What Have You Been Watching? (February, 2018)

Back to the blogging I go with an insanely late rundown of what I had been watching throughout the month of February. I didn't finish any TV programs, and I don't really have a good reason for that unfortunately. So, let's get on with it.

Films

• Phantom Thread - This was a very interesting film. It was so twisty and kinda twisted at the end. I enjoyed it but it definitely left me speechless, I needed to think about it for a while after I watched it. This film was certainly an interesting one, not for everyone but if you are into your more arty original films, then maybe give this one a go. 
• Black Panther - One of the best marvel films ever. It's black-ness was my favourite thing about it. I think it made an important stance politically by having a film like this, but not any film a blockbusting superhero film. This film was funny and I felt like it really gave you a window into a positively portrayed black society, because so often they aren't portrayed positively lets face it. I really enjoyed it, not my favourite marvel film but it was very good and is definitely up there.  
• The Mercy - The most depressing film on this list by far. I honestly don't have a lot to say about it past that. Rachel Weiss was amazing, very much in the same vein as Alicia Vikander in the Danish Girl. As in, they both play wives to the main character but steal the show with their amazing acting skills. Good film but majorly depressing. 
• Status Update - This was a throwback moment for me. My friend and I were both major Disney Channel kids and felt that this film had a major DCOM vibe to it. We were right and I think that my 14 year old self would've been all over it, although my 20 year old self still had a pretty good time watching it. It had its funny moments and was just a fun, silly film. 
• The Shape of Water - This film was my top running for Best Picture at the Oscars and I was right, mwahahaha another year in a row I was correct. It is simply the most beautiful film in terms of it's story and it's design/look. The main characters literally seem to cover every lesser shown category of person: a mute, a gay man, a black women, and a fish man (so maybe some scaley vibes there). It is a beautiful tale of forbidden love, that is tragic and broke my heart. 
• Lady Bird, x2 - I adored this film, I think it is such an insightful look into family life and specifically the relationship between a mother and daughter. It is so well written, it isn't just handed to you on a plate you really need to be an active watcher when watching this film or you won't get everything. Honestly, just go watch it. It is amazing. 

Thank you so much for reading, I'm sorry about the lack of blog posts recently having a bit of a dissertation panic as I have to hand it in at the end of this month which is terrifying. I'm almost through with uni and have to go out into the real world, scary times I'm in right now. But, yeah, thanks for reading and hopefully I shall be posting again next Wednesday or Sunday. 

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Black Panther (Coogler, 2017)

  I was excited for this film, they could have so easily been like 'no, black panther doesn't need his own film' but they did it an I wanna give marvel a high five for creating this film.
Basic storyline time - Black Panther is about the African nation Wakanda and what could be of Africa had we left them alone to do their own thing. Damn colonialism, messing things up. The narrative revolves around the character of T'Challa the prince that becomes king of Wakanda after the death of his father. The main issue of the narrative is getting back their vibranium from Klaue, a black market smuggler whom is responsible for killing many Wakandan's when he stole the vibranium in the first

place.
  I enjoyed this film, I had a fun time watching it and I was never bored. However, it is very much like every other Marvel movie excluding very few. It is up there in my top Marvel films but it has certainly not knocked Thor: Ragnarok off of the top spot. Every aspect of this film is well done, from acting, casting, costume, music and so many more this film combines all its elements flawlessly. But it doesn't really do anything that different to other Marvel films in terms of the narrative.
  I think that the most important and best thing about this film is that it is an entirely black cast minus a few people with more than one line. I think it is so important that everyone in this world feels represented in mainstream media and let's face it black people don't get the representation that they should. So, on that aspect, I think that this movie was well done. Although, along the same lines I wish that they spoke Wakandan more. I understand why they didn't speak it all the time when they were in Wakanda because it would affect the sellability of the movie because some people (probably a majority) don't want to read subtitles for the entire movie. I think that there were some scenes though, that would have made more sense if they spoke to each other in Wakandan because sometimes they'll be talking but only one person will speak Wakandan the entire time whilst the others speak English and it was just a little weird and jarring.
  Overall, like I said earlier I enjoyed this film. I was never bored, it was fun, I'm looking forward to infinity war. It was serious but had a lot of fun moments. Politically this film is important especially at this moment in time where racism is seemingly still running rampant all over the western world. This film does have issues, it certainly isn't perfect nor is it the best Marvel film. However, if you want a fun film to watch that will keep you entertained for a couple of hours then this will do that for you, I'm sure.

