Rambling Film

On a personal level, 2019 has been a struggle, but Blind Spot wise, it was mostly wonderful. My favorite film I saw this year is hands down The Godfather. I went full stan on that. I bought the whole set on blu ray and I watched part one and two several times each. Then I read the book because I wanted to get in the characters' heads more. Cinema Paradiso was also a beautiful film with an ending I don't think I'll ever forget. The worst film I saw was The Godfather Part 3. Andy Garcia was not only rude to John Mulaney at a Lakers game but he's fucking terrible in that movie.  So what does Blind Spot 2020 look like? Take a look below, let me know if you've seen any of these. I'm getting a bit ambitious again. I couldn't decide which Judy Garland and Ginger Rogers/Fred Astaire to go with so I'm going to attempt to watch 14 films this year instead of the normal 12. I've done trilogies as one pick before so hopefully this won't be too much handle. ...

What I knew going in: That it was originally aired as a mini series, then edited into a film. We meet Marianne (Liv Ullmann) and Johan (Erland Josephson) giving an interview regarding their marriage for a magazine. Unfortunately, that marriage will eventually end, and we see all the ups and downs along the way. The DVD I got from Netflix gave me the option of watching the mini series version, or the movie cut. Since Blind Spots are supposed to be about film, I chose the later. It's nearly three hours and split into 6 acts. I was shocked at how quickly time went by. This has to be one of the best paced longer films I've ever watched. Marianne and Johan felt like a very real couple and we see them almost go through just about every emotion imaginable throughout their divorce. The actors are captivating, especially Ullman. I felt on her side throughout the film. It's certainly not a "fair" look at their divorce.  Ingmar Bergman has been a popular fixture t...

What I knew going in: The basic story and the two famous lines. Rick Blaine (Humphrey Bogart) is a cynical American man living in Casablanca, Morocco during the early stages of WWII. He runs a popular night club which also doubles as a place where people can secretly buy exit papers to flee. When his ex-girlfriend, Ilsa Lund (Ingrid Bergman) shows up with her husband looking for papers herself, things get complicated. I was putting this off because for some reason I thought this film was three hours long. Turns out it's not even 90 minutes. A  very brisk one at that.  I ended up liking this far more than I expected to, it's a really solid film Strangely enough, it wasn't Rick and Isla together I loved so much, it was Rick and his friendship with the police captain Louis Renault. (Claude Rains) Rains and Bogart have excellent chemistry together. I loved that the setting was mostly in the club as well. It gives the film an upbeat vibe even though it's dealing wi...

What I knew going in: That it was weird. Henry Spencer (Jack Nance) is a factory worker in a world that apparently barely survived a nuclear holocaust. He is forced into marrying a girl he had sex with, Mary X (Charlotte Stewart) after she gives birth to a mutant baby out of wedlock. Parenthood is not for these two. I knew this was going to be weird, but holy shit. I always assumed Rubber would continue to reign supreme as the strangest thing I've ever watched but I think this actually takes the cake. Eraserhead definitely wants you to decide what this film means to you. After I sat there incredulous for a while after the fact, I pulled up this films' IMDb page, read the synopsis and some of the reviews and there are people who put a lot more thought into this then I did.  I'll be the first to admit, I'm not in the best place to watch this. A film like this is probably best seen at a midnight movie. Not when you're depressed and lonely, like I am at the mo...

What I knew going in: The basic premise General Jack D. Ripper (Sterling Hayden) orders an attack on the Soviets while a room full of politicians attempt to stop him. There's one thing I never wanted my blog to feel like and that's a job. I always want to write for fun and I genuinely feel that way 99.9% of the time. However last Monday when I sat down to watch my Blind Spot pick, which I was running late on, I was having a terrible day. T his was that .1% of the time where this felt like an assignment I needed to complete. Going into this with that mindset, I was expecting to view this feel very negatively whether it deserved it or not.  But it turns out a satire was a nice way to block everything else out for an hour and a half because I legitimately enjoyed this. Even with my son, who was reading in the same room kept pointing out "all they're doing is talking." The war room scenes were the best because of that. Peter Sellers, who plays multiple roles...

What I knew going in: I had seen parts of this on TV before. Judge Dan Haywood (Spencer Tracy) goes to Germany in 1948 to oversee three former judges being tried for their crimes during the Nazi regime.  I enjoyed the way the courtroom scenes were staged. The standout is still  Maximilian Schell playing the German defense attorney. I'm glad he's the one who went home with an Oscar that year.  This was one of the films I was most looking forward to on my Blind Spot list because I enjoyed the parts I've seen previously. I realize now that I must have been watching an edited version on TV because a lot of the non courtroom scenes were completely new to me. The run time for is over three hours and I did feel that length at times. I'm glad I finally saw this in one sitting. It wasn't as thrilling as I had hoped it would be now that I got to take it all in at once. I'm struggling to talk about it a bit because I didn't love the one thing most people see...

