What We’ve Been Watching – September & October

It doesn’t feel like five minutes ago that I was writing my last What We’ve Been Watching update. We’re actually doing very well with our film goal of 100 movies, and are ahead of where we were this time last year, I’m not convinced we’re quite going to meet the target though as I know myself and Ben were both off ill one day last year with a horrible cold and watched about 6 films in a day sometime through December. There’s also so many good shows that we’re watching/starting at the moment and as October has passed we’ve watched less and less films a week and been watching shows instead.

Films

Les Miserables
My favourite musical of all time, I’ve basically been born and raised on this and my sister and I were taken to the theatre to see this by our parents when we were too young to understand what the hell was going on. I know some people have a problem with this film adaptation but I actually think it’s really well done, and lets me get my fix of the show -better than any others I’ve seen. If you’re a fan of musicals and you’ve never seen Les-Mis, what are you doing?

Charlie and The Chocolate Factory
This used to be one of my favourite films I used to watch over and over around the time it came out. We rewatched it when it was on TV in September and I’m not as obsessed with it as I used to be (despite the fact I was reciting it as we were watching.) It does still have one of my favourite lines from any movie though “Everything in this room is edible. Even I’m edible. But, that would be called cannibalism. It is looked down upon in most societies.”

Passengers
This was one of my highlights from last year and as soon as it arrived on our Sky Movies package it was on. I loved it as much as the first time that I watched it, I really like the combination of Jennifer Lawrence and Chris Pratt. I’m not a huge sci-fi lover but this is one that will be a favourite of mine for years to come I’m sure.

The Hobbit Battle of the Five Armies
We finally finished off our Hobbit rewatch after starting them at the end of last year again! Probably my least favourite of the trilogy, the second one is my favourite! I’ve said in the past that I prefer these to the original LOTR movies, controversial I know, but I’ve never managed to follow them very well. Worth starting with these if you’re a newb to LOTR world.

The Hangover
Whilst we were away in Yorkshire, I mentioned that the B&B we stayed at had a giant bookcase of DVDs in the lobby for people to go for. This is what Ben chose, we haven’t watched the Hangover movies in years – and it was fun to rewatch, it doesn’t get better than the original though, I’ll always remember watching it in the cinema for the first time and the constant shock factor with it.

Trolls
Everyone told me I was going to love Trolls from my friends and family who I’d seen it. I thought I was going to love Trolls too, Anna Kendrick, Justin Timberlake – kinda a dream combo for me, but I was bored watching it which is shocking. I liked the animation, I thought that part was very well done and the colours were lovely, and I was genuinely surprised at the end of it when Ben said he’d enjoyed it as I’d already text people mid-way through who said I’d love it asking them what the heck they were on about.

Zodiac
I have a current fascination with true crime, I’m basically solidly listening to podcasts about murders and Ben chose this after saying that I didn’t think I’d seen it, although do know the story behind the Zodiac Killer. I did really enjoy it actually, but it was less about the murders/victims than it was about the man trying to crack the case. I really liked Jake Gyllenhall in this, I have a bit of a love hate relationship with him but this was a goodun.

Cooties
We watched this because it had Dwight Schrute in it, and it popped up just after we’d finished the American Office (more on that later). Imagine Shaun of the Dead was set in a school and that’s what this is, the children of the school become Zombies and the teachers (Elijah Wood, Rainn Wilson, Allison Pill to name a few of the actors in key roles) run round the school hiding and trying to escape. Sounds terrible, was expecting it to be terrible, but was guilty pleasure worthy,

Blade Runner
We watched the original Blade Runner after we’d seen the trailer in the cinema for the new one and declared that I wanted to watch it. I don’t think, at least in memory, A classic which many people love but I just didn’t – I think maybe it was something that I’d watched a long time ago and had been apart of my memory for longer it would feel less crazy, but the association of flying cars etc for a film that’s set in two years time was too hard to fully swallow. The actress who played Rachael (hurrah for a Rachael spelt correctly), was also terrible.

Logan
I wasn’t really that interested in watching this, I’ve really fell out of love with the XMen movies in the past few years – i feel like it’s a series that has grown tired, but Ben wanted to watch it.. Whilst I’d heard that this was almost entirely separate to the rest of the franchise I was still dubious. It was a hell of a lot better and could be watched separately if you had not seen any of the other movies. I thought Hugh Jackman was fantastic, as was Dafne Keen who played Ana in the film  – in fact most of the castings were spot on for this film and it was good to see the Wolverine character put to rest as HJ confirmed he won’t play the character again.

