Monthly Movies: October

I've been in need of a section on this blog where I review the movies I've been loving lately, so here it goes - Monthly Movies. Creative title, huh? Keep your eyes peeled in the first week of every month for my latest cinema, DVD, and maybe even TV highlights!

It's been a great month for new releases in the DVD department, and as I was evidently unable to control my spending upon entering HMV last month, it's time I shared with you all what's been keeping me entertained in the month of October!

Reeker 2: No Man's Land

I picked this up in the Halloween DVDs in Poundland on a whim, I was only hoping for something that I could watch once, have a bit of a scare and then never take off the shelf again, especially for £1 I wasn't expecting a great quality horror movie. It turns out, this is one of the best true horror movies I've seen in a while. It's free of the excessive gore that always riddles the horror genre, as I'm squeamish this was a welcome change. It's quite psychological too, the story is based on your understanding of the events happening, in that respect it's definitely a rewatchable movie, just so you can go back and kick yourself for not noticing the little details.

With regards to the cast, the majority are unknown to me, except the actress who plays Morning in the BBC comedy Episodes. I have to tell you, it was a satisfying moment flicking through IMDB because I recognised her and couldn't place her face... I tend to do that a little too often when I'm watching movies. It's a nasty habit.

Donnie Darko

Poundland strikes again eh? Their collection of Halloween movies was filled with various B-movies but when I set my sights on this, I knew it was mine. After all, I'd never seen it before but I'd heard so many good things, mainly from Mia from Mia Alice In Wonderland! I have to say, putting aside the entire hour I spent Googling it after watching it due to sheer confusion, I loved it. I adore movies that take you into another world, confuse the life out of you and make you question everything you've just seen. I'm a true fan of psychological thrillers and this certainly gave me a buzz!

And let's face it, I can't be the only one that was squealing with delight that they cast Maggie Gyllenhaal as Jake Gyllenhaal's sister...

Dark Shadows

I was pleasantly surprised at how fast this movie was released on DVD, and released at £10 in HMV, it was well worth the money. I'd never even heard of the original TV series this is based on, let alone seen it, so I had no preconceived ideas of this except that Tim Burton is quite possibly the greatest director on this planet. Of course, featuring Burton's usual cast of Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter and a quick glimpse of Christopher Lee, Dark Shadows tells the tale of a man cursed by a witch to remain a vampire until he does as she demands and falls in love with her. Eva Green is a beautiful human being and her performance is stellar as always.

Keep a beady eye out for my idol, Alice Cooper, he makes quite an appearance here, I'm sure you can imagine my response when I discovered this...

Dream House

Another whim purchase, I saw Daniel Craig and Rachel Weisz on the cover and snapped it up before I could even read the synopsis. 

If you loved The Others, then you're sure to love this. As I mentioned, I love psychological thrillers, and this is one of the best. I'm in love with this movie, not only because of the casting, let's face it, any Daniel Craig movie gets top marks in my books, but the setting, the clever little twists and turns, it's all fantastic.

Long story short, Daniel Craig and his wife and children move into their dream home only to discover it holds many dark secrets... Many. Dark. Secrets.

The Avengers Boxset

Easily my favourite buy of the month. This was only £29, an absolute bargain considering Avengers Assemble alone is over £10 from most retailers. 

I can't be the only one that's annoyed by the UK demanding we don't call it The Avengers. Tough. I'm well aware the 60s TV show came first, but Robert Downey Jr > Joanna Lumley.

What. A. Movie. I fell in love the second I turned the DVD on, even the selection menu was spectacular.

I'd seen the Honest Movie Trailer for this a few days before watching it (if you haven't already, watch it, I implore you!) and I picked up on the lack of Bluetooth headsets that the Avengers are 'talking to each other' through, but that didn't detract from the awesome effects, the amazing casting of my one true love Mark Ruffalo as Bruce Banner, and of course, everyone's favourite character - Iron Man.

My only qualm with this movie was that I hadn't seen Captain America or Thor beforehand, so their endings were pretty much ruined, but as that wasn't a big deal for me, I'm willing to forgive.

Inside that boxset is Thor, which as I explained, I hadn't seen before, and I was pleasantly surprised by this. I was never a huge fan of Thor and so the story was brand new to me. Of course, I've become entranced by Tom Hiddleston thanks to this movie and I will continue to scour the depths of Tumblr for inspiration and comfort that I am not alone in this...

Assembly

Not by any means a new release, but in the trailers on the Reeker 2 DVD, I saw this trailer. This probably isn't to everyone's tastes as it's the true story of the Chinese civil war, but believe me when I say - it's on par with Saving Private Ryan. I love war movies as much as the next person, and this appeals to my interests in modern Chinese history, so it's perfect. 

I'm usually quite phobic of foreign movies with subtitles, purely because I find I'm not paying enough attention to the movie because I'm trying to block out the foreign audio and reading the English subs, but it was no problem with Assembly.

The movie tells the story of a captain who fails to hear the bugle call to signal his company's retreat, and as such his men perish, leaving him as the only survivor, and we follow his quest to be recognised and to lay his men to rest with honour. The cinematic effects are astounding and I was left in floods of tears at the end, although I've established that happens to me in pretty much every movie anyway.

So that's it, my October viewing was quite varied and I've thankfully loved every single one of them. I find it hard to give a negative review towards a movie because I appreciate the tremendous amount of work that goes into them, plus I always find any storyline thought-provoking however badly it is approached.

What movies were you loving in October?

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