Tuesday, December 31, 2019

2020 New Years Goals + Looking Ahead

A new year is almost here. So it's time to reflect about last year's resolutions and make new ones for the new year. I honestly anticipated to have stopped blogging in 2019. Yet I somehow managed to do more than what I set out to achieve or thought was possible.


The Good

2019 was a wild year of experiences I never expected to happen, and a lot of goals that I happily met. I think turning 30 in December was a big motivator for me. *sobs into the void*

Goals I managed to complete last year: saw Hugh Jackman in concert, finished Game of Thrones before the last season started, won tickets to Florence and the Machine, attended MegaCon Orlando, visited Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge, and survived Halloween Horror Nights. And I met John Barrowman and David Tennant!!!!! They're still the highlights of the year for me.

I also completed a 30 day Yoga with Adrienne challenge - I missed a few days but instead of giving up, I pushed through. Now I do yoga a few times a week as it helps with anxiety. 

Hit my 20+ book goodreads challenge. This is the first time in forever I met one of my reading goals.

I failed to limit my coffee intake to the weekends, but I managed it more than I thought I would. Drinking tea was helpful as I enjoyed the variety of flavors more, but coffee is still that vice I have when I'm stressed out, which was a lot this year.

Thursday, December 26, 2019

Some Ways I Stayed Sane in 2019

Who would've thought 2019 would've been as hectic and lackluster as 2018? The dumpster fire that is politics, cancel culture absurdity, and hopelessness in the news inspired me to highlight some moments that helped me feel like last year wasn't a waste. Similarly, even though this year was still ablaze, I managed to stay sane for the most part. But not without a lot of help. Here are a few reasons why. How did you manage to stay sane this year? Let me know in the comments below!


This post contains spoilers for Avengers: Endgame - read at your own risk.


Saturday, December 21, 2019

Star Wars: The Rise Of Skywalker (2019) Malfunctioned Beyond All Repair

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker movie review
Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures
Since legendary filmmaker George Lucas changed movie history with a little space opera called Star Wars (1977), generations of fans have been obsessed with the imaginative sci-fi universe he created.  Slated to tell the story of the Skywalker clan over the course of nine movies, it’s been written in the stars that the epic saga would eventually close this chapter forever. Expected to stick the franchise’s landing with the latest trilogy The Force Awakens (2015) and The Last Jedi (2017), its final film The Rise of Skywalker is not the finale many of us were looking for.

In 2015, the Star Wars legacy was reignited with director and writer JJ Abrams’s The Force Awakens. A ragtag group of heroes fighting against the Empire 2.0 hit too close to home with A New Hope, but offered a chance to connect with a younger generation of characters and explore new plots. Namely, why did Luke Skywalker disappear? How did Ben Solo’s relationship with his uncle turn him to the dark side of the Force? Who was Rey from nowhere? The film was filled with endless possibilities that unraveled in the divisive follow-up The Last Jedi. Trying to answer as many questions as possible while also subverting expectations, director and writer Rian Johnson planted fresh ideas about failure in the Star Wars mythos. It gave us the chance to imagine Star Wars if it didn’t act like a formulaic blockbuster Star Wars film. Given full reigns to reinsert his own character development and plot, Abrams returned to throw everything at the wall and give fans the climatic finale they wanted. But it’s also one that we never imagined and might not have realistically needed.

After The Resistance led by General Leia Organa (Carrie Fisher) escapes The First Order, Rey (Daisy Ridley) is tasked with completing her Jedi training to take down Kylo Ren (Adam Driver). When the prince of darkness makes an unexpected reunion with the invincible Sith Lord Emperor Palpatine, both Rey and Kylo's connection to The Force will drive them to confront their biggest fears and darkest secrets.

This review contains spoilers from the film - read at your own risk.

Monday, December 9, 2019

Joker (2019) Makes Clowns Of Us All

Joker movie review
Warner Bros. Pictures
Box office dominance, Academy Award victories, and a stream of superhero movies slated for the next five years. All signs point to comic book movies not going away any time soon. As traditional filmmakers call out the formulaic scope of CGI thrills, it seems like the genre is still due for a timely swing in a different direction - a grim character study, subtle comic mythology, and a thought-provoking message about the state of the world. Joker is the first to step up to the plate, and then misses the mark on such an impressive scale, I was left laughing until it hurt.

Living in the slums of Gotham City with his troubled mother, social outcast, party clown, and aspiring comedian Arthur Fleck (Joaquin Phoenix) struggles with his mental illness. As ruthless street punks, his boss, a late night talk show host, and society seemingly have out for him, Fleck wrestles to fulfill his aspirations of putting on a happy face and making the world smile. Subsequently, the ostracization he endures drives him closer to becoming the nihilistic criminal he abhors.


Sunday, December 8, 2019

Trailer Reaction: Black Widow (2020)

After helping The Avengers lead their missions from one global catastrophe to another, the former Russian spy Natasha Romanoff finally has her own spin-off. As the first solo female-led flick from the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the dots are starting to connect about Black Widow's past.

Ten years in the making, the first look at Black Widow (2020) with a brand new trailer might just answer some long-anticipated questions about the mysterious superhero.

This post contains spoilers from Avengers: Endgame. Read at your own risk. Let's get into the newest trailer.

Friday, November 29, 2019

(Spoiler Free) Knives Out (2019) Resurrects The Who Dun It Genre

Knives Out movie review
Knives Out / Lionsgate
Every once in a while, a movie comes along that manages to hit all the right spots - funny, suspenseful, detailed production design, fantastic cast, a real entertaining thrill ride. As the film industry is in the throes of artful cinema versus blockbuster cinema, sometimes you need a director who can kind of do both. Enter Rian Johnson.

On his 85th birthday, acclaimed mystery writer Harlan Thrombey (Christopher Plummer) dies unexpectedly and leaves his entire family grasping at straws over his passing. Renown detective Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig) comes in to investigate and teams up with local Thrombey fanboy Trooper Wagner (Noah Segan) and Detective Lieutenant Elliot (Lakeith Stanfield) to find out the truth. With a massive estate on the line, what is initially ruled as a suicide unravels into a much deeper mystery where everyone - Thrombey's goodhearted nurse Marta (Ana De Armas) and his whole family Ransom Drysdale (Chris Evans), Linda Drysdale (Jamie Lee Curtis), Walter Thrombey (Michael Shannon), Richard Drysdale (Don Johnson), Joni Thrombey (Toni Collette), Meg Thrombey (Katharine Langford), Jacob Thrombey (Jaeden Martell) - are a suspect for Harlan's murder.

Monday, November 25, 2019

Maiden (2018) Shows Courage Against All The Odds

Maiden documentary review
Sony Pictures Classics
Rarely does history feel like its shifting when the status quo remains the same. Yet when we look on the past as a kaleidoscope of groundbreaking events in politics, entertainment, and sports, culture is transformed because a few ordinary people were called to forge their own path. A small moment creates a ripple effect that lasts for generations. Maiden tells the inspiring true story of Tracey Edwards and her bid to race the 1989–1990 Whitbread Round the World Race with an all-female crew for the first time.

Much more than a documentary, Maiden captures Edwards’s journey before she changed the competitive nature of sailing forever. As the crew’s cook Jo Gooding says, “If you believe in everything people tell you, you can't do, what would humankind have achieved?”. With captivating footage exploring the chapters of Edwards's life from childhood to adulthood, Maiden dives deep into the courage of the women who dared to do something different: not only be a woman stepping into a man’s world but compete the best that they could.