Freddie and I Have a Movie-Watching Strategy

Freddie has the EXACT right amount of ice in his glass. I thought I was alone. I feel very seen.

I know this was only a PS in this post but this clip of your brother pops into my head way more times than feels normal since you posted it on IG. Sometimes I’ll just find myself saying Loggabarooga to myself a few times for no reason 😂

My preteens and I did this with Tom Hanks and then followed up with Tom Cruise and they love mixing up the names now. Terminal and Castaway back to back made a huge impression on my kids.

Every time my husband’s friend stays with us, we watch a Nic Cage movie. He has decades of work and so much variety! Always entertaining. Our most recent was Wild At Heart. My favorites are ‘Pig’ and ‘The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent’. Could not be more different films!

I love all of this so much!!!! Freddie = swoon. Recommend Olivia Coleman for your next tv/movie watch. Happy weekend Jo! PS – reiterating my comment that it would be great to have a like or recommend button beside comments so we can upvote or get a sense of where other COJ readers are on any given topic. Friendly suggestion :)

Three of my girlfriends and I do this once a month! A different girl hosts, and we all bring snacks (or dinner) on theme with the movie. We’ve been doing this since 2022- started with Meg Ryan movies for a few months, then Sandra Bullock, Rachel McAdams, Ryan Gossling, Meryl Streep, Julia Roberts, we’re gonna switch to Diane Keaton in December because why wouldn’t we?!

The Firm was the first audiobook I ever heard. My mom got it on tape for a 15 hour road trip. My brothers and I were tweens and the sound of a man, reading the lines of a woman seducing someone were too funny. We’re all in our late 40s now and we will still seductively say to each other, “Miiiiitch….MIIIIITCH…” in a bad sexy voice. It’s one of our favorite family inside jokes.

My boyfriend has a movie podcast with his childhood friend across the country that’s been going for 8 years. They have maybe…5 listeners. The format is 3 movies on one random topic. Submarine movies, government conspiracy movies, Jane Austin adaptations, Horror Romance, Road Trip, Movies with colors in the title, and sometimes an actor/actress. I watch all the movies with him, 3 every 2 weeks and it’s been such a fun little part of our dating story. Our friends don’t listen to the podcast, but they do always ask us what podcast movies we’re currently watching.

Would be awesome to do a Bechdel movie list marathon of ones that pass!

We’ve done this with Audrey Hepburn movies! Some of them are really surprising, like A Nun’s Story, or The Children’s Hour. I’ve been doing little binges of a category or things that make sense in my head. The widest category though, is 90’s and 2000’s rom-coms (with earlier ones thrown in as well) that I missed growing up, since I was very sheltered. It’s been really fun, and surprises me a lot too! Seeing a movie you’ve heard of your whole life is not always what you expect, although delightful.

Choose an actor: Yes, I’ve seen every movie Ryan Gosling is in and most of Woody Allen and Clint Eastwood ones, too.

During the interminable Sydney lockdown in 2021 my friends and I formed a Nic Cage movie watching club. We became OBSESSED. He’s made so many movies? Is he insane? Is he the greatest actor of our lifetime? Is it both? Cannot recommend enough. Our first group hang after lockdown ended was going to the cinema to see Pig.

DENZEL WASHINGTON…you will not be sorry!!

We are doing this with directors! Whatever they discuss on Blank Check, we watch. Started with Spielberg and we are currently working our way through the Coen brothers. It’s so interesting to see how their work evolves!

My recommendations for movie marathons: HItchcock! His work was far beyond Psycho and The Birds! I especially like Rebecca and The Man Who Knew Too Much! And Robert Redford….because Robert Redford! I just watched “Our Souls At Night” ….he and Jane Fonda play neighbors, both widowed, who’ve known each other forever but don’t really know each other.

I recommend a Will Farrell one!

We are doing a Steve Martin run in our household! I love slapstick comedy and he is a blast.

I’ve done it with Redford. What a loss.

We love to do this with Keanu Reeves. His different movies cover almost every genre, so there’s something for everyone. :-)

I do this, but with directors. Next up, Jim Jarmusch!

Don’t stop with the Firm! John Grisham has so many great novels adapted to film. I really like the The Pelican Brief, and The Rainmaker and The Client. Then you can hop over to another great novelist with film adaptations, Michael Crichton!

I hate to be the negative Nancy in the comments, but Tom Cruise gives a TON of money to the “church” of Scientology, which is responsible for rampant child abuse, including separating children from their parents. He is also openly one of the faces of the organization. His movie royalties end up propping up this horrific cult. There are a lot of strong journalists who have done good work to reveal what’s going on behind the curtain.

As a family, we had a Robin William’s movie fest in the days between Christmas and New Year and we laughed SO MUCH: Aladdin, Good Morning Vietnam, Good Will Hunting, the Bird Cage and Mrs. Doubtfire were among the hits.

