Rambling Film

What starts as a seemingly ordinary day at school finds Vada (Jenna Ortega) in the bathroom with her classmate Mia. (Maddie Ziegler) The girls don't know each other well. Vada makes small talk, then all of a sudden gun shots start ringing through the air. They hide in a stall, and are soon joined by another student, Quinton (Niles Fitch) looking for safety. After the massacre, they're left dealing with the emotional fallout that comes with it.  Movies about school shootings can be very hit or miss. For every one that offers something interesting beyond the incident itself ( Zero Day , We Need To Talk About Kevin ) you get absolute duds. ( Hello, Herman , The Life Before Her Eyes ) The Fallout aims to tackle the navigation of not only survivors guilt, but the way relationships can be ruined after the fact. While the story centers around Vada, both she, Mia and Quinton have very different things to deal with after the fact. Vada's family is supportive, they send her to a the...

  It's our first TV theme over at Wandering Through The Shelves and as always we always start - we're talking Freshman series of the past year. You know I'm a Marvel nut, and last year Marvel launched their Disney Plus shows. I enjoyed all of them so I decided to make this post a ranking of sorts. 1) Wandavision - It's not surprising the show staring my favorite Avenger is also my favorite. As a fan of old TV shows and Wanda, this just worked for me. Wanda is a complicated character, and I thought the show handled her and Vision well. It also introduced us to a grown up Monica Rambeau, who I can't wait to see more of, and it brought back old characters like Darcy and made them better. 2) The Falcon and the Winter Soldier - This might be controversial because I see this show at the bottom of a lot of lists, but I love Sam and Bucky's report so this one is higher on the list for me. I'm here for the new Captain America.  3) Hawkeye - I didn't expect to ...

Rahim (Adir Jadidi) is in prison for being unable to pay a debt. On a two day leave, he sets a plan in motion to repay his creditor, but it soon spirals out of control. If there's one thing director Asghar Farhadi loves, it's a nice grey area. He's been exploring that for years and I never tire of it. I still think of the first film of his I saw, A Separation often. He's a filmmaker that I'm always interested in.  What I appreciated most about this film was its originality. It can't be called basic or predictable. I appreciate foreign movies for always giving me a different perspective. I never quite knew what Rahim was going to do next. I went back and forth with sympathizing with him. Jadidi gives an excellent performance. We know Rahim is doing some shady things, but he's also a real man and father and he has feelings too. Speaking of fathers, I absolutely loved Saleh Karimeai's performance as Rahim's son, Siavash. He has a stutter, so he doesn...

  This week's theme from Wandering Through The Shelves are movies featuring time loops. These three picks came pretty quickly to me this week. I adore all three films I'm about to talk about.  1) Looper - This might seem too easy, but I adore Rian Johnson's movie about a man whose job it is to travel through time and take people out.  2) See You Yesterday - This movie is about two teenagers who build a time machine to stop one of their brothers from being murdered by a police officer. Last I checked, this was available on Netflix and it's a quick, yet powerful watch. 3) Palm Springs - This film about two people stuck in a time loop at a wedding is fun. The actors bounce off each other so well. 

Who's it for: Shakespeare lovers, Denzel fans, #filmtwitter Director Joel Coen takes a stab at Shakespeare's famous play with Denzel Washington playing Macbeth, the man convinced by a trio of witches (Kathryn Hunter) that he will become the King of Scotland I was convinced I was going to watch this movie and hate how it looks because of my aversion to black and white. I half expected to have the opposite reaction to 2015's Macbeth, where it looks beautiful but the movie was garbage. I thought I'd enjoy this, but wouldn't like how it looked. Thankfully, I was wrong. The way Coen shoots this is fascinating. All his sets are bare bones, yet there's a strange beauty in them. It's half a play half a movie and I loved the way it looked.  Denzel actually made me sympathize with Macbeth, which has never happened. There's just something about his face. I would like Denzel to be the King of Scotland. Sure, Macbeth, murder everyone and take your rightful throne. It...

