Rambling Film

Review:  A directionless man, Colin (Harry Melling) is swept off his feet when an enigmatic, impossibly handsome biker, Ray (Alexander Skarsgard) takes him on as his submissive. Alexander Skarsgard in leather? Say no more. I have been wanting to see this film for ages and my local indie theater finally opened it. And while I'm not surprised a film like this didn't get any academy love, I can't believe they let a performance like Harry Melling's just fly under the radar this year.  Colin is a nice, but awkward guy. His parents are trying to set him up on dates, but he's drawn to Ray. Of course you can't blame him. LOOK at Ray, but Colin gets thrown head first into what it's like to be in a dom/sub life. I think because I'm not as familiar with that kink, I expected there to be a bit more talk on consent. Maybe that's the point director Harry Lighton was trying to make. Colin can't just go with the flow in a relationship. He too has needs that dese...

  Official Synopsis:  When his family goes away for summer vacation, Richard (Tom Ewell) with an overactive imagination is tempted by a sexy new neighbor. (Marilyn Monroe) What I knew going in: Only Marilyn Monroe's iconic skirt scene.  Movies like this make me question my attraction to men. Every man in this film is a complete dog. I'm used to that with films in the 50's but damn was it dialed up to 11 here.  Objectively there was some decent comedic timing here and there. Ewell and Monroe are both believable in the caricatures they are playing. You can hardly call them anything but that. I'm mostly just a little shocked at how much I disliked this. I wasn't expecting anything groundbreaking but everything about this was just so off putting.  When the nicest thing you can say about a film is "Marilyn Monroe is beautiful" there's a problem. This one wasn't for me. Grade: D 

  It's been a while since I talked about what I've been watching on the small screen, but believe me, plenty has been going on. A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms - Okay, technically this was a February watch, but it's been my favorite show of the year so far and it feels SO GOOD to love something from Game of Thrones again. This show has a much lighter tone from it's predecessors and that fits very well into the Dunk and Egg short stories its adapting from. Some of cut-a-ways they do are funnier than what's happening in actual comedy shows right now. I love it. It's only 6 episodes, so if you haven't started, you really should. Casting is A+++ as always.  The Pitt Season 2 - I was late to the Pitt party so I was able to binge the first season back to back, and let me tell you it's EXCRUCIATING not being able to do that for season 2. Don't get me wrong, I like having something to look forward to next week, but every episode immediately makes you want th...

Official synopsis : WWII-era Tommy Shelby (Cillian Murphy) emerges from rural solitude when son Duke's (Barry Keoghan) Birmingham gang strikes a deal with a Nazi agent (Tim Roth), trading war supplies and counterfeit currency that threatens to destabilize Britain's wartime economy. Peaky Blinders wasn't always a perfect show, but it's one I enjoyed quite a bit. I was late to the party, I didn't start watching until COVID, but you're never too late to start. Peaky Blinder's final season was easily the weakest. One of the main cast members, Helen McCrory passed away from cancer, so they had to completely re-write the story and her Polly Gray was such an integral part of the plot that it was never going to match the greatness of the previous seasons. Still, even after all of that, I was looking forward to The Immortal Man and getting back into the Peaky universe. I can say as a fan of the series, that I regret watching this movie. It's not that it's po...

Official synopsis:  A father-to-be (Daniel Roher) tries to figure out what is happening with all this AI insanity. The Sundance Film Festival is always a good place to start when looking for new documentaries to follow throughout the year. This one in particular had quite a few good reviews after leaving the festival, but even I was surprised to see my theater actually opening it this weekend. I rarely see our big chain theater open documentaries, so I immediately wanted to support it. Of course I was the only one in the theater but hey! I did my part! The same team that brings us the AI Doc also brought us the Oscar winning Navalny . The production value is very good and leans heavily into the art that director/subject Roher makes. His drawings fill the screen in between talking heads, and he gets quite a few of those. The doc starts with the AI doomers, then the AI enthusiasts, then the big CEOs of some of these companies (minus two very well-known douchebags) Then it brings in ...

Official synopsis:  Science teacher Ryland Grace (Ryan Gosling) wakes up alone on a spaceship light-years from Earth. As his memory returns, he uncovers a mission to stop a mysterious substance killing the sun, and save Earth. An unexpected friendship may be the key. Andy Weir is an author I've really come to enjoy over the past decade. I enjoyed Project Hail Mary too, and I already knew Gosling was in line to play this role while reading it. So how does the film stack up even with my book reader expectations? Pretty darn good! I will admit, tonally the two mediums are quite different. It's no surprise that directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller leaned heavily into the comedic moments. It's what they're good at, and it works more often than it doesn't.  Ryan Gosling is really the perfect actor to tackle someone like Grace. He has the perfect balance between comedic and dramatic abilities. Grace is a dorky middle school science teacher, but he's a damn smart ...