Rambling Film

  This week's TV theme from Wandering Through The Shelves is that one I saw I'm going to do better with every year, then never do. There is so much TV to watch in English that I rarely get to anything else, and the few I do, I've talked about before. So here's me reaching again. Recommend something fun to me in the comments. 1) Yu-Gi-Oh - I've never watched this show, but as a kid I remember thinking it was so weird that so many adults liked this, and jokes on me because now I'm an adult who likes anime too. We can all grow, folks.  2) Pokemon - My son is obsessed with this. He takes great pride in his cards and tells me all about them, and I know nothing, because I don't watch this either.  3) Scenes From A Marriage - This is kind of a cheat, because while it aired as mini series in Sweden, I've only seen the film cut, but I'm watching the remake so it reminded me of this. 

While attending a religious college, Tammy Faye (Jessica Chastain) meets Jim Bakker (Andrew Garfield) and together they build a televangelist empire.  Truth be told, I knew nothing about the Bakkers prior to watching this movie. I know televangelism is a thing, but it's something I never encountered growing up. Of all the real life figures in this film, I only recognized one name and it was because Jon Stewart dragged him all over The Daily Show back in the day. So because of this, I can't speak to whether or not most of it is accurate, but I can say I was entertained. The beginning of the film shows a bunch of news clips about the real rise and fall of the Bakkers, which I thought was a weird choice, but I'm assuming the majority of the people watching this would already be familiar with them, and not watching it because it could be an Oscar contender like me. But after that, we jump right into the story and briskly move along. One of the things I appreciated the most ab...

  This week's theme from Wandering Through The Shelves is all about femme fatales. This made me realize that a lot of the films that come to mind when I think of this, I haven't actually seen. I tried to pick three different types of femme fatales. Here's what I came up with. 1) Sin City - This movie is chuck full of women that could be considered femme fatales, mainly the Dames of Oldtown. I've seen this movie so many times. It's one of my favorites. 2) Chinatown - I had to go with at least one classic film here, and Chinatown is one that came to mind. Evelyn is a woman who looks like she's capable of anything, and she is.  3) Brick - I wanted to go a little out of left field for my last pick, so I landed on Laura, this film's high school version of a femme fatale.

  What I knew going in: The basic premise. Charlie (Harvey Keitel) is a small time criminal in Brooklyn, He's in love with Teresa (Amy Robinson) who is family doesn't approve us because she has epilepsy, and he spends a good amount of time trying to reel his sort of friend/fellow criminal Johnny Boy (Robert De Niro) from being the walking dumpster fire that he is. Charlie wants to rise in the ranks, but everything seems to be working against him. I've been trying to go back and catch some of Martin Scorcese's earlier work. Last year, I got around to Raging Bull , and I knew that Mean Streets was going to be next. I had to laugh while watching this, because it's the first time I've thought Scorcese's direction was bad. Obviously it's one of his earliest films so he was still trying to find his footing at this point, but it's easily the least polished of any of his films I've watched.  For me, the only thing making this film worth watching is Harve...

We made it to Emmy night! Seth Rogen immediately called them out for having a roof when they promised an outdoor event, and then we were off to a show that had way too many stupid comedy bits. The funniest bits of the show were not from host Cedric The Entertainer, but were rather a few quips from presenters. From the categories below, I went 14/21 with my picks. Below are the winners (highlighted in blue) + a few thoughts. Outstanding Drama Series “The Boys”  “Bridgerton”  “The Crown”  “The Handmaid’s Tale”  “Lovecraft Country”  “The Mandalorian”  “Pose”  “This Is Us”  Everyone knew this was coming. Respect to the majority of the cast and crew sitting in a fancy bar in London in the middle of the night.  Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series Uzo Aduba, “In Treatment” Olivia Colman, “The Crown” Emma Corrin, “The Crown” Elisabeth Moss, “The Handmaid’s Tale” MJ Rodriguez, “Pose” Jurnee Smollett, “Lovecraft Country” I love Olivia, and her s...