Just ready Ross Gay’s The Book of Delights, then Inciting Joy, and took one tiny little break and read Steinbeck’s East of Eden, before being ready to start another of Ross Gay’s books! I am loving them!!!!

Welp, I just woke up this morning after having a dream of a creative lunch with a very conversational (no idea what he said, darn it!), Timothy Chaulemet. Haha…He was totally present with me while I was drawing and sketching out an idea and listened to him speak to me in his earnest way. So maybe he’ll be my movie binge!

Every July we do a Harrison Ford month (he and my daughter have the same bday, July 13!) – so much good stuff – Indiana, Han – and some silly stuff too

Yes!! I love to find an author or actor or musician and go all in. For me it started with C. S. Lewis, then Amy Krouse Rosenthal, and then my deeply beloved Madeleine L’Engle. Also a big Ruth Reichl fan. Now I’m going very deep on Angela Lansbury, and I will always say yes to watching anything Colin Firth is in.

I’m currently watching all of Natasha Lyonne’s work. She is fabulous!

Did a Summer of Slater (Christian Slater, that is) with neighbors and cannot recommend more highly. Untamed Heart with Marisa Tomei is so bad it’s good.

When Gene Hackman and Robert Redford died, we went on a mini-binge of watching movies of theirs that we hadn’t seen. Given that a lot of our favorite actors are in their 80s (we old), this will probably be a continuing trend….

if youve never seen this, youll love it: paul Newman in ‘nobody’s fool.’ one of my faves. paul is old and grumpy but he and the small town he lives in are fascinating.

Alan Rickman movies! How else can you go from Truly Madly Deeply to Diehard :)

My husband and one of our best friends have been talking for forever about doing a Cage Match (Nicholas Cage double-headers, tournament style). Maybe 2026 is the year we get our act together!! But we know the final head to head will be Con Air and Face Off…

Minority Report is one of Tom’s best!

Of course right now I am rewatching all the good Diane Keaton movies (sob!). Last year ahead of the Tell Me Everything book release, I reread all of Elizabeth Strout’s Lucy Series + Olive series…it was so fun for those 2 characters to FINALLY meet in Tell Me Everything!

Do i spy a Books Are Magic hat!? 😍

I did that with Colin Firth — because he’s a fine actor of course, not because he’s swoon worthy!

Also proof that Tom Cruise is a vampire. https://x.com/ayeejuju/status/1978940312878813249

I’ve been a Harrison Ford fan since I was 7 yrs old so I have watched every single movie he’s been.

My brother and I always talk about movie marathons with titles that go together… Our fave idea is 28 Days (Sandra Bullock, rehab) paired with 28 Days Later (zombies, Cillian Murphy).

My man and I recently watched the netflix doc “Arnold” (on Schwarzenegger). During the episode on his acting career, we were like “OMG we have to have an Arnold movie marathon!!’ and then… slowly realized that nah, we actually did not want to spend our wild and precious lives doing that. Hahahaha. Maybe just True Lies? I remember it being good. But I was 12. Idk.

A while back, I watched every Julia Roberts’ movie I could find! Mystic Pizza, My Best Friend’s Wedding, etc.

omg yes! my friends and I routinely choose an actor to follow and actually started with Tom Cruise years ago when one of the newer mission impossibles came out. Cocktail is true trash, I couldn’t believe how bad it was! We keep a running list on a shared note to jot down ideas whenever they arise. Some options that provide a mix of hidden gems, nonsense and classic nostalgia: Tom Hanks, Stanley Tucci, Emma Thompson, Meg-a-thon (Meg Ryan), Denzel Washington and Ed Harris

NY Mag’s film critic published a list of 40 car movies and there were some interesting pics! I was drawn to this b/c I saw “Ford v Ferrari” and loved it, despite not knowing much about cars or racing. Christian Bale and Matt Damon are both excellent in it! https://www.vulture.com/article/best-car-movies.html

Back in 2008 I started working my way through the AFI’s top 100 movies of all time – watching everything I hadn’t seen. fast forward to 2010 when I had about 3 movies left and the AFI went and released a revised top 100! I still can’t believe the done me dirty like that

Duuuuude, The Firm is def in my top 5 sick movies (along with Major League, and Working Girl) — not only because it whips along but also because Holly Hunter is so sublime in it, too! Love the ways you & Freddie continue to find fun & closeness. Hoooray for all that!

so we’ve come to realize that we’re like a Netflix OR boning type of couple. it was kind of a lightbulb moment (we have been together 25 years!) when we were like why is it so hard to find time to have sex? oh because we’ve been watching HOURS of the Pitt every night??? so now we kind of try choose either/or and identify up front so everybody’s on board with the plan at 9pm.

