Thursday Movie Picks: High School Reunions

This week's theme from Wandering Through the Shelves is movies with high school reunions. I've never been to one and I'm not sure that I even care enough to attend mine when it happens. I hated high school that much. In fact, I'm having a hard time coming up with movies this week too. I haven't seen the big ones like Romy and Michelle's High School Reunion and Peggy Sue Got Married. Here's what I got: 

1) American Reunion

This movie had its problems but it managed to be far better than American Wedding and did a great job at capturing the nostalgia of the first two American Pie movies. I especially like the use of songs from the original. MILF for life...

2) Zack and Miri Make a Porno

I actually didn't care for this movie much at all, but the high school reunion scene, the one that gives Zack and Miri their bright idea was one of the highlights. 

3) Just Friends

Okay, so this wasn't technically a "high school" reunion, but it did involve friends from high school meeting up again. Only it was for Christmas. As far as rom coms go, this one wasn't bad. 

DVD Review: Regression

Satanic Panic

Detective Bruce Kenner (Ethan Hawke) is investigating a sex abuse claim by a seventeen year old, Angela (Emma Watson) against her father. (David Dencik) He turns himself in, but he doesn't remember anything. With the help of a psychologist, Kenneth Raines (David Thewlis) they attempt to uncover suppressed memories and soon Angela's story goes beyond a single assault, and turns up satanic rituals.

I was really looking forward to this movie when it was announced. Cults are interesting to me, this sounded up my alley, but I'm also glad I read reviews first to lessen my hype once I saw they were mostly bad.

It's true, this film isn't good. What's frustrating is that it's full of good ideas, but it's poorly executed. It reminded me of an earlier movie this year, The Witch. See, they balanced this slow burn with occasional frightening imagery and pulled it off seamlessly. When Regression attempts to do the same, they completely lose the tone. it's like watching two separate movies. One a police thriller, and the other a bad B movie.

It doesn't help that the acting is truly horrendous. Ethan Hawke, who is normally so reliable completely overreacts at every turn. Emma Watson is wooden as always, but she's actually Goblet of Fire bad here. I didn't think that was possible, but hey, the movie's called Regression. I suppose she can regress back to that time when she was a horrible actress as opposed to a bad one.  I'll give her credit though, her American accent here is much better than it was in Perks of Being a Wallflower.

They got the feel of 90's Satanic Panic down, but not much else. It's truly disappointing.

Recommended: No

Grade: D

Memorable Quote: "I had to have, right?" - John Gray (David Dencik)

Rambling TV: Thoughts on Game of Thrones, Veep, and OITNB

It was the season finale of Game of Thrones and Veep on Sunday, so there goes the bulk of my TV watching. I probably won't write another rambling TV until I pick up a few new shows. But we'll see how it goes.

Game of Thrones

King's Landing - The star of the episode kicked things off in a big way. If you haven't listened to the track Light of the Seven you should. It's one of the best tracks Ramin Djawadi has ever done, and the show incorporated the entire thing. It starts off with Cersei, Margaery, Tommen, and the High Sparrow getting ready for their day. Everyone piles into the sept sans Cersei and Tommen. Loras admits to all his sins and gives himself to the Faith. They carve their symbol in his forehead. Margaery is furious because that wasn't part of her plan. She starts to point out something is wrong because Cersei isn't here, but the HS ignores her. He sends Lancel after Cersei who notices a child running from him beneath the sept. Then he encounters vats of wild fire with a lit candle. It blows up in his face and burns the entire sept, killing everyone inside. Cersei smiles from her balcony and sips wine.

For those keeping track at home, Cersei murdered Lancel, Loras, Margaery, Mace (RIP Tyrells) Kevan, The High Sparrow, and 100+ people.

Oh, and Qyburn's little birds stabbed Grand Maester Pycelle to death.

Then Cersei wine boarded Septon Unella and left her in a torture chamber with Gregor Clegane. 

The Tommen, horrified with all he witnessed from his window throws himself out of it. 

