Favorite Movies of January, 2026

---

The movies will never stop. In 2024, I watched 327 films and in 2025, I watched 274. There was a significant drop but that is because we have added “Anime Wednesdays” and TV show Sundays and the current watch is X-Files. We’ve also fallen very hard into Task Master and when we end up eating late or are frazzled from the day we have had we do a Task Master Night. The movies though, they are always there.

---

5 Stars

They Live, 1988. We watched this on the first of the year with a friend who had never seen it. Seems appropriate for the times.

Together, 2025. Literally had me screaming, will not watch again. Excellent film.

Patlabor: The Movie, 1989. Robots and Biblical allegories.

---

4.5 Stars

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, 2026. Very much falling in love with this series. Which is surprising. The road to Horror film love has been long and arduous.

Outland, 1981. Space Crime Thriller. Do you actually need more?

Marty Supreme, 2025. I don’t know how I feel about Timothee Chalamet but the boy can act.

The Virgin Suicides, 1999. Pretty faithful adaptation of the book, a little uneven in places but wow, that soundtrack.

Books I read in January, 2026

I’m really trying to cut back on screen time. Numerous timers on various social media apps (Instagram, Substack, etc.) and a Focus Mode in the Morning so I can‘t bedrot in the morning. I know it‘s a popular topic and somewhat trendy on how to cut back on the phone but it really does start to encompass your time and encroach on the things you WANT to spend time on.

I took a look at the time spent on my phone and decided that it’s enough and I have set myself up to better use my time for reading instead. I have an old Google play account where I purchased books quite a while ago so those are my “phone’ books, I have 2 kobo readers. One is set up with a stand in my bedroom for evening reading in bed before going to sleep and one is called my “Baby” book that rides with me in my purse. I have also thrifted a ton of physical books over the past few years so I have usually have two of those books next to the couch: a novel and some sort of graphic novel or trade paperback and I alternate reading those.

It has definitely helped. I read 7 books last month and I don’t think I’m going to get more than that this month (also with it being such a short month, I can already feel it ebbing away so quickly) but I am reading a long Stephen King novel and sometimes he is a monster with that page length.

I haven’t been rating my books on StoryGraph but I do track them there. It’s a great app and wonderful alternative to GoodReads.

---

“Soul Music” by Terry Pratchett : a reread from the past. I stumbled on to an excellent humble bundle of his books and I’ll be picking my way through his collection as the year progresses. Soul Music is an old favorite.

---

“Forrest Gump” by Winston Groom : I hated this. Words cannot convey the hate read this turned into. Watch the movie instead. As soon as I finished this it went into my get rid of bag.

---

“The Virgin Suicides” by Jeffrey Eugenides : mostly read because it gave me a good excuse to watch the film.

---

“Gunsmith Cats” omnibus Volume 3 By Kenichi Sonada: just rebuying my childhood but maybe this one should’ve been a bit later in life. IYKYK.

---

“Hogfather” by Terry Pratchett: I really wanted to finish this in December for Christmas but it just didn’t happen. We will be watching the 2 part TV movie by the end of February!

---

“The Prairie Wife” by Arthur Stringer: a book I thrifted and got a very good deal on which is good because it’s not making the cut on the bookshelf. It was fine but I’d rather read Laura Ingalls Wilder.

---

“Cat’s Eye” Omnibus Volume 1 by Tsukasa Hojo: I recently bought and watched the anime of this and fell in love with it and was very excited by the announcement that there was going to be a new release of the manga here in the states. I will be purchasing the rest as they come out and I highly recommend the anime. It has one of the best endings in my opinion.

---

My Top Movies of May

---

May the movies be with you! We actually have 2 airplane movies on here with very different ratings.

---

Sonny Boy, 2021, 5 Stars

God, I love me an existential anime. The crescendo for this series is probably one of the most captivating pieces of animation I’ve seen IN AWHILE. Literal chills while watching it.

---

The Intern, 2015, 5 Stars

This movie is not a “good” movie. This is one of my “feel good movies.” I’ve seen this one a couple of times and it’s like a cup of hot coco to me. I don’t expect anyone else to like this movie.
This is one I selected to watch on a plane because what else am I gonna do for many many MANY hours.

