I didn’t do one of these last year because, lbr, it feels kind of useless on LJ these days, but I watched/read/enjoyed a lot of great stuff this year (esp. TV) so I thought it would be fun to throw together a post using other people’s gifs, which lessens the effort on my part considerably. And who doesn’t love low effort? (It actually was still a fair amount of effort, oop.)
For a more complete but less chatty list, feel free to peek at my 2015 Scrapbook.
I don’t know why it took me so long to watch Penny Dreadful because it was basically made in a lab specifically for thirteen year old goth me and I mean that as the highest of compliments. I did do a post about this a little while ago. I’ve been an Eva fan since The Dreamers and, like many amazing actresses, TV is where she has finally been able to land a role that is both awesome enough to be worthy of her and allows her to show off the full range of her not inconsequential abilities. And lbr, I loved Josh Hartnett as a tween because who didn’t love him in 2003?
There are things that the show has done that I don’t agree with (SEMBENE) but on the whole it is just such a joy, for me personally. A lot of the shows on this list have given me that feeling of THIS IS JUST FOR ME which is such a nice thing to feel about a television show; it isn’t that it satisfies my littlest whims but that I know that I can totally trust in the show. I don’t have to worry about the rug getting pulled out from under me because I know more often than not I will like the things that it does. I’ve seen some people say that s2 wasn’t as good as s1, but honestly I thought it was better. WITH THE EXCEPTION OF SEMBENE, like I understand why that narrative choice was made but that does not mean I have to LIKE it.
This show… This show. Is my show. And I proselytize for it whenever the occasion arises, desperately, because I love it so. Every season I save up all the episodes and then binge them over two or three days because I CANNOT ABIDE the stress of waiting. It’s another show I loved from the pilot (from the advertising, lbr; FX does great ads for shows) and have continued to love and trust in and know that it will do shit I could not have predicted. One of my favorite things about The Americans is how long they will let a storyline burn. In season one, Philip enters into a second fake marriage with a woman they need to use for spying purposes. They are STILL FAKE MARRIED in season three and the plot hasn’t become tired or overstayed its welcome. This show is masterful at slow burns while still providing arcs contained by season. I can imagine that as an actor this show must be so fun, because you get to do all the badass actiony spy stuff but then it’s also a very well done character study and then it is ALSO an incredible marriage drama. I love marriage dramas, personally. And Elizabeth is probably one of my favorite fictional characters ever. I love women who are cold and capable and dedicated and ruthless and PISSED.
Lol. Just L O L. I have complicated emotions re: this show, because obviously there is something about it that appeals to me since I keep tuning in yet it can also vacillate between incredibly boring and incredibly rage-inducing. Also, like, why have I not learned from my Ryan Murphy mistakes? My favorite season was Asylum (which had P L E N T Y of issues), which I think Murphy had less involvement in, and last year’s Freak Show as the absolute worst, the worst, it was the worst. But I…am…loving…this…season. I DON’T KNOW. I love vampires! I love Old Hollywood! I love a Clark Kent looking motherfucker, and there are like eight of them on this season (oh god do I have the same taste in dudes as Ryan Murphy????)! Once upon a time I loved Lady Gaga, and I do still possess fond feelings for Stefi G. I don’t know. There is still time for betrayal (the end of the season is where AHS always goes belly up) but so far, so good for me.
I didn’t click with Jane the Virgin at first but I’m so, so, so, so, so eternally glad I stuck with it, because it’s one of my absolute favorite things on TV right now. It’s just so COMFORTING. I think there is a lack (at least, for me there was) of just a good, heartwarming, fun show. And a family-centric show too! It sort of fills a little bit of a combo Gilmore/Ugly Betty void for me, but I wouldn’t necessarily say it is like either of those shows; I might group them all as of a type, though. And the great thing about JtV is that it does the heartbreaking as well as it does the really broad telenovela stuff. It is really masterful at walking the fine line between wildly different tones and at the same time making them feel cohesive. Plus Gina Rodriguez is literally the puppetmaster of my emotions. She is on another level. When she cries, I cry. When she laughs, I laugh. (Tho tbh I mostly just cry when I watch this show no matter what is happening because it fill me with SUCH EMOTION.) Also how fuckin cute is that goddamn baby? I think JtV might be one of the more successful shows at integrating a baby into the fabric of the show without being dumb or irritating.
Like, with the title of this and the horrible promo, did anyone think that this would be a good show? I certainly didn’t, but a friend whose taste I trust (whenihithefloor) encouraged me to try it and I really love it so much! Mondays on the CW are my happy place, who could have ever guessed? This show is so weird – and I mean that in the best way – that I don’t even know what network would be a good fit for it, because it seems totally at odds with most of the CW’s programming. I thought the lead actress (plus writer and creator!) would be irritating based on commercials, but she is actually very talented and very charming. The songs are SO GOOD and SO HILARIOUS, you will be singing them for DAYS (I will linktosomemore). Plus it handles mental health stuff really well too!
