I did not watch a lot during October, but the monthly recap was ungainly enough without throwing in movies. No TV streaming, either — just history and literature lectures from Brad Birzer and evenings spent on my own writing.

Scarface, 1983.
I’m not sure how many times I’ve watched this since 2005, when I bought my DVD of it, but despite regarding it as a waste of money the first time, I’ve grown to like it more with every viewing. The story of a Cuban refugee who becomes a drug lord and destroys his own life and the lives of everyone around him through excess and greed. Love the 80s Miami aesthetic. The murder, quasi-incest, and keeping a tiger on a short chain, not so much.

Tony: I’d kill a Communist for fun. But for a green card? I’mma gonna carve him up real nice.

Tony: Me, I want what’s comin’ to me.
Manny: What’s comin’ to you?
Tony: The world, chico. And everything in it.

Tony: You gotta get the money first. When you get the money, then you get the power. When you get the power, THEN you get the woman.

Frank: Remember what I told you, Tony, when I started you. The ones who last in this business are the guys who fly straight. Low key, quiet. The guys who want it all – chicas, champagne, flash – they don’t last.
Tony: Joo finished?

Dallas Buyers Club, 2013. Fun fact: the reason I originally watched this film a few years ago was because Andrew Heaton used it in his EconPop series, in which he used movies to demonstrate economic argu- HEY, WAKE UP! This is a great drama about a man who is diagnosed with AIDS, realizes the government’s regulatory structure is keeping him and other victims from finding medical treatment, and improvises ways for people to get the treatment they need outside the scope of the law. And it’s got good acting! It’s a fascinating character drama, apart from the political implications: Matthew McConaughey’s character Mr. Woodroof goes from being a stereotypical Texas redneck to someone who’s besties with AIDS-afflicted men and stares at food in the grocery store like processed foodstuffs are pointing a gun at him and his immune system.

Mr. Woodroof: It’s one thing for me not to like ya, but why can’tcha be a better friend to yourself?

Mr. Woodroof: Sometimes I feel like I’m fightin’ for a life I ain’t got time to live

I Know What You Did Last Summer, 1997. A rewatch. Haven’t seen this since…Jennifer Love Hewitt was a regular feature in Teen PEOPLE magazine. I…somehow forgot Sarah Michelle Gellar was in this. Was Melissa Joan Hart in it it, too? Why did that generation have so many teen girl stars with three names?! …and is that Johnny Galecki?! Anyway. Four teenagers graduating high school go to the beach and have a nice time with Johnnie Walker, and on the way home they hit someone who was standing in the middle of a curvy hilly road. Frankly, I think if you’re going to stand on the middle of curvy hilly roads in the middle of the night you get what’s coming to you, but the kids agree that hitting someone to death is a bad thing. A plurality of the kids (everyone but JLH) believes that telling the cops about hitting someone while the car stinks of Mr. Walker is like, a total vibe-killer, so they dump the body in the water. Months later…..(horror chords). JLH receives a “I know what you did last summer” note, despite being the only one in the party who cared about Mister Deathwish. Weirdly, JLH is the only one who goes to college after high school: Sarah is working in a department store, the black-haired dude is a fisherman, and the guy who looks like Justin Timberlake is just…living with his rich parents. Even Johnny Galecki is working for a fishery, and I’d assumed he was the nerd because he’s Johnny Galecki. This does NOT bring back the nostalgia the way SCREAM does: maybe Scream had novelty going for it, but the smaller cast and far more generic music also didn’t help. I liked seeing JLH and SMG, but that was about it.

Killer: Happy Fourth of July. Let me give you some advice: the next time you leave a man for dead, make sure he’s actually dead.
Me: Solid advice, actually.

Freddie Prinze Jr: I love you, Julie. No one gets me the way you do.
JLH: I understand your pain.
Me: What is this dialogue?

Scream 2. 1997. Haven’t seen this since it originally hit Blockbuster. “Stab 2? Who would want to do that? Sequels suck!” Like Scream, it parodies horror movies – but in this case, sequels. While a few members of the original cast cycled back on, no one has anywhere REMOTELY the chaotic charisma of Matthew Lillard in the original. Lillard’s Stu is the highlight of the original Scream, really. (And there should really be a viewer discretion tag for Meathead doing an off-key rendition of “I Think I Love you” in a university cafeteria. I can deal with stabby murders, but that level of cringe is real violence. The only time my college cafeteria broke out singing was to “Don’t Stop Believin'”. That was a weird breakfast hour.) Unexpected pleasure: David Warner!

Gail Weathers; Who got punched here, again?
Me: Who deserved it, AGAIN?

Me, watching Scream 2: Who is this Sarah Michelle Gellar lookalike?
Me, consulting IMDB: Ah. Sarah Michelle Gellar.