Stream It, Skip it, or Own It

So I would like to post my monthly What I watched recap and Letterboxed Reviews... I think I posted that already... I'm pre-writing a lot of these posts so I haven't figured out if I want to post this first or that one first... but yeah! Here's the most notable things I watched on Streaming this month.

Own It- Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery Netflix

I streamed this one and I haven't preordered it or anything yet- but if it is available on Blu Ray I would love to own this on Blu Ray. I loved the first Knives Out and I think that I like the story of that one better... but I really liked the mystery of Glass Onion a little more. I liked that this was more focused on Daniel Craig's Benoit Blanc and... I liked the "sidekick" of this movie- Andi played by Janelle Monet. This was an easy one to solve- but a cleverly told story nonetheless. It didn't exactly keep me guessing- but I didn't think it was predictable either. One thing I like about these movies is that the clues pointing to who did it are all right there and it's fun to piece it all together. There were also references to the 2020 pandemic, Among Us, Cain's Jawbone... and a lot of other cameos and fun references. Every little detail in this movie was used and it made for a really strong mystery. I really liked this movie overall.

I watched this one a second time... still holds up!

Skip It- Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them: The Secrets of Dumbledore HBO Max

I did not like this movie at all. This was soooo boring. I really liked the first Fantastic Beasts movie... I thought the second one had its problems but it was still mostly an entertaining movie I could watch again. This one... I couldn't even watch all in one sitting. The characters barely interacted and... they all just had no chemistry. The whole thing with the actual fantastic beast was just kind of stupid... I didn't like this one at all. I did like Mads Mikelsonn as Grindlewald but... I wish the Fantastic Beasts movies werent' about Dumbledore and Grindlewald.

Own It: The Menu HBO Max

I ordered this movie immediately after I streamed it on HBO Maxx... and I'm really excited to watch it again. It just came in- I had to preorder it... but this was absolutely amazing. I had just watched the Harry Potter movies- and Ralph Fiennes is really great as the villain in those- of corse he plays Voldemort... and you can kind of see it in this character! This actually felt better after watching the Harry Potter Movies than the Fantastic Beasts movie. I also really like Anya Taylor Joy and she's just someone I might watch in just about anything now. This was especially good! I told one of my co workers to watch it and she really loved it and got her son to watch it... everyone really liked it. I just thought it was fun and a little different than I thought it would be.

When my boyfriend and I were watching it my parents were in the living room and they couldn't stop watching it. It's really a good movie to get sucked into. I would totally recommend this one.

Stream it: Violent Night Peacock

I kind of wanted to see this movie in theaters- but I didn't get around to it and it kind of seemed like it would be a better movie to stream... and when I saw it was on Peacock I was so excited! I don't think I'd own this one- but I've seen it twice and I would watch it again around Christmas Time. This movie is a Christmas Action-Thriller comedy that follows Santa stuck in a house where a group of robbers have taken a wealthy family hostage... Santa ends up saving the little family and... the kills in this movie are really great. It's kind of heartwarming too... like more heartwarming than a lot of Christmas movies I've seen recently. I liked it more than The Santa Clauses. It is still a horror movie- don't show it to kids but... this will be good for the inner child.

I also watched this one twice!

Stream it... Or Skip It: Tar HBO Max

Alright... this is a really really long movie and I feel like it was made for a very very niche audience. Tar is about a female composer... and I feel like there's a lot of tension in the movie and it is very interesting but I feel like it would be better if someone was in that world and knew a lot about composers or music. I think Cate Blanchett gave an amazing performance in this movie and she might win the Oscar- although personally I would love it to be Michelle Yeoh. The main... conflict of the movie happens closer to the end. I didn't dislike the movie- I gave it 4 stars on Letterboxd... and I think it might be better if I saw it a second time... but I'm not quite sure I could sit through this movie a second time. It's a lot.

I do own Tar- but this is streaming on HBO Maxx.

And that is everything I can recommend or not recommend from streaming this month. If you have these streaming services- you could stream them first... but if you don't and I say "Own It" it is worth owning. I think The Menu is also available on Hulu and Disney Plus too.

Bye!

-Shannon