Rambling Film

Official synopsis:  A father-to-be (Daniel Roher) tries to figure out what is happening with all this AI insanity. The Sundance Film Festival is always a good place to start when looking for new documentaries to follow throughout the year. This one in particular had quite a few good reviews after leaving the festival, but even I was surprised to see my theater actually opening it this weekend. I rarely see our big chain theater open documentaries, so I immediately wanted to support it. Of course I was the only one in the theater but hey! I did my part! The same team that brings us the AI Doc also brought us the Oscar winning Navalny . The production value is very good and leans heavily into the art that director/subject Roher makes. His drawings fill the screen in between talking heads, and he gets quite a few of those. The doc starts with the AI doomers, then the AI enthusiasts, then the big CEOs of some of these companies (minus two very well-known douchebags) Then it brings in ...

Official synopsis:  Science teacher Ryland Grace (Ryan Gosling) wakes up alone on a spaceship light-years from Earth. As his memory returns, he uncovers a mission to stop a mysterious substance killing the sun, and save Earth. An unexpected friendship may be the key. Andy Weir is an author I've really come to enjoy over the past decade. I enjoyed Project Hail Mary too, and I already knew Gosling was in line to play this role while reading it. So how does the film stack up even with my book reader expectations? Pretty darn good! I will admit, tonally the two mediums are quite different. It's no surprise that directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller leaned heavily into the comedic moments. It's what they're good at, and it works more often than it doesn't.  Ryan Gosling is really the perfect actor to tackle someone like Grace. He has the perfect balance between comedic and dramatic abilities. Grace is a dorky middle school science teacher, but he's a damn smart ...

We made it to the biggest night of the year! This was certainly a whirlwind of a production. Host Conan O'Brien started out really strong with a Weapons parody, but the production for the rest of the show left a lot to be desired. The sound wasn't very good (maybe that was just my station?) the orchestra cut off several speeches including retracting the mic and dimming lights on winners. Completely awful look. I also felt really weird about the In Memoriam segment. It's awkward when certain people are called out above others. Because yes, there are arguably more popular people on that list, but they're ALL someone's favorite and it just felt a little odd to single some out, even if it was a lovely tribute I Lied To You and Golden's performances were 10/10 no notes. I went 18/24 with my picks! Even though there was a tie, one of my picks still won so I'm counting it. Below is a full list of winners followed by more thoughts.  Best Picture Bugonia F1 Frankenst...

Official synopsis :  In 1930s Chicago, Frankenstein (Christian Bale) asks Dr. Euphronius (Annette Bening) to help create a companion. They give life to a murdered woman Ida (Jessie Buckley) as the Bride, sparking romance, police and radical social change. It's only fitting we get The Bride soon after Frankenstein. Not that either film is connected other than being Franken-Fan-Fic, but director Maggoe Gyllenhaal takes a huge swing with this and I'm here for it. The Bride! tries to be many things. A love story, a police drama, the start of a feminist movement. It also attempts to invoke the voice of the Mary Shelley, which is a bold choice. Not all of these things work. Penelope Cruz and Peter Sarsgard have an interesting dynamic as detectives, and I wish the film had done more with the part of the story that was linked to them BEFORE they are hunting for a pair of murderers. (No spoilers) I think they could've leaned more into the work Ida was doing prior and fleshed out tha...

  Official synopsis: A schoolgirl ruins her two headmistresses with a scandalous lie. What I knew going in: That it was an underrated Audrey Hepburn film This blind spot came from a reader comment, which are some of my favorites. I need people better versed in classic film than me to recommend titles, and this one came up when I expressed interest in wanting to see more Audrey Hepburn.  Seeing her and the wonderful Shirley MacLaine together was a treat. Both play young teachers whose lives are torn apart by one child's lie. And man was that child, played by Karen Balkin the ultimate little shit. There's a reason the highest rated review on letterboxd for this film simply says "can children get the death penalty" It's a frustrating film on multiple fronts. It shows homosexuality as something one should be "ashamed" of (you should never) but at the same time the fact that a film in 1961 was putting this much focus on it at all is pretty significant. Even...

