Mary & The Witch's Flower Review

On the 10th of April this year (I know it's taken me forever to write this post, oops!), I went to a fan screening of the new Japanese animation movie by Yoshiaki Nishimura, who was one of the producers at the iconic Studio Ghibli. If you've been a regular follower of mine, you'll know I absolutely adore the movies by Studio Ghibli, with their amazing attention to detail, heart-warming stories and wonderful, relatable characters! My personal favourite movies have to be Princess Mononoke, Howl's Moving Castle & Spirited Away. Of course, My Neighbour Totoro is up high on the list too, because it's so flippin' adorable! Totoro is basically me in fuzzy troll form :D (If you're a fan of Totoro, you might enjoy my Totoro cosplay post!). What are your favourite Ghibli movies guys?

If you are a fellow lover of this fabulous film-making company, you'll know that the legend himself Hayao Miyazaki announced that he was going into retirement and that he would not be making anymore movies back in 2014 after creating animation masterpieces for 30 years, so the future of the Studio Ghibli that we know and love was uncertain. However, Yoshiaki Nishimura is here for the modern generation and old generation of Ghibli fans alike, to bring us more movies with his new company, Studio Ponoc! Nishimura worked on many Ghibli movies including Howl's Moving Castle (2004), The Tale of Princess Kaguya (2013) and When Marine was There (2014). Those movies were fantastic, so I had high hopes for his first feature film, Mary & The Witch's Flower! (By the way, it has thankfully since been confirmed though that Miyazaki has come out of retirement to help with the creation of a new movie, yayyy!). 

I've never written a full review post that's dedicated to just one movie before, but I am gonna give it a go anyhow! So if you haven't seen the movie, and don't want to read any *spoilers*, why not check out some of my previous posts instead? I hope my review is a good one for those of you who are sticking around to read it :) Enjoy! 

Animation

This movie was just so visually beautiful! It had all of the amazing quality of a Studio Ghibli movie. My absolute favourite thing about Ghibli movies has always been the nature! The way that they illustrate the natural world around us is so unique to them! There's always so much intricate detail in the scenery and natural elements in Studio Ghibli movies, they rival any Disney movie when it comes to their attention to detail! They don't forget to add all of the smallest details, including things like raindrops on leaves and rivers glistening in the sunlight. Every Ghibli movie just excites my inner nature geek! It allows me to really visualise being there alongside the characters, immersed in the adventure. It adds a level of realism that other animation movies just don't. They tend to rely solely on characters that their target audience can relate to, to really sell their stories. Studio Ghibli does both! Yoshiaki Nishimura has definitely brought with him all of these qualities from his time working with Studio Ghibli, and his team at Studio Ponoc have delivered a movie that is just as amazing when it comes to creating stunning, naturalistic scenery :) 

There's just something about Japanese animation, aka anime, that has always appealed to me! Even though movies like those by Disney and Pixar are now making characters that look more and more human-like (not that they didn't before but I hope you get what I'm trying to say! With the progression of digital animation, characters such as Moana & Rapunzel have a look/design much more like an actual person.), anime still does that better in my opinion and they have been doing that for years and years! Other than their characteristic large eyes, anime characters for me have always resembled actual people more and this made them more relatable to me. Gosh I feel like I'm not articulating my thoughts very well XD What I love about Studio Ghibli is that all of their characters are unique and memorable, which isn't always the case with some animes I've watched. Studio Ponoc have designed such wonderful characters for Mary and the Witch's Flower too! 

I always love the costume designs when it comes to Ghibli movies! Like Kiki's iconic, simple purple dress and big red bow! I think that no matter how simplistic or extravagant an outfit a character wears is, they are still eye-catching and perfect at mirroring the personality traits of the characters themselves. For instance, Sophie in Howl's Moving Castle (2004) wears a plain, practical green dress and this matches well with her focused and determined characteristics. Studio Ghibli are also great at colour-coordinating too! Studio Ponoc have really given us everything that Ghibli would have in terms of animation and character design. In their first ever feature movie, the protagonist, Mary, wears a red coat that matches so well with her ginger hair. Before I get carried away with talking about Mary's design, I'll stop here and save that for the next section of my post, haha!

Characters

I was really happy to discover that Studio Ponoc has carried on the tradition of bringing us the wonderful, relatable characters that Studio Ghibli have always done! Something that I especially love about Studio Ghibli characters is how unique and personable they are. You can see so much of yourself in the way the characters behave and interact with their surroundings, fellow characters and situations they are faced with in the movies. These characters, especially the ones in the lead roles, usually have to overcome something that will test their courage or loyalty or determination, and this is Studio Ghibli's way of teaching their viewers both old and young something valuable, some kind of life lesson that they can take away after watching the movie. Studio Ghibli movies are full of emotion and often make you think about how you would react if you were faced with what the characters are. This is what makes the movies so good for child audiences, just like Disney movies were important for my personal development and empathy growing up. I wish that I had grown up with Studio Ghibli in my life when I was a small child. This Japanese film production company approach things in a much more raw way than American animation movies in my opinion, they seem to have less of a sugar-coating if you get what I mean. 

