Rambling Film

Hey, what does this coke smell like?   Don't let this film's hefty 3 hour run time scare you away. If anyone can make a 3 hour comedy work, it's writer Terance Winter and director Martin Scorsese. Yes, you read that right.   Jordan Belfort (Leonardo DiCaprio) is an ambitious young stock broker who after making decent money with a firm that abruptly closes, decides to turn his attention to penny stocks instead. You see, he gets 50% commission off of those, and soon he's assembled some of his friends, Donnie, (Jonah Hill) Nicky, (P.J Byrne) Robbie, (Bryan Sacca) and Alden (Henry Zebrowski) and teaches them his sales approach. Soon, they've turned a shady operation from an auto garage into a massive multi-million dollar company that loves spending its money on hookers and drugs. And no, none of this is very legal. Soon Jordan finds himself under the eyes of FBI agent Denham. (Kyle Chandler, the film's sole weak link.)   When you think of Scorsese, an...

You're nothing to me until you're everything.   "Some of this actually happened." Those are the words that greet us on screen when this film starts. The film follows Irving Rosenfeld, (Christian Bale) a con man who has been running business smoothly with his mysterious lover Sydney Prosser (Amy Adams) until they accept a bribe from an undercover FBI agent named Richie DiMaso.(Bradley Cooper) He is very energetic and has high hopes for these two. He wants to use them to con some politicians, their first target is Mayor Carmine Polito, (Jeremy Renner) a really good guy that's caught in a bad place. DiMaso is not that stable, that we get just from his interactions with his boss (Louis C.K) He starts falling for Sydney, only she's "Edith" a British Lady with connections in London. Then there's Irvings spaztastic wife, Rosalyn. (Jennifer Lawrence) Calling her a "loose canon" is the biggest understatement of the year.   God, this c...

They only look sweet and innocent.     Violet (Alexis Bledel) and Daisy (Saoirse Ronan) are two young assassins. On the outside, they could be any other 20 something and teenager. They're obsessed with a singer named Barbie Sunday, and take an easy job with the sole purpose of using the money to buy expensive dresses from Sunday's new line. Of course, the job can't be that easy. Violet gets a little lazy, and Daisy is, to put it lightly, a bit of a spaz, they fall alseep waiting for their target, a kind man named Michael (James Gandolfini) who seems to be expecting them. He's very courteous and kind, and now the girls are a little apprehensive of killing him. Plus the ran out of bullets.   I really liked this one as a whole. You can tell the film took inspiration from Quentin Tarantino, what with the ultra violence yet light heartiness of some scenes. Violet's been in this game awhile it seems, yet she's still haunted from some of her past experienc...

There is only one prop I can give this film..   Based on a true story, a man named Robert Hansen (John Cusak) has been kidnapping, raping, and murdering girls in the middle of bumfuck nowhere Alaska for ages. One of these girls, Cindy Paulsen (Vanessa Hudgens) actually escapes him, and the police won't believe her story because she's a prostitute and he's some outstanding citizen. It's up to about-to-move-away police officer Jack Holcombe (Nicolas Cage) to bring this man to justice since he's the only one that believes Cindy.   I'd say "no one can possibly be this stupid" but since this actually happened, apparently the police can actually discredit a bunch of very related deaths as the work "not of a serial killer" and not believe a victim that gives a pretty clear description of who took her. That's really a damn shame for the real Cindy Paulson. (who came forward with her story to the film makers)   Cage and Hudgens are ...

Merry Christmas, fellow bloggers! I wish you and your families all the best, and I hope your holidays are full of joy...and cookies. Always cookies. I leave you with this - One of my favorite songs from an animated movie. Once Upon A December from Anastasia.

& the Magical Cactus and 2012   Apparently the title of this film got longer after it was released on DVD? Anyways..   Michael Cera's 2nd feature with director Sesbastian Silva is certainly interesting. (Their other is the far better Magic Magic ) The IMDb trivia says they filmed this while waiting for Magic Magic to get financed. I can tell.   Jaime (Michael Cera) is an American student traveling through Chile. While on the hunt for some drugs with his buddies, he runs into the enigmatic Crystal Fairy. (Gaby Hoffmann) They don't exactly hit it off. But after eating some "magical cactus" they go on a journey that changes Jaime's tune all together.   This movie was fucking weird. That's the best way to describe it. It had no structure. There's movies like Uncertainty where 90% of the film is adlibbed and the actors do wonders with it, this film was apparently shot the same way, only it doesn't benefit from it. Parts are certainly...