I tried Looking when it first aired out of lifelong dedication to Jonathan Groff but it reallllly did not click for me – it just seemed like hip nonsense, beardy hipsters talking quietly in lowlit rooms. BUT then I accidentally caught some of s2 when it started (god help me, I think it came on either before or after Girls, which I was hatewatching at the time) and it finally did click for me, so I went back and rewatched the entire thing. I still don’t love s1 but IMO s2 was REALLY AMAZING which makes it even more disappointing that it’s been cancelled. The finale of s2 was one of my favorite episodes of TV of the last year, and maybe ever (?!?!??!), it was just such a great bottle episode. Groff is an absolute poodle and delight even when Patrick is being a total tragedy. I am at odds with most viewers, it seems, in that I do not care for the Favored Romance of the show, but tbh because the show keeps them apart (presumably for slowburn reasons?) a lot, it has no effect on me and I get to see more of the relationships I do like, lol.
A show both staggeringly hilarious and so relevant 2 my life, even if me and my bestie don’t get into half the zany shenans that Abbi and Ilana do. I don’t even know what to say besides listing glorious moments of the past season. Manuka honey! Trey’s porn career! THE EPISODE OF MANY PARTIES. VAL. V A L. Abbi getting stuck in that random hole and fantasizing about going to an extravagant flea market with Mark Ruffalo! I love that the show doesn’t consign Abbi to being the straight man to Ilana’s crazy, she’s just as absurd in her own way. Also love that their apartments look realistic and their jobs are shitty and they never have enough money for anything.
Pour one out!!!! Do you want to know something very embarrassing about me? I might have already told this story, because it seems all I do on the internet anymore is talk about how much I cry. But at some point, weeks ago, I was driving in my car and I started thinking about the finale of Mad Men and then I started thinking about how there would never be a new episode of Mad Men ever and I started CRYING like a total EMBARRASSMENT. I feel like that’s all I really need to say in relation to my dedication to this show. I still can’t believe it got SNUBBED at the Emmy’s and sweeped by Cesspool of Thrones and that neither Elisabeth Moss nor Christina Hendricks ever won an award for their work on this show. BULLSHIT. Mad Men is just the exact kind of thing I like – stylish, painful, and full of characters who only express about 15% of what they’re feeling at any given time. GIVE ME THAT SWEET, SWEET AMBIGUITY.
Okay, but who would ever think that a show about a cartoon horse would be a) this good, b) this emotionally SHATTERING? Another whenihithefloor rec that served me well, and a show that is maybe in a similar genre to CEG now that I think about it – just in combination of absurdity and pain, though BoJack is both a lot nuttier and a lot more poignant. When I first started watching it, I was like “eh, funny enough I guess” but then around episode 6 or 7 you start to feel a TURN and then by the end of s1 you are weeping, and then every episode of s2 is gold. I think that the animation/surrealism of the show is maybe what allows it to hit so hard when it comes to the Real Stuff. One thing I love about BoJack is how much it refuses pat conclusions, especially considering the show’s main character (BoJack, of course) made his fame on the kind of show that is nothing BUT pat conclusions. So I think he keeps looking for that, and we as people who are raised on television also can find ourselves looking for that, but we’re never gonna find it. So BoJack’s unhappy, BoJack gets everything he wants, BoJack is still unhappy, BoJack keeps trying, BoJack is continually unable to fill that void. And maybe he will never be able to. The show deals so much in what makes someone a good person / what makes someone TRY to be a good person, and most of the time it doesn’t come up with an answer.
It has been long enough that I kind of forgot the specifics of this show, lol, and all I am left with is a vague, pleasant feeling. I have gone on before about my love for Hayley Atwell (almost the whole reason I ever watched Cap in the first place, and thus became the tragedy I am today) and I love Peggy so much (I have Thoughts of a sort about the growing proliferation of the kinds of female protagonists that people often like to call Mary Sues, and how Mary Sues are actually pretty gr8) and I love lipstick and I love dresses. I like watching Hayley Atwell as Peggy kick butt in her nice dresses wearing her red lipstick. I loved the little cast of characters (minus the office dudes, which, very sadly, includes my darling Enver) and how they played off each other (my darling Jarvis & darling Angie & upcoming darling Jarvis’ wife!). So: a vague, pleasant blur. I didn’t think Deep Critical Thoughts about it for the most part but I loved watching it and that is enough 4 me.
Alright, so. I was COERCED by my sister into watching the first season of this show as it was airing, and I hated it. I hated every minute of it. I resolved not to watch s2 at all, but (apparently I easily fall prey to HBO’s programming schedule) it came on one day after John Oliver and I got hooked without knowing what I was watching. Season two opens with this pregnant woman in what appears to be prehistoric times losing her people in a cave collapse, then having her baby ALONE, then trying to save the baby, then getting bitten by some kind of poisonous snake, then dying slowly, and then the baby is found by another tribe (????). I was sitting there watching this unfold wondering what the fuck I was even watching, and when I finally checked to see what it was I was really surprised. And it really set the stage for what would be an utterly bizarre, very compelling, VERY risk-taking second season. The entire first episode of s2 didn’t follow ANY of the regular cast! They mains showed up towards the middle/end and it only focused on how they figured into the story of these new characters, who by that point I was already totally in love with (a couple played by the glorious Regina King and Kevin Carroll). The rest of the season continued to live up to the promise of that premiere for me, pretty much following a different character every episode but managing to make each highly compelling – even for characters I had not cared about previously. It spent an entire episode in the AFTERLIFE for god’s sake. It was truly weird, so so so weird, and I loved that. I love when shows just go off the fucking wall.