Another aspect that I especially admired about Studio Ghibli movies was their bringing-to-life of strong female characters. In so many of their movies, the lead role is a female character, and they often have wilful, determined and powerful personalities and have to face challenging tasks that require intelligence and bravery. It is refreshing to see women portrayed in such a way, and it makes me so happy that these movies are aimed mostly at children. It is important for kids of all genders to grow up with female role-models that are frankly badass! It was great for me when I was young to see strong protagonists like Disney's Mulan, that didn't let stereotypes or societal influences hold them back! What is so great about Studio Ghibli movies is that many of these iconic women are in fact children themselves, so it allows young audiences to believe that they are capable and have the courage to stand up for what they believe in, to be who they are and that they are able to face whatever is in their way. Studio Ponoc have followed in Ghibli footsteps, bringing us some more awesome girl power!!

A 13 year old girl called Mary is the heroine of this movie. She is a very relatable character, who reacts to the scenarios she faces in such a realistic way. For instance, at the beginning of the movie, we see a very bored Mary, who is staying at her Great Auntie's house deep in the English countryside. She's fed up of having no one her age to play with and being stuck in the middle of nowhere. I can imagine that many children often have to visit their relatives in the summer holidays when they are off from school, and experience a very similar boredom being away from their friends and maybe surrounded only by adults, etc. After eventually deciding to venture outside and exploring the new world around her, she stumbles upon the witch's flower and her adventure begins! I always loved stories when I was younger where the characters would randomly find something magical, and be transported into a fantasy world of some kind. In the days when your imagination is whimsical and endless, it is easy to believe that these sorts of things can really happen, and along with Mary's typical teenage attitude, I imagine that children will be able to really associate with the lead character and be captivated by the storyline. 

I don't want to go into too much detail on the other characters in the movie, to leave at least some things for you all to discover for yourselves. However, I will mention that as most animation movies do, Mary & The Witch's Flower has a character that befriends the lead character and the typical bad guys. I will mention them more in the next section :) 

Storyline 

I'm not going to reveal too much here, because again I want to leave some parts of the movie to the imagination (although there will still be spoilers because it's impossible to discuss the storyline without telling you more about what happens!). I'm just going to briefly describe the storyline the best I can, and share my thoughts and feelings about it with you guys. 

So, in this movie as I mentioned earlier, we follow the teenage Mary as she explores her new surroundings in the English countryside. She is fed up with spending all day inside the grounds of her Great Auntie's house and so decides to venture further afield, into the woodland nearby. Not only does she discover the flower after which the movie is named, she also comes across a broomstick hidden amongst overgrown plants and trees. We already know how this broomstick came to be here because of the very beginning of the movie, but I'll let you find that out for yourselves. Anyhow, Mary is playing with the broomstick later on and it suddenly takes flight! It flies her to a magnificent school for witches and wizards! With the help of the 'witch's flower', Mary finds herself being able to do magical things beyond her wildest dreams and everyone at the school is immediately impressed with her, claiming her to the greatest witch they've all seen in a very long time! I'm absolutely lovin' the whole magic school angle, because it's very Harry Potter-esque and I'm definitely a Potterhead :)

All is not as it seems at this school, and some of the teachers, including the headmistress, are working on a.. what shall I call it?... 'project' (haha!), that involves the creation of some very strange creatures. Mary soon discovers what the teachers are trying to do and it involves the scenario that we saw unfold at the start of the movie, as well as the pretty but peculiar  witch's flower. Our lead character finds herself in a challenging situation when she learns more about what the teachers want the flower for and is fighting to protect it; then things get worse when a local boy who is a friend of the family, whom Mary has been teased by on numerous occasions, gets taught up in it all. The teachers need him to complete their project (I can't stop laughing that I've called it that :D) and so they kidnap him. Now, Mary has to rescue him as well as help save the day! It is a test of friendship and bravery with some magic thrown into the mix as Mary tries to put an end to the strange goings once and for all! 

Okay, so I think I explained it well without giving too much away... that was hard to do! :D

via GIPHY

All in all, I really enjoyed the storyline. I always love stories involving sorcery and mystery, featuring legends or people discovering lost treasures or artefacts that lead them into a world of magic and fantasy! As I was writing that sentence, my brain automatically pictured Jumanji (1995), and I now have a mighty need to watch it! But yeah, Mary & The Witch's Flower has this and more, and I really like how the flower plays into the magic, it's like something out of a Hogwarts Herbology lesson (can you tell that I have Harry Potter on the brain guys?). I can't help comparing the story a little to the Studio Ghibli movie, Kiki's Delivery Service, however that's mostly because of the witchy theme. The adventure and action parts of the movie are much more comparable to Spirited Away, where the lead character Chihiro has to do everything she can to rescue her parents from a witch and her 'minions', Mary in this movie has to do the same to save her newly-found friends.

I cannot recommend this movie enough to those of you who are fellow fans of Japanese animation movies, and if you've never watched one before I still think you'd definitely enjoy it if you're a Disney fan or you like anime series anyway. I went to watch Mary and The Witch's Flower with one of my best friends and he'd never seen any Japanese animation movies other than the Pokemon ones, yet he loved it! It really is a fabulous movie, especially for a first production and now I am so looking forward to seeing what Studio Ponoc do next! Based against other Japanese movies I've seen, mostly using Studio Ghibli movies as a comparison, I would give Mary and The Witches Flower a 4 out of 5 stars, so I think that shows much I liked it! I hope you all enjoyed my review, I'm pretty sure I rambled a little haha :) Let me know in the comments if I've persuaded you to watch the movie, and I'd love to hear what you thought if you do. Have an awesome day guys, and make sure you stay hydrated in this heatwave (and even if you're not in the UK, drink that water people!). 

Thankyou for reading!

♥

Have you seen this movie already? 

I'd very much like to hear your opinions!

