John created Kaijuly this year. It was meant to be a month of Kaiju movies. I watched one, and it was for Hoopla Classics at the library. That one movie was Gappa from 1967. I enjoyed it enough to watch another Kaiju movie a month and a half later at the urging of another coworker.
And, as it turns out, I much prefer my Kaiju movies to have a smokestack huffing pollution monster, trippy psychedelic music scenes, and cartoon drawings sprinkled throughout. I give Godzilla vs Hedorah two big puffs of smog. At an hour and a half, it's about 20 minutes too long, but pretty fun throughout. I should be ready for another kaiju in November.
I also watched Commissar. This movie is also about 20 minutes too long and would be better served sticking more to the original short story. It suffered a bit from too much talking at the end, but I may be biased because I read the short story after the movie and liked it much more. Overall, it's a great film and I am starting to have more appreciation for Russian cinema the more that I watch.
Paris, Texas is the work of a master. It's so good and there is already so much written about it that I don't think I can add anything meaningful. I am slowing going to continue to explore Wenders.
Hitchcock's Rebecca is atmospheric and fun. I recently read and loved Jamaica Inn, but heard the movie wasn't great. So I borrowed a friend's Blu-ray and watched Rebecca instead. My understanding is that the book is darker, but I think the movie worked well even with some of the edges softened.
And the real gem of my recent viewing was...
Romeo & Juliet
It has been probably 20+ years since I watched the 1996 version. Everything about it is excellent - the cinematography, the soundtrack, the acting. It is a wild ride right from the start with the fight scene at the gas station. So much is established with this scene before we slow down to even meet Romeo and, eventually, Juliet. This movie more than holds up.