Rambling Film

Rupert Pupkin has been posting many other film fan's favorite underrated horror movies. Some of the titles brought me back to a time when I was around 13-14 and my friends and I would rent crappy horror VHS tapes from the video store. There are 5 Wednesdays this October, and every Wednesday I'm going to post musings on a different horror movie. These are by no means great movies, in fact, all of them are pretty terrible, but they stick with me for one reason or another. *My family actually owned all three of the original Omen movies. So I had already seen them. When I came across this, I was like "Oh man, I wonder if my sister knows about this?" Well she did, and it was avoided for a reason. *It's like someone who had just got done watching movies like The Exorcist, Bad Seed, and The Poltergeist and was like "little girls are so much scarier than little boys!" "Let's make an Omen movie about a girl!" *The acting in this is atro...

~Author's note: I think I'm going to change up my format a little. Instead of doing a full blown recap, I think I'll just do a quick over view of the scenes + my thoughts for my main show. I'll stick with the bullet points for the rest of the shows.~ The Walking Dead episode 4.3: Isolation        We start off with Tyreese showing Carol, Rick, and Daryl the burned bodies of Karen and David. Tyreese says that since Rick was a cop, he needs to figure out who did this and bring them to him. Tyreese HAS TOO MANY FEELINGS and goes all Hulk and punches Rick in the face, leading Rick to Hulk up in retaliation and kick Tyreese's ass a little until Daryl breaks them up.   More people are falling sick, the council decides to isolate the children, and Rick puts Carl in charge of keeping and eye on them because if anyone is good at staying put and doing as he's told, it's Carl.   Daryl, Michonne, Bob, and eventually Tyreese go out on a run to a...

Bad Decisions David made a good point when I saw I was about to watch The Place Beyond The Pines . He said it's 2/3 of a great movie. That is absolutely correct. This movie really is split in thirds. The first follows Luke, (Ryan Gosling) a motorcycle stuntman who has turned into a bank robber to try and support the son he just found out he has. The second follows Avery (Bradley Cooper) an honest cop trying to work his way up in an otherwise dishonest police force. The last act follows both Luke and Avery's sons fifteen years later. I've got to hand it to cinematographer Sean Bobbitt, he really made Schenectady, New York look like a beautiful and mysterious place. The film's title perfectly fits its picture. Back to the thirds, the first two were very interesting. I wish Luke's story with Avery would've crossed over for a little longer. I think this film would've been better if they had completely eliminated the final third following their sons. Wh...

Everyone has a secret.   Alice and Dave Flannery (Felicity Price and Joe Edgerton) go on a last minute holiday to Cambodia with Alice's sister Steph (Teresa Palmer) and her new boyfriend Jeremy (Antony Starr) who's there on business. Jeremy doesn't return. As these three people try to figure out what happened to their missing friend, they uncover plenty of other troubling secrets along the way.   I love Teresa Palmer, she's been one of my favorites ever since I saw her in 2:37 . I've been waiting for this film to become available on Netflix for months, and I was not disappointed. Even if Palmer isn't in it as much as I had hoped.   I love Australian movies, there's just something sexy about that accent. I could listen to it for days. Wish You Were Here does not disappoint in the least. There's plenty of questions throughout, but none go un answered and the outcome is surprising and somewhat unexpected. Check this out immediately if you get...

Rupert Pupkin has been posting many other film fan's favorite underrated horror movies. Some of the titles brought me back to a time when I was around 13-14 and my friends and I would rent crappy horror VHS tapes from the video store. There are 5 Wednesdays this October, and every Wednesday I'm going to post musings on a different horror movie. These are by no means great movies, in fact, all of them are pretty terrible, but they stick with me for one reason or another. *T o put it lightly, this movie scared the shit out of me the first time I saw it. I still remember lying to my friend "no, it didn't scare me" after we watched it, then riding my bike home like a bat out of hell. *I also remember we watched this and Candyman on the same day, but that's legitimately one of my favorite horror movies, so it doesn't get a spot on my bad horror Wednesdays. *They actually made quite a few more of these, some stream instant on Netflix. I haven't wa...

