Rambling Film

Official synopsis:  Brave rabbit cop Judy Hopps (Ginnifer Goodwin) and her partner, the fox Nick Wilde,(Jason Bateman) team up again to crack a new case, the most perilous and intricate of their careers. It doesn't feel like it's been 9 years since the first Zootopia graced our screens. The film became such a staple in our household. It holds a special place in my heart because it was the first time my son asked a lot of questions about the themes of the film. That's why Zootopia excelled. It was a great conversation starter about classism and prejudice for little kids. It spoke to both adults and children equally and not in a way that dumbed it down. Plus, it was just plain old entertaining. Zootopia 2 is the same way. Though my son is no longer a bright eyed 6 year old, his teenage brain makes him ask additional questions like "what did they make the gazelle so hot?" I love that we're still talking about these movies, and I'm never letting him forget t...

Official synopsis:  A retail employee, Matthew (Theodore Pellerin) infiltrates the inner circle of an artist on the verge of stardom, Oliver (Archie Madekwe). As he gets closer to the budding music star, access and proximity become a matter of life and death. Earlier this year I saw trailers for Lurker EVERYWHERE, only for it never to come to my local theaters. Thankfully, Mubi has picked up the film for streaming and I'm finally able to watch the film that caught my attention so many months ago. If you make it all the way through Lurker without the serious urge to punch Matthew in the face, you are built different. Matthew might be one of my favorite movie villains in recent history because he is so damn thirsty and pathetic. And the scary thing is there's probably thousands of "Matthews" out there. So many people have parasocial relationships with artists and creators nowadays. Especially the ones that share so much online. Random kids come up to Matthew and say th...

Official Synopsis: Based on Denis Johnson's beloved novella, Train Dreams is the moving portrait of Robert Grainier (Joel Edgerton), a logger and railroad worker who leads a life of unexpected depth and beauty in the rapidly-changing America of the early 20th Century. I heard great things about Train Dreams leading up to its premiere on Netflix last weekend. Joel Edgerton gives us a very quiet yet emotionally complex performance. A lot is happening around Robert Grainer. Not always *to* him, but he bears witness to a number of things that range from beautiful to completely horrific. And he doesn't always know how to react to them.  This is the type of movie that I think is going to hit differently for everyone. Some are going to be incredibly moved by it. It will speak to them in a specific way, and others will be left feeling cold. I was unfortunately one of the latter. I wanted so badly to like this, but I grew frustrated with how depressing everything about Grainer's li...

Official Synopsis:  Elphaba, (Cynthia Erivo) the future Wicked Witch of the West and her relationship with Glinda,(Ariana Grande) the Good Witch of the North. The second of a two-part feature film adaptation of the Broadway musical. I'm still surprised at how hyped I am for Wicked, despite never caring for the stage show, but something about the first film was magical. Maybe it's the magic of Erivo and Grande (and Jonathan Bailey) together, maybe its the wonderful costumes, either way, it's been working for me, but even I had lower expectations going into this knowing how I feel about the back half of this musical. And that's best, because Wicked For Good is not as strong as the first, and it was never going to be. Everyone knows this show loses steam after "Defying Gravity." That's not to say there's no good songs in For Good, "As Long as You're Mine" and "For Good" remain strong, but they're the only two. Even the two n...

Official Synopsis:  An uptight businesswoman (Sarah Jessica Parker) accompanies her boyfriend (Dermot Mulroney)to his eccentric and outgoing family's annual Christmas celebration and finds that she's a fish out of water in their free-spirited way of life. 20 years is a little "young" to be a Blind Spot, but we're approaching the holiday season and this film always gets brought up in annual Christmas lists. I was never compelled to watch this back then, but now I'm curious to see what I've been missing. On one hand, this film is surprisingly progressive for its time. I wasn't expecting there to be a gay couple ( Tyrone Giodano and Brian White) much less a gay couple where one of then men is deaf?! We love that representation (though it is painfully obvious no one in this film aside from Giodano actually knows sign language) I also loved bratty Rachel McAdams, and that the closest thing this film gets to a love scene is between the oldest couple. (Diane ...

Official synopsis:  A space princess, Saira (Shabana Azeez)  is thrust out of her sheltered life and into a galactic quest to save her bounty hunter ex-girlfriend, Kiki (Bernie Van Tiel) from the evil incel Maliens. I'm happy to report that this film is every bit as fun as its amazing title. I only wish I could've seen this at a festival or in a packed theater. It's definitely a film that would play well with a crowd.  Saira is an emotional disaster and honestly I could relate. We all get too obsessed with our first love, right? Especially while we're young. I know I did. Plus, I loved all the voice actors. Especially  Gemma Chua-Tran who voices Willow, someone Saira meets on her quest. She has such a lovely singing voice and the few short songs they litter into the film work really well. As you can probably tell by the pun in the synopsis, this film is very heavy handed, but not in a way I found overwhelmingly cringe. I laughed at pretty much every joke (especially ...

Official synopsis:  After writing for Cahiers du cinéma, young Jean-Luc Godard (Guillaume Marbeck)  decides making films is the best film criticism. He gets Georges de Beauregard  Bruno Dreyfürst)  to fund a low-budget feature, with FrancoisTruffaut, ( Adrien Rouyard) Breathless . Every now and then I'm encountered with a movie that I really enjoy, but wouldn't exactly recommend it to everyone I see. Nouvelle Vague is such a film. Richard Linklater's latest is an ode to cinema lovers and French New Wave, and it's only fans of those things that I can see truly appreciating this. And yes, that sounds ever bit as pretentious as a film about French New Wave would, but I'm just being honest. Linklater uses a title cards to call out all the "cameos" of the up and coming French film makers of the time that are sprinkled throughout the film. It's a curious choice that works very well. I couldn't help but smile when I saw "Agnes Varde" pop up on ...