Rambling Film

Official synopsis:  During the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, Germany, an American sports broadcasting team must adapt to live coverage of the Israeli athletes being held hostage by a terrorist group. This is the last big Oscar movie I had to see (and thankfully I did get to it before the ceremony...just late on writing reviews) and I'm glad to have ended on a solid note. September 5 is not the showiest film of the bunch, but it's certainly worthy of its Original Screenplay nod. I already like broadcast/journalism movies to begin with, so this was always going to be up my alley. The entire film takes place in their broadcast room. It's cold and dark. At one point they go outside and the daylight just seems like it's intruding. It's pretty remarkable what this team accomplished considering they normally focus on sports. They ushered in a new way of watching breaking news. This isn't lost on them, and the conversations they have with each other raise all the imp...

Official synopsis:  When twin brothers Bill and Hal (Theo James) find their father's old monkey toy, a series of gruesome deaths start. The siblings decide to throw the toy away and move on with their lives, growing apart over the years. I love a good horror comedy. Ridiculously over the top gore that barely make physical sense? Yes. I'm here for it. Give me that campy garbage. Needless to say, I had high expectations for The Monkey. I'm ready to laugh at dumb things. The thing with horror comedy though, crowds matter and hopefully you're watching with one that is laughing at everything as hard as you are. The wrong crowd can kill the vibe, and that's unfortunately what I got stuck with. Some folks wouldn't stop talking, others kept looking at their phones. Nearly every big moment didn't "hit" right because these idiots were too distracted with other things, and therefore killing the fun for everyone else.  It's a shame because there are prett...

We made it! Conan was a safe host. He had a couple good jokes, but stayed very neutral with politics. There were some puzzling musical numbers, like a Bond tribute full of people who didn't actually write any Bond songs. There were some surprise wins, some for the good, others not so much. Here are my thoughts on all the winners. Best Picture Anora The Brutalist A Complete Unknown Conclave Dune: Part Two Emilia Pérez Nickel Boys I’m Still Here The Substance Wicked I will admit defeat here. A lot of people were predicting Anora, I just couldn't see it over Conclave, but it won big tonight, especially Sean Baker.  Best Director Jacques Audiard – Emilia Pérez Brady Corbet – The Brutalist Sean Baker – Anora Coralie Fargeat – The Substance James Mangold – A Complete Unknown Baker had quite the night. I liked that he thanked the sex worker industry, which has played a huge part in several of his films.  Best Actress Cynthia Erivo – Wicked Karla Sofía Gascón – Emilia Pérez Mikey Madi...

I can't believe the Oscars are already this Sunday! I'll likely miss the first half hour or so of the ceremony due to my son's sports schedule, but I'll be following along and tweeting on BlueSky. Below are who I think is going to win, and in some cases, who should win.  Best Picture Anora The Brutalist A Complete Unknown Conclave Dune: Part Two Emilia Pérez Nickel Boys I’m Still Here The Substance Wicked Who will win: Conclave Who should win: That, Anora or Dune: Part II We have a race! Since BAFTA and SAG both went for Conclave, I'm going in that direction too. I know a lot of people say Anora is still in it, and that would be a great win, but I still feel Conclave is stronger.  Best Director Jacques Audiard – Emilia Pérez Brady Corbet – The Brutalist Sean Baker – Anora Coralie Fargeat – The Substance James Mangold – A Complete Unknown Who will win: Brady Corbet Who should win: Coralie Fargeat It really could go between Baker or Corbet. Baker has been Oscar nomina...

The SAG awards return to us live and uncensored on Netflix. (was so caught off guard when Colin Farrell's F bomb went through without being muted) Kristen Bell hosted. She started off really shaky, but her rendition of "Do You Want To Be An Actor" brought it home. Jane Fonda received the lifetime achievement awards and gave a powerful speech that is sure to make a bunch of clowns big mad, and we even got a few surprises! Below are my thoughts on the winners.  I went 11/15 with my picks this evening.  Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture A COMPLETE UNKNOWN ANORA CONCLAVE EMILIA PÉREZ WICKED I feel like Conclave is officially our Best Picture front runner now, right? Selfishly, even though I liked other movies better, I'm good with this because the first thing that came out of my mouth when the credits started to roll on Conclave was "This movie is winning Best Picture" and sometimes I love being right.  Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor...

It's one of my favorite times of the year! Since 2019 I've made it a mission to watch and review all of the Oscar nominated shorts (find my previous posts here ) It wouldn't be possible without the awesome reddit community r/oscarsdeathrace. Thankfully, this year brought us zero trash. I've ranked each short from best to worst per category, so you know who my Oscar favorites are.  Best Animated Short Or just how much stop motion dong can we fit in one Oscar season? Magic Candies  - A lonely young boy finds magic candies that allow him to talk to inanimate objects. One could say this is a story about a kid who tries edibles OR you could look at it as a charming story about a boy who learns to come out of his shell. I loved this. It's so goofy and sweet. A In the Shadow of the Cypress - Whoa, this is heavy. A father suffering from war time PTSD lives remotely with his daughter, who endures his violent episodes. The animation is beautiful and that makes this relentles...

Official synopsis:  A mother (Fernanda Torres) is forced to reinvent herself when her family's life is shattered by an act of arbitrary violence during the tightening grip of a military dictatorship in Brazil, 1971. Fernanda Torres' win at the Golden Globes earlier this year is a perfect example of how awards can boost a film. Who knows if my theater would've even gotten it without that win and the Oscar nominations to follow. I'm grateful for it.  What sticks out to me the most was how much this cast FELT like a real family. They had such an easy chemistry with each other you almost forget you're watching a movie. The film spends a good amount of time with them before the forced kidnapping that will eventually occur. We see them enjoying the beach, getting a new dog, sending one daughter off on an adventure to London, it makes what happens to them hit all the harder when their life is suddenly shattered.  Torres is the glue that holds all of this together. Eunice h...

