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What I Watched the Last Quarter
This is all I have written down. I may have missed some, and I intentionally didn’t try to list all the Hallmark movies. I also watched a lot of Youtube, especially in the November and December, mostly goofy stuff like KnJ and their group of friends videos. I just needed that level of absolute nonsense and fun.
October
Country at Heart. Hallmark, can’t remember at the moment
When Harry Met Sally. I actually think this one was kinda fun. But oh my stars the sexism/misogyny! I don’t identify as feminist for a variety of reasons because it’s a mess, and I don’t use those terms lightly. I think men and women are of equal worth not exactly the same (why would you want to be?!), but I also don’t think they fall into stupid, unscientific personality and taste categories/stereotypes. Any sentence that starts with or implies “all such and such are such and such” is usually an “if some then all” fallacy, and also just infuriating. And again, why does it feel like there is more accuracy/nuance/equality in the 30’s and 40’s movies and more sexism in the 50’s, 60’s, (and now in my experience), the 80’s movies and tv (I’ve not seen enough 70’s to get a feel)?!
“Why are you getting so upset, this is not about you,”
“Yes, it is; you are a human affront to all women and I am a woman.”
Amen.
Mystic Pizza. This caused me to think, yeah, most 80s movies are misses.
St. Elmo’s Fire. I take it back, this is so much better/accurate than now. Actually this was pretty silly and shallow, it was just fun, also I loved Kevin, so.Alec, “Leslie has to marry me soon.”
Kevin, “Why, you pregnant?”
Started rewatching Friends. Initial gut reaction I love Chandler and I really, really hate Ross (not always, but man, he is such a pig sometimes; I mean not comedically). Example Ross being “generous and a nice guy” (sick face),
“You know what, you know what, if things were the other way around there is nothing you could put on a list that could ever make me not what to be with you.”
“Well, then I guess that’s the “differences between us. See, I’d never make a list.”
Dude pines after and then does nothing, then gets into a relationship, then can’t decide. Can’t decide buddy boy?!!! That’s your decision right there, it ain’t me. Also while it was Chandler’s idea, he only came up with it because Ross couldn’t decide (again, ugh). Rachel is super annoying and an airhead the first season or two. But bimbo and jack*** are not in the same category, they don’t equal each other out. Anyhoo, for some funny quotes.
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“I don’t know what I know what I’m gonna do. What am I gonna do? I mean this this is like a complete nightmare!”
“Oh, I know this must be so hard. ‘Oh, no! Two women love me! They’re both gorgeous and sexy, my wallet’s too small for my 50’s and my diamond shoes are too tight!'”
His cadence and build up though, I’m crying.
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“Ding dong the pyscho’s gone.”
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Monica, “We’re not having birthday cake, we’re having birthday flan.”
Chandler “Excuse me?”
Monica, “It’s a traditional Mexican custard dessert.”
Joey, “Oh, that’s nice. ‘Happy birthday, Rachel, here’s some GOO.'”
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Rachel’s extravagant barbie bridesmaid dress.
“I think you should seriously consider the marriage thing, give Rachel another chance to dress up like princess bubble yum.”
Later, Ross and Rachel come in,
“I’m sorry, we don’t have your sheep.”
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“Hey guys does this look like something the girlfriend of a paleontologist would wear?”
“I don’t know, you might be the first one.”
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“I knew it, I knew it, I always knew she liked him. You know. She’d say no, but here we are, right, we just broke up, first thing she does.”
“You didn’t just break up.”
“Hey it’s been like three weeks.”
“You slept with someone three hours after you thought you broke up, I mean bullets have left guns slower.”
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Monica, “Man, I would be great in a war, I really, I think I would make a fantastic military leader. I mean I know would make general before any of you guys.”
Chandler, “Before or after you were shot by your own troops?”
Ross, “I know where Joey would be, he would be down in the foxhole protecting all of us.”
Chandler, “Yes, if the foxhole was lined with sandwiches.”
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November
See How They Run. Cute, but a bit blah. Except when she thinks it’s him and knocks him out with a shovel. That was great.
December
Hallmark aplenty, standouts were: Three Wisemen and a Baby (I’ve been a Tyler Hynes girl since It’s, Christmas Eve, before he was cool y’all, lol), Time for Him to Come Home for Christmas (Tyler Hynes again!), A Holiday Spectacular (which starred Derek Klena), and A Fabled Holiday (which briefly featured Lindsey Sterling and her gorgeous Celtic influenced rendition of Joy to the World).
American Underdog. Interesting, a bit cheesy. And less dramatic than I thought since they aged the characters 20-10 years (events took place over a bit under 10). It is way more dramatic (impossible?) for a guy in his 30’s to get into the NFL for the first time than for a guy in his twenties which was the real case.
