Rambling Film

Official synopsis : A lonely hairstylist, Claire (Najarra Townsend) becomes obsessed with the private lives of her clients and descends into murderous madness.  This was one of the films I learned about from the 1000 Women in Horror documentary I watched recently. Director Jill Gevargizian adapted this from her short film of the same name. This film is shot like a 90’s erotic thriller at times. the close ups of Claire doing hair with that sensual score playing in the background made me think of that immediately, and it works despite this being a pretty un-romantic film. Claire is a pretty interesting character to follow. It would be easy to write her off because she IS a murderer, but she’s also just an incredibly awkward woman. I weirdly had a soft spot for her. It might be the first time I’ve ever been worried about a serial killer taking too long in a room. Like girl, you’re gonna get caught. The film reminds me a lot of Maniac (2012)  which was another I really enjoyed. Yo...

  Official Synopsis: A celebration of pioneering female filmmakers and performers who have left an indelible mark on horror cinema from the beginning of the silent era to the present.  October is in full swing and I wanted to take this month to finally catch up on some horror films that I missed. And what better way to start than with documentary that gave me a few more ideas to add to the list There are far more than 1000 women in horror, as this doc points out, but it’s nice to get a few of them together so they can talk about the genre they love. Director Donna Davies keeps the runtime concise, though I could’ve listened to these ladies talk for hours. She’s also very careful of what horror clips are shown, because if we’re going to talk about women in horror, we are eventually going to get into some uncomfortable topics. As someone who struggles to watch media with sexual assault scenes, I really appreciated that Davies doesn’t jump scare us with inserted assault clips o ...

Official Synopsis: The most powerful man in the world, Digger (Tom Cruise) embarks on a frantic mission to prove he is humanity's savior before the disaster he's unleashed destroys everything. If you haven't watched this yourself, you've probably seen the headlines about how divisive this is. And rightfully so. This movie is not what it's being marketed to be. And while I'm not going to do a spoiler review, I am going to add an optional spoiler of the swerves this movie takes because it's one of those rare occasions where I think I would've had a slightly better time if I had known. Highlight here for spoiler ---> About 30 minutes into the film, it is revealed that we are not watching these events take place in real time, but rather we are watching actors put on a play about those events. Then later, with about 15 mins of the film left. We are told that the benefactor of said play is Digger's nephew (played by Jesse Plemons) and it is taking pla...

Official Synopsis : A Harvard student (Jacob Tremblay) becomes the Unabomber after psychological experiments. Years later, an FBI agent's (Shailene Woodley) pursuit reveals how his past shaped his deadly campaign that killed 3 and injured 23 from 1978-1995. True Crime is basically Netflix's bread and butter at this point. There's 100's of documentaries, a new TV show centered around a criminal every year. While most get the mini series format, Unabomber stands out as a single film. I'm not sure who was asking for a film based on this particular psycho, but Russell Crowe, Shailene Woodley and Jacob Tremblay were enough to get me to watch. Especially when I didn't have to leave my couch. This film doesn't have anything particularly interesting to say. Its strongest points are when it's being a detective story. Woodley is very engaging as an FBI agent trying to do the right thing when none of her male colleagues listen to her. They are practically caricatu...

Official synopsis: In 2006, To Catch a Predator host Chris Hansen (Robert Pattinson) sets out to make television history. To Catch a Predator was one of those shows everyone knew about, even if you've never watched an episode. That's the camp I fell into. I've seen episodes of the show here and there, but I was never a regular watcher. Primetime, much like the name suggests follows the point in Chris Hansen's career where he and producer Andie (Merritt Wever) get the opportunity from the Network to take their show to the next level. It's going to get a Primetime spot, right up against Lost. Now the stakes need to be higher, they need to find more "important" people to trap. While this is happening, a new Decoy is being hired, played by a young actor Dan (Skyler Gisondo) who doesn't quite know what he's getting into with this job.  Primetime is deliberately shot in a grainy, over-saturated fashion. It made me feel like I was watching a VHS tape...

Old news? Who cares?!! I didn't get to watch the Emmys last week as I was traveling but I still have opinions on the winners and I have to see how I did on my picks. So one last time, here's a list of all the Emmy nominees and winners + my thoughts.  Outstanding Comedy Series “Abbott Elementary” “The Bear” “Hacks” “Margo’s Got Money Troubles” “Nobody Wants This” “Only Murders in the Building” “Shrinking” “Widow’s Bay“ Not surprising, but I would've liked to have seen Hacks go out on tip. Widow's Bay was just too strong.  Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series Quinta Brunson – “Abbott Elementary” Ayo Edebiri – “The Bear” Elle Fanning – “Margo’s Got Money Troubles” Lisa Kudrow – “The Comeback” Jean Smart – “Hacks“ Jean Smart did what even the great Julia Louis-Dreyfus couldn't: She won an Emmy for every single season her show was on. Well deserved and an insane stat. Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series Yahya Abdul-Mateen II – “Wonder Man” Matthew Rhys – “Wi...

Official synopsis: A medical courier, Bryan (Austin Abrams) is tasked with delivering a package to a remote hospital. He soon finds himself caught in the middle of an outbreak and must fight through hordes of mutated creatures to survive. I've never been the biggest Resident Evil fan. I don't play the games, and I think I gave up on the movies after the 3rd or 4th one, but I'm also a simple woman. I see something directed by Zach Cregger, and I watch.  Having a normie view is probably a good thing going into any adaptation because I had a great time with Resident Evil for the most part. Even though the screenplay isn't as strong as Weapons or Barbarian , you can see how he's growing as a filmmaker. He's very aware of the space he's filming in and some of the shots he sets up leave you so tense knowing something could be just over there and could come flying out at you any minute. The film is at its strongest when Bryan is on his own, on the outskirts of R...

