Audiovisual Favourites 2017

This is my chance to reflect on all things film, TV, and podcast that I loved from the last year.
Books and beauty will get their own posts, fear not!

Podcasts:

This was the year I properly got into podcasts, having previously loved Serial in 2016. During the Summer I happened upon My Favourite Murder and quickly caught up on all the previous episodes I had missed. 

I love this because it combines an interest in True Crime with witty and fun female presenters that are endlessly listenable to. At times, it can be a bit bleak and yes, I have shed a tear but Karen and Georgia have also made me chuckle warmheartedly, not something you can usually say about that genre. They have a huge fanbase, doing live shows, one of which is coming to Dublin this year (I missed out on tickets, like a fool). There's also a cat called Elvis who pops up at the end of each episode, meowing for cookies. It's heartwarming really.

I also tuned in to My Dad Wrote A Porno for a while but after starting the second series, it got a bit samey and I tired of it. It's still fun though, if you're looking to both laugh and cringe on your commute to work. General premise is one guy's dad wrote a terrible porno and him and his two friends decided to read it out loud and laugh at the ridiculousness, which is great for the rest of us.

A few of my favourite youtube/bloggers started podcasts this year too, including Estee Lalonde doing The Heart Of It With Estee Lalonde where she discusses a whole host of topics, including tattoos, feminism, travel and strength, amongst others. She always has a special guest per episode that is an expert in that topic, which makes it even more interesting. Looking forward to season 2!

I also enjoyed At Home With... by Lily Pebbles and Anna Newton, two of my favourite beauty bloggers. They go to a different person's home each episode and discuss everything from their home decor to their wardrobe, work life etc. Depending on the interviewee it's interesting and the two presenters are really pleasant to listen to.

I've also enjoyed tuning in to the Banging Book Club, presented by three book Youtubers, they take a different book about sex or where the storyline involves sex in some way and review it. There's a big variety of books but unfortunately they haven't posted in a while so I stopped listening around June.

Films

I actually kept a list of all the films we watched this year so I could keep track and make this post a bit easier! I won't go into too much detail cause you can really easily look these up but these are my top 17 films of 2017. I narrowed it down to 17 like a champ except that I had a leftover space in my grid, so I made it 18...cause I'm adaptable like that! Some of these came out in 2016 (like Rogue One) but I only got around to seeing them this year. 

Moonlight (beautifully made, touching and unique), Star Wars: The Last Jedi (a late contender), La La Land (the perfect antidote to the January blues), Thor Ragnarok (extremely good fun. Plus Jeff Goldblume), Logan (not your average comic book movie), John Wick 2 (Not as good as the first but still brilliant fight scenes. Plus Keanu Reeves), Girls Trip (absolutely hilarious, I watched on the flight to LA and laughed so hard that I then put it on again for the flight home and made Himself watch my favourite scene with me), Trainspotting 2 (nostalgic, funny and sharp), Get Out (very clever and very terrifying), Hidden Figures (inspiring, emotional and infuriating), It (everything I wanted it to be- true to the book, scary, funny, smart. LOVED IT), Atomic Blonde (it's here for several reasons- Charlize, the 80's Berlin setting, the soundtrack, the clothes and THAT fight scene. G'wan Charlize, you ledge), The Invitation (a tense, slow-building, unexpectedly shocking horror), Baby Driver (fast paced, great soundtrack, adrenaline filled car-chases and Jon Hamm. The storyline goes off the rails somewhat but it's still enjoyable), Dunkirk (I spent the entire thing on the literal edge of my seat. Every scene is beautifully shot and you become completely invested in the characters. Plus, Cillian Murphy), Manchester By The Sea (leaving aside the terrible human that is Casey Affleck, this is an absolute punch to the gut of a film. Brilliantly made but very bleak),  Spiderman Homecoming (a reboot that's actually worth watching. It's fun, self-aware and has a decent Spiderman), Rogue One (a Star Wars story so not part of the official series but it does some explaining along the way and it left me extremely emotional. Sob). 

TV shows

There was lots of good TV this year, mostly via Netflix to be fair!

Westworld (a truly brilliant sci-fi. A must-watch), The Handmaid's Tale (nauseating, true to the book, terrifying, excellent drama/dystopia), It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia (it's on series 11 or something ridiculous but we somehow only got into it this year. All of the characters are terrible so you feel no pity for them when it all goes wrong. So funny), The Crown (I think we all watched this one this year! True story period drama with excellent actors and fascinating storylines), Stranger Things 2 (I preferred this to the first series actually, it's as creepy, funny and entertaining as the first series but a bit less upsetting. Poor Barb), Mindhunter (more true crime- this is the story of how the FBI's behavioural analysis unit was set up. Also true stories and I read the book after watching it cause it was so intriguing), Master of None (DEV, COME BAAAACK!!! Perfect television, we had to hold ourselves back from binge-watching the entire thing), Riverdale (pure trash teen drama that makes no sense a lot of the time but has a cool vintage comic vibe thanks to its origins. The murder storyline is nicely creepy and Luke Perry is playing someone's Da, so basically he's only slightly older than he was in Beverly Hills 90210), The Keepers (a traumatising documentary about the evil and depravity of some members of the Catholic Church. It's deeply upsetting and infuriating but an important watch), The Good Place (hilarious and unique- this is like no other TV show around. The storyline flips every so often, totally unexpectedly), This Is Us (we only dipped in and out of this one but we both liked it so will restart it again soon. Great cast of characters with two different timelines to keep things interesting), Game of Thrones series 7 (DRAGONS!!!!), Rick and Morty (I avoided it for a while cause it can be seriously gross sometimes but it also has full-on belly laugh moments), Peaky Blinders (I feel a fool, a fool I tell you for not watching this 'til now! We're just about to start series 3 and we are obsessed!!! Brilliant TV!), The Sinner (very creepy, sinister mystery that we spent a week binge watching, trying to look away from but desperate to know what the resolution was), Big Little Lies (a really refreshing book adaptation focusing on female friendships, domestic violence and that perfect Big Sur coastline), The Defenders (a combination of all the other Marvel superhero Netflix shows- Jessica Jones, Daredevil, Luke Cage and the Iron Fist. Snooze on the last one, the rest are great), Catastrophe series 3 (as hilarious as ever and featuring the amazing Carrie Fisher in her last episodes. Sob). 

Special shout-outs to the Youtube videos of one of my fave authors, Marian Keyes, John Oliver and his extremely sarcastic and satirical late night political show which I catch up on when I can, and ASMR, a calming series of soothing sounds, whispers, etc to help you relax and sleep. 

What did I miss?!
Let me know what your favourite TV, film and podcasts of the year were!
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