Rambling Film

*I’m traveling this week so no images, unfortunately. Blogging on phones is fun* OJ (Daniel Kaluuya) runs a horse farm with his father. They loan their horses out to Hollywood studios. After his father dies a mysterious death, he and his sister Emerald (Keke Palmer) are hard up for cash when OJ spots a UFO. They have the bright idea to get it on video and sell it to solve all their financial woes. All I need to see is Jordan Peele’s name on a movie for it to be sold to me. Nope has been one my most highly anticipated films of the year and after a string of lukewarm reviews I read, I was worried.  Lucky for me I loved this. Sure, like Us it has some questionable holes you think of after the fact but it was so tense and funny and exactly what I needed it to be. I wasn’t sure what to expect after the vague trailer and that made me even more excited for where it went. Kaluuya and Palmer give great performances. They’re very different from each other, and that made them a great pair t...

It's another reoccurring theme at Wandering Through The Shelves , and in this TV edition we're talking about series based off of books. This one can be tricky because I don't want to use the same series every year. Thankfully, the world of streaming has been keeping us fed with limited series, and here are three I really enjoyed that were based of novels. 1) Under the Banner of Heaven - This was so juicy. Andrew Garfield got a deserved Emmy nomination for his performance, but the rest of the actors and the show itself should've gotten far more. It is a little strange at first. Party murder mystery, part history on the Mormons (which is the weakest part, but apparently the book is written this way too.) I loved it. The actors were fantastic and I was eager for the next episode each week. 2) Dopesick - This I watched late last year, but it was also based on a novel about the opioid crisis and has several Emmy nominations as well. Great cast, occasionally frustrating to w...

The Universe did not want me at the theaters seeing Nope this weekend, so here I am reviewing generic Netflix action movies. Thankfully this time, said generic Netflix action movie stars three incredibly beautiful people in the form of Chris Evans, Ryan Gosling, and Ana de Armas Six (Gosling) is pulled from prison to participate in the Sierra program, a group the CIA calls to take out targets when they can't do it themselves. When he comes across some compromising information against the new head of the department, he goes on the run and a contracted killer Lloyd (Evans) is sent after him. This is very by books script rise. It's directed by the Russo Brothers who are enjoying apparently not having Kevin Feige lording over them way too much because their camera work here is a damn mess just like it was with Cherry . This movie definitely belongs on Netflix. It's not a theater see. Gosling and Evans are occasionally funny and always convincing in their roles, so they make th...

This week's theme from Wandering Through The Shelves was suggested by the lovely Getter ! This week we're looking at films with Female bosses. No, not Gaslight, Gate Keep, Girlboss, just solid movies with a woman in charge. Here's what I came up with 1) Kiki's Delivery Service - Another Ghibli pick from me, Kiki runs her own delivery service from a bakery, also owned by a lovely woman, Osono who offered Kiki a home. This is one of my favorite Ghiblis and is so charming. 2) The Devil Wears Prada - Okay, Miranda might be the boss from hell, but how can you not think of her when you see "female boss" This movie remains excellent.  3) Molly's Game - Molly's endeavor may have come back to bite her in the ass, but I love a good Aaron Sorkin fast paced script and Jessica Chastain and Idris Elba are great in this. 

I haven't had a lot of time to get to the theater lately, but I'm still watching movies. This past week was very family focused at my house, so here are a few quick reviews. The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent - Not a family movie, but truly the catalyst to what started our movie marathon thanks to several Paddington 2 jokes in this film. I thought it was fun. Pedro Pascal might even outshine Nicolas Cage in this. He was great. B Paddington - As tempting as it would be to jump right into the much loved sequel, we had to see the first one. I thought this was so sweet. Every time I was going to write it off as being just "fine" it made me laugh out loud. I couldn't ask for more. B Paddington 2 - The hype around this movie is impossible. It was never going to live up to Godfather-like expectations but I still really enjoyed it! I loved the pop up book animation sequence, I loved that they brought back the hard stare, and I love that Hugh Grant was doing the abs...

What I knew going in: The premise of the trilogy, and that it is very loved on Film Twitter Before Sunrise - This was so impossibly sweet without being corny. A lesser movie would've had them run off together at the end but I loved how logical it was with this one night together premise. From the outside looking in, Celine is definitely the more interesting of the two, but I can see why she was charmed with Jesse. I wonder what it must have felt like for fans of this movie to have a sequel announced all those years later? I imagine it was so exciting.  A- Before Sunset - I LOVED this. Maybe it's because I'm also in my early 30's, so this is the chapter I probably should relate to the most, but this film to me is perfect. I could listen to Celine and Jesse just walk and talk for hours. I loved how brisk this movie was. It never had time to drag because the conversation was so rich it kept everything moving along nicely. I loved the ending. It was perfect and I've had...

