Rambling Film

Official Synopsis: If you found out we weren't alone, if someone showed you, proved it to you, would that frighten you? I have to say, even after my lukewarm response to The Fabelmans , I was pretty excited for the new Spielberg joint. But I did spiral a bit afterwards. Is Steven Spielberg a dated filmmaker? There were so many moments during Disclosure Day where I thought to myself "Oh, that reminds me of films in the 80's/90's" or "That shot reminds me of things I watched as a kid" at what point are you intentionally nostalgic, or just using dated cuts and edits? It might be a silly question but that's the biggest question I've been asking myself since watching it.  For what it's worth, I did really enjoy Disclosure Day , even if I'm leaning towards "dated." The central mystery was good. Josh O'Connor and Emily Blunt are both excellent actors and it makes their characters easy to follow. Especially Blunt's, as she ge...

Official synopsis: After a therapist's (Renate Reinsve) patient (Chiwetel Ejiofor) disappears into a dimension beyond reality, she must venture into the unknown to save him. I was not familiar with director Kane Parsons' long going Backroom series on the web. And I made the decision not to research it at all before going into this. I really wanted to see if this film worked without knowledge of the existing lore.  The thing is, I was really with Backrooms for the first 2/3 of the film. The production design is outstanding. The 90's setting worked very well and you wouldn't really think of bright yellow office spaces as being unsettling, but it is. It teases you properly with what the reveal could be, but when it comes time to end the thing, it seems Parsons and crew either didn't have those answers, or they cared more about baiting a sequel because this has easily one of the most unsatisfying endings I've seen in a long time. And the more I sit with it, the mor...

  What I knew going in: That famous quote It occurred to me recently that there's a handful of Julia Robert's 90's films that I haven't actually seen, but I feel like I have based on how popular they are in the pop culture zeitgeist. Notting Hill is one of those. Aside from the famous "I'm just a girl, standing in front of a boy, asking him to love her" quote, what do I actually know about this movie? Not much. Not even the year it was made, because if you had asked me, I would've guessed somewhere between 1990-1994, and not 1999 when this actually came out. I'm not sure how I missed this. I really did just watch Step Mom on repeat I guess. This was cute. Juila Roberts and Hugh Grant are charming. Sure, this film left me with plenty of questions, like how does William survive on a Travel Book Store, what exactly DOES Anna see in him, and how has Spike managed to stay alive all this time? But it doesn't need to be serious enough to answer thos...

Basically all of the shows I've been watching ended over the past couple of weeks, I have plenty of finales to talk about. Diet spoilers ahead. I'm trying to keep them as light as possible.  Daredevil: Born Again - Whether it's on Netflix or Disney Plus, one thing Daredevil has never been able to escape is being dragged into some melodrama. I'm not going to say the entire season was a disaster, because there are absolutely things that worked, and it's not the show's fault that Andor tackled similar subject matter so much better last year. I'm left with the following questions. 1. Why are we still focusing on Heather? It makes sense she's traumatized after nearly dying last season, but now she's Matt's enemy. Do we really need to focus another one of King Pin's underlings? Her choking scene with Buck was very cringy. 2. Where is Frank Castle? I normally try not to ask myself "where is X character" in a super hero universe because w...

Official Synopsis:  Once a lone bounty hunter, Mandalorian Din Djarin (Pedro Pescal) and his apprentice Grogu embark on an exciting new Star Wars adventure. As a Star Wars fan, I feel like I'm put in a bit of a precarious position when it comes to this film. Did this NEED to be a movie, instead of a few more episodes of the existing TV show? Probably not. Did Ludwig Gorannson's score absolutely slap in an IMAX theater sound system? Abso-fucking-lutely.  I just can't bring myself to hating on a movie I had such a good time watching in a theater. Realistically, this could've been three episodes of the already successful TV show. It followed the same format of Mando and Grogu's adventures. Rotta The Hut (Jeremy Allen White) was a fun inclusion as the Huts are always interesting to behold. And Star Wars Rebels fans got thrown a bone with Zeb (Steve Blum) The thing is, if you're going to make the extra effort to make this a movie, they could've added a bit more c...

  Official Synopsis:  Two sisters Racine and Anaia (Kara Young and Mallori Johnson) embark on an epic quest for revenge; confronting a charged family history that will push them to extraordinary lengths. Is God Is sold me immediately on the trailer alone. At the time, I had no idea this was writer/director Alesha Harris' debut work. And even after watching it, it's hard to believe this was someone's first time behind the camera. Harris has such a clear vision for what she wants here. A southern gothic revenge story that feels like you're watching poetry in motion. There times when the twins are talking to each other with looks only, and the accompanying subtitle comes up on screen. I thought she used that very effectively (and at times hilariously) There's a decent amount of dark humor in this story, which is much needed considering it follows two women looking for one of the worst on-screen fathers I've ever seen in my life. You know all along Racine and Anai...