12 Days of Christmas Catch Up: The List

Tomorrow begins one of my favorite and daunting Awards Wiz series - the 12 Days of Christmas Catch Up.

It started back when I was living in NYC when I would try my best to see everything necessary to publish my Top 10 Films by the end of the year. It's always a challenge when making a list like this. There are certain films I have a gut feeling that I will like, from knowing my own taste as well as listening and reading other critics' thoughts.

I have a pretty strong feeling that I will like "Ben is Back." I'm a huge fan of Julia Roberts and Lucas Hedges (although with bad direction he can definitely miss the mark - aka: Boy Erased). Although part of me feels as if I don't have time for "Paddington 2," it's honestly right up my alley when it comes to sentimentality.

Then there are the films I really don't want to see that end up showing up on various Top 10 lists or winning critics awards...such as "The Death o Stalin," "You Were Never Really Here" or even docs such as "Free Solo" and "Hale County, This Morning This Evening."

Then you have the LGBTQ films and television. As a member of Galeca, the LGBTQ Society of Entertainment Critics, I have a responsibility to take a deeper look at Queer films. I feel I need to se "Happy As Lazzaro," "Night Comes On," "We the Animals," and "Colette."

TV is tricky. I cut the cable chord some time ago and rarely watch TV unless it's a show that latches on to my personal zeitgeist ("Elite," "Schitt's Creek," "Homecoming") or becomes part of a larger "water cooler" conversation such as "The Haunting of Hill House."  I missed "The Assassination of Gianni Versace," the latest seasons of "Better Things," "Atlanta," and "American Horror Story" mostly due to lack of cable, but also because they didn't stay in the forefront of what seemed important to watch. I didn't watch the newest season of "The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel" because I never watched the first one. And I never caught up with "The Handmaid's Tale" because I can't get past the fact that Elisabeth Moss is a Scientologist.

So, how do I catch up on all that?! I watched 3 episodes of "Homecoming" and decided to call it quits because I knew right there that it wasn't better, for me at least, than "Will & Grace" or "Superstore" and therefore wouldn't make my personal Galeca nominations. Apples and oranges, I know.

And finally you have the big Oscary films that might not make my Top 10 or be my nominees for the Dorian Awards. Films like "The Mule," "Vice" and "Mary Poppins Returns." The thing is...I need to be caught up on the Oscar game above all else.

Once Christmas comes, I'm going to focus on rewatching films that are at the top of my list ("Roma," "1985," "A Star is Born," "Suspiria") as well as films that have fallen off as the year has gone by ("Annihilation," "Lean on Pete" and "Final Portrait.")

12 Days, 12 movies?

Not an easy thing to whittle down, so right now I have it down to 12 films and 2 TV series.  Things might change, they always do.

But for now, here you have it:

Vice
Paddington 2
We the Animals
A Kid Like Jake
Happy As Lazzaro
Vox Lux
The Mule
Mary Poppins Returns
Ben is Back
Free Solo
You Were Never Really Here
Colette

For good measure:
The Assassination of Gianni Versace
Pose