movies4mike

1 – Movie of the Month: Wildwood (2026)

LAIKA Studios’ 16-years in the making masterpiece is the inaugural Movie of the Month selection!

My jaw was squarely in my lap for the entirety of this film. A fantasy epic hasn’t made me feel so engrossed since Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings trilogy. The artistry that went into this film is something to admire (and support!). I couldn’t help but feel overwhelmingly inspired by this . If you have the time and ability to see it in theaters, please do. You will be doing yourself a favor, promise. Even if it isn’t a film that is up your alley, I hope you can find some appreciation for the craft. It isn’t something we see very often.

This section of 1.2.3 will be used to honor my favorite first watch of the month. I will usually try to include more detail on the films discussed than I did today, but I wanted to work out the kinks before the end of the month.

2 – Movies I (Probably) Won’t Revisit: I Was a Teenage Frankenstein (1957) & Frankenstein 1970 (1958)

This October I have been crossing off a lot of older horror movies, which has included a large focus on Frankenstein. Most of them I have enjoyed, or at least could appreciate, even if I didn’t enjoy them. These two were exceptions, for very similar reasons. Neither is here to reinvent the wheel, mostly following storyline tropes seen done better in many other Frankenstein films. The Creature design was terrible in both as well. Their worst sin however, was being frightfully dull. I didn’t even write reviews for either! Apologies to fans of either, I would love to read your thoughts on them!

This section of 1.2.3 will be for two movies I watched for the first time that month that I don’t think I’ll watch again. I LOVE rewatching movies, but there are too many films for me to watch them all, so sometimes its easy to spot one I might not watch again in the future. Not exclusive to films I didn’t like! Sometimes a film is very good, and still isn’t something I see myself returning to. This month though… didn’t like either

3 – Movies I’d Recommend: It Ends (2026), Candyman (1992), & Suspiria (1977)

It Ends was quite the surprise for me. I love single location films, so the premise interested me from the start. Even though I find the description of the film on Letterboxd to be a bit dramatic, it didn’t upset me that my experience was so juxtaposed with my expectations. It was a nice meditation on life, that really reminded me of a short story I read last month, A Short Stay in Hell by Steven L. Peck.

I watched Nia DaCosta’s Candyman (2021) a few years ago, and loved it! I meant to watch the original films right away, but didn’t have access to them at the time and eventually it slipped my mind. This year I built a new list of horror films that had been towards the bottom of my watchlist, it was about 80 or so films and Candyman (1992) and its sequels were included. I loved the original just as much, if not more than DaCosta’s. It was great getting to see Tony Todd on the screen in a legendary role of his that I had missed. I see myself revisiting it often. If you love horror and haven’t seen this one yet, check it out!

Suspiria (1977) is another film I have long heard about, but I was always a little intimated of. I had no experience with giallo films, and I didn’t really know much else about it other than Dakota Johnson and Mia Goth were in it, and it had a phenomenal, if divisive reputation. That said, I was blown away. Up there with some of the most breathtaking horror films that I’ve seen, and I didn’t mind the slow methodical burn as much as I expected. The kills were also quite fun, though I would have loved more.

This section of 1.2.3 is where I’ll share three movies I watched this month, that I would recommend. I don’t know everyone’s tastes, obviously, so hold the torches if something doesn’t land. I’ll do my best to try and describe the vibe and style of the film, and you can decide for yourself.

Thanks for reading 🙂 so long

– movies4mike