Revisiting The Confusion that is "The Devil Wears Prada"

Salut mes chéris,

With the recent release of "The Devil Wears Prada 2" (2026) and its accompanying enthusiastic promotional advertising, I was compelled to revisit the original.  Let's talk about it!

I don't have a super strong memory of my original in-theaters viewing of "The Devil Wears Prada" (2006), other than some mild ambivalence.  Upon rewatching it, that ambivalence makes sense.  At its core, this is a deeply confused movie.

This confusion begins with its deeply unbelievable premise, which is that Anne Hathaway's overly earnest and supposedly competent aspiring reporter Andy shows up to an interview at a major publication completely uninformed about with whom and for what role she's interviewing--but we're meant to believe that because the publication she's interviewing for is about fashion and she's too frumpy to know about fashion.  

The idea that an American woman raised anywhere other than under a rock, or maybe in some extremely isolated religious cult, wouldn't be at least passingly familiar with Vogue magazine (okay okay, excuse me, "Runway") is so fucking ridiculous as to bend credulity to the breaking point from the very outset of the film--especially given that this is a movie aimed primarily at women.  I say this as a deeply unfashionable person: I know what the fuck Vogue is, not to mention who Anna Wintour is.  And knowing what little I unavoidably know as a human woman living in American society, I would sure as hell not blunder my way completely clueless into an interview with Anna Wintour.  Excuse me, Miranda Priestly.

It's all the more unclear why, after getting chastised by Priestly one time for not moving heaven and Earth to get her on a plane during a hurricane, Andy then not just endures but seemingly radically embraces the wardrobe overhaul necessary to succeed in her role as Priestly's junior personal assistant.  

Not only does she completely transform her outward aesthetic, but we're also I guess meant to believe that this Priestly scolding with resultant sartorial metamorphosis that is the crucial activator that catalyzes Andy's transformation from barely-holding-onto-a-role-she-didn't-even-really-want-but-a-million-other-girls-do into gunner-to-end-all-gunners.  She didn't want this job anyway, but now that she's been yelled at once and got some new clothes, she's all in?  Okay.

Then we're supposed to think poorly of Andy for missing her boyfriend's birthday because she gets roped into attending "the biggest benefit of the year" with Priestly and her primary personal assistant, Emily (played by Emily Blunt).  But I'm so sorry, wouldn't that event be the fucking Met Gala??  Abundant valid reasons for criticizing and boycotting the Gala acknowledged, are we seriously meant to believe, let alone side with, her boyfriend and friends being salty over his girlfriend getting to attend an internationally recognized event??  Would they seriously not understand that this is one of the biggest perks of this otherwise grueling and thankless job?  I just don't understand what world these characters are living in.

  

But then even her boyfriend, Adrian Grenier's Nate, later reminds Andy when she apologizes for missing his birthday, "I'm not four."  So are we mad at her for missing his birthday or not?

We're also supposed to side with Andy's friends for rolling their eyes and seeming exasperated that she's changed after she shows up to drinks with them and unloads literally thousands of dollars' worth of accessories, beauty products, and even a weird little fashion-phone, which they greedily snap up before playing keepaway with Andy's work phone when Priestly calls her.  Again, I'm sorry, but what??  Andy's the asshole here??  Because what actually seems to be happening is that her friends are happy to lap up the benefits of having a friend who works at Vogue (excuse me, RUNWAY), without acknowledging the predictable personal cost to that friend's personal life.  It makes sense to be disappointed and to miss her when she can't be present, but you lose me when that manifests as messing with her a split second after you accept a bunch of fancy freebies from her.

Are we also meant to be on board with how creepily Simon Baker's Christian Thompson hounds Andy for a date, let alone his very fake-looking eyebrows?  And also that Andy recognizes and loves his work... but knew nothing about Vogue (I mean Runway!!)... but he is at every major fashion event, including Paris Fashion Week, which sure makes it seem like his work would either be in fashion or fashion-adjacent publications....??? Because I hate everything about that subplot.

Sidenote: Can we please all talk about the fact that Miranda Priestly never says, "You're not going to Paris!"????  That line is literally never said in this movie.  Isn't that the iconic line from this movie??  

I actually googled this and rewound the part of the movie where it seemed like that line belonged because I was so convinced I missed it.  I feel very gaslit by the Mandela Effect of it all.

Finally, perhaps the most perplexing turn is when Andy rushes to inform Priestly of the threat to Priestly's standing at the magazine.  Because this film has not remotely developed Andy's interiority enough to explain her sudden fervent allegiance to Priestly.  On the one hand, this movie makes gestures at grappling with the sexist double-standards high-achieving women face even at the highest echelons of industry and influence, which Andy fleetingly and feebly pays lip service to.  But it also portrays Priestly as pretty commitedly cold-blooded, mercilessly self-interested, and unlikable.  As a result, Andy's  momentary dog-like dedication to her seems unearned, misplaced, and more than a bit embarrassing.

At the end of the movie, Andy has left her job at Runway and interviews for a reporting job, Miranda is still firmly ensconced in her role at the magazine, Andy's boyfriend is taking a sous-chef job in Boston, and I have a bit of an ambivalently queasy tummy.  Hurrayyyy?

"The Devil Wears Prada" is admittedly not without its bright spots.  Meryl Streep is absolutely delicious as Miranda Priestly, and Stanley Tucci is delightful.  The fashion and styling are by now so incredibly dated as to be fascinating in a schadenfreude-y way that actually adds depth to the movie's examination of the fickleness and ephemerality of the fashion industry.  And at the end of the day, this is a fun dumb movie, and there's not much harm in that.

After this rewatch, I gave the movie a 2.

{Heart}

For Anyone Wanting a Vacation in a More Innocent Time, Consider a Trip to "Tapawingo"

Hey everyone,

I'm popping in for a little buzzer-beater post on this, the last day of the month.

Let's chat a little bit about "Tapawingo" (2024).

Before we proceed, I have one question for you: did you see "Napoleon Dynamite" (2004)?

If not, I would be genuinely fascinated to hear what you think about "Tapawingo", its clear and direct descendant 20 years on.  

