Dirty Dancing (1987)

I enjoyed this movie. After many years of my mom watching it, I finally saw this film from beginning to end and it wasn’t bad.

Baby (Jennifer Grey), her parents (Jerry Ohrbach, Kelly Bishop) and her sister Lisa (Jane Bruckner) are headed on vacation to the Catskills mountains. Baby is a good girl who is expected to change the world.

There are lots of activities at Kellerman’s Mountain House such as dancing, golf and other standard activities.

The owner’s grandson (London Price) and Baby are set up. He tries hard to impress her, but she’s not interested in him at all. One night, Baby manages to get into the staff quarters where they *gasp* dance dirty. Johnny Castle (Patrick Swayze) is the resort’s dance instructor and after Baby dances with him she begins to fall for him.

Johnny sees no value in himself. He comes from a rough background and doesn’t believe he has anything worth offering. Baby slowly gets him to see otherwise.

Johnny is hesitant with Baby at first, but after his dance partner Penny (Cynthia Rhodes) is unable to join them at a performance she urges him to teach Baby the routine so that the show can go on.

I am not a fan of most of the 80s movies I’ve seen, so I’m glad that I enjoyed this one. The timeline is a little off, but honestly, most people probably won’t notice. The cast is good. Jennifer Grey and Patrick Swayze reportedly hated each other off screen, but you’d never be able to tell watching them on screen. Also, this film supposedly takes place in the 60s, but you’d honestly never be able to tell. When you’re having a good time watching it though, that doesn’t even matter.

The Muppet Movie (1979)

I didn’t grow up watching The Muppets. My first introduction to them came from “The Muppet Babies” which I barely remember. The first time they made an impact was in “Muppets: Most Wanted” which I watched only because Tom Hiddleston made a cameo. 

“The Muppet Movie” is the origin story of these creatures. While things starring the Muppets are hit or miss for me, I thought this one to be a hit.

The film opens on Kermit. He was just a frog living in the swamp. Well, a simple frog who could play the ukulele. He’s sitting on a log playing the ukulele and singing.

A man rows up to him. He’s a big Hollywood agent. The agent hands Kermit a magazine with an ad looking for singing frogs. Upon seeing the ad, Kermit decides to leave the swamp and set out for Hollywood to audition. 

During the entirety of his journey, Kermit Is pursued by a fast food magnate (Charles Durning) who wants to make Kermit’s legs the face of his company. Along the way, Kermit finds other Muppets who join him on the journey and help him foil the plans of the fast food magnate.

As is commonplace in Muppet movies, there are plenty of celebrity cameos. Though I honestly only recognized Madeline Kahn out of all of them.

We also see the moment Miss Piggy sees Kermit for the first time and falls for him. This was a fun flick. The muppets are of course whacky. The humans all seem to be having a great time. I enjoyed the time I spent watching this.

Free Solo (2018)

This documentary follows Alex Honnold as he prepares to and successfully climb the 3,000 foot mountain El Capitan in Yosemite National Park all without the use of ropes or backup in under three hours. The filmmakers prepared for years to find camera placements that would not hinder or endanger Alex during his dangerous trek. The filmmakers all befriended Alex over their time together, so the film cuts to shots of their reactions any time their reached an extra dangerous spot only adding to the tension. There are glimpses into Honnold’s personal life including his girlfriend Sanni McCandless who is the complete opposite of him, yet their relationship works.

Onward (2020)