2023 Movie Round-Up Preamble: Lightning Round!!

Hi friends,

As I was preparing to write my annual round-up post--like as I was literally highlighting the list of movies I watched last year to copy and paste them into a blank blogger window--I noticed I'd underlined a couple of titles with the aspirational intent to come back to those films and write about them.  I felt disappointed to move onto 2024 without talking about those movies.  This happens every year: there are always movies I meant to write about that end up simply getting passed over and, unfortunately, ultimately forgotten about.

Well NOT THIS YEAR.

Because it's better to write a few sentences or paragraphs than nothing at all, I'm going to attempt to write a lightning round-style post about (at least some of) those movies.

Here we go!

"Norma Rae" (1979)

The first thing that viscerally registers about "Norma Rae" is the noise.  The film opens in the thunderously loud warehouse where Norma Rae, her parents, and her neighbors toil, and the intense and droning din is instantly oppressive and overwhelming.  In this manner, the movie reminds me of the use of sound in the much-later "Children of Men" (2006) to wrenchingly ground its audience in its bleak world--the sounds of this world aren't only impacting the characters in the story, distorting their perceptions of reality, but you, the viewer, as well.

Beginning with this bodily experience of the consequences of the working conditions of Norma Rae and her compatriots, "Norma Rae" is still a remarkable, gripping, and inspiring film about the desperate importance of the labor movement.  It is just excellent!  I gave it a 5.

"Thelma and Louise" (1991)

I watched this movie shortly after watching "Norma Rae" in an attempt to continue watching some of the empowering lady movies of yore, but this one fell pretty flat especially by comparison to its union-celebrating predecessor.  "Thelma and Louise" is fun in a pulp fiction-y way, but also a bit rough to watch.  To my unpleasant surprise, despite being billed as an early women-driven buddy movie, "Thelma and Louise" struggled with the same casually compulsive sexism of movies from over a decade prior without reckoning with it in a clear-headed way.  Sure Thelma and Louise variously kill and inconvenience a variety of extremely shitty men, but I was still struck with how harshly critical Susan Sarandon's Louise was at times of Geena Davis's Thelma.  I'm glad I watched it given its importance in cinematic history, but it didn't move me nearly as profoundly as "Norma Rae".  I gave it a 3.

"The Princess Bride" (1987)

I know this seems ~*~inconceivable~*~, but I actually had never seen the "Princess Bride" before last year.  I was a bit hesitant to watch it because I couldn't imagine it would live up to the deep adoration many people have for it, and I feared that being a late-comer to the film would mean I would find it  particularly underwhelming.  On the other hand, I thought it would be convenient to finally get the jokes and references people make to this movie every once in a while.  

Happily, I honestly liked it!  It was cute and silly, and I understand why people find it so lovable.  I know this is probably the oddest of details to hang onto, but I really liked how you can see where the set designers incorporated crash pads into the set so the actors safely engage in dramatic leaps during one particular sword fight.  Something about the low-fi nature of the movie's stunts really endeared me to it.  Also apparently Andre the Giant was a goddamn delight!  I gave "The Princess Bride" a 4.

"Audrey" (2020) and "Funny Face" (1957)

An offshoot of my micro-theme of empowered lady movies was to watch a few Audrey Hepburn movies, starting with the documentary about her followed by "Funny Face".  Despite absolutely loving Hepburn as a person and actor, I unfortunately found both of these films pretty underwhelming.  The documentary is a bit lifeless, which is kind of astonishing given its incredible source material--Audrey Hepburn is one of the most magnetic, charismatic, lovely performers of Hollywood's Golden Age, so it's a crime that a movie about her dramatic, impactful, and jam-packed life be so dull.

I chose to watch "Funny Face" for the fashion and also because I wanted to see Hepburn's dancing.  While it delivers on those two fronts, I was again underwhelmed by other aspects of the film, including its unconvincing romance between Hepburn and (a comparatively much older) Fred Astaire and its overall belittling attitude toward Hepburn's Jo (are you kidding me with the title referring to her face??), but especially her intellectual interest in a new philosophical doctrine.  Blech.

I gave both movies a 2.

