Entertainment Round up for 2019

Below is my annual list of the films, books, television and streamed shows, plays, live performance, etc., I took in the previous. My usual caveat applies: while I strive to be exhaustive, I am sure there are some items that slipped through the cracks.

I've also somewhat streamlined and re-organized the way these lists are presented. In the past, I listed all films together regardless of whether I saw them in a theater, DVD or streaming. For this year, I decided to group films and DVDs together; and placed films I saw on streaming services with other streamed content under the single banner of "Streaming." This is partly in recognition of the fact that some "films" are now streamed exclusively and that there is sometimes a gray area between streamed content, films and "television." (Indeed, I listed no television series at all that I watch regularly since I now have NetFlix, Amazon Prime and Disney Plus—so far, I still have DirecTV.)

The number of films seen in a theater this year jumped from about 7 in 2017, 8 in 2017, to 18 in 2019! I'm not sure whether that's a reflection of there being more films I wanted to see versus my having more free time to do so now that the kids are older.

That said, my favorite films this past year rank among the best I've seen in many years. My absolute favorite was Taika Waititi's Jojo Rabbit, followed closely by Quentin Tarantino's Once Upon a Time...In Hollywood. Honorable mentions as well to Ford v. Ferrari, Knives Out, Little Women, and Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker; as well as Downton Abbey, Tolkien, and Aladdin. Films I enjoyed well enough but I thought were overrated (at least critically or by general audiences) include Shazam!, Frozen 2, The Favorite, and Captain Marvel!

In terms of streamed content, seasons 3 of The Crown and the BBC's Victoria, and season 2 of GLOW were topnotch, as was the Disney Plus series, the Art of Imagineering. My Name is Dolemite, the third season of the Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, Home for Christmas (from Norway), and season 3 of Kim's Convenience get honorable mention. Disney Plus's Mandalorian (and baby Yoda) seemed to be on everyone's radar—while I said through most of it that I wasn't totally sold on the series, finding the episodic nature of it a bit pointless, I have to give it credit for ending strong. I also watched the second season of Jack Ryan—while I thought it was better than the first season, I give it credit for being very upscale and movie-quality, while also being also a bit bat-sh*t crazy at the end!

Also read some great books, check them out below.... So without any further ado...

Films/DVDs
Little Women (12/29/2019)
Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker (12/28/2019) - rewatch
Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker (12/22/2019)
Knives Out (11/30/2019)
Frozen 2 (11/28/2019)
Ford v. Ferrari (11/23/2019)
Jojo Rabbit (11/11/2019)
Downton Abbey (9/21/2019)
Once Upon a Time… In Hollywood (9/1/2019)
Once Upon a Time… In Hollywood (7/28/2019)
Spider-Man: Far from Home (7/4/2019)
Yesterday (6/29/2019)
Aladdin (6/22/2019)
Tolkien (5/18/2019)
Avengers: Endgame (5/11/2019) - rewatch
Avengers: Endgame (4/27/2019)
The Favorite (1/5/2019)
The Hobbit: Battle of Five Armies - DVD (1/6/2019) - rewatch
Captain Marvel (3/10/2019)
Topsy Turvy - DVD (4/2019) - rewatch
Shazam! (4/13/2019)

Streaming
Waking Sleeping Beauty - Disney+ (12/31/2019)
Star Wars: Return of the Jedi - Disney+(12/30/2019) - rewatch
Art of Imagineering, eps 1–6 - Disney+(12/30/2019)
Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back (12/29/2019) - rewatch
Great News, Seasons 1–2 (12/28/2019)
Star Wars: A New Hope (12/25/2019) - rewatch
The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel - Season 3- Amazon (12/10/2019)
Home for Christmas, 6 episodes - Netflix (12/9/2019)
Tucker: the Man and His Dream - Amazon (12/8/2019) - rewatch

