Rambling Film

Can you see the colors? Ruth (Gugu Mbatha-Raw) has seizures that cause earthquakes and finds herself on the run from scientists who want to experiment on her. She's forced to go back home to her mother, Bo (Lorraine Toussaint) and the daughter she left behind, Lila (Saniyya Sidney) and hide out. But they have super powers themselves that manifest differently than Ruth's. Fast Color came on my radar because it's one of the few sci fi movies directed by a woman. It turns out, I had seen and enjoyed one of director Julia Hart's previous features - Miss Stevens - earlier this year.  For a film about super powers, this is very understated. I read that Hart plans on making this universe into a TV series and that makes sense given you get the feeling that there's a lot more that needs to be said when the film really doesn't have time for it. Mbatha-Raw always gives amazing performances as does Toussaint. I loved the cast in this, and even though we...

There's no shortage of TV revivals and reboots lately, which is wonderful because that's what we're talking about this week at Wandering Through The Shelves . I feel like opinions over revivals are all over the place, at least that's how it is for me. Sometimes I'm deeply embarrassed, sometimes I'm surprised. Here's what I came up with. 1) The X-Files This is the only TV revival that I was actually excited about and while some of the episodes were good it was mostly a disappointment. The weirdest part was me coming to terms with the fact that I may have had a crush on Walter Skinner this entire time. I swear it was that episode where he fucked that hooker and I had to ask someone what that was all about when it first aired because I didn't get it. You're welcome to leave me contact info for therapists in the comment section. 2) DuckTales This is something I watch with my son, it was really hard to get into the voice actors, because old ...

What do you want for his life? Zak (Zack Gottsagen) is a 22 year old man with down syndrome leaving in a retirement home because that's the only place the state can put him. He's looked after by friendly employee Eleanor (Dakota Johnson) but he dreams of running away to a wrestling school to learn to become a professional wrestler. He escapes and crosses paths with Tyler (Shia LaBeouf) a man on the run from people he has wronged. They form a bond and Tyler promises to get Zak to that school. This feels like a family film geared towards indie loving crowds. There's an inherent sweetness about it, despite the fact that its littered with stereotypes. The biggest sell is the chemistry between Zak and Tyler and Gottsagen and LaBeouf have plenty of that to go around. Tyler is dealing with some serious trauma and even though he's reluctant to let Zak tag along at first, he genuinely warms up to him and you can tell it's something they both need.  Shia might ...

Summer is almost over and that means it's time for another Against The Crowd blogathon from Dell ! I love everything about his blog, but especially this feature because it's so fun to write every year. It's a great feeling to champion a film you think is under appreciated, then bitch about another. It's my 6th time participating. Below are the rules: 1) Pick one movie “everyone” loves (the more iconic, the better). That movie must have score of 75% or more on rottentomatoes.com. Tell us why you hate it. 2)Pick one movie that “everyone” hates (the more notorious, the better). That movie must have a score of 35% or less on rottentomatoes.com. Tell us why you love it. 3) Include the tomato meter scores of both movies. 4)Use one of the banners in this post, or feel free to create your own (just include all the pertinent details). 5)Let us know what two movies you intend on writing about in one of the following ways: Comment on this or any ACB 2019 post on this site...

What I knew going in: The basic premise General Jack D. Ripper (Sterling Hayden) orders an attack on the Soviets while a room full of politicians attempt to stop him. There's one thing I never wanted my blog to feel like and that's a job. I always want to write for fun and I genuinely feel that way 99.9% of the time. However last Monday when I sat down to watch my Blind Spot pick, which I was running late on, I was having a terrible day. T his was that .1% of the time where this felt like an assignment I needed to complete. Going into this with that mindset, I was expecting to view this feel very negatively whether it deserved it or not.  But it turns out a satire was a nice way to block everything else out for an hour and a half because I legitimately enjoyed this. Even with my son, who was reading in the same room kept pointing out "all they're doing is talking." The war room scenes were the best because of that. Peter Sellers, who plays multiple roles...