Who's it for: PTA fans, those nostalgic for the 70's, people who just want to vibe. Gary (Cooper Hoffman) is a 15 year old child actor and businessman who crushes hard on the 25 year old Alana (Alana Haim) in 1973 California. They become business partners and it's played off as first love. There's been a lot of controversy surrounding the age gap between the characters in this movie, and rightfully so. It's weird. It's just hard for me, as a one time 25 year old woman to even imagine what would be attractive about a 15 year old. Alana brings up her age at first, then as things progress she gets jealous and petty when her child object of affection starts flirting with a girl his own age. I just didn't vibe with it.  I bring up the word "vibe" again because another review I read pointed out that this film was "just vibes" and after watching it, I couldn't agree more. There feels like there's large chunks of the story missing. It...

I was really excited for these nominees to be announced, then they turned into complete chaos. There's still plenty of good, but plenty of WTF to go along with it. Cast in a Motion Picture “Belfast” “CODA” “Don’t Look Up” “House of Gucci” “King Richard” While I'm very happy for CODA, and House of Gucci and Belfast were also locks, where the fuck is Dune? That should've been here. Film Twitter had me convinced Mass had a chance too and that's on my must see list. I'm not mad about King Richard, I think that's pretty awesome. Don't Look Up has a great cast...just not in that movie.  Male Actor in a Leading Role in a Motion Picture Javier Bardem, “Being the Ricardos” Benedict Cumberbatch, “The Power of the Dog” Andrew Garfield, “Tick Tick Boom” Will Smith, “King Richard” Denzel Washington, “The Tragedy of Macbeth” Bardem snuck in over Peter Dinklage, who I thought we'd see here. I was hoping for Adam Driver in Annette as a no guts nomination, but I'll s...

  This week's theme from Wandering Through The Shelves is movies set in hospitals. There's plenty to choose from this week, I decided to go with the theme of mental hospitals. 1) It's Kind of a Funny Story - I have some issues with this film overall, but it is one that's stayed with me even years after I've seen it. It might not always be realistic, but it's sweet.  2) Unsane - I never would've guessed that I would love a movie shot on a cell phone so much. Claire Foy is brilliant in this. 3) Girl, Interrupted - The O.G mental hospital flick for me. I loved this as a teenager. It's been years since I've seen it, and I'd like to watch again.

Who's it for: Parents, introspective people, hipsters. Johnny (Joaqui n Phoenix) is a radio journalist traveling across the country interviewing kids for his latest project. When his sister, Viv (Gabby Hoffman) runs into some issues with her husband, he takes his nephew, Jesse (Woody Norman) along with him.  I have to admit I wasn't all that excited about seeing this movie. But my indie theater got it and it's had a fair amount of buzz behind it so off I went. It far surpassed my expectations. To get the bad thing out of the way, the film itself is kind of ugly. I know I always complain about contemporary black and white but this film is a great example of why I think it doesn't work. This movie would've benefitted from some color, especially when they go to New Orleans. Thankfully the heart of the story makes up for it.  As a parent to a very energetic child, this really spoke to me. My favorite scenes were when we got to listen to Johnny interview kids. Their ans...

  The Award Show That Shall Not Be Named except in the title decided its best course of action after getting booted by NBC was not to stream their event, not to release a list of winners all at once, but to announce each winner one by one with a cringy tweet. They weren't even saying what some people even won for, which I'm sure casual awards season watchers loved. It was stupid, but I did 15/25 with my picks. Here's the list of winners + some quick thoughts. Best Motion Picture - Drama Belfast CODA Dune King Richard The Power of the Dog I'm glad this came out on top. I wasn't so sure after Screenplay was announced, but it's what I hope will win Best Picture at the Oscars.  Best Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy Cyrano Don’t Look Up Licorice Pizza tick, tick...BOOM! West Side Story This was an easy win for them. I really hope I can find time to go to the theater and see it soon.  Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture, Drama Jessica Chastain (“The ...

  What I knew going in: That Greer Garson won an Oscar for this. Mrs. Miniver (Greer Garson) tries to keep a positive attitude in her small town in England during the start of WWII. Her eldest son, Vin (Richard Ney) is enlisted. He's falling in love with young Carol (Teresa Wright) at the same time. Between looking after her young children, her husband also having to go away, bombs dropping on their city, and some pesky business about a local flower competition. She's got a lot on her plate. As awful as this sounds, I don't think I had really heard much about Greer Garson until I started watching Be Kind Rewind's youtube channel. After watching her Oscar win episode, I knew I wanted to add one of her films to my Blind Spot list, and lucky for me while taking a recent flight. This film was available on Delta Studios. There are some drawbacks of inflight movies, mainly, planes aren't very quiet. I found myself a little confused on where this movie was supposed to be ...

