Rambling Film

Somewhere out there... Wes (Joey Kern) and Alison (Alexandra Holden) should probably be lovers. Instead they've been best friends throughout the years. Their travels have kept them apart as they drift from place to place, adding experiences to their lives. Alison is about to leave for Tokyo in the morning and pays Wes a visit. We then get flashbacks of what their lives were like together leading up to this moment. We also get a glimpse of Wes's dreams, that are often in black in white, in Pakistan, and involve someone known as El Doctor (Richard Roundtree) I was actually quite impressed with Joey Kern here. I haven't seen a lot of his work, but whenever I do all I can think about is him getting arrested in Super Troopers. The dialogue was a bit dodgy at times, but the movie felt like a dream. These two people had been to places like Brazil, New Zealand, Japan, places I can only dream of. So the flow of the movie worked really well. It was almost like we're looking thr...

Stay after the credits for an Avengers sneak. The way the film makers went about Captain America feels different than the other super hero movies we've seen lately. Instead of bad CGI and over doing fight scenes they shifted their focus to Captain America's character. Who he was beforehand, his morals, his good heart. Steve Rogers (Chris Evans, apparently not getting his comic book fix since The Fantastic Four) is a scrawny, sickly, young man who just wants to fight for his country. He's tried to enlist several times during WWII and keeps getting denied. By chance he meets Dr. Erskine (Stanley Tucci) who recruits him anyways. He's helping build a new breed of soldiers, and he needs someone with a good heart to fill the spot. You see, they've failed on this once before. Johan Schmidt (Hugo Weaving, apparently not getting his comic book fix since V for Vendetta) was part of this project, but he's now using his power for greed and evil. Rogers must stop him. Afte...

Univarn over at A Life in Equinox had a wonderful idea: "Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to forever alter the course of cinema as we know it. You have the opportunity to wipe one film from the history books entirely. Our unique time-blending technology has created a wormhole through which you can simply delete the existence of any film ever made. However, you should not underestimate the sheer power that comes along with such a decision. Even the tiniest of ripples could mutate our understanding of cinema as we know it. So, what will you do? What careers will you make or break in the process? The time for your decision is at hand."   I've seen a lot of movies that I wish have never happened. The problem I kept running into was either 1) They were based off of a book, so wiping them wouldn't really help because the book would still be around. (Old Yeller) 2) They were so little with completely unknowns that I didn't see much of cinema ...

A feature length music video. That's what the film felt like at times, but it is in no way a bad thing. All My Friends Are Funeral Singers is actually a side project by the band Califone. They even have an album of the same name, though it was released earlier. Director Tim Rutili is also in the band. They tour with both their film and album together, often playing the film's score live. Zel (Angela Bettis) is a lonely fortune teller living in a house that she inherited from her grandmother. Not only did she inherit the house, but also several ghosts that live there. They assist her with her fortune telling, help her speak to those in the afterlife, but once they realize they can't leave they begin to turn against her. Zel isn't the one keeping them there, but while she doesn't want them to leave she has to find a way to help them. Earlier I said that the film reminded me a lot of a music video. This isn't just because Califone plays throughout. It has a lot ...

No, thank you. Keep it. Forgetting to use the space bar when naming your film grabs my attention, but poor performances from your lead actor and a weak script are certainly not going to keep it. The film centers around Sam, (Josh Radnor) a struggling writer living in New York City. He finds a child alone on the subway and attempts to take him to the police station. The kid won't go, so Sam decides to let him tag along. Through Sam we meet his other friends. Mississippi, (Kate Mara) a bartender/cabaret singer that Sam starts to date. His best friend, Annie (Malin Akerman) who's looking for men in all the wrong places when a perfectly good suitor is practically begging for her attention. Then there's Mary Catherine (Zoe Kazan) and Charlie (Pablo Schreiber) who disagree about moving to Los Angeles and starting a new life there. The only thing I've seen Radnor in prior to this is How I Met Your Mother. It's hard to judge what kind of a performer he is because his co...