This week's theme from Wandering Through The Shelves is working overtime. It's all about actors in multiple roles. I feel like there are more bad movies with actors in multiple roles then good ones. Here's what I came up with. 1) Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me Mike Myers plays a handful of roles in this objectively bad, yet hilarious film. I have no idea how this holds up but I laughed my ass off when I saw this in theaters. That dick joke at the end had my entire theater rolling.  2) Suspira (2019) The remake, aka Tilda Swinton's vanity project because why is she playing all these people? 3) Monty Python and the Holy Grail Everyone in this film is playing everyone else. I enjoyed this, and I'm going to eventually watch more of their work. 

It's a passion project. Toby (Adam Driver) is a very disillusioned director on set of his new film. He comes across a cobbler (Jonathon Pryce) who he cast as Don Quixote in his first film 10 years prior, but now that man really believes he's Don Quixote, and mistakes Toby for Sancho Panza. Now Toby goes on somewhat of a dreamlike journey with him. Director Terry Gilliam has been trying to make this movie for 30 years. If you've seen any of Gilliam's previous works, you know you're in for something bizarre. But despite that, I actually enjoyed myself.  I'm a simple person, I see Adam Driver, I watch. What's great about that is this movie is shot like like the director wanted to fuck Adam Driver. He spends the entire movie with an open shirt, in a few occasional almost sex scenes and the camera just LOVES him. It makes me wonder at what point in Gilliam's vision did he realize he needed this.  Driver plays his incredulous character well ...

More nostalgia toys. Several years after that perfect ending to this trilogy from my childhood we're back with the toys again. This time, their new child Molly is ignoring Woody (Tom Hanks) but still playing with everyone else. When he sneaks into her bookbag and goes to her first day of Kindergarten and watches her make Forky (Tony Hale) he becomes determined to force him to stay even after he escapes several times. If you've been reading my blog for awhile, you probably already know that I'm not a fan of the Toy Story franchise. Like most 90's kids, I loved the first one but unlike everyone else I flat out disliked the second and third. Now we're at a fourth installment, which story wise is better than 2 and 3 but still just isn't very compelling. I'm glad the writers finally decided to do something different and not just repeat the same villain this time around. The idea of "lost toys" and seeing Bo Peep again was nice but the cat...

This week's theme from Wandering Through The Shelves saw something. Did you? I'm bringing it way back this week.  1) Rear Window Okay, so I just saw this for the first time last year, but from what I've seen of Hitchcock so far, this is by far my favorite. 2) Sister Act A singer who witnesses a crime gets sent to a convent to hide out. I've lost count of how many times my BFF and I would break out with "Oh Happy Day" because of this film. This and the sequel were a staple for young me.  3) Our Lips are Sealed Remember when the Olsen Twins were in witness protection? Objectively, this movie is terrible but I was obsessed with the Olsens when I was a kid. My hair cut and style were always inspired by them. I'm kind of surprised this film popped into my mind when I saw this theme. I had to roll with it. 

You're just too sad. Billi (Awkwafina) is a Chinese-American who finds her her grandmother (Shuzhen Zhao) is dying of cancer and her family has decided to keep her in the dark per tradition. Not wanting her to travel to China with them and give it away, Billi surprises everyone by making the trip she cannot afford to discreetly say her final goodbyes. Awkwafina described this movie as an "empathy orgy" in an interview and she's not too far off. While there's some awkward laughs here and there it's cloaked in depression, but not the kind that turns the film into misery porn. Director Lulu Wang based this story on a lie her family truly told her grandmother and you can tell. It feels very personal. The cast is very good. There's nothing showy about these performances but they're very understated and you believe each character really loves their Nai Nai and are internally processing a lot about the situation. Billi in particular is very int...