I had never seen any of the Mad Max movies and generally did not give one fuck until I heard the movie was making neckbeards uncomfortable, at which point I knew I had to support it monetarily. But I was really surprised by how much I genuinely loved it! (For the record, I do think the ~ultra so much very feminist~ claims are reaching, but the fact that all it took was a movie saying “oh yeah btw women are people and not things” for people to get all worked up is TELLING – that said, it was great to watch a film with such a female-heavy cast!) I really like highly visually stylized movies and it was very much a feast for the eyes, plus I thought it moved along at a great clip and managed to be very fast WITHOUT being straining to the eyes. I actually watched a making of type video about that – how they always made sure the important focal point of the scene was dead center so things could flash by very quickly but you would only need to look at one spot, so your eye wouldn’t get overwhelmed or confused. (TAKE NOTE, WHEDON, WHOSE FUCKIN SHOTS HAVE NO SENSE OF COMPOSITION ANYMORE.) The fact that it was basically a two hour chase scene and I was totally compelled speaks volumes to me, because usually I don’t care about that kind of thing. Big fan.
This was so good. First of all the cast was amazing (looove Tessa Thompson but really everyone was so good) and it just felt…fresh? Like so full of energy and passion, you could tell everyone involved felt so strongly about it. I would have loved it as a TV show, I really liked all the characters and felt like there was so much room for their stories to be ongoing. Really good movie, would recommend.
I have been really loving non-period piece Keira (though of course I still love period piece Keira!) and perhaps over-identified with her character in Laggies as a gal in her mid-20s who doesn’t know what the fuck she is doing. I thought she was very charming and normal and against all odds I was into the romance too.
Going to see Carol was one of the most luxury experiences of my young life. I only say so because it added to the movie watching experience; I saw it at the Angelika (where they SERVE COFFEE, all I ever want when I go to the movies is a goddamn cup of goddamn coffee) and my friend and I snuck in huge deli sandwiches and Laduree macarons. It was BEYOND. It may sound like I enjoyed the food more than the film, but this is not the case; it was truly a wonderful experience all around, merely enhanced by the delicious goodies. I have been a huge Todd Haynes fan since I was a wee lass and I continue to love his films for the same reason: the incredible eye for detail and his ability to craft such distinct atmospheres for each of his films that is unique and serves the story each film is telling. It was beautiful to look at and to listen to. I loved Rooney Mara in it, surprisingly, having not had very strong feelings for her prior. And tbh every day since I have seen it I have thought about it.
I really loved this. It had its iffy moments but I thought it was sharp and fun, and Chris Rock did a really great job all around. Rosario was straight perfect like she is in literally every project she deigns to put her name to (even the shitty ones) and I thought her character was great, plus she and Chris played off each other really well. They were very…exciting? to watch together. You know when chemistry is just so THERE? I would have enjoyed the movie if it was just the two of them walking around New York shooting the shit, but I really liked Chris’ character’s personal story/growth too. I love Hollywood movies – as in, movies about Hollywood and celebrity – and I think this was one of the better ones.
An utterly delightful Barbra movie full of shockingly gorgeous costumes, fun songs, Barbra’s delightful self, Barbra’s delightful fake English accent, and even a young Jack Nicholson as a sitar-playing hippie.
Get ready for the rest of the movies on this list to be Alicia Vikander movies. The first thing I saw her in was The Man from U.N.C.L.E., I guess? But I was definitely aware of her. And then after that I just started busting through her entire filmography and loving basically every movie of hers I watched. I just adore her. A Royal Affair was a movie I had heard a LOT of buzz about and a lot of fawning, so I went into it thinking it couldn’t possibly live up to the hype, but tbh it exceeded it. Just absolutely gutting. Wrenching. I had never seen Mads Mikkelsen in anything before and I was really blown away by his acting. You know, previously, when I saw gifs of him and stuff, I was always like, “Why is everyone losing their shit over this dude who looks like Voldemort?” But now I totally get it. The scene (spoiler alert) before he goes up to be executed, when you can see him realize exactly what is going to happen and that no one is going to save him – wow. Where was his Oscar for that? I wept so much watching this movie, and then I googled afterwards and was surprised to see that it seems to have been mostly factual! Which is like NEVER the case with historical dramas based on real events.
Speaking of ME CRYING (if I make it sound like I cry a lot, it’s because I cry a lot). I did not know anything about this movie before I watched it, and I honestly thought it was like a Titanic-style sweeping romance set against the backdrop of WWI, which is NOT WHAT IT WAS. It was actually an incisive portrait of war and grief from a totally female perspective. I am not sure I have seen many war movies from women’s PoVs, but bear in mind I am not a person who watches a lot of war movies. Gone with the Wind, I guess? If there are any great ones, please let me know! But I very much loved this movie, and I was ugly crying for most of it and then had a terrible headache. It was very beautiful. Jon Snow’s acting wasn’t bad, either.
I was pushed to finally watch this thanks to a great article by Genevieve Valentine that discussed it in relation to the recent Cinderella film and how both dealt with the topic of feminine transformation. Not being a general fan of things to do with robots but a fan of the cast, I wasn’t totally sure how I would feel about it. But I loved the look of it, and most of all the deeply unsettling atmosphere. I love movies where you don’t quite know what’s true and what’s false. I also love (I feel like this is creepy to say?) body horror, even though I also mostly can’t look at it, and indeed had to close my eyes through the entire scene of Caleb digging into his arm. I also LOVED the end, Ava using Caleb for her freedom and then fucking LEAVING him there, amazing.