If you haven't seen "Napoleon Dynamite", does the world and aesthetic of "Tapawingo" make any sense to you?  Does it hold any appeal?  Do you like it any more or less than I do, as someone who of course did not escape--nor want to--the juggernaut that was "Napoleon Dynamite", given that it arrived squarely in the middle of my college years, perfectly situating me smack in the middle of the developmental demographic most likely to adore that weird, goofy, instant cult classic-y yet harmless and charming little film?

Because not to brag, but I've seen "Napoleon Dynamite" many, many times, although long enough ago that I don't remember it super clearly by now.  In fact, my memory of the movie has reached that stage of fogginess in which I remember liking it, but I'm afraid to watch it again because doing so now, two decades after it was released and many years since last seeing it, risks spoiling it.

The trouble is, having seen "Napoleon Dynamite" absolutely negatively impacted my experience of "Tapawingo".  The newer film is so directly an extension of the Dynamite-o-verse, yet as I experienced it, it fails to capture whatever silly magic the original contained.  In "Tapawingo", the characteristic intentionally halting pace of the dialogue feels tedious.  The 1980s time capsule-y aesthetic is very well-executed but nothing new.  The soundtrack is packed in an attempt to give the movie some emotional oomph but ends up feeling too crowded and therefore kind of distracting rather than enhancing.

"Tapawingo" is admittedly funny and has heart in the same oddball way as "Napoleon Dynamite".  But part of what I remember being so compelling about the older movie was the fragility underlying the incongruous bravado of several of its central characters, including Pedro's student governmental aspirations, Uncle Rico's yearning for his ex-girlfriend, and the sweet, unlikely love between Kip and LaFawnduh (who miraculously actually exists!), and of course most obvious in Napoleon's socially bewildered loneliness.  While the characters in "Tapawingo" definitely exhibit similar ludicrous and mostly toothless grandiosity, I just didn't find myself caring about or believing in them as people in the same way as I did in "Napoleon Dynamite".

All that said, for any elder millennials or "Napoleon Dynamite" fans who could use a little time travel to the gentler era of the early 2000s, you could do worse than taking a trip to "Tapawingo".  I gave the movie a 3.

{Heart}

"Anatomy of a Fall" Back Into Legal Dramas

Hi pals,

I recently watched Justine Triet's "Anatomy of a Fall" (2023).  Let's talk about it!

The film tells the tale of Sandra after the suspicious falling death of her husband Samuel at their chalet-style home in the French alps.  Over the course of the unfolding two and a half hours, we watch Sandra and her son Daniel navigate the brutal investigation and court proceedings that follow as Sandra is accused of Samuel's murder.

There are several things that drew me to this movie, despite its grim premise.  I love a good legal drama, and it's been quite some time since I watched one.  Oddly enough, the film's long runtime is actually part of what drew me to "Anatomy of a Fall", as that led me to suspect it would enjoy that deliberately-paced and detailed storytelling that legal dramas can utilize well and benefit richly from.  To my immense chagrin, I also have watched no foreign language movies in the past two years, and very few international movies during the same period.  On top of these other factors, watching a dialogue-intensive multilingual movie therefore felt like an immense treat.

This film rests heavily on the combined shoulders of its excellent script, written by Triet and Arthur Harari, and the at turns understated and riveting performance of Sandra Hüller.  There are so many moments during which the deft yet subtle influence of a woman's voice, through the combination of Trier's direction and words and Hüller's embodiment of the main character, is evident: in the secretly recorded argument between Sandra and Samuel the day before Samuel's death, Sandra's attempts to keep mothering Daniel despite the seemingly impossible expanse opened between them, and the raw surfacing of Sandra's subterranean emotions as she confides in Vincent, her attorney, close friend, and possible/would-be past lover.  

The investigation and testimonies allow "Anatomy of a Fall" to thoughtfully probe a surprising range of topics, including the complexities and compromises of marriage, near- and long-term responses to personal tragedy, existential dilemmas, the creative process, how to face uncertainty, and the profound unknowability of another person's mind.

Like in many legal dramas, there is some degree of ambiguity by the end of the film.  I was pleasantly surprised that "Anatomy of a Fall" tips its hand toward one explanation for Samuel's death over another without being perfectly conclusive in its evidence, leaving space for interpretation.  There are times when a truly open-ended ending seems less in the service of a film and more about the writers simply being unable to commit to an ending, and "Anatomy of a Fall" thankfully does not suffer from this problem.

Taken altogether, "Anatomy of a Fall" is such a rich and satisfying text.  I gave it a 5.

Thanks for reading, as always, friends!

{Heart}

2025 Movie Round-Up!!

Hello beloveds,

I have yet again commenced writing this round-up post on the last day of the month at a relatively late hour--but at least two months ahead of last year and WELL ahead of the previous year's multi-part round-up--so I will dispense with a lengthy preamble. It's time for the:

The PsychoCinematic Year in Movies
2025 Edition

1. Nosferatu (5)

2. The Last Showgirl (2)* & ****

3. Days of Heaven (4)

4. Lego Movie: The Second Part (4)***

5. The Sting (4)

6. One of Them Days (4)

7. Challengers (3)

8. Frozen (1)

9. Moana (5)***

10. Moana 2 (4)

11. Frozen 2 (2)

12. Tangled (3.5)***

13. Lily Topples the World (3)

14. Sinners (4)

15. A Nice Indian Boy (2)

16. Street Gang: How We Got to Sesame Street (5)

17. One of Them Days (4)***

18. 28 Years Later (5)

19. Jurassic World Rebirth (3.5)

20. Small Things Like These (5)

21. One Battle After Another (3)

22. Presence (4.5)

23. Weapons (5)

24. KPop Demon Hunters (5)

25. The Outrun (3)

26. 8-Bit Christmas (1)

27. The Spirit of Christmas (2)

28. Falling for Christmas (1)

29. The Night Before (3.5)***

30. Single All the Way (4)

31. A Christmas Prince (2.5)

32. Our Little Secret (2)

33. Argylle (3.5)

As a reminder, the extra notations mean the following:

* = got nauseated

** = fell asleep

*** = rewatch

**** = didn't finish

In reviewing last year's list of films after the second year in a row of a reduced movie-watching goal, I'm starting to feel the consequences of having less time, and even more so less emotional energy, for movies.  While I definitely saw a range of movies in 2025, including some that were really excellent, I would estimate a good third of the movies I watched last year were kind of filler-y.  It's hard feeling somewhat underwhelmed by movies, especially knowing my capacity to be deeply entranced and moved by them.

