January in Review

Oh, hello, 2021. January sure was...something, wasn't it? I'm not sad to see it gone. I would love it if February could be calmer.

Here's what I watched in the first month of this new year:

Inherent Vice

Sometimes, when I've seen a significant amount of a director's filmography, I get it in my head that it's now a challenge to see them all. This is how, in 2021, I'm someone who has seen 7/8 PTA movies (plus some Haim videos). This was No. 7, and it didn't really do anything for me. It was incredibly long, often confusing and rarely engaging. I could've just rewatched Phantom Thread instead.

Boys State

I love Texas with all my heart. I also think it's one of the weirdest places in the world. This documentary was truly a surreal experience that I can't fully unpack, but it was definitely interesting. My main takeaway is that Robert is what would've happened if Randall "Pink" Floyd signed the pledge the coaches gave him in Dazed and Confused. It's probably what happened to him anyway.

The Big Short

I'll say this first: I now know more about the housing crisis than I did before, which is saying nothing because that's how much I knew before. In the end, this movie was 70/30 for me because it was entertaining, odd-in-a-good-way and most of the acting was good (Brad was phoning it in). But the cinematography and editing were awful, often to the point that the good things were diminished. It was also nominated for Best Editing, proving the Academy frequently doesn't know what it's talking about.

Promising Young Woman

Wow? It's been weeks and this movie is still rattling around in my brain. The undeniably good: candy-coated dread and Carey Mulligan, Alison Brie and Laverne Cox, Hollywood's nice guys as "nice guys." Everything the story was trying to do. And then. I knew some things were going to happen and when they did, I was angry and uncomfortable. And then more things happened that didn't fix the other things, but also kind-of did. I let out a genuine laugh of realization. The ending of this movie is a very deliberate choice. You aren't supposed to like it. It's supposed to shock you – and then you're supposed to realize that it doesn't surprise you.

No Country for Old Men

A mixed bag. I liked it – I thought it was interesting, the performances were good. But I also feel like it just kind-of...stops? The conclusion of the story technically works, but I feel like it could be better. This was also my first Coen Brothers movie without any comedy elements (Blood Simple is serious, but it also...isn't), officially, though Tommy Lee Jones makes me laugh every time I see him. I don't know what it is. Also Javier Bardem's hair in this is objectively funny.

Martha Marcy May Marlene

Elizabeth Olsen was good in this, but overall, it wasn't anything I hadn't seen before and I thought it could've done more with its premise. It hasn't stuck with me.

The Little Things

I suspected I might hate this because there were things about the trailer that irked me and also Jared Leto is unbelievably irritating. It wasn't great or even particularly good, mostly because it wants to be Se7en so bad and it isn't, but it also wasn't anywhere near as bad as I thought it might be. A totally OK way to spend an evening.

Tim and I also finished Dark, which I can now safely say is The most bananas show I've ever seen. Highly recommend, especially if you can go in knowing as little as possible. We've also continued watching Community, I finally finished Easy a million years after I started it and I started watching Servant. And when my brain is too tired to really focus on something, I've been rewatching Kim Possible. Do what you gotta do, y'all.

As is pretty typical of me in January, I read a lot. I'm low-key, no pressure trying to look at my phone less in my downtime this year, which is a great excuse to read more. This month I read:

• You Play The Girl: On Playboy Bunnies, Stepford Wives, Train Wrecks, & Other Mixed Messages by Carina Chocano. Very good, an interesting mix of media analysis and memoir
• Crazy Salad: Some Things About Women and Scribble Scribble: Notes on the Media by Nora Ephron, my first time reading her. I was surprised to find – given that I love the witticisms of her movies – that the columns I liked the most actually weren’t the anecdotes or commentaries, but the bits of reporting. 
• The Inheritance Games by Jennifer Lynn Barnes. This was so much fun and I finished it in one day. For fans of Maureen Johnson mysteries, which should be everyone.

I'm also currently reading How to Do Nothing: Resisting the Attention Economy by Jenny Odell, which is giving me a lot to think about. And Tim and I have started reading our second Agatha Christie novel, Murder on the Orient Express.

Also, here's what Winter 2021 sounds like so far. 

Let's take care of ourselves in February. More rest, more love, fewer expectations.