"Despicable Me" (2010) and "Despicable Me 2" (2013)

Especially after reckoning with how much I liked "Minions: Rise of Gru" (2022), I basically had to watch these movies.  I was genuinely curious to see how I'd feel about "Despicable Me" upon rewatching it, and whether "Despicable Me 2" would uphold the generally solid quality of this series of movies.  Neither disappointed!  I didn't enjoy them quite as much as the Minions movie, but both juxtaposed goofy slap-stick humor for children against competent and thoughtful relationship themes, first the father-child relationship and then the parent-new partner relationship.  I really like that these movies exist to model non-problematic versions of these relationships for children, as movies like that are bizarrely rare.

I gave both movies a 3.5.

I have a few straggling movies from 2023 that I genuinely hope I can write last-minute longer-form posts about, because I really want to dig into them a bit more than would make sense here.  That sure would be consistent with my first resolution for 2024, so here's hoping I pull that off!

{Heart}

Closing 2023: Resolutions Edition

Happy New Year's Eve, everyone!!

This year has been very full.  I'm glad for the opportunity to reflect on 2023 and think about what my hopes are for the new year ahead.

By far the most important thing that happened this year was the arrival of my Second Child and our transition to being a family of four--First Child's transition into being an older sibling, and Husband and I into being parents of two children.  Second Child has been such a source of constant delight and joy.  

In so many ways, parenting a second baby has been made all the more positive by the experience of having parented a baby already.  I am grateful both for the two unique experiences I've had parenting both of my children so far, but also for the greater degree of confidence and peace of mind I've enjoyed by being a somewhat more seasoned parent than the first time around--babies are each special and singular in their own ways, but they are also in many ways similar and therefore, mercifully, to some extent predictable.  (I did, for example, immediately remember my first round of googling "weird noises newborns make while sleeping" as soon as I blearily engaged in middle-of-the-night googling the second time.)

While there have been some other stand-out events this year, including the much-anticipated birth of my nephew, as well as some nice vacations, holidays, and time with friends and family, our family's transition has occupied most of 2023.  I had illusions that the bulk of the adjustment would be focused largely in the first few months after Second Child was born, but I now understand that of course it takes much longer than that, in part because both of our children are still growing and changing every day.  The ways in which they experience each other and I experience them as their parent are therefore going to be different as time goes on, requiring me to stay attuned and creative in ways I haven't had to before this year.  I don't think I could have accurately anticipated how much those tasks would stretch me to the absolute maximum capacity I can offer.  This year has been absolutely joyful and beautiful especially because our children have been its focal point, and it has also been a lot of hard work.

Having felt so humbled by the ways 2023 has surprised me, it's hard for me to predict what's realistic to aspire to in the new year.  I have been trying to take this into account as I start to formulate my resolutions for 2024.

With that in mind, let's reflect on this year's resolutions:

1. Practice and maintain overall emotional health.

2. Watch 52 movies.

1. Practice and maintain overall emotional health.

I further clarified this resolution with the following three sub-goals:

--Maintaining healthy boundaries in relationships.

--Maintaining healthy boundaries with work.

--Maintaining regular practices that prioritize peace, balance, and space for things (including people and pursuits) that matter to me.

--Maintaining healthy boundaries in relationships.

I think I've made slow yet steady progress on this one, especially if I consider a more expansive version of this goal as applying a lot of the principles I talked about in last year's post. I feel the benefits of this persistent work all the time, and I'm grateful that I've stuck with it despite some considerable challenges in the past year.

--Maintaining healthy boundaries with work.

I actually did this!  I moved my work hours to accommodate the needs of my family, scaled back my caseload, and deleted a major work commitment that wasn't going to be feasible given its work/reward ratio, plus made sure there was room for a semi-regular colleague consultation meeting.  I still occasionally feel this nagging little people-pleasing tug to re-extend my hours back into the evening, but it's just so much better for my life and my family to keep my hours where they now are and I'm grateful to Second Child for being the impetus for me to do it.

Moving forward, I will start to expand my caseload once Second Child starts daycare in a few months.  I'm hoping to feel gratified by the opportunity to work with some new people while still not taking on so much that I'm overwhelming myself.

--Maintaining regular practices that prioritize peace, balance, and space for things (including people and pursuits) that matter to me.

I did this to some extent, but not as fully as I needed.  I'm hoping that at some point in the new year I can more fully devote time and mental energy to the routine things that keep me well, in addition to the things that keep me in touch with the person I am beyond parent and psychologist.  I remember that became much more possible even with First Child's small initial moves toward a baby version of independence--being able to play for longer stretches and eat more things means I don't have to be on as a parent every moment in the same way.

