Here we are again, at the end of a year of viewing. Most of what I’ve seen has been from home, library borrows or on streaming channels. I am choosing not to put them in ranking order. Each movie is worthy of a watch in my opinion. Included is just a short blurb for each to give you an idea of what it’s about. The title links will take you to YouTube trailers.

Oppenheimer – if you don’t know what this one’s about, you live in a cave. One of my top favorite movies this year. Cillian Murphy shows his acting chops.

The Boy and the Heron – anime directed by Hayao Miyazaki. Set in wartime Japan, a boy loses his mother, relocates, and gets a new mother (the younger sister of his deceased mom) and goes on a mystical adventure that helps him cope with loss and change. Beautifully done!

Dumb Money – Paul Dano is an ordinary guy that leads ordinary people to investment magic in buying Game Stop stock, which makes Wall Street REAL nervous. Based on a true story!

The Kill Room – Uma Thurman is back! She co-stars with Samuel L. Jackson and hottie, Joe Manganiello (werewolf from True Blood and Magic Mike dancer) who is given a chance to show he can actually act. Very clever film about the art world and money laundering. Screenplay must have been written by an insider. Shows how power-crazed ultra wealthy art collectors are.

Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning Part 1 – Tom Cruise continues to thrill and entertain with his movies. He’s starting to show his age a little, but he’s still a badass in this. Really good cast in this with Simon Pegg, Ving Rhames, Rebecca Ferguson, and Cary Elwes. Good villains (not so over the top as villains in these movies usually are) with Vanessa Kirby and Esai Morales. I did not care for Hayley Atwell, the female lead, at all in this. Maybe it is how they’ve drawn her character or it’s her, but hoping she doesn’t return in the next installment.

You Hurt My Feelings – Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Tobias Menzies play a long-married and still-in-love, couple who have a strong intimate bond. She is a needy writer who has just published her latest book (or is about to) and is looking for positive affirmation from him and her family about the book. I forgot what he does for a living but he’s the emotionally supportive and always positive husband who is going through a period where he feels he’s not as attractive as he used to be. Her neediness leaves no room to notice his self-doubt, but he’s dealing with it. When she accidentally overhears him tell his best friend he can’t stand her new book, it throws a wrench in their happy harmony. Lighthearted but also tender.

Asteroid City – Again, anyone who doesn’t know Wes Anderson’s style is living in a cave. His movies are more works of art than anything, and he does it up right. They literally built a city in the desert to film it. It’s more a small trailer park and it is near where an asteroid blasted a crater in the landscape. A gathering of geeky scientists arrive and then things go weird. It’s about a man with 3 adorable daughters who is dealing with the grief of loss of his wife. Excellent cast!

Beau is Afraid – Joaquin Phoenix stars in this phantasmagorical odyssey. Not for the faint of heart or the emotionally fragile. It’s good if you like this sort of thing. I did a review on it here if you want more info.

John Wick Chapter 4 – Keanu Reeves is the most bad assed of the bad asses. If you’ve seen one John Wick movie you know what to expect. If you haven’t it is non-stop action, non-stop killing, and lots of hand-to-hand combat. I think there are individuals who do kill counts of his movies and it’s high for Chapter 4, estimated to be 140.

Guy Ritchie’s The Covenant – Set during the war in Afghanistan, it tells about Afghani’s who chose to be interpreters for the US Military with a promise that they and their families would be brought to US to live safely if they did; however the truth of the matter is that, even now, there are interpreters still waiting for that promise to be fulfilled. The focus of the story is on one American soldier, played by Jake Gyllenhaal, who learns that the US lied and decides to go back to help his interpreter, played by Dar Salim, get out safely with his family. Very tense film and that it is based on truth continues to disturb me.

Creed III – I’ve enjoyed the whole Rocky saga over the years. The Creed movies are a spinoff from one of Rocky’s opponents, Apollo Creed. Michael B. Jordan plays Adonis, the son of now-deceased Apollo in these 3 films. I really liked the first one, did not care for the 2^nd one. Creed III has Adonis pitted against Damian, played by Jonathan Majors, a friend that he first met in the juvenile foster home he was placed in as a kid. Where Creed went on to great fame and fortune as a boxer, Damian has been rotting away in a prison cell. The stage is set for a battle between these two very fit boxers not only physically but psychologically. Where Creed thinks the past is long gone, Damian is very much steeped in the past and has an axe to grind. The family story line takes a back seat to this clash.

Happiness for Beginners – Combine romance, comedy, and a grueling hiking experience and you have a fun movie. Ellie Kemper stars and she is new to me. She is freshly divorced and trying to get her mojo back through challenging herself on the supervised, group hiking trip. Luke Grimes, aka Kayce Dutton from Yellowstone, is why I chose to watch this Netflix movie. He is the best friend of her younger brother and just by chance (yeah, uh huh) finds himself on the same hiking expedition. She is quite abrasive at first, and he just quietly watches from a distance for a long time while trying to fend off multiple other women on the hike. Their conversations as they get closer to each other are quite touching and had me in tears. If you like Rom-Com, you’ll like this one. Also lots of good hiking instruction in it!

The Killer – Fassbender rocks this role as the reticent, minimalist hitman. If you like Fassbender and movies about hitmen, watch it. Good cinematography!

The Equalizer Part 3 – Not sure if I saw Part 2, but not necessary. Robert McCall, played by Denzel Washington, may not have the body count that John Wick has, but he is very good at killing those who threaten the people he cares about. This time he’s in Italy and up against some very bad people. Denzel and Dakota Fanning, a government agent, form a loose alliance to help topple one mafioso family. Filmed mostly in Campania, Italy, an idyllic little seaside town.