2020 Wrap-up: Movies

 My primary form of entertainment has always been books, but of course I like movies. I've associated with film buffs over the years, and so my viewing history is broader than it would be if left on my own. I have, however, formed opinions on which genres I like and don't like, and it takes some urging to get me to see one out of my wonderbread comfort zone. Horror movies, not so much, though actually reading a spoiler-laden synopsis before seeing is helpful.

In January and February I saw some movies in theaters with friends. According to my credit cards, I paid for movies out four times in those months, but I'm fuzzy on what I saw (and what I may have seen in December of last year). As always, I made an effort to watch Oscar-nominated movies early on. When the lockdown started, I decided to focus on movies I always wanted to see, not necessarily the most current. And since I pay for many streaming services, I watched a lot that didn't require extra payment - skewing towards movies at least a couple of years old. Partway through the year, I googled "goodreads for movies" and came up with the app Letterboxd, which allows the keeping of a watchlist and also recording and rating movies you have seen. There is a social component to it, but no-one I know IRL is using the app that I'm aware of, so right now it's just a private record.

So here is at least a partial record of movies I saw this year, with a couple notes along the way.

• Parasite - good to have seen it once to understand
  
• Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker - I'm a fan
  
• Jojo Rabbit - I liked it, folks I know hated it
  
• 1917 - a nice war story, with the predictable only female person a madonna figure in the rubble
  
• Red Tails - good story, if predictable by following a classic war movie line,  about the famed (to me) black fighter pilots in Italy during WWII. If you don't know the story, it may be less predictable, and it's an important story to get out there.
  
• Little Women - wonderful
  
• Ford v Ferrari - liked it better than I expected
  
• Marriage Story - really sweet
  
• Emma - I had noted this as one to watch in the theater. It was one of the first scheduled theatrical releases sent to the the small screen after the lockdown. I even re-read the actual book (which I owned) before renting it. It was very well done.
  
• His Girl Friday - a club I belong to was watching this before a zoom discussion. It is a classic screwball comedy with snappy dialogue. It does not hold up - the casual sexism, racism, and mean spirits overshadowed any remaining screwball charm and romance.
• C.S.A.: The Confederate States of America - An alternate history, done as a BBC documentary of the repressive and reclusive CSA in modern times. Scary and impactful, also funny at points.
• Hamilton - "how does a ...."  Gives me goosebumps. Maybe I'll watch it again soon.
  
• A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood - Restorative to the spirits.
• Battle of the Sexes - It provided more social and historical context than I expected. I liked it a lot.
• Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga - Part of my Iceland phase. It's amusing.
• Star Wars - I rewatched the original six, since I had Disney. I'll probably watch the last three again. There are more minor threads that re-occur and even pop up on the Mandalorian. 
• Radioactive - Marie Curie. Really interesting, worth it.
• The Princess Diaries - Sometimes you just need an easy to chew fantasy, kind of like oatmeal with cream and sugar
  
• How to Train Your Dragon - See "Princess Diaries".
• Maleficient and Mistress of Evil - catching up on my little nieces' crush.
• Coco - perfect for Halloween
• Little - a re-take on Big, pleasant fluff
  
• Enola Holmes - I was insulted at its poor quality. Apparently there are a series of children's books that are very amusing, but not having read them I found the movie boring, predictable, and not even slightly plausible. Think taking a bite expecting cream and sugar, and getting skim milk with splenda.
  
• Contagion - told by friends it was worth it, I finally watched in September. So we knew everything we needed to know, if only we had paid attention.
• Under the Tuscan Sun - comfort food.
• The Trial of the Chicago 7 - with Aaron Sorkin of West Wing fame on board, very enjoyable and very understandable. 
• Ocean's Eleven - I do like a good caper movie. I will watch more (I saw the "female" one (Ocean's Eight) first).
• The Glorias - Gloria Steinem is having a moment. This is a bit weird but good.
• The Russians are Coming! The Russians are Coming! - possibly the best movie of all time, I watched it while hiding in my bunker on election night. It holds up nicely.
• On the Basis of Sex - had to see it - so good!
  
• Captain America - thinking I might want to see this set of superheroes, I haven't seen any of them before
• The Hustle - a disappointing caper movie. It's a remake of Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, which starred Steve Martin and Michael Caine, and was infinitely better.
• Bombshell - I liked it, but was struck by how the "I'm not a feminist" thing was such a thing. Also, just to keep us from getting too sympathetic with the erstwhile victims, we heard them in the studio discussing emphatically how Santa had to be white because Jesus was white. Huh.
• Happiest Season - this year's LGBTQ breakthrough holiday movie. Fun.
• 7500 - a German-made hijacking movie starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt. Not earth-shattering, but 80 minutes of non-stop adrenaline in a 90 minute movie.
• Wonder Woman - we re-watched on Christmas with a plan to see the new one on New Years.
  

What's up next for me? I've found I like having the lights and noise coming into my house on gloomy days or early evenings, and I've marked 65 more movies on my watchlist, so there is a lot to see!