Rambling Film

  Official synopsis:  A successful song-and-dance team become romantically involved with a sister act and team up to save the failing Vermont inn of their former commanding general. Well, the end of my 2024 Blind Spot Series didn't go the way I expected, but I'm ending it on Christmas with a Christmas film! Can't argue that. This is one of my mom's favorite movies. It was rare we did family movie nights so I have no memories of her watching this growing up. But when our local indie theater played it, I thought it would be fun to experience it with her. And watching my mom's favorite movie with her definitely gave this one a lot more good will than it deserved. I just can't hate something my mother holds so dear. (except for her favorite hot dish)  The dancing for me was the standout. The numbers were so fun to watch and Bing Crosby is such an enigma on screen. As soon as the film turns to miscommunication to move the plot forward, it lost me. I hate tropes like ...

  What I knew going in: This film inspired Quentin Tarantino's Kill Bill Immediately into starting this, I was embarassed at how little I knew of this film and just how much Tarantino pulled from it for my favorite movie of his. The scenes on the snow, the music, it's all from here. I'm sure in the back of my mind I knew some of this before. But it's the first time I thought of it. I was a little afraid to start watching this because I knew there was going to be a sexual assault scene in it and I'm not mentally in a space for that right now, but thankfully it's not shown. It's still very disturbing and I could've done without it, but everything else that came after was worth it. I will always love a film about a woman getting revenge on terrible people. (I'd say just men, but we've got a shitty woman thrown in there too) The violence was very stylized. The blood is candy red and the spurts are dramatic.  Meiko Kaji is beautiful and was perfectly...

  Synopsis: Helene (Patricia Owens) admits to her husband's (David Hedison) murder after a disastrous mistake happens in his lab. The Fly is a film I was always familiar with by its VHS cover. I used to walk up and down the horror section at my local video store as a kid, and this was one that always stuck out. Because of the film's artwork, image my surprise when this wasn't a campy story about a dude accidentally turning himself into a fly. I haven't seen the Cronenberg remake of this either, but I'll likely start it after I post this review. I was really expecting this to be more of a creature feature than a mystery and I'm not mad at what I got. At a quick 90 minutes, I was completely engaged with watching this mystery unravel. Owens has to do a lot of the heavy lifting acting wise. Unfortunately the supporting cast can be a bit rough, but she was delightful.  Walter White's obsession with a fly contaminating his lab in an episode of Breaking Bad is now...

  What I knew going in: Nothing, really. While on a train across Europe, Iris (Margarat Lockwood) suffers a head injury and is helped by Miss Froy. (May Witty) When she wakes up, Miss Froy is gone and everyone on the train denies seeing her. She enlists the help of Gilbert, (Michael Redgrave) a man she had an annoying run in with the night before to help. I sometimes forget just how long Alfred Hitchcock's career was. I wanted to add another Hitch film to my list this year, and I settled on this one as it was one of his older films. Filmed in 1938, he was already working for a decade before this. I could've dipped into the 20's after all. Very much a whodunnit film  The Lady Vanishes has an amusing tone despite the mind games being played with Iris and Gilbert. It's silly. Most films from the 30's are, but the central mystery is fascinating and never lets up. Up until the reveal, I was never sure of the "why" of it, and that's what I want out of a film...

  What I knew going in: The basic plot Guido Anselmi (Marcello Mastroianni) is a famed Italian director fresh off his last hit, but struggling to find purpose in this next film. He has "director's block." He attempts to go to a spa to think things out, but is met with pressure from studio execs and personal drama. I never did see all of the Daniel Day Lewis starring remake of this, 9 . What little I did see made me not want to bother with it and check out 8 1/2 instead. And here I am many years later. Why do we never talk about this film when it comes to editing? (Or maybe "we" do and I'm just not included) I thought it seamlessly transitioned from Guido's reality into his day dreams. It's gorgeous to look at. What DP Gianni di Venanzo pulled off was striking.  Mastroianni was good as the lead, but for me the women made this film. His wife, Luisa (Anouk Aimee) his mistress, Carla (Sanda Marlo) and even his dream girl Claudia (Claudia Cardinale) I t...