Jagten   Lucas (Mads Mikkelson) is a man who's recently gone through a divorce. He works as a kindergarten teacher where his best friends young daughter, Klara (Annika Wedderkopp) attends. She has a bit of a crush on Lucas, and when he politely puts a stop to it, Klara, hurt and confused tells a lie to a another teacher, Grethe. (Susse Wold) Grethe, faced with the situation of a young child claiming abuse proceeds to deal with said situation in the most unprofessional manner possible, and inadvertently orchestrates a witch hunt against Lucas within their small town.   The Hunt is an absolutely stunning film. The cinematography is wonderful, and there's never a shortage of the beautiful Danish countryside in the Autumn. Mads Mikkelson is the heart and soul of the film. It's very clear early on what the truth is, even if they try to bait you here and there. Lucas can't simply flee town, that would make him look guilty. So he puts up with the awful small town m...

The Wolf Pack takes their final bow.   Alan (Zach Galifianakis) has gone off his meds, and off the deep end following his father's death. His brother-in-law Doug (Justin Bartha) and his reluctant "friends" Phil (Bradley Cooper) and Stu (Ed Helms) offer to drive him to a rehabilitation facility in Arizona. They are intercepted by Marshall (John Goodman) who wants revenge against Mr. Chow. (Ken Jeoung) Chow's recently broken out of prison, and he stole a bunch of gold from Marshall. He thinks Alan is the only one who can get him Chow since he's the only one he's communicated with. He takes Doug as collateral, and Alan, Stu, and Phil are off on yet another crazy adventure.   I actually appreciate how deep they dug into the Marshall/Chow story. Seriously, most sequels/series do less to make the new conflicts relevant. This one, Todd Phillips actually went back to an offhanded remark Black Doug (Mike Epps) made in the first film to tie this all together....

Conspiracy Theory? TWA Flight 800 might ring a bell. It's the real life flight that the film Final Destination was based off of. It was a subject in the series Seconds from Disaster , which you can view on youtube here . There's also another documentary called Silenced available on youtube here . It is arguably part of a giant conspiracy theory. I came into this film with an open mind. I had seen Seconds From Disaster , and I'm not expert in that field, but I accepted the findings. What I find kind of interesting about TWA Flight 800 the documentary is they don't even explain how the NTSB came up with their report in the first place. They say catastrophic engine failure, but they don't go into the same details that Seconds From Disaster did. What this documentary wants you to believe is that not one, or two, but THREE missiles shot this commercial airliner down. Three. Mind you, they don't actually say "three missiles" until the last few min...

A pleasant surprise.   So the funny thing about Chatroom is that I was searching through Richard Madden's filmography, saw he was in this, and threw it in my queue, assuming it was a horror movie. Well, he's only in it for about 2 minutes, so don't watch it for that purpose alone, but it's not a horror movie and it's actually quite interesting.   William (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) starts a chatroom online called "Chelsea Teens!" It attracts wannabe model Eva, (Imogen Poots) goody two shoes Emily, (Hannah Murray) shy and tormented Jim (Matthew Beard) and seriously confused Mo. (Daniel Kaluuya) As they get to know each other, they feed into each other's bad behavior. Particularly William, who tries to take Jim's depression down a horrifying route.   Don't worry, the film isn't a bunch of kids sitting in front of their computers, the chatrooms are staged like an old abandoned hotel, with each room represented by the creator's p...

