Best First Watches: May 2022
Hello again, and welcome to The Year I Find a New Coping Mechanism, aka my yearlong experiment in only watching new-to-me movies. I am a serial re-watcher as evidenced by the fact that in 2020, before the world shut down, I saw five movies in theatres. Four of those five movies were Portrait of a Lady on Fire. I find comfort in watching movies that I already know I like, but 2022 is a year of Growth™️.
I would apologize for this entry being late, but it’s Pride Month and I’m gay, so I’m legally allowed to do whatever I want for the entire month of June.
Top Gun
paramount
Is Top Gun good? No. Is it exponentially gayer than I ever could have fathomed? Yes. Also, yeah, Top Gun is on this list because I waited until the year of our lord 2022 to finally see it for the first time. So why am I including Top Gun on this list if I didn’t like it? Honestly? I just want everyone to rewatch it to see the gay energy that oozes off the screen.
Censor
Vertigo Releasing
Okay, onto a movie I genuinely enjoyed. It’s been on my watchlist for ages, but I was concerned about the possibility of body horror, so I held off. Censor is about Enid (Niamh Algar), a censor (lol, who could’ve guessed), in the video nasty era. Her job is to watch movies and determine if there are scenes that are too gory or violent to make the final cut. One of the films she approves is cited as inspiration for a guy who commits a murder. In dealing with the fallout of that, a mystery from Enid’s childhood comes to light.
The Outfit
Focus Features
There’s a genre I like to call “Movies with No Sex Scenes You Can Watch with Your Parents that Everyone Will Like.” It’s a necessary genre around the holiday season when you’re with your family and struggling to agree on a movie for everyone to watch. Arguably, it’s one of the most important genres. Nobody wants to watch a wild sex scene with their parents and everyone’s taste in movies differs so wildly that the decision process is daunting. Enter: The Outfit. A tense little claustrophobic mob movie about a tailor.
Top Gun: Maverick
paramount
Is Top Gun: Maverick good? Surprisingly…yes. Never in my life did I think a movie could get me to cry about Tom Cruise and yet, here we are. See it in the biggest, loudest theatre.
Tahara
Film Movement
Welcome to the second entry in the Rachel Sennott Acts Horny at a Funeral universe. Tahara is the stunning feature debut of director Olivia Peace. It’s a fascinating look at religion, loss, teen angst, love, and all the messy emotions of being seventeen. You can read my full review over here.
Watcher
ifc midnight
Sure, you’ve seen this type of movie before. The whole “woman moves to new city and thinks she’s being watched, but no one believes her” plot. Watcher is pretty much that, but it’s at the top of the game. Lead actor Maika Monroe is a bona fide scream queen and I’ve been rooting for her since It Follows. A stellar showcase of the heights this genre can reach.
Weepah Way for Now
Gravitas Ventures
Perhaps the most biased entry on this list, but it would be disingenuous if I didn’t include this. Aly & AJ were my first concert and I grew up into the person who loves indie movies with a medium amount of plot. For those reasons, Weepah Way for Now feels like it was special made for me. I wrote a full review here.
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