The Accountant
I can barely remember watching the Accountant which tells you how much I enjoyed it. Overall a forgettable movie… clearly, two weeks of past and I had to Google the story line to remind me. Starring Ben Affleck as a high-functioning autistic forensic accountant, the film was disjointed and the story line IMO was pretty boring, it seemed like it was going to be a clever storyline but it wasn’t. Unless it’s something that you had wanted to see, I’d say don’t bother.

Sully
Picked because we needed a shorter movie to watch rather than one which ran for hours and hours. We’d heard good things about Sully, and it didn’t disappoint. It was to the point and said everything that needed to be said about the story and didn’t overly drag it on. A true story starring Tom Hanks as a pilot who had to land a passenger plane on the Hudson River after the plane began to fail, and the investigation that followed it happening.

Wonder Woman
I was so exited for this, we missed it being in the cinema as it came out when we were on honeymoon, when we came back we couldn’t seem to find a timing that we could make it to. First of I really liked the casting of Gal Gadot, I know she’s not really amazonian, but she had the strong female characteristics the role needed. I was less keen on Chris Pine, I don’t know why he just didn’t fit the role for me. But I didn’t enjoy it overall, something was just missing for me – there’s no strong twists in the storyline and you can see what’s coming once all the characters have been introduced. I hope to see more from the line as I want to love it and hopefully now the origins part of the storyline has been cleared it will make room for better storylines in future additions to the series

Oceans Eleven
We came home after a very heavy three course roast lunch out of home in the need of collapsing on the sofa watching something that we’d seen before that required little concentration. After flicking through our movies package on the sofa Ocean’s Eleven was the movie of choice. I’m sure that there’s no one who hasn’t seen Ocean’s Eleven.

Sing
I was very happy when this popped up on our Sky box movies package and it was on and being watched as soon as it was available. My friend Lora had told me that I’d love it and she wasn’t wrong. Starring Matthew McConaughey as a Theatre owning koala whose business is suffering and dwindling, and launches a singing type competition to appear in a show to generate business. Definitely recommend watching.

The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh
Ben bought me this DVD a few years ago for Christmas when he bought a lot of my old favourite films from my childhood in DVD format for me and we’ve only just gotten around to watching. Turns out Pooh Bear, is a dick! Watching as an adult gives you some fresh eyes on Pooh Bear, I’m glad he’s not my neighbour! Very nostalgic and I really enjoyed watching it again for the first time in probably 15 years or more.

Blade Runner 2049
I’d mentioned a couple of posts ago that we’d been to see this, and it was definitely much better than the original! The addition of Ryan Gosling’s head was going to be an immediate improvement for any film though. Overall I really liked the film, it was a little longer than it needed to me, and there were points that I just didn’t understand what the point of Jared Leto’s character was, he confused the film for me and it made more sense without him in it, it’s almost like he was a character for characters sake. But overall I enjoyed the film.

Dinner for Schmucks
An old favourite I picked out of the cupboard as one to rewatch as we’d not seen it in years! I’d been to watch this with one of my besties while I was still at uni and it ended up being a film I watched a lot as it would remind me of home. If you’ve not seen this film and you’re a comedy fan I’d recommend. Starring Paul Rudd who to get a promotion has to invite a ‘special’ guest to a dinner to qualify for his promotion. Steve Carrel is that special guest who is a mouse taxidermist, who not only becomes part of his professional life but also causes havoc with his personal life too. Like it more than I probably should.

Before I Fall
One I watched by myself on Netflix so didn’t count towards our 100 film goal for the year. About a girl who dies in a car crash with friends and she keeps having to relive the same day over and over. Weirdly when I was a teenager I had a very similar idea for a book/short story which I began writing and that’s how it ended up catching my eye. I enjoyed it, it wasn’t anything groundbreaking but it was short and kept me entertained as I was doing the ironing one night when I was home alone.

#Reality High
Same story for how I stumbled across this one, it seemed from the caption that it was going to be a bit more deep than what it turned out to be, I suspected it was going to be more about the impact of social media on young people’s lives, which it was but it was more in passing. It’s about an uncool girl, who ends up becoming one of the cool kids and becoming friends with a vlogger/social media star and ends up becoming a bit vapid before it bites her on the ass. A Netflix Original that filled the time but preferred Before I Fall out of the two.