  The Golden Globes are this Sunday. There will be no actors or press attending. No red carpet, and we have no idea if they're going to live stream or just list winners online afterwards. The HFPA have a lot of work to do to get better, and I normally do a "who will win, who should win" format on my prediction post. But SHOULD anyone win a Globe? Are they ever going to be relevant again? For the sake of consistency, I'll keep the same format, but I'm just as puzzled as everyone else. Best Motion Picture, Drama Belfast CODA Dune King Richard The Power of the Dog Who will and should win: The Power of the Dog This seems to be the front runner and rightfully so. Best Picture, Musical or Comedy Cyrano Don’t Look Up Licorice Pizza tick, tick...BOOM! West Side Story Who will win: West Side Story I've only seen tick, tick...BOOM and Don't Look Up as of me writing this so I can't really say who *should* win this category. But the Globes love star power, and Ste...

  It's another year of Thursday Movie Picks over at Wandering Through The Shelves ! As of me writing this, Wanderer only has a preliminary schedule out for 2022, but I'm sure by the time I actually post this it will be final. Either way, check out her blog and join the fun. Today's theme is 2021 releases, and I'm going with my top 3 favorite films of the year. 1) The Power of the Dog - Benedict Cumberbatch is so good in this movie that I can barely wrap my head around it. On top of that, it has great performances by my girl Kirsten Dunst, Kodi Smit-McGee and Jessie Plemmons, and is beautifully directed by Jane Campion. Please give this all the Oscars 2) Dune - I went into Dune having not read the books nor seen the earlier film, and I was just hoping I'd like it. I came out loving it. I can't wait for part two, I can't wait for this to be back on HBO max so I can watch it again. It's amazing. 3) Nine Days - This is easily the most underrated film of t...

Your girl actually remembered to post this in January this year! I did better with my reading this year than I did in 2020. My husband got me a Kobu e-reader for Christmas, and I've already completed one book and started another. Hopefully that makes me read a little quicker and finally get through my list. Here's some quick reviews of what I read.  Sunburn by Laura Lippman - Laura Lippman is one of my favorite authors, but this wasn't one of her greatest. I read it quickly, and it was engaging, but it didn't really pack the punch of most of her previous novels - C I, Robot by Isaac Asimov - This collection of short stories came from a book my grandfather owned. He passed away in 2021 and has an extensive book collection. This was one that I took, and because it was his I feel like I attach more meaning these stories than I normally would have. But they were good. B the sun and her flowers by rupi kaur - Okay, I know clowning on Rupi Kaur is kind of a past time on the...

Leda (Olivia Colman) is a professor on holiday in Greece. She becomes fascinated with a young mother, Nina (Dakota Johnson) which triggers memories of her younger self (Jessie Buckley) and the trials of motherhood.  Olivia Colman can really do no wrong at this point. She's fantastic in everything and this is another film where she knocks it out of the park. To say Leda is complex is an understatement. When we meet her, she could be any awkward woman in her 40's just going about her business. But we learn quickly just how being a mother has shaped her and the hardships she's faced. If you're a parent, think of all those frustrating moments you've had. You love your kids, but you want them to just chillthefuckout and give you a minute of peace. That's basically what Buckley's version of Leda deals with every day, and Colman's version is what she's made into. Buckley is also very good as young Leda. Johnson I still think is kind of awkward on screen, bu...

Happy New Year! I hope no one is nursing a hangover. I wish I could say we went out of 2021 with a bang, but with the loss of TV legend Betty White yesterday, we went out with sadness. What a career she had. I don't know of a single person that hates Betty White (and if you do, kindly fuck off) It's not easy to be so universally loved. Fly high, Betty.  And back to the usual around here, this is what I was watching throughout the month of December.  Succession - I loved this season and the finale was a Red Wedding style massacre without the blood. The final shot was perfection. The Roys are quite extraordinary characters. Kendall is such a GD mess, but I felt so bad for him in these last few episodes. Shiv deserved to get her comeuppance, but I'm not even sure she was prepared for what Tom did. I can't wait for next season Insecure - We said goodbye to one of the funniest shows on TV. I'm not crazy about Issa ending up with Lawrence, but I am glad she and all the ...