Rambling Film

For the first time the SAGs were streamed on Netflix's Youtube account instead of TBS/TNT as they have been in years past. Aside from the fact that I accidentally selected the audio description version at first, I liked the streaming. No commercials, no censors, it worked well. Fran Drescher put me to sleep during her speech as SAG President, and Sally Field was honored with the life time achievement award. As for my picks - I got 6/13 which is horrid. They were throwing so many surprises. Below are a list of winners + my thoughts.  Ensemble Cast in a Motion Picture Babylon The Banshees of Inisherin Everything Everywhere All at Once The Fabelmans Women Talking I love this cast, so I'm happy for them, even though it's not my favorite movie here. I love that Stephanie Hsu got to speak.  Male Actor in a Leading Role in a Motion Picture Austin Butler, “Elvis” Colin Farrell, “The Banshees of Inisherin” Brendan Fraser, “The Whale” Bill Nighy, “Living” Adam Sandler, “Hustle” I was...

  It's another TV week at Wandering Through The Shelves and I don't know about you, but I love a good "friends to lovers" plot on my TV shows. This week I'm choosing shows that aren't necessarily my favorite, but ones where I shipped certain pairs very hard. 1) Agents of SHIELD - Fitz and Simmons were clearly written to always be a "will they/won't they" couple and the actors' chemistry together really sent it over the edge. The show had a very annoying habit of throwing obstacles their way, but every time they reunited, it was a high point of the show. 2) The Walking Dead - The way TWD handled couples is puzzling at best. The fact that Carol and Daryl never got together is preposterous. (but that's ageism for you)  However the one couple they absolutely did get right was Rick and Michonne. The actors sexual chemistry was off the charts and frankly, their upcoming spin off is the only thing that can get me interested in TWD again.  3) ...

Scott Lang (Paul Rudd) is spending his post saving the world life writing a book about his experience and coasting through. His daughter Cassie (Kathryn Newton) wants him to do more. During a family dinner, his father-in-law Hank Pym (Michael Douglas) lets it slip that he and Cassie built a 2 way radio to the Quantum Realm and have been sending a signal. Janet (Michelle Pfieffer) freaks out at this discovery and before she can turn it off, they find themselves sucked into the Quantum Realm and face to face with our next big bag, Kang the Conqueror (Jonathan Majors) Paul Rudd has a ton of charisma and thankfully that's still on display here, but I just did not care for this movie as a whole. It didn't bother me in the way that Doctor Strange: Multiverse of Madnes s did, but I cannot see myself revisiting this one any time soon. What I found funny is that aside from Lang, all the one off characters that we meet in the Quantum Realm are 100 times more interesting than the Van Dyne...

The Screen Actor's Guild Awards are one week away, so it's time to try to predict the winners!  When this post goes up, the BAFTAs will also be going on, but I don't have to write this after the BAFTAs reveal their winners, even though that's the smarter thing to do. So we're going to guess early. Here's who I think will win, and in some cases who should win instead. Ensemble Cast in a Motion Picture Babylon The Banshees of Inisherin Everything Everywhere All at Once The Fabelmans Women Talking Who will win: Everything Everywhere All At Once Who should win: Anyone but The Fabelmans I think this is going to help determine our Best Picture trajectory. Frankly, I love all these nominations minus the Fabelmans but I'm leaning towards EEOAA. I think it would be great if Women Talking or Banshees could take it here, but I just don't feel as safe betting on that. Male Actor in a Leading Role in a Motion Picture Austin Butler, “Elvis” Colin Farrell, “The Banshee...

