One day I'd like to transfer the old reviews to Letterboxd, but memory is fickle so maybe as I go, I'll just have to rewatch the best & do so! π It's a chore, but someone has to do it! π
I π§‘ that this watch added a whole new dimension to my special interest in survival media!
This is a creeping British ghost story with slow build tension & an amazing cast! It's set across different time periods, following 3 families living in the same house, that doesn't rely on jump scares/cheap tricks.
Marchlands doesn't veer too heavily towards fear over tension, so don't expect to be *truly* terrified! There are certainly moments that really get the blood pumping, though!!
It is a mystery as much as it is a ghost story, with some nice emotional depth & unpredictability!
Sydney Wade as young Amy is particularly excellent, but Jodie Whittaker, Alex Kingston & Shelley Conn all in a show together was always going to be great! They didn't let me down!
I loved this show when it came out and a re-watch was just as good, honestly!
There's some decent deaf rep here - Sophie Leigh Stone, a deaf actress, plays a Deaf woman as a fully formed character, having a romantic relationship. That shouldn't be a big thing but frustratingly, it's rare to see! Her character is an important part of the unravelling mystery
There is also rep of a young lad developing epilepsy, unknown to his family. It didn't feel overblown nor offensively portrayed. It highlighted the importance of hearing your kids when they mention not feeling well.
(Take it from someone who was screaming "Help me!" as a teen!)
I wanted to do physical violence to a priest, a policeman & a mother-in-law in this show. Seriously.
Fucking wow! π‘
π¨ Content Warning π¨
For those who have grieved their children in the church, there's some strong triggers in the predictable cruelty shown to the parents. π
2. #KittenWatches The War of the Worlds 2019 mini series.
The thing that kept me watching this show was the hot as hell, corseted female lead (played by Eleanor Tomlinson). I just wish I felt that her performance had been justified by a rather better script!
I found myself often frustrated... But couldn't quite explain why! It just didn't vibe for me. I wanted more. Esp from Amy's character!
The other leads were OK but not amazing, & they didn't really make me care for anyone but Amy. Robert Carlyle always adds something thou!
I did love the switch to a female lead, and it amuses me to see reviewers in a tizzy because their precious male character was relegated to the background of the story! I suspect it's lower rating is mostly due to that type of reviewer, since the story is just about worth a 3/5β
246. Crazyhead (2016)
This show made me absolutely GUTTED it only got 1 season! Holy shit, it had me laughing out loud & feeling all the feels! It's such a weird, quirky, #ComedyHorror - like Being Human (UK!) had a love child with Buffy!
As the above description sounds, this is a quirky British supernatural #ComedyHorror. Best friends Amy & Raquel, who can see demons possessing humans, and take it upon themselves to fight this menace.
Their evolving friendship as they learn the trade is beautiful to watch, too!
Crazyhead is absolutely, unabashedly, all about the two women and their navigation of the two harsh worlds they're faced with. And they do NOT take any shit.
I absolutely ADORE it! It's got so much heart & is so fun! The two badass female leads are excellent actresses!
I love hearing our own humour & colloquialisms onscreen too! We're so oversaturated w/ US media! It's absolutely refreshing and really adds to the fun!
As a note on the show's name⦠this show is about 2 women who see demons, so the world deems them mentally ill, and treats them as such. You don't have to actually be disabled for people to be ableist to you, which this show does a rather good job of showing, tbh!
Crazyhead became an instant comfort watch for me that I'll return to often! It really is an easy 4.5/5 β for me - and whoever cancelled this is on my fucking shit list forever!
This delightful, beautifully animated movie from #StudioGhibli wound its way into my heart with the balm it offers to the American content we're drowned in.
As if that wasn't enough, "That's my girl" just melted me.π #FamilyMovieNight
π§΅
I love that Howl loves Sophie no matter what body she's in! π₯° And I adore that the Scarecrow Prince loves her too, but it's unrequited & that's OK!
It's a deeply refreshing take over the toxic norm! There's no "friend zones" here - just friendship, love & respect. #StudioGhibli
And I so much want a magic lover who will create entirely beautiful worlds for me just to make me happy and safe.
