Movies worth talking about / TV Shows and other addictive things

What I’ve Been (Binge-)Watching #33

Kat Impossible25 Comments

I still stand by the fact that I’ve watched far less since lockdown started, compared to my regular viewing. Regardless, it is time to talk about what’s been happening on my screen lately! So, here we go!

Sweet Magnolias

I started watching this show, because I needed to calm down. I had just watched some episodes with a lot of racial injustice and I was boiling and angry and I needed something to soothe me. The name, Sweet Magnolias, alone suggested to me that this was going to be lovely and it was? Following the lives of these three women was nice, their children had some decent plotlines too. It’s not the most exciting show out there, but I love these kind of soft and sweet stories that border on the line of cheesiness. It just feels so much cuter and less stressful than other shows, even if some plot points have quite a lot of depth if you think about it. So, does it give you Lifetime-vibes? Probably. Is that necessarily a bad thing? Not really.

HOWEVER, I am furious, because the show ended on a massive cliffhanger!

So my plan to distract myself from being mad did not pan out in the end … I just hope they get another season, and if only to resolve that end. I cannot deal with it right now!

For fans of: small town American settings, a certain quality of wholesomeness, book-to-screen adaptations

Upload

I can’t help but think about this show giving me “The Good Place” vibes and that’s something brilliant, because I miss the show SO much. I think the actual series is better than the trailer suggests. Sure, it has some rather silly elements (but let’s be real, so did The Good Place) but it also a very intriguing mystery plotline that I did not necessarily expect. I don’t feel like Upload made me as happy as watching The Good Place did, but it asks the same or at least similar questions about morality, mortality and can we improve after we have died. The fact that we are more and more asking ourselves these questions is really interesting to me.

Especially for a first season, I thought there was remarkable character development, although I wasn’t super happy with the end. I think it already got picked up for another season, so that’s helpful in easing my mind, because they need to resolve some stuff for me that I won’t get into because of spoilers.

For fans of: moral questions about the afterlife, quirky and fun takes on future technology

All American (both seasons)

So, I am still not over the brilliance that was Friday Night Lights and maybe I never will be. Yet, seen as I am still working on my American Football writing project, I needed another show to keep me in the right headspace. While there is a lot of content on college Football, there’s actually not as much focused on High School, so I figured I’d just go with the most recent example I could think of, which was All American.

Obviously, since this is based in LA, it hits VERY different to FNL. I didn’t get the same feeling of just being with those characters for ages, but eventually, I really felt with them regardless. I only have three episodes left, before finishing the second season and I want to savor those. Like so much at the CW, it already got renewed, which is great. I think the show has some really great moments, although I think they need to find more balance with some storylines as they feel just dropped into the narrative and as if they ask people to accept certain relationships and feelings despite us not having seen the development of it on screen.

I am rooting for them to get to tell more impacting stories on the CW! My heart is not over some of the episodes from the second season, such as 2×07, 2×10 and 2×11 – I cried and raged and felt numb.

For fans of: “based on a true story”-stories, American Football, racial issues in the US, community, found family trope

The Lovebirds

I decided to do a mini Issa Rae movie marathon today, so I started it out with The Lovebirds, since it recently dropped on Netflix. There’s no denying it, I love Issa Rae and I love Kumail Nanjiani and I love them together. They know how to keep up with each other’s energy and quick wit and it shows. While this movie threw them into some utterly ridiculous situations (think stuff like Date Night), I laughed a lot and I wasn’t sure I would really find it that funny.

I don’t think this is the best movie ever, but I was so entertained and that’s pretty much point of The Lovebirds. Suspend your disbelief, folks, and it will be a fun ride!

For fans of: funny couples in ridiculous crime-related situations

The Photograph

This was my second choice after The Lovebirds and NO REGRETS! Uhm, I think we’ve established how much I appreciate and adore Issa, so I just want to say that I would watch every single movie with LaKeith Stanfield as the male lead in a romance. I get that he is very versatile and can do all sorts of stories. As an actor, he would probably get bored just doing one thing, but I’ve just fallen more and more in love with him every single time he played the love interest in a movie. That is a fact!

