Rambling Film

  Well folks, 2020 is finally almost over and we're now at the final theme of Wandering Through The Shelves ' TMP. This week we're talking about aliens and space on the small screen. Here's what I came up with. 1) The X-Files My go to aliens. This is a show that will always have a special place in my heart.  2) Space Force This on the other hand, was terrible. I really hope they completely revamp the show for the second season because the first one just did not work. 3) The Mandalorian My current favorite space fix. After what The Rise of Skywalker did last year, it just feels nice to be excited about Star Wars again. Bless this show.

Radha (Radha Blank) is a playwright in New York City who hasn't had a play produced in a while. She's been teaching high school theatre, but it doesn't fullfil her. She decides to reinvent herself as a rapper, rapping about what it's like to be a woman approaching 40. I've heard nothing about good things about this since it's released on Netflix and I'm happy to say it lives up to the hype. Radha is so funny and you can tell she put a lot of love into this film. I can't wait to see what she does next, because this was wonderful. There isn't a relationship Radha has in this film that doesn't work. Her scenes with best friend/manager Archie (Peter Kim) are funny and manic. Her students are a riot. While one of them calls her out on her stagnant career, others rally to her defense and it's cute to see her students support her like that. When she meets D (Oswin Benjamin) the producer making her beats, what starts off as a cold introduction blooms...

Joe (Jamie Foxx) is a middle school band teacher who has dreamed of being a jazz musician all his life. When he finally gets the gig of his life, he falls through a sewer hole and comes to on his way to the great beyond. Not ready to meet his fate, he ends up in the "great before" where he becomes a mentor to a new soul, 22 (Tina Fey) while trying to get back to Earth. It's impossible for me not to compare this to Inside Out . Thematically, they feel very similar. I strongly disliked Inside Out . I thought it failed on so many different levels, but my main gripes were that the middle of the film was meandering and boring, and that they struggled with trying to gear it towards children when they clearly wanted to be talking to the adults. Soul doesn't even bother with the kids. They throw in a couple of butt jokes but they are very clearly talking to the grown ups here, and because they don't have that weird, condescending disconnect, it works. Soul for me succee...

In 1984, Diana Prince (Gal Gadot) is working at the Smithsonian. She leads somewhat of a lonely night, and meets a new colleague Barbara (Kristen Wiig) on her first day. Barbara is asked to identify some artifacts stolen during a robbery, and one of them happens to be a stone that grants wishes. But it falls into the hands of a smarmy business man, Max Lord (Pedro Pascal) and Diana once again needs to save humanity. When it comes to the 80's on film/TV right now, I think the market is completely oversaturated and I'm over watching content featuring it aside from Stranger Things, but Wonder Woman 1984 absolutely commits to being an 80's action movie and I admire Patty Jenkins for that. Plenty of other filmmakers sprinkle it in to scream "look at me!" but she goes all in. Even the annoying tropes, like a woman removing her glasses and instantly becoming hot work here. I get it, the premise *is* silly. It's a bit of a stretch to bring Steve (Chris Pine) back but...

  In 1950's Harlem, Sylvie (Tessa Thompson) aspires to work in TV and spends time helping out her father (Lance Reddick) at his record store so she can watch more of it. There, she meets Robert (Nnamdi Asomugha) a saxophone player on his way to making it big. They fall in love, but will their individual dreams make room for it? I can't say I gravitate towards romantic movies often but something about this trailer made me want to see this. Tessa Thompson is great and I've loved her work so far, and I adore what she did with Sylvie. She's the sweetest thing, but it's not her entire personality. A lesser writer would've left it at that and kept her one dimensional but writer/director Eugene Ashe doesn't do that. Same with Robert, they're both fully fleshed out characters with hopes and dreams, and they work together. Since it's told from Sylvie's point of view, I kept wishing she could just have it all. While this film does fall on some very typical...