We really need Jenny to create a movie/show and recipe pairing series, like Spanglish and the sandwich with the egg

I just did a Florence Pugh festival (with myself). Lady Macbeth is a crazy hidden gem!

My partner and I watched all the films in the Alien franchise–nine movies! One feels so cultured being able to speak eloquently about the happenings in “Alien vs. Predator” and AVPR (Aliens vs. Predator Requiem) and knowing the timeline for all of the bad decisions humans and robots and aliens make when it comes to the survival and dominance of one’s species. It feels good to know so much about something so unimportant! Plus Sigourney Weaver is a natural badass.

I have done a Wes Anderson marathon but never an actor marathon. Sounds fun!

My husband is a fan of the Fast and the Furious movies, and we watched them all, in order, during COVID.

We’ve done this, too! For a while, my husband, friend, and I had “Jack Black” nights. So much fun. Right now, we’re doing a thing where one of us, either my husband or I, gets to pick the movie and the other one has to go along with it. We don’t usually agree on movies, so this has helped us just accept each others’ picks. It’s been fun — I’ve seen a lot of movies I’d never gravitate toward!

Keanu Reeves starred in some unexpected gems. Much ado about nothing! Always be my maybe! And of course Bill and Teds excellent journey which has not aged well 100%, but as adults you know that

We watched all of Elementary on Netflix, at least twice.

My husband and I love to see movies together in the theater and we’re lucky that we can walk to a great one. But since we don’t always want to see the same film, we invented His & Hers Movie Night. We match up the times and meet at our favorite tapas bar afterwards for wine, snacks, and sharing our movies.

Robin Williams! Going thru some of his with my kids

I can’t remember what sparked it, but I’ve been slowly working through a Movies Set in Boston list. I’ve never been but would love to visit some day!

After watching The firm, I did legal dramas marathon. Sort of. I sourced the movies list from Reddit, that’s how I found out Spotlight (great movie). I exhausted the list by watching The Split, another great tv series starring amazing Nicola Walker

Every night I do fairy fingers (does anyone else call it that?) on my daughter’s back as she falls asleep. It’s such a special quiet time, and she’s 11 so I know there will soon come a day when she won’t need/want me to be there as she falls asleep. She often asks me to tell her a story, and tells me just to make something up. But by that time of night, my brain is fried and I can’t come up with a whole plot and characters, so I started telling her a summary of a movie. It’s actually so fun. It feels like I’m doing a podcast where I’m retelling a movie from my own point of view with my opinions thrown in. “There’s this girl, Elle Woods…” She really loves it.

Harrison Ford next! Loved Witness, The Fugitive, and Patriot Games. The older flicks had it all: story, pacing, less CGI…

I’m an Adam Sandler Stan, and highly recommend binging his catalogue! He is prolific and has such a wide range – from Happy Gilmore to Uncut Gems to Leo. Even the panned ones are great. Watch Just Go With It just for the crazy cameos! The Sandman is a national treasure.

The “ice situation” made me laugh :)

Ha! This ties directly into the ‘which movie / show was your sexual awakening?’ post…my high school group of friends used to rent 3-4 Tom Cruise or Val Kilmer movies for our sleepovers and just binge them all night long. We were obsessed :)

Ideal movie marathon: Denzel Washington, Al Pachino, Roberto DeNiro, Meryl Streep, Angela Bassett, Reese Witherspoon

I am sure someone has already said this but if you have not watched both The Firm and A Few Good Men, while slightly sick with a cold, hungover, or otherwise motivated to stay on the couch on in bed for 4+ hours, have you even lived?? Bonus points if you have snacks that satisfy but not fill up, and a special but non-alcoholic drink of choice. Remember that this exercise is to make you feel actually rested and refreshed, not worse. Both of these movies MOVE but not too many characters, have great lines, you get early Tom, plus special appearances by many early 90’s favorites.

The photo where Freddie is leaning toward Toby is hearth warming. It makes me hopeful about love. I wish you the kindest, sincerest, loyal- est, love filled with connection, joy, initiation and reciprocation. Much love, x.

During the beginning of covid, my family did “Tom Hanks Tuesdays.” Most of us adult kids came back to ride out the storm near my parents’ house, so every Tuesday night for about three months we would make a big dinner, and then all watch a Tom Hanks movie. There are some real gems (and some real duds!) in there. Sometimes the choice of “whatever movie exists” can seem really overwhelming, and its so nice to set up some guard rails that lets you more deeply explore a certain actor or genre.

This summer we watched all 8 Mission Impossible movies and finished off with the last one in theaters! It was so much fun! And and fascinating to watch Tom Cruise (not) age haha

My husband and I “invented” something we call our “Day of Daniel Day Lewis” and it involves watching The Last of the Mohicans, The Age of Innocence, Gangs of New York, and Phantom Thread, straight through. How is he *so* good in every single one?