2014 is officially over! It was a great year for beauty, as discussed in yesterday's post (HERE) but that was not all of the goodness. It was also a very successful year in pop culture and I personally discovered some gems so let's run through my pop culture favourites for 2014.
Movies
Starting off with a tear-jerker, I really loved The Fault In Our Stars this year. There was nothing about this film I disliked because I thought it was a very faithful adaptation of the book (not that I'm a stickler for sticking to the book but this is one of my all time favourite books so it is a bonus). Shaileene Woodley did a marvellous job at portraying the pain that Hazel felt while also showing that people with a terminal illness are still able to have enjoyable moments in their lives.
Marvel is always bringing out the best films and this year was no exception. Both Captain America: Winter Soldier and Guardians of the Galaxy deserved a spot on this list, in fact they're probably my top two favourite films of the year. Guardians was such a fun film, the soundtrack is constantly being played on my iPod and the action was really entertaining. My favourite part was that it wasn't completely tied to the on-Earth Marvel cinematic universe (like Thor, Cap and Iron Man films are), but you could clearly tell they were a part of the same entity. Captain America was probably my favourite of the two because I felt as though it slightly shifted tone from previous Marvel films, taking more of a spy thriller stance. It had a compelling plot and that film with Nick Fury in the car was one of the most memorable of the year.
22 Jump Street was a surprising hit for me this year. I really enjoyed the first one but I never expect much from comedy sequels. This film pulled it off perfectly. The plot was very similar to the first one but everything was escalated to make it even more funny and even more entertaining. It was extremely self aware and, though that can sometimes be distracting, they did it very well and it just worked to make the film even funnier. Another of my favourite scenes of the year was when Schmidt and Jenko were in the Captains large glass office and Jenko clicked that Schmidt had done something 'wrong' then went dancing around the office. Definitely the best use of the 'ding' sound effect in 2014.
TV Shows
My favourite new show of 2014 by far was Jane The Virgin. Though we're only on to episode 5(? ish) in Australia, it is one of the only new shows that stuck out to me as being fantastic. The telenovela style of it makes it so different from anything I had ever seen before. I didn't go into watching it with high hopes but I was so surprised. The man who narrates the show is probably my favourite character even though he is not even a proper character, second would have to be Jane. All of the characters are so loveable, even if they're seen to be 'evil' and everyone plays an integral role.
A show that hasn't even started in Australia yet (I've got it on record for when it does though!) is Brooklyn Nine-Nine. Now you may be thinking 'But Shannon, how can it be a favourite when you haven't seen it?!' and you would be wrong because I watched the first half of season 1 on the plane to America. That was all the way back in April and I remembered it enough to want to mention it here. The show is just so hilarious. Andy Samburg is one of my favourites and his character Jake is so goofy.
Honourable mention to a show that I didn't see for the first time in 2014 but my love for it continued throughout the year. That show is the Graham Norton Show. Being a fan of everything film and celebrity, chat shows are pretty high on my list. Graham Norton is my favourite chat show because he doesn't just ask the generic questions and the guests end up telling the funniest stories.
Books
As previously mentioned, I love hearing about celebrities lives so of course that extends through to my choice of books too! I purchased Tina Fey's autobiography Bossypants at the end of my trip to America and had completely finished it by the time I touched Australian soil. Tina is such an inspiration because she has raised up through the comedy ranks to become one of the most successful female comedians ever. Her biography is great because it tells her story using humour and a frank conversational tone.
The book We Were Liars messed me up slightly but I enjoyed it so much that I wrote an entire post on it (read that HERE). It is a YA Fiction which are sometimes a bit basic and formulaic, though I do enjoy those sometimes when I really want to tune out, but this breaks all of those stereotypes. The twist ending surprised me so much it reduced me to tears! If that, combined with the fact that I read the whole thing in one night because I couldn't bring myself to stop, doesn't convince you to give it a go I don't know what will.
A book I had to read for school actually became one of my favourites of the year and that book is Of Mice and Men. This is a classic book that I loved even more when I saw it in play form on Broadway. It is just a classic that shows the dynamic between two very different people.
This post was so long that I've had to break it up into two, 2014 was just that good of a year. In the next post, which will be up later today, I will be talking about my music and internet favourites of the year. Talk to you then!
Lots of Love,
Shannon
No comments
Post a Comment