What has been your favourite movie of 2018 so far?

What I've Been Watching: December Edition

Hello lovelies! So here's my first post of 2018! I'm still not used to the fact that it's now 2018; I've written down 2017 about five times this week already, oops! Haha. After the challenge of blogging everyday last month for Blogmas, these last five days have been a very much needed break. I'm now ready though to get back to sharing with you guys and really upping my blogging game for this new year ahead of us! I thought I'd kick start the blogging year with my monthly edition of What I've Been Watching. I hope that everyone enjoys these posts, and that they give you some inspiration on what to add to your own watch lists. I wasn't sure if I should keep posting them to be honest, so your feedback would be very much appreciated! I hope you've all had a lovely first week of 2018. Enjoy reading :) 

Cracks (2009)

This movie was actually my favourite watch of the entire month! I chose to watch it because a) it's a period drama, they are just my thing :) & b) because it stars Juno Temple, and she's one of my favourite actresses. It also stars Eva Green, who I really liked in Mrs Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children (2016), and I was intrigued to see her play another role. Cracks is an independent movie and I enjoy watching these kinds of movies, as I find that compared to mainstream movies, they have a lot more attention to detail and some very interesting and diverse storylines and characters. This one is set in an all girls boarding school in England back in the 30's and follows a group of students and one of their favourite teachers (played by Eva Green). When a new student arrives at the school from Spain, this particular teacher develops an obsession with her, and the movie is all about the consequences of this for both teachers and students.

I'm going to talk about a spoiler now (oops!) so please keep scrolling if you'd rather find out for yourself whilst watching. The movie includes a scene where we witness sexual assault committed by a woman, and this is one of the only movies that I have ever seen this in. When we see this crime being committed in the media, it's almost always a man who is the perpetrator, so it was very different and an important message to people watching that women can be abusers too. In today's society it is still something that's not really spoken about, and women don't get prosecuted as much as men for this crime :( Another interesting thing is that I don't remember there being any men in the entire cast of the movie at all, I could have just forgotten but there were no men in the main cast. Overall, this movie was definitely something unique and I certainly recommend it. 

Texas Killing Fields (2011) 

Whenever I'm bored, I always have a search through the filmography of the actors and actresses I like and watch some of their other roles. I was looking for movies starring Jeffrey Dean Morgan, who has fast become one of my celebrity crushes after watching him play Negan on AMC's The Walking Dead (one of my favourite shows!), when I found this movie. Norman Reedus who plays Daryl Dixon on the show will forever be my top #MCM but Jeffrey is gorgeous and thus, I was compelled to watch him playing another character. Chloe Grace Moretz is in it too and she's fantastic! Texas Killing Fields grabbed my attention because it's a crime movie and is based on actual events. Well, the area were it is set is a real location and is actually famous for all of the murders that took place there in the 70's. The movie tells the story of two detectives who are investing local murders of young girls in their hometown, and when a girl that they both know well gets abducted, they work to find her before she endures the same tragic fate. It was a pretty good movie, and it was interesting for me especially to see Mr Morgan playing such a kind-hearted character, the complete opposite of how his character is in The Walking Dead. It's a good movie to watch if you're not really a fan of horrors or thrillers, but still enjoy milder crime dramas! 

Hush (2016) 

I watched a lot of thriller, mystery and horror shows and movies in December, and this one was definitely the worst! And I don't mean worst as in it was the most shocking, I just thought it was a pretty crappy movie. I've included it anyway because not everything we watch is gonna be great and I wanted to save you all the time watching it, haha! It wasn't the worst horror movie that I've ever seen and if you weren't obsessed with the genre like me, spending pretty much all of your free time watching them, then you might actually enjoy it :) So don't just take my word for it, watch it for yourself and let me know what you think. If you've already watched this movie, I'd really love to know what you thought of it in the comments. Anyhow, Hush is about an author who is deaf-mute and lives alone, who ends up being the victim of a serial killer. The movie had so much potential to be great, because the storyline was a really interesting one. For example, we witness the first killing of the movie happen in front of the glass doors of the main characters kitchen, whilst she is preparing her dinner and is blissfully unaware of the atrocities that are taking place literally right next to her! If the serial killer was clever then it could have made for a brilliant plot, but unfortunately he wasn't. He was so bad! My friend & I certainly had a good laugh watching it, which is not the desired effect you want when watching a 'scary movie', haha! It's available to watch on Netflix, so check it out if I've made you interested enough :) 

Dark (2017) 

It only took me a couple of days to binge watch the entire series of this on Netflix, so I can definitely say that I liked it! The trailer made it look awesome, with a lot of it looking like something straight out of the mind of Stephen King, with sci-fi thrown into the mix. It actually ended up being more mystery and science-fiction themed than the trailer made it seem, but it was still a great watch nonetheless. The whole premise of the show was time travel, and how events in the past have influenced both the present and the future. In Dark, we follow the lives of several families in a small town in Germany, where there has been a history of children disappearing. I really like when shows give us an insight into the lives of all of the characters so that we get to see things through the perspective of individuals and how things can be viewed differently by various people. It also means that the storyline is usually pretty intricate, and I'm all about complexity  and the 'little details' when it comes to shows. This story is very centred around the town's police officers as they work to discover the root cause of the vanishing children and other strange occurrence taking place in the area. I absolutely love that the show was made originally in German because it got to watch it in the language that I'm currently learning :) It was actually the first original Netflix series to be made in German too. They've released an English dubbed option for those of you that prefer not to have to read subtitles and such. Has anyone else been watching this show? I'd personally give it a 7 out of 10 because I enjoyed it but it was got a bit slow in parts. 