The Emmys moved some pretty big Prime Time awards to the Creative Arts ceremony, so I figured I'd take the time to talk about them separately since I'm not seeing as many new movies this week as I'd like to. This is nowhere near a full list of nominees and winners, for that I suggest you head over the lovely Next Best Picture who listed them all? Me myself? I'm only listing what I feel like talking about.  Outstanding Movie Heads Of State Miss You, Love You People We Meet On Vacation Remarkably Bright Creatures Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan: Ghost War I haven't seen any of these, but this felt like a shoo-in, so I'm not surprised to see it win here.  Outstanding Animated Program Bob’s Burgers: Grand Pre Pre Pre Opening  Rick And Morty: There’s Something About Morty  The Simpsons: Homer? A Cracker Bro?  Smiling Friends: Le Voyage Incroyable De Monsieur Grenouille  South Park: Sermon On The ‘Mount  South Park took some pretty risky swings this season so I'm gl...

I realized recently that I'm going to miss the Emmy ceremony due to a work commitment (why is this on a Monday night and not a Sunday night? Come on!) But even though I won't get to watch the show, I always have opinions. Here's who I think will win, and in some cases, who should win. OUTSTANDING DRAMA The Diplomat The Gilded Age A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms Paradise The Pitt Pluribus Slow Horses Your Friends & Neighbors Who will and Should Win: The Pitt Part of me wishes A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms would take this, because it was delightful, but the Pitt is basically unstoppable in this category. At least it feels like it.   LEAD ACTRESS IN A DRAMA Carrie Coon, The Gilded Age Chase Infiniti, The Testaments Keri Russell, The Diplomat Rhea Seehorn, Pluribus Zendaya, Euphoria Who will win: Keri Russell Who should win: Rhea Seehorn All of these actresses are fantastic but Keri Russell is campaigning pretty hard, and she has the benefit of "His and Hers Emmys...

Official synopsis: A brave girl, Freddy (Delaney Quinn) and her friends must escape a kids television show, "Buddy." Any horror movie about a Barney-esque children's TV show is going to catch my eye, but one from Casper Kelly? The man behind the hilariously annoying short film Too Many Cooks ? That's enough to sell me.  We start the film with the corniness dialed up to 100, in an episode of Buddy. We spend a bit of time there before we get to the secondary plotline involving Grace (Cristin Miloti) a mom in the real world who is slowly starting to lose her mind. This is a brief interlude. Most of the film does take place within the TV show.  I really like the story as a concept, but it feels uneven in the execution. There is a thread that ties Grace's story to Freddy's but it doesn't have the most satisfying conclusion. I think the film would've been better if they had trimmed some of the children's journey on their own and incorporated Grace earlie...

Official synopsis: Kris, (Hannah Einbinder) a director making a slasher sequel becomes obsessed with casting the original film's 'final girl,' Billy (Gillian Anderson) leading both women into psychological and sexual chaos. I have been trying to write this review for days, hoping some additional time would help me decide how I feel about the film as a whole, but alas, I'm still conflicted. Part of it is because it's gotten such glowing reviews and I wanted to love it just as much as everyone else did and how could I, a queer film fanatic NOT be 100% on board with this, but I think I have to accept that Director Jane Schoenbrun's method of storytelling isn't for me.  Let's start positive. Camp Miasma is BEAUTIFUL to look at. The cinematography is gorgeous, the way Schoenbrum frames their scenes is perfect and you can tell they have a great love for slasher films. Not to mention the soundtrack rocks. Gillian Anderson is giving a an excellent campy perform...

The Platt family (Anne Hathaway and Ewan McGregor as Denise and Greg, along with their two children Audrey and Brian played by Maisy Stella and Christian Convery) bands together to navigate their new surroundings after a cosmic event transports their suburban neighborhood to someplace unknown. Maybe it's because Jurassic Park came out when I was a kid and remains one of my favorite movies to this day, but I found it impossible not to think about it during The End of Oak Street. Director David Robert Mitchell makes so many choices that just *feel* like a homage to Spielberg. Honestly, I liked this better than any Jurassic Park sequel we've seen since.  The Platt family is ordinary. No one is a s genius or is highly skilled in fighting, so they really do feel like what the average family would probably be going through in something like this ever happened. Denise and Greg's marriage is already on the rocks before Oak Street is thrown back in time, and I thought it was prett...

San Diego Comic Con used to be THE big nerdy event to look forward to in the summer and it's kind of crazy how much bigger D23 seems now. I mean it's obvious why, when a single company owns so many franchises, but still. I remember when I used to refresh my computer constantly to catch Hall H updates. Anyways I randomly woke up in the middle of the night last night and instead of falling back asleep I watched all the new D23 teasers instead and thought it would be fun to rank them based on my excitement (or lack there of) Not My Monkeys - Not My Circus I would be remiss not to mention that I don't follow EVERY franchise that D23 talked about, so I'm excluding a few things from my official ranking. Percy Jackson and the Olympians - I don't watch this show and I never read the books so I can't put it in my Hype Train, but it seems to be doing pretty well?  Kingdom Hearts - I know so many people that played and loved these games, but I never got into them myself. ...