Last week I posed a challenge to Birchtree readers:

this summer, watch 2 movies you skipped previously.

Pretty simple, right? Yes, but here's the tricky part.

- The first movie should be one you skipped, but that was well-received by critics and/or audiences. You didn't resonate with it for whatever reason, so the good hype wasn't enough to get you to watch.

- The second movie should be one you probably would have watched, but it was not well received, so you skipped it.

Well, here we are, and I've completed my own challenge.

Kajillionaire

This movie's been on my radar for a few years, and it's just one I've always skipped over in my Letterboxd watch list for some reason. It got good reviews, but I just never felt in the mood for it. I finally saw it and I'll say I get it now. It wasn't revelatory or anything (see the brevity of my review), but it was a very solid coming of age story. I'm glad I watched it, though.

Captain America: Brave New World

This fell into the "I wanted to see it, but poor reviews shooed me away" category, and thinking back on this movie a few days later, I kinda think I went easy on this one, but the latest Captain America just didn't do it for me. I called it "very plain" in the review and I think that tells the whole story for me; it's only been a few days and I barely remember most things from this story. It's always fun to see Harrison Ford as the President and Anthony Mackie always has a great presence on screen, but that wasn't enough to hold my interest.

I don't think there's any chance I watched either of these movies this summer, but I'm glad I stepped ever so slightly outside my comfort zone (👀) on them. Kajillionaire was a good time, and Brave New World reminded me why I tend not to watch super hero movies unless they get significant buzz.