2. Watch 52 movies.

As you'll see with my forthcoming round-up, I did absolutely demolish this resolution this year.  Parental leave gave me a massive advantage on this front.  I'm so glad that I was able to enjoy so many movies in the first half of the year, because my movie-watching-rate has seen a steep decline in the last quarter of 2023.

And now, let's decide on what my aspirations are for 2024.

Next year's resolutions are:

1. Prioritize the things that make savoring life possible.

2. Watch at least 30 movies.

First off, given the heavy lift that 2023 has been, sticking with only two resolutions seems like the smart move.  Secondly, as you can see, I've kept both resolutions somewhat vague to rig things in favor of success.  But of course, as always, I can get a little more specific about both of them.

1. Prioritize the things that make savoring life possible.

I know there are probably plenty less janky ways to phrase that, but in general the gist is this: 

a) I have to stay committed to my recovery/self-care stuff.  It is good for me, I benefit from it, my family needs it, and I need it.  I have cut corners in this endeavor this year--for reasons that are real and big, yet still ultimately aren't a good enough rationale for short-changing what I need to be the best possible version of myself.  I feel so much better being that version of myself as a parent and as a person, and I deserve that.

When I'm healthier, of course, I'm happier.  I'm more present, and I'm more available to the beauty the world is full of.  Life is short, and I want to absorb as much of that beauty as I can.

b) I want my hobbies: watching movies, reading, taking walks, working on plants, admiring birds, baking and cooking, playing VR, taking and printing photos.  I want my friends and family: especially this year, it has been such a struggle to connect with people outside of my home in a way that feels as fulfilling as I know it can, and that just has to change.  I also want to, finally, expand my world more fully post-pandemic: make more local friends and more fully explore and enjoy the beautiful, rich City I live in.

I love all of those things so deeply and they've brought me so much joy.  The space simply hasn't been available for a lot of them in the past year, and with truly the best possible reason--I have been dedicating myself almost exclusively to my children and our family, which is what I wanted to do.  For myself and for them, I'm hoping that a more expansive version of myself is possible in 2024.

2. Watch at least 30 movies.

This is controversial for me, of course, as this new year could possibly be the first year since starting this blog that I fall short of my usual weekly movie watching goal.  I am certainly open to still watching 52 or more movies in 2024, but what's more important than perfectionistically fixating on a certain number of movies, is that I keep watching movies in a way that I enjoy.  If I watch only 30 films next year, that still means I've watched them pretty regularly, but in a way that doesn't transform that into an obligation and instead allows more room for the potential realities of my life demanding other uses of my time.

As a sub-goal, if I do stick to this lower overall movie count, I want to write about at least 50% of the movies I watch this year.  That would still lead to writing at least once a month.  

Overall, I feel good about this hopefully temporary adjustment of my movie-watching aspirations.

And with that: I send you, dear friend, my best wishes for a beautiful, happy, healthy, and bountiful 2024.

{Heart}

Take A Rowdy, Raunchy "Joy Ride"

Hey team,

In the mood for a filthy and fun comedy about friendship, family, and identity?

Well "Joy Ride" (2023) might be just the film for you!

"Joy Ride" tells the tale of two childhood best friends whose lives have taken dramatically different paths and whose bond is tested as they embark on an epic trip to China.  Audrey (played by Ashley Park) is a highly driven and high-achieving attorney gunning to be the model minority posterwoman, whereas Lolo (played by Sherry Cola) has seemingly done everything she can to divest herself from that trope as a maker of genitalia-centric art living in the guest house in Audrey's backyard.

As their voyage together unfolds, they gain two travel buddies in Audrey's college roommate (and, with Lolo, seemingly only other Asian friend) Kat, played by Stephanie Tsu, and Lolo's off-putting yet earnest cousin Deadeye, played by Sabrina Wu.  Plenty of tensions emerge between each of the members of this motley party, including the rivalry between Lolo and Kat for friendship primacy with Audrey and Deadeye's wish to fit in despite their decided oddness.  The group navigates these tensions with ample debauchery and silliness as well as a healthy helping of raw emotion, ultimately forming deep bonds.