Official synopsis: Two highly-trained operatives (Miles Teller and Anya Taylor-Joy) become close after being sent to protect opposite sides of a mysterious gorge. When an evil emerges, they must work together to survive what lies within. At first glance, The Gorge didn't really catch my attention. A made for streaming action thriller isn't always my cup of tea, but the mostly positive reviews swayed me. Now, I'm glad I gave this film my time. Part romantic meet-cute, part Annihilation , The Gorge took me by surprise. I was never really sure where the film was going to go, and Teller and Taylor-Joy made for interesting leads. Plus, Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross can never go wrong together when crafting a score. I was surprised how well the cutesy parts of this worked for me too. Sometimes I feel too cynical for those type of things, but it worked. The film does kind of explain away everything very quickly but it still made for a fine Saturday night viewing at home. The Gorg...

Official synopsis: Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie), the new Captain America, finds himself in the middle of an international incident and must discover the motive behind a nefarious global plan. I never thought the current administration would ever affect how I viewed a Marvel movie, but here we are. "Brave" new world indeed. This is Mackie's first big screen outing as the new Cap, and you know what? He looks fucking cool. I said what I said. He's very different from Steve Rogers and that's fine. He has good chemistry with his new Falcon, Joaquin (Danny Ramirez) and with Harrison Ford, who is taking over the late John Hurt's role as Thaddeaus Ross.  For what it's worth, this film does introduce a lot of interesting concepts. Ross as a President for one. I would've loved to have seen how that campaign went considering he made the Sokovia Accords happen, only for the Avengers to be the ones that literally saved the universe. The events of The Eternals playe...

Earlier today the BAFTA's crowned their winners. The Best Picture race at the Oscars is still a giant question mark, right? Below is a list of the nominees with the winners highlighted in blue, plus my thoughts. BEST FILM Anora The Brutalist A Complete Unknown Conclave Emilia Pérez If Anora or The Brutalist would've won here, I would've called Best Picture and open and shut case, but the BAFTAs went with Conclave, the film that I thought would be the easy Best Picture win at the start of the season. Does the Academy follow? Who knows.  OUTSTANDING BRITISH FILM Bird Blitz Conclave Gladiator II Hard Truths Kneecap Lee Love Lies Bleeding The Outrun Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl A double win for Conclave. It's too bad one of the smaller films here couldn't have gotten some love. OUTSTANDING DEBUT BY A BRITISH WRITER, DIRECTOR OR PRODUCER Hoard Kneecap Monkey Man Santosh Sister Midnight Very happy for the Kneecap crew. That film was so fun.  CHILDREN’S AND FA...

The newest binge-able mini series from Netflix revolves around the very real scammer Belle Gibson.  She's an Australian wellness influencer who claimed to have stage 4 brain cancer and used that to launch a healthy eating app and book both titled "The Whole Panty" in the early to mid 2010's. Of course, her illness was a lie and Belle was spectacularly called out for not just her bullshit, but also charity fraud. (The latter which she was forced to pay a fine and apparently still hasn't done so) Kaitlyn Dever puts on her best Aussie accent and tackles Gibson in this 6 episode series.  I was familiar with Gibson before watching this. A lot of you might be without even realizing it. Her 60 minutes interview post scandal went very viral. That blonde in the fluffy pink sweater refusing to confirm her real age and say she's been "living her life as a 26 year old woman?" Yeah, that's her. But what this show does brilliantly is it doesn't focus on Be...

Official synopsis : Copenhagen 1919: A young worker (Vic Carmen Sonne)   finds herself unemployed and pregnant. She meets Dagmar, ( Trine Dyrholm)  who runs an underground adoption agency. A strong connection grows but her world shatters when she stumbles on the shocking truth behind her work I have to say, I went into this Oscar nominee pretty blind. It is very loosely inspired by true events that happened in Denmark at the time, but I wasn't aware of it. So to say I was unprepared would be an understatement. This film rests neatly alongside Loveless and Tyrannosaur in the "Very well made, but I never want to watch you again" category. It's relentlessly bleak. The little moments of reprieve you get are eventually ripped away. Still, I couldn't take my eyes off of it. It's a very transfixing story. Sonne and Dyrholm are great together. Both characters carry so much in different ways, and they easily make you see it. The last meeting between the two characte...

Official synopsis:  When a visionary architect (Adrien Brody) and his wife (Felicity Jones) flee post-war Europe in 1947 to rebuild their legacy and witness the birth of modern United States, their lives are changed forever by a mysterious, wealthy client. (Guy Pearce) The Brutalist might be one of the buzziest films this year. Ever since it started its festival run, I've heard nonstop praise for the nearly 4-hour epic from direct Brady Corbet. Right now, it feels like a serious front runner for Best Picture at the Oscars. So where did I land with all those high expectations? I suppose I landed in the middle. I'm quite torn on this. One one had, it's very well made. Shot entirely on VistaVision over the course of 34 days, Corbet does a lot of directorial flexing here. He's taking full advantage of every angle the camera could go. At times, it felt a little too Malick-y for me, but Corbet is someone I've had a soft spot for since seeing him in Thirteen and Mysteriou...