I really enjoyed how calmly The Photograph told its story and it was so much more than just a love story. It told us that our parents had their own lives and past that we likely don’t know about, but that we cannot judge them for. They are, after all, just human. And it was about having a passion for work that overshadows the other elements in your life that might need attention and love too. It is so hard to give yourself to people, not just romantically, but some are worth taking the risk/fall.

So much in this film was told simply through looks and body language and I lived for it. The music and landscapes added to the atmosphere in exactly the way they were supposed to. Truly adored it all!

For fans of: parents who have their own stories/lives, that certain kind of unforgettable love-feeling

Did you watch any of those things? Do you plan to? Let’s talk!

25 thoughts on “What I’ve Been (Binge-)Watching #33”

  1. I went to high school at a football oriented school. I was a twig and not much good for much, but I liked the rough-housing involved.
    That is amazing that a French girl is interested in the drama of American high school football. -O
    Happy Trails!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    • I haven’t been to too many football games, but I found the experience really fun.
      Am I the French girl in this equation? Because I’m actually from Austria and very curious how you came up with French ahaha

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

  2. Oops! Sorry about that, Kat. I think it is just the accent that plays in my head when I read your articles. Maybe I thought I was reading another blog for a moment and got it mixed up with ‘Drizzle and Hurricane”?…
    Still, it is pretty neat to have an Austrian girl enjoying American high school football.
    Thanks for the correction!
    Happy Trails!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  7. I just finished All American!! I really like sports shows– FNL was definitely a favorite. I liked All American a lot, but HOLY DRAMATIC. I’ve watched a lottttttt of teen soaps (like almost all of them ever) and this one is definitely in the running of most drama. Crap just never stops happening to all the characters. Major crap, constantly. OHH, if you want to see something wild, google the actor who plays Spencer James and watch an interview with him– he’s super British & it blew my mind. He’s amazing to be able to have such a believable California accent in the show. I 100% thought he was American.

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    • Hahaha the CW loves to hire British, Australian and New Zealand actors for their shows! One of the actresses on Charmed is British too, the 100 has a bunch of Australian actors, iZombie and Riverdale has actors from New Zealand haha so, I’m really not that surprised about anything anymore. They all sound very authentically American.
      As for the drama … I just LOVE that the show is produced by the real life Spencer, who went on to play in the NFL. People constantly keep asking who he ended up with and he won’t tell. I don’t know how much of it all truly happened, but I think that not all of it is constructed drama.
      Thanks so much for your awesome comment!

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  8. Okay so my sister talked about Sweet Magnolias the other day, so I immediately told her what you wrote in that blog post. (well, I read this blog post aloud with my beautiful French accent, as you can imagine, hahahaha, anyway. I am ALL for soft, sweet, cheesy and not too stressful kind of shows, even if… well what do you mean CLIFFHANGER? I am a little stressed about that now haha. But it sounds like a lovely show! I’ll have to give it a try 🙂
    Also I’m curious about the shows you mentioned. The Good Place vibes? I miss the Good Place, I really really really do?? And I keep on seeings ads for this show every time I’m going on Amazon Prime ahah 🙂
    I watched the Lovebirds trailer the other day as well and… it sounded a little strange, funny but also a little strange, so I wasn’t sure about it? Maybe I’ll give it a try eventually 😀

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    • I could definitely see you and Nyx liking Sweet Magnolias, but everyone is unhappy about the cliffhanger. It’s a big and stressful one, so consider yourself warned.
      And Upload is awesome! Also a bit cliffhanger-y, but there’s a season 2 already confirmed at least haha
      I’m not sure you’d enjoy The Lovebirds as much. It depends on whether you find it funny or not in the end?

      Liked by 1 person

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