The overall vibe of the film is very reminiscent of previous buddy comedies like "The Hangover" (2009), down to Deadeye functioning as a stand-in for Zach Galifianakis's Alan (minus the proclamations about wolf packs).  That acknowledged, "Joy Ride" has more to offer than just another round of gags driven by an abundance of substances and sex--although there are definitely plenty of those.  At its emotional climax, the movie is a surprisingly poignant and emotional contemplation of Audrey's experience as an international adoptee, and that experience has cut her off from important parts of her identity and history.

I can certainly appreciate this movie won't be for everyone.  It's raucous and bawdy and therefore not exactly high-brow entertainment, but its unabashed silliness is nevertheless refreshing.  It's a fun ride for those who are game.

I gave the movie a 4.

{Heart}

A Halloween Sampler for All Souls: 2023 Edition!

Halloooooooooooooooooo!! 

Happy Halloweeeeeeeeeeeen!

It's the TENTH ANNIVERSARY of our medley of spooky films to celebrate this, the spookiest of seasons!  Hurray for Psychocinematic longevity!!

I have generally continued last year's trend of not having much of an appetite for outright scary movies lately, which means I've admittedly had to get a bit creative and generous in what I categorize as a Halloween medley-eligible movie this year.  Instead, this year's selection skews more into tense/stressful/bleak atmosphere emotional territory rather than straight-up horror.  That said, I'm still actually pretty pleased with this year's collection of films, especially if you are experiencing a similarly lowered tolerance for scary cinema.

You know the deal: Each of the following films will be accompanied by the usual 1 - 5 rating scale for overall quality, as well as a scary/intense rating of 1 - 5 exclamation points, to be interpreted as follows:

! = not at all scary

!!!!! = so scary!

Or rather, because this year's movies are generally more haunting than haunted, this year's scale should be interpreted more as:

! = not at all haunting

!!!!! = so haunting!

Let's roll!

"The Wonder" (2022)
Rating: 4  Scary Rating: !!!!!

I made the perhaps bizarre and questionable decision to watch this movie late last year while I was completing a time-consuming medical test, inspired by recently watching Florence Pugh in "Don't Worry Darling" (2022) and also a strong push by Netflix's advertising at the time.  "The Wonder" pairs beautifully austere and remote Irish countryside with an ethereal and haunting score.  With those characteristics and its setting in the 1800s, the film's overall atmosphere is somewhat reminiscent of "The Witch" (2015).  While "The Wonder" refrains from overt horror and replaces the gray tones of the even more distant (and explicitly evil) 1600s with the muted blues and browns of a more natural world, the film nevertheless generates an enveloping dread and foreboding akin to the gauzy damp surrounding its characters.  The movie also skillfully exploits the horror trope of the rational expert plunging into an irrational world in which their weaknesses are laid bare and their sanity and morality are tested, similar to "Winchester" (2018) and many others before it.  It is in many ways a quiet yet deeply memorable and affecting film.

"Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery" (2022)
Rating: 5  Scary Rating: !

This is definitely not a scary movie, but who doesn't love a great, twisty, packed-cast murder mystery?  I loved "Glass Onion" for all its silliness, sneakiness, and ultimate satisfaction.  For someone looking for more of a fun romp than a scarefest this Halloween, this is a great option.

"The Banshees of Inisherin" (2022)
Rating: 5  Scary Rating: !!!!

We love playright-turned-film-director Martin McDonagh in this household, and we also love the exquisite duo of Brendan Gleeson and Colin Farrell.  I also love some bleak and remote Irish countryside of yore, evidently, given this is the second such entry in this post.  In his unique and singular voice, McDonagh is extraordinarily capable of introducing tension, disquiet, and at times shocking and seemingly chaotic acts of violence into the lives of characters who at first glance seem to be living remorselessly banal lives.  Throughout the entire movie, you can all but hear the banshees screaming for someone.  The man also knows how to write some incredible dialogue, and the characters' Irish lilting cadence and particular turns of phrase are an added (and needed) treat in this deft and stark movie.  "The Banshees of Inisherin" may not be pleasant, but anyone who loves McDonagh won't be disappointed.

"Emily the Criminal" (2022)
Rating: 5  Scary Rating: !!!

I wanted to write a dedicated post for "Emily the Criminal", but since I didn't get around to it I'm glad to at least use this occasion to write a mini-post about it.  Emily, played by blog favorite Aubrey Plaza, begins the movie as something of an everyperson, claustrophically cornered by crushing student loan debt and limited job prospects.  Over the course of the film, Emily's scrappiness and wiliness give way to escalating violence to match her ever more dire circumstances.  For anyone wanting an incredibly taut and effective movie that might feel a bit too real, this one's definitely worth watching.

