Posts

In Case You Missed It

Review: The Devil Wears Prada 2

-
Official synopsis:  Andy Sachs (Anne Hathaway) reunites with Miranda Priestly (Meryl Streep) as they navigate their careers amid the decline of traditional magazine publishing. When this was initially announced as a sequel, I had zero interest in seeing it. With so many legacy TV shows and movies doing reboots lately, it's just not something I'm ever moved to see, no matter how much I loved the original product. But, like I'm sure the studio would have it, the marketing began to sway me, and suddenly I was accepting of a sequel to a film so iconic. Get my clown make up ready, because I loved this. I went into it with expectations on the lower side and I came out enjoying it almost as much as I did the original. (No Adrien Grener really helps) The fan service to the original was integrated well and kept brief. The story ended up being a lot more intriguing than I gave it credit for. Choosing to focus on the decline of journalism in print was a good choice. I think there'...
6 comments
Read more

Review: The Chaplain and the Doctor

-
Image
Official Synopsis:  Two unlikely allies (Betty Clark and Jessica Zitter) work to bring curiosity, connection, and compassion to a broken healthcare system, one patient at a time. I'm pretty ignorant when it comes to Chaplains in hospitals. I didn't even realize they are mostly non-denominational and serve everyone. I just assumed, since the U.S puts such a heavy focus on Christianity that they would be too. I'm sure some are. But Betty Clark prays and shows compassion to everyone. While I came in skeptical, she easily swayed me. Jessica Zitter, the titular doctor and director of this doc is initially dismissive of Betty. When Betty calls her out on a microaggression in the work place, Zitter at first gets angry, then realizes she was wrong and apologies. And that's one of the main points of this documentary. Acknowledging your biases, and trying to move through them. We see plenty examples of this through their interactions with patients. A black woman with sickle cell ...
2 comments
Read more

2026 Blind Spot Series: The Manchurian Candidate (1962)

-
Image
  Official Synopsis:  An American POW in the Korean War is brainwashed as an unwitting assassin for an international Communist conspiracy. What I knew going in: The basic plot I worked at a movie theater in high school when the 2004 remake of this came out, but I never watched it. All I knew is that they changed a lot of major plot points to modernize it. I figured when I was ready to take the Manchurian plunge, I'd start with the original. And I'm not going to lie, there were times where I wished I was watching Denzel instead of Frank Sinatra or Laurence Harvey, because lets be real they don't hold a candle to him, BUT thankfully this is a solid political thriller overall. It did a good job making you guess and building tension, though not without a few red herrings. It's the ladies that are the biggest draw and also the biggest question mark of this film. Angela Lansbury give a great villain performance. Her scheming Eleanor Shaw is by far the most memorable characte...
8 comments
Read more

Review: Mother Mary

-
Image
Official synopsis : Long-buried wounds rise to the surface when iconic pop star Mother Mary (Anne Hathaway) reunites with her estranged best friend and former costume designer, Sam  Anselm (Michaela Coel), on the eve of her comeback performance.   Coel, Hathway, beautiful costumes, pop music, horror elements, could anything be more made for me? That's what I hoped to find with David Lowery's latest. He's a director whose films I've enjoyed in the past. So did he do it? For the most part, I was absolutely vibing with everything. Coel is giving a Shakespearean performance. Her monologues are intense and full of intrigue. Hathaway is broken, but comes alive on stage. She's very committed to her role as a pop star. Especially during a particular dance number that's stripped quite bare. Lowery wants the audience to have their own interpretations to what's happening now, what happened then, he leaves a lot of room for us to fill in the blanks. Almost too much room...
4 comments
Read more

What I Watched on TV in April

-
Image
Welcome back to me still trying to figure out how I want to talk about TV on my blog. It's been a BUSY TV month. I only made it to the theater three times (Solid films all around though) and the rest of my movie watching has been on airplane seat backs as April was another busy travel month. But I watched a ton of TV and have so many thoughts. The Pitt (Season 2) - The season is officially finished. I don't think it wrapped up as neatly as season 1 did, but I won't lie and say I wasn't glued to my TV every Thursday waiting to see what happens next. I am worried that Robby "getting close to hitting rock bottom" will be a bit overbearing if they keep going that route in season 3. There's only so many times Noah Wyle can stare sadly at the screen before he turns into an Elizabeth Moss Handmaid's Tale staring parody. I'm sad a talent like Supriya Ganesh is leaving. I get it's a "teaching hospital" and makes sense characters would leave, ...
4 comments
Read more

Review: I Swear

-
Image
Official Synopsis:  John Davidson (Robert Aramayo) was diagnosed with Tourette's syndrome at a young age in the 80's which alienated him from his peers as he struggled with a condition few people had witnessed. I've been singing Robert Aramayo's praises for the past couple of years due to his work on Prime's Rings of Power. His Elrond is better than Hugo Weavings. There, I said it. So I've been anticipating this film for quite some time. Even with the BAFTAs controversy looming over it, I Swear will likely go down in history as THE movie about Tourette's Syndrome.  We meet John as a young teenager played by Scott Ellis Watson. Life is going good for him until he starts developing ticks that he can't control. We then skip 13 years and catch up with John as an adult, who starts to live with his friend's family and bonds with Dottie ( Maxine Peake) and eventually gets a job alongside Tommy. (Peter Mullen)  The film skips the initial diagnosis process in...
4 comments
Read more

2026 Blind Spot Series: The Star

-
Image
  What I knew going in : Nothing Two Blind Spots in one month? Who is she?! Someone who hasn't been to the theater to see a new wide release and who has been spending a lot of time binging TV shows, that's who. But I missed talking about movies, so I decided to head over to the Bette David collection on HBO Max. What drew me to The Star , aside from the fact that it stars both Davis and Natalie Wood was the fact that the premise sounded so similar to All About Eve , which I loved. I just had to see why Davis would want to do this again. And while the stories are very different, one of them is a clear winner. And this ain't it. I wouldn't call this movie "bad" because Bette is truly captivating as always, but she is the only one that is delivering her lines in an unstilted way. This is a very weak script, especially when it comes to the dialogue. There's plenty of platitudes and exposition. Poor Natalie Wood basically has to word vomit all her thoughts beca...
7 comments
Read more