Hello, friends! It's the Friday after Thanksgiving. Are you still in a food coma?
The weather is pretty dreary today in Boston, making it the perfect time to curl up on the couch and stream. There are so many good shows and movies coming out, here are a few worth noting:
- Today - Dan Levy (of Schitt's Creek fame) is in a new movie on Hulu called Happiest Season. I can't wait to watch it. Also, season two of Virgin River is out on Netflix. I am debating whether to watch it all this weekend or hold out.
- Tuesday, December 1 - Back in June, I talked about this cool series Netflix released called The Movies That Made Us. It featured Dirty Dancing, Ghostbusters, Die Hard and Home Alone. Each episode talked about the idea for the movie, how it was made, the on-set experience and the audience reactions. Well, now Netflix is debuting The Holiday Movies That Made Us. I know this will be great and super nostalgic!
- Friday, December 11 - Ryan Murphy directs the movie Prom for Netflix, an over-the-top spectacle about creating a dream prom for a young teen in a small town in Indiana. It stars Meryl Streep, Nicole Kidman, Kerry Washington, James Corden and Keegan-Michael Key. You can watch the trailer here.
- Tuesday, December 15 - More episodes of Song Exploder hit Netflix. If you missed the first four, I recommend starting with Lin-Manuel Miranda's journey of writing "Wait for It" for Hamilton.
Now onto this week's picks!
1. Diana: In Her Own Words (Netflix) - If you've already watched season four of The Crown, the very next thing you should watch is Diana: In Her Own Words, a documentary-style film narrated by Princess Diana herself. Before her death, she agreed to secret interviews (which were recorded), and those tapes would eventually become the source material for the book Diana: Her True Story by Andrew Morton.
In this film, you get to hear directly from Diana about meeting Charles, their engagement, the struggles in their marriage, her experience with motherhood, their separation and Charles' never-ending obsession with Camilla Parker-Bowles. Watching it felt like a fact check of The Crown.
If you've fallen down the Royal Family rabbit hole, I highly recommend this.
2. Operation Christmas Drop (Netflix) - Is it too early to be watching Christmas movies? I think not. This new one, out on Netflix, follows one of my favorite tropes: a type A, high strung, career woman arrives in a small town and is wooed by a devilishly handsome local with a sarcastic personality.
In this case, Erica, a congressional aide, is sent to the island of Guam to evaluate a military base. Her guide on site is Captain Andrew Jantz, who could not be less thrilled about babysitting her.
The more they spend time together, the more they (you guessed it!) fall in love. It's wonderfully predictable. The movie is 90 minutes long, which I firmly believe is the ideal length!
3. Shawn Mendes: In Wonder (Netflix) - Before yesterday, I only knew two or three Shawn Mendes songs. I watched this documentary at the urging of two of my closest friends, who love him and loved this film.
For 90 minutes, you get to learn about Shawn's passion for music, his childhood in Canada and his friendship with Camila Cabello which became so much more. You get to travel the globe with him as he does 100 shows on his most recent tour, and come into the recording studio as he works on his next album.
Watching this gave me new respect from him as a song writer and musician (guitar! piano!), made me want to buy his album, and has me listening to his cover of Whitney Houston's "I Wanna Dance with Somebody" on repeat. You can watch that here, it begins at the 1:45 mark.
Even if you don't know Shawn Mendes very well, if you enjoy pop music, you'll enjoy this.
That's it for this week. I'll be back next Friday with a fresh round of suggestions!
*Images courtesy of Unsplash, Netflix, Chicago Sun Times and TIME.