Everything's going to be alright. Rich Phillips (Tom Hanks) is the captain of a cargo ship sailing not too far off the cost of Somalia. It becomes hijacked by Somali pirates, led by Muse. (Barkhard Abdi) For awhile, the crew out smarts them, but just as they're letting them leave in a life boat, Muse takes Captain Phillips as a hostage, leading to a stand off for days between the pirates and the U.S Navy as they try to head back to the Somali coast. I don't remember much from this story, so I was legitimately worried for Phillips until the credits started rolling. Director Paul Greengrass knows how to build tension, and the 2nd half of this movie is so intense that I was constantly squirming in my seat. Tom Hanks, wow. That's all I can say. His performance, particularly the in the film's final moments is outstanding. Abdi, Barkhard Abdiraham, Faysal Ahmed, and Mahat M. Ali were all very convincing as the pirates. Though I think the film's attemp...

The Walking Dead episode 4.2: Infected aww baby Judith! We open with the sneak peak scene we got last week; someone feeding the walkers through the fences. It's dark, so we don't see who it is. All you can reall see is a white person's hand. My moneys on the older girl (who's name is escaping me at the moment.) The one that named the Walker Nick. She's kind of got sociopath written all over her face. We got a really sweet scene with Karen and Tyreese. Still rattled from what happened at the grocery store, he sings to her a little. After Karen leaves, she searches through the bathroom after hearing a strange noise, but her flash light dies before she can go further. Lucky for her, because poor Patrick is re-animated and decided to feast upon some poor guy's intestines in the cell block. Everyone else is starting to wake up. Glenn takes a cute picture of Maggie with a polaroid camera before their watch. Rick gets a little time with Judith, before he...

All hail the godfather of punk.     CBGB follows a man named Hilly Kristal, (Alan Rickman) a divorcee who's just filed for bankruptcy for the 2nd time. He's hell bent on opening a club. He tries for the 3rd time, purchasing a beat up bar in a shady neighborhood. He names it CBGB (country, blue grass, blues) but that's not the kind of music he featuring. CBGB became the underground place to be for punk music. He gave plenty of bands a chance, and asked that they play original music. Plenty of them went on to be big names. The Ramones, Blondie, Television, Patti Smith, Iggy Pop. Despite the success, Hilly still isn't great about paying his bills, that falls on his daughter Lisa (Ashley Greene, who's face now screams "I've done too much coke!") to keep track of the bills. He also nearly blows everything by trying to manage The Dead Boys. (Justin Bartha, Rupert Grint, and Bronson Adams)   Despite not knowing a whole lot about the actual CBGB, ...

Can't we all just get along?   I must have a soft spot for WWII movies. They've been done time and time again, yet I always find myself checking out a new one.   Into The White is based on a true story. Three German soldiers, Lt. Horst Schopis, (Florian Lukas) Ut. Josef Schwartz,(David Kross) and Feldwebel Wolfgang Strunk (Stig Henrik Hoff) are shot down over Norway. With Schwartz wounded and no civilization in sight, they take refuge at an abandoned cabin. Soon, they run into two British pilots who were also shot down, Captain Charles Davenport (Lachlan Nieboer) and Gunner Robert Smith. (Rupert Grint) Though they start off on the wrong foot, these men need to put their differences aside to survive.   The German soldiers came off far more sympathetic than their British counterparts, which is a different approach than what we usually see. I also love the fact that this movie avoided any bad CGI with the planes being shot down, and only showed a shadow in th...

Rupert Pupkin has been posting many other film fan's favorite underrated horror movies. Some of the titles brought me back to a time when I was around 13-14 and my friends and I would rent crappy horror VHS tapes from the video store. There are 5 Wednesdays this October, and every Wednesday I'm going to post musings on a different horror movie. These are by no means great movies, in fact, all of them are pretty terrible, but they stick with me for one reason or another. *Most people talk about Troll 2 as being one of the worst movies they've ever seen. I've actually never seen Troll 2. (Though I did see the documentary Best Worst Movie ) I always remember the original. *Whenever I see a Hardees, I just keep thinking of this little girl running around screaming "WORKS BURGER!!!" *The lead character's name is Harry Potter, how fucking perfect is that? *Wendy Anne apparently only owned overalls. *Julia Louise Dreyfus is in this, and she is only...