This movie was just fun. Sometimes that is all you want or need! It was stylish, had an incredible soundtrack, great costumes, and was filled with beautiful people. Cut & print tbh. I know it bombed, but can it please get one sequel anyway? They’ll give sequels to anything these days! I just want ooooone more swanky 1960s spy movie! Just one more! Is that too much to ask, Guy Ritchie??? Is it??????
Honorable Mentions:
Bessie (2015)
I was pretty disappointed this didn't win any awards because I thought the movie was WONDERFUL. It really showcased an incredibly fascinating woman. I don’t remember hearing much buzz about it, but I liked it A LOT A LOT and would very much recommend it! Gorgeous 1920s outfits, great acting, interesting subject! I thought Queen Latifah was great, too.
The Danish Girl (2015)
I typed out a huge paragraph about this but then decided I didn't really want to get into it. I know a lot of people didn't care for it, and it got pretty mixed reviews, but I really enjoyed it. When the movie ended, all the ladies in the theater (me included) were crying and we literally ALL (like, a theater-full amount of people) had to sit there collecting ourselves and dabbing our tears for like ten minutes, lol.
Biggest disappointment:
Lady Chatterley’s Lover (2015)
Ugh. UGH. U G H. I read the book this year (see below) and I was terribly excited for the film, being as I am a big fan of both Holliday Grainger and Richard Madden. And I do think they were well cast and did as good a job as they could considering what they were given to work with. My issue with this adaptation was that they foregrounded the stories of the men (the husband and Ricard’s gamekeeper) when the book is 1000000% about Connie (Lady Chatterley) and entirely from her perspective. It is HER STORY and the goddamn movie didn’t even introduce her until like 10-15 minutes in! Connie got ZERO backstory, as though she did not exist before she married Clifford. The movie was too busy building up the manpain of the two male leads and building up some nonexistent relationship between them for…what purpose? So it could be all about how Clifford was betrayed by Mellors fucking his wife? I saw a LOT of sympathy for Clifford on the internet after this came out, which is so not the fucking point I could scream. Nothing like watching a book you love get shit all over!
The Coldest Girl in Coldtown, Holly Black
I loved Holly Black books when I was an actual tweenager, and in the last year I decided to read a couple of her more recent releases. And I really enjoyed them! I thought The Coldest Girl in Coldtown was actually a very unique and interesting take on vampires, which is few and far between these days. I think Holly Black is pretty good at creating very tangible worlds populated with fun, interesting characters.
Caucasia, Danzy Senna
I read this on the recommendation of a friend, and I am so glad I did. The story follows a biracial girl in Boston in the 70s who is forced after her parents’ divorce (and some illegal activity her mother is involved in) to spend years passing as white. It is very much a coming of age story complicated by a lot of other things, and it was rich and beautifully written. I’m not really doing it justice. It was fantastic.
Summer, Edith Wharton
A relatively short novel by my girl Edith about a young girl, Charity Royall, who is desperate for some excitement in her REALLY VERY sleepy town, and ends up embarking on this affair with a visiting rich boy. It is a surprisingly sexy book! A period novel focused on a young woman’s coming of age and sexuality! There is a scene where she goes to the rich boy’s house to talk to him but she ends up just sort of creeping on him through the window and it is yes, creepy and you should not creep on people through windows, but it’s also hot? I really loved Charity too, she was such a strong and forceful presence, which makes it even sadder when she’s sort of crushed at the end, because Edith Wharton won’t leave anyone ALONE, goddammit Edith.
The Fever,Megan Abbott
I went HAM on Megan Abbott this year, and I sort of wanted to pick one book as a representative, but it was hard because I’ve loved every book of hers I read. I do think I may have particularly loved The Fever (oh man, Queenpin though), which revolves around a mysterious illness that seems to be afflicting girls at this high school, and the mystery of what’s going on/how much of it is hysteria/etc. I just love Megan Abbott’s whole deal, the way she writes, the themes of her novels, all of it. One of my favorite writers.
Lady Chatterley’s Lover, D.H. Lawrence
I always suspected ol D.H. and I would have our day together, and I was not wrong. This is the only book of his I’ve read so far but I’m eager to read more. I was really quite taken with it. I even found it kind of scandalous still – not because of the sex, hello, it’s 2015/6 – but because it was SO blunt about sex and romance and relationships, in a way that would be startling NOW, let alone in 1928. And, you know, for a male writer in the 1920s writing from the point of view of a woman, I was…not half as offended as I thought I would be? Lol that seems like a bad way to phrase it. But I really loved Connie and loved her perspective and thought she actually felt quite real.
WHEW that was a lot of me saying stuff. Please throw me recs if you got ‘em! I have been watching Mr. Robot lately and enjoying it, which I did not expect.
For a more complete but less chatty list, feel free to peek at my 2015 Scrapbook.
