September & October Favourites

I have always wanted to do a «monthly favourites» type of post on this blog, but I kept putting it off some reason or the other — until this year. I will be doing one of these every month (or every two months) and I will include literally everything that I have loved or that has made me happy during that time, be it a film, a song, a book, a TV show, an item of clothing or anything else. These are my September and October favourites.

1. Frankie and Johnny (1991)

Frankie and Johnny is the story of a middle-aged man, recently released from prison, who finds a job as a cook at a local diner and ends up falling in love with an emotionally scarred waitress. The wonderful Al Pacino is the cook, and the lovely Michelle Pfeiffer is the waitress. This has got to be one of the best romantic comedies I have ever seen in my life — and believe me, I have seen A LOT of them. I have never pictured Al Pacino as the romantic lead type, but he is just perfect as Johnny and his scenes with Michelle Pfeiffer are an absolute delight to watch.

2. A Quiet Place (2018)

I am not a massive fan of horror films, but every year on Halloween I always watch a horror/psychological thriller film just to kind of celebrate the occasion. The film I chose to watch this year was A Quiet Place and I think it might have become one of favourite films of all time. Honestly, it is SO GOOD! John Krasinski wrote a brilliant script and his direction is amazing, as is the cinematography. Emily Blunt is flawless and the kids are all great, especially Millicent Simmonds. If you have not seen this film, I strongly suggest you do.

3. Al Pacino

I have known of Al Pacino my entire life, but I have never gave two cents about him. I assumed (wrongly, I realize that now) that his personality would somehow mirror that of the characters that he usually plays, which are not very nice people, so I just thought I would not like him much. Well, in late August, I got really into 1970s films and pretty much half of the greatest movies made during that decade (I am exaggerating, but you get my point) are Al Pacino movies, so I obviously felt obliged to watch those. Anyway, before I knew it, I was madly in love with him. He is just the sweetest guy, really humble and he has absolutely no ego whatsoever. He truly is one of the greatest actors that has ever lived, and I find it COMPLETELY OUTRAGEOUS that he did not win the Oscar for both The Godfather Part II (1974) and Dog Day Afternoon (1975).

4. Elite (2018-)

Being a huge fan of La Casa de Papel (2017-), I was really excited when I found out that three actors from that show (Jaime Lorente, Miguel Herrán and Maria Pedraza) were put together in another Netflix show called Elite. Naturally, I watched it and now I'm completely obsessed with it. For those of you who have never heard of it, Elite follows three working-class friends who are given scholarships to study at an exclusive private school after their own school is destroyed by an earthquake. At first sight, the differences between them and their new rich classmates seem obvious, but some of them might have more in common than what initially meets the eye. If you are looking for a new show to watch, give Elite a try. It is such a brilliant show! It is incredibly well written, the cinematography and the soundtrack are beautiful, and the entire cast is flawless.

5. Dark (2017-)

I became a fan of Louis Hoffman after I watched Land of Mine (2015), Sanctuary (2015) and Centre of My World (2016), so I was really interested to watch his Netflix show, Dark. If you have never heard of it, Dark follows four different German families who all have a dark past and are all mysteriously connected somehow. The story begins in 2019, but spreads out to include storylines from 1986 and 1953 via time travel, as some characters (including the one played by Louis Hoffman) become aware of the existence of a wormhole below the local nuclear power plant. If you like thrillers and science fiction, you will love Dark.

6. «Shallow» by Bradley Cooper & Lady GaGa

One of the films I am most excited to see this year is A Star is Born (2018), which everyone says is one of the greatest films ever made. When I first heard this song a month ago, I became slightly obsessed with it. I am not really a fan of Lady GaGa, but man! she can sing! And Bradley Cooper's voice (which is very good, by the way) really complements her own. I genuinely cannot wait to watch this film. I predict Oscar nominations for everyone.

7. «Too Much Love Will Kill You» by Queen

Another film that I am really looking forward to watching is Bohemian Rhapsody (2018), which is a biopic of Freddie Mercury starring the lovely Rami Malek. So, in anticipation to that film, I started listening to Queen's greatest hits and for some reason I fell in love with this song. I had never heard it before, but I think it's the perfect power ballad.

8. «It's Not Living (If It's Not With You You)» by The 1975

The 1975 are one of my favorite bands of all time and I cannot wait to listen to their new album. This song is the most recent single out of the album and I have been listening to it pretty much non-stop ever since it came out. You would think it is a love song, but it is actually not.

And there you go. These are the things that I have loved throughout September and October. What are some things that you have been loving?

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