8mm (1999) 

I always try to watch a selection of older movies as well as new releases. I stumbled across this one on a list of someone's favourite movies on tumblr and since it was another crime-themed one, I thought I'd give it a watch. It stars Nicolas Cage as the lead role, and I have so many mixed feelings about Nicolas Cage as an actor! He's been awesome in some roles and then in others, he's been laughable. I think that the actor himself is great but he keeps choosing to be in some seriously rubbish movies! Are you a fan of Nick Cage? 8mm is about a private investigator who is hired to find out the truth behind a film that a widow has discovered in her late husband's safe. It appears to be a snuff film (which is a movie in which someone is actually murdered) and it's the job of the P.I. to research it's origins and report back on his findings. As he delves deeper and deeper into his investigations, he gets himself in trouble with some sinister characters, but you'll have to check it out for yourselves to find out what happens. It stars quite a few other famous actors, including a young and very good looking Joaquin Phoenix ;) and also Peter Stormare, who I've enjoyed in every movie I've seen him in. There were some parts of the movie that were a little too unrealistic and annoying, but altogether I thought it was good and I'd watch it again :) 

The OA (2016)

It seems as though I've been getting into the habit of saving the best show until last, so here we go again, haha! The OA was my absolute favourite watch of all of the December. I just couldn't stop watching it, and I ended up binge-watching the entire series in one sitting! It stars and is co-directed by Brit Marling (oh, and also written by her too!), and it really like her as an actress! I have been a fan of hers since watching The East (2013) that she stars in with Alexander Skarsgard (one of my favourite actors). All of the movies she's been in have very interesting, quirky storylines and many of them include something to do with cults, which is another area of psychology and criminology that I find fascinating. I watch a lot of documentaries on the topic :) This Netflix supernatural/science-fiction/mystery drama series is all about a girl who goes missing and when she resurfaces again after seven years, she's a completely different person. She has endured some strange things and she is finding it very hard to deal with life away from the people she spent the last seven years of her life with. The show also involves some supernatural occurrences, like the fact that when the main character went missing he was blind, and when she comes home, she has full vision again! There's so much more I wanted to tell you all about the story but I don't want to spoil it! It was very unique and I just loved it. It's a 10 out of 10 stars from me, and I can't wait for the next season! 

Well, those were six shows/movies that I watched last month. It was actually really tough to choose which ones to include in today's post because I watched so so much, including a Netflix original thriller movie with the longest title ever: I Am The Pretty Thing That Lives In The House (2016). I think that's the longest movie title that I've ever seen... what other movies with super long titles have you guys seen? I also watched the notoriously shocking movie that has been banned in so many countries, A Serbian Film (2010). It definitely lives up to it's reputation and includes some very disturbing scenes :O I always let curiosity get the better of me and I wanted to see if the movie was as bad as everyone said it was, and yeah it certainly had several taboo and very gross scenes in it! On a lighter note, I watched the 2011 Puss in Boots movie on TV over Christmas and that was really good. It made me cry too! That cat is just too adorable! What was your favourite movie that was on TV at Christmas Time? I usually look through the TV guide magazine to see what's on over the holiday season, but I didn't this year and I regret it a little!

Thankyou for reading!

♥

Have you seen any of the shows and movies I've mentioned today?

What was your favourite watch of December? 

What I've Been Watching: November Edition | Blogmas #4

Hey lovelies! I hope that you are all enjoying my blogmas posts, it's certainly been fun writing them and giving myself something exciting to think about everyday :) I got some more Christmas presents in the post today and I am definitely looking forward to wrapping them. I just love preparing presents for people, putting some TLC into choosing the paper and the gift tags and bows and gift bags, even though I am literally so bad at wrapping things neatly! I just adore the look on my loved ones faces when I give them their presents. Nothing quite compares to seeing people smile! Just talking about it is making me excited, haha. Before I get carried away talking about Christmas though, on with today's post. It's a new month and so it's time for a new What I've Been Watching post! I have to admit that I have been spending a lot of time in bed lately, and thus Netflix really has been my best friend so expect to see quite a few TV series on my post today. I hope you enjoy reading guys! 

Krampus (2015)

Well straight away, here I am with more Christmas talk, haha! This movie is a festive-themed horror, for those of you who are not a fan of the over-joyous Christmas family movies. If you follow on Instagram, you may have seen my post the latest additions to my Funko Pint Size Heroes Horror Classics collection If not, find it here. Anyhow, I finally got the super cute Krampus figure and it prompted me to finally watch the movie! I love all things German and I'm also a fan of folklore and legends passed down through the generations, so I was curious about the tale of the anti-Santa Claus that comes to punish bad children. I wanted to see if it was cheesy or not, as many modern horrors seem to be, but I was surprised to find that I enjoyed it! With the help of a newly discovered app called Rabbit, me and a good friend of mine from overseas were able to watch the movie together, which was awesome! If you have friends or family abroad, or are in a long-distance relationship, I recommend checking out the app for yourself :) So, what's Krampus about? It focuses on one particular family, who's arguing and lack of festive spirit unleashes the 'wrath of a fearsome demon'. You'll have to watch it to find out for yourself if Christmas cheer overcomes evil! 

