Welcome to my series of what I’ve been watching lately. I watch a lot of television, I’m definitely a TV addict, and I love to share my views.
Leave the World Behind
I watched this on Netflix while browsing for my next view. The preview of a huge ship ending up on a beach was enough to get me interested.
Julia Roberts is the main character and basically hates people. So she decided to book an impromptu break away from the city.
The film has a lot of bad reviews and I can see why, it’s all over the place, it’s like the writer couldn’t decide who the antagonist could be so they decided to make it everyone and everything. The kids are not really likeable, the adults even less so. Is there a redeemable character? I thought maybe the husband Clay (Ethan Hawke,) but he leaves a desperate woman alone and distressed by the roadside because she wasn’t talking in a language he understood!
Julia plays Amanda, who seemingly works so much with people she can’t find a redeemable aspect in anyone. I think I can relate with her the most, she’s the most sensible and straight thinking although her dancing could do with a bit of practice, it was nice to have a little light in what is essentially a very dark film.
I loved the Tesla scene. Nothing more to say.
I think the writers were probably trying to say that this world is totally screwed up and they are not wrong. If the end does come, as many more movies before, people will probably turn on each other. This doesn’t feature a lot of this but it does mention it as a theory. But it could also be a cyber attack, an alien attack or a missile attack but where from, who knows?
There maybe one survivor at least, and Friends DVDs in a bunker somewhere.
Boy Swallows Universe
Boy Swallows Universe was something else I more or less stumbled on, I wasn’t sure it was for me at first, but I really enjoyed watching it. It’s set in a small town in Australia in the 80s and the original author of the book says that it’s based 50/50 fact and fiction. I think you can work out which bits.
Not for the light hearted, this series comes with trigger warnings of violence, self-harm, addiction, domestic abuse and more. However, the whole thing is set light heartedly with a touch of humour to lighten the load.
You have to feel for the two main characters, Eli and Gus Bell, who start the series as young boys. Their mother is a recovering addict and they are living with their step-dad, who seems like a nice enough guy but he’s also a drug dealer, trying get enough money to get them a better life. But, life isn’t so kind and bad things happen.
The boys end up back with their alcoholic father, who doesn’t seem like a bad man but apparently tried to kill himself and his boys which is why the boy’s Mum, Frankie, left him in the first place.
It can be very depressing at times, and made me tear up a few times. It also had me on the edge of my seat too. But overall, I think the ending sums it all up perfectly. I don’t want to give anything away, but love, hope and family bonds are strong throughout.
Plus it was a nice journey back in time to the 80s with some familiar tunes (and some not so familiar ones as it’s Australian.)
Black Cake
I really enjoyed listening to Black Cake on Audible last year and reviewed it on my other blog. The story is a family epic spanning 60 where two, no actually three, estranged children are brought together when their Mother dies and and she decides to share all her secrets…and boy, does she have some secrets!
Her story is quite amazing and very touching in parts. She was a part Jamaican, part Chinese brought up on a Caribbean Island and a fantastic swimmer. Her mother disappears when she is just eleven and her father is a gambling man who ends up giving his 16 year old daughter away to be married to an older man to ‘pay off’ his debts.
The new husband ends up dying on his wedding night and the young girl disappears into the sea.
She later takes a new identity and gets together with an old boyfriend from the Island but in London. Then they move to California and live our their family life until she finds out she has terminal cancer and decided to record her full story for her children to share over her last ever black cake that she made.
The book translates well into a series on Disney+ I thought the actors chosen were really good as the characterisation in the book is very detailed.
Domino Day
Found on the iPlayer I saw clips of this during program breaks on the BBC and I thought I’d like to watch it.
Domino Day is an orphan who has found her way to settle in Manchester. She has powers which she can’t control and needs to feed off the life force of humans. She does this a lot by ‘swiping right’ and meeting up with her victims. They don’t die, they just wake up not knowing what happened and feeling really unwell.
Domino, or Dom, is being watched by a coven of witches and has also attracted the attention of others. She has an ex but we don’t know what happened to him, but then one day he turns up again and it seems that he is not a nice person at all. His Mother, a head witch, has taken away most of his magic powers and now she is after Dom too.
The series focuses on witchcraft and magic, but also relationships, good and bad. It’s a little raunchy at times but not too much so. Beyond it all is a story of friendship and love.
What have you been watching lately?
See my other posts: What I’ve been Watching Lately This New Year
What I’ve Been Watching Lately (October 23)
What I’ve been Watching Lately Early Autumn Edition
What I’ve been Watching Lately (March 21)
I watched Leave the World Behind and enjoyed it but at the same time I did think it was all over the place and the ending was rubbish.
Boy Swallows Universe is on my list of things to watch and I remember reading about Black Cake on your other blog, I might have to watch that. x
This list is a fun way to discover new shows, especially for fellow TV enthusiasts. I appreciate the casual and personal approach, making it feel like a friendly conversation about shared interests. Perhaps including brief descriptions of the shows and what makes them appealing could further entice readers to check them out.