Rambling Film

Official synopsis:  An unassuming mechanic, Vahid ( Vahid Mobasseri)  is reminded of his time in an Iranian prison when he encounters a man he suspects to be his sadistic jailhouse captor. ( Ebrahim Azizi)  Panicked, he rounds up a few of his fellow ex-prisoners to confirm the man's identity. Looking at the poster for It Was Just An Accident, it would be understandable if you mistook this for some type of buddy comedy. A bride and groom in full wedding attire pile into a van and drive from place to place.  Jafar Panahi's film has those moments of levity, but make no mistake that this has some serious subject matter. Panahi wrote it after serving a prison sentence himself. He also shot this film entirely in secret in Iran and used a blend of professional  and amateur actors. Mariam Afshari, who plays Shiva, one of Vahid's fellow prisoners is a karate instructor in real life. Not a professional actress, and you would never tell. The casting is impeccable...

Official synopsis:  Marty Mauser (Timothee Chalamet), a young man with a dream no one respects, goes to hell and back in pursuit of greatness. Both Safdie brothers split up and directed sports movies this year. While I can't speak for Benny Safdie's The Smashing Machine , if you were worried you'd be losing out on some Safdie chaos in favor of a traditional sports biopic, Josh Safdie's got you.  Marty Mauser lives and breathes table tennis, but as you can imagine, it's not popular and he has to hustle to make a living playing it. This film is less about the rise of a prominent sportsman and more of a crazy journey Marty has to go through in order to get a chance at being one. It's far more off the rails then I was expecting, and I couldn't love it more for that. Timothee Chalamet has been putting in great work for years. He should already have the Oscar that went to Gary Oldman (I said what I said) but Marty Supreme might be his best work to date. He goes ...

Since I'll be traveling for the holidays, I don't think I'll have time to get to the movies (Though I'm hoping to talk my family into going to Marty Supreme at some point) So while I'm away from the big screen, I thought it might be fun to rave and rant a bit about the Oscar short list.  ANIMATED SHORT FILM Autokar Butterfly Cardboard Eiru Forevergreen The Girl Who Cried Pearls Hurikán I Died in Irpin The Night Boots Playing God The Quinta’s Ghost Retirement Plan The Shyness of Trees Snow Bear The Three Sisters While I go full Oscars death race with the shorts each year, I'm not even going to try to predict who advances because I don't even know where to start. CASTING Frankenstein Hamnet Marty Supreme One Battle after Another The Secret Agent Sentimental Value Sinners Sirât Weapons Wicked: For Good I've been so curious about how this category is going to go. I was hoping they'd go a little more outside of the box instead of repeating films that are ...

Happy Holidays, all! On this Christmas Eve, I thought I'd share a quick top 5 of the films I re-watch every holiday season in no particular order. What are your favorite Christmas movies? Tell me in the comments. 1. Home Alone How can you not love this Macaulay Culkin classic? This is also a favorite of my son's, so we watch it several times throughout the month of December.  2. A Christmas Story Remember when TNT used to show this for 24 hours a day on Christmas? I get it. Even though I've seen this 1000's of times. I still sit down and watch. I was also low key jealous taht I never encountered a mall Santa with a slide in my childhood.  3. The Holdovers This is the most recent addition to my list. I was not expecting to love The Holdovers as much as I did, but it instantly became a new favorite and one I tell everyone to watch during the holiday season. (Or any time of the year, it's that good) 4. Gremlins One of the quintessential "Is this a Christmas movie?...

I've been in flight delay hell over the past week so I'm a few days late in sharing the OAFFC winners, of which I'm a member. But it's never too late to talk movies! The winners are highlighted in blue. What do you think about how we voted? BEST FILM Hamnet It Was Just an Accident One Battle After Another Sentimental Value Sinners BEST DIRECTOR Paul Thomas Anderson – “One Battle After Another” Ryan Coogler – “Sinners“ Jafar Panahi – “It Was Just an Accident” Joachim Trier – “Sentimental Value” Chloé Zhao – “Hamnet” In a world where PTA is certainly going to sweep everything, it's nice to see someone like Coogler win here.   BEST FEMALE LEAD Jessie Buckley – “Hamnet“ Rose Byrne – “If I Had Legs I’d Kick You“ Renate Reinsve – “Sentimental Value“ Chase Infiniti – “One Battle After Another“ Eva Victor – “Sorry, Baby“ BEST MALE LEAD Leonardo DiCaprio – “One Battle After Another“ Joel Edgerton – “Train Dreams“ Ethan Hawke – “Blue Moon“ Michael B. Jordan – “Sinners“ Wagner...

Official Synopsis:  Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig) returns for his most dangerous case yet. Back in 2019 Writer/Director Rian Johnson gave us an all-timer character in Southern Sleuth Benoit Blanc. Now he completes his whodunnit trilogy with a harsh take on those who pervert religion as we follow along Jud, (Josh O'Connor) a preacher who is moved to a church run by a man who isn't exactly the most exemplary person of faith. (Josh Brolin) The humor in this films is much more in line with Knives Out than Glass Onion . It's more subtle, but it still hits every mark. There's a sight gag at a morgue that absolutely sent me. But as far as the themes, this is probably the most critical Johnson has gotten yet. He challenges those who use Christianity as a tool to hate, and how easily others can be manipulated by that. I think the film treads very carefully in showing these hypocrisies while also not looking down on anyone who believes in the teachings of Christ. It gave me a lot t...

