During lockdown I’m sure streaming sites were used and downloaded more than ever. I wanted to share a few things I’ve been watching, feel free to leave any recommendations!
All the Twilight movies
Before the country officially went into lockdown two of my best friends had to both enter self-isolation for two weeks – both on the same day. Becca saw a tweet about Netflix Party and to save her and Hirst from boredom we all decided to start having movie nights together. I thought it’d take us forever and a day to pick a movie but somehow we landed quite quickly on the first Twilight which was a good choice as for the next few movie nights we didn’t have to have the ‘which film should we watch’ conversation because we’d just watch the next film in the series.
I’ll be honest, I wasn’t a fan of the films when I was a teenager even though I said I was because everyone else seemed to like it but I had so much fun watching them with my friends that I’ve ended up becoming a Twilight fan only ten years after everyone else. I even bought all the books and actually managed to read them for the first time – now I’m in the middle of ‘Midnight Sun’ (which is a lot longer than I thought it would be!) and I think I’m going to write a review on that. But yeah, I’m now low-key a Twilight fan years after the hype has died down.
The Simpsons
I mentioned this in a previous blog post but I’ve been rewatching lots of episodes of The Simpsons on Disney+. The Simpsons always reminds me of my Dad because I never really used to watch it at home so I’d watch it at my Dad’s on a Friday night – it was about the only show we all used to enjoy as a family. I like watching it now because it’s a bit of light entertainment, I don’t have to think too hard and it’s just comforting. I was going through something causing me a lot of worry and pain during lockdown and The Simpsons was comforting and familiar.
Kiki’s Delivery Service
Although I’m a big Studio Ghibli film I still hadn’t watched this film – I borrowed the DVD off Jess for about a year before she eventually politely asked for it back and I didn’t watch it once during that time. I was ecstatic when Netflix announced they were adding Studio Ghibli films and immediately added them all to my list but it took me a while to get round to watching one. First up was Kiki’s Delivery Service which I absolutely loved and wish I’d watched sooner, it could potentially be my new favourite Studio Ghibli film – although I’m not 100% sure it knocks My Neighbour Totoro from my top spot. I need to watch more Studio Ghibli films first because I still haven’t seen them all.
Brave
Although I enjoyed this film I’d only seen it once and that was at the cinema with Becca when it was first released so it had been a while. I’m so glad Disney started a streaming service I was having to buy their films on iTunes or YouTube every time I wanted to watch one because for some reason my laptop won’t play DVD’s (it’s very annoying). The film was just as good as I remembered it being, it’s a shame it’s such an underrated film because we’re hard pressed for princess films that don’t have any romance in (although Disney are getting better, I must admit) and I just really enjoyed it.
Legally Blonde
My friend Becca raves about this film, she could probably write a ten page essay on it. When I went on my trip to Romania in January 2019 I asked for film recommendations to watch on the flight and of course Becca suggested this. So I started it but I couldn’t really get lost on it. I told Becca it hadn’t been my cup of tea and she was outraged. Then one night during lockdown me, Becca and Hirst decided to watch a chick flick and after realising I’d enjoyed Twilight more watching it with my friends I decided to give Legally Blonde another go.
I actually loved it – considering the year it’s made it has really good values. It was so nice to see that although she was pretty and cared about the way she looked Elle was also loyal, friendly and smart. Just everything about it was perfect; I’m not sure why I didn’t like it the first time. It’s definitely up there now in my list of top ten chick flicks – potentially even grabbing a spot in the top five!
The Umbrella Academy
I think I’ve mentioned this a couple of times but I find it so hard to get lost in shows these days if they’re too long. I thought I was enjoying ‘The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina’ but I often found myself checking how much time I had left and when an episode was finished I was done, I didn’t want to watch another one. Becca and Jess watched The Umbrella Academy before me and said they were enjoying it and suddenly I hopped back on the My Chemical Romance bandwagon again so last year I watched season one and finished it within a matter of days. For the first time in ages whenever an episode finished I didn’t want to stop watching, I wanted to carry on.