KL ends with Cersei sitting on the Iron Throne like she always wanted. Jaime, who just got back to the city looks on horrified. 

The Twins - Jaime tells Walder Frey that no one fears the Freys, they fear the Lannisters because they came and helped. Then he and his troops leave. Later, a serving girl brings Walder a slice of pie. When he asks where his sons are, she tells him they're in the pie. She removes her face, and it's Arya. She slits Walder's throat after letting him know the last thing he's going to see is a Stark smiling over him. 

I can't help but be extremely disappointed at the way the Red Wedding revenge went down. Lady Stoneheart would've been a better story. The North Remembers subplot from the books with the Manderlys would've been a better story. But no, they gave it all to Arya while asking the audience to suspend their disbelief once again. How is she able to use faces still? How did she managed to kill two men, CARVE them up, and bake them into a pie without anyone noticing? It's frustrating to see one of my favorite characters defy all logic because she's "badass. I hope they improve her next season.

Dorne - Ugh, I know. We had to see them again. Olenna Tyrell told the Sham Snakes to shut up, so that was nice. But then they actually had the nerve to give Doran's famous line to Ellaria. At least Varys finished it. But they're on Dany's side against the Lannisters now.

Winterfell - The direwolves are back in the opening credits! Jon and Sansa have a weak apology about her hiding the Vale army. I thought that would be a bigger deal, but hey, The North Remembers, right? No one is going to want Sansa to rule if she treats people like that. Though she and Jon did have some sweet moments together. Later, Littlefinger tells her he pictures himself on the Iron Throne with her by his side, and he tries to kiss her again, which she refuses. When Lyanna Mormont rallies the Northern lords to name Jon King in the North. LF makes eye contact with Sansa while trying to fuck with her head again. Can this guy die already? 

Earlier in the episode, Davos made Mel confess to Jon about burning Shireen. It was a brilliant moment, and it ended with Mel riding South off to parts unknown. 

Beyond the Wall - Benjen literally lives Bran and Meera without a horse by a weir tree as he goes off to continue fighting for the living. Bran finishes his Tower of Joy vision, which included confirmation of the long running R+L=J theory. Jon isn't really Ned's son. He's the son of his sister Lyanna Stark and Rhaegar Targaryen. We don't get to hear all she whispered to Ned. "Jon" obviously isn't his real name, and we still don't know the real circumstances of her leaving with Rhaegar. I imagine Bran will fill in the blanks next season.

Oldtown - Sam shows up at the Citadel. They have an attended that acts like he works at the DMV. They permit Sam in and he seems their massive library. It looks amazing, and it reminded me of the line Stannis had in season 5 where he said "Keep reading, Samwell Tarly."

Meereen - Dany breaks up with Daario, thank God. She also named Tyrion her Hand of the King which I loved. It was such a beautiful scene. The season ended with Dany and several ships FINALLY sailing to Westeros. Of course we saw the Dragons, but no Direwolves. Dragons ate their CGI budget again.



Veep

Did the new showrunner just shoot this in the foot? I think we all expected Selena to become Tom's Veep again, but instead, Tom lost the election to Montez and now Selena and co are out of jobs. This show works best with them all together in politics. I don't know how it's going to work otherwise. This decision isn't giving me the most confidence going into next season, but I'll watch no matter what. 

Memorable Quotes:
"What am I walking on? "

"... grass, ma'am"

"Your head is so far up Montez's ass, the next time it's Alejandro"s birthday, he's going to come all over your face."

"I need a wallet.  I need to get stamps."

"Nights rated PG squirt-teen"

"I pee sitting down sometimes if it's going to be a long one."

"Kent, can you give a girl a warning before you jam it in the back door?"

Orange is the New Black

I'm on episode 6 now. Nicki is back! I was happy to see her, but sad she's going to go back to using again. That's really depressing. As is Sophia's story, someone needs to let her out of the SHU.

I guess the showrunners don't care that everyone hates their lead because they made Piper even worse by having her accidentally start a white supremacist group and get 3-5 years added on to Maria's sentence. If you remember, she's got the little girl who's dad hates taking her to visit. 