All for Wall Street. Cousins, and high frequency traders, Vincent (Jesse Eisenberg) and Anton (Alexander Skarsgard) leave their job and their over the top boss Evas (Salma Hayek) to secretly build a fiber-optic cable from Kansas to New Jersey in order to get the stocks faster than her company. With the help of contractor Mark (Michael Mando) they are determined to make their extremely difficult plan work. The plot of this film really didn't entice me but I wanted to see this for the cast. It gets off to a bit of a rocky start, but I ended up liking this a lot more than I expected. What they're doing is so outlandish that you almost expect it to say "based on a true story" but it never does.  Eisenberg finally plays out of his comfort zone in this, which was the best part for me. He too often goes for the awkward neurotic thing and this finally felt like he was getting back to his Social Network form. Skarsgard is excellent as well, even though he's ...

I hope you're ready to rob some cradles because this week's theme from Wandering Through The Shelves is all about those older women who like younger men. I've actually never seen The Graduate, every time I see the term "Mrs. Robinson" I make a mental note to watch it and never do. I'm not crazy about the term to be honest, but here are some films with older women and younger men. 1) The Reader I've been thinking about this movie a lot lately, I think I'm do for a re-watch for this film about a teenage boy who has an affair with an older women, only to encounter her again later in life as a law student while she's on trial.  2) Florence Foster Jenkins The wanna be Opera singer has a husband who is about two decades younger (in the film, in real life the age cap is only about 12 years) I expected to dislike this movie but I thoroughly enjoyed myself. 3) The Good Girl This is still my favorite Jennifer Aniston performance. It'...

What happens now? Alex (Claire Danes) and Greg (Jim Parsons) are parents to a young boy named Jake (Leo James Davis) and with kindergarten coming up, they are looking for the best school for him. While applying for many private schools, his preschool director Judy (Octavia Spencer) points out that Jake's love of all things princess may be a bit more than a phase, and both parents deal in different ways. Not too long ago I watched Girl on Netflix. That film was about a transgender ballerina and it received a lot of well earned criticism for the way it portrayed that story.Going into this knowing a transgender director, Silas Howard was at the helm at least told me that it would be handled with care. And it is. A Kid Like Jake isn't really about Jake at all, it's about how Alex and Greg navigate parenthood after acknowledging that maybe Jake doesn't really feel like a boy. Both of them are progressive people and I felt like their fears and acknowledgement...

Here's my TV roundup for the month of July! Big Little Lies This season may have been an editing disaster but I enjoyed it overall. Meryl Streep's Mary Louise is easily the most annoying villain I've seen on TV in a long time and I apologize to any of my Twitter followers who had to listen to me bitch about it. But the acting was outstanding this season. Kravitz, Kidman, and Dern particularly were amazing. I hated Renata last season but grew to love her (earned) tantrums she threw this season. The ending was kind of a cop out, but I hope there's no season 3 to expand on it because I'm not sure if I can handle the possibilities.  Euphoria I was not expecting to like this show as much as I do. Zendaya gives a career best performance and they made all of the character's stories very interesting. I see some comparisons to Thirteen Reasons Why, and to be honest I didn't think of that show once when watching Euphoria. They're very different. Legi...

This week's theme from Wandering Through The Shelves is the great outdoors. I love being outdoors in the summer, but today I'm going to celebrate some films where people are absolutely not living their best lives outside at the moment. 1) Leave No Trace Ben Foster plays a father that forces his daughter, played by Thomasin Mackenzie to live off grid. She's fine with this, until she gets a taste of normal living and it causes tension between the two. The acting in this film is extraordinary 2) 127 Hours James Franco plays Aron Rolston, a real life hiker who had to literally cut his own arm off to escape a crevice he fell into. I think this film is wonderful, it's amazingly directed by Danny Boyle, the soundtrack is perfect, and yes, Franco is a real life creep, but he is SO good here. 3) The River Wild Nostalgia pick! I've been in a David Strathairn mood lately so this film has been on my mind. I haven't seen it for years, but being held hosta...