Rambling Film

What I knew going in: Absolutely nothing. It was just a random title I selected from Bergman's films. Well, here is is. My final Blind Spot film of 2015. I love participating in this so much. When I threw my list together, I saved this one for last because it had "Winter" in the title and seemed fitting. But this is definitely not a cheery movie by any means. Pastor Tomas Ericsson (Gunnar Björnstrand) is having a bit of a spiritual crisis. He goes through the motions at his small church with an even smaller congregation. He's a widower, and frequently refuses the love of a woman, Marta. (Ingrid Thulin) who says she's in love with him. He's also faced with counselling a depressed man named Jonas (Max Von Syndow) though he doesn't know what to say to him since he's barely a believer anymore. This movie is bleak. I'm so torn on how I feel about it. On one hand, I think it was wise of Bergman to have a run time of 81 minutes as this i...

What I knew going in: It was another screwball comedy, and the director seems to think he mostly failed at it. David (Cary Grant) is a paleontologist who is trying to secure a hefty donation for his museum, and also a missing dinosaur bone he needed to complete a skeleton. While out trying to impress the person who may be donating, he crosses paths with Susan (Katharine Hepburn) an irritating heiress who decides she loves him. She drags him into her shenanigans which involve a dog stealing his bone, and her pet leopard Baby escaping.   I had such a strange feeling while watching this. I could feel myself wanting to hate it, Susan is honestly the fucking worst . But I could never stop. It still had these very endearing moments despite me wanting to scream every now and then.  Grant is always good, as is Hepburn. A lot seems to be made of her comedic timing in this film and how hard it was to get her to pull it off. I didn't notice, I thought it worked fine. ...

What I knew going in: Apparently this is Woody Allen's least favorite Bergman film, despite the fact that he's seemingly tried to capture its feel it over and over. It's funny, when I went through a list of Bergman movies and started adding them to my Blind Spots, this was one where I don't even think I looked at the plot. When I watched Wild Strawberries last year, I wondered if that was the closest thing Bergman would ever get to a comedy. Nope, that is this film. Fredrik Egerman (Gunnar Björnstrand) is a lawyer married to a 19 year old, Anne. (Ulla Jacobsson) They haven't consummated their relationship. Fredrik gives her time, but eventually her eyes start to wonder to his son, on a break from seminary school, Henrick. (Björn Bjelfvenstam) Only he's too busy lusting after their hot maid, Petra. (Harriet Andersson) Then you have Fredrik trying to rekindle and old flame in Desiree, (Eva Dahlbeck)  a stage actress. Only she's having an affair with t...

What I knew going in: I had seen clips of this on IFC's Indie Sex documentary. Dawn Wiener (Heather Matarazzo) is an awkward 7th grader who is severely bullied at school and neglected at home in favor of her smarter older brother and her perfect little sister. She has no clue how to act in social situations, so when some people are kind to her, her anger gets the best of her and she lashes out. She's so desperate for attention that she latches on to any boy that will say more than a few words to her.  Being a lover of independent films, I know this is one I probably should've seen awhile ago. It's frequently talked about and has almost somewhat of a cult following. This is a role that Matarazzo will known for the rest of her life for playing. No one could've played Dawn like she did.  As for living up to indie level hype? I'm a bit torn on a few things. While Junior High is quite literally the worst , I was a bit distra...

What I knew going in: That this movie, as many put it is "pretty fucking weird." A woman (Laura Harring) is being driven in the back of a limo. They pull over on Mulholland Dr. and a man in the passenger seat is about to kill her. Suddenly, another car hits them head on, and the woman is the only survivor. She stumbles into an apartment complex where Betty (Naomi Watts) a fresh faced aspiring actress has just arrived from Canada to pursue her dreams. The woman can't remember anything. She says her name is "Rita" but she got it off a movie poster. Betty decides to help Rita find out what happened to her. At the same time, the police investigating the accident know someone is missing. Meanwhile a director, Adam (Justin Theroux) is broke and being bullied into casting a certain woman in his next production. And his wife cheats on him with Billy Ray Cyrus so you know he's having a bad day. I found all the scenes of Rita and Betty's story to be comple...

Paul Sheldon (James Caan) is an author famous for writing a series about a girl named Misery. He decides to kill her off in the final novel so that he can move on to other things. His car skids off the road in a snow storm and he's saved by Annie (Kathy Bates) a nurse who patches him up and calls herself is "number one fan." But whens he gets her hands on his final Misery book, she keeps him captive and forces him to re-write it so that Misery doesn't die. It's really sad how long it's taken me to watch this film. I always got the references when people made Annie Wilkes jokes about super fans, but it's nice to finally watch the whole thing. Aside from the performances, especially Kathy Bates, she was wonderful here, I loved the score. I loved how it was sweet, almost music box like when we first meet Annie, then it gets harsher every time she does something crazy. The suspense is excellent and the film ages well. I never did read the book, though I...

What I knew going in: I had seen the first 15 minutes or so of this movie a long time ago, so I figured it was time to finish it. Travis (Robert De Niro) is an insomniac who drives a cab at night to keep himself busy. He becomes infatuated with a woman named Betsy (Cybill Shepard) who works on a political campaign. He becomes consumed with the idea that the scum must be cleaned from New York City. On his personal quest of becoming the moral police, he focuses on Iris (Jodie Foster) a 12 year old hooker he wants to free from the life she lives. I remember thinking the film was a bit slow when I started it so long ago, but I didn't get that feeling this time around. I actually loved how quiet was. How everything felt so meticulous. De Niro was just excellent here. Probably the best I've seen him.  That shoot out at the end was pretty ridiculous. No one knows how to properly aim a gun apparently, but damn that shot of De Niro putting his own fingers to his head was haunt...