  Lily's (Susan Surandon) body is deteriorating. She's dying, but she wants to be the one to choose when that happens before her body no longer responds to her commands. She and her husband Paul (Sam Neill) have invited their family over for one last weekend before Lily drinks a cocktail of drugs that will relieve her of her suffering and let her die peacefully. Her oldest daughter Jennifer (Kate Winslet) is a control freak who is having issues not being able to control this. Her younger sister, Anna (Mia Wasikowska) is aloof and isn't ready to see her mother go before they mend their issues. Over all, it's quite the family weekend. This is a remake of a Danish film that I haven't seen, so I was shocked when this film didn't head right into melodrama and get overly sappy. All of these characters felt like real, flawed people. Anna and Jennifer are both reacting to this situation in dramatically different ways, none of which are good, but can you blame them? Lily...

Happy Holidays, everyone! I hope you're all relaxing and are safe and healthy. With holiday decorations being so extra and sparkly, it's fitting to review a film today that is also very extra and sparkly. Fizzling Broadway stars Dee Dee Allen (Meryl Streep) and Barry Glickman (James Corden) want to rehab their image after being called out for being narcissists. They team up with forever chorus girl Angie Dickinson (Nicole Kidman) to look for a cause and on Twitter they see a PTA in small town Indiana canceled prom because a lesbian student, Emma (Jo Ellen Pellman) wanted to take her girlfriend. They decide to go to Indiana to insert themselves into the situation and bring a little acceptance to the bigoted town. I want you to imagine having access to every single man on Broadway then still choosing to cast James Corden. I thought Hugh Grant in The Gentleman was the biggest example of an actor trying to sabotage a movie this year, but Corden is unbearably bad and so miscast. Th...

  This week's theme from Wandering Through The Shelves is holiday action movies! I'm going to be honest, the only thing I could think of is Die Hard. I actually had to search for the rest of my picks and even they're a bit of a reach. Low effort from me today. If you celebrate Christmas, I hope you're having a Merry Christmas Eve! And if you don't, I hope your Thursday is going splendid anyways!  1) Die Hard The go to Christmas action flick.  2) Jarhead Jake Gyllenhaal dances around naked in a Santa hat while deployed so we're counting it. 3) Prometheus  Idris Elba decorates a Christmas tree and this is mostly an action movie...right?

This is how IMDb describes this film: " Armed with only one word, Tenet, and fighting for the survival of the entire world, a Protagonist (John David Washington) journeys through a twilight world of international espionage on a mission that will unfold in something beyond real time." I used IMDb's description because even a solid week after watching, I don't think I could tell what this film is exactly about. I have no problem admitting when something goes over my head, and I felt a bit dumber after leaving this. Christopher Nolan is one of my favorite working directors and I've been hyped all year long to see this. I debated multiple times about venturing out during a global pandemic to see this the way Nolan intended on the big screen. Ultimately I chose to stay home and that's probably for the better. Risking my health in exchange of utter confusion wouldn't be the best deal. Here's the weird part. There's a lot about this movie I enjoyed. John ...

Chicago, 1927. A band consisting of Cutler, (Coleman Domingo) Slow Drag, (Michael Potts) and Toledo (Glynn Turman) assemble in a drab practice room to record a record for the famous blues singer, Ma Rainey. (Viola Davis) New to their operation is the very spirited Levee (Chadwick Boseman) a talented horn player and aspiring song writer who Ma clashes with when the studio execs  prefer his version of her music.  Producer Denzel Washington is seeing to it that all of August Wilson's plays make it to the big screen, and his last offering, Fences was wonderful. Here Viola Davis gives us yet another amazing performance, though this one is much more restrained. I was a bit surprised that she was more of a supporting player here. This movie truly belongs to Levee. It's impossible for me to watch Chadwick Boseman's final performance and not feel incredibly sad. He's so good, probably the best he's ever been and it just hurts that there won't be any more of him (aside f...

