Rambling Film

The Emmys moved some pretty big Prime Time awards to the Creative Arts ceremony, so I figured I'd take the time to talk about them separately since I'm not seeing as many new movies this week as I'd like to. This is nowhere near a full list of nominees and winners, for that I suggest you head over the lovely Next Best Picture who listed them all? Me myself? I'm only listing what I feel like talking about.  Outstanding Movie Heads Of State Miss You, Love You People We Meet On Vacation Remarkably Bright Creatures Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan: Ghost War I haven't seen any of these, but this felt like a shoo-in, so I'm not surprised to see it win here.  Outstanding Animated Program Bob’s Burgers: Grand Pre Pre Pre Opening  Rick And Morty: There’s Something About Morty  The Simpsons: Homer? A Cracker Bro?  Smiling Friends: Le Voyage Incroyable De Monsieur Grenouille  South Park: Sermon On The ‘Mount  South Park took some pretty risky swings this season so I'm gl...

I realized recently that I'm going to miss the Emmy ceremony due to a work commitment (why is this on a Monday night and not a Sunday night? Come on!) But even though I won't get to watch the show, I always have opinions. Here's who I think will win, and in some cases, who should win. OUTSTANDING DRAMA The Diplomat The Gilded Age A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms Paradise The Pitt Pluribus Slow Horses Your Friends & Neighbors Who will and Should Win: The Pitt Part of me wishes A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms would take this, because it was delightful, but the Pitt is basically unstoppable in this category. At least it feels like it.   LEAD ACTRESS IN A DRAMA Carrie Coon, The Gilded Age Chase Infiniti, The Testaments Keri Russell, The Diplomat Rhea Seehorn, Pluribus Zendaya, Euphoria Who will win: Keri Russell Who should win: Rhea Seehorn All of these actresses are fantastic but Keri Russell is campaigning pretty hard, and she has the benefit of "His and Hers Emmys...

Official synopsis: A brave girl, Freddy (Delaney Quinn) and her friends must escape a kids television show, "Buddy." Any horror movie about a Barney-esque children's TV show is going to catch my eye, but one from Casper Kelly? The man behind the hilariously annoying short film Too Many Cooks ? That's enough to sell me.  We start the film with the corniness dialed up to 100, in an episode of Buddy. We spend a bit of time there before we get to the secondary plotline involving Grace (Cristin Miloti) a mom in the real world who is slowly starting to lose her mind. This is a brief interlude. Most of the film does take place within the TV show.  I really like the story as a concept, but it feels uneven in the execution. There is a thread that ties Grace's story to Freddy's but it doesn't have the most satisfying conclusion. I think the film would've been better if they had trimmed some of the children's journey on their own and incorporated Grace earlie...

Official synopsis: Kris, (Hannah Einbinder) a director making a slasher sequel becomes obsessed with casting the original film's 'final girl,' Billy (Gillian Anderson) leading both women into psychological and sexual chaos. I have been trying to write this review for days, hoping some additional time would help me decide how I feel about the film as a whole, but alas, I'm still conflicted. Part of it is because it's gotten such glowing reviews and I wanted to love it just as much as everyone else did and how could I, a queer film fanatic NOT be 100% on board with this, but I think I have to accept that Director Jane Schoenbrun's method of storytelling isn't for me.  Let's start positive. Camp Miasma is BEAUTIFUL to look at. The cinematography is gorgeous, the way Schoenbrum frames their scenes is perfect and you can tell they have a great love for slasher films. Not to mention the soundtrack rocks. Gillian Anderson is giving a an excellent campy perform...

The Platt family (Anne Hathaway and Ewan McGregor as Denise and Greg, along with their two children Audrey and Brian played by Maisy Stella and Christian Convery) bands together to navigate their new surroundings after a cosmic event transports their suburban neighborhood to someplace unknown. Maybe it's because Jurassic Park came out when I was a kid and remains one of my favorite movies to this day, but I found it impossible not to think about it during The End of Oak Street. Director David Robert Mitchell makes so many choices that just *feel* like a homage to Spielberg. Honestly, I liked this better than any Jurassic Park sequel we've seen since.  The Platt family is ordinary. No one is a s genius or is highly skilled in fighting, so they really do feel like what the average family would probably be going through in something like this ever happened. Denise and Greg's marriage is already on the rocks before Oak Street is thrown back in time, and I thought it was prett...

San Diego Comic Con used to be THE big nerdy event to look forward to in the summer and it's kind of crazy how much bigger D23 seems now. I mean it's obvious why, when a single company owns so many franchises, but still. I remember when I used to refresh my computer constantly to catch Hall H updates. Anyways I randomly woke up in the middle of the night last night and instead of falling back asleep I watched all the new D23 teasers instead and thought it would be fun to rank them based on my excitement (or lack there of) Not My Monkeys - Not My Circus I would be remiss not to mention that I don't follow EVERY franchise that D23 talked about, so I'm excluding a few things from my official ranking. Percy Jackson and the Olympians - I don't watch this show and I never read the books so I can't put it in my Hype Train, but it seems to be doing pretty well?  Kingdom Hearts - I know so many people that played and loved these games, but I never got into them myself. ...

