Rambling Film

This is how my week in TV went... Game of Thrones *Arya and Gendry - THEY ARE SO FUCKING ADORABLE, YOU GUYS! That scene when she says "I could be your family" and he replies "You wouldn't be my family. You'd be M'Lady." I wanted to cry like a 14 year old girl. There are no fairy tail endings (so far) in the Song of Ice and Fire universe, but one thing that I really hope for, is for these two to be together at the end of it all. I won't spoil where they are at for non book readers, but I would love that. I mean, after all, Robert Baratheon told Ned Stark "I have a son, you have a daughter, let's join our houses." Why can't it be about those two? *The Hound and Beric's fight was awesome, and I'm really glad they showed Beric reanimating. (can I call it that? Or is that too Walking Dead?) *THE BATH SCENE - The motherfucking bath scene. God, it was perfect. I'm sure many people thought I was just being a per...

The person that killed those kids is still out there.   West of Memphis could've been a hard sell. The story of the West Memphis 3, three teenagers who were tried for the murders of three eight year old boys, and spend 18 years in prison before they were released under a total bullshit Alford plea. This trial was followed exclusively by the makers of another documentary series; Paradise Lost. Having seen all three of those films, I was worried West of Memphis might feel a little redundant.     It didn't. It starts from the beginning, making sure that even if you didn't see Paradise Lost, you'd have an idea of what is going on, but this documentary focuses more on the new evidence that they have found. Evidence that can't put Jason Baldwin, Jessie Misskelly, and Damien Echols at the scene, but that can put one of the victim's (Stevie Hobbs) step fathers at the scene: Terry Hobbs. The film doesn't subtly accuse him, they directly point the finger...

Sometimes you just need a friend.   Driss (Omar Sy) is a petty criminal who is trying to get unemployement benefits. He ends up at Phillippe's (Francois Cluzet) house, where he is interviewing people to be his assistant. Phillippe is paralyzed from the neck down. He needs someone to help take care of him. Driss makes it clear that he only wants his papers signed to prove that he's at least looking for a job, but Phillippe dares him to stay. He says he won't last two weeks. Eventually, they form a very strong friendship and help each other in more ways than they could've imagined.   Going into this film, I kind of expected it to have a tone similar to The Diving Bell and the Butterfly. I thought it would be beautifully shot, but very depressing. While it's hard to see Phillippe in that scenario (I don't even think I would have the strength to continue living if I were paralyzed from the neck down) the film is actually quite light hearted. I found mysel...

Something's not quite right here. I'm not sure what.   This Must be the Place is an interesting film to write about. I waited a few days after seeing it to type my words, and I'm still not sure what to make of this film.   Cheyenne (Sean Penn) is a retired rock star living in Dublin. He enjoyed his success (he's rich enough that he doesn't have to work) but he's also haunted by aspects of it. When is father passes away, Cheyenne goes to New York City, and starts a search for a man his father had been looking for. A former Nazi who humiliated him in Auschwitz.   When I first heard about this movie when it premiered at Cannes in 2011, I added it to my must see list without really knowing what it was about. I just saw Sean Penn dressed up like a member of Motley Cru and thought: "Ok, that looks interesting." This movie wasn't what I was expecting. The synopsis of the film isn't really the film's main focus. It's not about fi...

This was my week in TV.. gif credit: Game of Thrones *So many awesome things on Game of Thrones this week. Where do I begin? *I'll start with Dany doing her best Breaking Bad impression by letting the slaver owner know that she speaks high Valaryian, bitch! And she is Danaerys Stormborn of House Targaryen and SHE is the one who knocks! Seriously, I loved that last scene so fucking much. *Especially the look on Jorah's face when he realizes she has a plan. *The men of the Nights Watch gave us a perfect example of when keeping it real goes wrong at Craster's Keep. Personally, I'm just glad they left out all the raping that went on in the books. *JAIME AND BRIENNE! We didn't get "SAPPHIRES!" (I'll still hold out for that one) but we did get some good moments between the two. I try not to get nick picky with the books, because I tend to prefer the show more, but I was kind of hoping that Jaime and Brienne's scene about Jaime dying would...

1-900-MMM-HMMM   Lauren (Lauren Miller) just got dumped by her long time boyfriend, and let go from her job. Her friend, Jesse (Justin Long) sets her up to live with his mutual friend, Katie. (Ari Graynor) Lauren and Katie had a pretty bad run-in in college, so they are reluctant to live together at first. When Lauren finds out one of Katie's jobs is a phone sex operator, they decide to make a business out of it.   I don't really care for chick flicks or girly movies, but I have to say I really enjoyed this one. It's VERY girly, and very raunchy. Some of the dialogue might be a bit extreme, but I thought it worked. There were plenty of great little cameos here and there. (Seth Rogan, for example. His wife wrote and starred in this film) The plot is very predictable, and Lauren Miller, while a great writer, still felt very green to watch on screen. Luckily the always wonderful Ari Graynor steals the show. I'm afraid she gets typecast a lot as the drunken, loud...

