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scordatura) wrote2020-01-18 03:04 pm
scordatura) wrote2020-01-18 03:04 pm
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2019 Recap: Movies and TV!
Recap post #3, TV and movies! Movies first: I watched 61 full movies last year (not counting the many, many fractions of whatever was on TV at the time!), consisting of new movies watched with friends or Boyfriend, new releases, fond rewatches, and Hallmark holiday classics alike, ha. 33 of those were new movies, making this my second-highest proportion of new to old movies since 2011, which is pretty cool! I've highlighted some of my favorites from either of the first two categories above here, my favorites of movies I've seen that were new to me AND new to the world at large. :")
The Six New-To-Me Movies I Enjoyed Most
Honorable mention to Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping (I expected this to just be ridiculous silly humor, but MAN did I enjoy it and get genuinely unexpectedly emotional about it??), The Jane Austen Book Club (definitely had some issues with this one, but also unexpectedly loved a lot of it very genuinely?? what a lovely film!!), and To All The Boys I've Loved Before (SO FUCKING CUTE, SO WELL CAST AND CHARMING AND LOVELY, I LOVE MY DARLING BABIES SO MUCH).
• Stick It. Yes, I can't believe I hadn't seen this either; it's required viewing for fannish queers! But we finally remedied this earlier this year, and boy did it ever remind me that I AM A GAY SOCIALIST, SOLIDARITY FOREVER. It was just so delightful and heartwarming and SO VERY, VERY GAY, DID I MENTION.
• Edge of Tomorrow. This isn't my usual style of movie AT ALL but I ended up adoring it?? It's so creatively done, so funny despite the darkness of the tone, so well-performed by both Tom Cruise and Emily Blunt, so creatively constructed and tense and twisty and just... FUN. It's one of those movies that's on TV all the time and I always just welcome being able to put it on and zone in and out while enjoying what parts of it I do pay attention to, and I always welcome more of those in my arsenal!
• Spy. I'm SO happy I finally got to see this -- I know a lot of people really love it, and I now know why!! What a bonkers Jason Statham role, what a wacky Rose Byrne performance, what a FANTASTIC Melissa McCarthy vehicle. I laughed so hard my chest hurt and I felt so happy and proud of and satisfied for Susan by the end. So, so fucking much fun.
• Kingsman: The Secret Service. ALSO so happy I finally got to see this -- I never had much interest in it, but finally decided to make it happen, and was stunned by how much I genuinely really enjoyed it?? I expected a mindless ridiculous action movie with fun visuals and entertaining gags, but I truly had a GREAT time watching it (and oof, it's SO GAY, y'all), and it's definitely now become a staple Background Fun Movie whenever it's on TV. I look forward to rewatching it sometime soon and experiencing all of the emotions again!!
• A Simple Favor. Oh boy, this movie was BALLS TO THE WALL in the best possible way! Tonally kind of all over the place, tense and twisty with reveals that SIMPLY MAKE NO GODDAMN SENSE BUT FEEL AMAZING ANYWAY, and an ending that just.... ??? ???? WHAT THE FUCK HAPPENED THERE, LMAO. But I loved it! I loved the acting and the humor and the tension and the fact that all three of the main characters were super in love, HELLO.
• Blazing Saddles. This took me WAY too long to watch, BUT I AM SO GLAD I FINALLY DID. It's fucking hilarious, of course, and so clever and smart, and Cleavon Little's performance is SO fucking charming, and he and Gene Wilder are SO GAY FOR ONE ANOTHER IT HURTS ME SO DEEPLY, and !!! GOD I'm so happy with this ridiculous hilarious movie, what an adventure.
The Six New Movies I Enjoyed Most
Honorable mention to Aquaman, which is, uh, not a good movie AT ALL but which I had an amazing time watching twice in theaters, so fun and so ridiculous.
• Knives Out. The newest addition to this list, but possibly my absolute favorite among them?? I'm so, so happy I got to see this in theaters because the aesthetic and set design are AMAZING, just a great cherry on top of a stellar performance by everyone on the cast and a fucking amazing script. I didn't anticipate a single plot point of that movie, but the reveal unfolded in such a way that slotted together nearly every single moment that something felt off in a prior scene and made perfect sense, and it was just... so SATISFYING in so many ways, so entertaining and so good and so unexpectedly relevant. I really, really fucking loved this movie, y'all.
