Sunday Post #92

The Sunday Post is a weekly meme hosted here @ Caffeinated Book Reviewer (image above belongs to @ Caffeinated Book Reviewer). It’s a chance to share news ~ A post to recap the past week on your blog and showcase books and things we have received. Share news about what is coming up on our blog for the week ahead. 
I am also linking The Sunday Salon hosted by Deb Nance of Readerbuzz where bloggers discuss what they are reading and other bookish topics.

Life

I was hoping to work a bit less from now until March, but I will have an awful schedule for at least a week longer. I really want to take some time for myself as I barely have any even during the weekend. Thankfully, I know my schedule in March will be a lot better. 

Blog and books

Due to a busy schedule, I didn't read anything this week. I hope to change this soon!

Movies and TV Shows

I went to the cinema yesterday and watched the incredible film 1917. I can't recommend this First World War drama enough. It's brilliant!

I also watched two Korean dramas: The Secret Life of My Secretary and Love Alarm, both were okay.

What did you read or watch recently?

As always please leave some recommendations on what I should read or watch next! 

If you enjoyed this review, please follow me on Bloglovin', Twitter, Instagram, TVShowTime and Goodreads! I would really appreciate it!

Have a wonderful day everyone!

Sunday Post #2

The Sunday Post is a weekly meme hosted here @ Caffeinated Book Reviewer. It’s a chance to share news~ A post to recap the past week on your blog and showcase books and things we have received. Share news about what is coming up on our blog for the week ahead. 

Last month I (hopefully) had my final academic exams ever! I will know my results on Friday and I'm currently starting to apply for teaching jobs. To say I'm nervous about this is an understatement.

Today I want to share what happened on my blog so far this year and which movies and TV shows I watched in January.

On my blog

Top Ten Favourite Books I Read in 2017

My Favourite TV Shows of 2017

Beat the Backlist Challenge

Stacking the Shelves: New Year's Eve Book Haul

My Bookish New Year's Resolutions

December Wrap Up

January Wrap Up

Stacking the Shelves: January Book Haul

Best book I read so far: Godsgrave by Jay Kristoff

Movies 

Star Wars: The Return of the Jedi

Star Wars: The Force Awakens

Star Wars: The Last Jedi

I watched the original movies with my parents in order to go see the newest in theatres. Really enjoyed it!

Before I go to sleep

Most disappointing movie of the month. Liked the book but should have avoided the movie.

Arrival

Really surprised by this one! I liked that this was about language!

Dunkirk

Great movie but a little confusing at first, we didn't realize it wasn't chronological until the second part of the film.

Blade Runner

Finally got a chance to watch this, can't wait to watch the sequel!

Land of Mine

Probably my favourite movie of the month! It was very gripping! Review to come!

TV shows 

Lucifer

Love this show! It's only getting better in my opinion!

The Crown

This was fantastic! A bit slow at first but so addicting! Review to come!

The Marvellous Mrs. Maisel

I enjoyed this but I thought I would love it more.

Brooklyn nine-nine

Fun show, as always!

The Good Place

Love this one! Still have to watch the last episode of the season, though! I want to savour it!

The End of the F***ing World

This show was nuts but perfect to binge watch!

The Punisher

I started watching this when it came it but wasn't in the mood for it at the time. The first episodes are a bit slow, but man, does it get better soon! Highly recommend this one! My favourite Netflix superhero show!

Grace and Frankie

I was looking for another show with short episodes and found this one! Really enjoying it!

The Night Manager

I've had heard such amazing things about this show but it started quite slow, the end was better but this definitely wasn't one of the better show I've seen this month.

What did you recently watch? Have you seen any of the movies or TV shows above or are you planning to? Leave your thoughts down below!

Also, I could use some recommendations on shows that are about 20-30 minutes long!

If you liked this post, please subscribe to Bloglovin', Twitter, Instagram and Goodreads! 

Have a wonderful week everyone!

Review: Beauty and the Beast

I went to see the new live action Beauty and the Beast film this month and I have only one word to describe the experience: wonderful!

We all know the story, we all know the characters, we all know the songs because it's a tale as old as time. Still we all want to see the live action film even though it changes almost nothing from the original Disney film.

One major change however, were the hints of a homosexual character which I really appreciated. Disney is slowly moving away from their traditional views, although they can still do a lot better.

