Happy New Year! This list is going to be slightly different because I actually began watching Christmas movies in November. The day after Thanksgiving, while visiting family, we put on a couple of Christmas movies, including one I hadn’t seen yet.
Actually, I watched three movies between Thanksgiving and December 1st. I’m including them in this list because from (the day after) Thanksgiving to December 26th is the Christmas season.
Instead of picking another genre theme for the month of November, I decided to make it kind of a “catch-all”. Therefore November’s movie theme is Random. This could mean a random genre not represented in the other months—perhaps more minor or niche genres. Examples are sports movies, musicals, crime, biopics, etc. I may also make it themed based on a particular actor or franchise. For example, James Bond, which is the theme for this month (if you couldn’t tell from the title 🙂 ).
A Christmas Story Christmas 
Starring: Peter Billingsley, Erinn Hayes
Director: Clay Kaytis
My Rating:
Christmas movie month is December but the Christmas season starts the day after Thanksgiving. This is when we decided to watch the sequel to “A Christmas Story”. The usual comments ensued when this movie was announced. “Hollywood is out of ideas!” “Why ruin a classic?”. Yadda yadda yadda. I’ll admit that I was skeptical. I’m not one of those people that can continuously watch this movie during its 24-hour marathon on Christmas Day. However, I’m also not one of those people that despise it either. Once is good enough for me.
The question then is, how well does this movie live up to the original?
I quite enjoyed it! As far as Christmas movies go, this is definitely in the top 20 must-watch Christmas movies! I would still recommend watching this one even if you are not a fan of the original movie. In fact, I might even go so far as to say this is better than the original! I may even watch it a second time this year!
Spoilers Ahead!!!
October is Halloween Month. This should be no surprise. Therefore the theme is essentially scary/thriller movies. My approach this month is a little different. Usually, I have a predefined list of movies I plan to watch for each themed month. However, during Halloween Month there are at least 2-3 movies we/I watch every year; The Nightmare Before Christmas, It’s the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown and Hocus Pocus.
Oddly enough The Nightmare Before Christmas is the only one that we did watch. Perhaps the month went by so quickly that we didn’t get around to the other two. Below are the other movies that I also watched this month.
September (2022) is Martial Arts month. I really enjoy watching martial arts films so I really wanted a month for them. It doesn’t matter if its English, dubbed or subtitled. Jackie Chan is probably my favorite martial arts actor but I have a lot of respect for Bruce Lee. Jet Li and Chow Yun-Fat are also some of my favorite martial artists. Below you will find that I have covered all of them in my selections this month.
The Legend of Drunken Master is, hands down, my favorite Jackie Chan movie. It’s terribly dubbed but at least Jackie Chan always dubs using his own voice. Enter the Dragon is the Bruce Lee movie. If you only watch one Bruce Lee movie, it should be Enter the Dragon. These two movies are the quintessential martial arts films (IMO).
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon is a wonderful movie starring Chow Yun-Fat, Michelle Yeoh and Ziyi Zhang. I watch most of these movies as background while I am working (since I’ve seen every movie on my Plex server at least once). The lesson I learned with this movie, it’s hard to watch a movie with subtitles and work. A note for next time. I also learned, this movie has a sequel which I will have to check out sometime.
I’m not going to say much about the live-action Mulan, I’ve covered quite a bit when I wrote a review. It’s easily my favorite animation to live-action adaptation.
There isn’t a special event movie in September, that I could find. If you know of some date reference in September that warrants watching the associated movie, let me know in the comments. However, I did get in a bonus movie. As I am trying to stay caught up in Phase 4 of the MCU, we watched Thor: Love and Thunder. I did enjoy it, with just a few minor criticisms.
(Click here to see last months theme selections)
“The screen is a magic medium. It has such power that it can retain interest as it conveys emotions and moods that no other art form can hope to tackle.”
– Stanley Kubrick
Thor: Love and Thunder
Starring: Chris Hemsworth, Natalie Portman, Christian Bale
Directed By: Taika Waititi
My Rating:
I finally saw the newest Thor movie (Thor Love and Thunder), but not in the theater, which I regret. Personally, I think Marvel movies are best when seen in the theater. Be that as it may, instead, we waited until it’s release on Disney+. I assume, by now, most people have seen this movie (if you’re an avid MCU fan). First a quick synopsis before I give my feedback.
Gorr (Bale) is besmirched by the gods. When he becomes in possession of the Necrosword he vows to seek revenge against all gods for their vanity and hubris. Thor comes out of retirement to battle Gorr with the help of King Valkyrie and Jane (who can now wield Mjolnir); in other words Thor teams up with Queen Padme Amidala to defeat Batman.
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