Not sure this is still worth doing because I don't see as many movies as I used to, but I guess I like looking back for myself to see what I watched and what I thought about movies, so here we go!
Here are my previous years' posts: 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006, and 2005.
1. Marvel's Black Widow - I really enjoyed this movie. I had been looking forward to a Black Widow movie since Iron Man 2, but it never came and it never came. And then I thought they might do a Hawkeye and Black Widow movie, but that never came. And then it was supposed to come out on my birthday and then COVID hit, so needless to say, I had been anticipating its release for a while. Anyway, I was happy that they finally made a Black Widow movie, and I liked it. I think they did a great job casting the movie, giving it a plot, and it had enough humor to not feel overly sad or dark, so it was good. I like the Natasha character, and I like the Yelena character, as well.
2. A Quiet Place Part II - I enjoy this franchise. I maybe liked the first one of these movies a bit better than the second one, but I really liked the second one, too. I would like to request a third movie of A Quiet Place, please. After I watch these movies, I still feel like I have to walk around all quiet-like in my house. It does a great job of creating the mood. I like suspenseful movies that aren't gross or too occult, and this series squeaks in with those. If it were more bloody, I would maybe be too grossed out, but they barely stayed on the right side of not too gross. But seriously, the nail is still there???? Could we please take a second to fix the nail?
3. In the Heights - I pretty much liked everything about this movie. I thought the music was decent, and okay, I think Anthony Ramos is such a charismatic actor. He is a great singer and actor. More of him, please, movie people. And I loved all the characters and their roles. It was such a great cultural film, and the swimming pool scene and the bodega ... I don't know. It was just great.
4. Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings - I liked this movie the first time I saw it. I wasn't completely sold by all of the weird and strange characters and the dragon, and the basically flying during the fight scene, but then I watched it a second time, and I decided it was good and I could accept that weird stuff. I really, really liked Awkwafina in it. She is just so weird, but I kind of loved it. And I really could relate to the character because of the whole hanging out with a guy for years and years and you're "just friends," but then you have all these strange experiences together. I so relate to that. A lot. And I even went and saw it with one of my just friends guy friends, so it was kind of perfect. And my teenager is always asking me when I'm going to marry him, just like how the grandma does in the movie. Anyway, so relatable. And I'm never going to get together with or marry my friend, but I would be okay if eventually Shang-Chi and Katy get together in these Marvel movies. But it's also okay if they never do. Because that's like my life.
5. Encanto - This was a tough choice of what to put here, but I guess I liked the fact that this was a musical, even though for me, the music wasn't great or necessarily as catchy as other people think it is. But my teen and I got to enjoyably see this in a theater all by ourselves, and later that week, I came home to "I had to watch it again on Disney+." So it definitely worked for my teenager. It had some fun and funny parts. The plot, to me, was not that appealing, but it still worked.
6. Spider-Man: No Way Home - I liked this movie just fine. I was excited to see the Tobey Maguire Spider-Man, as well as Willem Dafoe, and Alfred Molina. I was fine with all the others from previous movies, but those were the ones I had liked the best. My teen had only ever seen Spider-Man: Homecoming and still enjoyed the movie. For me, Spider-Man is at the point of oversaturation, but you know, if they keep making money, then I guess, so be it. I also haven't seen the Venom movies, so that's not an area that I feel passionate about. I do like Zendaya's MJ and Jacob Batalon's Ned, and I do like these newer characters, like the Tom Holland Spider-Man and how he relates with the rest of the Avengers. I also like the high school classmates. They are funny.
7. Raya and the Last Dragon - I thought this was a cute movie. Chinese stuff is interesting to me, as my parents lived in mainland China and also Hong Kong for a few years, and I visited them a few times during that. They make for interesting movies, so I was fine with it. And I enjoy the martial arts, generally. It had a good plot and was cute.
8. Pixar's Luca - This was also a cute movie, with adventure and friendship, and all kinds of cute themes for kids. I enjoyed that they really wanted to win the race to buy a Vespa. It was hilarious in that way, and I thought all the characters were funny in their own way. It was kind of wacky, but it was also really fun.
