Rambling Film

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...

Emmy voters are in deep at the moment so of course I've been trying to follow along. Here are some quick thoughts on a few shows I've recently caught up with.  D.T.F St. Louis - Yes, that's DTF as in "Down to fuck." The most baffling thing to me after watching this is that both Jason Bateman and David Harbour are campaigning as "Supporting" when they are both very clearly leads in this. It's category fraud at its finest. That aside, it's a fine show. It's a murder mystery told through multiple point of views and you'll definitely question the whodunnit aspect throughout it's run time. Harbour is great in it, but he doesn't top Gadd in Half Man for me personally.  Widow's Bay - I had never even heard of this until the folks at Next Best Picture mentioned it on their podcast. I was sold at "Steven King meets Parks and Rec" and that's a perfect way to describe it. Matthew Rhys is blowing my mind in this. He's so...

Basically all of the shows I've been watching ended over the past couple of weeks, I have plenty of finales to talk about. Diet spoilers ahead. I'm trying to keep them as light as possible.  Daredevil: Born Again - Whether it's on Netflix or Disney Plus, one thing Daredevil has never been able to escape is being dragged into some melodrama. I'm not going to say the entire season was a disaster, because there are absolutely things that worked, and it's not the show's fault that Andor tackled similar subject matter so much better last year. I'm left with the following questions. 1. Why are we still focusing on Heather? It makes sense she's traumatized after nearly dying last season, but now she's Matt's enemy. Do we really need to focus another one of King Pin's underlings? Her choking scene with Buck was very cringy. 2. Where is Frank Castle? I normally try not to ask myself "where is X character" in a super hero universe because w...

No new theater watches for me this week so here's what I'm watching on the small screen.  Half Man (Episode 3) We have a 3 year time jump from episode 2. Niall is finishing college, and Rueben is going to trial for his attack on Alby. I felt we learned so much more about Rueben in this episode. We already knew he didn't like his father, but the reasons for why it runs so deep really came out in this episode. Ep 3 was frustrating to watch. It's hard watching Niall contemplate lying, it's hard to watch his mom try to manipulate him into doing so, and of course it's hard to see Alby again post his assault. Bless Richard Gadd's brilliant mind though, this is the best show I'm watching on TV right now. I'm glad we'll start seeing more of Gadd and Bell next week. Nothing against the younger lads, they've been great, but I really want more of adult Niall and Rueben. The Testaments (Commitment) After last week focused heavily on Lydia's back st...

Welcome back to me still trying to figure out how I want to talk about TV on my blog. It's been a BUSY TV month. I only made it to the theater three times (Solid films all around though) and the rest of my movie watching has been on airplane seat backs as April was another busy travel month. But I watched a ton of TV and have so many thoughts. The Pitt (Season 2) - The season is officially finished. I don't think it wrapped up as neatly as season 1 did, but I won't lie and say I wasn't glued to my TV every Thursday waiting to see what happens next. I am worried that Robby "getting close to hitting rock bottom" will be a bit overbearing if they keep going that route in season 3. There's only so many times Noah Wyle can stare sadly at the screen before he turns into an Elizabeth Moss Handmaid's Tale staring parody. I'm sad a talent like Supriya Ganesh is leaving. I get it's a "teaching hospital" and makes sense characters would leave, ...

  It's been a while since I talked about what I've been watching on the small screen, but believe me, plenty has been going on. A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms - Okay, technically this was a February watch, but it's been my favorite show of the year so far and it feels SO GOOD to love something from Game of Thrones again. This show has a much lighter tone from it's predecessors and that fits very well into the Dunk and Egg short stories its adapting from. Some of cut-a-ways they do are funnier than what's happening in actual comedy shows right now. I love it. It's only 6 episodes, so if you haven't started, you really should. Casting is A+++ as always.  The Pitt Season 2 - I was late to the Pitt party so I was able to binge the first season back to back, and let me tell you it's EXCRUCIATING not being able to do that for season 2. Don't get me wrong, I like having something to look forward to next week, but every episode immediately makes you want th...

I'm back with a quick recap of what I've been catching up with on the small screen! Stranger Things Season 5 (part 1) Frankly, I think releasing season 5 in 3 parts is stupid on Netflix's part, but I get why they want to draw this show's final season out. We've been waiting for this for a LONG time. The first four episodes were very action packed, and they end with a pretty big cliffhanger, though it's something I expected to happen for a while now. I am a bit wary of the next few episodes considering a certain character they brought back. The last time we saw them, we had one of the weakest episodes of the entire series, so I'm hoping the Duffers found a way to write them in a better way. I'm still looking forward to them, but I'm cautiously optimistic.  If there's one thing I struggled with in the first four episodes, it's how distracting the recasting of Holly Wheeler is. I knew that was coming, and I didn't think it was going to bothe...

I keep falling behind with reviewing the series I've been watching and it started to get a bit daunting, so I'm going to share some quick thoughts instead. We love a concise post. Right? Hacks (season 4) This show is hilarious but I think they've plateaued on where they can take this. Having Deborah lose her talk show by the end of the season was a huge bummer. I felt like they could've kept going with that story. Hopefully they bring it back next season. And I wouldn't be upset if it ended. It feels like the right time. Peacemaker (season 2) I really should've watched a recap of season 1 before starting this because BOY did I forget a lot. The season overall was pretty funny, but I think Peacemaker is at its best when it focuses more on Chris and his friendship with Ads then it does his relationship with Harcourt. It also felt like they dumbed down Vigilante way too much. The best scenes were when the gang was all together.  Tim Meadows and his "bird blind...

