For years I’ve kept track of the movies and shows I’ve watched here on the blog. This year, these last three months I’ve not kept track at all, so my information is incomplete. I know I watched these 56 movies. Here are a few I especially liked…
And I know I watched at least 20 different shows. I finally made it through all 15 seasons of Supernatural and it took me over a year! I especially loved these two…
Tell me some of your favorite movies or shows this year so that I can add them to my list!
Summer was a slow screen time. If not for me bring sick for a week in August, these numbers would be dismal. I watched 5 movies in July and 5 in August.
Streaming – We watched seasons 1 & 2 of Bosch: Legacy. We loved the Bosch series and enjoyed continuing on with these characters. Some police friends are back and he’s able to go even more off the rails as a private detective.
I loved…
Beverly Hill Cop: Axel F, 2024. Do I remember much of the plot? No. But as someone who grew up watching the originals I loved stepping back in time with Axel and friends. Nostalgia at its finest.
I liked…
Mr. Malcom’s List, 2022. If you like historical romances or Bridgerton, this is probably going to hit the spot for you. I thought it was a very well done movie about a man who has a list of the attributes he wants in a wife and a woman who didn’t meet the criteria.
Run Lola Run, 1998. We don’t watch many foreign films, but we both felt fancy one night and watched this time-bending German thriller. Think Groundhog Day with guns.
Harold and the Purple Crayon, 2024. Even though making one of my favorite children’s books into a live action movie didn’t sound great, I knew I had to see it. It was full of weird directions and not nearly enough fun scenes like the one in Ollie’s, but I liked it because I liked Zachary Levi as a grown up Harold.
The Other Zoey, 2023. For a cutesy young adult rom com I actually liked the twist in this one.
Find Me Falling, 2024. An exotic mature love story with Harry Connick Jr. Yes please!
These were fine…
A Family Affair, 2024. The cast was good, but didn’t feel a lot of love for the actual love story.
Despicable Me 4, 2024. Gage still likes seeing the new movies do we went. As with all of them, I’ve resigned myself to just going with it it since I’m going to be dragged to all of them. I’m a little more accepting of Gru since he’s become a family man.
I watched these so you don’t have to…
Space Cadet, 2024. Rex cons her way into the space program. I liked Emma Roberts, but the movie is just beyond ridiculous.
You May Not Kiss the Bride, 2011. A fake wedding forced by mobsters with mobster kidnappers. Mobsters are not my thing.
I first saw Sandra in Speed (1994) and then fell in love with While You Were Sleeping (1995). It’s her girl next door charm and goofiness packed into a body with that megawatt smile. She’s charming in a way that makes her seem approachable and she brings that to most of her 60 movie credits. Of those 60 I’ve watched 29, but it’s those A movies that I’ve seen countless times that have made a lifelong fan. The vest majority of her movies that I’ve seen have been As or Bs.
She’s from Arlington, Virginia, where I was living when I met Jason. She’s adopted two children. She has a BFA in drama. She recently lost the love of her life to ALS. She’s lived the highs (winning and Oscar) with the lows (ugly divorce in the public eye).
So what is your favorite Sandra movie?
*Giving these movies an A*
While You Were Sleeping (1995) I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve seen this romantic comedy.
The Proposal (2009) A different kind of romantic comedy that was just as fun.
The Lake House (2006) Her domination of my favorite romantic movies continues.
Crash (2004) She had a smaller part that showed her not so happy side.
The Lost City (2022) I was expecting not to like this, so imagine my surprise!
Bullet Train (2022) Her part in this movie was fun (and small)!
Speed (1994) As a vehicle to stardom this bus worked.
*Giving these movies a B*
Gravity (2013) She carried a film few others could have.
I watched 7 movies in May and 8 in June. And I streamed 5 shows over the two months.
Loved all of these- Cormoran Strike seasons 2 &3, Brigerton season 3, The Gentlemen season 1, Project Runway All-Stars season 20, and Is It Cake 3?