Poussey and So So are my favorite couple on this show. Their relationship has been so sweet. 

Rambling TV is a weekly series where I ramble about the things I've watched on television. Click those gifs to be redirected to their makers. 

Indie Gems: Everyone Else

Alle Anderen

Chris (Lars Eidinger) and Gitti (Birgit Minichmayr) are two Germans visiting Sardinia at Chris' parents vacation home. They're a bit of an oddly matched couple and when they encounter other seemingly happy couples on this trip, they're forced to contemplate whether or not they really are a good match for each other.

This is a very quiet film. Most of the scenes are just with Chris and Gitti trying to find balance between them. Gitti is a free spirit, she's quirky and very humorous. Chris is straight laced and very dedicated to his work as an architect. You kind of wonder how they got together in the first place. I liked how the movie made us see both characters in a positive and negative light before we inevitably started picking sides. Gitti comes on too strong at first, but I ended the film feeling incredibly bad for her as Chris was very condescending. And while he seemed very sweet at the beginning, that eventually changed as it seems he might have developed an allergy to laughter.

The film has some amazing shots and uses music in a very interesting way. Without spoiling anything, it makes sense when you watch it. I enjoy these type of films where they take the time to really examine characters like this. It makes you wonder where they ended up even after the credits roll.

Grade: B

Memorable Quote: "Say it....I hate you." - Gitti (Birgit Minichmayr)

Thursday Movie Picks: School Competitions

This week's theme from Wandering Through the Shelves is school competition. You know, those things we take way too seriously as teens. The only restriction is that it can't be a sporting event.  I couldn't really think of movies I loved that were centered around competitions so here's two that are just okay, and one that's a bit of a cop out on my part. 

1) Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

 This film had a great ending but missed on so many other levels. Hermione's pink Yule ball dress, Harry and Ron's hair, "HARRY DID YOU PUT YOUR NAME IN THE GOBLET OF FIRE!?!?!??!?!" But hey, it centered around the Tri Wizard tournament, which was a magical competition. This pick stands out from the rest as it actually involves a participant that dies. 

2) Pitch Perfect

When I first saw the trailer for Pitch Perfect, a movie about a college a capella competition, I thought it looked terrible. Turns out, it wasn't that bad. It was actually quite amusing minus Rebel Wilson. She's kind of the worst. 

3) Mean Girls

Here's my cop out. Caty competes in a math competition at the end of the movie. I'm sorry, I tried. I literally could not think of another school competition movie that I liked. I know I can't sit with you today. 

DVD Review: Locke

This commute, man...

Ivan Locke (Tom Hardy) is a construction manager and a seemingly decent family man with a wife and a son. Only tonight, he's driving two hours away because his mistress is having his baby. Not even a mistress, a one night stand. Ivan has to deal with his job, his angry wife, and his nervous girlfriend.

Movies like this a hard. It's literally just Tom Hardy in a car for 85 minutes talking to people on the phone. We recognize some of those voices, Andrew Scott, Ruth Wilson, but it's Hardy that's tasked with carrying the picture. Luckily he does. This role felt different. I'm used to Tom playing an abrasive asshole or someone that's kind of out there. This was about as grounded as I've ever seen him.

Obviously a film like this has limits. It can't really excel above anything because of the gimmick in place. Luckily we have someone like Hardy guiding us along. Director Steve Knight shoots it as well as he can. I appreciate the experiment. I can't say I had high expectations for this one, but it wasn't bad. At times it was very good, but it just happens to exist and can't be anything more.

Can you tell I'm struggling to write about this?

Recommended: No

Grade: C-

Memorable Quote: "How can I hate you, I don't know you." - Ivan Locke (Tom Hardy)

Rambling TV: Thoughts on Game of Thrones, Veep + more

Since this is my first post of the week, I have to talk about Anton Yelchin's tragic death. This guy was a fantastic actor and one I've enjoyed watching since I first saw him in Alpha Dog all those years ago. Watching the new Star Trek movie is going to have an underlying sadness now. RIP.