What I knew going in: I've seen bits and pieces of it over the years, and I knew Edward Norton gives a great performance. A hot shot lawyer Martin Vail (Richard Gere) - and we know he's a hot shot because that's literally how he introduces himself to his client picks up a case involving a 19 year old man, Aaron (Edward Norton) who is accused of slaughtering an Archbishop. His former girlfriend, Janet (Laura Linney) ends up as the prosecuting attorney, but Martin starts to believe that his client may actually be innocent of this crime. The one thing keeping me from watching this movie in the past is Richard Gere. I can't stand the guy, and I thought he was terrible here as well. Still, even though he is our lead, all the other actors around him are so good they drown him out. Norton obviously is brilliant. Laura Linney, Alfre Woodard, Andre Braugher, and Maura Tierney give great performances as well, even though they are small. I love a good courtroom drama, an...

What I knew going in: The big reveal - which did not play out like I thought it would. *****Spoiler Alert!***** Ah, The Crying Game . This movie is rather infamous by now, isn't it? I have a friend who saw this in theaters and said people actually walked out. I wish I had been old enough to be there and yell "Y U MAD BRO!?!?!" after all of them.  Jody (Forest Whitaker) is an English solider kidnapped by some IRA soldiers. Fergus (Stephen Rhea) sympathizes with him and in the three days he's held captive, they share stories. Jody talks about his girlfriend, Dil (Jaye Davidson) and how if something happens to him, he wants Fergus to find her and tell her that Jody loves her. Well, something bad happens, so off Fergus goes to find Dil. Okay, I think everyone knows that Dil is a guy. Literally everyone knows that about The Crying Game, but what surprised me was this is actually revealed in the middle of the film. I expected them to kind of go the Sleepaway Cam...

What I knew going in: The basic story. Dr. Frederick Treves (Anthony Hopkins) comes across a side show act centered around a "freak" known as the Elephant Man. This man is actually John Merrick (John Hurt) who suffers from a mysterious illness. Treves attempts to take him away from his abusive life to study him further, only to find out that John is actually a very articulate and gentle soul. It's only March, but this is my favorite one so far. It was shot in 1980, but it's shot in black and white and it makes it feel much older. The story was fascinating, and aggravating at times. Seriously, I wanted to punch that Night Porter so badly. Both Hopkins and Hurt were wonderful. Hurt especially gives a great performance under all that make up. I've had quite a few people tell me this isn't of of Lynch's bests, but honestly, this is fantastic. The only film of his I've seen in full is Eraserhead, and this one felt so different. He's on my Bli...

What I knew going in: That this film would be very trippy, and something about a penis. With the amount of people that told me I need to see this, I was expecting this film to be much older. It was released in 2009. Easily my youngest Blind Spot. Oscar (Nathanial Brown) is an American drug dealer living in Tokyo that is shot and killed early on in the film. The film is shot entirely from his perspective. First as he's alive, he's our eyes in real time. Then after he's passed, we hover above our remaining characters; His younger sister, Linda (Paz del la Huerta) and friends Alex (Cyril Roy) and Victor. (Olly Alexander) This movie is so beyond belief fucked up I can hardly explain it. The opening credits alone should come with a seizure warning. It's full of psychedelic graphics that cut away from the story, but strangely work with the narrative. There were a few times that I found the film to be a bit much, but it was very interesting. The acting in this movie...

What I knew going in: That this was one of the more famous "screwball comedies." Hildy (Rosalind Johnson) was once a star reporter. She walks into her office after a long absence to tell her boss, Walter (Cary Grant) that she quits and is moving to Albany to marry the mild mannered Bruce. (Ralph Bellamy) But Walter is actually Hildy's ex husband, and he spends the rest of the movie trying to convince Hildy to stay and do her job rather than marry. This movie was just plain adorable. It didn't really make me laugh, but it certainly made me smile several times. I like how face paced the dialogue was. I feel like that will be the most memorable part of the film for me. The entire cast was great, especially Grant, even though I wanted to dropkick his character several times throughout. Recommended: Yes Grade: B Memorable Quote: "From now on I thank you to keep your nose out of my affairs." - Walter (Cary Grant)

I had such a good time doing the Blind Spot challenge in 2014 that doing it again was a no brainer. This year's list is a little different though. A few of these movies I've actually seen bits and pieces of, but I've never sat down to watch the entire film in one sitting and I'd like to change that. Here's my list! What have you seen? Am I in for a good year? *EDIT - I have updated my list with their final letter grades.* 1) Misery (A) 2) Primal Fear (A) 3) Mulholland Dr. (B) 4) Smiles of a Summer Night (A-) 5) Taxi Driver (A) 6) Bringing Up Baby (B-) 7) Welcome to the Dollhouse (B) 8) His Girl Friday (B-) 9) The Crying Game (A-) 10)The Elephant Man (A) 11) Winter Light (B-) 12) Enter The Void (B+) (I'm not sure why I saved my gif here. I've had this draft for months, but I'm leaving it because it's hysterical. I suppose it could represent how I feel about awesome movies.)