There is good in people.   The Impossible is based on a true story of a family of tourists effected by the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami. Maria and Henry Bennett (Naomi Watts and Ewan McGregor) are vacationing in Thailand with their three sons, Lucas, Thomas, and Simon (Tom Holland, Samuel Joslin and Oaklee Pendergast) They're poolside at their resort when the tsunami hits with no warning. Henry grabs hold of Thomas and Simon, but Lucas and Maria are too far away. They find each other washing away in the waves. Maria is gravely injured, with the help of strangers, she and Lucas eventually make their way to a local hospital. We know by the trailer that this family is eventually reunited, but this film is to show us their ordeal, and the good in the people that helped them.   Performance wise, Naomi Watts blew me away. I was rooting for Jennifer Lawrence all during Oscar season because I loved Silver Linings Playbook so much, but after finally catching The Impossible, I d...

The Walking Dead gif via erasemydreams We're back at the prison, and things look a little different. They've rebuilt the fences, they have a little farm, animals, and plenty more red shirts people. It seems everyone has their part. Rick's been farming and trying to be a better parent. There's a council that makes decisions consisting of Sasha, Daryl, Herchsel, Carol, Glenn and Maggie. Carol and Daryl look like they grew a little closer (which I fucking love, by the way) Carl and Michonne are comic book pals when she's not off searching for The Governor. Things seems to be going status quo.   We learn Rick hasn't been carrying a gun, yet the others want him too. Especially when he goes beyond the fences to check the snares they have set up. When Rick was out there, I was half expecting him to see Ghost Lori again. (He didn't, Thank God) but he did meet another shady looking loner. Despite the collection of people they've acquired, he's obvi...

Robert Downey Jr: The Movie   I kid, I kid. Actually, I quite like Kiss Kiss Bang Bang. (Obviously, because it's one of my Indie Gems.) It occurred to me while I was re-watching this yesterday that if someone who's only familiar with the last few years of RDJ's work, they'd be like "oh, he's just playing himself again." But this movie was at the beginning of his mini come back, so to speak. And it's one of his best.   Harry Lockert  (Robert Downey Jr.) is a small time thief who stumbles into a movie audition while running from the cops. The scene he's reading is awfully similar to the one he's currently fleeing from, so he nails it. Now he's being prepped for said film by a private eye, Perry (Val Kilmer) all while running into his childhood crush, Harmony. (Michelle Monaghan) Then a bunch of other crazy shit happens.   My husband always gives me grief about this film, because he practically dragged me to the theater to see ...

Rupert Pupkin has been posting many other film fan's favorite underrated horror movies. Some of the titles brought me back to a time when I was around 13-14 and my friends and I would rent crappy horror VHS tapes from the video store. There are 5 Wednesdays this October, and every Wednesday I'm going to post musings on a different horror movie. These are by no means great movies, in fact, all of them are pretty terrible, but they stick with me for one reason or another. *This movie wasn't called 'Daddy's Deadly Darling' when I watched it. It was called ' Pigs ." I'm still unsure which title is more widely used nowadays. *For a long time, I swear no one believed me when I told them this movie existing. (Probably because of the title change) I always referred to it as ' Pigs ' and I was pretty thrown off by the thought of little Wilburs and Porkys eating people. *When I eventually came across this movie again when I was older, I rea...

You're not afraid of heights? You are now...   I kept telling myself the entire time I was watching Gravity , "thank God I'm not an astronaut." Free floating in space and hanging off the side of a satellite looks fucking terrifying.   Astronaut Matt (George Clooney) and medical engineer Ryan (Sandra Bullock) are in space on a mission. They're fixing part of a telescope on Hubble when they get word that debris from nearby satellite, shot down by the Russians will be coming their way. When it does, they're hit. Ryan is knocked away from the others and finds herself spinning further and further away.   I daresay that Gravity might be the most visually stunning movie I've ever seen. I complain about 3D quite often, I don't need shit jumping out at me, but as much as I hate to admit it, it DID contribute to how marvelous everything looked during this film. I can hardly describe the way it was filmed, It almost felt a little too real. I sudde...