Happy Globe Day! Here's a list of the 2014 nominees. My thought, as always follow in green.     Best Motion Picture - Drama "12 Years A Slave" "Captain Phillips" "Gravity" "Philomena" "Rush"  Maybe I should've have put off seeing Rush? I think it's still at the discount theater here..may have to check it out. Otherwise, this category is pretty status quo. I've yet to see Philomena. I'm angry Prisoners didn't get in here. That movie was fabulous and critics mostly loved it. Was it released too early? Best Motion Picture - Comedy/Musical "American Hustle" "Her" "Inside Llewyn Davis" "Nebraska" "The Wolf Of Wall Street" I didn't know Her was a comedy. It must be hilarious like My Week with Marilyn. I was really hoping the Globes would've thrown us a curveball and nominated This Is The End. I know this was a huge long shot, but I would've LOL...

The SAGs are upon us! Here's a list of the nominees. My thoughts as always, follow in green . Ensemble Cast 12 Years a Slave American Hustle August: Osage County Dallas Buyers Club The Butler Personally, I would've replaced Prisoners with August: Osage County. That movie just does not look interesting. At all. Lead Actor Bruce Dern, Nebraska Chiwetel Ejiofor, 12 Years a Slave Tom Hanks, Captain Phillips Matthew McConaughey, Dallas Buyers Club Forest Whitaker, The Butler I can imagine the Oscar lead category to look just like this. Dern is the wild card. Lead Actress Cate Blanchett, Blue Jasmine Sandra Bullock, Gravity Judi Dench, Philomena Meryl Streep, August: Osage County Emma Thompson, Saving Mr. Banks I was hoping Amy Adams would sneak in. I still won't count out Adele Exarchopoulos. She could still get in there. Supporting Actor Barkhad Abdi, Captain Phillips Daniel Bruhl, Rush Michael Fassbender, 12 Years a Slave Janes Gandolfini, Eno...

It's funny how a film with "furnace" in the title can feel so cold and bleak.   When we meet Russell (Christian Bale) he's just an everyday factory working trying to make end's meet. He's in love with his girlfriend Lena (Zoe Saldana) and he's trying to keep his brother, Rodney (Casey Affleck) out of trouble before he is sent back on another tour in Iraq. One night, Russell has a few drinks, and after bailing Rodney out of trouble with John Petty (Willem Defoe) he gets behind the wheel and gets in a car accident resulting in the death of the driver and a young child. Once he's out of prison, Lena has moved on with a police officer named Wesley (Forest Whitaker, who despite looking like a teddy bear is someone I would NEVER want to piss off) and Rodney is still having money troubles. He agrees to fight for a ruthless man named Harlan (Woody Harrelson) and when he doesn't return, Russell will do whatever it takes to find him.   Out of the ...

I'm kidding, but that would be hilarious.. You know, I'm having a hard time coming up with something for Stevee's blogathon this year. She asks us to make a case for someone that moved us that's more than likely NOT going to get an Oscar nomination. Last year, I made a case for Pierce Gagnon that adorable FIVE year old kid in Looper that stole every scene he was in. Honestly, a lot of things I've seen this year seem pretty likely to get Oscar consideration. Prisoners is still my favorite of the year. I thought about making a Best Picture case for it, but honestly, I think it could still squeeze itself in there. So, I'm going with a film that I saw back in June that I'm afraid is largely forgot about - The East . Best Original Screenplay - Brit Marling and Zalbatmanglij - The East Yes, that guy seriously has 'batman' in his name. They've collaborated together before on Sound of my Voice and Another Earth. (I haven't seen either...

How many times can I change my mind?   I've had a really indecisive week when it comes to movies. I recently ran a train on my Netflix Instant queue and watched possibly the weirdest set of movies ever. Yet after each one, I had no idea how I felt. It didn't help that I was tweeting at the same time.   The thing about Frances Ha , a tale of a 27 year old New Yorker (Greta Gerwig) who works for a dance company and is really trying to find her way in life when her best friend Sophie (Mickey Sumner) all of a sudden gets her shit together is that I was kind of destined to hate this movie. I tried to see it in theaters, but a good friend of mine insisted that I wouldn't like it because it felt "too Woody Allen-ish." He's right. I hate Woody Allen. I also don't care for modern black and white films. (Just a personal preference, and I know I'm in the tiny, tiny minority who thinks it didn't suit this film.)   When the credits started rollin...