LOVED these movies
The Holdovers, 2023. Set at a prep school in the early 70’s where several kids get left behind over Christmas break. This quiet drama had all of the things you want in a movie. Paul Giamatti was so good!
King Richard, 2021. I took a little break from Will after the slap heard round the world, but I am interested in the Williams sisters and Jason is an avid tennis player. I thought this was a fascinating look into their childhood and the driven man who helped raise and train them. I wish it hadn’t ended where it did, but that’s just my 2 cents.
Champions, 2023. I love basketball and feel good movies, but, most importantly, representation matters! I’m so glad that we watched this.
REALLY LIKED
American Fiction, 2023. A professor/novelist wants a bestseller amidst much family drama. A smart look at the boxes we put people and things into.
The Fall Guy, 2024. A silly action-packed ‘romance’ that we all really liked on the big screen. Can’t go wrong with Ryan Gosling and Emily Blunt.
LIKED THESE
The After, 2023. This short film is amazing for what emotion is managed to fit into less than 20 minutes. Beautiful movie-making.
Hit Man, 2023. Forced to portray a killer for hire on the spot, Gary learns he has a flare for it.
The Garfield Movie, 2024. Gage wanted to see it and I was pleasantly surprised. It’s nice to see Garfield winning over new generations.
Unfrosted, 2024. Silly cereal movie filled with nostalgia.
Meh
Mother of the Bride, 2024. It’s always great to see Benjamin Bratt, but this romantic comedy fell a little flat for me.
Two if by Sea, 1996. I love both Sandra Bullock and Denis Leary, but in this they both play thieves working out some relationship issues and it just didn’t work for me.
I decided to discontinue my 5 word movie reviews, but haven’t put anything in its place, so we’re going to try something new.
I watched 5 movies in March and 8 in April. I also streamed season 1 of Resident Alien, 3 Body Problem on Netflix, and season 1 of C.B. Strike based on the Robert Galbraith series. All three of these were great.
These are listed in the order I liked them best. How many of these have you seen?
The Great
Damsel, 2024. All things a great fairy tale should be.
Dune 2, 2023. I liked this one a little better than the first. It was slightly less confusing and visually stunning on the big screen.
Hack Your Health: Secrets of Your Gut, 2024. Short but very good documentary about gut health. So many of us with kids with autism know how important diet is and I applaud these doctors for linking autism to the gut, not just the brain. It’s not about autism. but that it was mentioned a few times in relation to gut made me happy. Not enough doctors know to help parents understand this should be one of the first steps after diagnosis.
The Good
The Batman, 2022. I love all of the Batman movies, some more than others. This was a darker look than some and thought Robert Pattinson was a fine Batman, but less than stellar Bruce Wayne.
Saltburn, 2023. A creepy and oddly compelling tale of a young man wanting friends above his station in life.
Oppenheimer, 2023. I liked it, but thought it was too long. Good movie about the making of the bomb and the man in charge.
We Have a Ghost, 2023. Went in expecting a ghost story and got a lot more. A good family friendly film.
Set It Up, 2018. Cute little romantic comedy about young adults trying to figure out their lives.
Plus One, 2019. An edgier romantic comedy with potential.
Upgraded, 2024. Another romantic comedy, but this one has an aspiring art gallery owner lying her way to the top.
It Chapter Two, 2019. I liked part one, Gage even watched it and liked it (his first real scary movie), but this one was too violent and just boring much of the time. The kid cast was great, but the adults, even the big names, couldn’t save it for me. It’s not quite in the ugly category, but it’s close.
The Ugly
The Hunt, 2020. I have no idea why I continued to watch this past the first 10 minutes. Lots of violence and nonsensical politics.
