Exactly What I Want From Every Movie

Comedy, adventure, romance: what more do you need?

As I've said many times, I'm super happy that streaming services have figured that there's a huge audience for rom-coms. And it makes me even happier that the success of romantic content on streaming services has convinced Hollywood to reinvest in the genre. It's been a long time since a preview really made me excited for a movie, but when I saw the preview for The Lost City I had a huge grin on my face. Hubs and I saw it this weekend, and I'm happy to report that grin stayed in place the whole time.

Do You Need a New Podcast?

Of course you don’t!

Do you remember when podcasts were fun? When I first got into the medium, everything I listened to fell into the genre of "Comedians Talking About Movies." Then I added in a couple of true-crime shows. Then the news podcasts came along. Then the publishing podcasts. Suddenly I've found myself in this situation where I have, like, six hours of new content each day that I'm trying to keep up with. And it's not even fun new content--most of it makes me feel stressed or angry or helpless or afraid. So in the past couple of weeks, I've been trying to improve my mind-diet by winnowing out the podcasts that aren't actually pleasurable for me to listen to. Here's three romance-centric pods that made the keeper list!

Movie Review Triple Header: The Many Cyranos

Hubs and I love a double-feature. Early in our relationship, we went to see 300: Rise of an Empire followed immediately by Peabody and Mr. Sherman, which is the movie nerd equivalent of riding every roller coaster in an amusement park. We've also made more discerning choices, like Walk the Line followed by Walk Hard, which is the perfect way to fully appreciate John C. Reilly's sink-smashing skills. Last year we watched The Heartbreak Kid, a 1972 Elaine May comedy that features one of Charles Grodin's best performances, followed by The Heartbreak Kid, a 2007 Ben Stiller remake directed by the Farrelly brothers that is on the shortlist of Worst Movies I've Ever Seen. So we love a double-feature, and this weekend we upped our game. We had a triple feature of three very different movies, made in very different eras, but all built around the premise of the 1897 play Cyrano de Bergerac: Roxanne, Whatever it Takes, and Cyrano.

New Installment in the NPCU

There's a New Netflix Princess Movie! And it's completely ridiculous!

If you've been reading these emails awhile, you know I've got a serious fascination with the Netflix Princess Cinematic Universe. Give me your Christmas Princes, your Princess Switches, your Castles for Christmas! I'm genuinely so grateful that someone over at Netflix figured out that there's a huge, underserved audience for bonkers rom-coms. I know, I know, it's Oscar season, and there are dozens of "quiet character portraits" and "moving coming-of-age stories" that I should probably be watching. But when I saw Netflix had a new princess movie, my priorities were obvious. Who needs to watch the next Best Picture when The Royal Treatment just dropped?

Would You Watch a Show About Your Love Life?

It's officially January...and boy, does it ever feel like it.

Isn't January the worst? The holidays are over, the cold weather is setting in. A couple of days ago we had freezing rain that coated absolutely everything in a thin layer of ice, which is the bad weather trifecta: treacherous, ugly, but not really bad enough to justify staying at home with a good book. The shine has started to come off my New Year's resolutions. It turns out that giving up alcohol for three weeks has not magically resulted in losing ten pounds, having a bunch of extra money, and sleeping eight hours every night. And my TV choices have been similarly sobering. I just finished both seasons of HBO's Love Life, and I have thoughts.

Exciting News!

Here's something I don't talk about much: I couldn't write for most of 2020.

For most of my life, I've been saying "oh, I could write more if I had the time!" Then in 2020, I suddenly had more time than I knew what to do with. Unfortunately, that time was also filled with anxiety, trauma, and an endless stream of problems that I was powerless to solve. I finally had the mythical time I've always needed, and I spent it doom-scrolling, comfort-reading, and stress-cleaning. Then my husband suggested that I try something different. Why not write by hand? Sure, it's slower than typing, but it's faster than absolutely no progress whatsoever, so why not give it a try?

And here's where I'm at 12 months later: