Rambling Film

Official synopsis:   The late, great impresario Florenz Ziegfeld Jr. (William Powell) looks down from Heaven and ordains a new revue in his grand old style. This is one those classic films that I had never heard of until one of my favorite readers/classic film extraordinaire Joel recommended me to me. It was an easy sell. Judy Garland, Lucille Ball, Fred Astaire, Gene Kelly. I'm in. Said follies are divided into segments. Some being comedy bits and others musical numbers. I think the film could've made better use of its framing device by having Ziegfeld talk in between all or most of the segments. He only appears at the beginning and it didn't feel like enough.  Of all the segments, I enjoyed the musical numbers the most. Watching Astaire and Kelly tap together is a treat, as is any time Judy Garland is on screen. I wish she would've gotten to sing a little more in her sketch.  On top of having a very compelling cast, the sets and costumes are glorious. They're so g...

Official synopsis: A suburban dad, Craig (Tim Robinson) falls hard for his charismatic new neighbor, Austin. (Paul Rudd) Tim Robinson has been on the comedy scene for quite some time, but for the past few years he's been gaining momentum via his Netfix show I Think You Should Leave . He's basically the king of cringe comedy at the moment. That's not everyone's cup of tea, but it is something you absolutely have to be okay with before going into Friendship . Friendship feels like a feature length I Think You Should Leave sketch. It's awkward, hilarious, and will test your patience with how long a bit can go. And I mean that in a positive way. Craig is a deeply uncomfortable dude. He can't help but just make everything a bit more weird. It's easy to see why he becomes to infatuated with Austin, who is the epitome of "cool" to him. The script has issues. It's not really sure what to do with its 3rd act, but I laughed so much that I can't be ...

I've been really putting off the final season of this acclaimed series. The way the world is today, this just seems like even more of a possibility than it already did. And having read both The Handmaid's Tale and The Testaments, I knew there was more to come.  I ended up knocking out the entire season on a transatlantic fight (do not recommend that for episode 9) Here's what I liked, disliked, and my final thoughts. LIKES * All episodes felt "complete." They didn't drag things out for multiple episodes. Most things they start out to accomplish in the beginning are seen through in the end, and I appreciated how buttoned up that was. Especially since this show does have a bit of a history with meandering.  * Nick's choices were unambiguously bad. If you've spent any time on the Handmaids Tale subreddit, there's a lot of ~discourse~ around Nick. The official tag for posts about him there is "wet for war criminal" which is kind of hilarious....

  Official synopsis : When the girl of his dreams is kidnapped (Amber Midthunder), a man incapable of feeling physical pain (Jack Quaid) turns his rare condition into an unexpected advantage in the fight to rescue her. I could not find time to go out to the theater this week to see Final Destination: Bloodlines like everyone else, but thankfully for me another cringe injury flick dropped on Paramount Plus this week.  Look, this movie is VERY formulaic, but I cannot deny just how attached I got to Nate. He's just SO pure and Jack Quaid (who looks so much like his dad when he smiles that it's actually kind of distracting) played him so well. I cannot imagine anyone going into this film and not liking Nate. And I will forever be on the Amber Midthunder train, so I'm happy to see her again as well. If you're not good with gore, then this film is not going to be for you. Nate takes quite the beating and the camera does not shy away from some of his injuries, even though you...

Official synopsis:  The authorized documentary of Kellie Maloney, the famous British transgender boxing manager. This unique film will explore Kellie's story of truth and denial, as she confronted uncertainty and ultimately accepted herself for who she was. Full disclosure, I did not know who Kellie Maloney was before watching this film. I don't watch boxing, where she had a successful career when she was presenting as Frank Maloney. I don't watch Celebrity Big Brother, which she appeared on as well. This was my introduction to Kellie, and I'm glad to have "met" her.  It's beautiful when someone can finally feel like they can be themselves wholly. Kellie transitioned "late" in life, but it's never too late. The doc is very balanced with showing Kellie's early career. Her ex-wife, Tracey and daughters all get a say - and are very frank (no pun intended) that things were messy when Kellie came out and she and Tracey separated. Thankfully, a...

It's hard to believe I was once one of those people who thought "Do we really need an Andor series?" when it was first announced. I hate my words after the first season, now even more after the second and final season. Andor is one of the best things Star Wars has ever put out. Now that it has come to an end, here is what I liked and disliked about season 2. Don't worry, I didn't dislike much. LIKES * Showing how every day people fight fascism. Star Wars has always been good vs evil but it's often framed through the Jedi fighting the Empire. Andor is a series that rarely even mentions the Force, and there's no Jedi to be found. Everyone is a regular person trying to fight oppression. I love how Andor was able to showcase this.  * The Ghorman Massacre was just as awful as I expected, but mirroring them after the French during WWII was pretty genius on the creators' parts. Ghorman is something that's been mentioned in other Star Wars shows, particul...

Official synopsis:  A couple, Annette and Ben (Daisy Ridley and Shazad Latif) find their lives turned upside-down when their daughter (Hiba Ahmed) is cast alongside a controversial major star. (Matilda Lutz) I find it amusing that in a film where a couple is having issues and actively working against each other would have parts of the actual film doing the same thing. On one hand, you have the actors giving very committed, nuanced performances. Especially Ridley. She's stoic yet overwhelmed and you want to scream at Ben through the screen to just HELP her. (Putting a pillow over his head and ignoring the crying baby in the middle of the night? Unforgiveable.) Then on the other hand, you have the composer who wrote a score that is trying its hardest to make this into a corny Lifetime thriller. It reminded me a lot of May December , which is also a good film with a terrible score. It just doesn't fit. It's so over the top and ridiculous.  Magpie might be a hard sell at first...

  Official synopsis: A post-apocalyptic romance in which a buoy (Kristen Stewart) and a satellite (Steven Yeun) meet online and fall in love after the end of human civilization.  "Kristen Stewart and Steven Yeun in a sci-fi movie" is all you need to say to sell me. I especially loved the weird approach this takes, with them voicing a buoy and a satellite respectively. That is, I loved it for the first 15 minutes. Sometimes feature length films work better as shorts and Love Me is absolutely that kind of film. It takes far too long to get going and spends most of its run time hiding its gorgeous leads behind goofy looking animation. In fact, the film is kind of a mash up of animation, CGI, and live action. It's visually pretty ugly to look at most of the time. This is something the film likely could've gotten away with had its runtime been 25 minutes, but at 90 it just got frustrating.  Stewart and Yeun do give good voice performances and the little time we see them o...

Official synopsis:  Ingrid (Julianne Moore) and Martha (Tilda Swinton) were close friends in their youth, when they worked together at the same magazine. After years of being out of touch, they meet again in an extreme but strangely sweet situation. Director Pedro Almodóvar's first feature length film in English came and went without a lot of fanfare. Until I saw it as an option to watch on my recent flight, I had completely forgotten it had been released already.  Not only was this a surprise reminder, but it completely blew me away. I love this film, and I think I told every single one of my coworkers that they NEED to watch it on their flights home. This story is about death. About fearing it and accepting it, but it's also about friendship and how strong those bonds can be, even when you spent time apart and it was just so easy for me to fall in love with Ingrid and Martha. While there are some awkward moments between them, most of their time together is just so achin...

Official synopsis : After finding themselves ensnared in a death trap, an unconventional team of antiheroes must embark on a dangerous mission that will force them to confront the darkest corners of their pasts. Thunderbolts is the Marvel film I've been anticipating the most post Endgame. (While I enjoyed Black Panther 2 , part of me still dreaded having to face that film without Chadwick Boseman) I had high hopes, and I was not disappointed. If anything, I was surprised at just what kind of film this ended up being. You see, I expected this to lean goofy. More Guardians than Avengers, and while there were some great laughs, mostly thanks to David Harbour's hilarious Red Guardian, I was not prepared for how this film would tackle mental illness. We all know Yelena (Florence Pugh) is suffering after Natasha's death, but we haven't really seen her address her feelings, and once she and her rag tag team meet Bob (Lewis Pullman) they are all faced with some pretty emotio...

If you've been reading here for a while, you probably already know how highly I regard Black Mirror. It's one of my favorite shows ever, it showed up a LOT during my Thursday Movie Picks run and a few years ago I ranked all the Netflix shows I had seen, and it was the easy #1. It's not always a perfect show. Anthologies rarely are, but even when I dislike an episode, I'm always going to watch whatever comes next. With the 7th season currently available to stream, here are my quick thoughts on each episode in the order I watched them U.S.S Callister - Into Infinity - I started out with the direct sequel to season 4's best episode The U.S.S Callister. I thought this was a solid start, it was definitely missing Michaela Coel big time, but Cristin Milioti is such a star. I think it took the logical next step for that story. Common People - This episode was absolute nightmare fuel and that's honestly Black Mirror when its at its best. When they started explaining the...

Official synopsis:  Christian Wolff (Ben Affleck) applies his brilliant mind and illegal methods to reconstruct the unsolved puzzle of a Treasury chief's murder. 2016's The Accountant was a film that grew on me. When I saw it in theaters for the first time, it was just ~fine~ But when I watched it a second time on blu ray, something clicked. I realized just how much I liked these characters and I've re-watched the film several times since. So when the sequel finally came to fruition, it was a no brainer that I would watch. I'm glad to be back into Christian's world. This time around, he doesn't have Dana (Anna Kendrick) to play off of, but his brother Braxton. (Jon Bernthal) They haven't seen each other since the events of the last film played out, so there's a bit of animosity there, mostly on Braxton's part. I wasn't prepared for how amusing this film would be. Bernthal is kind of hysterical. He talks about Christian's "condition...

Daredevil coming to Disney Plus was always a big deal for myself, and a lot of other Marvel fans. It was the best of the Netflix MCU shows (in my opinion) and finding out that it would be brought into MCU proper was a great feeling. So how did season 1 do overall? Let's look at the good, the bad, and what we can look forward to. The Good * Charlie Cox and Vincent D'Onofrio continue to put in great work as Matt Murdoch and Wilson Fisk. There's a really great scene in the later episodes where both characters are coming to terms with their alter-egos separately, and the scene cuts back and forth between them.  * The fight scenes continue to be top notch. * It was nice to get an episode that focused solely on Matt Murdoch being a lawyer. * It still felt very adult. I know there was a lot of worry of it "losing its edge" moving over to Disney Plus, but there was plenty of brutality and a few F bombs. See? What were you worrying about? * The Punisher telling cops who we...

Official synopsis:  Trying to leave their troubled lives behind, twin brothers (Michael B. Jordan) return to their hometown to start again, only to discover that an even greater evil is waiting to welcome them back. I've been slacking at going to the theater and blogging about what I watch from home lately. Thankfully Sinners was so good it gave me that kick I needed to get online and write about it. I don't use the word "genius" lightly but what director Ryan Coogler and composer Ludwig Göransson do with music in this film is genius. I'm always a fan of Göransson's scores. He's ended up as a top artist on my Spotify multiple times, and I loved the bluesy guitar music he wrote here. There's a scene that I don't want to spoil that's truly an all-timer with what Coogler adds into the music. The film takes its time building up to the eventual confrontation our main characters will have with the vampires. We learn plenty about the twins, their lov...

Official synopsis:  A film that weaves together re-enactments, archive footage and fairy-tale sequences to create a testament to the history of Lebanese and Palestinian women to the political struggles of the twentieth century. Commemorating its 40 year anniversary, Lebanese director Heiny Srour 's film was recently restored and released in North American cinemas for the first time. Shot over the course of 7 years and often times in secret, it takes a look at the lives of women through the time traveling titular character, Leila. ( Nabila Zeitouni) It was impossible to watch this and think of my own privilege. Especially when you're met with such striking images like the women sitting on the beach, clad in full burkas while the men are allowed to frolic in bathing suits. It's a frustrating double standard that is not lost on me. I am a bit ashamed that this film was never on my radar prior to its re-release. This is a special Blind Spot. While my list is normally made up of...

Mike White's "Eat The Rich" anthology series wrapped up its Thailand adventure this past Sunday, and boy do I have thoughts. Unfortunately I have to get into spoiler territory, though I will try to keep it as vague as possible, but the season finale really threw a curveball at me. I'm going to break down my critiques per character "groups" Three Lady Friends Leslie Bibb, Carrie Coon, and Michelle Monaghan fully stressed me out with their cattiness at the beginning, but in the best way. I actually liked their story from start to finish. My only complaint was the teased connection with Bibb with Parker Posey's character that went absolutely nowhere. The Ratliff's Despite Jason Isaac STRUGGLING with his southern U.S accent throughout, I was actually the most invested in this weirdo family's problems at first, but it ended up being very anticlimactic. They tease something pretty sinister in the last episode, and I think it would've made for a bet...

Official synopsis: A rebellious young woman, Helen Hopper marries a prominent Republican politician, Pete McCloskey twenty-six years older than her. Decades later, anticipating his death, she wrestles with their marriage, her sexuality, and a life spent by his side.  Not being a resident of California, I wasn't aware of McCloskey's long political history. Though reading that he called out Pat Robertson for lying about his experience during the Korean War to the point where Robertson sued him for libel, then had to abandon his lawsuit after McCloskey had receipts to back it up, and instead had to pay all his legal fees gives me great joy. I preface this because I wasn't really sure what to expect going into Helen and The Bear. I just knew I wanted to learn more.  Helen was immediately fascinating to me. She's free-spirited and on paper you wouldn't think she'd fall for someone like Pete, but they make it work. Their marriage isn't one size fits all. Helen s...

  Official synopsis: A paranoid, secretive surveillance expert (Gene Hackman) has a crisis of conscience when he suspects that the couple he is spying on will be murdered. I realized with the recent death of the legendary Gene Hackman, that despite feeling like I always knew who he was, I haven't actually seen a lot of his filmography. According to what's listed on letterboxd, prior to The Conversation, I had only seen 5% of it. So I made it a priority to check out one of his films for my next Blind Spot, and his starring role in Francis Ford Coppola's feature sounded like a good place to start. It's fun to see Coppola regulars like Robert DuVall and John Cazale pop up in this ,but the biggest treat for me was Harrison Ford as Martin, the "go between" for the man hiring Hackman's Harry to spy on the couple. He's just so effortlessly cool, even though his character is quite shady. He's on screen for all of 10 minutes yet all I could think of is how ...

Official synopsis:  In 1950s Mexico City, an American immigrant (Daniel Craig) leads a solitary life amidst a small American community. However, the arrival of a young student (Drew Starkey) stirs the man into finally establishing a meaningful connection with someone. Director Luca Guadagnino started last year on a high note with Challengers and I expected it to end on that same note with Queer . Especially after hearing all the praise for Daniel Craig's performance.  I wanted to like this so badly, but I STRUGGLED with Queer. Craig does give a wonderful performance but Starkey is drag compared to him. It's the same way I felt about Timothee Chalamet and Armie Hammer in the far better  Call Me By Your Name. The lead is doing all the heavy lifting, and the supporting man just flops. The same could be said for the film itself. It's starts off strong. It's vibrant and interesting, then when our characters leave Mexico City the entire film goes down hill. It almost f...

Official synopsis:  A mysterious woman (Okwui Okpokwasili)  repeatedly appears in Ramona's (Danielle Deadwyler) front yard, often delivering chilling warnings and unsettling messages, leaving them to question her identity, motives and the potential danger she might pose. It's not often that I'll see a PG-13 horror film in theaters. But the trailers featuring the women looked genuinely unsettling and Danielle Deadwyler is a hell of a talent. Surely this film must be something special if she signed on?  The Woman in the Yard might try to force some jump scares here and there, but the image of the woman alone works well. It's creepy and you're never quite sure what exactly is going to happen. I appreciated this about the film. It's a similar film to The Babadook in that it deals with grief, but it keeps you guessing where it's going to go. Even the annoying teenagers in my theater shut up after a certain point to pay attention.  The cast is small, making up of ...

Official synopsis:  When intelligence agent Kathryn Woodhouse (Cate Blanchett) is suspected of betraying the nation, her husband (Michael Fassbender) - also a legendary agent - faces the ultimate test of whether to be loyal to his marriage, or his country. Steven Soderbergh's newest is a stylish spy thriller that clocks in at an easy 93 minutes. Blanchett alone would have me seated, but her with Fassbender and a strong supporting cast really elevated this film above my expectations.  This was the image that immediately came to mind when the film kicks off with what might be the most awkward dinner table scene of all time and it keeps that energy throughout. It's well paced, it kept me guessing, and it always had my interest.  Blanchett and Fassbender are perfectly cast. She's mysterious and elusive, he's almost robotic in his nature, but it's never off putting. The supporting cast around them is excellent as well. Particularly Naomie Harris and Marisa Abela.  There ...

I was talking about Severance with my friends recently, and one of them remarked on how he hopes the show doesn't "end up like Lost " and not answer all the questions it asks. Thankfully, this season answered a lot of our burning questions. As always with on going seasons, I'm splitting this review up into the good, the bad, and what I'm looking forward to. The Good * Tramell Tillman is an absolute treasure. I have big "i can fix him!" energy when it comes Mr. Milchick. I just know he's got good in him somewhere. With every episode, I feel we're getting closer to him turning. Or at least I can hope.  * We know what the MDR team is going! They could've easily dragged that out another season, but I'm glad we got our answers now. * Less Ms. Cobel. Patricia Arquette is fine, and I thought what we learned about her character this season was very interesting, but I liked that we had less of her and more of Mr. Milchick and the introduction of ...

Official synopsis:  A man, Mickey (Dante Basco) comes up with an outlandish plan to avoid alimony obligations to his fashion executive ex-wife, Avery (KC Concepcion). How far would you go to avoid alimony? If your answer was catfishing a gorgeous yet awkward dude, Lee (Paolo Montalban) on a dating website with the profile of your ex-wife, then coaching him into saying all the right things so she falls in love with him - then you and Mickey would be fast friends. I have to admit I don't watch many rom coms anymore, but the premise of Asian Persuasion was enough to pique my interest. Not to mention, it kind of makes you fall in love with this side of Queens. Director  Jhett Tolentino shot this during COVID, and while that is kind of obvious with how people are staged, it almost gives you more space to enjoy the scenery. Plus Mickey owns a coffee shop called "The Fili Beans" and that is an A+ name. Solid premise aside, the range of acting skills in this film is...vast. Some...

This 4 part mini-series follows the Miller family. There's Mum and Dad (Christine Tremarco and Stephen Graham) and their two children Lisa and Jamie. (Amelie Peace and Owen Cooper) Only, it's not a normal Saturday morning. On the morning we meet the Millers, police are breaking down their door and arresting their 13 year old son for the murder of one of his classmates.  Jamie, small, frail, and confused cries that he didn't do it. His dad of course believes him. Then when all the evidence is laid out on the table, this series turns from the murder mystery you thought it might be to the aftermath of what toxic masculinity and the manosphere can do to a child.  We follow Jamie's story in 4 distinct parts. Episode one is the day of the arrest. Episode 2 is a few days later and follows the police investigation. Episode 3 is a session with a psychologist, and episode 4 goes back to Jamie's family in the wake of it all. Each episode is shot as one continuous take.  What s...

Official Synopsis : Mickey 17 (Robert Pattinson), known as an "expendable," goes on a dangerous journey to colonize an ice planet. I'm a simple woman. I see "new film by Bong Joon Ho" and I go see it. I have not read the novel on which this is based, so I cannot compare the two, but this was on my must see list nonetheless. Mickey 17 can now be counted as the film that finally got me on the Robert Pattinson bandwagon. I never thought he was a bad actor, just one I really cared for. He was never the standout for me in a film, but here he absolutely is. The Mickey we spend the most time with is kind of slow, but very sincere, and Pattinson plays him well. His accent in the trailer sounds somewhat cartoony, but it fits so well in the film itself. When he has to play another more brooding version later, he easily transitions. He's also helped by some tremendously strong supporting performances from Naomie Ackie, Mark Ruffalo, and Toni Collette. Ruffalo in partic...

It's that time of year! You know, that time where I'm three months late with my favorite films of the previous year. The ironic part is the few movies that were stopping me from publishing this list due to their later release dates didn't even make it. Without further ado... Honorable Mentions These films held a top 10 spot at some point throughout the year before they were bumped off A Quiet Place: Day One, Cuckoo, Deadpool vs Wolverine, Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, Blink Twice, Maxxine, The Outrun, Babes, Nosferatu Bonus Pick: This was technically a 2023 release, but it made huge waves in 2024 that I felt it deserved its own place. Red Rooms No movie got under my skin the way Red Rooms did. A movie I saw for the first time on an airplane screen. It's disturbing without showing any gore and may make you completely rethink how you consume true crime. My Top 10 Films of 2024 10. Wicked Little Letters *Saorise Ronan voice* WOMEN! I adore this charming little flick...

Official synopsis:  During the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, Germany, an American sports broadcasting team must adapt to live coverage of the Israeli athletes being held hostage by a terrorist group. This is the last big Oscar movie I had to see (and thankfully I did get to it before the ceremony...just late on writing reviews) and I'm glad to have ended on a solid note. September 5 is not the showiest film of the bunch, but it's certainly worthy of its Original Screenplay nod. I already like broadcast/journalism movies to begin with, so this was always going to be up my alley. The entire film takes place in their broadcast room. It's cold and dark. At one point they go outside and the daylight just seems like it's intruding. It's pretty remarkable what this team accomplished considering they normally focus on sports. They ushered in a new way of watching breaking news. This isn't lost on them, and the conversations they have with each other raise all the imp...

Official synopsis:  When twin brothers Bill and Hal (Theo James) find their father's old monkey toy, a series of gruesome deaths start. The siblings decide to throw the toy away and move on with their lives, growing apart over the years. I love a good horror comedy. Ridiculously over the top gore that barely make physical sense? Yes. I'm here for it. Give me that campy garbage. Needless to say, I had high expectations for The Monkey. I'm ready to laugh at dumb things. The thing with horror comedy though, crowds matter and hopefully you're watching with one that is laughing at everything as hard as you are. The wrong crowd can kill the vibe, and that's unfortunately what I got stuck with. Some folks wouldn't stop talking, others kept looking at their phones. Nearly every big moment didn't "hit" right because these idiots were too distracted with other things, and therefore killing the fun for everyone else.  It's a shame because there are prett...

We made it! Conan was a safe host. He had a couple good jokes, but stayed very neutral with politics. There were some puzzling musical numbers, like a Bond tribute full of people who didn't actually write any Bond songs. There were some surprise wins, some for the good, others not so much. Here are my thoughts on all the winners. Best Picture Anora The Brutalist A Complete Unknown Conclave Dune: Part Two Emilia Pérez Nickel Boys I’m Still Here The Substance Wicked I will admit defeat here. A lot of people were predicting Anora, I just couldn't see it over Conclave, but it won big tonight, especially Sean Baker.  Best Director Jacques Audiard – Emilia Pérez Brady Corbet – The Brutalist Sean Baker – Anora Coralie Fargeat – The Substance James Mangold – A Complete Unknown Baker had quite the night. I liked that he thanked the sex worker industry, which has played a huge part in several of his films.  Best Actress Cynthia Erivo – Wicked Karla Sofía Gascón – Emilia Pérez Mikey Madi...