Rambling Film

When a beloved theater director falls into a coma, her son Troy (Jimmy Tatro) is tasked with keeping it afloat in her place, despite knowing nothing about theater. Most of it falls to Amos (Ben Platt) and Rebecca-Diane (Molly Gordon) two former theater kids and now teachers at the camp. I didn't go to theater camp, nor did I know of any camp like the one depicted here around the area I grew up in. I imagine for a sizeable set of people, this is going to be filled with nostalgia and in-jokes. And judging by the reaction this film is getting, I think that goodwill is going a long way, because overall it's kind of a mess. Featuring 2 directors (one of them being Gordon) and 4 writers, Theater Camp feels like several ideas crammed into one feature. The film is initially framed as a documentary, but that idea comes and goes. Ayo Edebiri plays a character that feels like she was added in at the final stages with no explanation. Talent like hers shouldn't be wasted. And strangely

  This week's theme from Wandering Through The Shelves is the re-occurring films not in the English language. Like I've done the past few years, I'm picking foreign films that I saw the year prior to narrow down the scope a bit.  1) All Quiet on the Western Front (2022) - Every time I say I'm over war movies, one comes along that pulls me back in. Least year, it was this German offering from Netflix. Amazing from start to finish.  2) Ema - Ema as a character is truly a trainwreck but man did I love watching her. This Chilean film was shot beautifully. 3) Lady Vengeance - I found this film as a whole to be very uneven, but the parts I did enjoy were brilliant. This Korean film had been on my watch list for some time. 

Welcome to my monthly TV recap! As usual in the summer, I don't have a ton of TV shows to what, but here's what I made time for on the small screen.  What We Do in the Shadows - Guillermo's secret continues to spread to everyone except Nandor and it still manages to be good TV. Episode 8 ended on something so dumb, yet so funny I'm still laughing about it days later. I had mistakenly thought this was the final season, and I'm glad to find out I was wrong. Reservation Dogs - Our beloved Rez dogs are on their final season though, and season 3 has been a bit hit or miss. I give them props for trying something new. Deer Lady worked very well for me, whereas House Made of Bongs didn't. I'm still looking forward to the few episodes we have left, and I really hope I see more of these actors in future projects. Ahsoka - I've tried to avoid reviews of Ahsoka from everyone other than my blogger/twitter friends because the Star Wars fandom is so toxic, BUT I'

Josie (Ayo Edebiri) and PJ (Rachel Sennot) are two dorky teens who start a "fight club" in disguise of an after school self defense club in order to hit on other girls. I have to admit, even though I LIVE for anything Ayo Edebiri does, I was hesitant on this. For one, the two lead actors cannot pass for high schoolers, even though I can see why they would want to act in something Sennot wrote. But I've been in a theater drought lately and needed a laugh. I'm glad I put that aside, because Bottoms was far more of a parody of high school films than I was expecting. It made the casting make a lot more sense. And our two leads are hilarious. After seeing Nicholas Galitzine in Red, White, and Royal Blue , it was fun to see him here as football star Jeff. Real football star Marshawn Lynch playing their preoccupied teacher and club advisor Mr. G was another treat. There's plenty of laughs here, and a lot more blood than you'd expect. It still falls victim to a lot of

This weeks TV theme over at Wandering Through The Shelves is investigators. They can be police, or private. There's a ton of shows that could qualify here, most I haven't seen. But here are a few that I really enjoyed 1) Mare of Easttown - This HBO hit that had everyone talking post-show had an incredible cast, and some pretty shocking scenes. Plus, it took home a bunch of Emmys and is well worth the watch. And after you finish, watch the SNL sketch making fun of the accents because that's amazing too. 2) Unbelievable - I was watching a documentary the other day about women who had reported rapes, only to be charged with "false reporting" when they were telling the truth. It reminded me of the very powerful scene in this mini-series, where Kaitlyn Dever's character finally gets her justice when the cop that charged her for false reporting is proven wrong. Toni Collette and Merritt Wever are amazing as two female investigators who actually listen to their vict

Fontaine (John Boyega) is a drug dealer trying to go about his day when he's gunned down in front of pimp Slick Charles' (Jamie Foxx) house, yet wakes up fine the next day. The two of them, along with Yo-Yo (Teyonah Parris) stumble upon a massive government conspiracy when searching for answers.  On the surface, this is a very silly caper with an unlikely trio of protagonists. It's obviously much deeper than that, but I'm going to avoid spoilers here. Even though you'll probably arrive at the "why" conclusion before our leads do, it's still better to know less going in. John Boyega has to play it so straight in this film that I almost felt bad for him, because Foxx and Parris are having a hell of a good time. They are absolutely hilarious in this and their chemistry with one another is fantastic. Boyega is stoic as Fontaine who is going through a lot to say the least. There's definitely some plot holes here in there that get a little hard to ignore

