5 day challenge
Remember to stay up to date with the world, listen to those facing atrocities and help spread awareness/donate where youāre able to.
On Letterboxd, people can make their own lists and I saw the following and thought it would be a fun challenge to try out for 5 days:
I find it so hard to watch films, just in general, and in the morning even more so. I don’t know how Bong Joon Ho wakes up at 5am nearly every day to watch a film… because *spoiler alert*, I think this worked for me because all the films are family friendly š
I used a random number generator to pick the films – excluding Home Alone as it was Christmas Day and that’s always a film we watch on Christmas morning – and have ranked them using egg on toast. For reference, 5 egg on toast’s is a perfect film to start the morning with.
George of the Jungle (1997)
rewatch
āāāāā
After a plane crash, baby George is raised by the animals of the jungle, most notably, talking Gorilla “Ape” (voiced by John Cleese). Our Jungle Man George (Brendan Fraser) finds his simple life disrupted when he rescues Ursula (Leslie Mann), a wealthy heiress on a tour of Burundi. The two begin to fall in love, however, Ursula’s fiance Lyle (Thomas Haden Church) and her mother (Holland Taylor) have other plans.
Watching this film is such a perfect way to start the day. It has comedy, it has heart, it has Brendan Fraser running with horses and being shirtless for a lot of the film. It’s such a feel good film which had me starting the day being happy.
Home Alone (1990)
Rewatch
āāāāā
Kevin McCallister (Macaulay Culkin) is an eight year old boy, who frankly, has an awful family. The plan is to spend Christmas in Paris, however, during the flight they realise they forgot Kevin… While Kevin’s mum (Catherine O’Hara) frantically makes the journey back to America, Kevin is home alone. It starts out great, but soon, Kevin needs to put his hobby of inventing and causing mayhem to the test to stop two robbers – Harry (Joe Pesci) and Marv (Daniel Stern) – from taking advantage of him.
Little Macaulay Culkin is so cute, and this film is funny and perfect for Christmas Day! It has some great sweet moments to round it out as well.
Uncle Buck (1989)
first time viewing
āāāā
Buck (John Candy) is a lazy, unemployed man who does not want to go to work (relatable). His long term girlfriend Chanice (Amy Madigan) has job lined up for him, and he once again has to disappoint her when he gets a call in the middle of the night from his brother. Uncle Buck is the last resort to babysit his nieces and nephews when his sister-in-law’s father becomes ill.
Buck is not used to being around children, and he quickly becomes the arch nemesis of his 15yr old niece Tia (Jean Louisa Kelly) who is a teen struggling to find her place in a new town.
I’ve watched a couple films with John Candy (most notably Cool Runnings ā„) and he’s such a good actor! This film was funny and spoke on a lot of different topics which were actually handled really well. The relationship between Buck and Tia is the driving force and heart of this film. Buck is a man who’s prospects have never been great, but he’s such a good and well meaning person.
I felt so happy and motivated to start the day!
Turning Red (2022)
first time viewing
āāāā
Mei Lin (Rosalie Chiang) is a 13yr old girl who is rather awkward and loyal to her image of filial daughter. However, Mei is finding out that she is tired of hiding her true self, feelings and interests, which builds feelings of frustration. This culminates in Mei discovering the secret of her family as she transforms into a giant red panda when her emotions escape her.
This film is so beautifully animated! The story is super relatable, minus becoming a literal red panda, of being a young girl. Domee Shi drew from her own experiences growing up in Toronto. It’s such a great way of speaking about puberty/menstruation, culture and hobbies/passions. The friendship group is also super adorable and fun.
It’s a really good film to watch in the morning, but it took a little while for me to get started as there are a lot of emotions to digest.
The Muppets (2011)
first time viewing
āā.5
Walter (Peter Linz) has grown up, always different, but supported by his loving brother Gary (Jason Segal). As a child he found comfort in watching The Muppet Show, however, he’s devastated when he discovers that the Muppet Studio is going to be torn down by an evil businessman (Chris Cooper). Walter, Gary and Mary (Amy Adams) work together to get all of the Muppets back together to save the studio. Along the way, they each discover what is important to them.
I wanted to love this so much, but it wasn’t for me. There were moments that shone through, but, it felt disconnected and not as polished or funny as other Muppet films. I loved the songs, Muppet or a Man is actually perfect š
Unfortunately, we’re ending the challenge on a bit of a downer. But, I did watch The Muppet’s Christmas Carol in December, so my love of the Muppets has not changed.
I really enjoyed this challenge and I think it’s something I might do again in the future. Do you watch films in the morning or are you a strictly evening/night time movie watcher?
I hope youāre having a lovely day and staying safe ā„
DramaRambles šø 