3 Month Favourites! | April - June 2020

Hey Guys x

So as I mentioned in my last Favourites post, I'm going to be doing these less frequently so that I have more to say - and I definitely have a lot to say this month!

Favourite Movie (1): Rocketman

So I was extremely late and only saw this for the first time at the beginning of May. I've since watched it about twice a week every week since first seeing it. I had no idea that I would love it as much as I did, but something about it just really stuck with me. I don't know if it was the soundtrack (which I'll talk about later) or the actors (who I'll talk about later), but I completely fell in love with everything about it and I can't imagine myself getting tired of re-watching it anytime soon!

Favourite Movie (2): When We First Met

This one is on the list purely because of how much it surprised me. It's about a man who meets a girl, doesn't end up with her, and then gets to re-do their first meeting again and again to try and make her fall in love with him.

This film is a Netflix original and had been on my 'To Watch' list for such a long time. But I put it off, mainly because we've seen films with this premise 100 times, and I didn't think it would be that good. However, I was so wrong! The premise felt original, the script was great, the acting was great, and it was really funny. It was everything I wanted it to be without really knowing what I wanted.

Favourite Film (3): The Lovebirds

I still need to write my review of this, so I won't say anything substantial about it here. But definitely watch it if you have the chance because it's such a good movie, with a really original plot.

Favourite Film (4): Train to Busan

I'm actually angry with myself that it took me so long to see this film. For whatever reason, I never got around to it. But this is an amazing movie! It's about a father and daughter travelling by train, when the train gets taken over by Zombies. I'm not a huge fan of the Zombie genre, but this is definitely the best Zombie film I've ever seen - and one of the best horrors!

Favourite TV Show (1): Sirens

Okay, so I only started watching this show for Richard Madden (who I'll talk about later), but I found myself addicted to the six-episode series. It is such an underrated show, about the work and personal lives of three paramedics and a police officer, and I'm really sad that they didn't make another season, because there were so many places that the show could have gone!

Favourite TV Show (2): Broadchurch

This is a British murder-mystery drama that is re-airing on TV once a week. I completely missed the show the first time around, so this time I made sure to catch it, and I'm completely loving it so far. Not only is the plot great in and of itself, but Olivia Colman and David Tennant are so great together, that they really make the show what it is.

Favourite TV Show (3): Bodyguard

This is another British show that I missed the first time around, but thankfully it's on Netflix, so it was easy to catch up. I only knew the basic premise of the show when I started watching (A war veteran has been tasked with being a bodyguard for the Home Secretary), but the show went to so many different places that I couldn't stop watching. This is definitely one to check out if you have a bit of time on your hands!

Favourite TV Show (4): The Boys

This is an Amazon Original show that is an extremely realistic take on the Superhero genre, specifically what would happen if Superheroes began abusing their powers. I haven't finished watching this show yet, but the first three episodes were so good, because of how original they were. Everything from the plot to the dialogue!

Favourite Song (1): Les Miserables Soundtrack

This is another film that I only saw for the first time recently, and while I didn't completely love the film, I did love the soundtrack. There are so many beautiful, theatrical songs on this soundtrack that I could listen to on repeat, not only because of how good they're sung, but because of how they fit into the story. Every song literally bleeds into the next, and each contains their own form of power that makes the whole soundtrack amazing.

Favourite Song (2): Rocketman Soundtrack

As much as I love the Les Mis soundtrack, as soon as I saw Rocketman, Les Mis was instantly replaced. I am obsessed with this soundtrack, and I'm pretty sure I've listened to every song multiple times every day since seeing the movie, but particularly during the week when I'm working. There are a great variety of songs, and as amazing as they are in the movie (all of them are either used as performance pieces, or background tracks, and they all move the story along so beautifully), they are also amazing as stand-alone tracks. Taron Egerton (with small instances of help from the other members of the cast) sang/re-imagined all of these classic Elton John songs, and did such an amazing job that some may even be better than the originals! While I love every song, pay close attention to 'Border Song', 'Your Song', 'Tiny Dancer', 'Take Me to the Pilot', 'Goodbye Yellow Brick Road', 'I'm Still Standing' and '(I'm Gonna) Love Me Again', because they are all incredible songs, incredibly sung. Particularly 'Border Song', which I regularly listen to on repeat.

Favourite Actor (1): Richard Madden

As you can tell, Richard Madden has informed a lot of my TV show choices in the last few months - including Game of Thrones, which I didn't mention because I think the less I talk about it, the less chance I'll get spoilers. But I am a huge fan. He also starred in Rocketman, which was my first real introduction to him. But he's been amazing in everything I've seen him in, and all of these characters are quite different from each other, which again shows what a good job he's done playing them.

Favourite Actor (2): Taron Egerton

Taron Egerton is the other actor that I've been obsessing over for the past few months. I saw his film 'Eddie the Eagle' (which is currently on Netflix) and that's what made me want to then watch 'Rocketman' (as well as the rest of the films in his filmography), and I think he is one of the most underrated actors working right now. Yes, actors have to be versatile, but going from 'Kingsman: The Secret Service' to 'Eddie the Eagle' to 'Sing' to 'Robin Hood' to 'Rocketman' is just an incredible career trajectory. I'm a huge fan of him as an actor, a singer (because his voice is stunning, proven in 'Sing', 'Rocketman' and the song that runs over the credits of 'Eddie the Eagle') and a person, as much as one can know a person from watching interviews online. He deserves to be a lot bigger than he is, he deserved an Oscar nomination for Rocketman, and I can't wait to see where his career goes in the future.

Favourite Book: Nineteen Minutes

I had put off reading this book for a while, not only because of how long it was, but because the plot didn't really grab me straight away.

It's about a boy called Peter Houghton, who one day takes a gun into his high school and kills ten people. But both through the trial, and flashbacks featuring a variety of people that live in Peter's small town, we begin to discover just what would drive someone to commit a horrible crime. But are the residents of this town also to blame for Peter's actions?

I loved this book. I felt connected to so many of the characters, and I really loved the way that there were so many characters without the story getting convoluted or confused. Picoult did a great job of creating such a complex story, and it's definitely a book that everyone should read.

So that's another 3-month favourites. What have been your favourite things in the last few months?

Lou - https://blacklivesmatters.carrd.co/