This year I want to make a concerted effort to volunteer more. My work for the local library Friends board takes about 4-6 hours a week on average. I don’t want to take time away from that because I love working with the donated books and book sales as well as running the Facebook page. I just want to make a little more time in my day to find new places that could use an extra hand. For the last two Fridays I’ve volunteered at the Greater Cleveland Food Bank and helped Clevelanders shop for food that they need – for free! It’s rewarding and I’m happy to have met some very wonderful people and plan to continue helping out a few times a month. As the temperatures are freezing everywhere, I am constantly reminded to be thankful for our warm and cozy home that’s stocked with all the food we need and the books and puzzles that keep my heart purring like like a cat.
The Running Grave by Robert Galbraith 4.5 stars, Thriller/Private Detective Mystery, 960 pages, 2023. Cormoran Strike series #7. Robin goes undercover to try and expose a cult. Cormoran deals with Charlotte, again. This series needs to be read in order. Start with Cuckoo’s Calling.
Check & Mate by Ali Hazelwood. 4.5 stars, YA Romance, 352 pages, 2023. I like Hazelwood’s romances and this one set in the chess world for teens was a lot of fun. The ‘couple is 18 & 20, one bisexual and one not having met anyone who has interested them in that way, and both hardwired for chess. This is her first YA romance and I appreciated the behind closed door sex scene.
The Miracle Seed by Martin Lemelman. 4.5 stars, Nonfiction Graphic Novel for Kids, 80 pages, 2023. What a hopeful book in such an uncertain time. This is the true life story of how 2 Israeli scientists brought the Judean Date Palm tree back to life after having been extinct for over 2000 years. (Here’s a link to a magazine article about it) Inspire the green thumb in your life with this inspiring story from Israel.
Currently Reading
Movies
Everything Everywhere All at Once, 2022. What in the world? This was a wacky, insane, and thoughtful movie about parallel universes. Jason and I agreed that we’ve never seen anything quite like it. Two hotdog thumbs up.
Plans for the Weekend
Any other Sunday my weekend would be over, but since tomorrow is MLK Jr. Day we get one more day to play. We have some friends coming over tomorrow to hang out and play games before Gage has an orthodontist appointment. I hope your three day weekend brings some good reading and fun!
That title is a bit misleading. I watched 49 movies this year and these are my 5 favorites. Only two of them came out in 2023.
I’d like to watch some really good movies in 2024, so please leave me a few of your favorites in the comments.
Peanut Butter Falcon, 2019 (Shia LaBouf, Zack Gottsagen. Dakota Fanning, John Hawkes, Bruce Dern, John Bernthal, Thomas Haden Church, Yelawolf) Grade A
Everyone deserves to be seen.
Air, 2023 (Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, Jason Bateman, Marlon Wayans, Chris Tucker, Viola Davis, Chris Messina) Grade A
Is MJ really MJ without his Jordans?
Joker, 2019 (Joaquin Phoenix, Robert De Niro, Zazie Beetz, Frances Conroy) Grade A
I’m not going to lie, this wasn’t the best movie year for us. We didn’t get to the movie theater (although we did get to the drive-in for a double feature) and our choices were more of ‘what’s on Netflix that we can agree on in 5 minutes?’ than intentional viewing. We did binge lots of shows, but I wasn’t great about keeping track of those. Maybe next year.
49 movies (same as last year)
2021 was our most watched year with 12 movies, followed by 2020 with 8.
Gigi (1958) was the oldest movie we watched.
We watched the most movies in the month of May with 8.
A few days late, but I’m here. In August I read a total of 37 books and watched 3 bookish movies.
10-kids picture books (non-fiction)
6-adult fiction
5-thrillers
5-kids picture books (fiction)
3-romance
3-kids fiction
3-adult non-fiction
1- poetry
1-kids graphic memoir
Here are the few since my last update…
In Good Company Flora finds her husband’s first wedding ring, in the bottom of a file cabinet, a ring he had supposedly lost in a Lake years ago. What follows is the past and present lives of two couples and one daughter, each getting a chance to show their perspective.