Official Synopsis:  Famous movie actor Jay Kelly (George Clooney) embarks on a journey of self-discovery, confronting his past and present with his devoted manager Ron (Adam Sandler). Poignant and humor-filled, pitched at the intersection of regrets and glories It's only natural that George Clooney play a famous movie star in a flick like this. I wonder how much of it he can actually relate to? Jay is pretty out of touch, but longs to get to know the "real" people (us plebs) and his two daughters, who don't want much to do with him. All while his employees, mainly Ron scramble around him.  I can see why this is popping up on a lot of awards season lists. Hollywood loves "movies about movies" after all, but while I think it's a huge step up from Noah Baumbach's last effort, W hite Noise , I just wasn't that impressed with Jay Kelly overall. It's fine. Clooney is good, Sandler is great, I liked the way we see Jay watch his memories, but the fi...

Official synopsis : After losing their son Hamnet (Jacobi Jupe) to plague, Agnes (Jessie Buckley) and William Shakespeare (Paul Mescal) grapple with grief in 16th-century England. A healer, Agnes must find strength to care for her surviving children while processing her devastating loss. Hamnet might be one of the most hyped films of the awards season. I feel like I've been hearing near universal praise for it all year. I'm happy to report it's now my new favorite Chloe Zhao film. Zhao is a very intimate director. Even if I don't completely love a film of hers, I always feel that intimacy. She clearly loves her subjects and this is no exception. Anges makes for a great main character. She's smart, not afraid to be different, and deeply loves her family. She tells us early on the women in her family have visions, and when she sees two children at her death bed, she spends a great deal of time worrying over her surprise set of twins, bringing her total amount of child...

The Golden Globe nominations are upon us! Honestly, I forgot these were being announced today, so this was a nice surprise. Speaking of which, I was surprised by a lot of their choices. Below are a list of nominees, and as always my thoughts.  BEST MOTION PICTURE, DRAMA Frankenstein Hamnet It Was Just an Accident The Secret Agent Sentimental Value Sinners The Secret Agent seems to be surging more and more. I'm going to see Hamnet later today, Sinners is my clear favorite for what I have seen.  BEST MOTION PICTURE, MUSICAL OR COMEDY Blue Moon Bugonia Marty Supreme No Other Choice Nouvelle Vague One Battle After Another I wasn't entirely sure where they'd put One Battle After Another because it could go either way. I'm sure it will be an easy win here. The biggest shocker to me is Wicked II not making it. Not because it's amazing, but because it's very "globes"  I also didn't realize No Other Choice was a comedy, but it's nice to see more foreign...

I'm back with a quick recap of what I've been catching up with on the small screen! Stranger Things Season 5 (part 1) Frankly, I think releasing season 5 in 3 parts is stupid on Netflix's part, but I get why they want to draw this show's final season out. We've been waiting for this for a LONG time. The first four episodes were very action packed, and they end with a pretty big cliffhanger, though it's something I expected to happen for a while now. I am a bit wary of the next few episodes considering a certain character they brought back. The last time we saw them, we had one of the weakest episodes of the entire series, so I'm hoping the Duffers found a way to write them in a better way. I'm still looking forward to them, but I'm cautiously optimistic.  If there's one thing I struggled with in the first four episodes, it's how distracting the recasting of Holly Wheeler is. I knew that was coming, and I didn't think it was going to bothe...

The Independent Spirit Awards announced their nominations today, and the most exciting part...I get to vote this year! I joined Film Independent for the first time and I'm really excited to contribute, even if it's just a little. And of course to see some great movies.(watching all the nominees is required before voting) Below is a full list of the nominees + my thoughts Best Feature Peter Hujar’s Day The Plague Sorry, Baby Train Dreams Twinless So far I've only seen Sorry, Baby (clear favorite) and Train Dreams. Sorry, Baby is currently in my Top 10 of the year. Best Director Clint Bentley, Train Dreams Mary Bronstein, If I Had Legs I’d Kick You Lloyd Lee Choi, Lucky Lu Ira Sachs, Peter Hujar’s Day Eva Victor, Sorry, Baby I'm really excited to see if I Had Legs I'd Kick You, again, I've only seen 2 of these.  Best First Feature Blue Sun Palace Dust Bunny East of Wall Lurker One of Them Days One of Them Days being here cracks me up. I was not expecting this film...

Official synopsis:  Phillip,(Brenden Fraser) an American actor in Tokyo struggling to find purpose lands an unusual gig: working for a Japanese "rental family" agency, playing stand-in roles for strangers. He rediscovers purpose, belonging, and the beauty of human connection. "Charming" is the first word that comes to mind when I think of Rental Family , and charm goes a long way. The film can introduce an idea that you know is terrible and is going to end badly, but you don't cringe your way through it because the film is just so damn lovely and sincere. That's how I felt watching this. A lesser film would've had me rolling my eyes at some of the decisions made by characters at various points, but I completely understood Phillip's state of mind. I don't think I'd be able to resist a few of these things either.  We meet a lot of lonely people in this film. Writer/Director Hikari reminds us that connections are what make humans thrive. I think...