Dear reader, that is what it feels like! Although I know it isn’t true. After having been moved out of my parent’s house for almost a year, a few months ago I finally bought my own DVD player! For some reason, this more than anything else cemented the fact that I live on my own. Does that sound silly? Maybe it’s the fact that anytime I wanted to watch a movie at my parent’s house I had to either A) Wait until my parents weren’t at home or B) Ask if they wanted to watch it with me because it was their TV and their DVD player. I’m sure after my brother moved out I could have bought my own and set it up in his old room, but somehow that never occured me. I did, however, buy my own recliner and create a reading nook for myself in a corner of his old room, which tells you everything you need to know about my priorities!

Truth me told, I’m still not a big movie watcher, even with my own magical DVD player and TV! I feel like I watched the normal amount of movies growing up just like every other 90’s kid, so I really can’t explain where my preference for books over movies started, but it has always been that way. With that said, once I successfully hooked up my DVD player – with help from my coworkers! – that didn’t stop me from requesting several movies in rapid succession! The movies I’ll be talking about today are mostly those that were recommended to me from others. You see, dear reader, I’ve always been out of touch with what movies are cool and new, so I had to ask others what they’ve been watching lately! Luckily my sister-in-law and brother are big movie watchers so they are always a treasure trove of recommendations! They also have this magical thing called multiple streaming services! Something I refuse to indulge in myself because no matter how many you have, dear reader, there will always be one you don’t! So what is the point, I ask you? One of my coworkers recently shared an article that talked about how the lending of DVDS from local libraries is on the rise due to many streaming services becoming more expensive while simultaneously dropping titles and series. It’s just one more way that libraries are staying relevant and helping people to save money

Ever After

A ‘modern’ young woman of the 16th century, Danielle is as independent and wise as she is beautiful and kind. Against remarkable odds, she stands up to her scheming stepmother and works miracles on the lives around her, including the prince of France.

Dear reader, this movie came recommended to me by not one, but several people! My sister-in-law even said it is one of her comfort movies, and after watching it I agree! There was something about the setting and the characters that drew me in, especially Danielle’s character, of course. Her ability to see the positivity in every situation was notable too. When I was telling my sister-in-law how much I enjoyed watching the movie, I even had to share a quote from it with her that I had found particularly striking. It comes when Danielle goes uncover as a noble lady – and it won’t be the last time, either! – to try to release the husband of a servant who has been imprisoned. While she is confronting the cargomaster who is leading the team of the prison cart the prince walks up and asks why Maurice, the husband, should be released. Danielle replies, “If you suffer your people to be ill-educated, and their manners corrupted from infancy, and then punish them for those crimes to which their first education disposed them, what else is to be concluded, sire, but that you first make thieves and then punish them?”

Throughout this movie I even felt some affinity for Danielle’s step sister, Jacqueline, who, unlike her sister, Marguerite, is neglected by her mother and often left in Marguerite’s shadow, deemed the ‘ugly sister’ while Marguerite is pampered and preened for an advantageous marriage. I even found myself wondering, after we learn what kind of person the Baroness Rodmilla de Ghent – Danielle’s stepmother – is, why her father would have married her in the first place. What did he see in her? Maybe she was successful enough in hiding her true self and opinions, revealing them only once he was gone and she had full control of the estate.

There is another poignant scene in which Danielle confronts the Baroness, asking why she has never liked her, telling the Baroness she is the only mother she has ever had yet this is how she is treated. The Baroness responds with “how can anyone love a pebble in their shoe”? How heartrending! One feels a strong affinity with Danielle after such a scene. It also exposes the depth of evil in the Baroness.

Over the year I’ve bought very few movies, but Ever After is one I am strongly considering finding a copy of to add to my small but now slowly growing movie collection!

The Lego Movie

Emmet, an ordinary, rules-following, perfectly average LEGO minifigure is mistakenly identified as the most extraordinary person and the key to saving the world. He is drafted into a fellowship of strangers on an epic quest to stop an evil tyrant, a journey for which Emmet is hopelessly and hilariously underprepared.

