January in Review: AKA I watched a lot of stuff

I want to do monthly review posts, but I forgot to write down everything I watched. Oops. I should probably write these as the month progresses, but here have this anyway:

Movies

I started the month out sick and binge watched a lot of movies, but lo and behold I'm back to my old ways of not really watching any. Sigh.
Selma--loved it. Vivid, real, and personally challenging.
Begin Again--loved this movie about the power of creativity to connect us all. woo!
Belle--Again, liked this a lot. Not really sure about the accuracy of the history, but it was an enjoyable period piece for me.
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes--surprisingly, I really liked this a lot. More along the line of the action movies I like, I guess. Bonus: Keri Russell.
Into the Storm--I don't even remember the plot. I think I wanted it to be like Twister or something. Sarah Wayne Callies was in it, though, nice to see her. I wish she'd gotten better roles out of The Walking Dead though :(
The 100 Foot Journey--fun, charming movie
The Maze Runner--snoozefest
Gone Girl--very faithful adaptation. The score drove me a little nutty.

TV

I'm not going to talk about every single episode of every show I watch, but here are a few things.

The Missing--Starz had a preview weekend and marathoned this show so I watched it all. Personally, I thought it was fantastic. Crime dramas like this are pretty much my favorite genre (not procedurals), and this one was excellent. I like the way show utilized two timelines and two countries and even two different looks for the mother. :) I like that it followed storylines long after it seemed like they should be over. I don't want to say much because of fear of spoiling, but I also thought the ending was hauntingly brilliant. I don't know how a second series can possibly follow it, but I'm excited nonetheless.

Ascension--lol I have a thing for Syfy shows lately, IDEK. Like everything inside of me feels like I shouldn't like them--they so often have such low budgets, mediocre at beest acting, and a huge camp factor, but they are just easy to watch. I liked Z-nation, I'm watching Dominion and I like that, too, I can't wait until I have some time to catch up on 12 Monkeys, etc. Anyway this was a mini-series run before Christmas that I watched in January. It seemed kind of promising with an interesting start--a murder mystery and fun premise, but as the show went on, it kept asking more questions without answering anything. THIS WAS A MINI-SERIES. The ending was mind-shockingly stupid and left so many unanswered questions. I don't know man, it was kind of fun, but ultimately frustrating.

The Americans--I don't know why this sat on the DVR for so long, it is just fantastic. I had like five episodes left from season to watch. So good. I love it. The ending to last season was so great, the season premiere was AMAZING. I love this show. :D (I have more actual thoughts that I will hopefully write about on the TV blog I'm doing with Jodie!)

Everything else is just the stuff I've always watched. :D

Books

I read four books.
Unrequited: Women and Romantic Obsession by Lisa A. Phillips--this was pretty good and gave me a lot to think about. I will write more in-depth about it later!

The Wildnerness of Ruin: A Tale of Madness, Fire, and the Hunt for America's Youngest Serial Killer by Roseanne Montillo--also good, gave me a lot of history I didn't have. I liked the way she tied all of these threads together. Will write more in-depth on this one, too.

Where She Went by Gayle Foreman--I can't believe that I'm surprised that I liked this. :) The writing was really beautiful and it was a lovely way to sort of..I don't know bring closure after watching the If I Stay film which I loved a lot.

House Broken by Sonja Yoerg--Actually do have a review for this one!

Looking at these, I'm realizing that 50% were nonfiction! Go me, it's a brave new world.

I met one New Year's Resolution of listening to a podcast--Serial. I have yet to start any others, though, I was pretty into the US and Canadian National Championships and the European Figure Skating Championships these past two weeks. But now I'm kind of back to earth. (Well almost, I'm actually writing this while attempting to stay awake for the final leg of the competition in Europe--pairs. more about figure skating at the TV blog soon! Hopefully)

I failed my goal of posting three times a week, but HEY. February is a new start.

So there you have it! Go Seahawks! Baseball is coming back soon, uh-oh tbh. Hope you are all well, tell me how you're spending the day and the best part of your January if you like!

OH YEAH. Jodie and I are doing a TV blog! You can find it here. :D