I Completed the A-Z Movie Challenge

One of my goals this year was to do the A-Z Movie Challenge where you watch a movie beginning with every letter of the alphabet and I finally finished. I saw a lot of movies this year (Thanks Movie Pass) but this wasn’t as easy as I thought it was be. I thought I’d be done a lot earlier than August, let me tell you, but N X and V really held me up. I flew through some of the more popular letters early on, like B and C and M and T and S. Easy. Then I realized I needed to really get intentional with my movie watching and not just let the spirit move me. Another one of my goals was to see every Best Picture nominee, so you’ll see some of those pop up on this list too!

Here’s my complete list! Which movies have you seen? Any of your favorites on this list?

A–All the Money in the World

I love true crime and these kind of stories and Michelle Williams is a queen, but this movie didn’t grab me like I thought it would

B-Birdman

A former Best Picture nominee. My ex wanted to watch this and I actually liked it more than I thought I would. I like theatre though so maybe that’s it. Alternate contender for B include Black Panther, which was specular.

C–Chappaquiddick

I really enjoyed this movie. The acting was great, the story didn’t veer too far into conspiracy theory territory, and it also didn’t let the Kennedy’s off.

D–Dark Places

I love Gillian Flynn and enjoyed this movie.Not as well done as Gone Girl, but it was good.

E–Every Day

I never read the book but I still “got” the movie. It’s a pretty typical teen movie in a lot of ways but I loved the way A manifested in so many different ways on screen.

F–Fifty Shades Freed

My friend and I hate watched this movie drunk in the theater, so I can only say that the plot is trash but the opening scenes were really pretty. The entire plot was ridiculous and also how did she marry this guy without ever discussing if they wanted kids?

G–Greatest Showman

So good I saw it twice. My Mom and sister are still obsessed with the soundtrack.

H–Homeward Bound

Another movie I was forced into by my movie loving ex who was abhorred I’d never seen this movie, a staple of his childhood. I like dogs, so I enjoyed it.

I–I Tonya

How many movies on this list did I watch with aforementioned ex? A lot. I saw this movie under weird circumstances (we were only hours away from breaking up for good, oops) so that colored the film but it was interesting. Margot Robbie did great..

J–Jumanji

This was the new one, with The Rock and Nick Jonas and Kevin Hart and it was funny. Not great, not offensive.

K–Knight’s Tale

I love Heath Ledger, this film was no exception. I hadn’t seen it since middle school and got a lot of the jokes better now that I have an English degree.

L–Love, Simon

What a great film. I saw this in NYC in a packed theater on opening weekend where I got the second to last seat to a 5:30 showing. I sat next to a 45 year old woman and we both cried obnoxiously. It was great. I’ve watched it twice since then at home as well.

M–Moonlight

Another drunk film, but I loved it. The guy who wrote the play this is based on was speaking at our school and my friend Alec and I wanted to be more informed so we decided to watch it around 2AM after drinking and we both cried and rooted for characters and it was great.

Another contender is Mamma Mia Here We Go Again which I’ve now seen three times and am absolutely obsessed with.

N–New Hope

I told myself I was going to watch all the Star Wars movies this year and I started with New Hope as I was advised and I….didn’t like it. At all. I just wasn’t impressed. I don’t think I’ll watch the other old ones. I’ve seen Force Awakens and liked that much more.

O–Okja

Another movie my ex made me watch and one that disturbed me greatly. It’s well done, but it’s disturbing and stressful and made me anxious. Animal abuse and all that jazz, even when condemned, stresses me the hell out. I hated this movie, not because it was BAD but because it rubbed me the wrong way.

Another O film I saw in 2018 is Ocean’s 8, which I enjoyed much more.

P–The Post

As part of my quest to see every Best Picture nominee, I took myself to see the Post one afternoon. It was a fine film, just fine. The entire time I KNEW I was watching Tom Hanks and Meryl Streep through. I couldn’t see them as their characters. Also the most dramatic moment of the film was when that guy dropped his quarters at the pay phone.

Q–Quiet Place

I’d heard great things about this movie and it didn’t disappoint. I’m not a huge horror person but this was super well done.

R–Red Sparrow

Russian Spy film, actually kind of interesting. It definitely confused the friend I went with haha. Jennifer Lawrence was typical Jennifer Lawrence but I still can’t believe they named her Uncle Vanya…Get it? My friend didn’t either.

S–Shape of Water

Another Oscar watch, this one won. It was interesting, it was pretty, but it was weird. Sally was great as the lead, but I have a hard time relating to a woman who has sex with a fishman…yes she literally had sex with a fishman, and talked about it. It was odd. The music was nice, I guess.

Another contender is So Undercover, a film where Miley Cyrus is an FBI plant at a sorority hour which is ridiculous but awesome.

T–Thoroughbreds

Thank God for moviepass for letting me see movies I might not have if I was paying full price. This was about two teens killing a stepdad and it was really suspenseful for a movie about teenagers. The end is kooky too!

U–Unsane

I had wanted to see this in theaters but ended up watching this at home. Really spooky, kind of weird, interesting ending. Didn’t “scare” me but made me think a lot.

V–Valmont

This was a hard one for awhile, I didn’t want to see V for Vendetta, but it all came to fruition when I discovered an old Colin Firth film from the 1980s. It’s Dangerous Liaisons with Colin Firth and Annette Benning and it is FABULOUS.

W–The Words

Another difficult letter to cross off in my preferred genres. This one I found on Amazon and it has Bradley Cooper and it has multiple stories and is about authors and it was fine. Nothing spectacular.

X–X Men

Not a lot of options for the letter X, honestly. I’ve seen the more recent X Men films, but this one wasn’t an entertaining to me. Maybe it’s just the production quality I’ve grown to expect.

Y–You Get Me

Bella Thorne playing a stalker was great. It didn’t even feel like she was acting.

Z–Zootopia

I like to shoot my shot with these movies, and this did not disappoint. I LOVED Secret Life of Pets (I cried in the theater) so I had high hopes for this one. It didn’t succeed them but it made me happy.

 

What great movies have you seen in 2018?