9. Marvel's Eternals - I watched this for a second time to see if I would still think it was weird, and I did. The whole idea behind this movie is just kind of weird to me, and that's okay. I didn't really love a lot of the main characters. I only kind of liked Sersi and Sprite, and I didn't even care for Ikaris (attractive, but a jerk), Ajak (too motherly... should have been leaderly without motherly), Thena (too much of them having to tell us how beautiful she is... if she's beautiful, you don't have to tell us all the time, maybe just once), or Druig (too eternally cranky) that much. I liked the rest of them just fine, but my favorite by far was Kingo and Karun. I thought they made the movie. The rest of it was kind of just blah to me. Anyway, weird plot. Weird Celestials. But I will say that Angelina Jolie was tolerable, and I thought she would be really annoying. So I guess that's good. Maybe the real fault was that they were trying to develop too many characters in one movie? I am interested to see what happens with the Dane Whitman character, though. But also, I didn't need the love scene between Ikaris and Sersi. Like, we got it... they loved each other and were together for 5,000 years and even got married. You didn't actually need a making love scene. It felt weird for a Marvel movie.
10. Jungle Cruise - This was an astoundingly stupid and dumb movie. But I laughed in it, especially at the punny jokes that were akin to the Disneyland ride. But really, they started out the movie the exact same way as the Star Gate movie or the Atlantis movie. And then it was just weird from there. I know it wasn't supposed to be serious, but it was very dumb. I don't regret watching it, though. It was fine.
I also saw from 2021:
Clifford the Big Red Dog - This was so corny, as expected. But it was also cute, and it was an okay movie version of the kids book, which I used to really like when I was little. I'm not sad they made it, and I'm not sad that I watched it, but it was certainly not a cinematic masterpiece. It felt like an after school TV special.
Space Jam: A New Legacy - I felt like the trailer from this movie was the entire movie. Like, most of the jokes were in the trailer, even. So they did in 1 minute what they also accomplished in 2 hours. I never saw the original Space Jam, but my teen loved the first one, and also said this movie was his favorite of the year. It was my least favorite of the year. But the popcorn was good. We got extra butter. And we also built a good memory for the teen to cherish. And look, I like basketball, so it's not like it was a problem with basketball. I just didn't think it was great. I think the only joke I laughed at was when Michael B Jordan came in, and my teen didn't even get that joke. Ah well.
I also saw from 2019:
Abominable - It was fine and cute. It was a pretty film, visually beautiful.
Klaus - I liked it. It was a cute Christmas movie!
I also saw from 2020:
Mulan - Unnecessary, but it was also fine. I didn't hate it.
Movies I guess I sort of still want to see from 2020:
The Call of the Wild
Dolittle
Wonder Woman 1984
The Croods: A New Age
The New Mutants
Bill & Ted Face the Music
Movies I still want to see from 2021:
Dune
The Matrix Resurrections
King Richard
Belfast
No Time to Die
Dear Evan Hansen
It's hard to watch movies anymore because the teen has essentially taken over the TV for video games. I do watch some on my tablet when I'm doing stuff, but I feel like I don't have a ton of time to just sit and watch a movie. Single parenting is rough, y'all. And I feel like I hardly do stuff with friends anymore. Ah well.
4 comments:
I like reading your blog no matter when you post or what you post about. Love your guts, btw.
Post the list, I enjoy it!
If it's not a movie I can watch with my kid, I don't see movies. (I also don't see friends or watch TV shows, so... parenting?)
From your list, I saw the following films:
Encanto: My husband complained the whole time that the music was just meh.
Raya: This movie was on repeat for a solid month. It was almost like it was turned on as comfort noise in the background, my kid loved it. And I thought it was great as well.
Luca: Another winner, but not as long as Raya. But it did give me the phrase "Silencio Bruno" to use on my employee Bruno.
(Sidebar: Both Encanto and Luca have "Bruno" in them, and Bruno isn't positive. Did someone named Bruno wrong someone at Disney?)
Jungle Cruise: Saw this in a theater (the only one!) in Oregon. Good corny fun.
Clifford the Big Red Dog: I thought it was pretty adorable and my kid loved it.
Jill, I'm glad that we both saw some of the same movies that were also kid appropriate.
So, I'm writing a book, and one of the main characters is named Bruno, and I'm so annoyed now about that song and the fact that I may have to change the name of that character. Maybe I shouldn't take like 5 years to write the book and instead finish it before everyone destroys the names I pick!
Both Sarah and Jill, thanks for reading!
I love that you're writing a book!! I can't wait to hear/read all about it!
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