Monthly Entertainment Recap: December

Hello! Pop culture and entertainment rule my life. I decided that it would be fun to do a little recap of all the media I consume each month:

December

End of the year, otherwise known as: TIME TO CRAM! Cramming in books for my reading challenge, cramming in movies before the Golden Globes.

BOOKS!

Always and Forever Lara Jean by Jenny Han♥♥♥

Finishing up the series from my reread during November. Loved it just like the rest of the series. I think Han finished up Lara Jean’s story in such a beautiful and satisfying way. ♥♥♥♥♥

 

Snow in Love by Kasie West, Melissa de la Cruz, Aimee Friedman, and Nic Stone

I talked about my feelings about this book in a post about winter anthologies earlier in December, but basically I loved the stories from Kasie West and Nic Stone and didn’t care for the other two. From what I’ve read from other people, the feelings were mutual. ♥♥♥

Dumplin by Julie Murphy

I had just watched the movie and I needed much more Bo lovin’! I reread it one morning when I hadn’t slept all night. ♥♥♥♥

Pride by Ibi Zoboi 

This is a Pride & Prejudice retelling taking place in Brooklyn centered on Afro-Latina Zuri and her big family as two new boys move in across the street. I felt it was a little rushed towards the end, especially with the situation with Layla and Warren. I also think towards the end the back in forth between Zuri and Darius got a little too repetitive and they seemed to be constantly contradicting themselves. But I really love Ibi Zoboi’s writing and this gave me another reason to actually read Pride & Prejudice. ♥♥♥♥

Goodbye Perfect by Sara Barnard

My third Sara Barnard book of the year and I think my favorite? She has become an auto-buy author for me, even though I have to get her books from Book Depository. This story really looks at how far you would go for a friendship and when you realize how much you do know about someone who you think is your best friend.

 

To Make Monsters Out of Girls by Amanda Lovelace

It wasn’t until Amanda Lovelace that I really started to appreciate poetry. Her voice draws me in and she has such a way with words that really paints a picture. Beautiful. ♥♥♥♥♥

 

 

Some Girls Are by Courtney Summers

After reading Courtney Summer’s book this year, Sadie, I had to read her earlier work. This book deals with sexual assault and bullying that sometimes felt a little unbelievable. The things that were being done to the main character Regina were unbearable and like no adult was around to notice anything? No parent or teacher sees damaged property or literal fights? Some of the relationships also seemed a little to over exaggerated and unbelievable.You can really tell how much Summers’s writing has evolved and improved over the years. ♥♥

Another Brooklyn by Jacqueline Woodson

Beautiful book. The prose was so lyrical it could even be considered on very long poem. The storyline was fragmented, jumping around from past to present, from descriptions and memories to facts. However, all of that just clicked. It all worked so well, I felt like I was in her head. And a person’s mind is far from linear. I read this because I needed something short to quickly finish my GR reading goal but I got so much more out of it. ♥♥♥♥♥

 

 

TV!

The Marvelous Mrs Maisel

I fucking love this show. Rachel Brosnahan is an absolute joy. I think taking the show to the Catskills for a few episodes was a great change of pace and it brought us Zachary Levi as this kind of surly curmudgeon who is fascinated with Midge. I really did love them together. And the dynamic between Suzy and Midge is just perfect and we really saw so much of it during their disastrous tour. Ugh and then we have Lenny Bruce! I love the friendship he has with Midge. They could have easily tried to get them together but their friendship is really special.

MOVIES!

Dumplin‘

I did a whole post about my feelings on this movie but as a recap: loved it!

Crazy Rich Asians 

This was a welcomed rewatch and now I want to own it on DVD.

Spotlight

This was another rewatch, my parents started watching it after dinner one night and I was reminded how incredible this movie is and how great the cast work together. There was a reason this won the Best Picture Oscar.

Blackkklansman

I can’t believe this is a true story. A black man and his white partner go undercover in the Ku Klux Klan. John David Washington (Denzel Washington’s son) and Adam Driver were spectacular. Some parts were really funny and other parts where just unbelievable. It’s crazy that people truly had—still have— so much hatred in the hearts that they would treat people so horribly just because of the color of their skin or for being a different religion.

Mary Poppins Returns

One of my most anticipated movies of the year! It made me so happy, from beginning to end. When I heard Emily Blunt was going to be Mary Poppins I knew it was going to be in the right hands. There was still so much magic and wonder from the first movie that really shines through. And LIN-MANUEL MIRANDA! My baby boy! I loved his crush on Jane Banks and his amazement of everything Mary did. He was perfect, the whole movie was perfect.

Bohemian Rhapsody 

I don’t get it. People are obsessed with this movie and I just don’t get it. There were parts that were so unbelievably cringy and cliche that I started shifting in my seat. Such obvious *winking* at the audience. It’s just an incorrect telling of the history of a band set to a good soundtrack. Despite all this, even I can’t deny how great Rami Malek looked like Freddie Mercury. Too bad the writing was such trash.

Vice

The more I separate myself from this movie, the more I dislike it. The acting was great, I mean Christian Bale was incredible as Dick Chaney, as much as I hate to admit it, but there was just something about it that bothered me. I just have a hard time putting it into words.

The Favourite

Yorgos Lanthimos, you complete weirdo! Now that this movie is getting so much attention, I hope this gets people to see the director’s other work, like The Lobster. Everyone was bat-shit crazy and I never knew what was going to happen next with Queen Anne and her two ladies. This movie is definitely not for everyone.

A Simple Favor

Finally! I had been waiting to see this for such a long time and it was serious worth the wait. Blake Lively is a bad ass. She takes power suits to a whole other level. This story about two mothers is another one where I had no idea where it was going to go next. It started to get a little convoluted towards the end where they kind of needed to pick a direction and stick to it but all the performances were excellent.