The rule of The First 20; The Last 10.   Actually, I made that rule up, but those are seriously the only redeeming parts of this movie.   Whip Whitaker (Denzel Washington) is an alcoholic airline pilot, whom after a night of booze and cocaine manages to land a doomed aircraft and save 96 out of 102 people. It's a miracle. No other pilot could've done what he did. Oh, but the hospital took his blood after the crash and found out about all that booze and coke. Now he could face jail time.   It's a damn shame that Flight ends up being so boring, because the first 20 minutes of this film are some of the most intense minutes I've ever witnessed. I nearly cried for the horror these people went through. The film gives us a great performance from Washington, but also gives us a kind of useless side story about a heroin addict (Kelly Reilly) who befriends Whitaker while he tries to kick his addiction. His final scene in the court room is moving, but it's not ...

Time to get on that classic film bandwagon, Brittani. For the past few years, Ryan McNeil over at The Matinee has been running a blogathon called The Blind Spot Series . Where he asks that you make a list of films that you haven't seen, but feel that you should. I'm going to stick with 12 like he suggests. One film a month. Mostly, I'm going to focus on the Classics, since I'm terrible at actually going back to the earlier stages of film. I'm calling this a "preliminary list" in case I have to change any of it due to not being able to get my hands on a DVD and what not. *EDIT It's now time to replace my side bar with my 2015 list, so I've updated this list with the letter grades I gave each film.* 1) Citizen Kane (C+) 2) Persona (A) 3) 12 Angry Men (A+) 4) North by Northwest (B-) 5) Vertigo (B) 6) Some Like It Hot (A) 7) Wild Strawberries (B-) 8) The Deer Hunter (A-) 9) My Neighbor Totoro (B) 10) The 4...

I know jack about J.D Salinger   I've never read The Catcher in the Rye. Though I've heard the name Holden Caufield several times, I actually didn't even know what the story was supposed to be about. I had to look it up. Since I haven't read his most famous piece, I obviously haven't read any of his short stories either. Basically, if the entire world depended on me answering Salinger trivia, we'd all be dead.   So why did I watch this? Because I finally became curious. I've passed Catch in the Rye at the library quite a few times, and am only now thinking that I might actually pick it up and read it. (When I'm done re-reading my ASOIAF books, of course.) What is so interesting about J.D Salinger? Why are so many people moved by his work? Why were a select few inspired to kill over it?   This documentary really doesn't offer you any answers to those questions. It's 2nd biggest question; "Why was J.D Salinger such a recluse...

The Walking Dead episode 4.8: Too Far Gone   Wow. That mid season finale certainly delivered. I have to say, it was an all around great episode. Of course I still have my Carol gripes, but that's to be expected from me, right? *The beginning of the episode kind of got on my nerves until members of Team Prison showed up. I could care less about Governor red shirts. *Daryl and Ricks 3 episode confrontation? Well, I'm glad it finally happened, I'm glad Daryl was clearly mad about it (Caryl is pretty much canon now, right?) but the problem I had with it was Rick's huge speech he gave to the Governor. He said "we can't be too far gone" and that he "doesn't make decisions anymore" Well, too bad he didn't give Carol that courtesy. It was such an emotional moment, I'm annoyed that this out of character bullshit distracted me from it. *Oh Hershel, I saw that coming a mile away, but it doesn't make it any easier. I'm going t...

We all stumble sometimes.   I had a gigantic moral dilemma after watching this film. Did I like it? Did I hate it? Did I just watch a movie that condoned having sex with a minor? (Though some web sleuths over on IMDb in fact have shown that no, the film didn't. The legal age of consent in CT is 16 and as long as the adult is not an authority figure, it's okay.) Good to know.   "Awkward" is the perfect way to describe this film. Leigh (Kristen Bell) is having a bit of a quarter life crisis. Upon turning 30, she skips out on her job in the city and goes back to her small town to be live with her parents and be a lifeguard. Just like she was in high school. She ends up striking up a relationship with a troubled 16 year old, Little Jason (David Lambert) and all while dragging her two adult friends (played by Martin Starr and Mammie Gummer) down the rabbit hole with her.   It was very awkward for me to watch these adults indulge in this kind of activity wit...