June was a wonderful month of watching so many great movies–some old favorites (during our camping trip) and some new ones and even two in the theater. We also enjoyed several episodes of a couple of TV series we are still enjoying.
Movies.
1.Casino Royale. When we went camping, we got to enjoy re-watching this all time favorite of mine. I am a HUGE 007 fan and in my humble opinion–the Daniel Craig ones are the best of them all. It’s Rated PG-13.
2. Black Widow. This was another camping trip re-watch and one we’ve seen a few times. I remember when it first came out I had kind of a “meh” attitude about it. But now it is a favorite. I absolutely LOVE Natasha Romanov’s “family”–especially her sister and Dad.
3. The Expendables (1, 2, 3, and 4). We were in the mood for some mindless action movies and our boys had never seen these. The acting is quite terrible, and the action scenes are WAY over the top impossible stunts. But I enjoyed seeing them again. I think our boys tolerated them and didn’t enjoy them much. They’re all Rated R.
4. Disclosure Day. This is a new movie that we got to see in theaters–Grayson went with his girlfriend, Super Rockstar and I went–just us, and Morgan wasn’t interested in seeing it, so he caught the Backrooms movie again in the theater. I will say that even though I have no desire to see Backrooms (it’s a horror movie), I think we all agreed that Morgan had the best movie watching experience that day. Disclosure Day just wasn’t that good. I wanted it to be good. It just wasn’t. It was a lot of story and the ending (the big reveal about aliens) was met with awe and wonder and even tears of joy. That was the most unbelievable part of the movie. I just don’t think it’s realistic in this day and age of fake news and AI that we would learn about aliens being real and react with amazement. I think that our first reaction would be doubt and skepticism. And the second reaction would be fear, not joy. Even all that aside, it just wasn’t that great of a movie. It’s Rated PG-13.
5. Michael. I’ve been looking forward to seeing this movie based on the life of Michael Jackson. We deemed it a rental, so we had to wait longer than I wanted to. But it was worth the wait. I really enjoyed it a lot. I was a big fan back in the day and truly believe he was a musical genius and master choreographer. His nephew, Jaafar Jackson, does a great job portraying him and I’m looking forward to the continuation of the story in a part 2 they plan to make. My only criticism is that I felt like they spent too much time on the portrayal of Joseph Jackson (the father). I wanted to hear more of the music. Rated PG-13.
6. Platoon. I’ve mentioned before how much my older son, Morgan, loves war movies. He especially loves WWI and WWII, but had been curious about this movie about the Vietnam war. Super Rockstar and I had seen it many, many years ago. I wish we would have read up on it before assuming that the nature of the movie was similar to other war movies we have allowed our boys to watch. About halfway through, it takes a dark turn and portrays the American soldiers brutally murdering, torturing, and mistreating some innocent villagers. That’s when our boys asked to stop watching. I’m so glad they did. It was very disturbing. Also, even though there are several big name actors in it, the acting is pretty terrible all around. I don’t recommend it at all. Rated R.
7. The Pirates! Band of Misfits. When we shut off Platoon, we needed something fun and lighthearted to wash it out of our brains. This is a long time favorite of the boys and we all loved seeing it again. It’s a wonderful animated movie about a pirate who is longing to win the coveted “Pirate of the Year” award, but he is not very good at “pirating”. He learns that his beloved parrot, Polly, is not a parrot at all. She is a thought to be extinct Dodo bird. The Queen of England wants it and is willing to pay handsomely. It’s such a fun movie and it certainly did the trick of helping us forget about Platoon. Rated PG.
8. Toy Story 5. This was definitely a theater worthy movie and we got to see it opening weekend. I love, love, love, love, LOVED it. I was worried that them trying to continue the story would fall flat–especially since it’s all about the toys having to compete with electronics. But they did a beautiful job. Such a funny, heartwarming and wonderful movie. We all loved it and will be seeing it again soon. Rated PG.
9. Nobody. I’ve been wanting to see this movie for a while and finally convinced my family to watch it. It stars, Bob Odenkird (Better Call Saul, Breaking Bad) as a boring dad leading a boring life whose family (and really nobody else) respects. Everything changes when some burglars break in at night and they are thought to have stolen his daughter’s kitty cat bracelet. We learn that he wasn’t always a boring dad leading such a boring life. It’s a really good action movie with kind of a John Wick meets Home Alone feel. We all really enjoyed it. Rated R.
TV Shows.
1. For All Mankind–Season 2. I’ve been torn about my enjoyment of the show vs how much sexual content there is. Whereas there were hints of homosexual relationships in the first season, it explodes in season 2. There was also a sex scene between a mom and much younger man. This show has those kinds of elements that seem so unnecessarily uncomfortable that I found myself uncertain if we will continue watching it. I did enjoy that this season had them setting up a base on the moon and the tensions with Russia ramp up. We are nearly through season 3 now (it’s all about Mars) but may choose to not watch the rest of the series. It’s rated TV-MA.
2. Dutton Ranch. Now this show I love. There are only a couple of episodes left in this first season (we only get to see one a week) and I am enjoying all that makes Taylor Sheridan shows so good. Rated TV-MA.
That’s all for now. I can’t wait until July–so many movie theater movies to go see!