Better later than never! I'm always a few months late with my Top 10 lists because inevitably one of my must see movies takes FOREVER to be released in theaters. I'm going to do something slightly different this year, and actually rank my favorites. So before we start, here are a few honorable mentions that would've rounded out a top 20 had I gone in that direction. Honorable Mentions: The Quiet Girl, Fire of Love, Tar, Barbarian, Babylon, Fresh, Women Talking, Glass Onion, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever Bullet Train This was a movie I did not expect to stay in my Top 10. I'll admit some of my honorable mentions are arguably better made films, but I had so much fun watching this that it felt wrong not to include it here. The cast was phenomenal, it had plenty of laughs and great action sequences. It's just so fun. All Quiet on the Western Front While I'm generally over war movies, this German offering was just so well done. I have not seen the English version f...

  It's another romance trope week at Wandering Through The Shelves. This week we're talking forced proximity. ie: characters bein stuck in the same place. I'm not going to lie, not a single movie came to mind when I read this theme. I had to sit with this for a while. I'm sure others will have better bubblier rom-com picks, but here's where I ended up. 1) It Happened One Night - Both characters are stuck on a bus, then stuck traveling together when said bus leaves them behind. I had this as a Blind Spot pick at one point and it was sweet! It's also literally the blue print for almost every rom com to follow.  2) Tonight You're Mine/ You Instead-   (This movie has two different names depending on where you live in the world) Two musicians are randomly handcuffed together at a music festival and must fine a way to both perform, and break free of each other. They catch feelings instead. This film is very chaotic, but the two leads together were wonderful. It ...

  What I knew going in: That it features frequently on many "Best LGBTQ+ movie lists" A couple, Lai Yui-Fai (Tony Leung) and Ho Po-wing (Leslie Cheung) decide to leave Hong Kong and take a trip to Argentina to "start over" with their relationship. They only find themselves drifting further apart. 1997 is a bit early for my typical Blind Spot picks but this is a film that has sat in my watch list for years. Probably since I started blogging in the first place. One thing or another always lead to me putting this on the back burner. Now I finally hit play on HBO Max. This movie is the definition of "I don't know how to quit you." Yui-Fai and Po-wing are just not meant to be, despite how much they fight it. At first it's very easy to blame Po-wing as the problem, then Yui-Fai comes in with some pettiness of his own. I like that even though Yui-Fai is our narrator and primary protagonist, he still had his faults. If you read the IMDb trivia about this m...

The women of an unnamed religious community have found themselves victims of countless drugging and rapes. They hold a vote for three options; do nothing, stay and fight, or leave. Stay and fight and leave tie and a group of women are chosen to talk it out and decide for all.  Director Sarah Polley and Miriam Toews adapt this from Toews' novel, which was based on a real story of a Mennonite community in Bolivia in the mid aughts. It's horrifying and thankfully in Polley's capable hands there are no  gratuitous scenes of these acts of violence. We only see the aftermath of what these women are left to deal with.  Oona (Rooney Mara) is unmarried and pregnant after her attack. She's thoughtful and open to both decisions at hand. Salome (Claire Foy) is angry. Her 4 year old daughter was attacked, and she's ready to stay and fight these men to the death. Mariche (Jessie Buckley) is annoyed and wants to forgive. How will they enter Heaven otherwise? Her daughter Autje (Ka...

On the brink of adolescence, 11 year old Sophie (Frankie Corio) is on a vacation to Turkey with her father, Calum. (Paul Mescal)  And that's it. That's the summary. This film doesn't really have a plot. We're just watching a father and daughter on vacation where he's clearly going through something that's never expanded upon, and she's growing up. We see older Sophie later on too, but not nearly as much as I expected. All the marketing material mentions adult Sophie reflecting on this trip she took with her father as if there's going to be additional context added to it, but there's none. She's in 2-3 scenes that are clumsily spliced in. And after that glowing paragraph, I should point out that despite what its lacking, I actually enjoyed watching it. It's a strange feeling. I was never bored, I always yearned for more, and I felt comfortable in its repetitiveness. There's a sweetness about it. Even though I wanted more from the writing, ...

