Rambling Film

This week's TV theme from Wandering Through The Shelves is all about those movies that were so popular they spawned TV shows. There's an alarming amount of animated options that fit this week, which is where I decided to take this theme. 1) Aladdin Did you know there was an Aladdin TV series that came out a few years after the movie? I did. I used to watch it. It was goofy and took place after The Return of Jafar, and that's about all I remember from it. 2) How To Train Your Dragon: Race To The Edge The popular film franchise also spawned a Netflix show that had 6 seasons. I'm not sure I saw all of this, but I'd watch occasionally with my son and while the animation wasn't the sharpest and it didn't have the music the movies did, it was still a pretty decent companion piece for the films that let you get to know the characters a bit better. 3) The Lion Guard I had to talk about this show because I rejoiced when my son grew out of it. It...

The film industry may be at a standstill during the pandemic but TV was flourishing and we're finally in official Emmy season! I have so much to talk about with these nominations. There's a LOT i love, a few things I'm sad about and some surprising snubs. Below is a list of the acting nominations + my thoughts. Outstanding Drama Series Better Call Saul The Crown Killing Eve The Mandalorian The Handmaid’s Tale Stranger Things Succession Ozark The biggest shocker here is The Mandalorian! I'm psyched for the show and never in a million years thought they'd actually be nominated. The snub in this category is Pose though. They had an excellent second season and not getting anything here stings. Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series Jennifer Aniston, The Morning Show Olivia Colman, The Crown Jodie Comer, Killing Eve Laura Linney, Ozark Sandra Oh, Killing Eve Zendaya, Euphoria Zendaya got in! She was a dark horse so I'm happy for her. Nicole Kidman and Reese Withe...

It's a forever home. Gemma (Imogen Poots) and her boyfriend Tom (Jesse Eisenberg) are looking at purchasing a house. They go to a property management office and meet a very strange man named Martin (Jonathan Aris) who takes them to view a development full of identical houses...then they find out they can't leave. They're stuck eating tasteless food, no matter where they run, they end up back at house # 9 and on top of that ,they receive a mysterious package with a live baby in it and the note "raise the child, and you can leave." When I first saw the trailer for this, I was immediately sold on the creepy premise. And the film keeps that suspense up throughout. So much so that I wish they had expanded on it a bit more. Don't get me wrong, it's not completely ambiguous. It reminds me a bit of Ghost Story or Mother! These films do come full circle like this one does, but it still does leave some questions up in the air. Imogen Poots really acts her ass off ...

I was in a documentary mood last week and every free moment I got went towards that. I have a few other posts, my monthly Rambling TV and another I'm doing specifically about things I've streamed on Hulu that will have more docs in them, but these are three that don't fit in either of those categories. Showbiz Kids - HBO's newest offering from Alex Winter. I thought this was fascinating, yet lacking. There were a variety of emotions from the actors. One of my favorite actresses, Evan Rachel Wood was very matter of fact about her long career and what she loved about it and the harsh reality it can become. (Though now I *really* need to find out which pedophile won a Golden Globe in 2017...that comment was striking) Mara Wilson was another striking speaker. I had read her book a few years ago so I knew a lot of her stories but I think she's just an interesting person, it was nice to hear from her again. Wil Wheaton comes off as very bitter about his time as a child a...

This week's theme from Wandering Through The Shelves is movies that have secret doorways and/or worlds. I had two picks come to mind fairly quickly and both are very obvious choices. The other I had to think about for a while. Here are three films I love with secret doors 1) The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe Of course I had to go with the Wardrobe, that's the ultimate secret door, right? I actually didn't know anything about Narnia before this movie came out but my then boyfriend was a huge fan of the books. I really liked the first two movies. The third was a bit of a dud, but it's still a shame they couldn't continue with the story for the fans.  2) Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix There's quite a few secret doors in Harry Potter but I'm going with the film that introduces the Room of Requirements that only appears when a person really needs something. Also, it's the only one of the HP movies not wr...

I want to be the master of her. Iya (Viktoria Miroshnichenko) is a young woman working in a hosptiral in a post war Leningrad. It's 1945, the fighting has stopped but the recovery will take agees. Iya fought herself, and now suffers from seizures that make her zone out for minutes at a time. This and her tall stature earn her the nickname "Beanpole." When we're first introduced to her, she has a young son, Pashka. (Timofey Glazkov) When tragedy strikes, we find out that it's not her child, but her friend Masha's. (Vasilisa Perelygina) Masha also fought in the war, and wound has left her infertile. Now Iya's owes her another child, and we follow the strange relationship between these two women.  The first thing I noticed was how warm it looks. For a film about something so dreary, the greens, yellows, and reds practically burn through the screen. The cinematography is gorgeous. Initially when Masha first comes on screen, I was wondering how I was going to b...

What happens to all lost girls? A young couple, Rose (Odessa Young) and Fred (Logan Lerman) are temporarily living with Fred's mentor/professor Stanley (Michael Stuhlbarg) and his reclusive wife, author Shirley Jackson. (Elisabeth Moss) Rose is a fan of her work, but Shirley is agoraphobic and isn't happy with her new guests. Her stance towards Rose changes when she becomes obsessed with a missing girl's story while working on her newest novel.  This is very highly praised on Film Twitter. I expected my biggest struggle was going to be whether or not I can ignore Elisabeth Moss's Scientology background (why is such a good actress in such an awful cult?) but as fate would have it, I'd struggle with all of this. I'll give this film credit where its due, it's definitely not like a traditional biopic. You don't necessarily learn a lot about Jackson and it's certainly not filmed like one, which gives it the edge of not being more of the same. I didn't...