And to think we're only 1/3 of the way done with this.   I have had quite a dilemma on my hands with it comes to seeing The Hobbit. First and foremost, I love The Lord of the Rings. I think they are a perfect example of  great books being adapted into a great films. I never tire of watching them. Then there's The Hobbit. A book that I barely finished and a cartoon adaptation that was horrible. Needless to say, I didn't race out to see The Hobbit when it hit theaters. I think I made the right call.   When Gandalf (Ian McKellen) commissions Bilbo Bagins (Martin Freeman) to go on an adventure with him, Bilbo tries to ignore it. Then 13 Dwarves show up at his door and he is thrust into their travels to reclaim a lost Dwarf kingdom. Along the way there are dangers, some familiar faces, and some new ones.   Look, parts of The Hobbit I really enjoyed. Freeman and McKellen, the outstanding score, the occasional laughs, and the bit of nostalgia I got seein...

This is my week in TV.. Game of Thrones *So I never thought I'd feel so emotional about Hot Pie staying behind and no longer traveling with Arya and Gendry. In the books I was just like "meh." But the show made it really sweet. *Riverrun made it into the map!  Yay! And they kept Edmure messing up and Blackfish having to come in and take care of business. *Since we're talking about Riverrun, the conversation between Robb and Blackfish reminded me of something: I'm still annoyed that they re-casted the guy that played The Mountain after season one. The first guy looked so much more intimidating. *Next week's episode is going to be SO AWESOME for Dany. This is hands down my favorite Dany moment in the books. (Aside from her coming out of the fire with dragons, of course) *Normally I hate the brothel scenes in Game of Thrones. I think they are just filler and totally unnecessary, but I have to stand behind the one with Podrick this week. That was hi...

Don't read the creepy looking book.   Mia (Jane Levy) is a recovering addict. In an effort to quit for good, she goes to an isolated cabin with her brother, whom she rarely sees, David (Shiloh Fernandez) and their friends Eric, Olivia and Natalie (Lou Taylor Pucci, Jessica Lucas and Elizabeth Blackmore) They find a bunch of dead animals in the cellar, and a scary looking book that is wired shut. Of course one of them reads the strange phrases in the book, and soon poor Mia becomes possessed.   It's been awhile since I've seen the original Evil Dead. I meant to watch it before hand, but never got around too it. I remember it being very campy. This one, despite the TERRIBLE acting by Fernandez and Blackmore, didn't feel campy at all. I think I can safely say this is the goriest movie I've ever seen. (an honor previously held by Martyrs) I appreciated the fact that they tried to stay away from CGI and used old school effects. Director Fede Alvarez even t...

Waking up after that long concert.   Becky (Rebel Wilson) is getting married. Regan (Kirsten Dunst) is not impressed. They've been friends since high school, and control freak Regan always thought she would get married first. They reunite for Becky's bachelorette party. There's the cynical Gena (Lizzy Caplan) who refuses to grow up. And the ditzy Katie (Isla Fisher) who to put it lightly is a complete fucking spaz. After a coke binge and some drinks, the three bridesmaids end up ruining Becky's wedding dress, and thus starts their long night trying to get it fixed.   Bachelorette definitely has some qualities I expected to hate. The typical "problem before the wedding but it will get solved just in time" has been done over and over again. But not by these three women. Though, at the beginning I had a hard time believing that these women would all be friends. You finally do see them come together. Really, they are perfect for each other.   The th...

All this guy wanted was a damn haircut.   Eric Packer (Robert Pattinson) is driven through Manhattan in his swanky stretch limo. His purpose? Getting a hair cut, but what happens is anything but ordinary. Eric is a billionaire, and his company is experiencing a threat. He interacts with people throughout the day, all who seem more interesting than Packer himself.   Parts of this film went over my head. I'll admit it. I'm still not exactly sure what Packer did for a living, or why he chose to - minor spoiler alert - shoot a certain someone near the end of the film. It's not that I had a hard time paying attention to the dialogue in the film, which was great by the way. I had trouble paying attention to Pattinson himself. I felt he was extremely miscast here. He's bland and boring and unfortunately for me, was in every single scene. Throughout this guy's day, other people drop in to his limo to update him on the current situation, and they are all quite fas...

