Rambling Film

Walk it off. Ahh Avengers. Probably my most anticipated movie of the year. There is one thing I need to talk about, but can't without spoiling, so I'll save that for last. Don't worry, I'll give a spoiler reminder. After finally getting Loki's scepter away from Hydra, Tony (Robert Downey Jr.) along with Bruce (Mark Ruffalo) decide to use it to create Ultron. (James Spader) He's supposed to protect the world for the Avengers so they no longer have to fight. But of course, since they don't fully understand the alien technology, he grows too intelligent too quickly, and decides he wants to end the Avengers to save the world. He enlists the help of two enhanced humans who volunteered for Hyrda's experiments, Wanda (Elizabeth Olsen) and Pietro Maximoff. (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) Though after messing with the Avengers, they catch on to Ultron's dumb fuckery and decide to join them to help. Unlike the first film, Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) ends...

That's the Colombian. Niko (Tom Schilling) is a former law student that's still trying to figure everything, including himself out. On a simple quest to get coffee in Berlin, he wanders through the city meeting various people. I had never heard of this movie before it showed up as a "recommended" film for me on Netflix. I read around, a lot of people compared it to Frances Ha . Which I can somewhat get. It's shot in black and white and features a semi-aimless college student, but that's really where the similarities end.  Niko is a very interesting character, and he shines even more with the relatively simple plot. Berlin is a gorgeous city, even in black and white. Schilling is a very intriguing actor, I hope to see him in more things. Grade: A- Memorable Quote:  "I want to know what happens to him." - Niko (Tom Schilling)

This week's theme from Wandering Through the Shelves is father/daughter relationship. The only stipulation is that they must be biologically related. Here are my favorites: 1) The Ballad of Jack and Rose This is a fascinating little movie with excellent performances from Daniel Day-Lewis and Camilla Belle. Though it could also be a lesson in not sheltering your children.  2) Dreamland Audrey's father is so dependent on her that she feels like she cannot leave home to go to college. (He can barely leave the trailer park without having panic attacks) It's a very interesting dynamic of the father not wanting to hold her back, and the daughter being too afraid to let go. 3) The Descendants  I was late jumping on the Clooney bandwagon, but this is one of my favorites of his, and I loved his interactions with his daughters. Plus Shailene Woodley is very good when given strong material. She was great here. 

Perhaps you should change your approach? Caleb (Domhnall Gleeson) is a coder for an Internet search engine called BlueBook. He wins a contest to go meet BlueBook's creator, Nathan (Oscar Isaacs) and participate in a revolutionary experiment. After signing the mother of all NDA's, Caleb is off to see said experiment: Ava (Alicia Vikander) an AI that Nathan has created. He wants Caleb to test her to see if he can really separate man from machine. However Ava clues him in on Nathan not being all that he seems. This film was fascinating. Writer/Director Alex Garland definitely turns out solid work, so I had high expectations. At this rate, Gleeson could have a career that rivals his father's if he keeps being a part of films like this.  Isaacs was especially great too. I can now forgive him for boring me to tears during Inside Lewelyn Davis. (okay, maybe that wasn't his fault) Vikander was intriguing as well, though it's hard to grade her on a performance lev...

Game of Thrones: Sansa perfectly demonstrating how I feel about her story Winterfell - Uggghhh here we go. Littlefinger, who at some point apparently suffered a traumatic brain injury is now marrying Sansa to Ramsay Bolton against her will. Sure, she goes along at the promise of avenging her family, but Littlefinger says he doesn't know much about Ramsay and he's about to LEAVE HER THERE ALONE. Way to go, Turbo. (Though Sophie Turner was absolutely brilliant in this episode. Especially in the above gif and when she meets Roose Bolton for the first time.) Moat Cailin - Brienne and Pod had this beautiful moment where Pod says he's proud to be her squire then she ruins it by talking about killing Stannis. Brienne, bby, join Stannis, don't kill him. Renly sucked anyways. King's Landing - Ewwww Tommen and Margaery. But the amount of shade she threw at Cersei was glorious. We also got to meet the High Sparrow.  Castle Black - My favorite scenes ...

Slacker nation This film centers around a group of teenagers/early twenty somethings trying to pass the time in Athens, Arizona. You have Jimmy, (John Patrick Amedori)a small time drug dealer who's got some big problems. Jessica (Jill Ritchie) leaves the young girl she's babysitting home alone and drags along her friend Carlos (Michael Pena) as she tries to find someone to kick her boyfriend's ass for her. (He's pissed because she gave him an STD) Then you have Corey (D.J Qualls) and Pedro,(Jorge Garcia) a couple of slackers that are trying to come up with rent money to get back into their house after their landlord shuts them out. Finally there's Heather, (Erica Leerhsen) who's convinced her cop boyfriend is cheating on her and frequently takes her anger out on her friend Ali. (Rachel Miner) All of these characters' lives are intertwined and they all end up at the same party at the end of the night. This film feels really authentic in capturing w...

How fitting that as Age of Ultron approaches us that this week's theme from Wandering Through the Shelves is something that people either really love, or are really getting sick of: Superhero movies. Lucky for me, I'm still in the camp that loves them, so here are my favorites. 1) The Dark Knight This is my all time favorite superhero movie, and I'm not sure if anything will ever top it to be honest. Avengers came close, but Heath Ledger's Joker is always going to be perfect for me. 2) The Avengers I wanted to scream "THIS IS AWESOME" several times during this film. I hope Age of Ultron is just as good. (Even though after reading some of the spoilers, something is going to piss me off greatly) 3) Super In the first time in my Thursday Movie Pick history, I'm doing a revision. It dawned on me after I posted this that I left out one Superhero flick that I really, REALLY love. So I had to swap out X2 for this little gem Super. He might ...