Favorites: December

What a year, what a year. Before I share my faves of the year, I wanted to do my faves of December. I already shared the books I read this month in a previous post, so here are my non-book favorites for December.

Movie:

I tried to get to 100 movies this year and so I tried to do a bit of a catch-up in the last month. In the end, I only made it to 92, but it did make it very difficult to pick a favorite. So I am cheating and splitting it in two, one I watched on DVD and one I’ve seen in the movie theater (which you can still go see).

First of I finally watched ‘Interstellar’ directed by Cristopher Nolan and written by the Nolan brothers, which was amazing and I can’t believe I did not watch it sooner. It was released in 2014 and it is about space and time. Matthew McConaughey plays a father who is faced with the choice to leave his children to join a team of astronauts to try to find a way to ensure humanity’s survival. Like ‘Arrival’ it is a sci-fi movie you can watch without being into sci-fi. I really loved this movie and would urge you to see it for yourself, whether you are into sci-fi or not, because it is just a really good movie.

Then for a movie in theaters now, I choose ‘La La Land’, a movie that is getting so much good press that it is starting to seem ‘overrated’ and you might think it is too good to live up to its praise. However, I disagree; it really is THAT good. I’ve seen it twice by now and I keep telling people it is the kind of movie I will watch every year from now on. It is a sort of old classic musical put into the 21st century. So don’t be surprised when it opens with a musical number because it is a musical. It is also a bittersweet love story with an ending that manages to twist the whole movie, making you want to relive it all. Even if you are not into musicals, you will love this movie for its cinematography, colorful staging and long shots filled with people and things happening. I found a great video about what to love about this movie from Dodie on Youtube, it does contain spoilers so watch it if you’ve seen the movie or don’t mind being spoiled.

Netflix:

Huzzah, I finally watched the new season of Gilmore Girls. It is a small miracle, I know. I liked it, but also understood the critique. Overall it was nice to see what everyone was up to. What I enjoyed far more was the first episode of ‘Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency’. Amazingly weird, funny and I can’t wait to have graduated so I can properly binge watch the rest of the season.

Music:

The soundtrack (and score) of La La Land has been a discovery for the end of the month. As of the rest of the month, it has been mainly Christmas music, so I won’t bother you with that.

What did you love this past month? And what would you recommend? Share it in the comments below!