Charlie, (Dan Stevens) and his wife Michelle, (Allison Brie) decide to rent an Air BnB for a weekend getaway with his brother, Josh (Jeremy Allen White) and Josh's girlfriend/Charlie's co-worker Mina. (Sheila Vand) It starts off with a bad run in with the racist home owner and only gets worse from there. Despite being called a horror/thriller, the first hour or so of this movie is merely a relationship drama. The horror element doesn't really kick into gear until the third act. While it's quite obvious what's going to eventually happen between these couples, the actors are all very good so it's never tedious. But that third act....I'm perplexed. I don't know if I could give film major props for going this route with the killer, or if it feels like a giant cop out. In theory it's creepy but it feels rushed. This film is only 1 hour 28 minutes long and with so much spent on the relationship building it really feels like the main conflict happens way to...

It's been another successful year of Blind Spots! Here's a round up of my 2020 films and grades. Aside from the dud that was Reanimator I had a pretty good year. A bit of mediocrity, but I loved Meet Me in St. Louis so much that I can overlook a lot of that. 1) Belle du Jour (B) 2) Reanimator (F) 3) Maclolm X(B) 4) Dial M for Murder (B-) 5) On The Waterfront (B) 6) Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (B) 7) Raging Bull (C) 8) Top Hat/Swing Time (B/C+) 9) Jules and Jim (C) 10) Nosferatu (B-) 11) Meet Me In St. Louis/Summer Stock (A/B) 12) Mildred Pierce (A) Here's what I have going on for 2021. I'm getting a little ambitious again with trying to do more than one movie a month. Truthfully with quarantine the way it is, I've actually already watched a few of these and have reviews in my drafts. Hopefully this time around I'll actually be able to find Suddenly, Last Summer. I've been trying to watch this movie for years and someone at Netflix either hoards the DVD, or no one ...

  Dani Moonstar (Blu Hunt) survives a mysterious attack on her Reservation and and wakes up in a strange institution to learn that she is a Mutant and is being treated by Dr. Reyes. (Alice Braga) They don't know exactly what her mutant power is, and she's not alone at this facility. She has four other young Mutants with her. Friendly Rahne, (Maisie Williams) awkward Sam, (Charlie Heaton) good looking jock Roberto (Henry Zaga) and mean girl Illyana. (Anya-Taylor Joy) It doesn't take long for Dani to realize that she's not in a hospital, but a prison. Then strange things begin to happen. You'll notice that I gave really generic descriptions of each of these kids, and that's because the film never really bothers to explore them beyond those things. We get glimpses of their pasts and why they got there, which would make for a far more interesting movie, but they're just that. Glimpses. When the trailer for this came out 100 years ago, I was interested, which is ...

  This week's theme from Wandering Through The Shelves is another suggestion by yours truly. This week we're talking about films directed by women. And really, why aren't we talking about this all the time? I wanted to talk specifically about all of the women who should've been nominated for Best Director at this year's Oscars instead of Martin Scorcese, Quinten Tarantino, and that goblin Todd Phillips.  ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 1) Honey Boy Alma Har'el helped bring Shia Labeouf's semi autobiographical story to life and it's an amazing movie. She makes it feel so real and gets wonderful performances from her actors. 2) A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood Marielle Heller had me buying Tom Hanks as Mister Rogers despite looking nothing like him. And the scene transitions in this movie with the toys? Genius. Her snub hurts the most. 3) The Farewell Lulu Wang's The Farewell was so heartfelt and lovely. It should've had so much more attention.

  Be a man. When her ailing father is called to war in China to fight invaders, Mulan ( Yifei Liu) disguises herself as a man to fight in his place in the Imperial Army. Lucky for Mulan, her Chi has always been strong, but she's also been told to hide it because she is a woman. Mulan is the only Disney live action movie I was looking forward to. I even welcomed the change in story from the Disney cartoon. I knew they were going to stick closer to the true story, and when Disney+ announced that you could buy Mulan for $30.00 to stream at home, I *almost* did it. I would've paid more for my family of three to go to the theater anyways. Then the reviews came out so I held off. Now, it's available for free on the platform, and I can say with 100% certainty that I am glad I didn't pay that fee to watch. I wanted to like this so badly, and there are parts that I do. The costumes are beautiful, there's something wonderful about seeing a young woman be so badass, but I felt...