  What I knew going in: I had seen parts of it prior from IFC's Indie Sex documentary Erika (Isabelle Huppert) is a sexually repressed piano teacher still living with her domineering mother. (Annie Girardot) When she's not teaching music at a prestigious college, she's sneaking into sex shops, watching porn, and fantasizing about being beaten. She equates pain with sex. Then she meets Walter (Benoit Magimel) a student who pursues her. Let's just pretend it's still June for a minute. I was at home a whopping 10 days last month and my poor blog just didn't get the attention it deserved. So to beat myself up about it, I decided June would be dedicated to this weird ass movie.  Everything about this is SO uncomfortable. Would it be a Michael Hanke film without that feeling? I couldn't help but be reminded of the mother/daughter relationship in Black Swan when watching this. I wonder if they took inspiration from it? Everything about this is cold and unlikable bu...

  What I knew going in: Not a whole lot! Willie Stark (Broderick Crawford) starts out as a country bumpkin running for a county seat. Followed by journalist Jack Burden (John Ireland) He eventually goes from hick to pawn to a rich politician, the very kind he was running against in the first place. For the longest time, I kept getting the title of this film mixed up with All The President's Men. Even after seeing Presidents (which is amazing) This title was always on the tip of my tongue, so it was time to knock this one out too. So much of this movie ended up being unintentionally hilarious to me. I feel like one of the things I harp on the most in my reviews is a movie's pacing, and All The King's Men was like "I got you." This film moves so damn fast you'd think someone was holding director Robert Rossman's family hostage unless he finished in exactly 1 hour 50 minutes.  I kind of hated every character in this movie, but not to the point where I hate...

  What I knew going in: Nothing! Arati (Madhavi Mukherjee) is a housewife in 1960's Calcutta. When her husband's job isn't bringing in enough for them to survive, she takes a job as a sales woman and befriends an Anglo-Indian, Edith (Vicky Redwood) who gives her a different outlook on life.  I'm fairly sure I added this film to my Blind Spot List after someone else blogged about it too. When I sat down to watch this today, I really went in blind. It's been so long since I've read anything about it and what a surprise.  We love a feminist film, and watching Arati come into her own was satisfying. She is such a fully realized character. Strong, smart, a little shy, but as soon as she's given the freedom she needs, she soars. Even though her family isn't thrilled about her new job, she does her best and what more could we ask for? The film does slow down a bit when it's not focused on Arati, but those scenes are few and far between. I was really blown a...

  What I knew going in: That it features frequently on many "Best LGBTQ+ movie lists" A couple, Lai Yui-Fai (Tony Leung) and Ho Po-wing (Leslie Cheung) decide to leave Hong Kong and take a trip to Argentina to "start over" with their relationship. They only find themselves drifting further apart. 1997 is a bit early for my typical Blind Spot picks but this is a film that has sat in my watch list for years. Probably since I started blogging in the first place. One thing or another always lead to me putting this on the back burner. Now I finally hit play on HBO Max. This movie is the definition of "I don't know how to quit you." Yui-Fai and Po-wing are just not meant to be, despite how much they fight it. At first it's very easy to blame Po-wing as the problem, then Yui-Fai comes in with some pettiness of his own. I like that even though Yui-Fai is our narrator and primary protagonist, he still had his faults. If you read the IMDb trivia about this m...

This is going to be my TENTH year of doing Blind Spots! I love how this series gives me that push to look back. Sometimes that's hard when there's constantly new movies coming out that I'm excited for. I was hesitant even sharing a list this year because I finally retired DVD Netflix from my home, and that had served as a safety net for so many years when streaming got fickle. For now, I should be able to find all of these, but I'm making a larger alternate list just in case. Tell me what you think! Have you seen any of the films I have below? How do you think I'll like them? And if you have a suggestion for a back up film, throw it my way! 1) Amadeus 2) The Silence 3) The Big City 4) The Piano Teacher 5) The Fly 6) The Lady Vanishes 7) Happy Together 8) 8 1/2 9) Steel Magnolias  10) Blood Simple 11) Notorious 12) All the King's Men Alternates: Imitation of Life, Daughters of the Dust, All Quiet on the Western Front (1930), Wings, Lady Snowblood, Rebecca (1940),...