That said, my reduced movies resolution certainly has a few silver linings, not the least of which is that it is accomplishable.  Another is that I only watched three movies I utterly hated.  That ignominious trio is:

For attempting to indoctrinate vulnerable children with horrific ideology about toxic family relationships 

shrouded in the extremely belated virtue of not centering romantic love in a kids' movie for once:

Frozen (2013)

For attempting to update "A Christmas Story" (1983), a movie I don't have any particular affection for anyway, and doing a very bad job:
8-Bit Christmas (2021)

For being a terrible movie, but is it really fair to judge it for being a terrible movie when clearly its whole raison d'être is being a terrible movie?:
Falling for Christmas (2022)

I genuinely don't think it's fair to choose this particular abysmal Lindsay Lohan Christmas movie (because apparently that's a mini subgenre now??) as the worst movie of the year because it's clearly just trying to feed the apparently insatiable public appetite for embarrassingly bad Christmas movies, so "Falling for Christmas" is off the hook.  

Between our remaining two offenders, I have to go with the movie I've now watched dozens of times against my will because Disney has managed, despite my best intentions, to get its hooks into the brain of one of my precious babies who only recently has been liberated from his OBSESSION with this movie.  The only benefit of my forced multiple re-watchings of this movie is that it has prepared me to write an epic and fine-tooth-comb-level take down of this movie which I am dying to write if I ever get the time.

All that said, the worst movie of 2025 is:

And now, let's talk about the best movies of last year.  They were:

Nosferatu (2024)
Moana (2016)
Street Gang: How We Got to Sesame Street (2021)
28 Years Later (2025)
Small Things Like These (2024)
Weapons (2025)
KPop Demon Hunters (2025)

As usual, my highest-rated movies cover a lot of ground.  There's the moody, faithful yet enriched horror remake "Nosferatu" and the more novel yet still spooky and extremely well-executed "Weapons".  There are the classic and new kids' movies, "Moana" and "KPop Demon Hunters", both of which feature excellent music and beautiful animation, as well as the inspiring kids' media-related documentary "Street Gang: How We Got to Sesame Street".  "Small Things Like These" may be the most emotionally difficult movie I watched last year, but we all know I love Cillian Murphy and the film is a grippingly told story of a chapter in Irish history that demands to be known.

All that said, as I choose my favorite movie of 2025, I've got to go with the movie that skillfully continued the legacy of the film that inspired my love of horror as a genre that, at its best, examines humanity at its ugliest and darkest and sometimes still manages to give us hope.  This movie reminded me, powerfully and humblingly, how much movies have the capacity to drop me into another life, into an emotional world I don't usually dwell in--in this case, their capacity to utterly scare the living crap out of me.  My favorite movie of 2025 was:

Thank you so much for being here, friends.  I'm looking forward to more movies in this new year, and to sharing them with you.

{Heart}

Closing 2025: Resolutions Edition

Hi darlings,

Welcome to 2026!

It's time to continue reflecting on the past year to set some intentions for the next.  First, let's recap the goals I set for 2025 and assess my success in accomplishing them:

1. Do sustainable, consistent, values-congruent things with my free time.

I think I did a pretty good job of accomplishing this goal, although that required making some adjustments and compromises I'm still having feelings about.  I continued to build local community, read (including one of the most gorgeous books I've read in a while), write, take photos and (FINALLY) print books of my photos, bake and cook, and care for plants and animals (inside and outside my home), each of which have brought me a lot of joy and satisfaction.  I would really like to get back into a routine of taking walks in my beautiful neighborhood, which would necessitate using the occasional free mornings I have for that purpose.  I also *still* miss my sweet little VR minigolf game and have not figured out how to fit that back into my life.

I got more involved with an additional recovery program and joined a small working group within that program, and I started a group chat for parents of young children who are in my original program.  I've kept doing readings, listening to recovery-focused podcasts, and going to meetings.  I also completed a healing-focused somatic and breathwork seminar that was really intense and helpful.  I'm still tentative about building more 1-on-1 relationships within those programs, but I'm also trying to respect my own process and not rush myself.

I participated in activism and mutual aid-related work throughout most of 2025, but by the last few months of the year I found that activism specifically was simply not compatible with the realities of my life as a parent with young children.  It became more and more impossible to attend regular meetings, even by Zoom, as they perfectly overlap with bedtime for my kids--a transition that is very much all-hands-on-deck and can't sustainably be done without both parents.  It's frustrating and demoralizing finding yet another aspect of life in America in which there is fundamentally not space made for parents.  It is especially anxiety-inducing that this is yet another place where it feels like I have no choice but to sit on the sidelines and hope that there's still work I can contribute in a few years when parenting isn't so full on.  

I feel extremely conflicted about my decision to scale back my participation in activist work, while also acknowledging that even characterizing it as a decision isn't totally accurate or fair to me.  Ideally these spaces would be accessible for everyone who wants to contribute, and they simply aren't for parents.  I'm hoping there are still ways for me to keep my hand in the game, so to speak, and it does look like that's possible if I can accept taking a much smaller role than I want to.  I'm hoping I can come to some degree of peace with that and also not have to totally forfeit this facet of myself for now.

2. Watch at least 30 movies, and write at least 15 posts.

I succeeded, just barely, in exceeding my 2025 movie-watching goal before the end of the year, thanks in no small part to some delightfully terrible Christmas movies I squeezed in as I was packing for my family for the holidays.  As you can see, I fell quite short of my writing goal, going so far as to skip writing in September entirely.  While I'm frustrated about that, the reality of my struggle to meet even these scaled-down goals has also helped soften my perfectionism about writing and accept that, while the totality of my life is really demanding right now, I'm doing the best I can.

Now, to propose goals for this year.  

Minor note: I don't mean to over-utilize the word "consistently" in the following resolutions, but it's important to me to prioritize endeavors I can pursue in a sustainable way rather than goals that have a specific accomplishment or outcome at the end.

1. Consistently engage in creativity.

I'm going to define "creativity" broadly while also using this resolution to hone in on some of the most rewarding leisure time I've had in the past year.  For the purposes of this resolution, creativity can mean things like writing, working on photography, decorating or redesigning a space, and coming up with fun activities to do with my family, but it can also mean the more generative aspect of creativity that is manifested in things like baking and caring for plants and animals.