Remember the Titans. My experience was a bit hampered by 1) (especially by) The fact that I mashed what I knew of this movie with what I knew of We Are Marshall. When they don’t all die at the end as expected, that does ruin the pathos one expected. 2) I think it’s overhyped. 3) It’s Disney and it shows, very much glossed over stuff and changed things for dramatic effect. 4) Which leads to being me, I had to look up the actual facts . . . many of the points of major significance were mostly false or changed enough to increase the impact.
I watched two football movies yet, I’m remarkably ignorant of the rules, player positions, etc. of American football. Quite a feat for a big sports family and for someone who has actually played backyard football. I really feel like I should remedy that.
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What I Watched August and September
I didn’t do a great job at tracking everything, so I may have missed a few things, I feel like I watched 10 Things I Hate About You somewhere in these months.
August
Stagecoach
McLintock!September
The Makeover (Hallmark)
“If I belonged to a younger generation, I would say,’Dang, he is fine!'” “Might I remind you that is the exact generation we are trying to rescue from such phrases?”
The Terminal List. Um yeah, skipped a lot, probably should have stopped it early on. Beyond morally questionable. Went from understandable targeted vigilantism (but with unjustifiable methods, aka torture!) to “sucks if you are in my way.”
The Expanse. Dad has been obsessed with this show since it’s been on Amazon, and so after the above show, I opted to try it. Less overtly, over the top violence, but still I can’t deal with that “amoral” and actually immoral, zero sum, dehumanizing choices and viewpoints. I didn’t pursue past the first episode or so of season two (wasn’t interested in the new people either). I was burned out with moral ambivalence (to put it generously) and violence.
Cranford and Return to Cranford (a family friend/dad said there is also, “Sick of Cranford”). I got Britbox again, and after stupidly trying some violent shows (Rachel, do you ever learn?). I finally settled on fairly relaxing. I’d had these on my list for forever (aka, mainly because of Tom Hiddleston, hello). Wow, there is a lot of death though, but when I honestly thought about it, in the real time period, there actually probably was more! The last season felt really rushed.
What If. I’d seen this on a post of Olivia’s and added a few from her list to my TBR. But sometimes those just sit there. I was searching for funny or something on Amazon Prime, and this popped up. And wow, this is a new comfort rom-com (up there with Leap Year, Clueless, 10 Things I Hate About You). My sisters make fun of me for rewatching my favorites very close together, but I seriously might just turn around and watch this again. Super cute and funny and minimal of the stupid miscommunication drama (and when it happens, real grown-up apologies from both parties). Just happiness and comfort. Also, side note, I might actually get a tattoo, I didn’t realize/hadn’t seen, actually feminine ones before. We’ll see. Who is this woman talking?!!!
More Boy Meets World. I needed some funny, comfort, so I tried to pick up about where I left off in the Spring.
“Feeny with an earring.”
. . .
“Shawn, he’s on to us, he singled us out on the first day.”
“No, Cory, he singled you out on the first day, you singled me out.”~~~~~
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What I Watched March 2022
Bridgerton, both seasons. I’ve written about season 1 already. I’ve got thoughts on season 2 coming up.Lady Bird. Rather sad.Silver Linings Playbook. Extremely difficult to watch. Also, what the heck exactly? I need to ask my medical sisters (sister 2 is a nurse (all nursing students have a psychiatric nursing course plus anything in their experience in hospitals), sister 3 works in a children’s psychiatric hospital and just got her public health degree and is going to start a nursing program, and sister 4 is working in a downtown hospital and is in nursing school) their opinions, they mentioned this movie among others when talking about mental illnesses, I think sister 2 said it was accurate?Win a Date with Tad Hamilton. I watched this after watching a Topher Grace interview. On his side it was cute, he’s quite a funny actor. I don’t find it inspiring or fun to watch the dumb innocent, essentially bimbo girl role.Brooklyn 99. I watched up to season 3 before getting bored. I realized I think oftentimes I need more going on in my shows. For example in Castle, Psych, and White Collar, the characters are solving intricate crimes AND are funny AND there is romance. Whereas here, it seems the focus in mainly on the humor which for me doesn’t always hit and isn’t enough for me and the romance is not the greatest. In addition to getting bored Amy’s sycophancy is rather triggering and just really not funny. However, some humor that I did enjoy was Gina and Boyle. I feel like that could have gone on longer or maybe even been a “thing.” (I realize I wrote on this show for Feb as well, oh well.)Rewatched some New Girl. I think I was mad the first time that Coach got replaced (even though he was only in one episode) that I don’t think I fully realized how hilarious Winston is. 2 great moments. 1) His earring phase and Nick’s reaction. 2) When he takes his car without realizing the stowaways in the back and is singing “Popular” in a really high voice and then discovers said surprise in the back.Started a few episodes of Kim’s Convenience. I got distracted by other shows, plus I find domineering fathers personally triggering. I think I might try more, since thanks to Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings I have crush on Simu Liu.Derry Girls. I think I tried this in March or April, again, also would like to watch more. I think I only got a few episodes in. -
What I Watched December 2021 and January and February 2022
- Watched Hallmark Christmas movies in December, obviously.