Television

I’ve decided for TV Shows I’m only going to talk about them once we’ve/I’ve finished a series now as it’s confusing trying to remember where I was up to the last time I updated and makes more sense recommending on a whole or not 🙂

Stranger Things
We were late to the bandwagon on Stranger Things it’s always been saved on our Netflix list as a to watch but finding the time to do it over the the past year proved hard. We watched the entire thing in two days with absolutely no regrets at the start of October. We’re halfway through the second series *no spoilers please* and it will likely be finished by the end of the week. The show is just so binge-worthy and watchable, if you’ve been wanting to watch, or want something new to try I recommend trying a few episodes, it’s not normally my kind of thing at all.

Penn & Teller Fool Us
We put this on Netflix for nights when we don’t have a lot of time and we can just stop and start something and worked our way through both series over a couple of months. Essentially it was a talent competition for magicians to try and if they fooled Penn and Teller they won a slot opening for them in Vegas. The first series (based in the UK) was better than the second in our opinion, the second series it was 80% card tricks and became a bit boring after a while. Filled the gap of what we needed it to do.

Liar
My Mother In Law asked if I’d been watching Liar as it was about to air it’s last episode and I hadn’t and I managed to catch up on the whole series with a day or two. I don’t know why I don’t watch many UK dramas any more, I think it’s because there’s so many I don’t have a lot of time outside of other programmes I watch normally. This was so good, it’s been left open for a series two, I expect in a few months this will pop up on Netflix and it’s entirely worth a watch. It’s about a woman who believes she’s been raped after a date with a man, I don’t want to go much further than that as you spend most of the story trying to work out who is the Liar.

Doctor Foster
Another series I was late to the party on was Doctor Foster and I’d watched all of series one and two within about a week, the first I was hooked on and really enjoyed, the second I’m glad I had them all saved up on the box recorded to binge through as I think if I’d been waiting week by week I may have got bored. The ending felt a bit random for me – as I think it did with a lot of people who watched it. Essentially the first story sees the breakdown of a marriage after an affair, the first kind of carries on with the aftermath of it and her still incessant obsession over her ex-husband.

The Office
I’m both sad and glad that we managed to finish the US office. I’d never seen the ending as it was removed from Netflix when I was halfway through the last series and I never got the boxset until last Christmas. I’m already missing not watching it and will revisit again in a few years when it’s less fresh in my memory. I think this will become my program to rewatch forever.

The Confession Tapes
Fulfilling my true crime fix over the past few months was this Netflix original. I enjoyed watching it, each episode featured people who had ‘confessed’ to a crime who then pleaded not guilty, or were manipulated into saying that they did something and what the result of those confessions are now. I’ve since done some extra homework on some of the cases as some of them interested me and I think Netflix definitely had an agenda when it came to some of the crimes, but regardless I still enjoyed it and if you’re into TC then you’ll probably get some enjoyment out of it.


As always leave any recommendations of movies or television shows we should watch in the comments, and let me know if you’ve watched any of them too and what you thought!

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Helpless Whilst Drying

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38 Comments

  1. November 1, 2017 / 7:12 am

    What’s your movie count up to? I loved the original Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, wasn’t as keen on the remake lol. I’ve never seen The Hangover or Ocean’s Eleven 😛 Zodiac sounds good, I might read up about it and decide whether I want to watch it. Your Winnie the Pooh observation is hilarious! Tigger has always been my favourite.

    • November 1, 2017 / 9:06 am

      I think we’re at 76, definitely somewhere in that region!
      I’m equally as surprised as you having not seen the Hangover or Ocean’s Eleven! I’d love to watch the Hangover again with someone who hasn’t seen it to relive my reactions through them!
      Tigger was always my favourite too there’s a picture of me 11 when we went to florida disney and I’m next to tigger with the biggest smile I’ve ever had on my face!

      • November 1, 2017 / 9:12 am

        Ooh you’re getting close! I know The Hangover is meant to be funny, maybe I’ll watch it on a day off in the near future 🙂 Aww that sounds like a cute memory! I have a little Tigger toy I’ve had since I was about 4 xx

        • November 1, 2017 / 9:14 am

          We are getting close, I’m not sure if we’ll quite make it though! We watch most movies at the weekend and most of our weekends are already booked out between now and Christmas so I don’t think we’ll have time for any movie days! If we get to 90 this year I’ll be pleased – I wasn’t sure we’d meet the goal this year anyway!