  What I knew going in: That it's one of the few Best Picture winners to also win Best Play at the Tony's. This is the tale of the famous Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (Tom Hulce)....told by his rival Antonio Salieri (F. Murray Abraham) A man who is painfully aware he will never stack up to Mozart's genius. After attempting to take his own life, he recounts his tale of causing Mozart's death to a priest. (Richard Frank) I know I'm veeeeeeeeeeeerrrrry late with this take, but Amadeus fucking rocks. I was not expecting to completely fall in love with this the way I did. While not first and foremost a comedy, some of the cuts this film had were absolutely genius. Salieri at one point refers to himself as the "Patron Saint of Mediocrity" which might be one of my favorite lines of all time now. Everything about this film worked for me. The costumes, the music, the editing, and most of all the actors. Both Abraham and Hulce were outstanding and it's a pitty they

Alex Claremont-Diaz (Taylor Zakhar Perez) is the charismatic son of the President of the United States. (Uma Thurman) Prince Henry of England (Nicholas Galitzine) was rude to him at a party once and Alex has not let that go. After a very public confrontation, they are forced to reconcile, but what it leads to instead is a solid friendship and eventually a forbidden romance.  I have never read the hit novel this is based on and I was sure this was going to be some Lifetime-y insufferable bullshit but damn it, I was wrong! It was so cute. Maybe I was just starved for an adorable gay romance because we don't get nearly enough of those, but as corny as this was it completely worked for me. The leads had a lovely chemistry and I completely bought into everything, even when it was almost too sugary sweet. They still felt like fully fleshed out characters and not a stack of tropes. Plenty of the comedic bits hit as well, which is always appreciated. If only we could be in a timeline where

Jem (Eliza Scanlan) struggles as she comes of age in a fundamentalist Christian world. Her parents want her to be ready for courtship, but when her youth pastor Owen (Lewis Pullman) returns to her church after a mission trip, he throws her life off even more. This was a film coming out of Sundance that I had been looking forward to and was happy to find it as an option to watch on a recent Delta flight. Admittedly these weird religious cult-y dramas are right up my alley. Jem has it hard from all sides. She gets called out early on in the film for her bra being visible through her shirt (gasp!) She seems to have a large hand in raising her younger siblings. Her father (Jimmi Simpson) did not grow up in this cult, but rather was someone who was "saved" later on and he too is struggling recently, and Jem finds herself wondering about his life before he came to God. With all of this being piled on, it makes her an easy target for someone like Owen who is old enough to know bette

July was a very underwhelming month of TV for me. It got better towards the end, but I don't have a lot to talk about this month. Here's what I was watching on the small screen. Secret Invasion - I watched one episode of this, forgot about it the next, then just continued to put it off. I didn't care for how the first episode ended and it sounds like it doesn't get better. I may download it and watch it on my next plane ride if nothing better comes up, but I don't have high hopes for now. The Clearing - This ended exactly how I thought it would. Overall, this show as fine. Drags a bit hear and there but makes for a good binge watch even with its faults.  Betrayal: The Perfect Husband - I binged this all in and one and MAN this guy is a trash fire. Crime docs are easy for me to get through so if you're not into those, this may not be for you. But if you are, this is on Hulu. What We Do in the Shadows - Now THIS saved July for me. Only the first few episodes ar

Ria (Priya Kansana) dreams of becoming a stunt woman and her biggest cheerleader is her older sister Lena. (Ritu Arya) Lena is going through a rough patch. She's recently dropped out of art school and spends most of her time in bed until she meets Salim (Akshay Khann) and agrees to marry him after only knowing him for a few days. Ria realizes that she has to save her sister from this marriage.  My local theater had this film for about a week before getting rid of it. Of course, I missed it and was beyond annoyed, but thankfully this is now available to stream on Peacock. I adore this movie. It's ridiculous and funny and the cast is so charming. You'll notice a heavy influence of Edgar Wright, but writer/director Nida Manzoor has crafted something completely original, even with the stylistic choices. It all works. Many other reviews I read pointed out their disappointment with the fight choreography, and that's something I completely understand, but it didn't bother

This week's theme from Wandering Through The Shelves is about the female experience in the work place and I hate to gloom and doom everyone, but these are literally the first movies that came to mind... 1) She Said - Last year's investigative reporter film about the women who broke the story about Harvey Weinstein was very well done, but didn't seem to resonate with a larger audience. Probably because of the subject matter.  2) The Assistant - With a quiet performance by Julia Garner, this is the day in the life of an assistant to a powerful figurehead (kind of like the one taken down in She Said. *cough cough*) 3) The Devil Wears Prada - Keeping with the theme of horrible bosses, at least we're dealing with cattiness over harassments here. 