- Started Hawkeye, remembered I needed to watch Black Widow in the middle, so I watched that (tear jerker!) and then finished Hawkeye (and I think that was a tear jerker too a bit).
- Shang-Chi
- Wedding Veil trilogy on Hallmark. I want the wardrobe of the lead in the 2nd on, I mean, like me to a T. I actually have saved to buy and bought patterns based off her style.
- Rewatched Parks and Rec on Peacock (this definitely peaked by season 4 although there are still hysterical bits in that season, I was pretty much done before 5).
- Brooklyn 99 (this meme crossover of Holt and Mrs. Bennet brought it back to my attention and then at my sister’s I got hooked on the show AND saw that episode, pretty awesome). I can’t say it’s a favorite, and I think I only got into maybe the beginning of season 3 (although I’ll pick it back up another time). I did enjoy it more than the first attempt (that Pilot is just not great). I think part of it, is I need found family on or in a genre, not just that (usually mystery, suspense, etc). And this didn’t really deliver anything else. Which just doesn’t hold me attention, and the found family part felt flat as well. (And I think it’s why I don’t love Parks and Rec like I love Psych for example). It did have great quotes, but I missed documenting a lot.
Holt, walking into his office where Peralta is waiting:
“Brief me on the hotel robberies.”
“Helpful hint to the scientists that program you, most humans say, ‘Hello’ at the beginning of a conversation.”
. . .
“Keep me updated.”
“Another helpful hint–”
“Goodbye”
“It’s learning! What?”Also, it’s awesome that the “Mayhem, like me” from the All State commercial is the Vulture.
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What I Watched May 2021
Movies
I’ve been trying to keep up with watching movies on the weekend. They’ve all been old ones this month.
Dial M for Murder. Grace Kelly. I guess worth a watch, not really that intriguing to me as it wasn’t funny or or mysterious. And the suspense wasn’t all that extreme either.
Listen, Darling. This was a cute for one watch. I wouldn’t rewatch.
My Favorite Wife. I did a post on this, I thought it quite funny and worth rewatching, tons of witty quotes.
My Favorite Brunette. A spoof of film noir mysteries. Too goofy a humor overall for me, but there were a few quotes I thought funny.
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“Ronnie”
“Yeah”
“I think you’re a very brave man”
“I know a sniveling coward when I see one. ” Looks in mirror, “Hiya sniv.”~~~~~~~
“An hour later we were at the Poulet d’or, one of those real swanky cafes where they eat mink for breakfast.”
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TV
When I first heard of My Family and Other Animals I’d also heard of the tv show which is The Durrells (and heard it was rather vulgar) but forgot about it. It came to my attention again, and I wanted something to watch while I knitted, so I started it. The tv show is described as being fictionalized, and I only read book one, the only similarities I’m seeing that I remember are the main character names and some of their interests, but I think I want to reread the first and then read the next two.
While the show does have some vulgarity and coarseness (the worst is that captain, I mostly skip his parts), its mostly not too bad for me. It’s the soapiness that’s getting to me. I’m on season three and had decided to stop, and have skimmed a bit more. And since I can’t seem to stay away from Wikipedia synopses, I’m seeing more soapiness layered on. I thought maybe I’d skip and watch the absolute final episode. We’ll see. But, but, its a bit addicting. Edit: yes, I went back to watching, it’s just so bright and happy on Confu in spite of the attempts at drama, and the music is so cheery, also got another hilarious Spiros bit, this time fighting with Zoltan who is also funny (he would say the funniest). Also, I am skimming through stuff I dislike more.
Spiros is hilarious, I think a lot (most?) of the best quotes are from him. And the way he always calls them,”Durrells.”
