Rambling Film

2 day rule. Kumail Nanjiani plays himself in the real life story on how he met his wife, Emily. (here played by Zoe Kazan) Kumail is originally from Pakistan and his parents want him to follow the traditional arranged marriage. While still going to "interviews" with women at his parent's dinner table, he meets grad student Emily and they begin a relationship. When she falls ill and is put into a medically induced coma, Kumail sticks by her side. My indie theater only had this film for a week so I missed it. Nanjiani is hilarious on Silicon Valley so I love seeing him get more and more roles. Especially this one, which he wrote himself with his wife. It's not exactly how everything went down, but that's not our business. It's a fascinating look on how a 2nd generation immigrant can want something different from the traditional upbringing his parents had. And on top of that, it's got some laugh out loud hysterical moments.  Because Nanjiani g...

It's the last Thursday of the month, so that means it's another TV Edition. Wanderer wants it to be all in the family this week. There's plenty of prolific TV families out there. Here are my favorites: 1) Game of Thrones Families are one of the most important things in Game of Thrones. This is easily one of my favorite shows of all times. Even when they occasionally misstep it doesn't stop me from loving nearly everything they've done with the series. 2) The Brady Bunch This was a show I loved watching on Nick at Nite. It's corny, but fun. I actually caught the Brady Bunch 90's movies on TV the other day and I never realized just how many of those innuendos went over my head. Obviously the TV show wasn't like that...or was it? 3) The Simpsons Is there a more popular TV family than the Simpsons? I don't think so. The Simpsons first aired when I was two. I've literally had them as long as I can remember and while I'm not a ...

What I knew going in: I knew the actors in it, but not much of the plot. Jackie Brown (Pam Grier) is a stewardess who smuggles money from Mexico for Ordell Robbie. (Samuel L. Jackson) She's busted one day by two officers. (played by Michael Keaton and Michael Bowen) Ordell sends his bondsman, Max Cherry (Robert Forster) to get Jackie out of jail. Jackie strikes up a deal to get the rest of Robbie's money to the officers to avoid jail time, but she plans on taking it for herself. This almost felt like Tarantino-lite to me. I was expecting it to be as violent as his other films, so not seeing a ton of blood was surprising. What works the best is the cast. They're all wonderful in their roles, especially Pam Grier who carries this film wonderfully. I loved the chemistry between she and Robert Forester.  For such a straight forward story it managed to catch me off guard a few times which is always appreciated. One thing I do regret doing is watching this after I had to...

Ahhh comedies. Those wonderful films that make us laugh. This week, Wanderer has something else in mind. She wants us to talk about comedies that fail at their job. The ones that just aren't funny. And oh, there are so many. I went with the first three that came to mind. 1) Semi-Pro I love Will Ferrell. I talk about that often and he was on a roll with comedies in the mid 2000's. Then he stumbled hard with Semi-Pro. It didn't have nearly the flare that his other sports centered comedies Talladega Nights or Blades of Glory did. This had exactly one laugh. Thankfully he rebounded spectacularly the following year when Step Brothers came out.  2) Freddy Got Fingered I cannot for the life of me understand the appeal of Tom Green. So many of my classmates loved him. I was watching stupid shit like Jackass and Adam Sandler movies back then and I still never got on the Tom Green bandwagon. Freddy Got Fingered is honestly one of the worst movies I've ever seen. Cal...

Under his eye. In a large house in the country side, a young woman (Jennifer Lawrence) is living with her older, poet husband. (Javier Bardem) While he struggles with writers block, she has been fixing up the house to make their own little paradise. One day, a man (Ed Harris) shows up unexpectedly, and her husband allows him to stay the night. The next day, his wife (Michelle Pfieffer) arrives. Soon, more and more people inexplicably show up at their house and none of them are listening to what this young woman has to say. When it comes to the plot, I went into this completely spoiler free, and I'll keep the review this way too. It's better that way. All I had was the hype, some that it lived up to, some that it didn't. This is an experience. I really liked the story Director Darren Aronofsky was telling. It's heavy on symbolism and metaphors but it works up until a point. The last 20-30 minutes of this film is a clusterfuck of the highest order. It is ve...