2. Consistently care for myself physically and emotionally.

I'm proud of my continued engagement in a variety of emotional healing and recovery processes, and I see the cumulative benefit of those commitments year after year.  I'm also proud of breaking through whatever barrier(s) inhibited my ability to more actively care for myself physically, and that as a result I've been taking more personal responsibility not just for scheduling and transporting myself to medical, dental, and massage appointments, but also to doing physical therapy and exercising in my own time.  In 2026, I want to continue caring for myself in this holistic manner.

3. Consistently participate in anti-hunger and community-focused work and activism.

Of all of the horrific political incidents in the past year, one that was so repugnant that I struggle to comprehensively articulate how disturbed, upset, disgusted, and enraged I was as a result was the government's cutting of funding for SNAP benefits.  I want to consistently work to ensure people in my community aren't hungry.  Thankfully, I've found that there are several avenues for engaging in this kind of work that are more feasible for the stage of life I'm in.

4. Watch at least 30 movies and write at least one post per month.

I'm happy to say that I've already watched 9 movies this year, which under other circumstances might lead me to consider increasing this year's movie-watching goal.  But recent years have made it very clear that the mental, emotional, and practical space I have to watch movies tends to fluctuate a LOT over the course of the year, and I'd much rather keep my expectations of myself on this front gentle, realistic, and reasonable than set a goal I may not meet because I briefly felt cocky and overly ambitious.

All that aside, I'm excited for the movies of the future year, and I'm also excited for the time I'll spend writing about them.

I hope this new year is beautiful and so much better than any of us might be expecting.  Whatever happens, thankfully we're walking through it together.

{Heart}

Closing 2025: Accomplishment Cake Edition

Hey team,

In the interest of slipping one more post into this year, I'm going to hop on the cute little Accomplishment Cake thing I've seen here and there on the internet.  In what has otherwise been a pretty bleak and difficult year for the world and as a person living in it, it seems like a nice idea to share the things I'm proud of as a way to reflect on and recontextualize 2025.  Instead of skewering a real cake, I'll just list some highlights:

• I went on an amazing international trip with my best friend to mutually celebrate our milestone birthdays.  I also later made her a personalized birthday gift that I'm really proud of.
• I joined a new recovery program and it has already been hugely instrumental in furthering my healing and growth as a person.
• I started physical therapy for some old injuries and started regularly using our pandemic purchase elliptical.  Massages are still a critical part of my physical self-care, but I wanted to take more direct responsibility for how my body feels today and also for how it will fare well into the future.
• We survived a car accident in which we were badly rear-ended while Husband, our kids, and I were in the car.  I'm so proud of how we handled that moment and the fallout, and I'm so grateful that everyone was physically okay and our car kept us safe.
• Husband and I transitioned our oldest child into Kindergarten, and the experience has been so positive.  I'm so proud of everything our child has already accomplished and the dramatic, beautiful ways in which they've grown.
• I expanded my practice, including majorly revamping our practice's website myself and hiring a postdoctoral fellow.  It's great to be back in a supervisory and teaching professional role and to imagine what else my practice partner and I can take on together.
• After 7 years, I left my part-time hospital job to focus on my own practice.  There were a lot of great things about working there, but especially given the changes in my private practice, it was the right thing for my professional growth and I'm really glad I did it.
• For the first time, I took both of my kids on a trip to see my family while solo parenting.  It was A LOT, but it was such a good experience and I'm so grateful for the cousin time my kids got and the time with my family.

I'm so grateful to have happy things to remember from this past year, and I'm hopeful there will be more in the next.  I hope you all enjoy this New Year's Eve and that 2026 is a beautiful, healthy, happy year for you, friends.

{Heart}

A (Belated) Halloween Sampler for All Souls: 2025 Edition!

Happy almost Thanksgiving, dear friends!

Consistent with our overall energy this year, I didn't get around to writing this year's Halloween Sampler in October.  But honestly? It's fine.  Fall is an overall spooky season even after Halloween, and it's still a fun exercise to catalogue the scary movies I've seen each year.

As a reminder, each of the movies below will be rated with the usual overall 1 - 5 rating scale, as well as a scary/intense rating of 1 - 5 exclamation points, to be interpreted as follows:

! = not at all scary

!!!!! = so scary!

Let's goooooooooooo!

"Nosferatu" (2024)

Rating: 5 Scary Rating: !!!

Robert Eggers' remake of the 1922 classic is extraordinarily well-executed.  It is at once an almost shot-for-shot, extremely faithful version of the original, while also enhancing the story through selective additions and embellishments, as well as Eggers' deft auteurial touches.  As a psychologist, I am genuinely curious what happened to this man to make him so preoccupied with dark, brooding, and disturbing period piece horror, but as a viewer I genuinely appreciate his particular, transporting, immersive aesthetic.

While overall this is an excellent movie, hugely benefitted by Lily-Rose Depp's deep, visceral commitment to her role as Ellen, I found the stylistic decisions made for Bill Skarsgård's Count Orlok, including his prosthetics and growling, heavily accented voice, to be heavy-handed and distracting.  I get that the iconic shot of the shadow of Orlok's unnaturally long, pointy-nailed hands reaching out over a sleepy German town essentially demand prosthetic fingers for the part, but they seemed clunky and these choices therefore bumped me out of the otherwise thoroughly engrossing movie.

"Sinners" (2025)

Rating: 4 Scary Rating: !!!!

For our second period vampire movie of the year, I made the probably insensitive decision to see "Sinners" on Easter morning, from the third row of an incongruously packed theater.  And it was so much fun!  The slow build of the plot, ensemble cast, powerful music, and culmination of the tension in a vampire-y recap of "Night of the Living Dead" (1968) all successfully breathe new life into the vampire drama, not to mention the film's use of this motif to examine the legacy of racism in the deep south.  There are fewer moments more chilling than the all-white band of vampires trying to seduce its way into the Black-owned new jazz joint by singing the too-perfect and too-cutesy "Pick Poor Robin Clean" to Hailee Steinfeld's Mary.  We also know I'm a sucker for the gimmick of having the same actor play twins, and Michael B. Jordan does not disappoint.

"28 Years Later" (2025)

Rating: 5 Scary Rating: !!!!!

