Rambling Film

Author's Note: I'm going on vacation and may not have internet access. I hope you enjoy this Indie Gem, and I'll be back in early Sept! :) Do you remember the first time you heard this song?   Gabriel (Lou Taylor Pucci) has been estranged from his parents, Henry and Helen (J.K Simmons and Cara Seymour) for over 20 years. One day they learn he has fallen ill. He has a brain tumor that essentially prevents him from having any short term memories. Music has always played a huge part in Gabriel's life. His dad brought him up on it, he played it, and it's one of his musical shows that is the catalyst for him leaving home. They start to use music as therapy to help Gabriel remember more. It brings Henry and Gabriel closer together and helps mend their difficult relationship.   It's nice to see J.K Simmons front and center. He constantly steals scenes with his smaller parts in films, so it's nice to see him take the lead here. He was absolutely perfect. Lou Tayl...

Andrew over at Encore's World of Film and TV  is hosting a very extensive "Essential Performances of the 90s show down." Go over to his site and vote on your favorite performances. Andrew has asked other bloggers to offer their defense on some of the performances in future polls. On Sunday, August 26th, and poll will go up between Anna Paquin in the Piano and Kate Winslet in Sense and Sensibility. Both performances are great, but I'm going to promote Anna here. Not many young actors can deliver a powerhouse performance like then 11 year old Paquin did in The Piano. Especially on their first film. Flora, in my opinion was the most complicated character in the film. She is angry, she lies. (possibly as a way of coping.) She's drawn into some serious situations that she may or may not fully understand. Paquin really nailed this difficult character, and it's no surprise she's had lots of success since then. Not to mention her Oscar accep...

She's real. Calvin (Paul Dano) is a novelist who had success at a young age. He's still young, mind you, in his late 20's now. However, he's been suffering from writer's block. After having a dream about a mystery girl, he gets the inspiration to write about her. She is Ruby Sparks. (Zoe Kazan, also the film's writer) She's his dream girl and their relationship is perfect on paper. Suddenly, Ruby shows up in Calvin's apartment. After she begins interacting with the people around him, including his brother Harry (Chris Messina) Calvin realizes that he's not going crazy. But can he resist not writing about her again? There's a part in the film where Calvin says something along the lines of "I'm not going to try to explain this." and "I don't know how this happened." The film takes that same approach. Who knows how Ruby appears out of thin air? It doesn't matter. What matters is their story. Kazan and Dano have grea...

Poetry in motion. Beasts of the Southern Wild is a whimsical tale about a six year old girl named Hushpuppy, (Quvenzhane Wallis) who lives with her daddy in 'The Bathtub.' A small island that's off the Louisiana bayous. As Hushpuppy puts it; the world is ending. Her father is getting sick, her home is being flooded, the animals are acting strange, than disappear. The polar ice caps melt and release ancient beasts called Aurochs. Hushpuppy and her friends and family must find a way to survive. This is the first time I've ever watched a film, and thought it needed less dialogue and more music. The score in this film is beyond fantastic, I just wanted it to continue playing the entire time. Wallis, despite her young age really carries this film on her little shoulders. The last time a child this young did this well in a film was Dakota Fanning in I Am Sam. I see a bright future for Wallis is she chooses to keep acting. Another thing I found quite fascinating was the cine...

The movie that reminded everyone that Ryan Gosling is a serious actor.  I think a lot of viewer's first exposure to Gosling was in 2004's The Notebook. It certainly was for me. I had seen films he had small parts in before, but the first time I actually noticed him was The Notebook. Those who caught him in 2001's The Believer already knew he was good, but I didn't have a fully formed opinion yet. Then came 2006's Half Nelson, which Gosling received an Oscar nomination for. Dan (Ryan Gosling) is an 8th grade history teacher at an inner city school in Brooklyn. He tries to inspire his students by going a bit off course with his teachings. In reality, Dan is a hard drug addict who doesn't think rehab will suit him. One of students, Drey (the wonderful Shareeka Epps) catches him smoking crack in the girls locker room. She's got issues of her own. Absent father, workaholic mother, brother who's recently been sent to prison on drug charges. They form a rela...

It's been awhile since I've been tagged in one of these! As far as I can see, I've only been tagged once..so here we go! The rules for this award are as follows: Each person must post 11 things about themselves. Answer the 11 questions the person giving the award has set for you. Create 11 questions for the people you will be giving the award to Choose 11 people to award and send them a link to your post. Go to their page and tell them No tag backs. He re's 11 things about me: 1) My favorite season is autumn. 2) I'm a proud mother. 3) Besides movies, I love watching baseball, soccer, and professional wrestling. 4) I cry easily in movies. 5) I love tattoos. 6) I can't sing, but I do it anyways (to my steering wheel) 7) I faked a nose bleed to get out of a boring lecture in college. 8) I work with teenagers and I think most of their tastes in movies are horrible. 9) I've been to 8 different countries. 10) I always text my dad...

One of the jokes I make quite often as a movie blogger is how my taste has greatly evolved. If you would've asked me who my favorite actor was at age 13, I would've told you Adam Sandler. His comedies were the best. Now I mostly joke about how all of his movies suck and how his humor hasn't changed in years. I don't hate Adam Sandler, I have a special place in my heart for Billy Madison and for movies like Spanglish and Punch Drunk Love. Earlier this week I was telling someone how I will go see any movie with Will Ferrell in it. He's fucking hilarious, but he has made some pretty terrible movies. (Bewitched, Kicking and Screaming, Semi Pro) Will Ferrell has been one of my favorite comedic actors since about 2003, not to mention I think he's a fine dramatic actor too when the time calls for it. It just got me thinking, am I kind of a hypocrite for loving Ferrell and making fun of Sandler's recent films? Is Will Ferrell just my teen/young adult phase as Ad...