Alias Grace (2017)

Back in July, I watched the new Hulu production of The Handmaid's Tale, based on the novel by Margaret Atwood. After watching the show and really enjoying it, I decided to read the book too. I also loved this, and so when I heard that Netflix's new show Alias Grace was also adapted from a novel by the same author, I just had to give it a watch! It was definitely a great storyline, one of those that has you really thinking, it keeps you on your toes as the saying goes. The main character is Grace Marks, who has been convicted of murder and is sentence to life in prison, and the story is apparently based on actual events too which is cool. As we watch Grace Marks tell her story to a young psychologist, it has you questioning whether you are a good judge of character and it's interesting to see the various sides of the story. If you enjoy period dramas and murder mysteries, then this is sort of like the two mashed together! Let me know what you think if you've watched it or you do after reading my post :) I think I'm going to give the book a read now, and maybe a couple more from Margaret Atwood too. 

Top of the Lake (2013)

This show was a very compelling and emotional watch. It is a mystery crime drama set in New Zealand, and is co-produced by the British & Australia-New Zealand BBC and by Sundance TV in the US. It follows the attempted suicide and later disappearance of a 12 year old girl who is from a notorious criminal family within the town where the story is set. Before the young girl goes missing, the local police discover that she is also pregnant and launch an investigation into the circumstances surrounding it. In the show, we follow Detective Robin Griffin as she works on the case and searches for the missing girl. I don't know how else to explain the show without giving too much away, but there are a lot of interesting characters. The whole series is on Netflix and is great to binge watch! I recently just found out that there was a sequel released too so I will be checking that out as soon as I finish typing up today's post. I've seen quite a few movies and shows set in New Zealand and have very much liked all of them. They just seem to be more realistic and have complex storylines, which is something that I really enjoy. Oh, and the filming locations are always so beautiful :) 

The Sinner (2017)

This USA Network/NBC series was recommended to me by the lovely Nat over at ThereMightBeCoffee via a twitter conversation :) Once I finished watching Mind Hunter, which was pretty good but nothing special for me unfortunately, I loved straight onto The Sinner. I'd seen people talking about how much they were enjoying the show online, and I can now see why! It was a fantastic show, another one to get your brain cells working and have you pondering about the different scenarios and storylines that occur throughout the show. It's another crime drama (they are apparently my favourite thing right now!) and is about a seemingly ordinary woman who's happily married, is a doting mother, things are going great for her and then one day she suddenly snaps and kills someone. 'The Sinner' explores mental illness and what can drive someone to commit the ultimate sin. It's one of the best shows I've see this year so definitely one that I'd recommend. 

It Follows (2015)

I thought it was about time that I mentioned another movie, haha! Last month, other than Krampus, I watched quite a few horror movies. This movie was one that my friend suggested we watch and I thought I'd give it go, even though when it was released two years ago, I was put off when I heard it had a supernatural theme. I'm really not a huge fan of the modern supernatural genre, all the 'Paranormal Activity' movies in my opinion were not great. Not that most horror movies are realistic, but at least with some of them there is a possibility of the scenarios happening and lots of them are inspired by real life crime stories. However when it comes to supernatural movies, I don't believe in ghosts and ghouls haunting people/places, so they are not thrilling to watch for me, and often bore me a little. Sorry if you're a supernatural/paranormal fan! The trailer for this movie however did look good so I thought why not! It wasn't actually all that bad, there were parts of the movie that I loved and then there were parts that I thought were pretty crappy, random or just didn't fit in with the storyline. When it comes to the story. it was different than I expected which made me more curious to keep watching to find out what happened. It is an independent movie (It Follows debuted at the Cannes Film Festival) and I really do enjoy them, as I feel they focus more on the details VS big production movies. I thought it was sort of a teenage coming of age-esque story mixed with a horror movie. I feel like the movie had many hidden meanings and messages, especially with regards to mental illness and also sexually-transmitted diseases. Has anyone else seen this movie? If so, I'd love to hear what you make of it? 

Godless (2017)

I've saved the best until last, as this Netflix original series was my favourite watch of the entire month! I really like films set in the Wild West era, I have since I was young, and I thought that nothing compared to the oldies until I watched this one. Godless is set in America during the 1880s and is all about an ex-member of a gang of outlaws (played by Jack O'Connell, who is pretty good-looking too ;) haha. You may remember him from the TV show, Skins), who is being pursued with a vengeance by the ruthless leader of the gang, Frank Griffin. It is a brutal series which really reflects the ferocity of the period, and also the resilience of the people surviving through these though times. There's lots of badass woman in it too! I want to talk so much about it but I'm trying to avoid spoilers. I'm very much looking forward to another season! Please let there be another season!

So, these are my six favourite watches of November. I watched quite a few other shows, but many of them are still ongoing so I’ll probably include some of those in my December edition. I’ve watched a few more movies too, including going to see Thor: Ragnarok at the cinema with my friends, which was an awesome movie! It made me laugh a lot and who doesn’t love hot dudes in armour? #TeamLoki ♥ Let me know if I’ve given you all some inspiration on what to add to your watchlist next. Have an awesome week everyone! 

Thankyou for reading!

♥

What have you been watching lately? Have any recommendations?

See you guys tomorrow for Day 5 of Blogmas. If you haven't checked out my previous posts, you can find them here. 