Dear reader, there are often times, when a movie or book has an underlying plot or message, than I only get a vague sense of what that is, and by the end of said book or movie I’m left puzzling over it, trying to fit the pieces I have into a whole picture. Does this happen to you? Maybe you’re more observant and reflective while reading or watching something and therefore you don’t have that problem. At any rate, that is what happened with me while watching The Lego Movie. All I can talk about is what I grasped, so we’re going with that!

Again, this one was recommended to me by my brother and sister-in-law, and it was one of the funniest movies I’ve ever seen! There was even one scene in particular I had to rewind to watch again because it was so funny. One of the quotes I found most thought provoking is when Emmet is first captured and he starts talking about President Business, how he owns all the water, all the buildings, and all the trees, then he trails off and goes “wait a minute”. While making me laugh, it also brings to the forefront the dangers of one person owning and having control over everything, in other words, a conglomerate! Throughout the movie you see Emmet referring again and again to specific instructions on how to do everything, from his job to how to have fun. If you’ve seen the movie you know the catchy tune they play throughout the movie, “Everything is Awesome”. There is a scene later on when Emmet and Wyldstyle are about to get their cover blown, but then Emmet starts singing that song and everybody automatically joins in, completely forgetting what they were doing, and what was happening.

There is a twist towards the end of the movie that I won’t spoil for you, dear reader, if you haven’t seen it, but I will let you know that it definitely caught me off guard. I didn’t see it coming! I was never a big player of Legos growing up, so once the twist came it took me a bit to understand what was going on. Have you seen Legos in the stores recently? They’re so fancy now! As an adult with adult money now, as they say, I kind of want to indulge in some!

Alone in the Wilderness

“Alone in the Wilderness” is the story of Dick Proenneke. To live in a pristine land unchanged by man… to roam a wilderness through which few other humans have passed… to choose an idyllic site, cut trees and build a log cabin… to be a self-sufficient craftsman, making what is needed from materials available… to be not at odds with the world, but content with one’s own thoughts and company… Thousands have had such dreams, but Dick Proenneke lived them. He found a place, built a cabin, and stayed to become part of the country. This video “Alone in the Wilderness” is a simple account of the day-to-day explorations and activities he carried out alone, and the constant chain of nature’s events that kept him company.

Dear reader, this last movie is one that I have loved and considered one of my most treasured comfort movies for many years. It’s a documentary where Dick Proenneke narrates his life living solo in the wilderness of Alaska from 1968 to 1999. Throughout he points out small joys like catching a fish for dinner, witnessing animals climbing the mountain slopes again after a long winter, finding a burr in a tree that he can make a table out of, and many other delightful things. There is a simplicity to his short vignettes that just warms my soul, even as you see him working hard each day, performing tasks by hand that we take for granted almost without thinking about them. In the dead of winter he has to keep shoveling a path each day to the lake, as well as chip away the ice from the hole he made so he can have fresh water. He built his cabin by hand, carrying the logs in his canoe and then hand-hewing them, he hauled all the moss for the roof on a pack he tied to his back, and built himself a food cache. The craftsmanship of each table, utensil, and door hinge is just extraordinary. In one scene where he’s making a soup that looks absolutely delicious and incredibly hardy, he says it has “everything in it but the kitchen sponge”. What a funny way to put it!

Throughout you can see Mr. Proenneke’s delight in having only nature for company, although he looks forward to his brother coming in on the plane to deliver hand-knit socks and supplies he can’t get anywhere else. Since I’ve learned more and more bird calls and songs, whenever I’m out for a walk and recognize the species, it often feels like I’m walking with friends, almost like we’re having a conversation. You can tell Mr. Proenneke feels the same way. You get a strong sense for the beauty and treasure of each season while watching this documentary. This is definitely a documentary I watch each winter to remind myself that there is beauty in it, even while I struggle to get through it!

Dear reader, while these are three completely different movies, that is the beauty of our interests! Music and book-wise I am also all over the board, but that is what makes us each unique and varied.