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“What have you got against Sven?”“Nothing. Except he is not Greek and he is not British.”“Some people aren’t Spiros.”~~~~~~~During the massive storm, “Hello Durrells, welcome to England.”~~~~~~~“You know I love the British, but you make everything so complicated.”~~~~~~~(Zoltan to Margo) “You make the stars come out at night.”“What does that mean?”“It’s called poetry, Greek peasant.”“It’s called bull****, Turkish cretin.”~~~~~~~Speaking of soapy dramas. I’d seen Allen Leech in a Hallmark movie, so I looked up the Branson and Sybil bits of Downton Abbey. I’d only watched like 1.5 episodes nearly a decade ago in college (and felt like I’d lost IQ for that much) and what I’d seen of him in photos, his chubby baby face blonde boyish type hadn’t appealed to me, but in the Hallmark movie, oh, my. Well, I think he was rather tubbier in DA, and wow, the acting is horrifically bad. I watch Hallmark which is hardly superb acting, but I think because it’s light and fluffy, it’s fine to have fluffy acting. Also the DA acting is worse than the Hallmarks I like. So bad acting plus drama (which needs more solid acting anyway), yeah pretty bad. Not tempted to try any more of that.
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What I Watched in February 2021
New to Me Movies
While You Were Sleeping. Eh.
Cheaper by the Dozen 1 and 2. Eh . . . except Tom Welling is so handsome (and I can say that, he was in his twenties), maybe I should watch Smallville . . .
Ramona and Beezus. Super cute, and I teared up. This is one of those movies that really gets kids, sees through their eyes and emotions rather than showing them as one dimensional little brats (although, honestly some of them are). Such a cute family story.
Rewatch
Miracle. 3rd watch, SUCH a good movie. The real story is fascinating (Mom and Dad remember this), the acting, the cinematographic, the dialogue, the emotions, the sport details. Oh, and lots of handsome guys. Let’s be real that is a huge reason I joined in the first time, and then got the real treat of the entire movie.
The Magic of Ordinary Days. Hallmark Hall of Fame (don’t confuse this with the fluff that is on nowadays). SO sweet, so interesting, touches on so many different details of the time period so compassionately. And her outfits, can I have them all?!!!
TV
WandaVision. I went into this blind which I highly recommend. I was a bit bewildered at the beginning, then fascinated, I loved the time period changes. Then with Agatha we took a turn into Wicked and then I guess the Blair Witch project. Okay, and I don’t like Wanda being in the wrong, but she wasn’t initially. I just wished that could be handled beter.
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What I Watched: November 2020
Edited 12/27/20. Um, so I left off several things I watched because I didn’t look at the list I was keeping.
An Inspecter Calls. I can’t recommend this to everyone, its very dark, very dark and hopeless, doesn’t end well. I don’t really agree with the social portrayal, its far too simplistic and takes agency away from one character. However, I did tell one of my sisters that it seemed to be quite her style, she likes depressing stories. She said she was a first offended that I said she’d like it, and then by the end realized, yes this is her type of thing.
The Lady Vanishes, the newest version. I greatly enjoyed this. Why I like a certain level of scary mystery and dislike much else dark, I have no idea, perhaps because vintage style mysteries often don’t have sympathetic victims and the bad guys are always caught and dealt with?
Gosforth Park. Don’t recommend, nasty is the best way to describe it, like a sort of less nasty, less dark version of that abomination Penhallow I read earlier this year. I should have stopped watching it. I discovered later that Julian Fellows made this, and Downton Abbey was supposed to be the follow up to this. That enlightened me a bit, DA made be feel a bit nasty, it has nothing on this.
I watched Clueless again I think.
The Final Fix. This is a hard watch (also, warning, someone dies, I’m not sure exactly why I was shocked considering the subject matter, I guess I was shocked because it was included, like this is real people, not a movie, although it’s not like they had control over that), but it is very important. It deals with an potentially life altering and societal altering treatment for opioid addiction that mainstream medicine has been ignoring for decades (per the film).
The Mandalorian. I’m behind now (so no spoilers!) because I really need to watch Rebels and Clone Wars, because characters from there are starting to be introduced. So, baby Yoda isn’t so cute now. I could barely watch that episode. We were talking about it, and my brother was like, “yeah, we knew you’d hate that episode.” I think I’m behind two episodes now, I think I need to watch Rebels and Clone Wars first.
Lots of Hallmark (both channels, some new, some old). Christmas in Vienna (the best?!), On the 12th Date of Christmas, The Perfect Christmas Gift, Five Star Christmas, Timeless Christmas, Good Morning Christmas, A Nashville Christmas Carol, The Angel Tree. We watched more, but these were the best, not sure how to rank, tried to rank in order. I would watch the first view again (I have watched Christmas in Vienna again). None of them have the same sparkle, quality, depth of the older and up to maybe 2016 group. I’d dropped off keeping track, but I don’t think there really have been any that would make my list recently.
Rewatched The Princess Diaries again. Oh, that is SUCH a comfort film. One of the few live action films that I have nostalgia for (because we didn’t watch much until we were older). I think I saw this at 10 or 11.
Rewatched lots of Friends sections, someday I will make myself sit through every minute of every episode.