---

Challengers, 2024, 4.5 Stars

Man, we need more sexy drama rated R movies.

I saw the trailer for this film so many times, it was a joke to me at one point. I’m glad it was good or else I’d have been mad about having to see that trailer so much.

I appreciate the male leads in this too, they are not conventionally attractive, but I get it. Oh boy, do I get it.

---

Twin Peaks, The Missing Pieces, 1992/2014, 4.5 Stars

I rated this higher than the actual movie these were all cut from! Not that I don’t care about Laura Palmer but I love the cast of Twin Peaks and they all ended up on the cutting room floor from Fire Walk With Me. I’m always going to need more Dale Cooper in my life, I have to see Ed and Norma. What has Nadine gotten herself into today?

I gotta know.

---

52 Pick-Up, 1986, 4.5 Stars

Awhile back I made a digital art piece of Elliot Gould. My next piece is probably going to be Roy Scheider. I do not believe I’ve seen him in a bad film yet and I’ve watched several. He is so physically distinctive and he gives every performance everything he’s got.

---

Now my shout out to the bad movie of the month:

It’s Complicated, 2009, 1.5 Stars

This is written and directed by Nancy Meyers, who wrote and directed The Intern. Which I love (see above!) . So, I believed that this movie, while not going o be great, would be the type of movie candy that I like and I chose this on my return flight.

This was a mistake. I hated this movie. It actually got me angry watching it. So unless you like watching people making the dumbest decisions ever, don’t watch this film.

My Top 5 Movies of April

---

April was a fine month, indeed, for movie watching. A lot of very good films. Special Shout out for Promising Young Woman which also has 4.5 stars but it didn’t make my top 5 cut.

---

Moulin Rouge, 2001, 5 Stars

An oldie but a goodie. I had to do a rewatch of this one because we went to the ACTUAL Theater and saw the traveling Broadway Show of Moulin Rouge and…oh boy…it was…fine? It was fine. I had been so excited and welp, disappointment happens sometimes.

But the movie? God, the movie is SO GOOD. I cannot get enough of it. The music is frenetic and perfect. The colors and choreography are a feast. I’m also in love with Ewan McGregor. When he smiles, literal melting happens.

---

The Andromeda Strain, 1971, 4.5 Stars

I read the book for this one! I’ve been reading a lot of Michael Crichton lately so it is a treat to be able to see what someone else visualized too.

This movie is all about the sets. If you want peak sci-fi set design you need to watch this.

Also let me appreciate the gender swap of one of the scientists to a woman and this happened in the SEVENTIES. So I’ll clap my hands to that decision.

---

The Children’s Hour, 1961, 4.5 Stars

This is a very serious drama about very serious accusations back in the day. I really felt for these women as their life was turned upside down and ruined because of a child. This child is the literal devil. I hated her so much.

---

My Dear Marie, 1996, 4.5 Stars

My brother and I owned this VHS a very long time ago and it was called “Metal Angel Marie” which is what I always looked it up by and by happenstance a DVD listing came up (which it had never before) so I bought a very old DVD to be able to watch this 3 episode OVA.

The amount of existentialism I experience every time I watch the 3rd episode should not be allowed in anime.

---

Sleeping Beauty, 1959, 4.5 Stars

This should probably be more of a 4 Star film but my childhood rose colored glasses won’t let me.

The background art on this film is next level.

---

Now on to my special shout out for my bad movie of the month!

Godzilla,1998, 2.5 Stars

The runtime on this bitch is just too much. It’s too much! Cut this movie in half and then come back to me.

My Top 5 Movies of March

---

Better late then never right? March was a very good movie month for this household! We did a rewatch of all the Terminator movies because one of the many Movie Podcasts we listen to was doing a watchalong so we got to revisit some favorites and some not so favorites.

---

Singing In the Rain, 1952, 5 Stars

This one was one I had always heard of and never seen. We all know many of the scenes from this film just because we live in the world and it’s ingrained in our pop culture. I had no idea how ingrained. Every song is a banger and every song is the best.

---

The Terminator, 1984, 5 Stars

I remember my first watch of this. I had no idea. This was just a genre of film completely out of the realm of my possibility. Arnold is too good.

