Announcing Back in Black: Another Film Noir Blogathon

Quiggy of The Midnite Drive-In and I are both fans of film noir.  You know, the movie "genre" revolving around crimes, cynicism, and the people who live in shadow.  I say "genre" in quotation marks because the term film noir, while coined in the 1940s, was not widely associated with this style of film until the 1970s.  People can't even agree all the time on which specific films are noir.  Like art, you know it when you see it, basically.  But, if you want more of a definition, Wikipedia has a pretty good overview of the genre.

Anyway!  Quiggy and I love film noir.  So, we're going to celebrate it with a two-day blogathon this fall!  On October 31 and November 1, to be exact.  I always feel like Halloween is a particularly suitable day to watch noir, and many cinephiles celebrate the genre for a whole month in "Noirvember."  So why not unite the two with this event?

With this blogathon, we are celebrating all film noir, whether it's classic noir, neo-noir, comedy-noir, future/sci-fi/tech-noir, or even cowboy/rural-noir.  If you want some ideas of where to start, here is an expansive list of classic noir titles. If you're not sure if your choice counts as film noir or not, feel free to ask me or Quiggy in the comments on our announcement posts.

Because there are sooooo many noir movies to choose from, we are not accepting duplicates for full reviews.  However, if someone reviews, say, The Big Sleep (1946), and you want to do a post collecting up all the Philip Marlowe movies you've seen, or a list of your favorite Humphrey Bogart noirs, those would be valid options of ways to still talk about that film without doing a review solely of it.

All posts for this event should be new, not ones you wrote and posted previously.  You may contribute more than one post!  Once you know what you want to contribute, let us know via a comment either on this post or on Quiggy's post.  And don't forget to use one of our buttons on your own blog to let people know about the event, with a link back to one of our posts -- and use the buttons in your review, too!

To sum up, the rules are: 

1.  Choose your movie(s) or topic(s) and let us know of your choice(s). 
2.  Promote this blogathon on your blog. 
3.  Publish your post during the event and let us know when it is live.
4.  Above all, have fun!

The Roster

+ The Midnite Drive-In -- reviews of Out of the Past (1947), D.O.A. (1988), The Thirteenth Floor (1999)

+ Hamlette's Soliloquy -- review of The Asphalt Jungle (1950)

+ Make Mine Film Noir -- review of Murder, My Sweet (1944)

+ Cinematic Scribblings -- review of Such a Pretty Little Beach (1949)

+ RealWeegieMidget Reviews -- review of La Femme Infidele [The Unfaithful Wife] (1969)

+ Movies Meet Their Match -- review of The 39 Steps (1935)

+ Critica Retro -- review of Johnny Eager (1941)

+ You!

Ranking the MCU Movies by Favorite

One of my favorite Instagram movie accounts, Old Hollywood Swoon, recently has been ranking various groupings of movies.  Movies in a franchise, or by a director, etc.  I have really enjoyed those posts, and they reminded me of when I ranked all of the Alan Ladd movies I had seen by order of favoriteness.  And I thought, why not do more posts like that?

So, I will.  Beginning with the Marvel Cinematic Universe, because I have been re-watching those movies slowly with my teens over the past few months.

Just to be clear: for me, the MCU ends with The Avengers: Endgame (2019).  I watched a couple of movies and Disney+ shows that take place after it and did not like them or where the franchise was heading, so I decided to just stop there.  For me, this is the MCU.  I'm not dissing the later movies, especially since I haven't seen most of them.  But this list won't include later movies and the TV shows.

I haven't reviewed all of these movies, but the ones I've reviewed have their titles linked to my reviews.

1. The Avengers (2012)

2. Thor: Ragnarok (2017)

3. The Avengers: Endgame (2019)

4. Thor (2011)

5. Captain America: The First Avenger (2011)

6. Iron Man (2008)

7. Captain America: Civil War (2016)

8. Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)

9. Captain Marvel (2019)

10. Doctor Strange (2016)

11. Black Panther (2018)

12. The Avengers: Infinity War (2018)

13. The Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015)

14. Thor: The Dark World (2013)

15. Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014)

16. Ant-Man (2015)

17. Iron Man 2 (2010)

18. Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)

19. Iron Man 3 (2013) 

20. Ant-Man and the Wasp (2018)

21. Black Widow (2021)

22. Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 2 (2017)

23. The Incredible Hulk (2008)

Wow.  I've reviewed way more of those than I thought I had.  I should fill in that handful of gaps sometime.

What is your ranking of MCU movies by favorite like?

A Big Book Giveaway!

Screaming Peach Day is here!  And a dozen Christian Mommy Writer authors (including me) are giving away copies of our books that contain Screaming Peach references.

What on earth is a Screaming Peach?  It's a little "easter egg" that we like to hide in our books.  Sometimes it's a Shrieking Peach or other variation instead.  The Screaming Peach is usually a cafe or other restaurant-type place, but sometimes it shows up in other surprising ways.

One lucky winner will receive 12 different books written by Christian Mommy Writers (11 paperbacks and 1 ebook novella). Each book contains a Screaming Peach "easter egg" inside.  And one of them is my Ugly Duckling retelling, A Noble Companion!

This giveaway is open to continental U.S. addresses only.  You can enter between now and August 5.

Contest entrants will be added to the email newsletters of these 12 Christian Mommy Writers to receive updates, discounts, book news, freebies, scripture, and more. Entrants can easily unsubscribe at any time.

How do you enter?  By following this link and filling out the form it leads to.  It asks only for your name and email address.

No purchase necessary.  Void where prohibited.

Have a happy Screaming Peach Day!