You’re the Worst is my favorite show. I remember I loved the first season so intensely that I tried to start several posts on it here but each time I chickened out because I loved it TOO much and therefore could not bear it if someone I recommended it to did not like it, lol. A lot of shows that reach the top of the top for me personally are shows that I not only love, but feel JEALOUS of, like: I wish I had written that. And I think if I ever in this life were able to write for or create a TV show (hahahahaha), I would want it to be a lot like this. Funny and mean and true, heartfelt but pretending very hard it is not, emotional without being precious about it. MY SHOW. I tend to lean towards critical darlings with no viewers, but I think s2 thankfully got some more attention. Bless FX, the network that never cancels the shows I love even if no one but me is watching them, because it really allows them to grow and pick up momentum and do unexpected things. Not everything can prove itself right away, you know? (Though for me, I was sold on this show from the pilot, lol.) Anywhere else would have dropped this show and then we would not have gotten any of the incredible stuff that followed.
I don’t know why it took me so long to watch Penny Dreadful because it was basically made in a lab specifically for thirteen year old goth me and I mean that as the highest of compliments. I did do a post about this a little while ago. I’ve been an Eva fan since The Dreamers and, like many amazing actresses, TV is where she has finally been able to land a role that is both awesome enough to be worthy of her and allows her to show off the full range of her not inconsequential abilities. And lbr, I loved Josh Hartnett as a tween because who didn’t love him in 2003?
There are things that the show has done that I don’t agree with (SEMBENE) but on the whole it is just such a joy, for me personally. A lot of the shows on this list have given me that feeling of THIS IS JUST FOR ME which is such a nice thing to feel about a television show; it isn’t that it satisfies my littlest whims but that I know that I can totally trust in the show. I don’t have to worry about the rug getting pulled out from under me because I know more often than not I will like the things that it does. I’ve seen some people say that s2 wasn’t as good as s1, but honestly I thought it was better. WITH THE EXCEPTION OF SEMBENE, like I understand why that narrative choice was made but that does not mean I have to LIKE it.
This show… This show. Is my show. And I proselytize for it whenever the occasion arises, desperately, because I love it so. Every season I save up all the episodes and then binge them over two or three days because I CANNOT ABIDE the stress of waiting. It’s another show I loved from the pilot (from the advertising, lbr; FX does great ads for shows) and have continued to love and trust in and know that it will do shit I could not have predicted. One of my favorite things about The Americans is how long they will let a storyline burn. In season one, Philip enters into a second fake marriage with a woman they need to use for spying purposes. They are STILL FAKE MARRIED in season three and the plot hasn’t become tired or overstayed its welcome. This show is masterful at slow burns while still providing arcs contained by season. I can imagine that as an actor this show must be so fun, because you get to do all the badass actiony spy stuff but then it’s also a very well done character study and then it is ALSO an incredible marriage drama. I love marriage dramas, personally. And Elizabeth is probably one of my favorite fictional characters ever. I love women who are cold and capable and dedicated and ruthless and PISSED.
Lol. Just L O L. I have complicated emotions re: this show, because obviously there is something about it that appeals to me since I keep tuning in yet it can also vacillate between incredibly boring and incredibly rage-inducing. Also, like, why have I not learned from my Ryan Murphy mistakes? My favorite season was Asylum (which had P L E N T Y of issues), which I think Murphy had less involvement in, and last year’s Freak Show as the absolute worst, the worst, it was the worst. But I…am…loving…this…season. I DON’T KNOW. I love vampires! I love Old Hollywood! I love a Clark Kent looking motherfucker, and there are like eight of them on this season (oh god do I have the same taste in dudes as Ryan Murphy????)! Once upon a time I loved Lady Gaga, and I do still possess fond feelings for Stefi G. I don’t know. There is still time for betrayal (the end of the season is where AHS always goes belly up) but so far, so good for me.
I didn’t click with Jane the Virgin at first but I’m so, so, so, so, so eternally glad I stuck with it, because it’s one of my absolute favorite things on TV right now. It’s just so COMFORTING. I think there is a lack (at least, for me there was) of just a good, heartwarming, fun show. And a family-centric show too! It sort of fills a little bit of a combo Gilmore/Ugly Betty void for me, but I wouldn’t necessarily say it is like either of those shows; I might group them all as of a type, though. And the great thing about JtV is that it does the heartbreaking as well as it does the really broad telenovela stuff. It is really masterful at walking the fine line between wildly different tones and at the same time making them feel cohesive. Plus Gina Rodriguez is literally the puppetmaster of my emotions. She is on another level. When she cries, I cry. When she laughs, I laugh. (Tho tbh I mostly just cry when I watch this show no matter what is happening because it fill me with SUCH EMOTION.) Also how fuckin cute is that goddamn baby? I think JtV might be one of the more successful shows at integrating a baby into the fabric of the show without being dumb or irritating.
CRAZY EX-GIRLFRIEND
Like, with the title of this and the horrible promo, did anyone think that this would be a good show? I certainly didn’t, but a friend whose taste I trust (whenihithefloor) encouraged me to try it and I really love it so much! Mondays on the CW are my happy place, who could have ever guessed? This show is so weird – and I mean that in the best way – that I don’t even know what network would be a good fit for it, because it seems totally at odds with most of the CW’s programming. I thought the lead actress (plus writer and creator!) would be irritating based on commercials, but she is actually very talented and very charming. The songs are SO GOOD and SO HILARIOUS, you will be singing them for DAYS (I will linktosomemore). Plus it handles mental health stuff really well too!
