Watched and Watching

Yesterday I wrote about watching the BBC's miniseries, Tess of the d'Urbervilles, and how it gave me a similar reaction to what I felt when I first watched Romeo +Juliet as a young teenager. Here are some other selections I've watched recently:

IN THEATER

Harriet

I have always admired Harriet Tubman. In fact, she is on the guest list for my dinner party with the deceased. A few weeks ago my friend, Cassie, and I went to see Harriet. I never even heard this movie was coming out, and I never saw a trailer for it, but all I needed to know was that it was about Harriet Tubman, and I was interested. As a bonus, I learned that Leslie Odom Jr. (who played Aaron Burr in the original cast of Hamilton) was in it, and that was just fine with me (I crush on him a little).

I really liked the movie, and I recommend it to those who can handle heavy stuff.  I turned to Cassie during the movie and said, "I am so stressed out right now!" and she said, "Me, too!" It's not a movie that I'll buy and watch over and over again, but it's one that is really good to see at least once.

Frozen II

We took the kids to see Frozen II the day after Thanksgiving. I didn't really have any expectations, but I was excited to take my girls. I'm rarely impressed by animated movies. Frozen II neither blew my mind nor disappointed me.

It just was.

CURRENTLY ON AIR

A Million Little Things

I am in love with this show. The characters are fantastic. They all have a great balance between their strengths and their weaknesses. The series is pretty high drama, though. I swear they have a checklist they are trying to complete. I imagine the writers sitting around the table going, "We need someone to die, someone to have an affair, someone to have cancer, and someone to lose their dog. And hey! We should probably have someone sever a limb, but maybe hold off until season 3..."

One thing I appreciate about the dramatic plot lines in the show is that the characters handle their problems in a way that's very different from most TV shows. I feel like they are demonstrating healthier behaviors than we usually see in television.

IN PROGRESS

The World According to Jeff Goldblum

This is a series on Disney+ presented by the one and only Jeff Goldblum (does anyone else remember when Jeff Goldblum was reported dead the day after Michael Jackson died? This stands out so vividly to me because Scotty was backpacking in the Unitas at the time, and I was anxious for him to get cell phone service so I could tell him Michael Jackson and Jeff Goldblum had died).

Anyway, Jeff Goldblum is alive and well, and he is doing this show where he goes around talking to people about... I dunno... stuff. Ice cream... tattoos... denim...

The show is pretty interesting, and Jeff Goldblum is so stinkin' weird that you just can't look away. Scotty and I spend most of the episodes squirming because Goldblum makes us so uncomfortable.

The Imagineering Story

This is another series on Disney+. This one is about the history of the Disney Imagineers. As frequenters of Disneyland, we have really enjoyed this documentary. It's always really amazing to see how innovative the early years of Disney were. The things the imagineers were able to accomplish with the limited technology they had were incredible, and what makes it even more fun is how inexperienced so many of them were. They didn't specialize in what they were asked to do. Walt Disney would just tell people what he wanted them to create, and they would be set free to figure it out.

We are half-way through the third episode.

Les Miserables

When I saw that the BBC did a six-part miniseries of Les Mis, I couldn't wait to start watching it. The summer before my senior year, I had to read the unabridged version of Les Mis to get into AP English. Our teacher made us read Les Mis because she believed any essay question on the AP test could be answered with Les Mis (I think she was right! However, I think an abridged version would have suited the task just fine). Since we spent the whole school year thoroughly studying Les Mis, I have a soft spot for it in my heart.

I usually love most of the BBC series that I watch, but I haven't loved this one. I'm not sure why, other than I don't feel like Javert and Valjean are quite the characters I've formed them to be in my mind. They seem a bit off to me, and since they are two of my favorite characters in the history of EVER, the way they are depicted matters a lot. I don't feel what I usually feel from them, however, I am not finished with the series. I've been half-way through the final episode for almost a month now. I also don't care for Marius in this version. I'm starting to wonder if I'm not really interested in the Marius/Cosette story at all. My interest lies more with the Javert/Valjean dynamic.

Benny and Joon

Many, many years ago, I was flipping through channels, and I caught the end of Benny and Joon on TV. I had no idea what the movie was, but I saw a young Johnny Depp swinging from the side of a building, and I did some follow-up Google research to learn that it was Benny and Joon. How did I spend my formative years in the 90's and never hear of Benny and Joon? I'm not sure.

I rounded up a copy of the DVD and loved the movie, and now I like to revisit it every ten years or so. Here's something to know about me - I'm usually on a ten-year movie rotation. Scotty will suggest a movie, and I'll say, "No. We just watched that five years ago." And he thinks I'm nuts (I am).

(But what about The Greatest Showman? Well, my friends, I'm over a year and a half into my ten-year break. I watched it the week it came out on DVD, and I haven't watched it since).

Anyway, back to Benny and Joon, I am currently watching it on Amazon Prime. If you've never seen it, go ahead and make that a New Year's resolution for 2020.

(Another thing to know about me is that I rarely watch a movie in one sitting. I can watch several episodes of a TV show, but I can't sit through a movie. I don't know why!)

OTHER

This Beautiful Fantastic

I saw this movie floating around on Amazon Prime, and then my friend Carrie (hey, Carrie!) recommended it on facebook so I watched it. It was really good. It has some eccentric and charming characters (kind of like Benny and Joon), and it's rather heart-warming.

The Bookshop

When I couldn't sleep after finishing Tess of the d'Urbervilles, I decided I might as well start something new. Amazon recommended The Bookshop, and well, I love books and British accents, so I started watching it. It took me a few days to finish, but it was a charming and heart-breaking little film. Good thing I love charming and heart-breaking (which is a little different from charming and heart-warming, which I also love). And now I need to read Lolita even though it's classic lit, and it might hurt my brain.

Unfinished

The 'Burbs

On my ten-year movie rotation is The 'Burbs. I think I first saw The 'Burbs when I was a pre-teen, and I hated it. Do I dare say "hate?" Yes. I dare. I watched it again when Scotty and I were dating, and I tried to pretend I liked it, but I just didn't. The other night, Scotty and I were looking for something to watch, and I said, "I can't believe I'm doing this!" as I selected The 'Burbs. I watched the first twenty minutes, and then discovered Scotty was sound asleep (typical), so I changed the show. Turns out... The 'Burbs is still a stupid movie.

Victor Frankenstein

Oh, my friends. This was a dumb, dumb movie.

First, the history of why I tried watching Victor Frankenstein:

As you now know, I recently watched This Beautiful Fantastic. Andrew Scott, who is in the BBC's Sherlock, was in the movie but played a character very different from the conniving Moriarty. This made me wonder what else he has been in and what other kinds of characters he has played. Turns out he was in Victor Frankenstein with Danielle Radcliffe and James McAvoy. James McAvoy is one of my favorite actors, and anything about Frankenstein is fascinating, so it seemed like a good idea.

Um, no.

Dumb, dumb movie.