I still feel the residual stress from watching this movie all these months later, and I'm still glad for it.  I am already bracing myself for the next installment in 2026.  For anyone fond of zombie movies or the original "28 Days Later" (2002), this is such an excellent next chapter, true to the gritty realism and heart-pounding, animal terror of its predecessor.

"Presence" (2024)

Rating: 4.5 Scary Rating: !!!

"Presence" is not a perfect movie in its execution, but its conceit is fascinating enough to overcome its shortcomings.  The movie tells a ghost story exclusively from the ghost's point of view within the house in which it's trapped.  We are thereby introduced to the Payne family through vignettes from the moment they first tour the home to subsequent both pivotal and seemingly benign moments after they move in.  While the acting is a bit stiff and stagey at times, Callina Liang as the traumatized and withdrawn daughter Chloe and Chris Sullivan as the protective yet at-wits'-end father Chris nevertheless deliver convincing and compelling performances.  This film is perfect for anyone wanting a perfectly spooky/haunting, not an outright terrifying, watch.

"Weapons" (2025)

Rating: 5 Scary Rating: !!!!

I wanted to see "Weapons" from the first time I saw that trailer.  The premise--that all but one child from one elementary classroom disappear overnight--immediately grabbed me.  That said, I also so anticipated that this movie could ruin my day by being too graphic, too scary, or both, that this is one of those times I performed a thorough Does the Dog Die? review ahead of time and watched it midday on my laptop as mitigation procedures.  (Please note that these measures may have artificially decreased the Scary Rating or this movie.)  And I'm so glad I did, because this is a great movie!  Despite my research, I managed to avoid any true plot spoilers, and that was very much to my benefit.  This is a really interesting, cool, novel kind of horror movie, and I loved it.

"KPop Demon Hunters" (2025)

Rating: 5 Scary Rating: !!

This year's kid-friendly entry!  I literally just finished watching this movie, somewhat belatedly after all of the buzz around it upon its release in June, and I loved it so much!  The animation style is super engaging, the characters are so appealing, the music is excellent, and the story is interesting and compelling. I'm a bit sad that the violence and portrayal of the titular demons might be a bit too scary for my oldest child to see this movie just yet, especially since they're already familiar and enamored with some of the music.  But I'm confident we'll watch it in a year or two, and I'll be glad for the chance to rewatch this amazing gem of a film.

And with that, I hope you had a wonderful Halloween, that you will have a wonderful Thanksgiving free of any familial nonsense, and that you'll enjoy some spooky movies if you wish!

{Heart}

Back in the Saddle

Hi friends,

I took an unintentional hiatus from writing last month, along with a longer unintentional hiatus from movie-watching.  I'm not happy about this slow-down and of course the perfectionist still lurking within me is very annoyed about breaking my post-per-month writing streak, especially relatively late in the year.  

As always, there are multiple contributing factors.  The first and most obvious is that the weekend coverage I've become so reliant on for quality solo time became less consistent, with our first beloved babysitter graduating from grad school and our second successfully landing a full-time job sooner than expected, followed by a few possibilities for coverage that fell through.  

Another is that my oldest child also started Kindergarten this year, which has been a huge and thankfully very positive transition, yet still huge.  

Then, on the first day I finally regained weekend coverage, it had been long enough since I had time to myself that it took me a little bit to mentally reorganize around how I'd like to use that time then commit to what to do with it.  I considered writing, but didn't have much to say given the unintentional movie break. Ultimately I settled into a really pleasant low-effort creative activity instead.

But today, I'm taking the bull squarely by the horns.  I will shortly disembark to watch:

It's almost three hours long.  It has some not-my-favorite and outright problematic men in it.  I am therefore somewhat ambivalent about this choice, and I recognize I may deeply regret this decision.  But here we go.

Wish me luck, I guess?

{Heart}

Snap Judgment: "Jurassic World Rebirth"

Hey everyone,

This year, I've been feeling particularly nostalgic for the summer blockbusters that helped stoke my love of movies when I was younger, especially "Twister" (1996), "Independence Day" (1996), and of course, "Jurassic Park" (1993).  So theoretically at least, it's terribly convenient that a new entry into the aforementioned dinosaur movie franchise came out this year.

Let's revisit our old Snap Judgment format for another round of dinos, this time with "Jurassic World Rebirth" (2025)!

Snap judgment: my alternate title for this post was: "Jurassic World Rebirth": Equal Parts Dumb and Fun.  And I genuinely stand by that assessment.  

Does this newest chapter in the franchise get anywhere near the majesty of the first movie?  Absolutely tf not.  But after burning my hand multiple times on the hot stoves/steaming piles of the previous few Jurassic Worlds (each of which inspired their own Snap Judgments), I've finally learned to slip on an oven mitt.  And by "slip on an over mitt", I mean lower my expectations and prepare to schadenfreude-ly enjoy the stupidity.  With that mindset, "Jurassic World Rebirth" is honestly not that bad!

So let's get to it!

• This movie has completely miscalibrated the survivability of its world.

We continue the franchise-honored tradition of dinosaurs chompin on kids in vehicles--this time an inflatable raft.  And not only does the kid survive, but so does the inflatable raft.

This is the same franchise that demonstrated a T. rex's power by showing what it could do to a Jeep thusly:

But an inflatable raft... is fine.  I cannot stress this enough: An inflatable raft.  You know, basically a glorified balloon?  Miraculously/improbably withstands T-rex bites.  And also the kid is fine.

Also Mahershala Ali survives the mutant T. rex by ........... ????????

Genuinely, the sequence is as follows:

Mahershala Ali: (heroically luring mutant T. rex away to save his friends)

Mutant T. rex: (is lured)

Mahershala Ali: (having successfully lured mutant T. rex, faces his foe, laughing maniacally in the face of death)

Mahershala Ali's friends, seeing Mahershala Ali's flare go out: (escaping but sad, because obviously)

(.....Unclear events transpire.....)

Mahershala Ali: Jk I'm fine lol.  Also I have extra flares.  Come get me this island sucks.

Look, I'm genuinely glad this movie at least didn't lapse into the trope of killing off all its Black characters, as the first movie did with Samuel L. Jackson.

RIP Mr. Arnold :'(

But also, all it takes to blow up what is surely a billion-dollar scientific endeavor is... a Snickers wrapper?