  Robyn (Honor Kneafsey) and her father Bill (Sean Bean) have recently moved from England to Ireland. Bill is tasked with helping kill the large amount of wolves in the surrounding forest. Robyn doesn't want to be kept behind the village walls and wishes to help her father. When she escapes into the woods, she meets Mebh (Eva Whittaker) a free spirited girl who is also a Wolfwalker, meaning she turns into a wolf when she sleeps. Cartoon Saloon has been putting out out beautiful, hand drawn animated films for a while but they came to my attention with their 2014 feature Song of the Sea . That became an instant favorite in my household so when I saw they had another film coming out, I knew it would be perfect for a family movie night. This is currently streaming on Apple TV, and I believe it's also available to rent on demand. The animation is stunning. I loved the visuals, the forest is so beautiful, as was the transformation from human to wolf. One of my favorite sights was ho...

What I knew going in: Not much at all, really. Tony (Ray Milland) is a tennis star who finds out his wife, Margot (Grace Kelly) is having an affair with Mark (Robert Cummings) while he's been out on tour. He retires from tennis, and Margot gives their relationship an honest try the second go around. Only instead of confronting her like a normal human, he decides to blackmail someone into murdering her instead. Long ago when I started this blogging challenge I had a list of Hitchock films I planned to see, and I believe I was taking a vote between this and Rope, and Dial M for Murder is what won. And this turned out to be a solid choice.  For a movie that so obviously is going to end a certain way, the suspense really does stay with you throughout the run time, thought maybe not for the reason you expect. While I normally love a good courtroom drama, I like that this film jumps in time a bit after it's "intermission" (which is kind of funny considering this film isn...

  This week's theme from Wandering Through The Shelves is about films that focus on characters of a certain age. *EDIT* I realize now after reading a few other posts that this topic was supposed to be about movies FOR the elderly and not necessarily about them but I'm not re-writing this. I think they work. 1) Nebraska Woody (Bruce Dern) drags his son on a roadtrip from Montana to Nebraska. This is one of the few instances where I like a modern film in black and white. I was pleasantly surprised by it.  2) Beginners While this movie is from Ewan McGregor's point of view, I'm using it here because of Christopher Plummer's wonderful (and Oscar winning) performance. He's so sweet. 3) Up The elderly couple that made all the unsuspecting Pixar fans bawl in the first 10 minutes of the movie. I really adore UP and Carl as a character.

  Saving lives in silence. Marcel Marceau (Jesse Eisenberg) will eventually go on to be a famous mime, but when we meet him he's clowning in cabarets in France during the start of the second world war. At the start of the film, a young girl named Elsbeth (Bella Ramsay) watches her family being murdered by Nazi's before she escapes. She comes into Marcel's life along with many other Jewish children that the French Resistance plans to sneak into neutral Switzerland. While Marcel isn't keen on taking part in this at first, his brother Alain (Félix Moati) and friend Emma (Clemence Posey) convince him.  I didn't know anything about Marceau before watching this film but you're not required to. This isn't so much a bio pic on him, but a story about the horrors of war and how he brought hope to these children during the worst time of their lives. I thought it balanced out well. They don't go over the top with the violence, although one scene is particularly terr...

  An Ode to old Hollywood Herman Mankiewicz (Gary Oldman) is an alcoholic screenwriter holed up in a remote cabin trying to finish the script for Citizen Kane . At the same time, we're told his decade earlier story through flashbacks. David Fincher is one of my favorite directors and it's been six years since his last film. I had high hopes for this, I was willing to look past my dislike for contemporary black and white and how dull and washed out it often looks, but in the end. I felt the same way about Mank as I do about Citizen Kane .  I made it through this entire movie only really caring about one character, which was Amanda Seyfried's Marion Davies. I could've cared about Lily Collins' Rita Alexander, but she's barely in it. Seyfried on the other hand lit up the screen. She's the fun in a film that has none anywhere else. I had heard going in that she also had a small part, so she ended up being in the film more than I expected, and that was very welc...