I'm a bottle of wine in and it's time to discuss the Emmy Winners! This was a huge night for WOMEN! Big Little Lies, Veep, and The Handmaid's Tale won big. Stephen Colbert was a decent enough host. The only skit of his I flat out loved was his Westworld one. Let's get to the winners! OUTSTANDING DRAMA SERIES Better Call Saul The Crown The Handmaid’s Tale House of Cards Stranger Things This Is Us Westworld I feel a bit vindicated here. I was saying THT was going to be big tonight but so many people said Stranger Things was a lock to win. I'm happy with this win as the show was wonderful. OUTSTANDING LEAD ACTOR IN A DRAMA  SERIES Sterling K. Brown, This Is Us Anthony Hopkins, Westworld Bob Odenkirk, Better Call Saul Matthew Rhys, The Americans Liev Schreiber, Ray Donovan Kevin Spacey, House of Cards Milo Ventimiglia, This Is Us I got this one wrong, I thought they'd go with Spacey but I'm happy for Brown. He makes me want to watch This ...

This week's theme from Wandering Through The Shelves  is about a field I would fail miserably in: the financial world. Luckily, they sometimes make really interesting movies and here are three of my favorites 1) Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room Kevin recommended this documentary and he's absolutely right in calling it amazing. I had no idea what Enron was and I still found this doc to be very engrossing.  2) The Wolf of Wall Street My favorite Leonardo DiCaprio performance because he lets loose. Are they the worst Wall Street stock brokers or the best ones? There was a lot of coke involved.  3) American Psycho While the financial part isn't very prominent in the film, Patrick Bateman's day job is very important to him. BRB I have to go return some video tapes. 

You'll float too. Bill's (Jaeden Lieberher) little brother George went missing months before. We know that Pennywise (Bill Skarsgard) a demon clown is responsible but Bill doesn't know that yet. Until he and his group of friends, the "Losers" as they call themselves all start seeing Pennywise in random places and realize that something isn't right in the town they leave in. *book spoilers* I had really high expectations for this, and it met nearly every one. While the 90's mini series felt campy, this film is having none of that. It presents itself as a coming of age type story, but when it needs to be creepy it dials it to eleven. All of the child actors here are excellent in that parts, with Leiberher being the strongest. I was worried when I saw the trailers that they were going to forgo Bill's trademark stutter, but its still there and he makes it very believable on top of all the emotional baggage Bill brings around. Sophia Ell...

I'm to blame for this week's theme from Wandering Through The Shelves . I suggested it. But I'm curious, what animated films out there do you like that are meant for adults? And don't say Grave of the Fireflies... 1) My Life as a Zucchini I can't rave about this film enough. EVERYONE should watch it. It tackles serious subjects like child abuse, abandonment and depression, but it's so light hearted and lovely as well.  2) South Park: Bigger, Longer, and Uncut This hilarious film needs no explanation. I laughed so hard I cried during Cartman's new version of "Kyle's Mom is a Bitch." My dad still says taking me to this movie in theaters is his most embarrassing parenting moment. (Though I'd argue that but I digress..) 3) Watership Down I love watching other people watch this movie. The English Bunny Massacre on the surface makes you think rabbits will be running from some G rated danger but that's not the case. My husb...

With the Emmys coming up on September 17th it's now time for me to make my mostly incorrect predictions! Seriously, the Emmys are weird and Game of Thrones isn't eligible so there goes the easy win. Below are my predictions on who will win, and in some cases, who should win. OUTSTANDING DRAMA SERIES Better Call Saul The Crown The Handmaid’s Tale House of Cards Stranger Things This Is Us Westworld Who will win: The Handmaid's Tale Who should win: Westworld I don't watch House of Cards or This Is Us so I can't speak for those two shows, but I'd be happy for a win for any of the other shows. At the beginning of this year, I would've said The Crown would take it easily, but The Handmaid's Tale has a ton of buzz behind it and I can see it being rewarded. OUTSTANDING LEAD ACTOR IN A DRAMA  SERIES Sterling K. Brown, This Is Us Anthony Hopkins, Westworld Bob Odenkirk, Better Call Saul Matthew Rhys, The Americans Liev Schreiber, Ray Donova...

I've got a secret. When their mother Nawal (Lubna Azabal) dies, she leaves behind a will requesting her twin children, Jeanne (Mélissa Désormeaux-Poulin) and Simon (Maxim Gaudette) to locate the father they thought was dead, and the brother they never knew they had. Denis Villeneuve has easily become one of my favorite film makers in the last few years. I've loved all his recent films, so I decided to go back and see what he made before Prisoners put him on my radar.  Incendies does ask you to suspend a bit of disbelief. Nawal could've just written her story down instead of sending her children on a hunt throughout the Middle East, but hey you're gone. The story is told between Jeanne trying to get more information about her mother and flashbacks showing Nawal's very difficult life. No seriously, this movie gets pretty fucked up. Even with that, it's a fascinating story and I never wanted to stop learning about these characters. I've grown...