• This science is.... hilarious.

So the premise of this movie is that our ragtag group of pals must journey to the island where only the most janky of the dinosaurs exist because samples from those dinosaurs could be the missing link in revolutionary medication for heart disease.  

The logic is as follows: You need samples from the three biggest dinosaurs because (gestures randomly) their hearts are the biggest (jazz hands!!).  And also they have to be alive when you get the samples (chef's kiss).

• The heroic plot twist is.... nonsensical.

For unclear reasons, responsibility for deciding whether to dramatically enrich one evil pharmaceutical company or ensuring the samples lives have been lost collecting are used to benefit all humankind is left not to the paleontologist who might at least have a sense of the science behind how these samples might be helpful, but instead to the mercenary-for-hire.  

Her response? "Give it to everyone."

And that's great, and unsurprising given the general moral compass of this franchise.  But also, literally what does that mean??  Like... what?  Like give what, exactly?  Like, everyone gets a lil drop of dinosaur blood/egg sac contents?  You know this isn't code you can make open source, right??

• The same tired- and lazy-ass character development.

In "Jurassic World Rebirth", we get to witness a repeat of the Bryce Dallas Howard cold-blooded (lol) money-hungry business lady turned totally unconvincing environmentalist character arc, but this time instead she's Scarlett Johansson's cold-blooded mercenary lady who does illegal stuff for bad corporations turned totally unconvincing humanitarian.

Again:

At least Scarlett Johansson is dressed semi-appropriately for the task.

And then we have the Delgado family, which includes a father who has taken his two daughters on a trans-oceanic voyage on a sailboat he built.  And also his daughter's boyfriend.  

I have a message for Mr. Delgado: 

I'm so sorry.  You're in the middle of the *ocean*, presently in the middle of the most isolated part of the planet for a human being, and you're only just now hammering out the shifts for steering your boat and your youngest child is just now learning how to tie knots?  And you've done this kind of trip before?  Sir.  Sir.  What in God's name are you doing.

• Stop trying to tell me people don't know dinosaurs are cool.

I will never get past the compulsive premise in these past few Jurassic Worlds (Jurassics World?) that dinosaurs have become boring.  Anyone who has ever been to the Museum of Natural History can attest that the dinosaur section isn't exactly under-attended--and that's just to see their *bones*.  

The idea that people don't care about dinosaurs is both so unacceptably stupid and unbelievable on its face, and it also undermines the magic and awe that made the first film so unforgettable.  "Jurassic Park" gave us all a chance to imagine the overwhelming thrill of actually getting to see real, live dinosaurs--animals that have fascinated human beings for centuries.  It is simply inconceivable that people could get to a point where they tire of seeing the real, breathing thing.

Relatedly: I don't need a mutant T. rex (and I refuse to call it a D. rex).  No one needs that.  I will die on the hill that regular degular Tyrannosaurus Rexes and intelligent raptors are more than scary enough.

All this said, I am honestly happy I saw this movie in theaters.  It was so ridiculous and poorly conceived, but it was still a fun little adventure with ultimately kind of low stakes because you know these movies kind of pull their punches and in any event the characters barely exist as embodied, believable people.  If you're having some of that dinostalgia that I do, I think this one is worth seeing.  I gave it a 3.

{Heart}

Still Terrified of Zombies Almost "28 Years Later"

Hey team,

Younger-me is thrilled to share that I got to see "28 Years Later", the much-awaited next chapter in the "28 Days Later" (2002) universe, in theaters this month.  Younger-me is even more thrilled to share that the movie was SO GOOD.

Let's talk about it!

Given that "28 Days Later" is one of my favorite movies, I've rewatched it and thought about it so much that I unfortunately forgot how genuinely scary the movie was the first time I saw it... until I was in the theater watching "28 Years Later". 

Basically, this was me like 14 minutes into the movie:

...But like, the best kind of huge mistake?

It's particularly humbling to be a) fully an adult and b) a specialist in treating anxiety disorders and actually experience the physiological sensations that accompany intense anxiety because of a movie about the undead, but there I was in that theater, being humbled in precisely that manner.

All that to say, true to its originating story, "28 Years Later" is STRESSFUL.  But in a manner that felt perfectly titrated to its audience's wishful nostalgia for the adrenaline of the first movie, while also imagining the continuation of the original story almost 3 decades into the future.

My personal psychology has always LOVED a dystopian story.  Something deep in my brain takes an odd kind of comfort in playing through end-of-society-as-we-know it scenarios, trying to imagine not only how to survival, but also what kinds of new world could be realized, perhaps worlds where humanity and interconnectedness are possible.  At their best, these narratives affirm that humanity and interconnectedness can endure even under the direst of circumstances.  So in that strange and unnerving yet beautiful way, they're comforting.

"28 Years Later" does a great job of imagining a believable dystopian future, and of portraying how people might still be able to co-create a sense of adapted normalcy in the midst of incomprehensible horrors.  There are moments, like when we see a handwritten sign imploring people not to be wasteful of critical supplies whose quantities are dwindling, that prods at still-triggering memories of the pandemic, making the film's morbid fantasy all the more nevertheless believable.

The performances are excellent, successfully getting the audience emotionally invested in the characters despite the intense precarity of their lives.  The soundtrack also harkens back to "28 Days Later" in that it is extremely well-suited to amping up the emotion and tension of the movie by at turns complementing and unsettlingly contrasting with the action.  The effects are not excessively gory, while still being a zombie movie--so let's be real, it's definitely quite gory.  But given that there were only one or two scenes during which I preemptively covered my eyes, it's honestly probably somewhat tame as this particular subgenre goes.

All that to say, I absolutely loved "28 Years Later", and I highly recommend it to anyone who loved the original movies or loves this genre of film.  I gave it a 5.

{Heart}

Join Us in the "Street Gang"

Hi friends,

I'm tired and I have a sore throat and my house is messy, but I have some spare time today and I want to write SOMEthing at least.

Last month we went on a family trip to the beach, trying to fit in some ocean time before vacation high season ramps up.  We've been staying in the same rented apartment the past several times we've gone, and it's become very much a home-away-from-home.  It's such an unexpected joy to create that kind of comfort for myself and my family--to genuinely look forward simply to being in that space, let alone all the other nice things we get to do while we're in it--and such a gift to hear my oldest child become old enough to not only remember the place and the things we've done there on past visits, but also to talk fondly about our most recent trip for weeks afterward.