Just because. You've got to love it when in the first few moments of the film you are about to view, the character on screen breaks the 4th wall and tells you that the movie is going to serve absolutely no purpose. No fucking reason at all, just because. You can almost appreciate the honesty. We're not the only ones watching this film, a large group of people standing in the middle of the desert with binoculars are as well. The film follows Robert, a tire. Yes, the tire has a name. He rolls around aimlessly and soon discovers he can make heads explode just by thinking about it. He tests it on a few animals first, then goes after humans. The pacing of the movie is slower than slow. It would've probably made a better short film. I get what the director was trying to say and I appreciated the effort. I knew what this film was about going in, so I wasn't expecting the plot to be intriguing or the effects to be convincing. I got just what I figured I would. Recommended: ...

It opens at the close. What can I say? My most anticipated movie of the year. The end of my favorite series of all time. It's bittersweet. I've been a Potter fan for a long time and my excitement for this movie has been off the wall. I caught Part 1 and 2 at my theater back to back at midnight on Thursday. I love going to midnight movies, the crowds are always so excited. There was lots of clapping in the screening I attended. Claps for The Dark Knight Rises Teaser, claps for the random that ran through the theater and screamed "Harry Potter..fuck yeah!", claps for Ron and Hermione's kiss, claps for Molly Weasley's infamous line, and loud cheers at the end. Overall, everyone seemed to have left pleased. Part 2 picks up right where we last left our trio. Voldemort (Ralph Fiennes) has stolen the elder wand from Dumbledore's grave, and our trio are still at Shell Cottage having just escaped from Malfoy Manor. Harry, (Daniel Radcliffe) Ron, (Rupert Grint) a...

Do they speak English in What? Ok, so one could argue that this isn't technically an independent film per se. Miramax financed it, they were an independent studio until Disney bought them out during the time they had Pulp Fiction. Nonetheless, it had a small budget and wasn't given a whole lot for marketing. This is why I label it as in Indie Gem. Pulp Fiction is about a few intertwining stories. Vincent Vega (John Travolta) and Jules Winnfeild (Samuel L. Jackson) are mob hit men trying to retrieve a suitcase containing something valuable for their boss, Marsuelles Wallace. (Ving Rhames) Wallace has also tasked Vincent with taking his wife, Mia (Uma Thurman) out for a good time while he's out of town. Then there's Butch, (Bruce Willis) a boxer being paid by Wallace to lose his next fight. Problems arise for this group of people and suddenly they are all thrown in together. It's hard to pick out a favorite Tarantino film. When ever I get asked to, I always change m...

Here's a list of the 2011 Emmy nominations. As always, my thoughts are in green after the categories. Snark Alert: Breaking Bad wasn't eligible to be nominated and I'm going to keep bringing that up until the awards show airs. Drama Series "Boardwalk Empire" "Dexter" "Friday Night Lights" "Game of Thrones" "The Good Wife" "Mad Men" Again, Breaking Bad didn't qualify, so I'm guessing that's how Game of Thrones got in there. Still, that's a good show and I'm glad it did. I personally would've replaced FNL with True Blood. I'm hoping Boardwalk Empire takes it. That show is wonderful. Drama, Lead Actor Steve Buscemi, "Boardwalk Empire" Kyle Chandler, "Friday Night Lights" Michael C. Hall, "Dexter" Jon Hamm, "Mad Men" Hugh Laurie, "House" Timothy Olyphant, "Justified" The list of men that now have a chance since ...

