Rambling Film

How do I get a fair score? This is the biography of US figure Skater Tonya Harding. (Margot Robbie) While breaking the 4th wall, we see her live with her abusive mother, LaVona (Allison Janney) and move on to her abusive ex-husband, Jeff. (Sebastian Stan) All while trying to advance in the skating world when she doesn't necessarily fit in. I, Tonya has perfect pacing. We start with Tonya at age four and move on until she's in her 20's, with all the buzzy parts of her live captured with ample time. We instantly get attached to her as the underdog. It's almost shot documentary style with the characters constantly narrating. At times, they turn towards us right in the middle of the story to address us. It's a risky gimmick but it pays off well. Margot Robbie is absolutely amazing in this role. The gravity she brings to it is exceptional. Sebastian Stan also gives one of the best performances I've seen from him. He's an actor that's been grow...

Better late than never. I'd be shocked if I managed a Best of *insert year* list in that year. There's always something left over for me to chase after. I manged to see 99% of the films I wanted to, so now's the time to share my list. Here are my top 10 favorite films of 2017 in no particular order, a few other random favorites, and of course, the 5 worst films I saw this year.  Top 10 Films of 2017 Apes together strong The best version Have a little understanding of people's feelings She ran six miles in the snow Bound by love. Torn by flesh My masterpiece #perfect You were one of my favorites We're going home A princess couldn't do what I did Just Missed Honorable mention: Mudbound, Okja, Colossal, Wonder Woman, Your Name, The Big Sick, I, Tonya, The Shape of Water And now the worst of the worst. Keep in mind, if a movie looks bad, I don't go see it. Aside from o...

What would I say, I wonder? Elisa (Sally Hawkins) is a mute woman working as a cleaner in a research facility. She doesn't have many companions, there's Zelda (Octavia Spencer) her only work friend for over a decade and her neighbor Giles (Richard Jenkins) who she spends time with during the day. One day a strange fish creature is brought into her facility and she finds herself drawn to him and wants to set him free. This film has had buzz about it since this summer so the wait to actually watch it felt excruciating. During that time I lowered my expectations, which I'm thankful for. The Shape of Water is good, but it's not free of issues.   If you're wondering why the Academy sent nuts for a film where a woman fucks a fish man, it's probably because there's a Hollywood musical number thrown in. Seriously. It's brief, but felt out of place, even though it shouldn't. And that brings me to my issues with the film. There were so many side...

And I'll call you by yours. Every summer Professor Perlman (Michael Stuhlbarg) invites a grad student to his home in Italy to be his research assistant. This year, he's invited Oliver (Armie Hammer) who forms a close bond with his 17 year old son Elio. (Timothee Chalamet) The film practically begs you to visit Italy. It gives off this laid back endless summer vibe that's absolutely gorgeous. It works beautifully with how conflicted Elio is. Imagine if he were brooding around a gloomy city? It wouldn't work as well. It takes its time getting Elio and Oliver to admit their feelings. So much time in fact that I was starting to get a bit frustrated. I felt as if the film got too caught up in its own beauty to get to the point. Slow burns are nice but this one teeters on dragging out far too long. I can see why so many people stan Timothee Chalamet. He has a unique face and he's wonderful here. He's very convincing in his crush, lust, love, whatever ...

We have a new host for the Blind Spot Series - Sofia at Returning Videotapes ! I haven't changed my banner yet to include her blog, I'll get to that eventually. Even with Ryan stepping down, I love this series - and this excuse to watch something old too much to quit. I had a list already set out before Ryan even announced he was ending it. I'm happy for Sofia for carrying it on! What I knew going in: That Bette Davis was in it.  Margo (Bette Davis) is a theater actress who is introduced to Eve (Anne Baxter) one night after a show. Eve has been to every performance and says she's a huge fan. After a while, Even begins to show her own ambitions for the spotlight and maybe she isn't as genuine as we thought.  When I watched Sunset Boulevard last year, a few of you suggested I watch All About Eve . Because I hadn't researched it I was expecting a few familiarizes but both films are very different. This one feels more down to Earth and less glamorous, even t...

Take it to print. When a disgruntled military analyst has finally had enough of the way the government is handling the Vietnam War, he leaks several documents to a few papers. The New York Times publishes them first, then feels the wrath of President Nixon. Then they fall into the hands of Washington Post reporter, Ben Bagdikian (Bob Odenkirk) He brings them to his boss, Ben Bradlee (Tom Hanks) who must convince his boss, Kay Graham (Meryl Streep) who just took her company public and still faces many obstacles being a woman owning a newspaper to publish them.  I had to laugh at a comment I read about this film elsewhere. It went something like "Oh, Steven Spielberg made a great movie with great performances by Tom Hanks and Meryl Streep.........and?" You know you make a lot of solid films when expectations are so high that even "great" is nothing to write home about. For the record, The Post is a good movie. But even with so much talent, it doesn...