Kim’s Convenience, Season 3 - Netflix(12/6/2019)
Too Big to Fail - Amazon (11/30/2019)
Chris Claremont's X-Men - Amazon (11/29/2019)
The Mandalorian - Disney+ (11/25/2019)
Star Wars, Empire of Dreams - Amazon (11/24/2019)
The Crown, Season 3 - Netflix(11/23/2019)
The Real Rob, Season 2 - Netflix (11/16/2019)
Living with Yourself, Season 1 (5 eps) - Netflix (11/11/2019)
GLOW, Season 3 – Netflix (11/11/2019)
Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan, Season 2 - Amazon (11/2019)
Dolemite is My Name – Netflix (11/3/2019)
Modern Love, Season 1 (5 eps) - Amazon (10/2019)
Ghost World - Amazon Prime (10/2019) - rewatch
Victoria, Season 3 - Amazon Prime (09/2019)
Inglourious Basterds - Netflix (9/7/19) - rewatch
Prosecuting Evil: The Extraordinary World of Ben Ferencz - Netflix (9/2/2019)
Pirate Radio - Amazon (9/2/2019) - rewatch
Stalag 17 - Amazon (9/1/2019) - rewatch
This Beautiful Fantastic - Amazon (9/1//2019)
The Bookshop - Amazon (8/31/2019)
Jim Gaffigan - Amazon (8/2019)
Funeral in Berlin - Amazon (8/2019)
Richard Jeni: A Big Steaming Pile Of Me - Amazon (8/2019) - rewatch
Force 10 from Navarone - Amazon (8/2019) - rewatch
Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee - 2019 Season - Netflix (8/2019)
Nowhere Boy - Netflix (8/15/2019) - rewatch
Four Weddings and a Funeral - Netflix (8/3/2019) - rewatch
Spotlight - Amazon (7/2019) - rewatch
Marshall - Amazon Prime (7/2019)
Damned United - Amazon (7/2019) - rewatch
The Iron Lady - Netflix (7/25/2019)
Good Night, and Good Luck - Netflix (7/25/2019) - rewatch
In a World - Amazon Prime (6/2019)
San Pietro - Netflix (6/29/2019)
Always Be My Maybe - Netflix (6/16/2019)
Bathtubs Over Broadway - Netflix (5/23/2019)
John & Yoko: Above Us Only Sky - Netflix (5/11/2019)
The Highwaymen - Netflix (4/12/2019)
Unicorn Store - Netflx (4/11/2019)
Kim's Convenience: Season 3: eps 1-2 - Netflix (4/7/2019)
Arrested Development: Season 5 - eps 1-5 - Netflix (4/6/3019)
Bottle Shock - Amazon (4/5/2019) - rewatch
Arrested Development: Season 4 Remix - Netflix (3/22/3019)
Richard Jeni: Platypus Man (03/2019) - rewatch
Music and Lyrics - Netflix (3/3/2019) - rewatch
Saving Mr. Banks - Netflix (3/2/2019) - rewatch
Beauty and the Beast - Netflix (3/2/2019) - rewatch
Movie Movie - Amazon (3/2019) - rewatch
Henry V - Amazon - (2/2019) - rewatch
Billy Elliot - Netflix (2/15/2019)
Lincoln - Netflix (2/15/2019) - rewatch
Schitt’s Creek, Season 1, Eps. 1–3 - Netflix (2/9/2019)
The Founder - Netflix (2/8/2019) - rewatch
Ray Romano: Right Here, Around the Corner - Netflix (2/6/2019)
Agatha and the Truth of Murder - Netflix (2/1/2019)
Poldark (eps. 1-8) - Amazon (1/28/2019)
Monty Python's Almost the Truth: The Lawyer's Cut, Eps. 1–6 - Netflix (1/20/2019)
FYRE: The Greatest Party That Never Happened - Netflix (1/19/2019)
Eric Idle’s What About Dick? - Netflix (1/16/2019)
The Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug - Amazon (1/5//2019) - rewatch
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey - Amazon (1/2//2019) - rewatch

Books
The Comedians: Drunks, Thieves, Scoundrels and the History of American Comedy by Kliph Nesteroff (12/29/2019)
Star Wars Memories: My Time In The (Death Star) Trenches by Craig Miller (12/24/2019)
Always Look on the Bright Side of Life: A Sortabiography by Eric Idle (1/15/2019)
Anything You Can Imagine: Peter Jackson and the Making of Middle-earth by Ian Nathan (1/5/2019)

Exhibitions/Sports/Theater/Live Performance
Hollywood Babble On (12/31/2019)
OK Go - The Soraya (11/2/2019)
CCHS Football game and drumline battle (11/1/2019)
Band Competition (10/26/2019)
CCHS Football game and halftime show - Lawndale W 29-27 (10/11/2019)
CCHS Football game and halftime show - Palos Verdes W 55-52 (9/20/2019)
35th Anniversary Screening of Electric Dreams - Frida Cinema (9/7/2019)
The Ralph Report at the Improv (3/9/2019)
1776 – The Soraya (2/9/2019)
Cinderella (Peri and Syd) Music Center (2/6/2019)
Wicked (Peri and Syd) (1/26/2019)
CCHS Jazz Festival - Robert Frost Theater (1/26/2019)