Markus (Mads Mikkelson) is a miltary man whose called back home when his wife is killed in a tragic train accident. Only, maybe it's not an accident at all. A Mathematician, Otto (Nikolaj Lie Kaas) switched seats with Markus' wife prior to the crash, and feels incredibly guilty, even more so when he sees Markus' daughter Mathilde (Andrea Heick Gadeberg) all alone at the hospital. He concludes that there are too many factors that lead to this not being an accident. Along with his colleagues Leinart (Lars Brygmaan) and Emmenthaler (Nicolas Bro) they bring their suspicions to Markus and what unfolds is a violent tale of revenge. Mads Mikkelson is one of my favorite working actors right now so this has been on my watch list for a while. I know he has worked with director  Anders Thomas Jensen several times, but this is the first time I've watched one of their films and now I need to search out the rest. I knew I'd like this, but I wasn't expecting to love it as much...

  This week's theme from Wandering Through The Shelves has plenty of films to choose from..Outlaws! I decided on a theme within a theme this week with everyone's favorite outlaw 1) Robin Hood - Disney's version is unapologetically my favorite because I had it on VHS growing up so I watched it over and over.  2) Robin Hood: Men In Tights - I thought this film was SO funny when I was a kid. My dad and I watched it together quite a bit, and I still find it pretty funny now. 3: Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves - I love how bad this is. The true gem of this film is Christian Slater delivering one of the greatest lines in cinematic history: "Fuck me, he cleared it!"

Madison (Annabelle Wallis) suddenly has visions of murders being committed by a dark figure from her past and she is unable to intervene. Between her sister Sydney (Maddie Hasson) and two detectives Kekoa (George Young) and Regina (Michole Briana White) they try to unravel this mystery. Thank God for Twitter ads, for once. I almost ended up going to see this in theaters before Twitter reminded me it was also on HBO Max so I got to watch this at home. Now I didn't have to pay theater money to see what director James Wan abounded his Conjuring movies for.  There are parts of this movie that were definitely right up my alley. The booming soundtrack, the absolute gore-fest that happens, and the mystery itself was very engaging, but there were a few things that just held this back from being a solid horror film. It hits a lot of annoying horror tropes that I can sometimes overlook when I'm having fun. Characters never turning on the damn lights when something is going bump in the n...

William (Oscar Isaac) spent a decade in prison, and during his time there he learned to count cards. Now he spends his life traveling from one casino to the next winning just enough money to stay under the radar. One day, he meets Cirk (Tye Sheridan) who brings up something from William's past, and tries to rope him into a very high stakes scheme. I have to admit, when I first saw the trailer for this film, I thought it looked awful. Promising reviews came out of Venice and my local indie theater opened it right away, so why not see this on opening night? I love Oscar Isaac after all. While this isn't as bad as the trailer made it seem, it's far from a good movie. It has all the pieces to make a compelling story, but it's very drawn out. I didn't feel like I was watching a complete film. I felt like I was watching an idea, something not fully formed and certainly no clue on how to end it.  Isaac is good, he always is. There's a lot of questions about William and...

It's that time of year again! I'm for Wendell's annual Against The Crowd Blogathon . I'm coming at you late with an entry because I some how missed the initial posting. If you need a refresher on the rules, here they are straight from the man himself. Pick one movie “everyone” loves (the more iconic, the better). That movie must have score of 75% or more on rottentomatoes.com (or at least 7.5 on imdb.com). Tell us why you hate it. Pick one movie that “everyone” hates (the more notorious, the better). That movie must have a score of 35% or less on rottentomatoes.com (or 4.0 or less on imdb.com). Tell us why you love it. Include the tomato meter scores of both movies. Use one of the banners in this post, or feel free to create your own (just include all the pertinent details), or just mention this blogathon if using an audio or visual medium. Let us know what two movies you intend on writing, vlogging, posting, or podcasting about in one of the following ways: Comment on ...

The Emmys are coming up on September 19th, and it's time for me to attempt to guess all the winners and fail miserably! Here's who I think should win, and in some cases, who should win. Outstanding Drama Series “The Boys”  “Bridgerton”  “The Crown”  “The Handmaid’s Tale”  “Lovecraft Country”  “The Mandalorian”  “Pose”  “This Is Us”  Who will and should win: The Crown It's hard to say who "should" win because there's a lot of excellent shows here, but unless the Emmys go nuts for Lovecraft Country, I see The Crown prevailing for its strongest season yet.  Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series Uzo Aduba, “In Treatment” Olivia Colman, “The Crown” Emma Corrin, “The Crown” Elisabeth Moss, “The Handmaid’s Tale” MJ Rodriguez, “Pose” Jurnee Smollett, “Lovecraft Country” Who will win: Emma Corrin Who should win: MJ Rodriguez This is hard, and I think there's a chance Colman and Corrin could cancel each other out, but I'm predicting a big turn out...