• Detective Pikachu. Ableism aside (and that's a PRETTY big "aside," it's such a needlessly significant and painful sore spot), this movie is so fucking delightful, charming and nostalgic and funny and just nonstop entertaining. Whoever came up with casting Ryan Reynolds as Pikachu deserves a fucking medal, seriously, what a GOOD IDEA. And THAT TWIST, AND THAT ENDING.... WHOOF, Y'ALL. SO, SO GOOD. Definitely an instant classic right there.
• Always Be My Maybe. OF COURSE. HOW COULD I RESIST? There were some aspects of this that made me uncomfy, as there almost always are during romcoms -- even for the modern era! -- but for the most part, it was SO funny, so sweet and genuine and emotional, with such a fucking absurd unexpected Keanu cameo (I had NO IDEA he was just playing himself lmaoooo), and such a good ending!! I laughed, I cried, I felt all the feelings; can one ever really ask for more from a romcom??
• Men In Black International. Okay, I'm not sure I'd call this one a GOOD movie, but OH I had so much fun with it. I went in expecting fun wacky poorly-plotted adventures and Tessa Thompson and Chris Hemsworth being hot as fuck, and BOY DID I GET IT, plus some really engaging visual effects!! I watched it again recently and have firmly doubled down on this opinion because honestly, I'm not sure at all why everyone was so hard on it -- yes, it's campy and absurd, but were you really expecting anything else??
• Descendants 3. GOTTA INCLUDE THIS HERE, OF COURSE. I've been waiting for this for ages and it definitely didn't disappoint -- 2 is still my favorite of the series, but 3 was SO MUCH FUN, so fucking bonkers and once again both super poly and super gay. So much fun music, so many delightful character beats, so much absurdity, as is the norm in this franchise. I'm sad it has to end in such a bittersweet way (RIP Cameron Boyce :((), but it was still a really solid note to end on!
• Charlie's Angels. [SCREAMS IN BISEXUAL, DOESN'T STOP] GODDD THIS MOVIE !!! It hit all the same parts of my id that Ocean's 8 did -- being made as a power fantasy by women, for women, with the only significant male roles being pure eye candy/wish fulfillment, and playing off of the queer female gaze just enough -- honestly even more so in this movie, as far as I'm concerned! The aesthetics and the faces of all of the women were just SO GOOD, and the plot was so much fun, and EVERYONE WAS SO IN LOVE I CRY. Really need to see this again sometime soon too!!
And as usual, the TV recap is the shortest one of the entire set, ha, so some rough groupings of all the TV I consumed, both new and old, contained below!
• Shows I was already watching that I watched new seasons of: Outlander (after MANY, MANY YEARS I have finally picked this back up -- and just in time for S3 to come to Netflix and S5 to start soon, yay! I rewatched S1 for roughly the five millionth time, then finally picked S2 back up again -- I still have a couple episodes to go, but I'm enjoying it SO MUCH; Dragonfly in Amber is my favorite of the books, so I love seeing it come to life, and I love everyone so much and I missed my favorite love story of all time!! so happy it's back in my life!!); The Americans (I'm watching this with Boyfriend and we have been SO SLOW lmao but we're finally done with season 4, so two more to go!! I will definitely need to rewatch once we finish because I barely remember anything from even the start of this season, let alone the earlier ones, ha -- but I love show so much, it's SO well-done and I'm deeply emotional about my parents Phillip and Elizabeth forever!!!)
• Older shows I started and completed: One Day At A Time (!!! y'all this show!!!! I impulsively picked it up after S3 came out because the trailer looked so fun and I wanted a new comedy in my life, and AAAAAA IT'S!!! SO GOOD!!!! so fucking charming and emotional and hilarious and earnest and!!! I've been thinking about rewatching it again because IT'S SO GOOD AND I MISS IT ALREADY); Fleabag (I was TRICKED into watching this SAD SHOW by HOT WOMEN AND HOT PRIESTS; it's definitely not my usual thing, but oh, it broke my heart and wrecked my emotions and made me laugh so hard I cried and made me cry so hard I laughed -- it's real and agonizing and devastating and so, so good, and it will definitely not be for everyone, but if it might be your thing, you should ABSOLUTELY give it a chance); The Magicians (okay, I have NOT completed this one, but I'm leaving it here because I'm not sure if I ever will -- I got through the first two seasons and just ADORED it, this magical bonkers hilarious and heartwrenching disaster of a show... and then just as I was wrapping up S2, the S4 finale happened, fandom imploded, and I promptly lost all desire to continue; depending on a lot of things, I might still do so one day, but uh, big yikes about it now and forever!! sigh!!!)
