My Top 5 Cinema Movies of 2018

No (major) spoilers! I promise.

If you're in need of movie suggestions for the cold nights of December, you're in the right place.

You know, when I was making this list, I realised I had watched my fair choice of big screen movies this year. Some I half-watched, switching off out of boredom, incomprehensibilty, sometimes even nausea. So, here are a list of my top 5 cinema movies this year (so far anyway; as you will see later there's still a number of movies I'm looking forward to seeing before the year runs out, hopefully).

And, also, a caveat... remember how I said this was MY top 5? Emphasis is on MY. These are my choices, people. They may not be yours, and I totally get that. The movies I didn't like as well are MY unliked movies, you might love them... I don't judge your taste in movies, don't come for mine :)

And, just to give you context, I will present (briefly) a list of movies I watched this year. I didn't watch everything, obviously. It's not like I am paid to do these reviews, you know. So, I've grouped the rest of the movies I've watched into 'Okay', 'Meh' and 'Blurgh'.

Okay 👍

1. Sierra Burgess Is a Loser. Okay, but the end is too simplistic and cheesy. And, this is coming from someone who allows cheese sometimes.

2. Uncle Drew. Okay, but the acting of some of the actors and makeup/costumes was something else (sigh).

3. Step Sisters. Okay, stuff we've seen before a la the Bring It Ons.

4. To all the Boys I've Loved Before. Okay, doesn't stand out to me.

5. Nappily Ever After. Okay. Not outstanding though.

Meh 🤷

1. Come Sunday. Really don't have anything to say about this. It was bland at best (Sorry Chiwetel)

2. The Week of. Kinda boring. The same Adam Sandler Schtick.

Blurgh 🙈

Didn't finish any of the below because of in some cases a. incomprehensibility b. boredom  c. nausea (I will not match the options with the movie, I'll leave that a mystery)

1. Like Father. The first 5 minutes and it was so cliche and boring, I switched off.

2. Set It Up. Urgh, too boring to finish.

3. A Star Is Born. I really don't get the hype for this. The storyline is overdone and I don't want tomatoes thrown, but Lady Gaga's acting left a lot to be desired.

4. Night School. Really wanted to like this, but....

Okay, that's enough preamble, without further ado I present you my top 5 Cinema Movies of 2018, in no particular order (drum roll and cymbal clashing):

1. Incredibles 2. I watched Incredible 1 last year and loved it. Don't really like sequels as I think many are substandard, but this was great! I loved that (spoiler alert) the baby came into his own, and I am actually looking forward to an Incredibles 3. This kept my attention throughout, even though I had an inkling about how things would turn out.

2. Crazy Rich Asians. I find that romance comedies are too cliche for my liking sometimes, but this was great. Acting was top shape! The exotic location and culture infusion helped a lot. Overall, loved it.

3. Black Panther. Okay, so this was great! I'm not really one for action movies, but this kept me planted on my seat. And, like Crazy Rich Asians, the culture infusion was marvelous. The characters popped. It was great.

4. A Simple Favour. So this is more my style. I am more of a thriller-with-a-twist girl (see here and here), but this was the first with humour; so comedic thriller, I guess, thanks to Anna Kendrick. The twists were good.

5. I Feel Pretty. I know, right, this had cliche, cliche, cliche written all over it, but I really liked it (shrug). To me, it is always good to see someone learning to love themselves the way they were. This was just the right level of funny and motivational.

Okay, done! There are some movies out now that I am hoping to watch hopefully before the year runs out. The trailers have left my appetite whetted:

1. Second Act

2. Aquaman

3. Venom

4. Ralph Breaks the Internet 

Who knows? I might yet update my top 5 movies of 2018.

I'll have to see if these live up to the hype.

A Mother's Tirade (Well, Less Dramatic than This Title Suggests; I Think)

I thought it was really cheesy when people said one of the greatest loves was that of a mother for her child. My goodness, they were right! They are so right, it's scary. And, I'm not going to gush too much, but motherhood is all it's cracked up to, highs and lows, and much more. Every moment of the years we've had together so far I am so thankful.

However, there have been a whole range of new experiences for me as well, and learning that comes with having children. Some of the most intriguing and annoying are from some of the types of people I have met on this journey (go figure!):

The Mean Adviser. Before and after you have a baby, you get so much advice, which in itself is not a bad thing. I love (translation - LOVE) those motherhood hacks, like breast milk being a solution to everything (believe me, guys, it's true) and recycling clothes for the kids so you don't wash too often (yeah, this is surprisingly not so common sense).
But, some people have taken advising to another level. They insult you in the guise of advising, e.g. "You are destroying this child's life by feeding him sugary stuff" What?!
Some of these ones also give you the wrong advice. I had someone tell me my child's body had probably broken into pieces because I was jumping for excitement while pregnant. I kid you not. I did panick until I googled and googled. And, I assure you, said child had and still has all their body parts intact, and they function well!

The Judge and Jury. Yeah, sadly, there are so many of these. Imagine someone calling a woman who has just birthed a child a cow or poking and prodding the mum tum a few months later. Don't get me started on the ones who come to you and judge your appearance or your child's when you've had to drag yourself out of bed that morning for tiredness. It's almost as if they want to make you feel bad. I find that these types have insecurities themselves that they are projecting.

The Eyers: The eyes have it (I made that one up, though I'm sure if I googled, I'll find it's a cliche). Some don't say it with words but transmit those signals through their eyes - the sizing up, the eye rolls when your child decides to moan because they are a child. I'm usually nonchallant when this comes from someone who doesn't have  a child, because maybe they don't know what it's like, something I might have been guilty of myself pre-motherhood. However, it is disappointing to say the least when this comes from people who have children themselves, albeit older. It's almost like their own kids became adults the day they were born; or they got amnesia about how children that young can be.

The Braggers: "At this age, my child was a professional dancer, and yours is still in diapers at 2?" Yes, those ones. I think it is pertinent to remember that all children don't advance at the same pace, and whose child is a professional dancer at 2 anyway? I also go by the popular saying, pics or it didn't happen, for a lot of people, as I have found some people like to tell a few (translation loads of) porkies.

The morale of this is that mothers are sensitive too! But, seriously, these experience that I'm still having, have helped me become more thick skinned and more sensitive about interacting with other people. I've learnt to skim through advice to see which benefits me and discard what I deem bad ones. I will let you know as well if you overstep your bounds (don't try me, I don't have a black belt, but I thought about it. The thought counts, you see... okay, terrible joke, moving on).

I have learnt to ignore the eyers because they don't have the courage to confront me anyway and so meh.

I have learnt that every child-rearing experience is unique in the sort of similar but not identical way because every one is unique and that includes children. As a result, just the same way I don't compare myself with others, I will not compare my children to others.

I have learnt that there will always be bad belle (read negative) people who project their own insecurities on to you. You've just got to learn to shake it off and carry on. There are so many things on our minds as mothers, and beefing with people who don't contribute positively to me is a burden I do not want to add on.

Most of all, I've learnt to be thankful for my role as a mother and to know that no negativity should outweigh that.