In the not so distant future, AI has become an even bigger part of life. So much so that Rachel (Emilia Clarke) an ambitious business woman decides to use the Womb Center to grow her baby in a pod instead of becoming pregnant herself. Her botanist husband, Alvy (Chiwetel Ejiofer) is less enthused with the pod, and with the world in general. In a time where actors are on strike, studios are trying to replace real people with AI, and the owner of Twitter is actively trying to turn his website into a crypto-bro haven, The Pod Generation's  biting satirical take feels even more relevant. More than once in the film, someone mentions that they don't need real nature because they have "nature pods now." Rachel's therapist is essentially the eye of Sauron and the kids at a pre-school don't physically make art anymore. They just give suggestions to the computer making it for them.  The film is completely centered on Rachel and Alvy's story, which works against it

Mutant turtle brothers Donatello (Micha Abbey), Raphael (Brady Noon), Michelangelo (Shaman Brown Jr.), and Leonardo (Nicholas Cantu) have been raised to avoid humans and stay hidden in the sewers, but despite all that, the long for a normal teenage life. When they meet April O'Neil (Ayo Edebiri) by chance, they decide to team up to stop the mysterious Super Fly (Ice Cube) from terrorizing the city so people will see them as heroes and ultimately accept them. I grew up with TMNT and have seen many variations throughout the years. This is definitely one of my favorite ones. The animation is like someone's sketch book came to life. The jagged lines and chaotic style really suit what they have going on here. Plus, the turtles actually feel like teenagers, which is something that has been missing for a while. I'm used to them either feeling like adult frat boys or 10 year olds.  I love the voice actors they chose, they suit their parts well and Ice Cube as the villain was so fun

  What I knew going in: The basic plot Guido Anselmi (Marcello Mastroianni) is a famed Italian director fresh off his last hit, but struggling to find purpose in this next film. He has "director's block." He attempts to go to a spa to think things out, but is met with pressure from studio execs and personal drama. I never did see all of the Daniel Day Lewis starring remake of this, 9 . What little I did see made me not want to bother with it and check out 8 1/2 instead. And here I am many years later. Why do we never talk about this film when it comes to editing? (Or maybe "we" do and I'm just not included) I thought it seamlessly transitioned from Guido's reality into his day dreams. It's gorgeous to look at. What DP Gianni di Venanzo pulled off was striking.  Mastroianni was good as the lead, but for me the women made this film. His wife, Luisa (Anouk Aimee) his mistress, Carla (Sanda Marlo) and even his dream girl Claudia (Claudia Cardinale) I t

It's another TV theme at Wandering Through The Shelves and this week we're talking about con artists. I'm not gonna lie, aside from my first pick, NOTHING came to mind. I had to dig for these ones, but here's what I came up with. 1) Better Call Saul - When this show was first announced, I was convinced it wouldn't work, despite Saul being a very good character on Breaking Bad. Oh, how wrong I was. It was fantastic.  2) McMillion$ - Going the docuseries route with this pick. As someone who was quite young when the McDonalds Monopoly scam was going on, I didn't know the in's and out's of it so this series was fascinating to me. 3) Inventing Anna - I was familiar with this story before watching the series and Julia Garner was perfectly cast as this fake German heiress. I loved it. 

Barbie's (Margot Robbie) perfect life comes crashing down when she starts suffering an existential crisis and has to visit the real world only to find out that all the good things they thought they did for women in society were a lie. Capping off my Barbenheimer double feature with this fun, smart and extremely goofy film was a must. Greta Gerwig has a lot riding on her shoulders. She's one of the few female directors that almost always gets her name into awards conversations and I think that's a lot of pressure. The way she handles Barbie proves once again that she deserves to be in those conversations. Barbie tackles a wild range of topics that you've probably already heard others talk about. Mattel thankfully allowed the filmmakers to take the piss out of them quite a bit. So many of the jokes landed. Fragile men are bound to be butthurt by a few of them. Margot Robbie was born to play Barbie. She is just so effortlessly perfect in this role. Ryan Gosling as Ken gets