"Persona" (1966)
Rating: 5  Scary Rating: !!!!

This film is both beautiful and mind-bending.  As a brooding, slow-build psychological thriller, drawing its audience into the darkness and mystery within the minds of its two main characters, it feels very appropriate for anyone looking for a cerebral international option for their spooky Halloween viewing.

"Nosferatu" (1922)
Rating: 3  Scary Rating: !!

The original film version of "Nosferatu" is this year's classic horror film, which we watched to accompany our annual Jack-o'-lantern carving.  I'm very much of two minds about this film: On the one hand, it's a surprisingly watchable film for being over a century old.  Its very age makes it an artifact of interest: it features stilted black-and-white silent footage with title cards, newspapers, letters, pages of ancient texts and a meandering yet ominous organ-heavy film score as the story's only audible guide, as well as very rudimentary special effects to communicate the titular vampire's magic and power.  With the relatively simple instruments available to it, it is still an effective horror film.  For anyone with an interest in the history of cinema and the craft of filmmaking, this is certainly an engaging and instructive film.

On the other hand, the styling of the vampiric Count, as well as the storyline's clear resonance with historic antisemitic lore and misinformation, is quite explicitly antisemitic.  The independent online pop culture magazine The Quietus has an excellent piece unpacking the antisemitic imagery and propaganda underscoring the film and its source material, as well as the cinematic and pop culture history and evolution of vampires as antisemitic tropes and thoughts on how to approach this film from a Jewish perspective, which you can read here.

I hope you enjoy a wonderful, spooky, cinematic Halloween!  Happy movie viewing!

{Heart}

Run to See "Running with Speed"

Good evening friends,

In the interest of ensuring I get at least one post written this month, I'm going to write a quick little post about a very charming documentary I very much enjoyed:

"Running with Speed" (2023) documents the long history and soaring victories of video game speed runners.  Speed runners are competitive gamers who use a combination of intricate maneuvering, insider knowledge, hacks and exploitable glitches, and an inordinate amount of practice to winnow down the time it takes to complete vintage video games.

The film, perhaps very ironically, has a surprisingly long run time at 2 hours and 28 minutes, but it's structured in a way that made it easy to settle into.  By sub-dividing the documentary into chapters that both chronicle the evolution of the speed running movement as well as profiling individual speed runners, the audience gets a thorough, intimate introduction to the lives and events that shaped speed running into a surprisingly ambitious and productive fundraising juggernaut.  The additional advantage of this format  is that it makes this admittedly lengthy movie compatible with the life of a parent of two young children who might need to watch movies in installments if they are to be watched at all.

"Running with Speed" is very reminiscent of other movies I've loved before, including "The Last Blockbuster" (2020), "The Perfect Bid: The Contestant who Knew Too Much" (2017), and "The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters" (2007).  These films each share common elements that are basically guaranteed to win me over: they profile sweet, sincere, nerdy people with deep dedication to their highly niche interests which we get to learn all sorts of delightfully fiddly details about, and they often celebrate their subjects by detailing their triumphs and resilience in the face of a society that is moving on from the vocations or hobbies dear to their hearts.  They offer a unique distillation of nostalgia, heart, and exhilaration in a neat, dorky little package.

Documentaries like these are both genuinely inspiring and an oftentimes much-needed antidote to misanthropy.  Their subjects achieve great things (in the context of their interests, at least) in the face of adversity.  Their heroes often demonstrate virtues like collaboration, grit, honesty, kindness, and guileless enthusiasm--virtues that are all too rare in a society typified by toxic individualism, destructive competition, insufficiently challenged obfuscation, and cynicism.  (Seriously, any day of the week I would gladly spend 2 1/2 hours hearing from people who are unabashedly in love with their hobbies or jobs, even if I have absolutely no shared experience with the things they're into, than people who lack the passion and vulnerability to let themselves just be excited about something.)  Even more simply, these films are illustrative of the beautiful, quirky vastness of humankind.  There are so many things to build a life around--it's incredible!  

Movies like these truly make me fall in love with people all over again.

"Running with Speed" is available on a variety of streaming platforms.  I gave it a 5, and I highly recommend it!

{Heart}