Popcorn, Nachos

I am a person who likes to watch different genres of movies. It's funny now that I think about it because growing up the TV was not a huge presence in my memories at all, and what I do remember is that we had three channels. Of those channels I remember only being really interested in Saturday morning cartoons and Sunday evening 6 pm Disney movies.

One of the first genres I remember loving was horror and to this day I still do although back then it was Bela Lugosi, Vincent Price, Lon Chaney and their cohorts at the time. Nowadays my favourite horror movie is Trick R Treat followed closely by Ginger Snaps. I love the extra Halloweeny scenery in Trick R Treat as well as following the different stories in the movie. Sam became my hero in this movie especially the cartoon that was included in the DVD. Ginger Snaps I loved how it was filmed with its eerie looking filming at the beginning as well as the story scenes at a Halloween party. You can never have too many parties!

With parties in mind but with Covid-19 restrictions being ever present in 2020 and having to adjust our schedules to suit the pandemic, we decided to watch Halloween or Horror movies in October and then all Christmas movies in December. Of course we had snacks to go with our movies; and the grandkids loved it.

For some reason I usually never watched romantic movies. I am not sure why, but I will watch them if they involve Christmas, history or comedy. I don't remember how or why I watched Bridget Jones Diary as it was a long time ago. It may have been with a friend or at a family get together, but whatever the reason, I watched it and loved it. After that I considered it a genre of romantic comedy/Christmas movie. This is due not only because they have a Christmas party (remember never too many parties) in the movie, but the movie leaves you with a generally "all is good" feeling after watching it which IS the Christmas feeling in my opinion.

Once you have watched Bridget Jones Diary then you have to watch Bridget Jones Edge of Reason which also got slotted into the same rom-com/Christmas genre. I enjoyed this one immensely too which surprised me as sometimes sequels don't have the same feel or success. I was not disappointed as I floated away with this movie as well. I've yet to see Bridget Jones Baby, but have been meaning to put aside time to see if it too will be slotted in the December lineup.

I have added the two Bridget Jones' movies to our December movies watch list. Each time I watch them I am enthralled with Bridget's many misadventures and day to day goings-on. It also leaves you feeling that all is well in the world and will turn out even if you don't always do everything perfectly which I know I can relate to. Who cannot feel the need for a movie like this especially after living through a Covid-19 year. My granddaughter loves Bridget Jones now, and these movies definitely have a favourite place in my movie heart as well.

Another movie that I watched and got the same feeling from was Love Actually! so I would recommend watching it if you want that all is good in the world, dreamy feel by the end of it.

Love Actually! has Colin Firth acting in this movie along with many other favourites - Bill Nighy, Emma Thompson, Liam Neeson, Alan Rickman to name a few. I've watched different movies with these actors and enjoyed them all immensely. Bill Nighy in the British comedy, Still Crazy; Liam Neeson in the comedy, High Spirits; Emma Thompson and Alan Rickman in Sense and Sensibility, another romantic movie that I can watch over and over again. This one doesn't really have the Christmas feel to it, but I also like movies with a touch of history in them. That mentioned I have to include Bram Stoker's Dracula! with Gary Oldman and Winona Ryder - a true love story with a touch of history and horror.

Lastly I'd like to include New Year's Eve to our movie list. I truly enjoyed this movie and had that warm and fuzzy feeling after watching it. I watched it a few years ago on television by myself in the dark. I was feeling a little down that year but after watching this movie, I went to bed happy and dreamy. I had not heard of this movie prior to finding it on when I turned on the old box. It has been added to the rom-com/Christmas genre.

I know this is a mixed bag of movies; I own most of these movies on DVD, so that's how invested in them I am. We have watched these movies in our home due to covid-19, but I'd also like to add that watching these movies at drive ins make it a fun outing. Last summer an innovative group ran movies around the city; and we went to one of them, so if you're lucky enough to do this, it adds to the experience. In Alberta our winters are too cold for us to do this in the winter, but I'm hoping if changes are not coming fast enough that we will be able to go watch some of our favourite movies at the drive in again this summer.