 Okay, I still can't get used to calling these The Actor Awards. I thought the show was kind of chaotic. They started off with a really great skit with the Abbott Elementary cast then, they followed it up with some of the most awkward presenting banter I've seen in a long time.  I actually welcomed the "ad breaks" Netflix had where they paid tribute to different genres of films. They did somewhat redeem themselves with Miles Caton singing after the In Memoriam segment, but it was all over the place. I went 7/13 with my picks, which is awful, but hey! I like surprises too.  What did you think of the show? Below is a list of the nominees and winners + my thoughts.  OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCE BY A CAST IN A MOTION PICTURE Frankenstein Hamnet Marty Supreme One Battle After Another Sinners Samuel L Jackson was so excited to announce this win lol. One Battle has Best Picture locked up, so it's nice to see Sinners get to shine here. I saw online that Ryan Coogler became the...

  I'm back with my completely inconsistent Blind Spot Series picks! I swear I'm still trying to look behind, instead of just looking ahead when it comes to movies. And I'm starting the year off with one that I've been meaning to watch for quiet some time. What I knew going in: That I keep mixing this up with Splendor in the Grass I have no idea why I was getting the plot of this movie mixed up with Splendor in the Grass, a film that has NOTHING to do with this, but either way, when I started this film with a lobotomy, then was treated with a grand elevator entrance from Katherine Hepburn, I knew I was in good hands.  Hepburn and Elizabeth Taylor are chewing so much scenery in this. I loved every minute of their monologues. They were so good that poor Montgomery Cliff just didn't know what to do. He seemed stunned in every scene he had to interact with them. I found it unintentionally amusing how lost he looked. I know he was having some personal struggles around th...

Official synopsis:  Tells the story of Lorenz Hart's (Ethan Hawke) struggles with alcoholism and mental health as he tries to save face during the opening of his former working partner Richard Rogers' (Adam Scott) "Oklahoma!" All, I wanted to write this off as pretentious so badly. Just the first few sentences had it brewing under my skin. That and it "took" my beloved Sorry, Baby's Original Screenplay nomination at the Oscars. I was ready to hate this film, it wasn't deserved, but I was ready. Damn it, I loved this.  I was SO hooked by Hawke's performance. It really is HIS film. Everyone else, no matter how nice they are to see. Bobby Canavale as a bartender, Margaret Qualley has Lorenz's college student love interest, even Scott's small part as Richard Rogers are nice, but nothing quite stands up to the power house performance Hawke is laying down. They all compliment it, but it's a one man show. Lorenz Hart would have it no other ...

I thought I was losing my mind looking for my "SAG" nomination post only to yet again forget they changed their name to the Actor Awards. After the mess of the BAFTA broadcast, let's hope this one goes smoothly. Below are my guesses for who will win, and in some cases, who should win.  OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCE BY A CAST IN A MOTION PICTURE Frankenstein Hamnet Marty Supreme One Battle After Another Sinners Who will and should win: Sinners This is the one place I think Sinners will prevail over One Battle for a top price. Both casts are extremely impressively but I see this body going for Sinners.  OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCE BY A FEMALE ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE Jessie Buckley – Hamnet Rose Byrne – If I Had Legs I’d Kick You Kate Hudson – Song Sung Blue Chase Infinity – One Battle After Another Emma Stone – Bugonia Who will and should win: Jessie Buckley I think she's a lock for Best Actress at this point. Byrne could be the upset, but I don't see it happening.  OUTSTANDI...