Okay fine, there are definitely people who have their complaints about HBO's House of the Dragon and the changes they've made from the source material, George R R Martin's Fire & Blood . But there is one thing I can't help but think when I read the mountain of criticism the show seems to be getting after each episode on Twitter.... Y'all remember that Fire & Blood wasn't very good, right? The book is quite literally a recounting of Targaryen bullshit. It's in-universe second hand and third handle knowledge of past events. And, sure, some of it was interesting, but it's also told by people who were not there. And thus, it gives the House of the Dragon showrunners a lot of wiggle room in how they choose to adapt it. I'd argue most of what they are doing is working. There are only a few instances where I thought something didn't. Overall, I've found watching House of the Dragon far more enjoyable than when I read Fire & Blood, an...

  Official synopsis:  Elliot (Cooper Hoffman) lands a job for artist Erika Tracy (Olivia Wilde) as her sexual muse. Director Gregg Araki has made his name as being a very "out there" filmmaker and I love him for it. He's spent the last decade mostly directing TV episodes, but he's finally back with another feature film and I couldn't be more here for it.  If you're thinking "wow, this absolutely sounds like something Philip Seymour-Hoffmans kid would make" you would be right. Cooper brings a charm to Elliot, which is much needed because there is a lot to get frustrated with him with. I think the film does a mostly good job of calling out Elliot's shitty behaviors, but Cooper makes you want want to keep watching him. A lessor actor could've made this role insufferable. Olivia Wilde feels so perfectly cast here. I honestly can't imagine anyone else playing Erika.  Obviously with a title like I Want Your Sex you know the film is going to be...

Official Synopsis:  A forgotten Peter Parker (Tom Holland) lives alone as a full-time Spider-Man until mounting pressure triggers a dangerous change and a powerful new enemy (Sadie Sink) emerges. Anyone vaguely familiar with me knows that I love a good Spider-man movie so of course I contributed to that record breaking box office number over the weekend. (Holy shit, we're topping Avengers Endgame already?!) And it did not disappoint! I had a great time watching this, but I also had a bit of an epiphany awards when it comes to the larger MCU.... I need to stop watching Daredevil . Depending on how familiar you are with what  Daredevil  is doing on Disney Plus   will directly effect your experience AFTER watching this film because they are meant to exist in the same universe. And I say "after" because Brand New Day is fun and fast paced throughout, so while some something may through you off guard immediately, it's when you sit and think about it that you realize how...

  Official synopsis: Joe (Seth Rogan) and Angela's (Olivia Wilde) marriage is on thin ice. When they invite their enigmatic upstairs neighbors (Penelope Cruz and Edward Norton) for a dinner party, the night spirals into unexpected places. I was a bit skeptical of this film when I first started hearing about it. Olivia Wilde doing Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf ? Is this going to be a Book Smart scenario where so many beats are just another version of Superbad ? I had low expectations, which slowly grew and grew as I read more positive reviews after its premiere at Sundance. While you tell Virginia Woolf very much inspired the film visually, the rest of it easily stands on its own. I feel pretty confident in saying this is the best Olivia Wilde has been both in front of and behind the camera. The way this apartment is shot is so visually appealing. It feels so grand, even though we spend the majority of the film in this one setting.  Wilde has always had strong comedic timing...

                                           Official Synopsis: After the Trojan War, Odysseus (Matt Damon) faces a dangerous voyage back to Ithaca, meeting creatures like the Cyclops, Sirens, and Calypso (Charlize Theron) along the way. I'm not going to pretend that I remember exact details of reading the Odyssey, or the Iliad for that matter. It's been so long since I've read those stories that there was just no way I was going to be a book purist about anything in this film. I do know if someone was going to reignite my interest in these stories, it would be Christopher Nolan and this insanely large cast. Did Homer write the first popcorn flick? I think he might have. Everything about this adventure is so exciting on the big screen. From the epic battle scenes, to the SFX work on the creatures, to the amazing score by Ludwig Gorranson, This film was just fun...

The Emmy Nominations are upon us and while the Comedy and Drama categories have all the usual suspects, the Limited Series line up is what truly shocked me.  OUTSTANDING DRAMA The Diplomat The Gilded Age A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms Paradise The Pitt Pluribus Slow Horses Your Friends & Neighbors I'm so happy to see A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms here. That was the drama series I was rooting for the most. Of these, I haven't seen any of The Diplomat, The Gilded Age or Your Friends & Neighbors. I'm sure The Pitt has this on lock. I wasn't as high on Pluribus as others were.  LEAD ACTRESS IN A DRAMA Carrie Coon, The Gilded Age Chase Infiniti, The Testaments Keri Russell, The Diplomat Rhea Seehorn, Pluribus Zendaya, Euphoria I'm happy to see Chase Infiniti for The Testaments. I wish there was room for Lucy Halliday too. Zendaya getting nominated for all 3 seasons of Euphoria is a great stat for her. She deserves better than that 3rd season gave her.  LEAD ACTO...