Rating: 4 out of 5

Thank you so much for reading, hopefully, you enjoyed reading this. If you have seen Black Panther then let me know what you thought about it!

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What Have You Been Watching? (January, 2018)

Oh, how I love January so many amazing films come out in hopes of getting those coveted Oscar nominations. On the other hand, I haven't been doing amazing on the TV front with work, uni, and all the amazing films that have been released that I just must see!

FILM

• Hostiles - This film was gone so quickly I feel like I'm the only person I know that has actually seen it. I enjoyed it, I don't particularly want to go into the political stuff surrounding it because I simply don't feel like I know enough about the history and all that stuff. What I do know is that I liked it and it showed how cruel and judgemental the Cowboys were to the Natives in America. It is very much saying that the Cowboy's were the bad guys in the situation. It certainly doesn't say that the Natives were completely innocent but they aren't faceless evil like in many old westerns. Very good, I recommend watching it if you're sick of how westerns make the Natives look.
• Three Billboards Outside of Ebbing, Missouri -  I really enjoyed this film and I think it is saying something important about rape cases and how they are dealt with. However, it is problematic AF! The 'hero' at the end is very much to be made out to be the racist backward cop and I'm not cool with that. It made me feel bad for thinking that it was a good film as his redemption felt unnecessary and out of place. I think, watch it and have your own opinion because it is a good film but it has its issues. 
• Brad's Status - I love a bit of Ben Stiller and was excited to go see this film. It's good, enjoyable and pretty funny but nothing special when considering the other things that are coming out at the moment. But it left me feeling very good about life and that I should take it as it comes and not be to put out by where I end up. 
• Coco - I loved this film, the animation is beautiful and the songs are catchy and heartwarming at times. It has its issues but overall I loved it. For more in-depth thoughts here's my review: http://galaxysearcher.blogspot.co.uk/2018/01/coco-unkrich-2018.html …
• The Darkest Hour - This is cinematically beautiful and Gary Oldman's performance is amazing, you truly forget that it is him under that fat suit and all the prosthetics. It made someone (me) who is not very proud of being British be very proud of being British which is an accomplishment in itself. I recommend it, probably not my favorite of the month but it is very good and is not surprisingly being nominated for awards all over the place. 
• The Post - I was kind of worried about this one, Tom Hanks and Meryl Streep in leading roles. Both of insanely good actors and I was worried their presence may fight it out a little but I was wrong. Meryl Streep leads this film with an iron fist as she shows how delicate a woman is but also how smart and brave women are. Her being one of the few women with any lines may
  have actually made this message even more clear. She was in a man's world but eventually let her voice be heard and show the men that she is braver than they ever thought she could be. A captivating performance from Streep, certainly the best thing about this film. 
• The Greatest Showman - This one I have mixed feelings about. On the one hand, I love the
  music and thoroughly enjoyed the film. However, on the other hand, the storyline was kind of confusing in terms of who I'm supposed to be rooting for and have sympathy for. It just felt like the writer didn't like P.T. Barnum (which makes sense), and really liked the romance between Zac Efron and Zendaya's characters romance because for a secondary plot line it had a massive focus that made me want a whole film about the two of them. It just left me feeling not great about P.T. Barnum because I was just like no, give me more of their romance it's more interesting than him most likely cheating on his wife. But it was still very fun and I have been listening to the soundtrack ever since I watched it. 

TV

• Our Love has always been 10 Centimetres Apart - This show was the cutest thing and it made me cry, is it obvious I'm overly romantic? It tells an alternate story to the anime film I've Always Loved You - Confess your Love Committee, it tells the story of a different couple out of the friendship group to the first edition of the story. It is adorable, and funny, and just super cute for lack of words to describe how much I just felt like a was watching a kawaii romance dream. This was also the only TV show I finished this month, sorry guys. 

Thank you so much for reading, a bit of a short one this month, not too rambly. I hope you enjoyed my post and feel free to let me know if you have watched any of these films and TV shows (well, show, singular). Also, let me know what you have been watching this month! 

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Oscar Anger

I love anime and I love animation. However, you may not know that I am quite into film awards such as the BAFTA's and the Oscar's. So, the nominees were announced today and I'm quite mad to put it lightly. For the second year in a row, an amazing anime film that was widely adored, and has won many animation awards has been snubbed for a nomination at the Oscars. Last year Makoto Shinkai's Your Name became the highest grossing anime film of all time, trumping Miyazaki's Spirited Away which had held the title since 2001 and is the only anime film to ever win the Oscar for best animated feature. And yet, it was completely snubbed, it landed no nominations by any academy. No Golden Globe nomination, no BAFTA nomination, and no Oscar nomination. It would seem as though no academy of film actually knows that there are other anime studios apart from Studio Ghibli that make feature-length animations, as only Studio Ghibli has ever been nominated by any of these companies.