I listened to the whole thing so it was at least that good, but I had a difficult time caring about any of the characters, except maybe the daughter. And the story, the way that it jumped around,didn’t help me get invested. I thought the end was well done. If you like books about complicated marriages (aren’t they all?) then this will probably appeal to you.We watched Sarah’s Key, based on the bestselling book that I finally read last month. Alternating between 1942 and 2002 Paris it explores the French roundup of its Jewish citizens during WWII. I thought both the book and movie were good and I always like seeing Aidan Quinn onscreen 🙂
My book of the day is also one of my favorite books of August (the others are shown). Just Last Night looks like a cute romance from the cover. But even though there is some romance, this is more about friendship and loss and coming through stronger. It was not at all what I expected and I loved it! But beware I shed a tear or two in the middle.
I’ve been reading, watching, drinking, and puzzling my way through the city for Paris in July and for my book a day challenge. Let’s see where I’ve been since Sunday…
We watched the 2011 movie Hugo and I tried some Chateau de Segries 2019 Cotes-du-Rhone from France for Paris in July. We hadn’t seen the movie or read the book about the orphan boy who could fix things and lived at a train station. The movie was good as was the full-bodied wine. I didn’t have a full second glass since it’s 14.5% alcohol. My body doesn’t handle red wine as well as it used to! It only took a few days to empty the bottle 🙂
I’ve also included a few pics taken from where we stayed our last night in Paris. Such beautiful views.
While the boys played in the river I took Lonely Planet Kids Paris City Trails for a northeast Ohio nature walk. I loved this book! It’s 100 pages of beautifully laid out facts with stories and photos. A few quick, fun facts from the different spreads shown.
“No ladders and buckets are needed to clean all the pyramid windows (the Louvre)- every three weeks the job is done by a remote-controlled robot.”
“Sixty-six feet below ground, in the limestone tunnels that sprawl beneath Paris, lie the skeletons of 6-7 million Parisians. The public can explore 1.43 miles of the tunnels, but that’s just a fraction of the 186 miles that actually exist.”
“In 2010, a Parisian park introduced chilled sparkling water to its drinking fountains to persuade Parisians that tap water was just as good as the stuff in plastic bottles.”
“$16 is the current fine for jumping into the Seine.” (This is shown with all of the Clevelanders in the Chagrin River)
“120. The number of bicorne hats Napoleon used during his military career.”
“The French have been eating frog legs since the 10th century. Today the French frogs are protected, so the frogs in Paris plates are often shipped in, live, from Asia.”Sitting here with my coffee and new journal (❤️ @etsy ) enjoying this beautiful summer morning. I TRY to read an inspirational/meditative book and journal every morning, in reality it’s like 4 days a week.
I finished up my morning reading book for the last month, Peace is Every Breath by, my favorite, Thich Nhat Hanh. This isn’t my favorite of his, but it was okay. This could also count for this month’s challenge because he wrote it while living at his Plum Village retreat in France, but we also read..,
Madame Eiffel: The Love Story of the Eiffel Tower. I adored the illustrations, all back and white with highlights of pink. The story was okay, but after realizing it had no basis in reality I was confused 🤨 Don’t let your kids read it and think it’s true like I did.
And if you’re still reading, the photos are from outside Pompidou Center. We met our friends there because it was close to our last hotel. There was some crazy stuff in there. We were there a few hours before moving on, but I still remember vividly some of the installations, they were that bold and, some, disturbing. I wanted to play Azul last night but Gage wanted to work on the Paris puzzle as a family. Last time I showed you the Eiffel Tower and now you get a peek at another “piece” of the puzzle 😄.
I also listened to this story collection by Jojo Moyes while working on the puzzle and running a few errands. I loved the longer first story, a novella really at 151 pages. It’s about two people finding each other at the wrong time. But can there really be a wrong time for true love? Nell falls in love with Paris and Fabian and goes back to England after their weekend romance, but is that the beginning or the end? I’m not telling.
The rest of the stories were entertaining, but brief, and mostly forgettable. Still, I liked the book as a whole even though I’m not a short story fan.
Stacy's Books 