Game of Thrones

Only two locations to talk about this week, but man did they deliver

Meereen
Dany has had enough of Tyrion's shit. She meets with the three Slavers as they attack Meereen and tells them she's here to accept their surrender, and that her reign is just beginning. Then Drogon flies in, she hops on his back, and Rhaegal and Viserion break out of their tomb and they destroy the slavers ships. Grey Worm gets the honor of killing two of the Slavers himself, including the extra douchey one. Later, Yara and Theon meet with Dany in the throne room and offer their services to her. She accepts.

The dragon CGI was SO much better than Daznak's Pit last year. I wish it would've looked like this the entire time. It's rare that I nerd out over the dragons, I'm more of a direwolf girl, but this was awesome.

Winterfell
Snowbowl begins! Jon, Davos, Tormund, Sansa, and Lyanna Mormont (glaring at Ramsay the whole time) treat with Ramsay and co at the beginning. Ramsay throws Shaggydog's severed head to prove he has Rickon (seriously, they kept that thing?) Sansa says he's going to die tomorrow. Later, she bitches about not being included in the war planning because she's the only one that knows Ramsay, yet she doesn't tell Jon about the Vale army. Had she done that, perhaps more people would be alive. Jon acts rashly later on, but Sansa was even more reckless, in my opinion. I really hated what she did in this episode until the very end.

Ramsay sends Rickon off running towards Jon while shooting arrows, right as Rickon is about to make it, he's shot through the heart and killed. It was a very tense scene and so sad to see the youngest Stark go out like that. The last time Jon saw him, he was just a little boy fetching his arrows, and now one killed him. Jon charges early.

The battle was tremendous. It starts with this glorious long shot of Jon fighting. It looked like something that belonged on the big screen. This deserves every CGI award out there. Words cannot describe it. At the end, when Sansa's secret Vale army makes the save, Jon races after Ramsay in Winterfell and beats the shit out of him. It was so pleasing.

The battle wasn't without it's casualties. Wun Wun died. Tormund went all Rick Grimes on Smalljon Umber which was fantastic. Davos found out about Shireen's death right before it happened. It ends with Sansa watching Ramsay being eaten alive by his hounds. It was a fitting moment, and even though she pissed me off at the beginning of the episode, I'm glad she was there for that. Her walk away from him reminded me of when she walked out of the throne room in King's Landing after she found out she no longer had to marry Joffrey. 

Next week's episode has a lot of ground to cover. I can't wait.

Veep

Did anyone else feel terrible for Mike in this episode? I didn't realize everyone hated him so much. This was different as it was shot through Catherine's documentary. It was an interesting touch. So Tom James is going to be the President. Will Selena be his Veep? I think she will.

Memorable Quotes: 

"That's the least reassuring sentence I've heard since it's okay, it's just the tip." 

"Is it weird going hallway to hallway with your mom's twin?"

"Why would I want to stand next to that twig when I can stand next to you.

"Alabama, first in the alphabet, last in everything else."

The Path
I started watching The Path because I love Aaron Paul and have a fascination with religious cults. Turns out Hulu isn't free anymore. Like at all, even the hulu.com/free wants you to sign up for something. So instead, I'm watching a very filtered version on youtube where the voices are lowered dramatically to get around copyright infringement. Even with all that, it's interesting so far. Hugh Dancy is a creep.

Orange is the New Black
I've watched the first two episodes so far, and saw a massive spoiler later on that's breaking my heart, but I won't talk about it until I get there.

OINTB is always brilliant with their song choices, but hearing Last Resort by Papa Roach as Alex and Lully are literally cutting up the CO that tried to kill Alex last season was priceless. I usually never enjoy Alex, but I loved her in that first episode.

Piper of course is an insufferable bitch. It's interesting to see how far Red has fallen too. Season 1 Red would've had the girl that snores moved out of her bunk, but not anymore. 

Rambling TV is a weekly series where I ramble semi-coherently about the things I watch on television, mostly under the influence of wine. Click those gifs to be redirected to their makers.