What I've Been Watching: October Edition

Hi guys! I hope you all had a fantastic weekend. I absolutely love Bonfire Night, even though it's origins make it a little strange of a celebration but oh well, haha! It doesn't seem like Autumn is in full swing until this occassion has come and gone. I adore bonfires, all of the pretty colourful lights that fireworks create, the smell of burning wood and paper in the air and the fact that it brings people together. I had a lovely evening last night with my family, setting some fireworks off in our garden and lighting a mini bonfire. I just wish that we had gotten some marshmallows to top it all off! Anyhow, today's post is this month's installment of my 'What I've Been Watching' series. If you're a regular reader of my blog, you'll know sometimes these posts can contain little unintentional spoilers, when I'm explaining briefly what the movies or tv shows I've watched are about, but I try to keep these to a minimum. I hope that reading my post gives you some inspiration on what to include in your next binge watching session :) Enjoy! 

 What Happened To Monday? (2017)

I first heard about this movie in a post by the lovely Georgina over at She Might Be Loved, in her 11 Things You Need to Watch on Netflix This Month post, and it sounded like a really interesting movie so I couldn't not give it a watch when I have the Netflix app at my fingertips and I'm laying in bed at night, my insomnia refusing to let sleep happen. The movie is a sci-fi dystopian drama set in the future in a world that's overrun with people, too many people for the resources available. So in a bid to solve this problem, a one-child-per-family law is implemented. The story is centred around seven sisters (septuplets) who must avoid government detection in a system where multiple children are torn away from their parents. What will they do when one of their siblings goes missing? I'd explain more, but you should watch it and find out for yourself! I'm really into the dystopian genre, so I enjoyed this movie. There were parts that I didn't like so much, but overall it was a good watch. I'd like to read the book that it was based on, which I think is The Steven Sisters novels by Lucinda Riley. Has anyone ever read these? 

10 Cloverfield Lane (2016) 

It was all about science fiction for me this October, especially with the release of Netflix's Stranger Things season 2! I watched another brilliant sci-fi movie at the start of the month. 10 Cloverfield Lane is about a woman (played by the gorgeous Mary Elizabeth Winstead) who after a car accident wakes up in a bunker with two men, who tell her that there has been a catastrophic chemical attack and that they can no longer go outside. Eventually she will discover for herself what has gone on in the world outside of the underground bunker. Usually I have a google first to read the movie outline before choosing whether or not to watch it, but for this one I just saw that it was a thriller and decided to just go straight in without a clue what to expect. It's one of those movies that you think might go one way as you watch it but then things unexpectedly change. I like being surprised like this, unless the plot changes ridiculously to something implausible. I'd give this movie a 7 out of 10. Let me know what you all think if you've watched it or decide to after reading my post :) I'm hoping that there's a sequel. 

Cardcaptor Sakura (1998-onwards)

It recently came to my attention that there was going to be a new season of Cardcaptor Sakura released in 2018 after apparently 15 years since they made the last episode. I watched quite a few episodes of 'Cardcaptor Sakura' on Cartoon Network when I was really young, and I didn't remember much about it other than that I loved it! I have been meaning to get myself up to date with all of episodes for ages now and I thought it was about time that I did, in time for the new 'Clear Card Arc' season! I'm still getting through the episodes (slowly but surely) but I thought I'd include it anyway. The Japanese anime series, created by the iconic all-female manga artist group CLAMP, is all about a ten year old girl called Sakura who stumbles upon a book filled with magical cards in the basement of her house, which she then accidently releases and thus it's up to her to find each of the cards, known as Clow Cards, to put them back! Only people with magical abilities themselves can release these cards and with the help with a mythical creature known as Kerberos (Kero for short), Sakura uses these newly-discovered 'powers' to re-capture the Clow Cards. It's a really adorable anime, and even though it's aimed at a younger audience, it's awesome and I love it, and it has a huge fanbase all over the world. People of all ages love Cardcaptor Sakura and you might to! Give it a watch and see :) 

 Gerald's Game (2017) 

We are seeing so many of Stephen King's novels adapted into movies this year, most famously with the new release of the IT movie, which I adore and have now watched several times! There's also a new tv series made for The Mist, and two movies released by Netflix '1922' and 'Gerald's Game'. I am yet to watch the tv show but I have seen the movies and they were fantastic. Gerald's Game was my favourite out of the two and it was one of my favourite watches of the month. I now have a mighty need to add the novel (of the same name) to my reading list, because I enjoyed the movie so much! So what's the movie about? A couple with relationship problems decide to take a break for the weekend in a remote holiday home and after experimenting with a kinky game shortly upon arrival, the main character is left handcuffed to a bed after something tragic happens to her husband. With no hope of rescue, what will become of her? Will she be able to escape? Head to Netflix to find out. What I loved about this storyline/plotline was the realistic element, it made it such a compelling movie to watch! I mean, you could actually be partaking in a similar sexually-adventurous scenario and have something like that happen to you! It has you pondering throughout, what would I actually do in that situation? I am very much into psychology and so I thoroughly enjoyed the psychology basis of the movie, with the main character experiencing visions caused by her 'near-death experience'. It's an A* from me for 'Gerald's Game'! 