  This year is no different it would seem, as another year has gone by and there is no nomination for A Silent Voice, Sword Art Online the Movie: Ordinal Scale, Napping Princess, and Mary and the Witches Flower, which were all put in the pot for consideration among the 27 animated features in that pot. I personally am not a fan of Sword Art Online but one cannot ignore that it is a massive franchise in the anime world, that is popular worldwide. 

  Ok, so I'm clearly very annoyed about the fact that Japan is ignored by the academy and its friends. But, what really irks me is that the award is best animated feature, emphasis on ANIMATED. If we are looking at these films because they are animated then surely things like story and character etc. don't matter, and it's the animation that counts right? Which just angers me even more because Japan's animation is another world, and I'm sorry Pixar but out of the nominees Loving Vincent should win because it is outstanding in the world of animation. Even if A Silent Voice was nominated I think I would be rooting for that to win. Japan is one of the only nations to still almost entirely to animate in 2D, anime stands out because of its style alone, let alone everything else. Japan's animation is not just children's fare, yes Pokemon exists but largely it's aimed at more developed minds, so young adult onwards. It deals with themes outrightly that western animation doesn't really touch. A Silent Voice starts with the main character getting ready to commit suicide, it's heavy and touching. They play with these intense themes so delicately, with such care that it never seems out of place or not done well. To think that A Silent Voice and Coco could be in the same category is insane when thinking about the story, but in terms of animation they can fight to the death and it would be
pretty damn close because they are both beautiful in their own way. 

  Basically, what I'm trying to say is that I'm disappointed that three major awards seem to ignore the amazing animation that Japan puts out into the world unless it's Studio Ghibli. And to be honest, even then it's only really Studio Ghibli created by Miyazaki and Takahata, the founders of the studio. Anime has a worldwide reach and yet is ignored, to me that just doesn't seem right. 

Thank you very much for reading my rant, if you have anything to say on this topic please feel free to leave me a comment under this post. I also just want to put it out there that I love animation from all nations, not just Japan but they really are the most snubbed nation when it comes to animation especially when considering how much they put out into the world. Anyway, thank you and goodbye before I restart my rant by accident. 

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Coco (Unkrich, 2018)

  I have waited the longest freakin' time for this film and let me tell you I was not dissapointed even though I had built it up for such a long time in my head. It's giving me hope that the Incredibles 2 is going to blow my mind. Ok, so unfortunately I live in England and along with the political turmoil that we seem to constanly find ourselves in we get Disney and Pixar films at least a month after America does. Coco was released in the US on Thanksgiving weekend, the UK doesn't get it until next week but luckily for me we had previews on the weekend just gone. Which made me very happy. Ok, so backstory over with time for the review.
  Coco tells the story of a boy called Miguel who loved music more than anything. However, his family hates music more than anything because of some family issues that happened generations before Miguel was born. After a fight with his family over music and Miguel wanting to pursue it as a career, he runs away and after some antics finds himself in the land of the dead. Whilst in the land of the dead he wants to find his great great grandfather, and so the real adventure begins. He makes new friends and makes some discoveries that will change his family for the better.
  Firstly, this film is so beautiful. The animation on this is just amazing. Throughout the entire film the screen is just lit up by the brightly coloured lights that cover the world of the dead. In addition to this, the petals have this gorgeous glow to them that again just lights up the screen. The spirit guides also glow, and its beutiful. This film is just a treat for your eyes. If you aren't going to see it for any other reason, you should see it just to look at it like a piece of art becuase it is.
  Next up, the voice acting by the entire cast is superb and the songs are well done in both writing and singing. The cast was so perfectly matched with the characters and really added to the film as a whole. The story was heartbreaking, and touching, and not to kiddy for a 'kids film', not that I expected it to be. There is an overarching message of be nice to your family because they only want good things for you which is a bit, I dont know the right word but it was just a bit overdone maybe? Like it just kept coming up and I got a bit bored of them constantly saying it.
I have few complaints about this film. The constant repitition of be nice to your family got a bit boring and annoying and as much as I enjoyed the songs the amount of singing in it made it feel a bit too Disney for a PIXAR film for me. But it was still enjoyable, make that point clear, they arent bad songs, it just feels wierd in a PIXAR film.
  Honestly, this film is so cute and heartwarming. It made me cry twice, damn PIXAR. It is beautifully animated, the casting is very well done and the songs are really great. It also is making a very clear stance againt POTUS's anti-mexican ideas which is great. My only issue is that it feels very Disney for PIXAR, that's it. Other than that this film is very good and I will happily go and see it again when it is officially out in the UK.

