My January in Media

To start off the decade, in what appears to be an attempt to amp up my already troubling levels of movie watching, I tasked myself with watching and reviewing all the "Best Picture" nominees before the Oscars. I didn't quite finish (I still lack 1917, The Irishman and a rewatch of Parasite) but six movies in less than a month ain't bad.

But LOL, imagine if I only watched six movies this month. Nope. Instead, I watched a truly unhinged 18.

Snowpiercer
After seeing Parasite, I knew I wanted to see more of Bong Joon Ho's work. I asked Tim for some movie recommendations and his list happened to include Snowpiercer – a Bong Joon Ho film I had had in my Netflix queue for literal years. I finally watched it as my first film of the year, and it was so good! "Post-apocalyptic" has been done so many times, but this movie felt fresh (even eight years after it came out), twisty and stylish.

Ilana Glazer: The Planet is Burning
In her first special, Ilana Glazer tries to introduce herself to an audience that already loves Ilana Wexler – and it mostly works. A lot of the jokes in this had me laughing out loud, but there were a couple (and one in particular) that were total misses. First times aren't always the greatest, etc.

A Single Man
I was so thoroughly impressed by A Single Man. I was admittedly a little wary of Tom Ford-the-Director (Nocturnal Animals wasn't for me), but this film is stunning. At once heartbreaking and hopeful, all of the performances are very good but primarily, this is a film that revels in filmmaking. The score is beautiful, the shots are stylish and the use of color is breathtaking. It surprised me and reminded me what movies are really all about – humanity.

Assassination Nation
All you really need to know about this movie is that it's Euphoria + The Purge. If you like either one of those, you might like this. If you don't like either, you'll probably hate it. It made me feel...a lot of things? I think I liked it, but I can't say whether or not it needs to exist or whether it's good that it does. I can say it was engaging and stylish, which usually don't go hand-in-hand. Also: it's billed in some places as a black comedy and it definitely isn't (which is fine). I laughed exactly once, on the very last line, and I think that may have been more of a release of tension than anything else.

The Handmaiden
After Bong Joon Ho (justifiably) shamed Americans for not watching enough movies not in English, I obviously had to watch another one besides Parasite. The Handmaiden was an interesting, extremely twisty story. The acting was very good (Kim Tae-ri especially) and even when I was confused – and uncomfortable – it still kept my attention in a "wtf is going on" way. However, know this: It is NC-17 in parts. Just barrels straight past R-rated. So. There's that.

The Final Destination
Y'all know I thoroughly enjoyed Final Destinations 1, 2 and 3, which are all very silly and delightful. But The Final Destination – or, ya know, Final Destination 4 – is not good even in a so-bad-it's-good way. It's much dumber (and significantly grosser) than its predecessors, but it did make me a laugh a few times – I just definitely wasn't laughing with it.

After Everything
This one was an easy watch, even though it's definitely not light-hearted. There's only so much you can really do with a Cancer Movie™, but it does a good job of telling a romance in fast-forward and then having the characters deal with their choices. Jeremy Allen White and Maika Monroe give good performances and it isn't all the way depressing, just realistic.

You're Next
It seems weird to say that a movie that is basically nonstop murder is boring, but that's how You're Next is. It's just people getting killed off, one-by-one, without a significant story. And while a body count of 15 is pretty impressive for a 95-minute movie, it mostly left me feeling "meh." As always though, I love a Final Girl and this one's pretty resilient.

Once Upon a Time...in Hollywood
Listen: It was fine. The bad parts weren't terrible but the good parts weren't great. Its use of women is troubling and there were just...so many feet it's almost like Tarantino is trolling us, if I believed he is at all self-aware.

Joker
LOL, imagine enjoying this movie. Truly one of the worst movie-watching experiences of my life. Read about some of the many reasons why it's terrible.

Midsommar
I thought I wouldn't like this movie at all because I didn't like Hereditary. And I still wouldn't say I liked it  – is it possible to like movies like this? – but I understood the hype much more. It's a trippy, anxiety-inducing horror flick that earns its gore (PSA: it's so unsettling I had to look away) and weirdness much more than Hereditary did. There were still a few scenes that had me like "mmm, why" but for the most part, I could follow what was going on. Florence Pugh also gives a compelling performance and has a very soothing voice that balances the surreality of what you're watching.

Marriage Story
Marriage Story is largely a movie that wishes it was a play. Driver and Johansson do pretty good jobs (not great, but pretty good), which is better than I can say for another actress in this movie who keeps winning awards...for some reason.

Little Women*
Finally, a "Best Picture" nominee that's actually enjoyable! Greta Gerwig's Little Women is both fresh and familiar, comforting and full of love. I liked it so much.

Miss Sloane
Pretty standard political thriller. A little hard to follow at times and a little too long, but I still liked it overall. Also, I would like Jessica Chastain to be in every movie.

Seven Psychopaths
I liked it for the most part. It's clever and pretty funny, and I was into how self-aware it is. But I do wish it actually fixed some of the things it points out about itself (namely, its treatment of women). There's also a high amount of slurs, all of which I could've done without.

Jojo Rabbit*
This film is a very odd viewing experience but it's also incredibly smart. I like it more the more I think about it.

Miss Americana
I've loved Taylor Swift for almost half my life and it doesn't seem like I'll stop anytime soon. This documentary was good – both sad and inspiring. Also, Taylor and Brendon Urie hanging out? Emotionally overwhelming for me.

Ford v Ferrari*
I went into this movie expecting to be bored out of my mind but it's actually engaging and, at times, downright thrilling. I guess I should've known: I don't really care about sports but I usually end up liking sports movies.

I've mentioned this before, but I (try to) do this thing where I stop watching a movie if I'm not into it. And I got to thinking, why not also share that? The watch attempts. So, this January, I watched 18 movies and attempted one: Magnolia. The opening scene was very interesting and well-written and it's got a ton of actors I like – but I decided about 30 minutes in that I didn't need "Tom Cruise as a professional misogynist" in my life.

Elsewhere in January media consumption, I watched all of Netflix's docuseries Sex, Explained (fascinating and narrated by Janelle Monae so, c'mon) and all of season three of Better Things on Hulu (it's a bummer Louis CK was ever involved in this show but he isn't anymore and it's still one of the quirkiest, realest things on TV right now). I also watched the second seasons of Netflix's Sex Education (still incredible) and Hulu's Shrill (still good), plus all of Netflix's Cheer (I have a lot of thoughts). I swear I did leave my apartment this month.

As for books, I finally finished Call Me Evie. I tried so hard to like it, but I just didn't. I'd heard it had a twisty ending, so I kept reading even though I wasn't very interested at all. I will say there was one bait-and-switch twist that had me like, "OH!" but then I went right back to being bored. On the other hand, I read Tonight the Streets Are Ours by Leila Sales in the 48 hours after I finished Call Me Evie and, clearly, enjoyed it much more. I don't know that I totally love the direction it ultimately went in, but I think that's just because I was looking to read a different kind of ending. I really liked all of the rest. After that, I read My Sister, The Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite, which had excellent pacing and was an interesting story but ended on a downbeat.