In-Review: June 2024
Why go outside? Stay in and watch a movie.
Given the heat wave we are experiencing in the Northeast, I’d rather stay inside and watch a movie. With legacy sequels like Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F and Twisters premiering in July, those are good reasons to stay cool. Never mind the anticipated superhero team-up movie Deadpool & Wolverine, which is looking to crush all sorts of R-rated movie box office history.
I did find myself watching a little less in June thanks to the Boston Celtics championship run. We were starved for a championship up here in Boston with the last two happening six years ago (Patriots and Red Sox).
That alone took up plenty of nights, but also catching up with the latest seasons of Bridgerton and The Bear, playing some video games, and other summer festivities left little time for movie watching. Long-time listeners of the It’s the Pictures podcast would probably be unsurprised to learn that my favorite new watch of June was a Yasujiro Ozu movie. I’ll probably have more to say about Floating Weeds soon, but Ozu just makes fantastic movies. Don’t just take my word on it—Roger Ebert also loved the work of Ozu.
You’ll notice a paywall at the bottom of this post. After the paywall, I’ve included some links to articles I’ve enjoyed and a mini-review of A Quiet Place: Day One, which is now in theaters. I’ll continue to provide various articles free of charge, but if you want the full newsletter, please consider subscribing.
Here are the movies I caught up with in June:
Podcast
Listen to Evan Crean and I discuss our favorite Summer Blockbusters—Jaws, Back to the Future, Raiders of the Lost Arc, Spider-Man 2, Jurassic Park, and Terminator 2.
Home Video Releases
In a recent newsletter, I mentioned that the Criterion Collection sale is currently going on at Barnes & Noble. If you still buy physical media, it’s a great opportunity to catch up on some of the best releases of the year.
One of the gems of this Criterion Collection sale is the new release of Sam Peckinpah’s Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid. Featuring three different cuts of the Western, the movie stars James Coburn and Kris Kristofferson with a soundtrack from Bob Dylan. I haven’t watched this one yet, but it’s high on my radar.
Some other new releases for Warner Bros. include the 4K UHD premiers of Purple Rain and Twister. I’ve had a chance to demo the new Purple Rain disc and it’s amazing the job they’ve done with the video, especially during the concert sequences. I won’t sit here and say that Purple Rain is an essential movie—it’s an acquired taste. But the music is undoubtedly iconic and this is the best way to get Prince in your home theater.
As for Twister, the movie is being released on 4K ahead of its sequel, Twisters, coming out later in July. I’m looking forward to revisiting this movie ahead of the new one for sure.
Sony has released a standalone 4K UHD steel book of Martin Scorsese’s Taxi Driver. Previously only available in Columbia Classics Collection Vol 2, the movie can now be purchased on its own and it’s a must-own for home theater enthusiasts. Another anticipated release is the GKids 4K UHD release of Hayao Miyazaki’s The Boy and the Heron. Potentially the last movie directed by the acclaimed director, the movie is the first Studio Ghibli movie to be released in the 4K format for home video.
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