Psycho. Man eater. Tool. The movie doesn't sugar coat it, these men have some really terrible bosses. Nick's (Jason Bateman) boss, Dave (Kevin Spacey) is an asshole that's essentially screwing with Nick's head about giving him a promotion. Kurt's (Jason Sudeikis) new boss, Bobby (Colin Farrell) is a coke head who's going to run his late father's company into the ground. Dale's (Charlie Day) boss, Julia (Jennifer Aniston) is a vulgar woman who constantly sexually harasses him at work. They can't quit their jobs for various reasons, so they hatch a plan to kill their bosses. That's the only way out. I loved how over the top this was. I like a good R rated comedy, and this felt like it didn't hold back. There were plenty of laugh out loud moments and the cast was great. Even though Charlie Day's voice is like nails on a chalkboard occasionally, he was tolerable. The bosses were definitely the best part of the film. I liked how crude Jennife...

Far Fetched can be charming. That was my thought immediately after viewing The Go-Getter. There is no way this story would happen in real life without serious consequences, but that was part of the film's charm. Mercer's (Lou Taylor Pucci) mother has just passed away. He wants to find his long lost, older half brother to tell him the news. After finding out he has some traveling to do to get to him he steals a car from a gas station and away he goes. The car belongs to Kate, (Zooey Deschanel) a seemingly quirky girl who is way too calm to have just witnessed someone stealing her vehicle. She left her cell phone in the car, so she calls it and speaks with Mercer throughout his trip. He runs into some interesting people on the way, particularly Joely, (Jena Malone) a care free stoner that has a few other intentions for Mercer. In reality, Kate would've phoned the police about Mercer, not called him directly about the theft. Mercer and Kate form a very interesting relations...

La môme Ah, the French. They make some beautiful movies. La Vie En Rose is based on the true story of French singer Edith Piaf. (Marion Cotillard) She grew up on the streets and eventually became a famous singer, but not without plenty of hardships on the way. The movie jumps around to show different parts of her life, with Cotillard playing Piaf from a teen all the way to an elder lady.     Cotillard lip synced to Piaf's voice for the film. Normally lip syncing is not as impressive, but for movies based on famous singers I think it works. Plus you can really tell how hard Cotillard worked to perfect it. Everything from the way she moved her lips to how she was breathing during her songs was spot on. She even went as far as to shave off her hairline and her eyebrows to look more like Piaf. Cotillard is a taller woman, and Piaf was exceptionally small. Cotillard hunches and manages to closely resemble her waif frame. Her performance was beyond impressive. When Cotillard won th...

Sexually charged. Sexually charged is a good way to describe this film. Not because there are a lot of sex scenes, because there isn't. The thought of sex never seems to far from the character's minds. The way the movie was shot even seemed overly sexual to me. Needless to say, that's our theme for this Portuguese film. Filipa (Laura Neiva) is just coming of age. While going through her teen awakening she begins to take a closer look at her own parents. Her Father's (Vincent Cassell) relationship with her alcoholic mother is starting to become strained. She constantly belittles his work as a writer. He tries to focus on his work and his children but soon finds himself in an affair with a beautiful American woman (Camilla Belle, who literally has 2 lines in the entire movie.) who lives nearby. Filipa finds pictures of them in her father's desk and takes to following him to her house and watching them through the windows. When I first heard about this movie I thou...

Bad Teachers. Sheba Hart (Cate Blanchett) is a teacher at a new school. She's younger and prettier than most of the other staff, so everyone takes notice of her. Barbara Covett (Judi Dench) is a strict, older teacher who befriends Sheba and eventually learns a dirty secret: Sheba has started to have an affair with a fifteen year old student. Barbara is becoming more and more obsessed with Sheba, and essentially black mails her with her knowledge of the affair. She wants Sheba to stop, but not for her husband and family, but so she can have her all to herself. The performances in this film are beyond top notch. Both ladies deserved the Oscar nominations they got for this. Cate is so conflicted as Sheba. She's ultimately our protagonist, but we know she's doing something wrong. Yet, we still want to see her come out ok because Judi's character is so stern and frightening. That's how you know a film is powerful. When you are so drawn in to the characters that you reall...