One of the many little treats we get to enjoy while we're on this kind of vacation is that Husband and I can watch more movies together once the kids go to bed than we would during a normal week.  One of the movies we watched on this last trip was the absolutely lovely and inspiring documentary "Street Gang: How We Got to Sesame Street" (2021), which tells the history of the development and early days of Sesame Street.

We were especially well-positioned to appreciate this movie because we've been watching the original Sesame Street episodes with our children for the past several months.  The combination of the lofi '70s muted palette film quality, the era-consistent outfits and styling, the shoestring budget non-flashy animation and effects, and the child-friendly portrayal of a sweet, gentle, and silly New York City neighborhood lends these early-days episodes a very cosy, pleasant, and safe feeling, and thankfully our kids have been enjoying them along with us.

"Street Gang" tells the story of the surprisingly ambitious and purposefully revolutionary founding ideas of Sesame Street, whose goal from its inception was to empower children by providing them free, racially inclusive, accessible televised education to children.  It also profiles several of the major contributors to the project of Sesame Street, including visionary producer Joan Ganz Cooney, dedicated director Jon Stone, beloved on-screen actors Sonia Manzano, Emilio Delgado, Roscoe Orman, Will Lee, and Bob McGrath, and behind-the-scenes geniuses like songwriter Joe Raposo and, of course, Jim Henson.

This is such an engaging, informative, and at times perhaps surprisingly poignant film.  I highly recommend it!  I gave it a 5.

{Heart}

TYSG: Resolution Compliance Edition

Hey darlings,

It's been almost exactly 5 years since I last wrote a Terrible Year Survival Guide post.  While in my personal world I wouldn't count this year as a Terrible Year, it certainly and unarguably is catastrophically terrible on a national and international governance level.  Yet so far, to a greater extent than I would have guessed, I've been doing okay--and oftentimes, better than okay.  And I think that's in large part to my high degree of compliance with my resolutions for 2025.

So in case it's somehow helpful to either borrow some ideas directly from me or for jump-starting your own process of identifying what would help you bolster yourself during this horrendous time, please allow me to share the things I've been doing, including some small but impactful changes I've made, to do sustainable, consistent, values-congruent things with my free time and thereby keep myself feeling whole, well, and happy.

Photography stuff: I've finally been working to translate my years-old backlog of vacation photos into printed photo books.  Making any degree of forward motion in this area is so satisfying.  That progress has been made easy by both past-me sorting through the hundreds/thousands of photos I took on each trip to winnow them down to like 300-400 that I can cram them all into a photo book, and also by the pretty-streamlined-once-you-get-the-hang-of-it photo book builder I use on Snapfish. Not only is it gratifying to at long last have a physical photo album of the trip Husband and I took Iceland almost 10 years ago, but it's also a joy to revisit those memories.

Making local friends + Reading: A bunch of parents in my neighborhood and I started a book club last summer, and it's been meeting about monthly ever since.  We alternate between parenting books and fiction, and spend the vast majority of our meet-ups chatting before we eventually talk at least a tiny bit about the book.  I felt particularly edified by my suggestion to read Casey McQuiston's Red, White, and Royal Blue, because it led to a great conversation about our communal ambivalence yet enjoyment of light fiction written primarily for women.  Book club also introduced me to Kaveh Akbar's Martyr!, which is one of the best books I've read in the past few years.  It's been so pleasant to look forward to our meetings, to have an additional nudge to read, and to finally be making friends who live nearby and are at a similar stage of life.

Taking care of plants and animals: I planted flower bulbs and potatoes in the past month or so and am so excited to see them growing.  I've also been so grateful for my now years-long daily habit of filling my backyard bird feeder and putting out food scraps for backyard birds and foxes.  It's such an extra little jolt of joy to see so much wildlife in our back yard.  I've also finally figured out how not to kill succulents (the metaphor of my history of killing them via overwatering does not escape me), and my growing succulent collection is on a shelf in my kitchen so I can enjoy it all the time.  They're so cute!  And then I of course also love caring for the abundance of inside animals in my house. <3

Staying connected to long-distance friends: Husband and I have gotten into a weekly routine of getting carry-out from the only decent Mexican food place I've identified in our area, and the drive is just long enough that it creates a perfect opportunity for catching up with friends and family.  Plus I get a burrito out of it.  And speaking of Mexican food, a month ago my best friend and I took a long weekend trip in Mexico together to celebrate both of us having milestone birthdays, which is the first time we've traveled just the two of us since 2009.  While that delay between trips is completely atrocious, the trip itself was amazing!  We swam with sea turtles!!!

Recovery: I've recently made some major breakthroughs in my recovery work, and I feel ever more aware of the cumulative benefits of sustained recovery work in my life.  If there's any one thing I can give credit for my overall sense of well-being, it's this.  Plus the pandemic (not entirely) ending really helps.

Activism: I've been consistently engaged in activism with two major causes that matter to me as well as regular direct mutual aid.  It is so meaningful, powerful, and grounding to be involved in collaborative efforts in support of causes that deeply matter to me.  The only way that's been possible is because of the willingness of the groups I'm involved in to meet by Zoom or in a hybrid format and to schedule most of their recurring meetings in the evenings (and also the availability of shifts to do mutual aid that fit into my work schedule).  The fact that I can join meetings while finishing up kid bedtime if needed is such a game-changer that allows me to still participate and feel engaged.  I'm so grateful this work has been accessible and feasible for me, because I genuinely think I would be losing my mind if it wasn't.

Shame Games: This is my lovingly pejorative moniker for the completely silly and low-skill games I've been playing on my phone instead of doing ANYTHING on social media.  I cringe a little bit extra playing them because, while the first game was an excellent suggestion from a friend for how to cope with the terror of the new administration, all subsequent games are a direct consequence of me succumbing to the ads embedded in that first game.  But here's the thing: we all need some amount of tune-out time to self-regulate, and spending mine playing my adorable little cat game or my Tetris knock-off game or my pretend tidying-up game is actually pleasurable and gives me a little bit of an albeit misplaced sense of efficacy, which Facebook and Instagram absolutely literally never did.  My life is genuinely better with social media fully out of it and my dumb little shame games in it.

