon.

Viewing methods:

  • At the cinema – 7
  • DVR (non-TCM) – 2
  • From my collection – 4
  • Hulu – 2
  • Netflix Instant – 6
  • TCM/WatchTCM – 3

By decade:

  • 1910s –
  • 1920s – 1
  • 1930s – 2
  • 1940s – 3
  • 1950s – 2
  • 1960s –
  • 1970s –
  • 1980s – 1
  • 1990s – 1
  • 2000s – 3
  • 2010s – 11

I attribute the high number of 2010s films this month to the fact that I visited the theater 7 times (that’s almost twice a week!) and the celebratory movie marathon that I had in honor of Chris Messina’s birthday on the 11th. That marathon included (in order of viewing) Devil, You’ve Got Mail, Made of Honor, Monogamy and Celeste and Jesse Forever — one film from the ’90s, one from the 2000s and three from the 2010s.

I think this is the first month in the history of TMP that theater visits have been my most-used viewing method!

DVD collection update

I didn’t do a ton of DVD purchasing over the course of the month, since I spent ten days camping. I wanted to save up for a few souvenirs from the trip before I left, and once I got there I wasn’t visiting any DVD shops.

I did manage to pick up one DVD while I was away:

  • A Sailor’s Life: P.D. Campbell of Charlevoix
    This is a documentary that about a sailor from Charlevoix, a city near where I was camping. The documentary was made by his granddaughter. We picked it up at a museum where his daughter (the filmmaker’s mother) is a docent. Couldn’t pass up a bit of local history!

I also got a couple of DVDs upon returning from my trip:

  • Sex and the City, seasons 1 & 2
    I’ve been eyeing these for a while. My sister owns the complete series set, which I could borrow, but I fell in love with the packaging of these particular editions that are sold at Target. The skyline of New York City is made up of quotes from the show. So purdy! I’d been putting off buying them because none of the Target stores I visited had season 1 in stock, but I ran across a store selling seasons 1 & 2 while I was out doing some school supply shopping. Only about $10 each!
  • Friends: The Series Finale
    My mom gave me this DVD as a gift (HI, MOM! THANKS!). It contains just the final episode of the series plus a few special features. I own the first five seasons of the show in full and am planning on collecting the rest. I grew up watching Friends and it’s still one of my all-time favorite shows!

And that’s it for August!