Rating: 4 out of 5

Thank you so much for reading, sorry for the all over the place posting over the last few weeks. Hopefully will get back to more regular scheduled programming after this one as all my assignments are handed in for now so I have some time to bulk write some posts for y'all.

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Yearly Round Up: Favourite Films of 2017

I watched a lot of new releases this year, it's been pretty good and the release line up for January looks like its going to be insane in 2018 from the very beginning. This isn't going to be a post just listing all of the films I watched in 2017 but it shall be a post talking about my favourite of the new releases of the year, as I want my first post of 2018 to be a positive one! Ok, let's get on with me picking my favourites out of the 22 new releases I watched this year (there is probably more that I watched on Netflix, amazon etc. but that's the number of cinema tickets I still have from the beginning of the year).

My first favourite of the year Fairy Tail: Dragon Cry. I thoroughly enjoyed the second film in this long running anime series. I managed to finish the series literally the day I went to see the film and it was so perfect as a place holder to keep the fans going until the release of the final season this year (wow, that feels weird to say). I really enjoy Fairy Tail as an anime series although I get why it wouldn't be to everyones taste but I love the characters and any extra time I get with them is time well spent to me. If you enjoyed the series and haven't seen the film yet, it is very good (better than the Phoenix Priestess in my opinion) and really adds to the series story as a whole. Much needed info for the non-manga readers is given here.
Next up is Blade Runner 2049. Let's face it, this film is pure cinematic beauty. After watching it again since my first watch I can confirm that I do prefer it to the original (please don't kill me). It's just so beautiful and the music is so perfect. The performances are so good and I really liked the story and how twisty the ending was. It surprised me, who's been a fan of the original for a years and my boyfriend who hadn't seen the first one before watching 2049 understood and really enjoyed it too.
Thor: Ragnarok is by far my favourite Marvel to date (sorry Joss). It is so stylised and fun to watch. It really calls back to how superheroes used to be when they were silly and graphic. I was getting bored of the doom and gloom of Marvel and had no interest in the doom and gloom of DC. I had no interest in seeing this film when it first came out but the more I saw of it the more I knew it would knock the first guardians off the top spot of (Disney distributed) Marvel films for me. It was beautiful past Chris Hemsworth and Tom Hiddleston, cinematically stunning and the script was so well done.
Battle of the Sexes was one I was looking forward to for the longest time. Every time I walked down the corridor at the cinema I saw that poster and said/thought 'I really need to see that when it comes out' and I did. I saw it pretty soon after the release and I thought it was really good. I didn't think that it made the lesbian relationship overly sexualised which I was scared that it would, it was actually very romantic in a really tragic way where you weren't sure whether you wanted it to work out or not. It is very much focused on Billie Jean King, her match, her career and how much of a powerful women she is. It is very empowering for female viewers, it made me feel like I really have power and can be the change I want to see in the world. Such an awe inspiring story that will pump you up.
Almost at the end now, second to last is The Disaster Artist. I know that he probably won't, but I really want James Franco to get at least one nomination for his performance in this film. His performance was absolutely insane it made the film. This film was hilarious, more so that it was all true in its insanity. The performances past James Franco were amazing, which is certainly proved by the comparison to the room whilst the credits are rolling. This film deserves so much recognition, people need to see it. If you haven't seen the room I don't think it matters all to much because you'll sit there thinking its ridiculous and then all the facts about The Room during the credits will make you spit out that Tango Ice Blast, turn to the person next to you and say "that actually happened? This film exists?", or just google it if you're on your own, you'll probably still spit out your drink though.
Finally, who could see this coming a mile away. My final favourite new release in terms of films I saw at the cinema was............. Star Wars: The Last Jedi. This was an insanely obvious one, I came out of the midnight screening and I loved it. Then when I thought about it I wasn't sure if I got lost in the haze of excitement that comes along with a packed midnight screening. I have now seen it for a second time and I can confirm that it is a bit of a mess. It's different to the others yet has its references and similarities. I think it has put this new trilogy in a good direction for the next instalment. I hate Porgs so very much, they aren't as annoying as Minions but they are pretty damn close to the level annoyance their presence causes in me. It makes me sad that Chewy is in CG and not a guy in a fur suit but I love the evil BB-8 and my love for the rebel BB-8 has just grown even more (he is the cutest droid, sorry R2). If you like Star Wars go see it, if you don't skip it. Simple as that, it's definitely for the fans not so much for the causal sci-fi goers.