I tried Looking when it first aired out of lifelong dedication to Jonathan Groff but it reallllly did not click for me – it just seemed like hip nonsense, beardy hipsters talking quietly in lowlit rooms. BUT then I accidentally caught some of s2 when it started (god help me, I think it came on either before or after Girls, which I was hatewatching at the time) and it finally did click for me, so I went back and rewatched the entire thing. I still don’t love s1 but IMO s2 was REALLY AMAZING which makes it even more disappointing that it’s been cancelled. The finale of s2 was one of my favorite episodes of TV of the last year, and maybe ever (?!?!??!), it was just such a great bottle episode. Groff is an absolute poodle and delight even when Patrick is being a total tragedy. I am at odds with most viewers, it seems, in that I do not care for the Favored Romance of the show, but tbh because the show keeps them apart (presumably for slowburn reasons?) a lot, it has no effect on me and I get to see more of the relationships I do like, lol.
A show both staggeringly hilarious and so relevant 2 my life, even if me and my bestie don’t get into half the zany shenans that Abbi and Ilana do. I don’t even know what to say besides listing glorious moments of the past season. Manuka honey! Trey’s porn career! THE EPISODE OF MANY PARTIES. VAL. V A L. Abbi getting stuck in that random hole and fantasizing about going to an extravagant flea market with Mark Ruffalo! I love that the show doesn’t consign Abbi to being the straight man to Ilana’s crazy, she’s just as absurd in her own way. Also love that their apartments look realistic and their jobs are shitty and they never have enough money for anything.
Pour one out!!!! Do you want to know something very embarrassing about me? I might have already told this story, because it seems all I do on the internet anymore is talk about how much I cry. But at some point, weeks ago, I was driving in my car and I started thinking about the finale of Mad Men and then I started thinking about how there would never be a new episode of Mad Men ever and I started CRYING like a total EMBARRASSMENT. I feel like that’s all I really need to say in relation to my dedication to this show. I still can’t believe it got SNUBBED at the Emmy’s and sweeped by Cesspool of Thrones and that neither Elisabeth Moss nor Christina Hendricks ever won an award for their work on this show. BULLSHIT. Mad Men is just the exact kind of thing I like – stylish, painful, and full of characters who only express about 15% of what they’re feeling at any given time. GIVE ME THAT SWEET, SWEET AMBIGUITY.
Okay, but who would ever think that a show about a cartoon horse would be a) this good, b) this emotionally SHATTERING? Another whenihithefloor rec that served me well, and a show that is maybe in a similar genre to CEG now that I think about it – just in combination of absurdity and pain, though BoJack is both a lot nuttier and a lot more poignant. When I first started watching it, I was like “eh, funny enough I guess” but then around episode 6 or 7 you start to feel a TURN and then by the end of s1 you are weeping, and then every episode of s2 is gold. I think that the animation/surrealism of the show is maybe what allows it to hit so hard when it comes to the Real Stuff. One thing I love about BoJack is how much it refuses pat conclusions, especially considering the show’s main character (BoJack, of course) made his fame on the kind of show that is nothing BUT pat conclusions. So I think he keeps looking for that, and we as people who are raised on television also can find ourselves looking for that, but we’re never gonna find it. So BoJack’s unhappy, BoJack gets everything he wants, BoJack is still unhappy, BoJack keeps trying, BoJack is continually unable to fill that void. And maybe he will never be able to. The show deals so much in what makes someone a good person / what makes someone TRY to be a good person, and most of the time it doesn’t come up with an answer.
It has been long enough that I kind of forgot the specifics of this show, lol, and all I am left with is a vague, pleasant feeling. I have gone on before about my love for Hayley Atwell (almost the whole reason I ever watched Cap in the first place, and thus became the tragedy I am today) and I love Peggy so much (I have Thoughts of a sort about the growing proliferation of the kinds of female protagonists that people often like to call Mary Sues, and how Mary Sues are actually pretty gr8) and I love lipstick and I love dresses. I like watching Hayley Atwell as Peggy kick butt in her nice dresses wearing her red lipstick. I loved the little cast of characters (minus the office dudes, which, very sadly, includes my darling Enver) and how they played off each other (my darling Jarvis & darling Angie & upcoming darling Jarvis’ wife!). So: a vague, pleasant blur. I didn’t think Deep Critical Thoughts about it for the most part but I loved watching it and that is enough 4 me.
Alright, so. I was COERCED by my sister into watching the first season of this show as it was airing, and I hated it. I hated every minute of it. I resolved not to watch s2 at all, but (apparently I easily fall prey to HBO’s programming schedule) it came on one day after John Oliver and I got hooked without knowing what I was watching. Season two opens with this pregnant woman in what appears to be prehistoric times losing her people in a cave collapse, then having her baby ALONE, then trying to save the baby, then getting bitten by some kind of poisonous snake, then dying slowly, and then the baby is found by another tribe (????). I was sitting there watching this unfold wondering what the fuck I was even watching, and when I finally checked to see what it was I was really surprised. And it really set the stage for what would be an utterly bizarre, very compelling, VERY risk-taking second season. The entire first episode of s2 didn’t follow ANY of the regular cast! They mains showed up towards the middle/end and it only focused on how they figured into the story of these new characters, who by that point I was already totally in love with (a couple played by the glorious Regina King and Kevin Carroll). The rest of the season continued to live up to the promise of that premiere for me, pretty much following a different character every episode but managing to make each highly compelling – even for characters I had not cared about previously. It spent an entire episode in the AFTERLIFE for god’s sake. It was truly weird, so so so weird, and I loved that. I love when shows just go off the fucking wall.