The cast well well chosen. Emma Watson is enthralling as Belle and while Dan Stevens is great as the Beast, Emma definitely steals the show. The supporting cast is incredible and the costumes are divine.

I watched this in 3D as that was the only option at the time. There weren't many 3D effects in the film, so I would recommend just to go see the regular version because those two effects aren't worth the extra money.

Why should you go watch this remake of Beauty and Beast? Because it's the perfect nostalgic experience which will most likely make you cry. 

And because I both review books and movies on this blog, I couldn"t help but mention the amazing library! It was amazing in the animation film but it just as wonderful in this new adaptation. 

Sooo, to sum up, I really enjoyed this film, I'll probably buy it as soon as it is available on DVD and I highly recommend this Disney remake with all my heart. Other Disney remakes have been absolute rubbish, but this one is a gem! Don't miss out on it!

Have you seen this movie? Or are you planning to? Leave your thoughts down below!

Review: La La Land

It might not be a secret but I love musicals! My absolute favourite is The Phantom of the Opera. It was a magical experience to watch the West End show. It was the most perfect birthday gift I ever got! I also adore old Hollywood musicals, Singin' in the Rain, would be my favourite musical film. However, La La Land has a change to become my new favourite musical film.

The film starts with a traffic jam and some random people getting out of their cars and starting to sing and dance. That was my first clue I was absolutely going to love this movie!

The main characters are an actress going whose auditions are always a disaster and a struggling jazz musician. The story was absolutely fascinating, and I have to admit I was in tears a couple of times. 

Some scenes reminded me of other musicals, like for example the picture above reminded me of West Side Story, which I was lucky enough to see a live version in English!

The music and songs were gorgeous! I could listen to them every day, which is of course what I've been doing lately, and I have absolutely no shame :p

Another Day of Sun, Someone in the Crowd and City of Stars are my favourite songs of the musical. The latter rightly won the Oscar! I could listen to just those three on repeat every single day!

The dance scene were simply stunning! I absolutely love this movie! I can already tell, I'm going to buy the DVD when it comes out and show it to my entire family!

I highly recommend this musical! I can't praise it enough! It deserves all the hype! If you haven't seen it, what are you waiting for! Go watch it right now!

Top Ten Tuesday: My Favourite Movies

Top Ten Tuesday is a meme hosted by the Broke and the Bookish. Each week bloggers post their top ten on a previously suggested topic. This week's topic is top ten favourite movies! These are in no particular order. Most of these movies have an amazing soundtrack worth checking out!

1. The Untouchables 

I love this movie! Starring Sean Connery, Robert De Niro, Kevin Costner, Andy Garcia and music by Ennio Morricone, you can't go wrong with this one!

2. The Usual Suspects

Quote: "The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn't exist meaning." This movie is one of my favourites because of the quotes, plot twists and thrilling action. If you ask me, one of the best plot twists ever!

3. Pride and Prejudice

This movie introduced me to Jane Austen and other classics and period dramas and I will forever love it because of that!

4. The Silence of the Lambs

Also some great quotes in this one! Anthony Hopkins is chilling as Hannibal!

5. The Shop around the Corner

Have you ever seen You've Got Mail with Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan? Well, that movie was based on The Shop Around the Corner and is a must see for fans of books and You've Got Mail.

6. Inception

Christopher Nolan is amazing! Enough said.
Also, brilliant soundtrack and ending!

7. Educating Rita

Quote "Assonance is getting the rhyme wrong." This is my father's favourite movie and especially since I'm an English literature student it's one of my favourites as well! The soundtrack of this movie continually pops up in my mind for months now.

Childhood favourites:

8. Mary Poppins

9. Mulan

10. The Hunchback of Notre Dame

Yeah, I even got a homemade Esmeralda costume. She was one of my favourite characters growing up!

Which movies do you love? Have you seen any of these and what did you think of them? Leave a comment down below!

Movie Review: Bridget Jones's Baby

In Bridget Jones's Baby, our beloved Bridget has split up with Mark Darcy for some years now. She has a career she's proud of but once again she's single. The movie starts with a nod to Bridget Jones's Diary, as the opening scene is a shot of Bridget celebrating her birthday alone whilst playing the song "All By Myself". A classic which I immediately associate with Bridget Jones, even after all this time. If I for some reason need to remind you which scene it is, or if you just want to see it again because, let's face it, it's a great scene, you can watch it here.

Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason was released in 2004, so now, twelve years later we get the new instalment in the series. I have to admit, I'm a huge Bridget Jones fan. The first film remains my favourite because blue soup, the "it's raining men" fight and the line "I like you very much, just as you are" in combination with the social commentary are what made that movie perfect to me. And of course the fact that it's a modern retelling of Pride and Prejudice doesn't hurt. Bridget is not your typical romantic heroine, she actually feels real and relatable. It is one of my favourite movies of all time and it forever will remain so. As a teenager I used to watch Bridget Jones's Diary obsessively over and over again (I did that with all my favourite films, by the way, I'm crazy like that :p ). It's thus fair to say that I'm emotionally attached to the characters and get nostalgia feeling to the movies and books by even just listening to "It's Raining Men", "All By Myself", "I Believe in a Thing Called Love", "I'm Every Woman" and so many more!

Therefore this movie had big shoes to fill. One of the biggest differences in relation to the previous movies is the absence of Hugh Grant's Daniel Cleaver. I didn't particularly mind that because I never liked that character much anyway but it did change the dynamics of the movie though. Patrick Dempsey and Colin Firth fight for Bridget's heart and baby in this one, but Dempsey's Jack is never as awful to Bridget as Daniel used to be. The only thing I missed about Daniel were his epic fights with Mark! :p

A fantastic addition is Emma Thompson, amazing (as always) as Dr. Rawlings, Bridget's doctor. Every time Thompson is on screen, she steals the scene. Dr. Rawlings is absolutely hilarious! Ed Sheeran makes an appearance as himself which was entertaining as Bridget didn't recognize him at all. She still has clueless moments, though not as frequently as in the previous films.

Bridget gets pregnant after spending a night with Jack and a week later a night with Mark Darcy. She does not know who the father is and the entire plot of the movie is about how those three characters deal with that. At first, I didn't think this cliché plot would work. They could have chosen something much more original for Bridget to deal with. The social commentary of the first movie is absent here. However I still really enjoyed Bridget Jones's Baby. 

In its own right it's one of the best romantic comedies of recent years. It's funny, romantic, charming and a pleasure to return to some of my favourite characters. I immensely enjoyed myself despite the cliché plot. This movie actually made me cry with laughter, not once, but multiple times, which is a rare occurrence for me.

Is it as good as the first one? No. But sequels rarely are, in my opinion. As I said before, Bridget Jones's Baby is still better than so many other rom-coms out there and I highly recommend you go see it if you haven't already! You will surely be entertained!

Note: I do recommend to watch the previous films as you will be more familiar with the characters and their history but you don't need to. It is possible to watch this film without prior knowledge of the previous ones, although you will be missing out on those!

Are you a Bridget Jones fan? Are you planning to go see this film or have you already done so? Leave your thoughts down below!

Movie Review: Me Before You

I'm sure we all know by know that this movie is based on a book written by Jojo Moyes. I read the book a few years ago and fell in love. It is one of those books that stays with you for a long time, or at least that was the case with me. I did not reread the book before going to see the movie and I believe that was the right move. The movie stayed true to the book for most of the major plot points. I didn't remember all of the details so the slight changes didn't bother me. The novel counts almost 500 pages, so it's not surprising that they left things out, but once again those didn't bother me.

As far as adaptations go, Me Before You is one of the best of the recent years! I believe if you loved the book, you will enjoy the movie as well! However, the movie itself can definitely be viewed without reading the book first. I went to see the film with a friend who didn't read the book and she really enjoyed it and cried her heart out. Surprisingly, I didn't cry at the end of the movie, but I do remember crying a lot whilst reading the book. This is a unique story that deserves to be read and/or viewed!

When I first saw the trailer, I wasn't totally convinced that Emilia Clarke was the right choice for playing Louisa. For some reason, I didn't think she was genuine, it all felt a bit forced. When I actually saw her in the movie, I still couldn't entirely shake that feeling, but that might just be because I pictured Louise completely different. On the other hand, I believe that Sam Claflin perfectly portrayed Will! I was sold from scene one!

Matthew Lewis was amazing as Lou's annoying boyfriend Patrick and I actually want Jenna Coleman to be my sister in real life :)

All in all, I would really recommend Me Before You! It is one of the best (if not the best) romantic movies of recent years! The book is definitely worth checking out as well! Have you seen the movie yet? Or do you want to? Leave your thoughts down below!