I'm still going strong in the TV department over here. Aside from Mando and His Dark Materials, none of the other shows I watched are going to carry over into December so maybe now I'll have time to get to Small Axe, The Queen's Gambit and Ratched like I want to. Here's what I watched in November.  The Crown - Can I just gush about how good this season was? I STRUGGLED to get through season three and I would've happily watched all of this in one day if I had the time. It was so much more engaging, I loved how even the worst characters had these small moments where I almost felt bad for them. Like Thatcher wearing her dinner clothes too early, or Charles telling Camilla she's the love of his life. All the actors were fantastic. Gillian Anderson was excellent as Thatcher, I'm going to miss Erin Doherty as Princess Anne and Josh O'Connor as Charles the most. Emma Corrin really nailed it as Diana. Olivia Colman grew on me much more this season. I still pref...

  This week's theme from Wandering Through The Shelves is adaptations. This is pretty broad so I thought I'd narrow this down to book to movie adaptations that came out in 2020 1) Emma. Try as I might to get through this book, I couldn't. But thankfully 2020's version of Emma was fun enough to watch. 2) The Devil All The Time This is one of the better films Netflix released. While the extensive cast all didn't get enough screen time, Tom Holland is the best he's ever been here. 3) Artemis Fowl Now for the trash! This movie is honestly so bad and all I can do at this point is laugh when I think about it. 

  Beware AirBnB Theo (Kevin Bacon) convinces his young actress wife, Susanna (Amanda Seyfried) to go away together before her upcoming shoot in London. They, along with their young daughter Ella (Every Tiiu Essex) find a house to rent in Wales and it doesn't take long to realize something is not quite right about it. I was going to pay to watch this on PVOD when it first came out, but the reviews put me off of it. Now it's available on Netflix's DVD service and I have to say I enjoyed it a lot more than I expected it to. This film is excellent at building tension. As Theo makes his way through this maze of a house, I was consistently feeling on edge. For once it's not the dark that makes you uneasy either, it's the light. There are so many lights. The actors all did a great job, especially Essex who behaved like an actual child. In horror films I sometimes feel like young kids can come off a bit to "wise beyond their years" but she acted like I would expec...

  Not like other Yale students ™ J.D Vance (Owen Aszataols as a child, and Gabriel Basso as an adult) grew up in rural Ohio/Kentucky with a recovering addict mother,(Amy Adams) his older sister Lindsay (Haley Bennett) and his no nonsense grandmother, Mamaw. (Glenn Close) J.D had a hard life, as many lower income rural people do, but he was able to somehow rise above it all and get to Yale, and boy does he want you to know how much of an anomaly he is. Everyone is either dumber than J.D, or snootier than him. There's no happy medium, unless we count the underused Frieda Pinto as his girlfriend. We're introduced to to J.D saving a turtle from the middle of the street, and the first person he interacts with is a mouth breathing kid whose only contributions are "let's break open its shell! Let's see how far we can throw it!" Director Ron Howard in his infinite mediocrity really drives home how "less than" everyone is here. To be fair, this movie isn'...

  Remember 50 years ago when I was putting together underseen movies of the past decade and had to break it into several parts because I had too many? Well, that's still a work in progress but Dell's Girl Week has given me the motivation to keep on going. Here are a few of my favorite films from the past decade where it centers around a female character Afternoon Delight - Kathryn Hahn plays a woman who heads to a strip club to spice up her marriage and ends up bringing home Mckenna (Juno Temple) to help nanny for her children after befriending her. Hahn and Temple are great and I thought it tackled that sexual slump that people can sometimes go through really honestly.  Breathe (Respire) - Mélanie Laurent may be famous for what she does in front of the camera, but here she steps behind the camera and tells a story about two Parisian teenagers who become friends, then something more. It may not be the most original story but I thought it was a great film. Columbus - Casey...