• New shows I started and/or completed: Miracle Workers (how?? have more people not watched this show??? it rides the same wave of subversion and cynicism as The Good Place or Good Omens, it's SO diverse, and it gives EXTREMELY GOOD POLY, Y'ALL, YOU'VE GOT COWORKERS-TO-FRIENDS-TO-LOVERS AND BITTER EXES AND SO MANY GOOD AND INTRIGUING COWORKER DYNAMICS!! it's so perfect as is, but I'm so very very excited for the second season SO SOON aaaa); Good Omens (of course!! I had to!!! and I definitely had some beef with it -- while I LOVED the extended gay flashback episode, I didn't think the rest of what was added to the show contributed too much to the overall narrative [definitely not to make up for what was cut!], and I didn't love some of the adjustments made in characters [cough Anathema cough], but Michael Sheen and David Tennant were SO GOOD and SO GAY and GOSH it was so, so much fun to watch on the whole); Carnival Row (oh my GOD y'all what a fucking absurd show, I described it as the gritty magic fairy cop version of Jupiter Ascending, in that the aesthetic is the point and it crams way too much lore to be realistically explored in far too short a time; but despite myself, a lot of the emotional beats really resonated with me, and it embraces a couple of my favorite tropes, and everyone is VERY ATTRACTIVE, and I kind of can't wait for S2??)
Honorable mention, somewhere between these two categories, to Watchmen and His Dark Materials, both of which I've now watched the pilots of, and while I was underwhelmed by the latter, despite my high expectations, I was INSANELY OVERWHELMED by the former, despite my high expectations!! Excited to be watching more of both, either way!
• Shows I kept up with in realtime: The Good Place (GOD I'm so not ready for this show to be over, but I'm glad they get the chance to just go out the way they want to; so far this season has been kind of up and down for me, but I am SO fucking excited about how it's going to all come together in the end aaaaaaa); Brooklyn Nine-Nine (I... hate to say it, y'all, but I think show is overextending itself slightly?? S6 has definitely had its moments and I've loved them, but it absolutely feels like it's running out of steam, and I'm not nearly as excited for S7 as I have been for prior seasons, I kind of wish they would just... wrap it up already, ugh :(()
Also I rewatched Galavant, which is important to note because it's one of my favorite shows ever and if I'm not rewatching it at least once a year, what am I even doing with my life??
The Six New-To-Me Movies I Enjoyed Most
Honorable mention to Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping (I expected this to just be ridiculous silly humor, but MAN did I enjoy it and get genuinely unexpectedly emotional about it??), The Jane Austen Book Club (definitely had some issues with this one, but also unexpectedly loved a lot of it very genuinely?? what a lovely film!!), and To All The Boys I've Loved Before (SO FUCKING CUTE, SO WELL CAST AND CHARMING AND LOVELY, I LOVE MY DARLING BABIES SO MUCH).
• Stick It. Yes, I can't believe I hadn't seen this either; it's required viewing for fannish queers! But we finally remedied this earlier this year, and boy did it ever remind me that I AM A GAY SOCIALIST, SOLIDARITY FOREVER. It was just so delightful and heartwarming and SO VERY, VERY GAY, DID I MENTION.
• Edge of Tomorrow. This isn't my usual style of movie AT ALL but I ended up adoring it?? It's so creatively done, so funny despite the darkness of the tone, so well-performed by both Tom Cruise and Emily Blunt, so creatively constructed and tense and twisty and just... FUN. It's one of those movies that's on TV all the time and I always just welcome being able to put it on and zone in and out while enjoying what parts of it I do pay attention to, and I always welcome more of those in my arsenal!
• Spy. I'm SO happy I finally got to see this -- I know a lot of people really love it, and I now know why!! What a bonkers Jason Statham role, what a wacky Rose Byrne performance, what a FANTASTIC Melissa McCarthy vehicle. I laughed so hard my chest hurt and I felt so happy and proud of and satisfied for Susan by the end. So, so fucking much fun.
• Kingsman: The Secret Service. ALSO so happy I finally got to see this -- I never had much interest in it, but finally decided to make it happen, and was stunned by how much I genuinely really enjoyed it?? I expected a mindless ridiculous action movie with fun visuals and entertaining gags, but I truly had a GREAT time watching it (and oof, it's SO GAY, y'all), and it's definitely now become a staple Background Fun Movie whenever it's on TV. I look forward to rewatching it sometime soon and experiencing all of the emotions again!!