T O P 1 0 M O V I E S
I had never seen any of the Mad Max movies and generally did not give one fuck until I heard the movie was making neckbeards uncomfortable, at which point I knew I had to support it monetarily. But I was really surprised by how much I genuinely loved it! (For the record, I do think the ~ultra so much very feminist~ claims are reaching, but the fact that all it took was a movie saying “oh yeah btw women are people and not things” for people to get all worked up is TELLING – that said, it was great to watch a film with such a female-heavy cast!) I really like highly visually stylized movies and it was very much a feast for the eyes, plus I thought it moved along at a great clip and managed to be very fast WITHOUT being straining to the eyes. I actually watched a making of type video about that – how they always made sure the important focal point of the scene was dead center so things could flash by very quickly but you would only need to look at one spot, so your eye wouldn’t get overwhelmed or confused. (TAKE NOTE, WHEDON, WHOSE FUCKIN SHOTS HAVE NO SENSE OF COMPOSITION ANYMORE.) The fact that it was basically a two hour chase scene and I was totally compelled speaks volumes to me, because usually I don’t care about that kind of thing. Big fan.
This was so good. First of all the cast was amazing (looove Tessa Thompson but really everyone was so good) and it just felt…fresh? Like so full of energy and passion, you could tell everyone involved felt so strongly about it. I would have loved it as a TV show, I really liked all the characters and felt like there was so much room for their stories to be ongoing. Really good movie, would recommend.
I have been really loving non-period piece Keira (though of course I still love period piece Keira!) and perhaps over-identified with her character in Laggies as a gal in her mid-20s who doesn’t know what the fuck she is doing. I thought she was very charming and normal and against all odds I was into the romance too.
Going to see Carol was one of the most luxury experiences of my young life. I only say so because it added to the movie watching experience; I saw it at the Angelika (where they SERVE COFFEE, all I ever want when I go to the movies is a goddamn cup of goddamn coffee) and my friend and I snuck in huge deli sandwiches and Laduree macarons. It was BEYOND. It may sound like I enjoyed the food more than the film, but this is not the case; it was truly a wonderful experience all around, merely enhanced by the delicious goodies. I have been a huge Todd Haynes fan since I was a wee lass and I continue to love his films for the same reason: the incredible eye for detail and his ability to craft such distinct atmospheres for each of his films that is unique and serves the story each film is telling. It was beautiful to look at and to listen to. I loved Rooney Mara in it, surprisingly, having not had very strong feelings for her prior. And tbh every day since I have seen it I have thought about it.
TOP FIVE (2014)
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[ i could not find ANY GIFS for this movie so i got this from google ]
[ i could not find ANY GIFS for this movie so i got this from google ]
I really loved this. It had its iffy moments but I thought it was sharp and fun, and Chris Rock did a really great job all around. Rosario was straight perfect like she is in literally every project she deigns to put her name to (even the shitty ones) and I thought her character was great, plus she and Chris played off each other really well. They were very…exciting? to watch together. You know when chemistry is just so THERE? I would have enjoyed the movie if it was just the two of them walking around New York shooting the shit, but I really liked Chris’ character’s personal story/growth too. I love Hollywood movies – as in, movies about Hollywood and celebrity – and I think this was one of the better ones.
An utterly delightful Barbra movie full of shockingly gorgeous costumes, fun songs, Barbra’s delightful self, Barbra’s delightful fake English accent, and even a young Jack Nicholson as a sitar-playing hippie.
Get ready for the rest of the movies on this list to be Alicia Vikander movies. The first thing I saw her in was The Man from U.N.C.L.E., I guess? But I was definitely aware of her. And then after that I just started busting through her entire filmography and loving basically every movie of hers I watched. I just adore her. A Royal Affair was a movie I had heard a LOT of buzz about and a lot of fawning, so I went into it thinking it couldn’t possibly live up to the hype, but tbh it exceeded it. Just absolutely gutting. Wrenching. I had never seen Mads Mikkelsen in anything before and I was really blown away by his acting. You know, previously, when I saw gifs of him and stuff, I was always like, “Why is everyone losing their shit over this dude who looks like Voldemort?” But now I totally get it. The scene (spoiler alert) before he goes up to be executed, when you can see him realize exactly what is going to happen and that no one is going to save him – wow. Where was his Oscar for that? I wept so much watching this movie, and then I googled afterwards and was surprised to see that it seems to have been mostly factual! Which is like NEVER the case with historical dramas based on real events.
Speaking of ME CRYING (if I make it sound like I cry a lot, it’s because I cry a lot). I did not know anything about this movie before I watched it, and I honestly thought it was like a Titanic-style sweeping romance set against the backdrop of WWI, which is NOT WHAT IT WAS. It was actually an incisive portrait of war and grief from a totally female perspective. I am not sure I have seen many war movies from women’s PoVs, but bear in mind I am not a person who watches a lot of war movies. Gone with the Wind, I guess? If there are any great ones, please let me know! But I very much loved this movie, and I was ugly crying for most of it and then had a terrible headache. It was very beautiful. Jon Snow’s acting wasn’t bad, either.