I mean, really.
The animation in Howl's Moving Castle is also gorgeous, and so unique and quirky. I absolutely love it!
On another friendship note, can I please make friends with a fire demon cos they seem legit sassy awesome!
I adore Sophie's unlikely & sweet friendship with the lonely wee Calcifer!
Hell, just let me live in the universe of #HowlsMovingCastle pls?! It's clearly superior! π§΅
Howls Moving Castle is definitely a #disability rep movie... just with a twist. A young woman is cursed by a bitter, nasty witch to become "old". She is essentially instantly disabled, to which she later comments:
I also have accounts on most of the major messaging apps. If we chat a lot, I'm super happy to add you over there too - but I don't want to make things like my telegram/signal/WhatsApp too confusing with lots of people, or I'll be utterly lost. Just dm me? π
(and there goes my shiny nice new pinned thread until this is resolved one way or another sigh)
So sick of this care co treating me like less than human.
So sick of their abject ableism they refuse to see.
So sick of my life and health meaning nothing to them.
So sick of them getting good ratings because everyone is afraid/unable to speak the truth.
These are people who choose to frame my complaining they arent allowing me to be CLEAN or to sleep as long as I might be able to, as ungratefulness or rudeness or my just not understanding the position they're in and how hard it is for them. π
It's appalling & clearly ableist.
It is so toxic to see things that way instead of seeing people's desperation and tiredness and illness. Seeing that we deserve our care needs met and the absolute least we deserve when they don't meet those needs is understanding that they aren't, and a genuine apology.
I Am Mother is *brilliantly* carried by the all female cast, which I always find enjoyable. Rose Byrne in particular did a great job at bringing "Mother" to life. The carefulness of her acting injected complexity into this intelligence!
I was actually really surprised by this movie, which had much more depth and many more layers than I expected from a Netflix movie.
Was it perfect? Nope. But it was well worth a watch!
It was actually difficult to decide whether to list this one under survival or dystopian, but it had just *slightly* stronger leanings to the dystopian genre. But do expect a strong survival and post apocalypse tint to the story!
This movie is a disappointing, hot fuckin mess. I say that as a lifelong disaster movie addict. It's like they removed every fun element from a standard disaster movie then bulked it out with endless, boring,
complicated subplots & needless characters they didn't make you care for.
Worse, the entire thing was way more complicated & confusing than it needed to be. And omg, it took itself FAR too seriously, especially for such abject nonsense. The cardinal disaster movie rule, broken.
I want to slap everyone who wrote and participated in this convoluted nonsense. Especially given it's offensively large budget!!! π
If Moonfall gets a sequel from it's genuinely terrible open ended ending, I give up.
Kicking off my dystopian watch, tonight I'm watching Only (2019). This is a new one on me, and was billed as post-apocalyptic - but was clearly always going to be an apocalypse that would cause deepening dystopia.
A comet passes over earth bringing with it ashfall which infects the female of the species with a virus, killing most & leaving the survivors hiding in quarantine from the men who would wish to take them.
It's pretty dour so far... Particularly in light of current circumstances.
It's actually painful watching the womans' male partner do everything in his power to help her live. I wonder if this movie would have been written differently post covid? Would the writers realise how actually, the world might not have cared so very much, until it was too late?
#KittenWatches Wow! It's taken me a long time to get my review written for Cockneys vs Zombies!π¬
This movie is utterly wonderful, with brilliant disability rep. The acting & writing are really fantastic! The laughs are constant & big w/ dashings of crip humour.
It brings the heart along with the laughs, action & gore! The ineptness of the younger protagonists vs the care home residents is a brilliant and hilarious contrast!
And oh! There are some hilarious, gory and brilliant kills in this movie, plus a few very satisfying ones!
It has a fabulous and enjoyable soundtrack, with the genius usage of "Monster" by The Automatic for the (also brilliantly artistic) title sequence. π
Oh and Michelle Ryan is hot as fuck, so there's that!!! π π₯