Rambling Film

If you've been reading here for a while, you probably already know how highly I regard Black Mirror. It's one of my favorite shows ever, it showed up a LOT during my Thursday Movie Picks run and a few years ago I ranked all the Netflix shows I had seen, and it was the easy #1. It's not always a perfect show. Anthologies rarely are, but even when I dislike an episode, I'm always going to watch whatever comes next. With the 7th season currently available to stream, here are my quick thoughts on each episode in the order I watched them U.S.S Callister - Into Infinity - I started out with the direct sequel to season 4's best episode The U.S.S Callister. I thought this was a solid start, it was definitely missing Michaela Coel big time, but Cristin Milioti is such a star. I think it took the logical next step for that story. Common People - This episode was absolute nightmare fuel and that's honestly Black Mirror when its at its best. When they started explaining the...

Official synopsis:  Christian Wolff (Ben Affleck) applies his brilliant mind and illegal methods to reconstruct the unsolved puzzle of a Treasury chief's murder. 2016's The Accountant was a film that grew on me. When I saw it in theaters for the first time, it was just ~fine~ But when I watched it a second time on blu ray, something clicked. I realized just how much I liked these characters and I've re-watched the film several times since. So when the sequel finally came to fruition, it was a no brainer that I would watch. I'm glad to be back into Christian's world. This time around, he doesn't have Dana (Anna Kendrick) to play off of, but his brother Braxton. (Jon Bernthal) They haven't seen each other since the events of the last film played out, so there's a bit of animosity there, mostly on Braxton's part. I wasn't prepared for how amusing this film would be. Bernthal is kind of hysterical. He talks about Christian's "condition...

Daredevil coming to Disney Plus was always a big deal for myself, and a lot of other Marvel fans. It was the best of the Netflix MCU shows (in my opinion) and finding out that it would be brought into MCU proper was a great feeling. So how did season 1 do overall? Let's look at the good, the bad, and what we can look forward to. The Good * Charlie Cox and Vincent D'Onofrio continue to put in great work as Matt Murdoch and Wilson Fisk. There's a really great scene in the later episodes where both characters are coming to terms with their alter-egos separately, and the scene cuts back and forth between them.  * The fight scenes continue to be top notch. * It was nice to get an episode that focused solely on Matt Murdoch being a lawyer. * It still felt very adult. I know there was a lot of worry of it "losing its edge" moving over to Disney Plus, but there was plenty of brutality and a few F bombs. See? What were you worrying about? * The Punisher telling cops who we...

Official synopsis:  Trying to leave their troubled lives behind, twin brothers (Michael B. Jordan) return to their hometown to start again, only to discover that an even greater evil is waiting to welcome them back. I've been slacking at going to the theater and blogging about what I watch from home lately. Thankfully Sinners was so good it gave me that kick I needed to get online and write about it. I don't use the word "genius" lightly but what director Ryan Coogler and composer Ludwig Göransson do with music in this film is genius. I'm always a fan of Göransson's scores. He's ended up as a top artist on my Spotify multiple times, and I loved the bluesy guitar music he wrote here. There's a scene that I don't want to spoil that's truly an all-timer with what Coogler adds into the music. The film takes its time building up to the eventual confrontation our main characters will have with the vampires. We learn plenty about the twins, their lov...

Official synopsis:  A film that weaves together re-enactments, archive footage and fairy-tale sequences to create a testament to the history of Lebanese and Palestinian women to the political struggles of the twentieth century. Commemorating its 40 year anniversary, Lebanese director Heiny Srour 's film was recently restored and released in North American cinemas for the first time. Shot over the course of 7 years and often times in secret, it takes a look at the lives of women through the time traveling titular character, Leila. ( Nabila Zeitouni) It was impossible to watch this and think of my own privilege. Especially when you're met with such striking images like the women sitting on the beach, clad in full burkas while the men are allowed to frolic in bathing suits. It's a frustrating double standard that is not lost on me. I am a bit ashamed that this film was never on my radar prior to its re-release. This is a special Blind Spot. While my list is normally made up of...