Hulu recently dropped season 4 of the much debated but beloved The Bear , so you know I was there to watch it. All 10 episodes went by very quickly, so here are my likes, dislikes, and hopes for season 5. LIKES * The cast is still top notch and I admire this show's commitment to the entire cast and not just the "main characters" They've made an effort to flesh everyone out. * The returning guest stars. It may have been kind of flimsy getting Will Poulter's character back in Chicago, but I loved it anyways. Luca is a great addition, as is the rest of the Ever crew that came along.  * This was Abby Elliott's standout season and I will scream if she's not Emmy nominated for it. Her fight with Neil in the office about Francie was hysterical.  * Syd's "I'm getting my hair done" and that guy responding "oh so like an hour?" COMEDY DISLIKES * Ebraheim's side story of expanding The Beef should be working, but the fact that it's...

I've been really putting off the final season of this acclaimed series. The way the world is today, this just seems like even more of a possibility than it already did. And having read both The Handmaid's Tale and The Testaments, I knew there was more to come.  I ended up knocking out the entire season on a transatlantic fight (do not recommend that for episode 9) Here's what I liked, disliked, and my final thoughts. LIKES * All episodes felt "complete." They didn't drag things out for multiple episodes. Most things they start out to accomplish in the beginning are seen through in the end, and I appreciated how buttoned up that was. Especially since this show does have a bit of a history with meandering.  * Nick's choices were unambiguously bad. If you've spent any time on the Handmaids Tale subreddit, there's a lot of ~discourse~ around Nick. The official tag for posts about him there is "wet for war criminal" which is kind of hilarious....

It's hard to believe I was once one of those people who thought "Do we really need an Andor series?" when it was first announced. I hate my words after the first season, now even more after the second and final season. Andor is one of the best things Star Wars has ever put out. Now that it has come to an end, here is what I liked and disliked about season 2. Don't worry, I didn't dislike much. LIKES * Showing how every day people fight fascism. Star Wars has always been good vs evil but it's often framed through the Jedi fighting the Empire. Andor is a series that rarely even mentions the Force, and there's no Jedi to be found. Everyone is a regular person trying to fight oppression. I love how Andor was able to showcase this.  * The Ghorman Massacre was just as awful as I expected, but mirroring them after the French during WWII was pretty genius on the creators' parts. Ghorman is something that's been mentioned in other Star Wars shows, particul...

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...

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...

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...

I was talking about Severance with my friends recently, and one of them remarked on how he hopes the show doesn't "end up like Lost " and not answer all the questions it asks. Thankfully, this season answered a lot of our burning questions. As always with on going seasons, I'm splitting this review up into the good, the bad, and what I'm looking forward to. The Good * Tramell Tillman is an absolute treasure. I have big "i can fix him!" energy when it comes Mr. Milchick. I just know he's got good in him somewhere. With every episode, I feel we're getting closer to him turning. Or at least I can hope.  * We know what the MDR team is going! They could've easily dragged that out another season, but I'm glad we got our answers now. * Less Ms. Cobel. Patricia Arquette is fine, and I thought what we learned about her character this season was very interesting, but I liked that we had less of her and more of Mr. Milchick and the introduction of ...

This 4 part mini-series follows the Miller family. There's Mum and Dad (Christine Tremarco and Stephen Graham) and their two children Lisa and Jamie. (Amelie Peace and Owen Cooper) Only, it's not a normal Saturday morning. On the morning we meet the Millers, police are breaking down their door and arresting their 13 year old son for the murder of one of his classmates.  Jamie, small, frail, and confused cries that he didn't do it. His dad of course believes him. Then when all the evidence is laid out on the table, this series turns from the murder mystery you thought it might be to the aftermath of what toxic masculinity and the manosphere can do to a child.  We follow Jamie's story in 4 distinct parts. Episode one is the day of the arrest. Episode 2 is a few days later and follows the police investigation. Episode 3 is a session with a psychologist, and episode 4 goes back to Jamie's family in the wake of it all. Each episode is shot as one continuous take.  What s...

The newest binge-able mini series from Netflix revolves around the very real scammer Belle Gibson.  She's an Australian wellness influencer who claimed to have stage 4 brain cancer and used that to launch a healthy eating app and book both titled "The Whole Panty" in the early to mid 2010's. Of course, her illness was a lie and Belle was spectacularly called out for not just her bullshit, but also charity fraud. (The latter which she was forced to pay a fine and apparently still hasn't done so) Kaitlyn Dever puts on her best Aussie accent and tackles Gibson in this 6 episode series.  I was familiar with Gibson before watching this. A lot of you might be without even realizing it. Her 60 minutes interview post scandal went very viral. That blonde in the fluffy pink sweater refusing to confirm her real age and say she's been "living her life as a 26 year old woman?" Yeah, that's her. But what this show does brilliantly is it doesn't focus on Be...

Like everyone else on the planet, I loved season 1 of Squid Games. It was a great show, I loved that the broader US was embracing something with subtitles.  The only thing that didn't really work for me was the ending. And because of that, I really had no intention of watching season 2. Then I heard rumblings that "it's good, actually" and wouldn't you know it. I blew through it in a few days. Below are my likes, dislikes, and what to look forward to in season 3.  LIKES * Lee Jung-Jae continues to be a treasure. Gi-hun is a changed man after the events of season 1 and Lee plays him as such. I'm forever a fan.  * The other players are much more fleshed out. Last season we got to know a few of Gi-hun's fellow players but this season spends a bit more time with most of them, therefore they feel more fully realized. * The games are different. This show could've felt very repetitive had they kept everything the same, but the only game that is the same from ...