      • November 1, 2017 / 6:35 pm

        Fellow Tigger fan here! There used to be a Tigger at Epcot who would recognize me & knew I’m a MAJOR Tigger fan. They’d be as excited to see me as I was Tigger. The joke reached a head when Tigger “proposed” to me one time. And yes there are photos. It was so hilarious. The character handlers were dying laughing. 😂

  2. November 1, 2017 / 9:09 am

    I am taking a few notes 😊 if you enjoy crime shows you should watch “Mindhunter” it’s just so good. ❤️

  3. Dessy G.
    November 1, 2017 / 11:13 am

    Great post 🙂 We’re super into Stranger things and I’m afraid of what will happen in the last 3 episodes 😡 😀 . Also thank u for the suggestions now really bad I want to watch Before I fall ^^

  4. November 1, 2017 / 12:36 pm

    All the fuss with Blade Runner made me go watch the original (which oddly I missed out on in my younger years some how!) I couldn’t believe how rubbish it was! I think back in the day it was a head of itself but you’re right nowadays it just seems silly that this is all supposed to happen in 2 years time 😀

    I felt the same about Wonder Woman as well. It seemed fairly obvious where it was going. But I did like Gal Gadot & Enjoyed the start with her training etc.

    Before I Fall I had read as a book but this was one of the rare times I preferred the movie :O

    • November 1, 2017 / 12:41 pm

      I was exactly the same with blade runner, I think if you’ve grown up with it but it was too hard imagining that all this was meant to be in place in two years time!

      I think future Wonder Woman will be better – the origins stories can always be a bit boring as it doesn’t leave much time for an interesting storyline once they’ve established the character!

      Ahh I’d had it in mind to read that, I shan’t bother then!

      • November 1, 2017 / 12:44 pm

        I think as well with Blade Runner I had it mixed up in my head with the original Total Recall & The Fifth Element! They were all mad into the flying cars 😀

        Also we’ll have no Chris Pine in future Wonder Woman’s I assume if they are going to be in current times. Although Batman as a love interest doesn’t appeal either 😀

        • November 1, 2017 / 1:06 pm

          I don’t think I’ve seen either of those either – I want to like old movies but most of the time I struggle to get over the now bad-graphics/unrealistic expectations of the future!

          Yeah me neither the match isn’t quite right for me on those two!

  5. asparklingjourney
    November 1, 2017 / 1:47 pm

    Nice List! I really liked the Accountant!

  6. November 1, 2017 / 2:49 pm

    Ooh you’ve been watching a ton of stuff! I’ve had a couple on my to-see list for a long time (Cooties, Les Mis)—should get started!

    I also didn’t care for The Accountant, disjointed for sure. Zodiac was surprisingly good, wasn’t it? I generally like Jake G, and I’m not really sure why. It seems like he should annoy me, yet he never does.

    I hadn’t heard of Liar! Sounds really good, and with Ioan Gruffudd and Joanne Froggatt (that’s a lot of doubled letters between them), I’m there.

    I can’t deal with the Johnny Depp version of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. He’s so…..disturbing. LMAO. No No No No. Kind of like his character in Into the Woods, but at least in that movie the disturbing subtext is SUPPOSED to be there.

    Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh 💛💛💛🍯

    Glad we posted our movie/tv reviews on the same day again, hahaha!

    • November 1, 2017 / 2:54 pm

      Oh I just wanted to add that my favorite Sean Young (correctly-spelled Rachael in Blade Runner ’82) role is in Ace Ventura: Pet Detective: “Einhorn is Finkel! Finkel is Einhorn!” 😂

    • November 1, 2017 / 4:31 pm

      I really liked Zodiac, I can’t remember whether I’ve seen it before or not! I have a love hate relationship with Jake G, sometimes he’s good other times terrible.

      I find Gene Wilder way more creepy as Willy Wonka! That’s why I’m not that much of a fan of the original! Jonny Depp does have the classic Tim Burton vibe in this film though! I’m not that much of a fan of Johnny Depp like lots of people are, I don’t get the fascination or hype, I can find him quite robotic!

