The minimally observant among my scant reader base may have noticed that I neglected to post a State of the Blog update at the beginning of the month. Though these posts are among the easiest to draft and write, they still require an amount of focus that I was just not prepared to express for the last couple of weeks. My professional life has taken over the vast majority of my headspace for the last month, and only now do I feel like I have a window of respite to think and talk movies. So, instead of simply ignoring the SotB post for this month, I’ll deliver it a couple of weeks late.
Despite the meager updates, I’ve actually been watching a number of interesting movies. I will soon post reviews of two films which were received well by an overwhelming majority: The Jungle Book and Captain America: Civil War. I think these reviews will be valuable because I actually found myself having much more gripe with these fine films than most people. In the spirit of previewing the tone of these reviews, I’ll remark that I probably would consider each of these films a full letter grade below that which I have seen from most critics and fans, and I will endeavor to make them the next two films I review here on Plot and Theme.
I’ve also got a sweet essay brewing for the Great Villain Blogathon, where I will be analyzing the xenomorph from Alien from a sexual and symbolic perspective. I hope to add more to the discourse than just “doesn’t the alien’s head look kinda like a penis? LOL!”, and I always enjoy participating in blogathons. It started yesterday and continues throughout the week, so make sure to go visit the rest of the bloggers at the following sites: Speakeasy, Silver Screenings, and Shadows and Satin. In addition, I’ve got more Silence of the Lambs stuff that I have nearly completed, the most interesting of which is a thorough scene analysis of Clarice Starling meeting Hannibal Lecter.
As for the things that I am looking forward to most for the rest of this month, the obvious flagship is X-Men: Apocalypse, but there are also smaller films that have me really excited, like The Nice Guys and The Lobster (which I hope comes to my little Indie theatre). I will be skipping Angry Birds, the Alice in Wonderland sequel, but I may just have to see The Darkness for its trainwreck potential. Voice your thoughts in the comment section if you would like me to actually watch this purported disasterpiece and review it.
I will also likely delve into the goings-on at the Cannes Film Festival much like I did last year. I feel overall less excited this year than I did last year for some reason, but I would still like to write about the films from the festival that I am most looking forward to, and I will recount the major award-winners, too. There’s still films from last year’s Cannes that I can’t wait to see (I’ve already mentioned The Lobster!), so while it may take a while to actually see these films, I will try to generate excitement regardless.
As always, if there are films that you would like me to review (maybe something cool you saw on Netflix?), please let me know in the comments. Also like and share the pieces that you think are cool, and you can visit Plot and Theme’s Facebook page and voice all kinds of opinions over there, too.