March Favourites

(Favourite) Television: This month there is one particular stand out for a television series I have been loving this month and that is Brooklyn Nine-Nine. I have absolutely no words for how much I love this series. It's definitely a new favourite, and I will be adding it to 'My Favourites' list as soon I am done writing this post. It's a hilarious, fresh comedy with one of the most perfect casts I've ever watched and is truly groundbreaking. This show should be mandatory watching for everyone. I don't want to go on and on about how amazing it is but seriously, just do yourself a favour and if you're not watching it already: GO! (I actually give you permission to leave this blog post on the condition that you watch this show it is that amazing . . . and then come back and read the rest!)
I also have to give a massive honourable mention to My Mad Fat Diary. I won't talk about it much here, because I want to write a whole post on it and I'm only just finished Season 1, so watch this space! 

(Favourite) Film: Surprisingly, March has been a pretty good month for films and I. Usually, I will watch two or three films in a month, four if I'm lucky. I do favour television quite a bit more. This month, for some reason, I found more and more I was wanting to watch a film over any episodes of television I had lined up. I think that there were a lot of reasons for this, one of which was the fact that I crammed in heaps for before the Oscars, the other of which was I'm in a little bit of a television rut at the moment (I think I just have too many choices!). I'll be writing a small post about the films I have been watching, so keep an eye out for that, but without further ado, onto my favourite which I have to say was: Howl's Moving Castle. I have never watched a Studio Ghibli film before this, so I didn't know what to expect but I can tell you that since watching this I have now seen another three and plan on seeing many more. They were all films that are just enjoyable, cute and fun. The animation is absolutely stunning and so beautiful. I do have a post coming up on the films I watched in March so look out for that soon!

(Favourite) Reading: February was a big month for reading. I was on holiday in Hawaii and I just powered through quite a few books that I had been meaning to read for ages. March, with the start of uni again, has seen a rapid decline in my reading time. I am going to do a bog post sometime soon about some books I've been loving/looking forward to reading, so keep an eye out for that too. Here's an Empire article I absolutely adored reading: it's the exact article that Empire published in their June 1994 issue about the movie Four Wedding's and a Funeral (if you weren't already aware, that's my favourite movie). For this month's favourite I have to go with something I've read before and that is Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins. Unlike the other two in the series (The Hunger Games and Catching Fire) I haven't read this one since I originally did around three years ago. Since I saw Catching Fire I have wanted to re-read because I just couldn't really remember any of the details of what happened anymore. I finally managed to start it again a few days ago and I've just really been enjoying it. It's almost like reading it for the first time again. I have had to put it down a few times because I couldn't see the pages through my tears (no one mention Finnick) but it's also helped me get back into reading as I've started and finished two more books in the mean time. 

This photo is of Jared Leto in a dragon/lizard onesie (not that you can really tell).

(Favourite) Random: I think the most exciting thing that happened to me this month was the fact that I bought VIP tickets to meet Benedict Cumberbatch. Yes, I did pay an arm and a leg for them, but I am so excited and I think it will definitely be worth it, considering it will probably be the highlight of my life year (no pressure Benedict!). It's not until April 13th, but it's just under two weeks away now and I'm not sure I can get anymore excited! The other other highlight happened just a couple of days ago: I got see 30 Seconds to Mars live in concert! They were so amazing, it was definitely one of my favourite concerts I've ever been to. I just love every single one of their songs and Jared Leto is such an amazing performer, I'm so happy I've seen them live. 

Let me know what you've been loving the past month in the comments! 

Road to the Oscars: Day Six (Her)

Falling in love is a crazy thing to do. 

It's kind of like a socially acceptable form of insanity.

Post contains minor spoilers. 

I find the whole concept behind ‘Her’ very interesting. It freaks me out how possible this future could be. 'Her' is a movie about Theodore (Joaquin Phoenix) who is living in a future city of Earth/America. In this future everyone is very reliant on technology already, but this new Operating System (OS) comes out that is like having a friend and a computer in one and is basically meant to be suited specifically to you. Theodore's OS is named Samantha, and she is voiced by Scarlett Johansson. I find the idea of having my own ‘Samantha’ quite exciting. Someone to always talk to, and that always wants to talk to you and know about your day. I don’t know, I guess I just find that idea quite comforting. I suppose that really says something about my life, doesn’t it? I don’t think, however, I would ever be a person who could fall in love with one an OS. At the beginning, where Theodore and Samantha were just meeting and getting to know each other, I found myself smiling along and thinking it was quite cute how quickly they had become close friends. When they started 'dating' however, I found myself starting to cringe a little. I was not as comfortable with it as some characters in the movie were. 

I think it would have been extremely hard for both Johansson and Phoenix. Johansson, because she had to make sure her voice was exactly on point with every single thing she said. It had to convey so much emotion, and I think she managed to pull it off spectacularly. If I was going to fall in love with anyone’s voice, Scarlett’s would definitely be on that list (Ben Whishaw, Tom Hiddleston and Bianca Lawson are all on that list too by the way). Phoenix had the difficult task of having to always be on camera, even when it was Samantha talking. His face had to play for two characters. Again, I think the casting was pretty darn perfect. I really enjoyed Amy Adams' character, also named Amy, and Rooney Mara’s character, Catherine. I think the two women, who were quite different in their personalities and different in roles they played in Joaquin’s life, really gave depth to the story and added to my understanding and feelings towards Johansson’s OS character. 

This movie won't win Best Picture, but it is certainly thought-provoking and an extremely interesting movie to see. I highly would recommend watching it with an open mind. 

As always, let me know in the comments what you thought if you've seen it!