Honourable mentions go to:

• Baby Driver
• La La Land
• Manchester by the Sea
• Moonlight
• Cars 3
• Dunkirk
• The Death of Stalin
• Murder on the Orient Express
• The Man Who Invented Christmas  

These are my top picks from the year that I have seen at this point in time. There are many films coming out in the UK in January that I plan on seeing. I'm up to like ten just from browsing the coming soon and booking now section of the Cineworld app. Very excited for the film year ahead and this year of blogging to be a good one with lots of uploads and maybe a new online venture starting soon, watch this space! Thank you so much for reading and I hope you join me again next week, I upload a blog post every Sunday at 7pm UK time. 

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Fairy Tail Consideration

  It's the most wonderful time of the yearrrrrr! It is Star Wars time once again and I was so freakin' hyped! I booked my tickets months ago and I saw it at midnight because I love being one of the first people to see something! I loved it....I think? Ok, so this week I was going to write a review about how much I loved Star Wars: The Last Jedi but I think it may need to wait a couple of weeks until I watch it again when I go home for the holidays. I really just don't know how I feel about it. I honestly loved it but I'm confused. So, keep an eye out for a review of star wars in the next couple of weeks. So this week, instead of what I had planned, I am going to talk about an anime called Fairy Tail
because not enough people talk about it. Ok, let's go!

  Fairy Tail was originally a manga series that has been adapted into an anime series in recent years. It spans over around 400 episodes and two films, with an upcoming final season to come out at some point next year. So, it is very long and shall take you a long time to watch it, you definitely need some time on your hands otherwise it will take you like a year to finish it. (it took me three months to finish it, pretty much exclusively watching only Fairy Tail). It is set in a world of magic and adventure, where a magic guild called Fairy Tail wreak havoc but in a good way, they're trying to help people. They story centres around the characters of Lucy Heartfilia, Natsu Dragneel, Erza Scartlett, and Gray Fullbuster, oh and Happy too, at the beginning and as the show goes on you get to learn more about the other members of the guild and their stories too. Throughout the show the team go on adventures to mysterious lands and meet new guilds along the way, some friend and some foe, to be honest more often than not they're the later. They advance their powers and as an audience we become closer to these characters as we follow them around and learn more about them. Long story, short: epic adventure fantasy anime with cute boys and girls, do you need more info than that to want to watch it really?
  I know that it is pretty daunting when you find an anime series that looks awesome but then you find out that it has hundreds of episodes. That is exactly how I felt when I first came across Fairy Tail, my heart sank as I honestly thought that maybe I should just skip it, I will never catch up with all the people that have been watching for years. However, I'm so glad that I ignored that feeling and went ahead with watching this series. The characters are the sweetest and so likeable, the friendships are adorable, the fight scenes are intense, the animation in general is great. The character development is insane, from the main characters to the other members of the guild you get to learn so much and really feel like you know them. The story arcs are fun but also can be serious and tense at times when that is exactly what you feel the show needs to do. Honestly, I can't say that I didn't get to a point where I didn't want to watch it anymore, although I firmly believe that I am at fault for that. Don't try and binge it without having a break from it, you will get slightly sick of it, as you would with any show after 200 episodes of non-stop watching solely that alone. What I'm trying to say in this waffley post is that Fairy Tail, even with its daunting number of episodes, is worth giving a go and trying to watch. It is probably within my top five, and definitely within my top ten anime of all time out of 43. If you like epic adventures and true friend(ships) then this is an anime worth giving a go.


Thank you very much for reading this post, and I'm sorry it isn't about Star Wars my heart is jut conflicted. But hopefully you enjoyed this post anyway. Also, I just want to let you guys know that in the new year I shall be putting up videos on YouTube. They will be similar to my blog in that they will be about film and TV of course, but if you can't be bothered to read my blog posts then maybe you'd like to check out my youtube channel where I shall be trying to put up content once a week on a Wednesday. It shouldn't interfere with my blog posts, at least I'm hoping.

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