Mike White's "Eat The Rich" anthology series wrapped up its Thailand adventure this past Sunday, and boy do I have thoughts. Unfortunately I have to get into spoiler territory, though I will try to keep it as vague as possible, but the season finale really threw a curveball at me. I'm going to break down my critiques per character "groups" Three Lady Friends Leslie Bibb, Carrie Coon, and Michelle Monaghan fully stressed me out with their cattiness at the beginning, but in the best way. I actually liked their story from start to finish. My only complaint was the teased connection with Bibb with Parker Posey's character that went absolutely nowhere. The Ratliff's Despite Jason Isaac STRUGGLING with his southern U.S accent throughout, I was actually the most invested in this weirdo family's problems at first, but it ended up being very anticlimactic. They tease something pretty sinister in the last episode, and I think it would've made for a bet...

Official synopsis: A rebellious young woman, Helen Hopper marries a prominent Republican politician, Pete McCloskey twenty-six years older than her. Decades later, anticipating his death, she wrestles with their marriage, her sexuality, and a life spent by his side.  Not being a resident of California, I wasn't aware of McCloskey's long political history. Though reading that he called out Pat Robertson for lying about his experience during the Korean War to the point where Robertson sued him for libel, then had to abandon his lawsuit after McCloskey had receipts to back it up, and instead had to pay all his legal fees gives me great joy. I preface this because I wasn't really sure what to expect going into Helen and The Bear. I just knew I wanted to learn more.  Helen was immediately fascinating to me. She's free-spirited and on paper you wouldn't think she'd fall for someone like Pete, but they make it work. Their marriage isn't one size fits all. Helen s...

  Official synopsis: A paranoid, secretive surveillance expert (Gene Hackman) has a crisis of conscience when he suspects that the couple he is spying on will be murdered. I realized with the recent death of the legendary Gene Hackman, that despite feeling like I always knew who he was, I haven't actually seen a lot of his filmography. According to what's listed on letterboxd, prior to The Conversation, I had only seen 5% of it. So I made it a priority to check out one of his films for my next Blind Spot, and his starring role in Francis Ford Coppola's feature sounded like a good place to start. It's fun to see Coppola regulars like Robert DuVall and John Cazale pop up in this ,but the biggest treat for me was Harrison Ford as Martin, the "go between" for the man hiring Hackman's Harry to spy on the couple. He's just so effortlessly cool, even though his character is quite shady. He's on screen for all of 10 minutes yet all I could think of is how ...

Official synopsis:  In 1950s Mexico City, an American immigrant (Daniel Craig) leads a solitary life amidst a small American community. However, the arrival of a young student (Drew Starkey) stirs the man into finally establishing a meaningful connection with someone. Director Luca Guadagnino started last year on a high note with Challengers and I expected it to end on that same note with Queer . Especially after hearing all the praise for Daniel Craig's performance.  I wanted to like this so badly, but I STRUGGLED with Queer. Craig does give a wonderful performance but Starkey is drag compared to him. It's the same way I felt about Timothee Chalamet and Armie Hammer in the far better  Call Me By Your Name. The lead is doing all the heavy lifting, and the supporting man just flops. The same could be said for the film itself. It's starts off strong. It's vibrant and interesting, then when our characters leave Mexico City the entire film goes down hill. It almost f...

Official synopsis:  A mysterious woman (Okwui Okpokwasili)  repeatedly appears in Ramona's (Danielle Deadwyler) front yard, often delivering chilling warnings and unsettling messages, leaving them to question her identity, motives and the potential danger she might pose. It's not often that I'll see a PG-13 horror film in theaters. But the trailers featuring the women looked genuinely unsettling and Danielle Deadwyler is a hell of a talent. Surely this film must be something special if she signed on?  The Woman in the Yard might try to force some jump scares here and there, but the image of the woman alone works well. It's creepy and you're never quite sure what exactly is going to happen. I appreciated this about the film. It's a similar film to The Babadook in that it deals with grief, but it keeps you guessing where it's going to go. Even the annoying teenagers in my theater shut up after a certain point to pay attention.  The cast is small, making up of ...