I was pushed to finally watch this thanks to a great article by Genevieve Valentine that discussed it in relation to the recent Cinderella film and how both dealt with the topic of feminine transformation. Not being a general fan of things to do with robots but a fan of the cast, I wasn’t totally sure how I would feel about it. But I loved the look of it, and most of all the deeply unsettling atmosphere. I love movies where you don’t quite know what’s true and what’s false. I also love (I feel like this is creepy to say?) body horror, even though I also mostly can’t look at it, and indeed had to close my eyes through the entire scene of Caleb digging into his arm. I also LOVED the end, Ava using Caleb for her freedom and then fucking LEAVING him there, amazing.
This movie was just fun. Sometimes that is all you want or need! It was stylish, had an incredible soundtrack, great costumes, and was filled with beautiful people. Cut & print tbh. I know it bombed, but can it please get one sequel anyway? They’ll give sequels to anything these days! I just want ooooone more swanky 1960s spy movie! Just one more! Is that too much to ask, Guy Ritchie??? Is it??????
Honorable Mentions:
Bessie (2015)
I was pretty disappointed this didn't win any awards because I thought the movie was WONDERFUL. It really showcased an incredibly fascinating woman. I don’t remember hearing much buzz about it, but I liked it A LOT A LOT and would very much recommend it! Gorgeous 1920s outfits, great acting, interesting subject! I thought Queen Latifah was great, too.
The Danish Girl (2015)
I typed out a huge paragraph about this but then decided I didn't really want to get into it. I know a lot of people didn't care for it, and it got pretty mixed reviews, but I really enjoyed it. When the movie ended, all the ladies in the theater (me included) were crying and we literally ALL (like, a theater-full amount of people) had to sit there collecting ourselves and dabbing our tears for like ten minutes, lol.
Biggest disappointment:
Lady Chatterley’s Lover (2015)
Ugh. UGH. U G H. I read the book this year (see below) and I was terribly excited for the film, being as I am a big fan of both Holliday Grainger and Richard Madden. And I do think they were well cast and did as good a job as they could considering what they were given to work with. My issue with this adaptation was that they foregrounded the stories of the men (the husband and Ricard’s gamekeeper) when the book is 1000000% about Connie (Lady Chatterley) and entirely from her perspective. It is HER STORY and the goddamn movie didn’t even introduce her until like 10-15 minutes in! Connie got ZERO backstory, as though she did not exist before she married Clifford. The movie was too busy building up the manpain of the two male leads and building up some nonexistent relationship between them for…what purpose? So it could be all about how Clifford was betrayed by Mellors fucking his wife? I saw a LOT of sympathy for Clifford on the internet after this came out, which is so not the fucking point I could scream. Nothing like watching a book you love get shit all over!
T O P 5 B O O K S
The Coldest Girl in Coldtown, Holly Black
I loved Holly Black books when I was an actual tweenager, and in the last year I decided to read a couple of her more recent releases. And I really enjoyed them! I thought The Coldest Girl in Coldtown was actually a very unique and interesting take on vampires, which is few and far between these days. I think Holly Black is pretty good at creating very tangible worlds populated with fun, interesting characters.
Caucasia, Danzy Senna
I read this on the recommendation of a friend, and I am so glad I did. The story follows a biracial girl in Boston in the 70s who is forced after her parents’ divorce (and some illegal activity her mother is involved in) to spend years passing as white. It is very much a coming of age story complicated by a lot of other things, and it was rich and beautifully written. I’m not really doing it justice. It was fantastic.
Summer, Edith Wharton
A relatively short novel by my girl Edith about a young girl, Charity Royall, who is desperate for some excitement in her REALLY VERY sleepy town, and ends up embarking on this affair with a visiting rich boy. It is a surprisingly sexy book! A period novel focused on a young woman’s coming of age and sexuality! There is a scene where she goes to the rich boy’s house to talk to him but she ends up just sort of creeping on him through the window and it is yes, creepy and you should not creep on people through windows, but it’s also hot? I really loved Charity too, she was such a strong and forceful presence, which makes it even sadder when she’s sort of crushed at the end, because Edith Wharton won’t leave anyone ALONE, goddammit Edith.
The Fever,Megan Abbott
I went HAM on Megan Abbott this year, and I sort of wanted to pick one book as a representative, but it was hard because I’ve loved every book of hers I read. I do think I may have particularly loved The Fever (oh man, Queenpin though), which revolves around a mysterious illness that seems to be afflicting girls at this high school, and the mystery of what’s going on/how much of it is hysteria/etc. I just love Megan Abbott’s whole deal, the way she writes, the themes of her novels, all of it. One of my favorite writers.
Lady Chatterley’s Lover, D.H. Lawrence
I always suspected ol D.H. and I would have our day together, and I was not wrong. This is the only book of his I’ve read so far but I’m eager to read more. I was really quite taken with it. I even found it kind of scandalous still – not because of the sex, hello, it’s 2015/6 – but because it was SO blunt about sex and romance and relationships, in a way that would be startling NOW, let alone in 1928. And, you know, for a male writer in the 1920s writing from the point of view of a woman, I was…not half as offended as I thought I would be? Lol that seems like a bad way to phrase it. But I really loved Connie and loved her perspective and thought she actually felt quite real.
WHEW that was a lot of me saying stuff. Please throw me recs if you got ‘em! I have been watching Mr. Robot lately and enjoying it, which I did not expect.