It's another romance theme at Wandering Through The Shelves . I missed last week because I was on a work trip and had no time for myself, but I'm here again and we're going to pretend like that didn't happen Here's what I came up with for Cinderella Plots, or our protagonist being swept away by a wealthy person. 1) Crazy Rich Asians - While Rachel is in no way poor, she doesn't know her boyfriend Nick is CRAZY rich until she travels home with him for his best friend's wedding. I think this is one of the best romantic comedies ever made. 2) Coming to America - Prince Akeem goes undercover in NYC looking for a wife he can really connect with before he springs on her that he's the heir to his country's thrown. It's been years since I've seen this, so I probably need a refresher, but I believe it counts here. 3) Me Before You - Lu becomes a caregiver for a very wealthy man who was paralyzed in an accident, and they eventually fall in love. I di...

Lynsey (Jennifer Lawrence) is an Army contractor who's sidelined from duty due to a TBI she suffers in Afghanistan. She's back in her home town of New Orleans to recover when she meets James (Brian Tyree Henry) an auto mechanic who she forms an unlikely friendship with. I've missed THIS type of Jennifer Lawrence performance. It feels like it's been ages since I've been this moved by her. Lynsey is struggling to find her purpose. She wanted to escape the place she grew up, and now she's back. On top of that, she's heavily medicated, had to learn how to reuse her own body again and still struggles with the aftermath. She exclaims at one point in the film that she'd just like to "stop dropping shit" and you feel for her. Even if you've never suffered from a devastating injury, if you've ever felt stuck at any point in your life, you're going to relate to her. And to James as well. I'm glad this role now allows us to put Academy Awa...

Leslie (Andrea Riseborough) is a single mom in West Texas who wins a $190,000 lottery and drinks it all away. After yet another eviction, she blows every single chance given to her by her son and her friends.  Riseborough's surprise Oscar nomination put this film on everyone's radar. Funny enough, if you're flying Delta any time soon, this is one of the in flight movie options. Do I think her famous friend's last minute social media push to get her the nomination is unworthy? No. I'm still of the opinion it's Michelle Williams that's stealing nominations. I'd actually put Riseborough ahead of both her and Ana de Armes. But I do wish this was a better movie to go along with it. To Leslie is excruciating. I hate movies where the central character cannot go 15 minutes without fucking up again. Addiction tests even those with the best patience. It's very formulaic and the writing isn't strong enough to rise above it. It didn't help that the firs...

January came with less TV shows and more movies. But I did watch a lot of true crime and boy do I have thoughts. The Battle for Justine Pelletier - If you watched the Golden Globes on Peacock you were probably bombarded with advertisements for this docuseries. I vaguely recall this happening in the news. But you know what? Those ads got me so I watched the whole thing. Justine was taken into Boston Children's hospital with a variety of illnesses when the staff began to notice that she got better when her parents weren't around. They pulled her files, noticed the parents seemed to be "doctor shopping" so they stopped contact and kept her there for a year where she thrived. The parents accused them of kidnapping and sued the hospital. At one point, a hacker associating himself with Anonymous hacked Boston Children's computer systems to make a statement to free her. Eventually she's released back to her parents, and continues to suffer. They lost their court cas...

Reviewing all of the Oscar nominated shorts has become one of the things I look forward to the most after the nominations are announced. This is the quickest I've ever found all of the shorts to watch before the ceremony. The majority of these shorts are available to watch online. Below are my quick reviews Best Animated Short The Boy, The Mole, The Fox and the Horse - Platitudes: The Movie. C+ The Flying Sailor - Based on the true story of a man in Halifax who was blown 2 kilometers back during an explosion and lived to tell about it. Of the shorts lists, this was not the one I expected to see animated dick in. It's amusing and used several different styles of animation in it's quick 7 minute run time. Respect. B Ice Merchants - I LOVE this short. It's so perfect. Lovely hand drawn animation, clever story, a perfect combination of sweet and sad. A+ My Year of Dicks - Oh god, the awkwardness of being a teenage girl that I wish I could forget. I laughed, I cringed, I...