      Cooties is well worth a watch, it’s the kind of awful that ends up being good!

      • November 2, 2017 / 6:00 pm

        Haha, I can definitely see that in Gene Wilder’s portrayal. I feel that neither film is a really great version of that story—maybe one day…

  7. November 1, 2017 / 6:32 pm

    That same line in Charlie & the Chocolate Factory… first time I heard it I laughed so hard I was nearly in tears. It still cracks me up.

    And… welcome to the Upside Down! After you finish season 2, watch Beyond Stranger Things. It’s a panel “after show where they sit and discuss the season with the actors and show creators.

    • November 1, 2017 / 8:21 pm

      I’ve added that to my watch list on Netflix already! Glad to hear its good, we might managed to squeeze in an episode tonight weve been so busy for a few days we’ve not had chance to continue!

  8. November 1, 2017 / 9:03 pm

    Rachael how do you manage to do so well with films! We’re up to 17 for the year and I thought that was an achievement🙈 I watched Liar and Dr Foster. I’ve tried to watch more TV x

      • November 1, 2017 / 10:36 pm

        😂 no just good at bothering to watch things. I liked Liar a lot. I only saw the second series of Dr Foster. I kept watching it but I dont know if it’s amazing. If someone had died the ending could have been better I think x

        • November 2, 2017 / 10:28 am

          I thought the first series was much better than the second on Dr Foster – I agree I thought the son going missing seemed a bit out of the blue, and I wanted her to hit him with the car!

          • November 2, 2017 / 3:33 pm

            Yes I think the first series looked better. I only watched the second series as everyone loved the first one. Me too! I hoped she’d hit him😂 I think they changed the ending so they could do another series. The writers kept saying it’s like a certain greek tragedy and in it the husband dies x

  9. November 1, 2017 / 9:37 pm

    First I wanna say I LOVE your blog!! Hope you know you’re doing an amazing job. Second, this sounds like a really cool challenge! I am the type of person who watches the same stuff over and over again… but I did watch Wonder Woman and thought it was great!

    • November 1, 2017 / 10:12 pm

      That’s why I set ourselves this challenge last year, I was fed up of my partner asking to watch the same films all the time and I wanted to broaden our movie horizons!

      • November 2, 2017 / 2:22 am

        That makes total sense! Has it been easy accessing plenty of movies/shows? Or have you paid/rented for some of them?

  10. November 2, 2017 / 12:25 am

    Thanks for some suggestions! Now as it is starting to get cold, I barely want to leave the house haha

  11. November 2, 2017 / 7:32 pm

    I watched the original Blade Runner (I had never seen it) just prior to seeing the new one. While I love the new one, I was underwhelmed by the original. Most people tell me “you had to have watched it when it first came out because it was so ahead of its time back then”. Whatever. 😛 The sequel was fantastic though! But yes, there was no point for Jared Leto’s character. Have you watched the mini movies on YT that ties in the time period between the original vs the sequel? They do a fill in the gaps between the 2 movies nicely – there are 3 of them and they’re quite well done:
    2022: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rrZk9sSgRyQ
    2036: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UgsS3nhRRzQ
    2048: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aZ9Os8cP_gg

    Wonder Woman was just ok for me – not as great as everyone hyped it up to be.
    Johnny Depp creeps me out in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory!

    I’m trying to think of what I’ve watched recently that I would recommend is Baby Driver – have you see it?

    • November 2, 2017 / 7:57 pm

      So glad our thoughts were the same on the original! I wasn’t born when the original came out, I have a valid excuse to have not seen it at it’s release!

      Ooh no I didn’t know they’d done those, I’ll wait for Ben to get home late and suggest we watch them! I kind of feel like Jared Leto was in it because everyone got hyped up about him in Suicide Squad as the Joker – but in terms of the villain it was totally the girl, they could have done without him completely.

      No not seen Baby Driver yet we wanted to go see it at the cinema but never got round to it, I don’t think it’s even out on DVD here yet as I’m sure Ben would have got it as he was so desperate to see it!

  12. November 3, 2017 / 9:54 am

    I got addicted to Dr Foster! Love it.

  13. November 11, 2017 / 5:50 pm

    giiiirl you’re on a mission! Sing is probably my favourite launch of recent, I absolutely loved it and I really want to watch Logan! .xo

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