In five days, TMJ will be three years old. In many ways, I feel like a babe in the woods at this stuff, and I thank you for your patience as I continue to grow. This blog will always be a work in progress as Writing was never my best, nor favorite, subject. Anyway, feel free to pass along comments about how I might improve the reviews and columns. Maybe you would like a different format; maybe you would like me to include, or exclude, certain information. Whatever the case, thank you to my loyal followers. My goal is to provide helpful, informative info about movies without being too repetitive. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all of you!
Scrooge
Why is Scrooge my featured image? This is a look-back to see how movies fared this year compared with 2017 and 2018. In 2017, one movie received 5 Gavels, eight movies garnered 4.5 Gavels and one took home the prize of 0 Gavels. Similarly, in 2018, I complimented two movies with 5 Gavels, only four with 4.5 Gavels, with the lowest score of .5 Gavels awarded to one flick. How did the 2019 group fare?
Five Gavels
Free Solo 3/16/19
4.5 Gavels
How To Train Your Dragon: Hidden World 2/23/19
Captain Marvel 3/8/19
Toy Story 4 6/22/19
Spiderman: Far From Home 7/2/19
The Biggest Little Farm 7/23/19
Blinded By The Light 8/17/19
Ford v. Ferrari 11/15/19
Dark Waters 12/7/19
.5 Gavels
Holmes and Watson 1/1/19
Welcome To Marwen 1/10/19
0 Gavels
The Beach Bum 4/2/19
The Art of Self Defense 7/20/19
Summary
Check out the the top two groups, avoid the last two. In the top two groups, note there are two animated films, two documentaries, two super-hero flicks, and three based on true stories. That seems a pretty good cross-section. I also highly recommend The Kominsky Method and Chernobyl on TV, and Hamilton and Come From Away on stage, all given 4.5 Gavels. These are my top choices out of 146 movie reviews, 49 columns, and 31 miscellaneous posts. For those still inquiring about why I haven’t taken up golf, see above. In conclusion, my Scrooge-level seems about the same as Christmas past. Here’s to Christmas future and 2020.
Schedule of upcoming previews:
December 27 — Little Women
December 28 — Uncut Gems
December 31 — The Two Popes