The End of the F***king World (2017)

I'm not really a massive fan of comedy series or movies. Sure, there are movies that do make me very nearly PMSL but in general, I don't usually watch comedies unless they include some of my favourite actors of the genre. I love Jim Carrey, Steve Carrell and Will Ferrell to name a few, however I wouldn't choose to go watch a comedy at the cinema.  When it comes to comedy, dark humour is my preferred type and this is why I enjoy animation series like Rick & Morty so much. When I saw the advert for the new channel 4 show, The End of the F***king World, as it is a dark comedy, coming-of-age drama combination I thought I'd give it a try. It features two quirky teenagers who end up going on a trip across country filled with young romance and self discovery, with both of them getting into some tough situations. After watching the first episode I couldn't stop, even though I couldn't tell if I liked it much or not, I had to see it through until the end! Do you ever feel like that after watching something... unsure of whether you actually liked it or not? I thought the two main actors were fantastic (Alex Lawther & Jessica Barden) so I'll definitely be watching other stuff that they've starred in. But I wasn't sure about the show itself. It's certainly worth a watch if you have some time to waste, since 4oD (I can't get used to calling it All 4) put the whole series up after episode 1 was shown on TV. Anyone else watched it yet? 

Leatherface (2017)

It wouldn't feel right if I didn't watch horror movies in October with it being Halloween-time, the month for all things spooky to be celebrated! I watched quite a few movies of this incredible genre, mostly old classics that I've seen again and again, but this was my best movie of the October! I really enjoyed this latest movie in the Texas Chainsaw Massacre franchise, which shows us the origin story behind Leatherface, the iconic horror protagonist. I always wonder about how the 'bad guys' in horror movies came to be so I really like movies like this one which give us an intepretation of where it all began. If you search on google, the description that first pops up about this movie is as follows: 'A violent teen and three others kidnap a young nurse while escaping from a Texas mental instituation. Pursued by a vengeful sheriff, the disturbed young man embarks on a murderous rampage that shapes him into a legendary killer known as Leatherface'. I am more times than not left disappointed by modern horror movies, however I was impressed with this one :) The first Texas Chainsaw Massacre movie (1974) is one of my top 10 favourite horror movies, and I thought this one was an awesome additon to the franchise!

I hope you all enjoyed reading about my top six watches of October 2017. I watched ALOT last month so it was tough to decide which to include in today's post! I started watching the STARZ series Black Sails which I've had on my to-watch list for a few years now, and also a couple of interesting documentaries, including one called 'Head Cases: Serial Killers in the Delaware Valley (2013)' which is interesting as it's a finctional, re-enactment style movie. I'd love to know if I've encouraged you to watch any of these movies/shows.

Thankyou for reading! 

♥

What movies/tv shows have you been enjoying lately?

If you didn't catch last month's post, you can check it out here.  

What I've Been Watching: September Edition

Hi everyone! I've been super stressed for the last few days... our internet has been messing up constantly and so I've not been able to blog for what feels like ages! I even had to use the data hotspot from my iPhone just to get Friday's post up! I'm so relieved that it's all back in working order... that is for now!! We are currently in the process of changing our internet provider so hopefully I won't have to deal with a continuous lack of connection and annoyingly slow streaming for much longer :( Here's the latest in my monthly 'What I've Been Watching' series, finally! I always try to keep spoilers to a minimum and just give you all a rough outline of what the movies or tv shows I've watched are about; apologies if I end up giving a little too much away. I hope you all enjoy reading!

 The Frankenstein Chronicles (2015)

This TV show was brought to my attention by an advert that kept popping up whenever I was watching something on ITV and that advert definitely sparked my interest right away when I noticed that it was a period drama with a spooky/fantasy/paranormal twist. That's my favourite genre when it comes to shows. However, the thing that most compelled me to watch it was the fact that Sean Bean was playing the main character! The show is set in Victorian London, where after discovering a strange apparently reassembled body washed up on the shores of the Thames river, plus several other similarily grotesque bodies, a police inspector suspects the culprit might be scientist trying to bring people back from the dead. It is a new take on the 19th century novel Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, and I really enjoyed it. I have just found out that ITV have recently started filming a second season too! 

A Cure For Wellness (2016) 

I wanted to watch this movie when I discovered that actress Mia Goth was in it, because she was fabulous in her role in the two-part movie, Nymphomaniac, which I thought was great! She has very unique look and in this movie in particular, I realised that she has a look that would be awesome in a horror movie! A Cure For Wellness is defined as a 'science-fiction psychological thriller' movie, in which a young executive is sent to the Swiss Alps to a remote spa centre to inform his company's CEO of a problem that requires him to head back to America. This spa appears to be idyllic, the perfect tranquil location to receive treatment for the stresses of life and for ailments, but the executive (played by Dane DeHann) soon comes to learn that all is not as it seems. There are strange goings on at the wellness centre, patients disappearing and curious 'therapies' available, and it's not long until the lead character discovers the eerie history of the land where the centre is built and about it's previous occupants. I'd say more about what happens but I don't want to spoil it! It's a long movie, 2 hours 26 minutes to be exact, so it is slow in parts but I prefer long movies with more detail, extra time to tell us more about the characters and such. I always enjoy movies with a science or/and medical theme, so I liked it a lot. If you give it a watch, let me know what you think :) 

Electrick Children (2012) 

Apart from A Cure for Wellness, this was the only other non-horror movie I watched last month (I went to see the new IT movie and it was AMAZING!). I'm a big fan of different movies, the kind that are released at film festivals, independent ones with quirky storylines and often a more realistic feel than mainstream movies. I like discovering new actors and the fact that these movies are for the most part less dramatic, without those scenes added just for the entertainment factor, but this does not mean that they are any less entralling with dynamic, interesting characters! Electrick Children is not the typical coming-of-age movie, even though it is based on a journey of self discovery, of acceptance and friendship. The leading role played by an actress known for 'The Perks of Being a Wallflower (2012)', Julia Garner, is a 15 year old girl who has been raised in a polygamous Mormon community, so a big theme of the movie is her discovery of the World outside of her religious upbringing, which has left her very naive and impressionable. Without giving too much away, she discovers that she is pregnant and believes that a forbidden cassette tape must have had something to do with it after she listened to it. This is how little she understands about reproduction, however it may also be her mind's way to coping with the trauma of abuse. After her family tell her that her marriage has been arranged, she runs away and goes in search of the artist from the casette tape. Also starring in this movie is Rory Culkin, younger brother of Macaulay Culkin, who I've never seen before so that was cool! Are you a fan of independent movies? I'd love some recommendations!