J. Robert Oppenheimer (Cillian Murphy) was a scientist and "father of the atomic bomb." This film follows his involvement with the Trinity Project during WWII, and afterwards in two separate hearings. To say this was a highly anticipated movie for me is an understatement. I love director Christopher Nolan's work (most of the time) and Cillian Murphy is one of my favorite working actors. Like many others, I caught both this and Barbie over the weekend, and I'm glad I started here. Oppenheimer is a biopic that absolutely gets it right. Told in 3 separate timelines in an easy to follow fashion, we get a riveting courtroom drama, an intense race against the clock story, and an engaging interrogation all in one. Even though you know the Trinity Project was successful, you still felt the pressure these characters felt going into their final test. You also feel the moral discomfort with what they accomplished. They're cheering for a job well done, but you never forget t

The Očeti Šakówin are also known as Lakota, Nakota and Dakota. This documentary follows their fight to reclaim their sacred land, The Black Hills. Taken from them by unfair treaties and colonization.  When HBO's The Watchmen aired in 2019, that was the first time many American citizens had heard about the Tulsa massacre of 1921. An ugly, but true story in our history. How was such an act not being taught in every history class before? I imagine after watching Lakota Nation vs United States, the same will be for the Lakota 38. The largest "legal" mass execution in U.S history, ordered by Abraham Lincoln in the same week he signed the Emancipation Proclamation. These unspeakable acts still need to be included when learning our nation's history. Everyone deserves to have all the context.  There are many stories told in this film that are hard to listen to, and that's the point. The indigenous people suffered greatly at the hands of colonization, and they still do b

June meant watching a lot of these shows on my iPad on airplanes. The small screen was very literal for me this month. Here's what I managed to watch during my travels.  Black Mirror - *sigh* Black Mirror is one of my all time favorite shows but these new seasons just have not felt like Black Mirror. To break it down: Joan is Awful - This very much felt like Black Mirror but they tend to lose me when they go full meta like this. I had the same gripe about Black Museum in season 4. It had a few funny parts, but I didn't care for it over all. Loch Henry - Someone on letterboxd mentioned that some of these episodes felt like they belonged in the VHS movies and this is definitely one of those. It's one of the better ones of the season because Black Mirror is always at its best when it's being very British, but it still doesn't stand up to anything in seasons 1-4. Beyond the Sea - Easily the best of the season. I really enjoyed this episode and it got a lot darker than

It's Emmy season, baby! Voters did that thing again where they only see two shows and nominate everyone in them. There are some welcomed nominations, and some egregious snubs. Here are a list of the main acting/show nominations + my thoughts. BEST COMEDY SERIES Abbott Elementary  Barry  The Bear  Jury Duty  The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel  Only Murders in the Building Ted Lasso  Wednesday  I have never heard about Jury Duty. It's on something called Freevee, which I think is related to Amazon? No clue. I'm just happy for Abbott, The Bear, and Ted Lasso.  BEST ACTOR IN A COMEDY SERIES Bill Hader (Barry) Martin Short (Only Murders in the Building) Jason Segel (Shrinking) Jason Sudeikis (Ted Lasso) Jeremy Allen White (The Bear) Bill Hader is being nominated for a good dramatic performance in a comedy series and that's why Barry will never win anything. This is White's year anyways.  BEST ACTRESS IN A COMEDY SERIES Christina Applegate (Dead to Me) Rachel Brosnahan (The Marvel

This week's theme from Wandering Through The Shelves is another reoccurring one - book adaptations! I thought about going with a theme within a theme, but I decided to instead chose movies that have just been on my mind lately. Here's what I came up with.  1) Misery - My 11 year old caught part of the ending of this on TV a while back and has been begging me to watch it ever since. I keep telling him no. He even tried to discreetly choose it on the seat back entertainment on our last flight. Poor kid, I'll give in eventually. I actually haven't read the book to go along with this, but I would like to. I hope to knock that out this winter. 2) The Lovely Bones - This was on TV the other day and it just reminded me how much Peter Jackson fumbled the bag with this. He had such a great cast, but I'll say it over and over - this needed a female director. 3) American Psycho - This gets the third spot because it remains my #1 "Movie was better than the book" f

Sarah (Sarah Snook) is a single mother who is going through the grief of losing her father, and having to deal with her estranged mother entering a nursing home. Her daughter Mia (Lily LaTorre) stars exhibiting strange behaviors that are bringing up some dark memories from Sarah's past. I was looking forward to this when it was at Sundance, then it came out with mostly awful reviews. Still, when Netflix picked it up and dropped it this week, I still wanted to see it. After all, Snook has been killing it on Succession. I wanted to see her in her native Aussie accent. If there's one thing Run Rabbit Run gets right, it's the unsettling atmosphere. Sarah is going through a lot and there's always something creepy doing on. You keep waiting for the other shoe to drop. Unfortunately all that goodwill is squandered by it's muddled ending. I really wanted to support director Daina Reid. Though seeing as she also directed an episode of The Outsider , can I really be surprise