You guys did a tremendously good job recommending movies for me. I’m really picky and it’s amazing how many of these movies I’ve liked.

Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon The Movie: Yes, that’s the title. This is actually the movie I started with, but I forgot to list it. Our favorite milkshake, box of fries, and chunk of meat save the planet from a rampaging exercise machine. Along the way, there’s some exploding kittens, robots making out with aliens, and an abducted coffee table. ATHF is like South Park on drugs. Seriously. I’m a huge ATHF fan and love the TV show. So I knew what to expect from the movie. Lots of violence, blood, and completely bizarre scenes. As stated before, I don’t LIKE all that blood, but when I’m expecting it, it’s tolerable. Plus, I know the characters will be just fine by the next episode. So if Shake get his hands cut off, no biggie; he’s already been chopped with an axe and possessed by insane aliens in other episodes. He’ll be okay. Anyway: this movie is awesome if you like ATHF, and possibly awesome if you don’t.

The King of Masks: A Chinese street performer adopts a child so that he can pass on his trade secrets. I loved the genderbending aspect of the film. Good story. Lots of threats to the characters. I got really anxious and was worried it would end badly, like so many Chinese films, but I trusted the recommendation. The ending turned out to be very satisfying and joyous. Whew.

Strictly Ballroom: A competitive ballroom dancer pairs up with an ugly duckling and teaches her to dance. Of course they fall in love. This was such a fun movie! Great recommendation. I loved all the great costumes and the wonderful dancing. I’m a dancer myself but I’ve never studied ballroom dancing. Now I want lessons. My husband thinks it sounds fun, so maybe we’ll look around for something…

The Muppet Show-Don Knotts, Zero Mostel: You know. It’s the Muppet Show. I picked up Volume 2 and watched a few episodes. The Don Knotts one was especially weird because I must have seen that episode dozens of times as a kid. So I had this weird deja vu feeling as I watched. I couldn’t tell you exactly what would happen next, but once it did, it felt exactly right. Feels like I’m made out of gingerbread, uh-huh, uh-huh…

Clash of the Titans: I thought I’d heard this was a classic. Greek hero Perseus becomes a legend. Shannon said it was totally camp but pretty good anyway. He was right. Cheesy as all get out. He and I heckled the film like good MST3K fans, and had a great time. I learned that ketchup-blood bothers me almost as much as more realistic special effects.

The Queen: Queen Elizabeth II deals with the controversy surrounding Princess Diana’s death. This is totally not the film I was expecting, for various reasons, but I did like it. I remember when Diana died, my reaction was “Wow, that’s really sad,” and then during the next week I was rather baffled by all the chaos. This film helped me understand a little better why Diana meant so much to people and how thoroughly the British royals bungled the situation. (Assuming this film was reasonably accurate, which I got the feeling it was.) It gave me a lot to think about regarding the concept of hereditary monarchies in the modern world.

Shall We Dance: Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers dance on an ocean liner. This was my first Astaire/Rogers film. I enjoyed it, but frankly I liked Gene Kelly so much more that this movie fell a bit flat for me. I wasn’t really into the story, and there didn’t seem to be as much dancing as I’d hoped for. The dancing was the best part, of course, especially the engine room scene. And now I have an opinion on Astaire versus Kelly, which I’d never had before. I think Astaire has equal or possibly better technical skills than Kelly, but that Kelly has more artistry and charisma. Just my take on it.

More movies to come.