Rambling Film

I am very behind when it comes to this Nicole Kidman and Liev Schrieber lead murder mystery. There was a lot of buzz around it when it first came out, but I knew I had a long flight coming up and this seemed like the perfect mini series to download and watch. As always, here are my likes and dislikes. Nothing to look forward to here as it's a limited series LIKES It's JUICY! This is one of those whodunnits that leads you to a different person in each episode and it does that fairly well. It makes a good case for everyone involved being the murderer.  Liev Schrieber has been on my mind a lot since watching him in the wonderful A Small Light, and here he's the complete opposite. A total mess of a father.  Jack Raynor continues to prove that he should have every single one of Chris Pratt's roles instead. Director Susanne Bier *chef's kiss* DISLIKES I love Dakota Fanning, I do, but I did not buy her for a second as this bitchy, gold digger sister in law. As funny as her...

Official synopsis:  Sheryl Bradshaw (Anna Kendrick), a single woman looking for a suitor on a hit 1970s TV show, chooses charming bachelor Rodney Alcala (Daniel Zovatto), unaware that, behind the man's gentle façade, he hides a deadly secret. Anna Kendrick not only stars in this film, based on an insane true story, but it's also her first time in the director's chair. That alone made this a priority for me after it premiered at Sundance. Now, thanks to Netflix, it's easily accessible for everyone. I think Kendrick has promise as a director. She has some great set ups here, and she thankfully does not focus on Alcala's sexual violence. She finds clever ways to let you know what happened without actually showing the act.  The biggest issue with Woman of the Hour is that it's telling the wrong story. Yes, it's insane that a serial killer ended up on nationally aired television dating show, but other than that, Sheryl Bradshaw doesn't have much to do with Al...

I'll admit I didn't love season 2 of Hacks. So much so that I got a very late start on season three. Really, what propelled me was the conversation around the Emmys and how this was going to be a thorn in The Bear's side. So ahead of the ceremony, I started it. Onto my likes, dislikes, and things to look forward to. LIKES * Holy shit, this was hilarious. This got right back to season one levels for me. Deborah is still majorly insufferable but I cannot help but love watching her. She's such a dick. * This was absolutely Ava's season and I'm fully convinced the only reason Hannah Einbinder didn't win an Emmy for the final episode is because people are boycotting her being in the supporting category. (As they should, she's co-lead) * J Cameron Smith is always a blessing * Christina Hendrick's cameo. God, she's so beautiful. Her character was hilarious and awful.  * What a c*nt!! DISLIKES * Far too much Kayla. That was a character that should've...

Official Synopsis:  An up-and-coming chef (Florence Pugh) and a recent divorcée (Andrew Garfield) find their lives forever changed when a chance encounter brings them together, in a decade-spanning, deeply moving romance. It takes a certain kind of actor to make me want to watch a film where you know without a shadow of a doubt someone is dying from cancer. Florence Pugh and Andrew Garfield are such actors for me. I love their work, so I found myself ready to weep over them on a fall afternoon. I had hoped given the caliber of everyone involved that this story might be something different, but it's more of the same. You know exactly how this movie is going to end. But what makes it watchable is the chemistry of the lead actors. We follow Almut and Tobias through at least a decade of their lives, jumping around in various times, and no matter where we find them, they ooze chemistry. They are the film's beating heart. Jumping around in time can be tricky but I think the film did ...

Official synopsis:  After living life on the edge in London, Rona (Saoirse Ronan) attempts to come to terms with her troubled past. Hoping to heal, she returns to the wild beauty of Scotland's Orkney Islands where she grew up. Saoirse Ronan is one of my favorite working actresses and while she's played a variety of roles, she's never quite played the absolute mess Rona is. She's a hardcore alcoholic. She has good intentions, but ruins all the relationships around her. Going back to Orkney is a sobering experience for her in more ways than one. This film is adapted from Amy Liptrot's novel of the same name, and you can feel her love for Orkney all over this film. I was unfamiliar with the book before watching this, but I knew instantly that someone from Orkney had to be involved with making this film. It was just viewed so fondly. Saoirse of course is phenomenal. When isn't she? There's not a single second that she isn't on our screen. She carries this mo...

Official synopsis:  At 11:30pm on October 11th, 1975, a ferocious troupe of young comedians and writers lead by Lorne Michaels (Gabriel LaBelle) changed television forever. Find out what happened behind the scenes in the 90 minutes leading up to the first broadcast of Saturday Night Live. SNL has been on longer than I've been alive. I don't know a world without it, and it's something I've always watched. (Yes, SNL is still funny. It's always been funny, but everyone has their off days/shows) So watching a film by Jason Reitman, I director I generally enjoy was a given. Reitman must be living in his Aaron Sorkin era because I felt him all over the script. The dialogue is fast paced, there's a lot of quick cuts. It reminded me a lot of The Newsroom in places. That snappy feel is what I enjoyed most about Saturday Night .  Everything is two seconds away from falling apart, but they keep plugging away. The cast is varied. You have actors like Dylan O'Brien and ...

After a flawed, but still very watchable season 1. The Rings of Power is back for its second season on Amazon Prime, and the stakes are even higher. To preface, I'm a big fan of the Lord of the Rings movies, but I haven't read the books. I own them, and I'm somewhat familiar with the lore, but I'm not a purist. I'm coming to this as someone who is here to watch and enjoy, and not compare with the source material. So here are my likes, dislikes, and things I'm looking forward to if the series gets renewed. Minor spoilers, of course. LIKES * The Elves - This is a series that jumps around to different locations quite a bit but the elves consistently have the most interesting stories. Galadriel and Elrond are my two favorites and them mixing in with Adar and Celebrimbor this season was a treat. * Charles Edwards, Robert Aramayo, and Morfydd Clark better be seeing some acting nominations from the Globes and SAG. Really, the show as a whole should not be left out. The...

Official Synopsis:  Three brothers (Daniel Portman, Brian Vernel, Calum Ross) return to the remote woodland where they killed their abusive father (Paul Higgins) only to discover his shallow grave is now empty, forcing them to question one another's loyalty with devastating consequences as fear and paranoia set in. Know this before going into Betrayal - originally titled Kill : (that's how you'll find it on Letterboxd) you will need to suspend a lot of disbelief. At first, it comes easy. We wouldn't have a movie if the brothers didn't make on crucial mistake at the beginning of the film.  But as the film went on, it was more of a struggle to continue to give it grace. The way flashbacks are introduced felt a bit clumsy, even though they are absolutely necessary for the story. There's a bigger secret hinted at throughout that in the end just felt like more of a distraction.  On the other side of it, Daniel Portman gives an amazing performance. He's always be...

Official synopsis:  Follows twin brothers (Richard Madden) who find themselves in a dangerous love triangle on an isolated Greek island. The investigation is given to "The Jealousy Man," a wounded detective. (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) I would love to know what the working title of this film was, because I cannot imagine Killer Heat being the first choice. It is however, the first red flag in a film that it's horrible, but is very uninspired. Look, Joseph Gordon-Levitt is my favorite actor and he would do really well in a modern noir with a great script (Rian Johnson, stop giving him cameos only!) but this just wasn't it. I'm offering it a lot of grace for him, Richard Madden, and Shalene Woodley. While the central mystery is easy to guess, I just found this hollow. The narration and the actual dialogue between characters don't mesh well and I kept wishing these exact people were just in a better movie. Everything was disjointed, especially when they incorporate f...