Keeping up with last year's tradition, Wanderer is saving the last Thursday of every month for TV picks. This week it's about books that have been adapted into TV shows.  1) Game of Thrones Of course I'm including one of my all time favorite TV shows, based off one of my all time favorite book series. I love Game of Thrones. I'm not ready for it to to end.  2) Big Little Lies This is the only one of my picks where I didn't read the source material but I'm sure I will some day. This series was amazing. Beautifully acted and paced. I'm interested in what they do with season two.  3) The Handmaid's Tale This is an instance where I think the show is far better than the novel. It just expanded on so much and answered nearly every question the novel didn't. The show is better by a long shot. 

The Oscar nominations are finally here! There were some snubs and surprises with yesterday's nominations (though I'm writing this post immediately after they've been announced) Here are thoughts:  Best Picture Call Me by Your Name Darkest Hour Dunkirk Get Out Lady Bird Phantom Thread The Post The Shape of Water Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri For the love of God, just use 10 slots! It's not that hard. Mudbound or Wind River could've been here too. Darkest Hour looks so out of place. I'm kind of surprised The Florida Project isn't here either.  Lead Actor Timothée Chalamet, “Call Me by Your Name” Daniel Day-Lewis, “Phantom Thread” Daniel Kaluuya, “Get Out” Gary Oldman, “Darkest Hour” Denzel Washington, “Roman J. Israel, Esq.” James Franco was snubbed. I'm sorry, but he was. I'm actually pretty bent out of shape over this snub because it was one of my favorite lead performances of the year. The only person I care about ...

Let me sew your secrets. Reynolds Woodcock (Daniel Day-Lewis) is a sought after dressmaker in 1950's London. He lives with his sister, Cyril (Lesley Manville) and their house is full of employees that help create Reynolds' work. To say he's eccentric is putting it a bit lightly. One day, he meets a waitress named Alma (Vicky Krieps) who becomes his new muse.  Now, calling Reynolds "eccentric" is really just a nice way of saying that the guy is kind of a twat. Think Sheldon Cooper only fashion is his science. We open the film with him being utterly bored with his last muse/lover, and his sister casually tell him she's "getting fat waiting around for you to love her again" so when he starts his affair with Alma you know it's bound to go south at one point or another. And it does, then it goes in a whole other direction. Confusion has never looked so beautiful. And Phantom Thread is a beautiful movie. The production design and costume...

Kristen Bell was the first ever person to host the SAG Awards. She was fine, but a host is largely unnecessary for this type of show. Unlike the Globes and Oscars usually are, this is more of a straightforward show than an exciting one. But there were still a few surprises. And Morgan Freeman accepted a life time achievement award in a baseball cap, so there's that. Here are the nominees, the winners are in blue.  Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture The Big Sick Get Out Lady Bird Mudbound Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri This pretty much locks Three Billboards up for Best Picture, which I'm okay with. I loved the film, but I would've been happy with any of these films winning. I was starting to wonder if Get Out was going to upset.   Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role Timothee Chalamet, Call Me By Your Name James Franco, The Disaster Artist Daniel Kaluuya, Get Out Gary Oldman, Darkest Hour Denzel Washi...

I feel great! Derek Cho (Steven Yeun) is a normal guy just trying to climb his way up the corporate ladder at a law firm. When he's unjustly fired for something he didn't screw up, his firing is cut short when his building is quarantined due to a virus currently spreading around the world that causes extreme emotions. The virus runs its course in 8 hours, so he decides to use this to his advantage to try to get to the top floor to plead his case...all while possibly beating up and murdering a few people along the way. He teams up with Melanie (Samara Weaving) a woman trying to reverse the foreclosure on her house. She needs to get to the top too.) It's unfortunate that this film came out in the same year as another office massacre - The Belko Experiment . Belko's plot is more put together, but that's not to discredit Mayhem at all. Thin plot aside, this was a lot of fun.  I love Steven Yeun, he was one of my favorite actors on The Walking Dead so I w...

This week's theme from Wandering Through the Shelves is all about the hits of one of my favorite film festivals: Sundance. As an indie lover, this is a festival I'd love to attend some day. Hopefully I can make that happen. Until then, here are a few of my Sundance favorites. 1) Brick Joseph Gordon-Levitt is my favorite actor and Rian Johnson's film is #2 on my all time favorites list. I never get sick of watching it.  2) Little Miss Sunshine This film was just so sweet and I love the cast. Toni Collette is always reliable, Paul Dano is one of my favorites and this was the first time for me to see Steve Carrell in a more serious role.  3) Whiplash One of the more recent Sundance hits but another film that ranks high on my best of all time. I think I forced my entire family into watching this at one point or another. 

What year is it? Four teenagers serving detention find an old video game console with a mysterious game called "Jumanji" that they've never heard of. They decide to give it a go, and find themselves transported into the game as the characters they've chosen. Now they have to complete a quest to free themselves. How did the board game we remember from the 1995 film turn into a video game? Because it fucking felt like it. Seriously, the game overhears a kid bitching about how no one plays board games so it morphed into a video game. Then we're moving right along.  As for our four stereotypical teens, the nerd (Alex Wolf) transforms into The Rock. The jock( Ser'Darius Blain..and ps this dude is THIRTY)  becomes Kevin Hart, the angry girl (Morgan Turner) turns into Karen Gillan, and the self obsessed popular girl (Madison Iseman) ends up as Jack Black. Thankfully, these actors have excellent chemistry together even though they're playing caricat...