These are my random thoughts on all of the TV shows I watched within the last week: Game of Thrones *The season premiere should've been two hours, since this episode was essentially "season premiere part 2." *JAIME AND BRIENNE SCENES!!! I seriously love these two so much, every scene of them this season will be golden. *Thank you Gendry, for asking Arya why she didn't choose her three deaths more wisely. I'm glad to see these two again as well. They are also two of my favorite characters. Although, I'm disappointed Gendry was kind of cowering behind Arya. In the books he protects her. *I really enjoyed that added scene with Catelyn talking about Jon Snow being ill. Her character definitely needed sympathy points. *Bran grew up so much in between seasons that it's pretty hilarious to watch his scenes now. Rickon seems liked he grew several inches as well. *I loved the introduction of Lady Ollena. That whole scene with Sansa and Margaery was ...

Dark Places   I remember watching director Lee Daniels in a documentary on IFC called "Indie Sex." He said something along the lines of "Eventually I want to make films about rainbows and happy places, but right now I want to explore some dark places." With Shadowboxer and Precious, The Paperboy certainly falls into one of those dark places.   Jack (Zac Efron) has essentially thrown his life away. He was a gifted swimmer, but got kicked out of college. He reluctantly returns to his hometown in Florida. His brother, Walt (Matthew McConaughey) and his partner Yardley (David Oyelowo) have also returned to write a story on a local convicted killer on death row, Hillary. (John Cusack) They also interview Charlotte, (Nicole Kidman) a woman who wrote to Hillary and is about to marry. She's never met him in person until now, and poor Jack starts to fall for her too. The story is narrated by Anita, (Macy Gray) who works as Jack's family's maid.   W...

I'm delaying my weekly Indie Gem column until tomorrow. Because frankly, there's only one thing I want to talk about today: Roger Ebert's passing. It's odd how a person that you've never met's death could affect you so much. But that just goes to show you how many lives this man touched. Roger Ebert has been part of my cinematic life for a long time. When I was young, I would always sternly tell my father that "Siskel and Ebert didn't like that movie." I can very clearly remember commercials that would state "Siskel and Ebert give this two thumbs up." I would search for films when Ebert gave them glowing reviews. I would get a good laugh out of his bad reviews. I even emailed a review he did of a stupid little horror film called Chaos to my friend when he suggested we watch it with the title "Hell no." Now, I never want to be a professional writer. I just love sharing my thoughts on film, but if Ebert taught me anything...

*This is the final entry in my 10 Series. Click the label to see my previous posts* Well, this is the end of my 10 Series! Thanks for reading and sticking with me. I hope this all doesn't feel too redundant. These movies/TV shows spoke to me in different ways, it was hard to narrow it down. There's so many more. You don't necessarily have to be a huge movie fan to enjoy certain things, but sometimes I wonder if I would've noticed them had I not been obsessed with movies. 10 Times Movies/TV Have Made Me Grateful to be a Film Fan 1) All of American Beauty Of course I had to start my list with my all time favorite movie. There is so much about American Beauty I love. "Its a great thing when you realize you still have the ability to surprise yourself." Is my all time favorite quote, and it comes from this film. 2) Adrien Brody carrying The Pianist It's really a testimony for an actor to carry an entire film, and that's what Brody did here....

*This is my 9th entry in my 10 series. Click the label to view my previous posts* It's hard to explain this particular post. I wanted to talk about animated shows I watched as a kid and how differently I see them as an adult. In some cases, I still see them the same way. 10 Times I Looked Back on Animated Movies/TV I Loved as a Child 1) David The Gnome This was seriously "my show" as a kid. I watched it all the time. Looking back, it was only on for two seasons, but I swear I watched it for years. I must have been watching a lot of re-runs. I actually still remember a preview for an episode I never saw. It had David pulling a bullet (or something like it) out of a hurt deer. There was a little blood, and I always saw the preview but never the actual episode. I think I'll be heading over to Youtube after I'm done here.. 2) Sleeping Beauty Aurora was and still is my favorite Disney princess to this day. Which is kind of funny considering she doesn...

This is something new I'm going to try. All of my favorite shows are on Sunday nights. So every Monday, I'm going to do a quick write up on my shows. It won't be a full blown review, just quick notes on what happened. Game of Thrones Credit: th3-woman-woman on Tumblr     Game of Thrones certainly knows how to get things rolling. Aside from Arya, Jaime, and Brienne missing, there's not a bad thing I can say about this episode.   *We get to see Dani's dragons in action, and she gets to Astaphor. (I'm super excited about this because we will eventually get a total badass Dany moment out of this)   *Sansa, despite being a prisoner at Kings Landing still finds time to play an amusingly bitchy game while Littlefinger Pervs on her and sets his plan in motion.   *Tyrion and Tywin have a great exchange, and if you were starting to like Tywin you have probably stopped.   *Margaery Tyrell is beautiful and perfect and has no problem making...