Enjoying my home: I've had little breaks between sessions recently when I've just like... sat in my living room, or on my house's deck, or in our sunroom, and it is so calming and fulfilling.  I am so grateful for our house--we chose the perfect home for us, and it's so nice to be able to really soak that in.

Watching movies: In no small part because of the weekend childcare we've had for the past several months, I'm not only very much on track for my 30 movies a year goal, but I've also seen several in actual real live movie theaters.  What a dream!  It truly feels like the height of luxury to see a movie alone on a weekend afternoon, let alone to eat nachos while I do it.  

A notch even above that--and this is where the profound psychological gift of weekend childcare really kicks in--is the indulgence of seeing a movie that might not be perfectly suited to my taste--something that might be great but not for me, or simply fine.  After all, you know we love a fine movie here, and we honor that they very much have their place.

Don't get me wrong--a lot of the movies I've seen in theaters have been so good!  But seriously, to be able let go of the perfectionistic, scarcity-mindset-based enjoyment maximalizing pressure that is a consequence of inconsistent or nonexistent not-only-covering-working-hours childcare is that I can just see a movie because seeing movies is fun, knowing that if this one sucks I can just see a different one next week and the week after that if I choose to.  It's such a gift.

And with that: I hope you're well and happy and whole.  If you're not, I hope these ideas are helpful to you, or that they help you to find your own ways of restoring yourself to greater wellbeing.  You deserve it, and you need it, especially during such a dark time.  After all, as we know:

Thanks for reading, friends.

{Heart}

2024 Movie Round-Up!!

Hihi,

Given that it's the last day of the month and I don't have a ton of time to write, we'll see how much of last year's round-up I'm able to get to.  I'm hesitant to resort to last year's three-part approach, but that may just be necessary to write at least one thing this month.

Without additional ado, behold the movies I watched in 2024!

The PsychoCinematic Year in Movies

2024 Edition

1. Dumb Money (5)

2. The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part (4)***

3. Good Grief (3)

4. Scotty and the Secret History of Hollywood (3)

5. Anyone But You (2)****

6. The Italian Job (2)

7. The Donut King (5)

8. A Haunting in Venice (3.5)

9. Dune: Part 2 (3)

10. Ricky Stanicky (3.5)

11. Turning Red (2)***/****

11. Bridget Jones’s Diary (1)***

12. Serendipity (3)

13. Babes (3.5)

14. Ottolenghi and the Cakes of Versailles (2)

15. Brats (1)

16. American Fiction (5)

17. Twisters (4)*

18. Jackpot! (4)

19. The Pez Outlaw (4)

20. Red, White and Royal Blue (3)

21. Sing Sing (5)*

22. Bottoms (5)

23. Wicked Little Letters (5)

24. Unfrosted (2)

25. Inside Out 2 (2.5)

26. Go West (4)

27. Conclave (5)

28. Single All the Way (4)***

29. A Real Pain (4)

30. Hot Frosty (2)

As a reminder, the occasional extra notations indicate the following:

* = got nauseated

** = fell asleep

*** = rewatch

**** = didn't finish

As you can see, I just barely accomplished last year's adjusted annual movie-watching goal of watching 30 movies.  But at least I did it!  

I'm glad to reflect on the multiple very good movies I saw in 2024, which is evidence that I wasn't exhausted the entire time last year.  They are also the result of having more consistent childcare coverage on weekends by the last quarter of the year, so I was able to actually go see movies sometimes.  Which was SO GOOD.

That said, given the average amounts of energy and free time I had last year, it honestly makes sense that it was a reach to meet even this reduced target.  My overall general exhaustion throughout much of 2024 is evident in several of the lower-rated entries--sometimes I just wanted to watch something and I affirmatively wanted that something to be at best fine.  Also, there was some real bad shit going on last year, so despite whatever the circumstances of my life were, we were all entitled to a little tune-out time and grace.

And on that note, let's talk about the absolute worst movies I saw in 2024.  In the interest of time, instead of my usual more inclusive list with both 1- and 2-rated movies, I'll just single out the 1-rated movies from last year.  They were:

For being a beloved classic in my memory but upon revisitation being all-around quite awful:

Bridget Jones’s Diary (2016)***

For being boring and exhaustingly self-obsessed:

Brats (2024)

Between these two, my least favorite movie from last year was:

This movie includes so many crappy, problematic, harmful, and fully unnecessary ingredients that the whole exploit is spoiled for me.  It really is a shame, because I remember finding the movie kind of fun and fresh at the time--but that makes it seem all the worse now given all of the bigotry it sugar-coats.

And now, rushing onward to: the BEST movies from 2024!

They were:

Dumb Money (2023)

The Donut King (2020)

American Fiction (2023)

Sing Sing (2023)*

Bottoms (2023)

Wicked Little Letters (2023)

Conclave (2024)

Aw man, these movies are all so good and they're so different!  They span different time periods, genres, and tones, yet each feels really special.  

"Dumb Money" was a fun fictionalization of the GameStop stock market shenanigans in early 2021.  

"The Donut King" is an inspiring and twisty documentary about the man who jump-started the niche industry of Cambodian-owned donut shops in California.  

"American Fiction" feels like "Stranger Than Fiction" (2006) mixed with "Sorry to Bother You" (2018) and doesn't pull its emotional punches.  

"Sing Sing" tells the true story of a prison-based theater troupe.  

"Bottoms" is a bizarre romp through teenaged friendships and high school hierarchies.  

"Wicked Little Letters" pursues a mystery born of sexism.  

"Conclave" is a stunning feature-length bottle episode reminiscent of "Twelve Angry Men" (1957) or "12" (2007), but lushly costume- and set-designed.

Reflecting on each of these films, they all hold a warm and unique place in my heart.

But there's a standout.  It tells a beautifully-acted, raw, heartbreaking, humble yet triumphant, fragile yet enduring story about people working together to make something precious, fleeting, vulnerable, healing, brave, and greater than the sum of its parts, made even better by the fact that it's based on things that actually happened.  And it's really saying something to claim this one as my favorite movie of last year given that it (thankfully briefly) made me motion sick.

My favorite movie watched in 2024 was:

We did it, all in one fell swoop!

I'm excited to tell you about the movies I've watched so far this year.  Onward!

{Heart}