• A Simple Favor. Oh boy, this movie was BALLS TO THE WALL in the best possible way! Tonally kind of all over the place, tense and twisty with reveals that SIMPLY MAKE NO GODDAMN SENSE BUT FEEL AMAZING ANYWAY, and an ending that just.... ??? ???? WHAT THE FUCK HAPPENED THERE, LMAO. But I loved it! I loved the acting and the humor and the tension and the fact that all three of the main characters were super in love, HELLO.
• Blazing Saddles. This took me WAY too long to watch, BUT I AM SO GLAD I FINALLY DID. It's fucking hilarious, of course, and so clever and smart, and Cleavon Little's performance is SO fucking charming, and he and Gene Wilder are SO GAY FOR ONE ANOTHER IT HURTS ME SO DEEPLY, and !!! GOD I'm so happy with this ridiculous hilarious movie, what an adventure.
The Six New Movies I Enjoyed Most
Honorable mention to Aquaman, which is, uh, not a good movie AT ALL but which I had an amazing time watching twice in theaters, so fun and so ridiculous.
• Knives Out. The newest addition to this list, but possibly my absolute favorite among them?? I'm so, so happy I got to see this in theaters because the aesthetic and set design are AMAZING, just a great cherry on top of a stellar performance by everyone on the cast and a fucking amazing script. I didn't anticipate a single plot point of that movie, but the reveal unfolded in such a way that slotted together nearly every single moment that something felt off in a prior scene and made perfect sense, and it was just... so SATISFYING in so many ways, so entertaining and so good and so unexpectedly relevant. I really, really fucking loved this movie, y'all.
• Detective Pikachu. Ableism aside (and that's a PRETTY big "aside," it's such a needlessly significant and painful sore spot), this movie is so fucking delightful, charming and nostalgic and funny and just nonstop entertaining. Whoever came up with casting Ryan Reynolds as Pikachu deserves a fucking medal, seriously, what a GOOD IDEA. And THAT TWIST, AND THAT ENDING.... WHOOF, Y'ALL. SO, SO GOOD. Definitely an instant classic right there.
• Always Be My Maybe. OF COURSE. HOW COULD I RESIST? There were some aspects of this that made me uncomfy, as there almost always are during romcoms -- even for the modern era! -- but for the most part, it was SO funny, so sweet and genuine and emotional, with such a fucking absurd unexpected Keanu cameo (I had NO IDEA he was just playing himself lmaoooo), and such a good ending!! I laughed, I cried, I felt all the feelings; can one ever really ask for more from a romcom??
• Men In Black International. Okay, I'm not sure I'd call this one a GOOD movie, but OH I had so much fun with it. I went in expecting fun wacky poorly-plotted adventures and Tessa Thompson and Chris Hemsworth being hot as fuck, and BOY DID I GET IT, plus some really engaging visual effects!! I watched it again recently and have firmly doubled down on this opinion because honestly, I'm not sure at all why everyone was so hard on it -- yes, it's campy and absurd, but were you really expecting anything else??
• Descendants 3. GOTTA INCLUDE THIS HERE, OF COURSE. I've been waiting for this for ages and it definitely didn't disappoint -- 2 is still my favorite of the series, but 3 was SO MUCH FUN, so fucking bonkers and once again both super poly and super gay. So much fun music, so many delightful character beats, so much absurdity, as is the norm in this franchise. I'm sad it has to end in such a bittersweet way (RIP Cameron Boyce :((), but it was still a really solid note to end on!
• Charlie's Angels. [SCREAMS IN BISEXUAL, DOESN'T STOP] GODDD THIS MOVIE !!! It hit all the same parts of my id that Ocean's 8 did -- being made as a power fantasy by women, for women, with the only significant male roles being pure eye candy/wish fulfillment, and playing off of the queer female gaze just enough -- honestly even more so in this movie, as far as I'm concerned! The aesthetics and the faces of all of the women were just SO GOOD, and the plot was so much fun, and EVERYONE WAS SO IN LOVE I CRY. Really need to see this again sometime soon too!!
And as usual, the TV recap is the shortest one of the entire set, ha, so some rough groupings of all the TV I consumed, both new and old, contained below!