  This week's theme from Wandering Through The Shelves is an interesting one...actors playing themselves! This was a tough one, nothing came to mind right away, but when I gave it more thought, my choices became much easier.  1) Margot Robbie - The Big Short: This is a movie I've been meaning to re-watch and its first of a few celebrity cameos was easily the most memorable.  2) Bob Barker - Happy Gilmore: The price is wrong, bitch! 3) Neil Patrick Harris - Harold and Kumar go to White Castle: NPH is everywhere nowadays but when this film was released, it easily had to be one of the most random things ever.

Shaun (Simu Liu) has been living his life in San Francisco fairly lowkey. He's a valet along with his best friend Katy (Awkwafina) but after a shocking display of power while being accosted on a bus, Shaun is forced to admit to Katy that his name is actually Shang-Chi, and his father (Tony Leung) trained him to be an assassin at a young age. His father has God-like strength due to the 10 rings he's in possession of, and now he needs his son to come back into the fold.  We're getting to a point in the MCU where I'm not very familiar with the newer properties they are bringing in. This one, and the upcoming Eternals I know next to nothing about, so I'm just along for the ride, and what a wonderful time this was. I loved this. As I'm writing this review now, I wish I could go back to the theater and watch it again. I loved the banter between Shang-Chi and Katy. I like that they're not love interests, but just BFFs. That sets it apart from most of the other MCU ...

Another month down, another recap of my adventures on the small screen. Here's what I've been watching lately. What about you? Do you have any recommendations for me? Ted Lasso - What more can I say about this show? I absolutely love it. Roy Kent has been my favorite so far, he's had so many great scenes. The much talked about Christmas episode was sweet, even in the middle of a blazing summer. I'm not quite sure I like where they're heading with Nathan though, if I have one critique it's that he's being a little weird. Mr. Corman - As a certified Joseph Gordon-Levitt stan, I was always going to watch this. It's not the most amazing show out there but I'm sticking with it for him. You can tell be put a lot of love in this. It's very *him* if you're a fan and follow him closely. Their third episode featured a really cool musical/dream sequence that has been my favorite moment so far.  The Morning Show (Rewatch) - My husband didn't watch t...

  It's another Oscar edition over at Wandering Through The Shelves ! This week we're talking about two of my favorite categories. Best Original Score and Best Original Song. I'm throwing my normal "don't reuse movies" rule out for this one because I have some serious favorites here. Let's start with Score, then move on to song 1) Atonement - Dario Marianelli - This is one of the best scores I've ever heard. I loved how he incorporated Briony's typewriter into her theme at the beginning of the film.  2) The Lion King - Hans Zimmer - This is one of my all time favorite animated films and the music is a big part of that. I still listen to songs from this soundtrack fairly often. 3) Star Wars - John Williams - I have to include this iconic score. The excitement that comes from hearing Williams' song boom in before the title crawl is such a feeling. 4) "Falling Slowly" from Once - This is a song that sold me on a film. I hadn't see...

Ruby (Emilia Jones) is the only hearing person in her family. She's torn between protecting them and being their interpreter, and fulfilling her own private dream of singing and going to music school.  Right off the bat, this movie has every single family drama-lite trope in the book. If you think you're missing one, you'll get to it eventually. BUT that's okay! The fact that this film highlights the deaf community so well makes it a joy to watch.  I loved the family dynamic here. Dad Frank, (Troy Kotsur) is hilarious and at times inappropriate. Mom Jackie (Marlee Maitlin) can be a little self absorbed but you can tell she's running a lot of things behind the scenes, and brother Leo (Daniel Durant) just wants to make it on his own without having to rely on his little sister. There's also a great report between Ruby and her drama teacher. (Eugenio Derbez)  I have to talk about our star, Emilia Jones. Unlike her character in the film, she is not a child of deaf ad...