  This week's theme from Wandering Through The Shelves is another annual pick; movies that are not in the English language. I decided to go through my diary on Letterboxd and chose the last three movies I watched in a foreign language, and wow has it been a while. I've been slacking in the foreign film department.  1) Parallel Mothers - From Spain, this is easily my favorite Pedro Almodóvar movie. Penelope Cruz is amazing in it, and I loved that there's a happy ending. I need that sometimes.  2) Titane - From France, this movie is whack. I can see why so many at Canne loved it, and it really is unique, but oh my God. I'd be so afraid to recommend this to 90% of the people I know for fear of never being talked to again.  3) A Hero - From Iran, this is probably my least favorite of Asghar Farhadi, but even subpar Farhadi is good. I

It's EMMY season again. And of course, Emmys gonna Emmy and nominate 5 people from the same show in each category. Here are a list of some of the nominees + my thoughts. OUTSTANDING DRAMA Better Call Saul Euphoria Ozark Severance Squid Game Stranger Things (Season 4, Volume 1) Succession Yellowjackets This is a great line up, though I do need to see Severance and Yellowjackets.   LEAD ACTRESS IN A DRAMA Jodie Comer, Killing Eve Laura Linney, Ozark Melanie Lynskey, Yellowjackets Sandra Oh, Killing Eve Reese Witherspoon, The Morning Show Zendaya, Euphoria Reese Witherspoon getting a nomination here is laughable. I refuse to believe there wasn't someone else worthy here. I'm happy for Melanie Lynskey because I love her and it's nice to see Zendaya back here. LEAD ACTOR IN A DRAMA Jason Bateman, Ozark Brian Cox, Succession Lee Jung-jae, Squid Game Bob Odenkirk, Better Call Saul Adam Scott, Severance Jeremy Strong, Succession I love all of these men...Batemen's kind of a...

After heading off with the Guardians post Endgame, Thor (Chris Hemsworth) encounters Gorr the God Butcher (Christian Bale) who is hellbent on killing all the Gods in the galaxy. While he heads back to New Asgard to assist King Valkyrie (Tessa Thompson) he finds his former girlfriend Jane Foster (Natalie Portman) is wielding Mjolnir as the new Might Thor.  After being thoroughly disappointed with Multiverse of Madness I was really looking forward to Love and Thunder.   Ragnarok is easily in my top 5 MCU and I knew Taika Waititi would have some laughs in store for me. And he did, I laughed quite a bit in this movie. It was fun enough to distract from the fact that the script was incredibly weak. I'm actually surprised how messy it was. What he does with Asgard is eyebrow raising to say the least. It's become a tourist destination, which is funny in itself, but then they have a Thanos themed ice cream shop which is borderline offensive considering he wiped out half their pe...

It's summer time, so we're talking fairs over at Wandering Through The Shelves. I used to go to fairs all the time as a kid. Not so much now as an adult, but I have found memories of them. Here's a few films I'm fond of too. 1) Charlotte's Web (1973) - This was the version I watched growing up as we had it on VHS. I still have such a soft spot for it. I though the Dakota Fanning version in the early aughts was a nice touch, but this one is still my favorite.  2) Adventureland - Jesse Eisenberg and Kristen Stewart can be an acquired taste for some, but I love them together. Especially in this amusement park comedy.  3) Meet Me in St. Louis - This film may span some time, but the World Fair is a big part of it, and it's my favorite Judy Garland movie. I love it. 

  A Princess (Joey King) wakes up chained in a tower after running out of her arraigned marriage to Julius. (Dominic Cooper) He's taken the entire kingdom hostage, including her parents and younger sister and plans to marry her by force and make the kingdom his. But this princess has been training as a fighter all her life, and she has to fight her way to her family. I tried to make that synopsis sound like it has more to it, but this is really Joey King killing every man she encounters for 90 minutes and it's GLORIOUS. Yesterday I talked about Popcorn movies having their place with Top Gun: Maverick , and The Princess also has its place in the camp department. Currently streaming on Hulu, I hope this becomes the camp classic it deserves to be. The story is simple, the effects are questionable, but King is so committed and gives a very physical performance. There's a lot of stupid things that happen in this movie, and I loved every minute of it. So is this for you? Do you ...

Pete "Maverick" Mitchell (Tom Cruise) is sent back to Top Gun to train the most elite pilots in the U.S for a mission they may not come back from. This includes the late Goose's son, Bradley "Rooster" (Miles Teller) whom Pete screwed over in the name of protecting him years before. Maverick hasn't grown out of his old ways, and now that might be catching up with him. I'm of the opinion that the original Top Gun was just ~fine.~ It's a perfectly watchable movie but it's never one I felt strongly about one way or another. When the trailers for Maverick initially premiered, I thought it was just a Cruise vanity project. And don't get me wrong, it absolutely is but it's a fun as hell popcorn flick as well. This is what a "popcorn" movie is supposed to be. A lot of people tend to turn their nose up at tentpoles but they absolutely have a place in cinema. Maverick is so much more fun than the original ever was for me. There's st...

June came with a lot of traveling for me so I felt like I was only watching TV shows because I couldn't get to the theater. Then I ended up getting COVID for the first time - which wasn't fun, but thankfully not too bad considering I'm vaxxed and boosted, so even more time for me to stay at home in front of the TV. Here's what I was watching on the small screen. Obi Wan Kenobi - I know this show was uneven overall, but I enjoyed it. Ewan McGregor is so good as Obi Wan and even though I kind of wish they had gone a different direction in the story overall, the scenes with him and Vader alone were worth it. After the finale, I wish Owen and Beru were in this more. I loved how they fleshed them out and showed how much they really loved Luke. That's something I don't think A New Hope did well. Seeing them in action here retroactively makes their deaths a lot sadder.  Ms. Marvel - I only watched the first episode of this, and I feel bad but I have no interest in go...