I finished Season Two just as quickly when it dropped recently and I loved pretty much every second. I think I enjoyed this season more, it was nice seeing the siblings interact more with Vanya instead of excluding her from everything, I thought the storyline was really interesting and although I’d hated Luther with a passion in the first season (after THE particular episode I’d literally had to have a breather before watching the season finale because I was absolutely fuming) he grew on me and by the end of the season I didn’t actively dislike him… Although I do hope the Allison x Luther ship is dropped, they can’t say they’re not technically related because they just don’t know that. And they were raised as brother and sister. It’s not right.
I really don’t know how long I can wait for Season Three because that finale honestly blew my mind – I’d found it difficult watching the Season One finale and knowing I had to wait but this one feels even worse! Come on Netflix, get going!
The Promise
After spending months inside trapped with my Mom and Step-Dad they finally went on holiday for the week so I decided to have a bit of a ‘Staycation’ and decided to have a movie day. Before they left I had a look on Netflix to see what movies they had and had a look in the horror section even though I doubted I’d want to watch a horror whilst they were away (I’m not fussed about watching horrors but going to bed knowing the house is empty apart from me does creep me out a bit). Most of the trailers for horror movies looked shit but this one looked promising (ayeee get it!).
The basic premise of the film is that in Thailand two teenagers make a suicide pact during the 1997 Asian finance crisis but after Ib shoots herself Boum becomes scared and runs away, failing to fulfil her side of the promise. Twenty years later Boum revisits the building with her daughter Bell and her past actions return to haunt them.
Whilst I did enjoy the film and it kept my attention throughout; it was way more depressing than scary. There were a few good jump scares but really it was just very dark. Still, it was interesting and it was a good way to kill a lazy Saturday afternoon.
Fighting with my Family
I remember seeing this advertised at the cinema but I didn’t go because I wasn’t too keen on wrestling and I didn’t think it would be my type of movie. However, I’ve essentially fallen in love with Florence Pugh at this point and when I noticed that she starred in it I knew I’d have to watch it. So one bored Saturday evening I put it on and I was instantly hooked.
I’m kind of gutted I never watched it at the cinema because I loved it. Normally I end up checking my phone, checking how much time I have left etc. if I watch something at home but I was hooked with this film. My favourite thing about it is definitely that the blonde girls could’ve just been bitchy secondary characters that Paige had to ‘defeat’ but no, it was Paige who was the bad guy and she had to overcome her insecurities and judgement to find her place. I just loved pretty much everything about it, in fact it’s low-key made me want to go to a wrestling match but I have a feeling I’d stand out like a sore thumb if I did so!
Arrietty
Another Studio Ghibli film that I hadn’t watched before but instantly fell in love with. I don’t know it takes me so much motivation to watch films but I’ve had this on DVD for years but never watched it until another random Saturday night when I decided to finally give it a watch on Netflix.
I won’t lie, the accents threw me at first because I was watching the dubbed version and they were very British – I realised why when I noticed Tom Holland and Saoirse Ronan voiced the main characters. I’ll have to watch the subbed version one day but although it was a bit off-putting at first I soon got used to it and was fully absorbed in the story. It’s such a cute film, it’s a shame it took me so long to finally watch it because I loved it! I think it’d definitely be within my top five favourite Ghibli films.
Modern Family
A while ago I watched a couple of episodes of Modern Family for the same reason I watched The Simpsons I think – it was comforting, familiar and I just wanted to kill a bit of time. Then one Sunday I came back from the leisure centre and shortly after breakfast began to feel like shit. At first I just felt a bit sluggish so I chilled on the sofa but then it got so bad that I wasn’t sure if I was hungry or if I was gonna vomit. So I decided to just lounge on the sofa and watch something chill on Netflix. So I stuck Modern Family on again and now I’m hooked.
I’d watched every episode of the first few series but then stopped watching the later seasons – I’m on season seven so I have a lot of catching up to do but irritatingly Netflix only has the first seven seasons so I don’t know what to do once I’ve finished that. Am I gonna have to buy the other seasons or something? I need to know what happens even though I’ve seen a fair amount of spoilers on YouTube. But I still need to watch it for myself!
I’ve watched a lot more stuff stuck in quarantine but I think I’ll leave it here for now and maybe update ya’ll in a few more months – but as I said, please feel free to leave me some recommendations! Maybe you’ll recommend another show I’ll actually be able to get stuck into!
Hozzie Writes 