Second Breakfast: January 2024
By Austin Johnson
Welcome to the first Second Breakfast of 2024! I had a pretty focused January when it comes to movie watching, so I’ve broken down all my viewings into categories again. Another year of inhaling movies begins as I watched 35 films in January.
2023 Films
American Symphony (2023)
The Eternal Memory (2023)
Flamin’ Hot (2023)
The Holdovers (2023)
Nimona (2023)
Nyad (2023)
Past Lives (2023)
Society of the Snow (2023)
A Thousand and One (2023)
The 96th Academy Awards nominations were announced on January 23rd, so I carved out some time to watch random shit that is represented in different categories. I am totally head over heels for The Holdovers, Past Lives, and Society of the Snow. I’m very glad they all got recognized in multiple categories. Past Lives is my favorite film from 2023 as of right now because it’s way up my alley and has been on my mind ever since the credits started rolling. The biggest surprise for me personally was Nimona. It’s very clear that Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse is going to win Best Animated Film and that’s great, but Nimona deserves to be seen. It’s fucking wonderful. I was equally impressed by A Thousand and One. It’s not up for anything and that’s a damn shame because Teyona Taylor puts on what I see as the most compelling performance of the entire year. I had no idea she had that in her. Lights out shit.
Philip Seymour Hoffman
Joey Breaker (1993)
The Getaway (1994)
Nobody’s Fool (1994)
The Yearling (1994)
Twister (1996)
Happiness (1998)
Montana (1998)
Next Stop Wonderland (1998)
Flawless (1999)
Almost Famous (2000)
State and Main (2000)
Love Liza (2002)
Capote (2005)
Empire Falls (2005)
Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead (2007)
Charlie Wilson’s War (2007)
Mary and Max (2009)
A Late Quartet (2012)
God’s Pocket (2014)
A Most Wanted Man (2014)
Connor and I have this really deep admiration for Philip Seymour Hoffman, so we decided to dedicate an entire episode to him at the beginning of February in honor of the 10 year anniversary of his death. We tried our hardest to watch as many of his films as possible that we hadn’t seen as we used all kinds of services. I rewatched a good amount, but 13 of those on the list above were first time watches. Of those first timers, I was most blown away by his work in Happiness and Love Liza. A couple of very different types of performances that show just how much range the guy had. We miss you, PSH. Rest easy.
Triple Feature On A Day Off
Clueless (1995)
The First Wives Club (1996)
Mean Girls (2004)
There was one random day my wife and I both had off from work when the weather here in San Antonio was unusually cold, so we stayed inside and watched these films back to back to back on Paramount+. Of course we are huge fans of Clueless and Mean Girls, but The First Wives Club was a first time watch. A nice little 90s gem that had us both laughing our asses off. Bette Midler is terrific in it!
Random Watches
The Divorcee (1930)
Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit (2005)
Inland Empire (2006)
This is the miscellaneous group. All extremely different from one another. I watched The Divorcee and Wallace & Gromit for future episodes on our podcast and then I watched Inland Empire because I hadn’t seen it in years. It’s not my favorite David Lynch, but holy hell what an audacious film. If you really sink into it, it might be the most frightening thing he’s ever made.
2023 Films
American Symphony (2023)
The Eternal Memory (2023)
Flamin’ Hot (2023)
The Holdovers (2023)
Nimona (2023)
Nyad (2023)
Past Lives (2023)
Society of the Snow (2023)
A Thousand and One (2023)
The 96th Academy Awards nominations were announced on January 23rd, so I carved out some time to watch random shit that is represented in different categories. I am totally head over heels for The Holdovers, Past Lives, and Society of the Snow. I’m very glad they all got recognized in multiple categories. Past Lives is my favorite film from 2023 as of right now because it’s way up my alley and has been on my mind ever since the credits started rolling. The biggest surprise for me personally was Nimona. It’s very clear that Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse is going to win Best Animated Film and that’s great, but Nimona deserves to be seen. It’s fucking wonderful. I was equally impressed by A Thousand and One. It’s not up for anything and that’s a damn shame because Teyona Taylor puts on what I see as the most compelling performance of the entire year. I had no idea she had that in her. Lights out shit.
Philip Seymour Hoffman
Joey Breaker (1993)
The Getaway (1994)
Nobody’s Fool (1994)
The Yearling (1994)
Twister (1996)
Happiness (1998)
Montana (1998)
Next Stop Wonderland (1998)
Flawless (1999)
Almost Famous (2000)
State and Main (2000)
Love Liza (2002)
Capote (2005)
Empire Falls (2005)
Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead (2007)
Charlie Wilson’s War (2007)
Mary and Max (2009)
A Late Quartet (2012)
God’s Pocket (2014)
A Most Wanted Man (2014)
Connor and I have this really deep admiration for Philip Seymour Hoffman, so we decided to dedicate an entire episode to him at the beginning of February in honor of the 10 year anniversary of his death. We tried our hardest to watch as many of his films as possible that we hadn’t seen as we used all kinds of services. I rewatched a good amount, but 13 of those on the list above were first time watches. Of those first timers, I was most blown away by his work in Happiness and Love Liza. A couple of very different types of performances that show just how much range the guy had. We miss you, PSH. Rest easy.
Triple Feature On A Day Off
Clueless (1995)
The First Wives Club (1996)
Mean Girls (2004)
There was one random day my wife and I both had off from work when the weather here in San Antonio was unusually cold, so we stayed inside and watched these films back to back to back on Paramount+. Of course we are huge fans of Clueless and Mean Girls, but The First Wives Club was a first time watch. A nice little 90s gem that had us both laughing our asses off. Bette Midler is terrific in it!
Random Watches
The Divorcee (1930)
Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit (2005)
Inland Empire (2006)
This is the miscellaneous group. All extremely different from one another. I watched The Divorcee and Wallace & Gromit for future episodes on our podcast and then I watched Inland Empire because I hadn’t seen it in years. It’s not my favorite David Lynch, but holy hell what an audacious film. If you really sink into it, it might be the most frightening thing he’s ever made.