I'll be back to writing full recaps when The Walking Dead premieres on October 13th. Until then, here's some thoughts on the shows I watched this week.   Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D gif via kdelario *They brought in Fury! I figured they would have to sneak some cameos in early. Although it did seem kind of petty that he's bitching about how much fixing that plane is going to cost. Well, I suppose them fixing their entire headquarters after Loki blew it up would put them in a tight spot budget wise.   *Skye....   her storyline already looks predictable. Is she a double agent? Who will she choose? Can SHIELD trust her? She saves their lives. Of course they can trust her! She's one of them now! (I really hope I'm wrong about all of that)   *Fitz is still my favorite of all the agents. Did anyone see The Fades? Ian De Caestecker is a hell of an actor. I hope he gets more material to work with besides standard comic relief.   *I've watche...

Nothing beats a good ol' porno.   Don't watch this movie if sex makes you uncomfortable. I'm assuming that's how this little old couple felt that rushed out of the theater I was in about 5 minutes into this movie.   Jon (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) is your stereotypical New Jersey meat head who has it all. He's good with the ladies, he loves his family and friends, he regularly attends church, and he's also addicted to pornography. He says it many times, real sex is great, but nothing beats porn. When he meets the perfect woman, Barbara, (Scarlett Johansson) he doesn't tell her about porn. And in some ways, Barbara is also living in a little fantasy world. One that's just like the romantic comedies we see, where the man drops everything to be with the girl of his dreams.   Don Jon definitely stretched it's R rating to the limits. Repetition is a big thing in this movie, there's plenty of shots intertwined with scenes from porn and multi...

Dysfunctional family dramas   Awhile ago I was complaining that Netflix Instant made a suggestions list for me and titled it "Dysfunctional Family Dramas." I was all "psshh my taste isn't THAT depressing." Well, after Wreckers I can totally see why the compiled that list for me, this was pretty damn dysfunctional.   Dawn (Claire Foy) and David (Benedict Cumberbatch) are newly-weds that move back into David's child hood town. They are fixing up a farm house, and are trying to start a family. One day, David's brother Nick (Shaun Evans) shows up, and Dawn questions why she's never met him before. He and David seem awfully close.   Ambiguous is another word that comes to mind when thinking of this movie, there's quite a bit of things that are left for you to decide. In fact, it's ambiguous to the point of almost being lazy, but I still found this little gem very interesting. Especially for Cumberbatch, like 95% of the internet, I...

"Look how many people I got in this movie!"   Nick Sloan (Robert Redford) was a former activist that has been living undercover as a lawyer with his 11 year old daughter, Isabelle. (Jackie Evancho, who despite singing like an angel has zero acting talent.) He was involved in a robbery that resulted in a death of a security guard years back, and one of his cohorts, Sharon (Susan Sarandon) has just been arrested. A local newspaper reporter, Ben (Shia LaBeouf) acting off of a tip by a former girlfriend that works for the FBI (Anna Kendrick) exposes Nick, and now he's on the run. He needs to find ANOTHER former activist, Mimi (Julie Christie) to clear his name so he can get his daughter back.   There's a lot of great actors in this movie. Stanley Tucci, Stephen Root, Chris Cooper, Brit Marling, Brenden Gleeson, Richard Jenkins, the list goes on and on. I feel like a lot of that talent was wasted. This was an ambitious movie, and it was never boring, but I felt ...

Rupert Pupkin has been posting many other film fan's favorite underrated horror movies. Some of the titles brought me back to a time when I was around 13-14 and my friends and I would rent crappy horror VHS tapes from the video store. There are 5 Wednesdays this October, and every Wednesday I'm going to post musings on a different horror movie. These are by no means great movies, in fact, all of them are pretty terrible, but they stick with me for one reason or another.   *The documentary Blackfish actually used a short scene from Orca in part of their film. It's probably two seconds in length, but it's the only part of that movie where I actually laughed. *Orca was like Luciano Vincenzoni's answer to Jaws . Some boaters kill an orca's pregnant mate, and that orca understandably loses his shit and starts terrorizing said boaters. *When you think about just how intelligent orcas really are,  I can kind of almost see this happening. No...