Rambling Film

Max (Brian Cox) has been in prison for quite some time and is given a compassionate release after being diagnosed with a fatal cancer. His daughter, Maxine (Kate Beckinsale) reluctantly takes him in despite their contentious relationship because she needs money. Max takes the opportunity to bond with the grandson, Ezra (Christopher Convery) he never knew he had while trying to prove to Maxine that he has changed his ways. Director Catherine Hardwicke made one of my favorite films of all time, Thirteen. Then she followed that up with another great film, Lords of Dogtown . Then...I haven't liked a movie of hers since. I keep trying though, and I'm still on my Succession high so seeing that she has a film with Brian Cox, I was hoping this would break my losing streak. Unfortunately it does not. Prisoner's Daughter is a very by the books redemption story that is hampered down with stilted dialogue and an uneven range of acting abilities. When your film is good, being "b...

Note: Normally I would just include this with my monthly TV recap, but I've been too busy to get to the theater lately, and I hate having so many days between posts. Not to mention I have.....thoughts on this. Shinny Happy People is a 4 part series currently streaming on Amazon Prime that focuses on the infamous Duggar family. You probably heard of them, they are religious fundamentalists who starred in a TLC show 19 Kids and Counting before it all came out that the parents had covered up child sexual abuse in their own home committed by their oldest son, Josh Duggar. He is now serving time in prison for possessing child pornography. The show also takes a look at the Institution of Basic Life Principles and its former head, Bill Gothard. The man the Duggars followed and many in their circle remain closely linked with. Shinny Happy People bills itself as "Duggar Family Secrets" but it's Gothards IBLP that gets the most scathing treatment, and deservingly so. Brave su...

This was the month of series finales! Spoilers ahead if you haven't finished Succession, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, or Ted Lasso. This was such a good month of TV that it's almost a little sad that I won't have these shows to watch weekly anymore.  Maid - Delta Airlines has the first 7 episodes of this 10 part mini series in their in flight entertainment, and it was fine. I know it got great reviews but I watched this in the first week in May and as of this post, I still haven't gone back to finish it. It just didn't grip me. Succession - Wow. What a perfect finale. Selfishly I would've liked another 30 minutes to see what comes after, or for Cousin Greg to get hit by a bus. The only Roy sibling that doesn't have a bleak outlook after this is Roman, in my opinion. Kendall is going to fall back into addition, Shiv turned into her mother, and Connor's wife is going to leave him. Good for Tom though, I guess?  Ted Lasso - This show has brought me so much...

Set against the backdrop of an Israeli mission to the moon, Nurit (Reymonde Amsallem) a criminal profiler who has made an algorithm to "predict the future" and stop eventual terrorists interviews a young Arab university student, Yaffa (Samar Qupty) who they missed.  The Israel/Palestine conflict looms heavily over this film. How can it not? Yaffa has murdered Israel's Minister of Space and Tourism. Nurit goes into their interview with a thousand things already on her mind, and Yaffa isn't keen on sharing at first. She's calm, she's accepted her fate, and she's rightfully wary of Nurit. They both have a lot to learn from this conversation. It's almost hard to describe this film because you really need to sit down and listen to these women. Much of the film is spent in Nurit's back garden shed, where the interview is conducted. And at the end of the film, I wish I was still there listening. It's one of those films that leaves you wanting more, bu...

This week's theme from Wandering Through The Shelves is films with seasons in the title. I love title themes and the picks below immediately came to mind.  1) Winter Passing - Remember when Zooey Deschanel was the queen of indie movies? This was one of my favorites from her. It also features a softer role from Will Ferrell.  2) Captain America: The Winter Soldier - I can't not think of Bucky when I hear "winter" This is still one of the best Marvel movies out there.  3) Spring - While I didn't *love* this movie, I think Lou Taylor Pucci is a very underrated actor and he was very good in this admittedly messy film.

Miles Morales (Shameik Moore) is struggling with the weight of his secret of being Spider-man and his parents' expectations. He wants to go to college away from Brooklyn, and understandably his parents don't love that idea. Gwen (Hailee Steinfeild) is feeling a similar loneliness in her dimension.  When she joins a team of Spider-people across many universes set to keep everything in balance, her and Miles' paths cross again. If we talk specifically about the artistry, this is hands down the best animated film ever made. Every single frame of this movie is astonishing. They used so many different techniques. From the classic comic-book look for Miles, to the water colors of Gwen's world, to Spider-Punk who literally looks like someone brought a Sex Pistols poster to life. I was just in awe of the animation. It's something I praised in the last film as well, but it's dialed to eleven here. I can't wait to re-watch it just to see what I missed. They took so mu...

This documentary takes us back to the 80's and 90's for a look at one of the most popular mail order catalogs of its time - International Male. I'm not gonna lie, when I saw "All Man" as the title I immediately raised an eyebrow. Then I saw the full picture and it was a memory unlocked. I had mostly forgotten this catalog existed but to many men - gay men in particular. This catalog was everything and it was a fine trip down memory lane. I enjoyed hearing all the stories from those involved with the magazine, to those who were just readers. One of them referred to it as getting "PG-13 porn" in their mailbox every month and I found that hilarious.  It's not all fun and games though, International Male had a lot of its staff die from the AIDs epidemic in the 80's and 90's and they touch on the racism involved with mostly casting white models. It's good they at least acknowledged these things, albeit briefly.  Barely over 80 minute long - th...