• Shows I was already watching that I watched new seasons of: Outlander (after MANY, MANY YEARS I have finally picked this back up -- and just in time for S3 to come to Netflix and S5 to start soon, yay! I rewatched S1 for roughly the five millionth time, then finally picked S2 back up again -- I still have a couple episodes to go, but I'm enjoying it SO MUCH; Dragonfly in Amber is my favorite of the books, so I love seeing it come to life, and I love everyone so much and I missed my favorite love story of all time!! so happy it's back in my life!!); The Americans (I'm watching this with Boyfriend and we have been SO SLOW lmao but we're finally done with season 4, so two more to go!! I will definitely need to rewatch once we finish because I barely remember anything from even the start of this season, let alone the earlier ones, ha -- but I love show so much, it's SO well-done and I'm deeply emotional about my parents Phillip and Elizabeth forever!!!)
• Older shows I started and completed: One Day At A Time (!!! y'all this show!!!! I impulsively picked it up after S3 came out because the trailer looked so fun and I wanted a new comedy in my life, and AAAAAA IT'S!!! SO GOOD!!!! so fucking charming and emotional and hilarious and earnest and!!! I've been thinking about rewatching it again because IT'S SO GOOD AND I MISS IT ALREADY); Fleabag (I was TRICKED into watching this SAD SHOW by HOT WOMEN AND HOT PRIESTS; it's definitely not my usual thing, but oh, it broke my heart and wrecked my emotions and made me laugh so hard I cried and made me cry so hard I laughed -- it's real and agonizing and devastating and so, so good, and it will definitely not be for everyone, but if it might be your thing, you should ABSOLUTELY give it a chance); The Magicians (okay, I have NOT completed this one, but I'm leaving it here because I'm not sure if I ever will -- I got through the first two seasons and just ADORED it, this magical bonkers hilarious and heartwrenching disaster of a show... and then just as I was wrapping up S2, the S4 finale happened, fandom imploded, and I promptly lost all desire to continue; depending on a lot of things, I might still do so one day, but uh, big yikes about it now and forever!! sigh!!!)
• New shows I started and/or completed: Miracle Workers (how?? have more people not watched this show??? it rides the same wave of subversion and cynicism as The Good Place or Good Omens, it's SO diverse, and it gives EXTREMELY GOOD POLY, Y'ALL, YOU'VE GOT COWORKERS-TO-FRIENDS-TO-LOVERS AND BITTER EXES AND SO MANY GOOD AND INTRIGUING COWORKER DYNAMICS!! it's so perfect as is, but I'm so very very excited for the second season SO SOON aaaa); Good Omens (of course!! I had to!!! and I definitely had some beef with it -- while I LOVED the extended gay flashback episode, I didn't think the rest of what was added to the show contributed too much to the overall narrative [definitely not to make up for what was cut!], and I didn't love some of the adjustments made in characters [cough Anathema cough], but Michael Sheen and David Tennant were SO GOOD and SO GAY and GOSH it was so, so much fun to watch on the whole); Carnival Row (oh my GOD y'all what a fucking absurd show, I described it as the gritty magic fairy cop version of Jupiter Ascending, in that the aesthetic is the point and it crams way too much lore to be realistically explored in far too short a time; but despite myself, a lot of the emotional beats really resonated with me, and it embraces a couple of my favorite tropes, and everyone is VERY ATTRACTIVE, and I kind of can't wait for S2??)
Honorable mention, somewhere between these two categories, to Watchmen and His Dark Materials, both of which I've now watched the pilots of, and while I was underwhelmed by the latter, despite my high expectations, I was INSANELY OVERWHELMED by the former, despite my high expectations!! Excited to be watching more of both, either way!
• Shows I kept up with in realtime: The Good Place (GOD I'm so not ready for this show to be over, but I'm glad they get the chance to just go out the way they want to; so far this season has been kind of up and down for me, but I am SO fucking excited about how it's going to all come together in the end aaaaaaa); Brooklyn Nine-Nine (I... hate to say it, y'all, but I think show is overextending itself slightly?? S6 has definitely had its moments and I've loved them, but it absolutely feels like it's running out of steam, and I'm not nearly as excited for S7 as I have been for prior seasons, I kind of wish they would just... wrap it up already, ugh :(()
Also I rewatched Galavant, which is important to note because it's one of my favorite shows ever and if I'm not rewatching it at least once a year, what am I even doing with my life??