What I Watched in January

Okay I've watched 13 movies in January- I've been keeping track on Letterboxed and in a notebook that I have dedicated to movie reviews- which I can talk more about in another blog post if you guys are interested... but here's what I have for January right now.

1)Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows Part 1

I rewatched all of the Harry Potter Movies at the end of December and this one was the first movie I watched of the year and I really love this one in particular. I didn't love it when it was first released- but now I actually think its my favorite of all the Harry Potter movies. I like it better than Part 2 because Part 2 kind of drags on and the action feels a little too rushed. Part 1 is just right and kind of spends time developing the characters really well.

2) Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows Part 2

So I didn't love this as much... but this was still good. Ralph Fiennes is a fantastic villain. I don't love Snape's story- which is hard to say because Alan Rickman does such a great job with his character... I may talk about this more in the future and when I reread the books... but I think Alan Rickman's performance during Snape's death is powerful but that's a long scene that should have been in The Half Blood Prince or something. Also the scene with the Grey Lady... we didn't really need it. It didn't really add anything. Overall a lot of weird side stories but great performances and an exciting finale.

3) Fantastic Beasts and The Secrets of Dumbledore

This isn't the third movie I watched this year but since we're talking about Harry Potter- I wanted to mention this because I hated this movie. I gave it 1 star on letterboxed. The story with the fantastic beast was kind of horrible. Newt's brother is a bad character and none of the characters in this movie have any chemistry with each other or any memorable moments. I just really did not like this one and I'm upset with where the Harry Potter Movies have gone. I touch on this movie a little bit in another post I have coming up... but yeah. This was garbage.

4) The Menu

This movie I gave a 5 stars and I preordered the Blu ray right after watching it on streaming. I loved this. I'm obsessed with this... and I won't say too much about it because I do talk about it in my blog that I mentioned before- Stream It, Skip it, or Own It... but yeah. This one is my favorite movie of the month.

5) M3Gan

My second favorite movie of the month is M3gan. I saw this in theaters and I have a full review of it already but I keep thinking about this one and The Menu and I love how many fun horror movies have been coming out recently. This one is probably the most fun and the most rewatchable... and I really love the characters in this.

6) Violent Night

Again- I am mentioning this in my post that's coming out soon but I loved this movie. If you like Christmas Movies and Horror Movies you need to watch this one. David Harbour is really good in this, I like the family of the movie and John Lenguizamo is a great villain. I hear there is a sequel in the works and as much as I really liked the characters- I would like it a lot if they did a different story with a different set of characters. I watched this movie twice already and I'd like to watch it again around the holidays.

7) Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery

I liked the mystery of this movie better than the first Knives out... but I really did like the first Knives out better overall. This is still a really fun movie, very re-watchable. I love Daniel Craig as Benoit Blanc and... I am excited for any Knives Out movies that come out.

8) Avatar: The Way Of The Water

I like The Avatar Movies... but I didn't love this one. I have a full blog post about this movie where I really went into detail with it. I don't know if I would want to own this movie because I didn't like it all that much... but the more I think of it- I think I would watch this movie again. It's not that bad and there are some parts that I just really like.

9) Bicentennial Man

I've been really like Robin Williams movies lately- I watched One Hour Photo for the first time recently and that one is a hidden gem. This movie- not really a hidden gem... although Robin Williams is great- its directed by Chris Columbus who is great... it's based of an Issac Asimov Short Story- which I own and I'm sure... it's great... but there's something weird about this movie. I think they kind of tried to Oscar-bait it and I think they made the movie a little too long and a little too serious- despite marketing it as a "family comedy" it was not a great kids movie and it wasn't really that funny.

The whole reason I watched this movie again was because I remember the ad where the girl robot says "U-G-L-Y you ain't got no alibi- you ugly" and that was sooo funny to me as a kid and they do not do that in the movie and I was so upset. There are no deleted or alternate scenes with this moment either- they just cut it and it's basically lost media that I found in someone's December 1999 Nickelodeon Commercial Breaks compilation. I have a whole blog post about that... but yeah.

I will read the short story and then I may never post about Bicentennial Man again... lol.

10) Roald Dahl's Matilda The Musical

So... I liked this musical. I forget if I talked about it in my Stream it, Skip it, or Own it post... I think I said you could stream or skip this one because while I enjoyed it... it just wasn't as good as the 90s movie with Danny Devito and Rhea Pearlman. And the songs were good... but I didn't think they were great and I didn't think they were different enough to distinguish from one another. This is a fun musical that the whole family could watch... but it is a little bit scary and I don't know if this is as kid friendly as the Danny Devito one.

11) Creed

I haven't seen the Rocky Movies yet- but I do want to see Creed 3 in theaters... and I think this would be better if I saw the Rocky movies... but I probably won't watch all of them before Creed 3 comes out... although maybe I could... It didn't take long to watch all the Harry Potter movies. This was an entertaining Sports Movie... and I'm not sure if Sports movies are really my thing- but it was good to see Rocky and Creed together. And I liked how this movie ended. I like that you can watch it and enjoy it... but you don't have to pay 100% attention and you don't have to think about it too much. It's just enjoyable.

12) Tar

I was disappointed in this movie... and now that I've seen another movie about Music that is kind of similar... I'm more disappointed. It was like an hour into the movie when I told my boyfriend I don't think the movie really started yet... and he asked me further along if it had started yet and I said "yes" but... I think I wish they had established Lydia Tar's abusive tendencies somewhere in the first part of the movie because they just kind of throw it in at the end and it feels very rushed and out of left field. I could see Cate Blanchette winning an Oscar for her performance in this movie... but if this wins Best Picture over Everything, Everywhere, All At Once... I'd be disappointed.

13) Whiplash

I know JK Simmons won an Oscar for this movie and it is a very beloved movie... but I still think its underrated. I loved the characters in this movie- the two main actors played so well off of each other and the characters were just perfect. It was great to see how Fletcher kind of met his match with Andrew... and I just loved it overall. They were both horrible people- but you could see why they did the things they did... and it just kind of ended with them together. What a great movie!

So yeah- a lot of great movies this month- I'm writing this a little before the month ends so I might have a few more things to write about. I've also been watching Velma- which I actually think is okay, The Bachelor and the National Treasure show. Plus I've seen some episodes of Be Cool Scooby Doo, Harvey Birdman Attorney At Law, and Adventure Time and I've also gone back and watched some of Arie's season of The Bachelor... so that's what else I've been watching and haven't finished yet.

Bye!

-Shannon