Official Synopsis:  Red Crescent volunteers Omar (Motaz Malhees) and Rami (Saja Kilhani) receive an emergency call. A 6-year old girl is trapped in a car under IDF fire in Gaza, pleading for rescue. While trying to keep her on the line, they do everything they can to get an ambulance to her. Director Kaouther Ben Hania showed us in her Oscar nominated documentary Four Daughters that she links to blend genres and techniques together. Here, she uses the actual audio record of Hind Rajab. We never see an actress portray her. She also uses actual cell phone footage of the real volunteers at times, breaking the fourth wall and reminding her audience that this was a very real tragedy that happened.  While this is technically a chamber piece, you never leave the Red Cross volunteer room where Rami and Omar are working like hell to get someone to her, you feel like you can easily picture what Hind is going through. The actual audio being used amplifies that. At one point, the co...

Leave it to the BAFTAs to throw us some curveballs! Maybe not in the grand scheme of things in some cases, but it's different nonetheless. Below is a list of the nominees, with winners highlighted + my thoughts.  BEST FILM Hamnet Marty Supreme One Battle After Another Sentimental Value Sinners For those (me) still hoping for that Sinners upset...it's not happening.  OUTSTANDING BRITISH FILM 28 Years Later The Ballad of Wallis Island Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy Die My Love H Is for Hawk Hamnet I Swear Mr. Burton Pillion Steve I'm glad Hamnet is winning some of these Best Picture awards at least because it's so good.  OUTSTANDING DEBUT BY A BRITISH WRITER, DIRECTOR OR PRODUCER The Ceremony My Father’s Shadow Pillion A Want in Her Wasteman I've heard really good things about this film and can't wait to see it. CHILDREN’S & FAMILY FILM Arco Boong Lilo & Stitch Zootopia 2 I have no idea what this is, and what it's doing beating my beloved Zootopia 2....

Official synopsis:  Lightning (Hugh Jackman) and Thunder (Kate Hudson), a Milwaukee husband and wife Neil Diamond tribute act, experience soaring success and devastating heartbreak in their musical journey together. This is a case of "the Oscars forced me to watch this." Nothing about this film interested me, but I just had to see for myself how Kate Hudson edged out amazing performances from Amanda Seyfried, Jennifer Lawrence, and Chase Infiniti for a Best Actress Oscar nomination. And it truly is her best performance, though for me personally I think she just has more voting friends than the other women, but she's easily the best part of this film. And she feels a lot more natural in her role than Jackman, who is doing the absolute MOST does. There were so many baffling choices made here. Allowing your two leads to be on completely different wave lengths is one, but some of the timeline was downright confusing. Even if you haven't seen the documentary of the same na...

Official synopsis:  A passionate and tumultuous love story set against the backdrop of the Yorkshire moors, exploring the intense and destructive relationship between Heathcliff (Owen Cooper as a child, Jacob Elordi as an adult) and Catherine Earnshaw. (Charlotte Mellington as a child, Margo Robbie as an adult) I'll start off by saying that I don't care about the novel and I barely remember any of the versions of this I have watched. Not to sound flippant, but I mention this because I don't have a dog in the current internet fight going on over this film. Emerald Fennell has shown in all her directorial efforts that she's a provocateur and I love that for her. And that worked out great for me because I thoroughly enjoyed Wuthering Heights. Like many adaptations, it doesn't do the full book, it keeps Cathy Earnshaw and Heathcliff as the main figures, and that's fine. The production design and costume design are absolutely breathtaking. The use of reds and pinks i...

It's that time of year again! My yearly mission to watch all Oscar nominated short films. Each category is ranked from best to worst, followed by some brief thoughts.  Best Animated Short Film Unlike last year, all the stop motion dong got left behind in the short lists Butterfly - This hand painted animated film is inspired by Jewish/French swimmer Alfred Nakache. I was not familiar with his story prior, but this short is equal parts moving and devastating - A The Girl Who Cried Pearls - This is a really good piece of stop motion, but the story is already a bit thin, and the ending does nothing to help. It ultimately was a bit of a nothing burger. Also this getting in over the disturbing Playing God? Nah. B- Retirement Plan - This is also a bit of a nothing burger but you get to hear Domnhall Gleeson's lovely voice, and that's really what it has going for it. C+ Forevergreen -  The animation in this is beautiful, but seriously this bear is going for gold in the fuck aro...