 Mommy Dead and Dearest (2017) 

Last month, I watched A LOT of documentaries and reawakened my passion for them! I absolutely love documentaries, especially documentary movies where the running times are longer than an hour. I am very much into crime documentaries and at the moment, HBO ones seem to be my favourite (although my all-time most beloved documentaries will always be those presented by Louis Theroux!). I've just chosen the two documentaries that I found most interesting to talk about in today's post but I also saw The Imposter (2012), The Pig Farm (2011) and The Fear of 13 (2015), all of which I'd recommend watching, although the Pig Farm one dragged on a little. Anyhow, 'Mommy Dead and Dearest' is a fantastic documentary, following a murder investigation involving Gypsy Rose Blancharde who was charged with planning the murder of her mother, with her boyfriend actually committing the killing. The documentary makers interviewed several people including Gypsy Rose herself, and explored the circumstances that drove her to plan such a horrific act. We discover that Dee Dee Blancharde (the mother) suffered with a mental illness which caused her to convince everyone in her life (family, neighbours, doctors) to believe that her daughter was severly ill, which one day Gypsy Rose would find out after growing up completely in the dark about the deception her mother had created. Feeling trapped in her life, Gypsy Rose searched for an escape and found one when he met her boyfriend, who was later convicted of the murder. What caused him to kill his girlfriend's mom? Why did Gypsy Rose decide to go to such diabolical measures to get away from her mother? Watch this documentary and find out! 

 Hemlock Grove (2013)

I'm not gonna lie, I'm literally just watching this series because my current #MCM is in it, haha! With the release of the new adaptation of Stephen King's IT, tumblr seems to be filled with gifs and photographs of the gorgeous Bill Skargaard (who plays Pennywise the Clown in the new horror movie), and saw a couple from this show that made me have a mighty need to watch it! Hemlock Grove is a Netflix original horror series filled with supernatural beings. I love horrors, the paranormal and hot blood-covered men (yes, we already know I'm weird!). The series is based in a former steel town in Pennsylvania which is home to an array of extraordinary characters, and when a teenager is found murdered in a most shocking way, there is a hunt for her killer. Thus, we discover more about the strange people who live in this anything-but-normal town. Overall, it's a great show to binge watch (there's three seasons up on Netflix guys!), but there are quite a few 'corny' parts, which you see a lot with many modern horrors, both tv series and movies alike. Bill Skarsgaard and Landon Liboiron are in it and that makes it worth watching in my opinion! *insert 28 heart-eyed emojis here*

 Thought Crimes: The Case Of The Cannibal Cop (2015) 

This documentary was really interesting; it was one of those shows that really gets you thinking and considering what you believe to be right or wrong. In Thought Crimes (2015), we are introduced to the case of Gilberto Valle who has been accused of conspiring to kidnap women. The most shocking element of his apparent plan was that it involved murder and/or cannibalism. He argues that his 'plans' were all fantasy, which he was discussing with other like-minded people and that he never really intended to carry out any of the things he said online in 'dark web' forums. His case was a very tough one to prosecute because the arguement arose on whether people could ethically be charged for their deepest thoughts and fantasies. People should be allowed to express their desires, because there's a lot of people especially within fetish communities who fantastise's, however bizzare or taboo to the non-kink world, are purely fantasy-based and are of course never intended to be a reality. So even if people think what the hell! about this guy's thoughts- he cannot help what his preference are, and is it harmful for him to think about or discuss them just within the realm of fantasy? The documentary questioned, do we start prosecuting people based on fantasy-talk, even if it seems very detailed? This is potentially pushing taboo sexuality back into the shadows, and constricting freedom of speech rights. Or, should people who display these interests be monitored in case they could commit crimes in the future? It makes you think, how do we really know that some people won't go on to actually try to carry out their fantasties? It was highlighted that Gilberto had researched keywords on google and discussed specifics about what he wanted to do and who with. A lot of what he talked about online was shocking, but there is still no definitive proof that he would have ever commited these acts. It is understandable that some of his fantasties would have been detailed, since it's natural for someone to think about sex a lot since it is one of the driving instincts of humans, and many people have intricate ideas of how they would like their deepest, and sometimes darkest, fantasties to play out. I don't want to explain anymore about the storyline because you should go watch the documentary :) I'd love to hear your thoughts! 

So, these were my six most enjoyed watches of September. Have you seen any of the shows or movies that I've mentioned? I'm super happy that I'm managing to keep up with my movie-watching streak, especially when it comes to horror movies! I re-watched part 1 & 2 of 'Stephen's King IT (1990)' and the new Annabelle: Creation, plus I've already watched four this month and we are only 10 days in, haha (I mean, is it even Halloween if you don't watch horror movies!?). You'll have to wait for my October edition to read all about them! 

Thankyou for reading!

♥

What TV series are you hooked on right now? 

 Also, I'd love to know what your favourite spooky movie is!

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