What I knew going in: Not much, other than what it was about. Mabel (Gena Rowlands) is a housewife who lives to please her husband, Nick. (Peter Falk) However she suffers from a mental illness that neither Nick, nor anyone else in their family is equipped to help her with. When putting together my Blind Spot list, this was a recommendation I got on Twitter and it was a film I was familiar with due to all the praise for Gena Rowlands' performance. That aspect of the film was no hyperbole. Rowlands is fantastic. It's sad to watch Mabel who with a less shitty husband and more supportive social circle could've gotten the help she needed and thrived. There are parts of this movie that are so deeply uncomfortable that it kept me on the edge of my seat wondering what was going to follow. Speaking of Mabel's husband, Nick really is the worst, right? This is nothing against Falk who's great, but Nick is so unlikable that the film, which is already far too long at ...

What I knew going in: That there would be excellent fighting scenes.  Growing up, I had family members in Karate, I would play Mortal Combat with friends on their Nintendos. I would watch movies like 3 Ninjas , Karate Kid and anything with Jackie Chan, but of course I didn't see a damn thing with the famed Bruce Lee. I'm not sure how that was possible. I even saw The Crow with his son but yet I had seen nothing but clips of Lee's work. Now here I am in my 30's trying to make up for that oversight. Enter The Dragon is actually kind of a mess. It's not only about Lee (Bruce Lee), who plays a secret agent infiltrating a crime lord Han's ( Kien Shih) tournament. His henchmen are also responsible for the death of Lee's sister. But it also features two Americans, Roper (John Saxon) and Williams (Jim Kelly) who are also there dealing with their own things. It's a bit distracting, but I was drawn to Williams, not only because Kelly is insanely hot bu...

What I knew going in: Honestly, nothing. Toto (Salvatore Cascio as a child, Marco Leonardi as a teen, and Jacques Perrin as an adult) reflects on his time growing up in Sicily and falling in love with the world of film. Now, he's a famous director, but back then we follow his friendship with local projectionist Alfredo (Philippe Noiret) and how he shaped his life forever. This was another title that I dropped on my Blind Spot list after a lot of recommendations. This is the film for people who love film, and I'm so glad I went for it even without knowing a lot about it because it made me so teary eyed with its beauty.  Of the Toto's we follow, the child version is my favorite. I thought his relationship with Alfredo was so pure and director Giuseppe Tornatore really brought the love for the cinema home. I loved all the scenes of everyone just enjoying a film, or getting mad when they have to cut out the steamier moments because the priests request it. They...

What I knew going in: I had seen scenes from the first Godfather before, and the essential plot. Oh man, this was a lot of hours. Like I did when I reviewed the Three Colors Trilogy , I'll break them up film by film. The Godfather - Aging  Don Vito Corleone (Marlan Brando) is about to let one of his sons take over his criminal empire when someone wages war against him and his then clean son, Michael (Al Pacino) gets sucked in. I never realized just how many films borrowed from The Godfather. I saw so many things that looked so familiar. Marlan Brando was spectacular in this, damn. Seeing the entire context of his performance was something else. His scene in the morgue with Sonny was the most powerful. Pacino was great as well. I became very immersed in this story, but there is a lot of filler. Then strangely some parts, like Michael's time in Sicily seemed to race by. It felt slightly uneven but you can't deny the masterful film making here. Everything from the ...

What I knew going in : The basic plot as my millennial ass saw the loosely remade Disturbia when came out.  Photographer L.B Jeffries (James Stewart) is holed up in his apartment after breaking his leg on job. When he's not getting visits from his girlfriend, Lisa (Grace Kelly) or his at home nurse, Stella (Thelma Ritter) he's spending his time spying on his neighbors. Then he becomes convinced one of them, Mr. Thorwald (Raymond Burr) has murdered his wife. For some reason, I assumed this film would be kind of slow. I was pleasantly surprised that it wasn't and that I was immediately engaged throughout. I think this is my new favorite Hitchcock film, there wasn't a minute of it I didn't enjoy. All the actors in this are good (and the ones we watch across the way are amusing) but Thelma Ritter was by far my favorite. Stella was awesome. I assumed she was going to disappear after she stopped by at the beginning and she didn't. I'm so glad she got to...