Rambling Film

Official synopsis:  At 11:30pm on October 11th, 1975, a ferocious troupe of young comedians and writers lead by Lorne Michaels (Gabriel LaBelle) changed television forever. Find out what happened behind the scenes in the 90 minutes leading up to the first broadcast of Saturday Night Live. SNL has been on longer than I've been alive. I don't know a world without it, and it's something I've always watched. (Yes, SNL is still funny. It's always been funny, but everyone has their off days/shows) So watching a film by Jason Reitman, I director I generally enjoy was a given. Reitman must be living in his Aaron Sorkin era because I felt him all over the script. The dialogue is fast paced, there's a lot of quick cuts. It reminded me a lot of The Newsroom in places. That snappy feel is what I enjoyed most about Saturday Night .  Everything is two seconds away from falling apart, but they keep plugging away. The cast is varied. You have actors like Dylan O'Brien and

Official Synopsis:  Three brothers (Daniel Portman, Brian Vernel, Calum Ross) return to the remote woodland where they killed their abusive father (Paul Higgins) only to discover his shallow grave is now empty, forcing them to question one another's loyalty with devastating consequences as fear and paranoia set in. Know this before going into Betrayal - originally titled Kill : (that's how you'll find it on Letterboxd) you will need to suspend a lot of disbelief. At first, it comes easy. We wouldn't have a movie if the brothers didn't make on crucial mistake at the beginning of the film.  But as the film went on, it was more of a struggle to continue to give it grace. The way flashbacks are introduced felt a bit clumsy, even though they are absolutely necessary for the story. There's a bigger secret hinted at throughout that in the end just felt like more of a distraction.  On the other side of it, Daniel Portman gives an amazing performance. He's always be

Official synopsis:  Follows twin brothers (Richard Madden) who find themselves in a dangerous love triangle on an isolated Greek island. The investigation is given to "The Jealousy Man," a wounded detective. (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) I would love to know what the working title of this film was, because I cannot imagine Killer Heat being the first choice. It is however, the first red flag in a film that it's horrible, but is very uninspired. Look, Joseph Gordon-Levitt is my favorite actor and he would do really well in a modern noir with a great script (Rian Johnson, stop giving him cameos only!) but this just wasn't it. I'm offering it a lot of grace for him, Richard Madden, and Shalene Woodley. While the central mystery is easy to guess, I just found this hollow. The narration and the actual dialogue between characters don't mesh well and I kept wishing these exact people were just in a better movie. Everything was disjointed, especially when they incorporate f

Official synopsis:  In this intimate portrayal of friendship, transition, and America, Will Ferrell and his close friend of thirty years Harper Steele decide to go on a cross-country road trip to explore a new chapter in their relationship. Harper Steele didn't get to become her authentic self until she was close to 60. As you can imagine, her buddy Will Ferrell (and many others) have questions. So what better way to explore those questions than a cross country road trip across the U.S, going to random bars and drinking shitty beer? That's what Harper and Will do, and they tackle the tough questions while having plenty of laughs and touching moments along the way. I shouldn't be surprised at how authentic this felt, but I'm a pretty cynical person. I wondered how this framing would work and it turns out, perfectly. Yes, there's tense moments, like when Harper and Will find themselves in a Texas steakhouse and the homophobes of Twitter go nuts about it, but most of i

Official Synopsis: Reality Winner (Emilia Jones) is a brilliant young misfit from Texas who finds her morals challenged while serving in the U.S. Air Force and working as an NSA contractor. If you live in the U.S, the name "Reality Winner" probably rings a bell. In fact, Emilia Jones says something along those lines at the beginning of the film. Just last year, another film - Reality ( I reviewed it ) was released. This film is very different, but I think they both should be seen as companion pieces. Director Susanna Fogel isn't interested in Reality's arrest, which was what Reality the film focused on. Instead she is interested in her life as a whole. How did this outspoken Texas teen become the woman we all know today? It's told with Jones' deadpan narration, a plucky soundtrack, and the occasional laugh.  It's a fun watch. I didn't find it as inspired as Reality , and I cannot stress enough that you should see both, but it's nice to see what J

Official Synopsis: This tense, touching, and funny portrait of family dynamics follows three estranged sisters (Carrie Coon, Natasha Lyonne, Elizabeth Olsen) as they converge in a New York apartment to care for their ailing father and try to mend their own broken relationship with one another. Despite a cast of women that I absolutely love, the first few minutes of His Three Daughters was not selling me. It felt stilted, unnatural. I wondered if the entire movie would feel like actors talking at each other instead of sisters going through one of the toughest moments in life together. But thankfully, I ended up fully immersed in their hardship and by the end I was a blubbering mess. This film really makes you feel the space of this apartment. By the end of it, you could probably draw the layout. No one is on top of each other, but it's close enough proximity to rarely have a moment to yourself, though Rachel (Lyonne) certainly tries. Having gone through these final moments with lov