How Television Saved My Life

I love romantic comedies, though, most of them suck. Yes, there's been less and less memorable ones out there. This is of course excluding last years Crazy Rich Asians , which was a total pleasure, but in a different way, as it was one of the first romantic comedies out there with a predominantly Asian American cast (recently Always be my Maybe came out on Netflix ALSO). Romantic comedies usually become low budget affairs, or Hallmark movies where one is a ghost living in a house and the lead female is trying to sell said house. Yes , it's not a good market in general. I'd heard of Long Shot a while back, and was hopeful, the buzz was good, and all in all, the critics I admire boasted about it being one of the funniest rom-coms they'd seen in a long time. They weren't wrong! The unlikely pairing of Seth Rogen and Charlize Theron feels so very  natural, and earnest and sweet. Besides the fact that the film is really  fucking funny. Theron plays Charlott...

Somehow I found myself having seen the mini-series with Matthew MacFadyen and Haley Atwell first, and it's really worth the watch as well, but this version is of course shorter  and splendid. Emma Thompson and Anthony Hopkins, besides James Ivory directing - a really good combination. I've always enjoyed A Room With A View (not the newer Andrew Davies version, no), which like this has a young Helena Bonham-Carter in it as well. It's based on one of E.M. Forsters novels. Howard's End is about two sisters Helen (Helena Bonham-Carter) and Margaret Schlegel (Emma Thompson) who get entangled with a family called the Wilcox. Mrs Wilcox becomes friendly with Margaret and upon her deathbed bestows her  home, much beloved to herself - Howard's End to Margaret. This in itself is frowned upon by the children of Mrs Wilcox and her husband played by Anthony Hopkins. This is not what the film is really about, but more about whether or not two people with such opposing views...

We've got to talk about Stranger Things Season 3! It came out on Thursday, 4th of July; a stark contrast to the darker previous seasons all based in autumn. This season focuses on summer and the aesthetics of being a teenager - sneaking into horror films, kissing (not that I ever experienced that myself), and the usual wackiness that happens when a monster starts to go Body Snatchers on the small town Hawkins. But this isn't for the one's who've yet to see series 3 - no - it's for the nerds (like me) who binged the whole goddamn thing and are now sitting in ennui with conspiracy theories.  So, for the ones who've yet to sit down with it. Go see it, it's fun and colourful and really funny, besides mixing up the dynamics somewhat spectacularly. New additional characters add more fun and just the throwbacks and homages are stellar. 10/10 - sit on your butt and watch the shit out of that. SPOILERS FROM HERE ON OUT So, Hopper died. That's a...