---

The Abyss, 1989, 5 Stars

I love to hate this film. It has no right to be as good as it is. It is my worst nightmare of the deep sea. I hate it. But I love it. It makes me so sad that it is a masterpiece.

---

The Night of the Hunter, 1955, 4.5 Stars

The movie poster does this movie no favors. This is a dark, gritty, noir, western thriller. It’s brilliantly lit and black and white and creepy as hell. I picked this one because it was name dropped on a podcast I listen to and so I went in pretty blind and I’m so grateful that I was. Just look at this thing.

---

T2, 1991, 4.5 Stars

Yet another rewatch of another incredible film. Not as good as the first, of course, but the pacing is great and the practical effects are top notch.

---

And now to the low of the low of the month:

Santa Clause, 1959, 1/2 star DNF

This a rarity for me, this is a true DNF. I was about 30 minutes in and I had to turn it off.

Number 1, it is unfortunately a product of it’s time and there is some slight racist undertones at points.

Number 2, the did some AI upscaling BULLSHIT. This thing was a horror show and a half visually and it was literally making me so uncomfortable in the uncanny valley of it all that I felt physically ill.

---

Terminator Genisys, 2015, 1.5 Stars

Boring. Boring. Boring.

My Top 5 Movies of February

I’m not going to say much with these as I go in depth a bit more on my LetterBoxd.

---

Perfect Days, 2023 (5 Stars)

This hits me in the feels because while I am content most days I feel like the end of this movie a lot as well.

---

The Swimmer, 1968 (5 Stars)

I’m STILL thinking about this movie. It’s nearly May as I write this. We loved it so much we bought it.

---

Bobby Deerfield, 1977 (4.5 Stars)

Have you ever seen a prettier film poster? This is the most quiet and pensive I’ve ever seen Al Pacino and I wish more people had him act that way.

Have I mentioned on here I’m a Pacino Stan?

---

Young Mr. Lincoln, 1939 (4.5 Stars)

I did not know this was going to be a courtroom drama when I started it but I was so happy it was.

---

---

Mr. DressUp The Magic of Make Believe, 2023 (4.5 Stars)

I grew up in Michigan and we get a lot of Canadian channels and I grew up watching him and I think I preferred his show to Sesame Street, I still like calm television.

---

Bonus Boos

Argyle, 2024 (2 Stars): They should be ashamed of themselves.

Daisies, 1966 (2 Stars): I feel like a bad feminist for not liking this movie. I honestly would give it one star but I gave it the extra for feminism.

My Top 5 Movies of January 2024

Much like the rest of the internet, I’ve created a LetterBoxd account to track and rate movies I’ve been watching. I started it last October so my end of the year results were a little skewed since I watch Horror movies in October. I have a nice clean slate for 2024 though and thought it might be fun to talk about my favorite movies each month.

---

Charade (5 Stars)

I’ve been watching a lot of Audrey Hepburn and enjoying her movies A LOT. This movie was a fun caper and with her costarring with Cary Grant? I wish more had been made with the two of them together. I’ve always loved Cary from Arsenic and Old Lace and the more movies I see with him the more I fall in love.

---

The Batman (5 Stars)

I did not appreciate this movie as much when I first saw it but it has definitely grown on me more and more. I do hope in the next one that we get to see a bit more Bruce Wayne or if not give me all of the grappling gun,

---

Poor Things (5 Stars)

I know this movie is a little controversial with people but I truly enjoyed the performances, the costumes, the music, and the settings. It was a visual and auditorial feast.

---

Anatomy of a Fall (5 Stars)

I’d love to see the French judicial system happen in America. Just a little.

Also the most realistic depiction of an argument between a couple ever to grace a film screen. Intense. Uncomfortable. Perfect.

---

The Holdovers (4.5 Stars)

I’ve been on the search for actual good Christmas movies. It’s a difficult task. So many are just trite basura.

This is not one of them. Imperfect characters with their own realistic baggage and nothing in common forced to come together for the holidays. I was rooting for all of them by the end and while I don’t want a sequel I do wonder how the characters end up.

---

Bonus: Worst Movie of January 2024

Fantastic 4, 2015 (2 Stars)

Yikes.

I was catching up on a lot of missed comic book movies and ended up watching this and I gave it 2 stars for Michael B Jordan basically.