Only 10 movies in August. I could blame the Olympics or the fact that I've been really busy at work. So I will.

203. Mutiny on the Bounty (1935)
I saw the later version of this movie earlier this year and didn't like it. I felt the earlier, Best Picture-winning version deserved a look, too. These are two, wildly different movies. I can't say that I want to see either one of them ever again.

204. The Wild Bunch (1969)
Several times during this movie, I felt like I was watching Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. Maybe because both glorified loyalty among thieves, or maybe because both came out in 1969, there's something very similar about these two films.

205. Black Dynamite (2009)
Hysterical send-up of the Blaxploitation films of the 70s. Highly recommended.

206. Intolerance (1916)
I played L.A. Noire this month, and the set from Intolerance plays a key backdrop. So of course I had to watch the film, the first silent film I've watched in 2012. It was worth a look, though D.W. Griffith clearly had no idea how to edit his complicated anthology piece into a comprehensible narrative.

207. The Birth of a Nation (1915)
While I was investigating Intolerance, I kept catching references to its inspiration, this movie. So I watched this, too. It's a far better movie than Intolerance, but I have a hard time believing that its ridiculously over-the-top presentation of the Reconstruction South really inspired the rebirth of the KKK. But then I still find people who say they liked Michael Bay's Transformers movies, so maybe, yeah.

208. The Magnificent Ambersons (1942)
Commonly mentioned in the breath following Citizen Kane, I'd been waiting to see this film for awhile. I think it starts great, and I loved the first 30 minutes. Then the movie sort of loses a little direction and limps to the end. I enjoyed it, but was left ultimately unsatisfied.

209. Rashomon (1950)
Finding myself forced to watch fewer films, I tried to be more discriminating. Rashomon was a Kurosawa film I hadn't seen, and I really enjoyed it. Mother was far less forgiving, openly insulting the movie at several instances as she passed through the room. I don't know what she saw that made her so dismissive of the film, but she clearly didn't like something.

210. My Dog Tulip (2009)
This animated film about a British man and his relationship with his German Shepherd felt completely authentic. I gave my poodles a big hug afterwards.

211. American Grindhouse (2010)
This documentary investigates the history of exploitation films in America and the motivation behind their creation. It was both enlightening and informative; I now have a list of new movies to seek out.

212. Vampires Suck (2010)
This movie wants to be Airplane to the Twilight movies, but succeeds only in being the Robin Hood: Men in Tights to Robin Hood: PRince of Thieves. The situations and sight gags, almost all directly inspired by shots in the Twilight movies, are hysterical. The dialogue, on the other hand, is terrible. Definitely more fun to look at than listen to.

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