blindspot

2024 Blind Spot Picks

| Rachel's Reviews

Happy New Year! I hope you are all doing well. If you missed it over on my channel I posted my video of the Best Movies of 2023:

I would also like to announce my next 12 picks for my Blind Spot series. I have been now  doing this series for over 7 years and am going to record my 100th entry in the series soon. Each year I try and pick a variety of films to keep the series fun for me and hopefully for the readers as well. I tried to do the same this year with some comedy, cult classics, popular favorites and more I have somehow missed seeing along the way. If any of you want to participate in Blind Spot please do! I would love to see your takes on films you’ve missed.

So here goes:

January- JFK by Oliver Stone

This is one of those films I’ve heard much praise for but just never had the chance to see. It follows the investigation into the assassination of President John F Kennedy. Was it a conspiracy or a one-man job? The cast including Tommy Lee Jones, Gary Oldman and Kevin Costner is great so I’m looking forward to seeing it.

February- Love Story by Arthur Hiller

I love a romance but I’m not as high on romantic weepies which is probably why I’ve never seen Love Story. This classic story of young love was a huge hit at the box office when it came out and made 173 million on a 2 million budget. I’ve heard it’s well done so I’m intrigued to finally check it off my list.

March- John Wick by Chad Stahelski

Yes I have never seen John Wick. I don’t love violence in film and I’d heard this one was pretty brutal so I missed it and then it became this phenomenon, so it is finally time for me to watch this action series and see what all the fuss is about. Let’s go!

April- The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly by Sergio Leone

In 2023 I watched A Fistful of Dollars for blind spot and I enjoyed it, so I decided to put another Sergio Leone classic on the docket for this year- The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly. We will see how this spaghetti western compares!

May- Seven Days in May by John Frankenheimer

I love a good political thriller and I’ve heard lots of praise for 1964’s Seven Days in May. The narratives can build up tension well and be very entertaining. The cast on this one is outstanding including Burt Lancaster, Kirk Douglas and Ava Gardner. I look froward to checking it out


 June- The Magnificent Ambersons by Orson Welles (kind of)

The story behind The Magnificent Ambersons is probably more famous than the movie itself. The fact that the studio cut an hour off of director Orson Welles’ film and shot a new ending is pretty terrible. It’s why I haven’t watched it yet but I think it will be interesting to see what the studio came up with. It is just one of those movies a film critic eventually needs to watch and now is as good a time as any.

July- Deadpool by Tim Miller

Yes, I have never seen the original Deadpool. The only Deadpool I’ve seen is Once Upon a Deadpool and I hated it. As I said with John Wick I’m not the biggest fan of gratuitous violence, and I have a feeling the sense of humor in this won’t be my thing but I’ll try and keep an open mind. With Deadpool 3 being the only MCU release in 2024 in theaters it’s time to watch the original and see what I think.

August- Far from the Madding Crowd by John Schlesinger

I love the version of Madding Crowd from 2015 with Carey Mulligan and Matthias Schoenaerts and feel it is one of the more underrated films of the 2010s. When I say that people have often told me the version from 1967 starring Julie Christie is better so we’ll see what I think. I bet I will like both versions better than the book, which I didn’t care for much at all.

September- The Plague Dogs by Martin Rosen

There honestly aren’t that many animated blind spots I have left. At least without diving into series I’ve watched most of the classics of the medium. One I haven’t seen, however, is The Plague Dogs which is from the same team that did Watership Down in 1978. I’m sure this dog /war film will be intense but it should be compelling.

October- The Thing by John Carpenter

I try to push myself out of my comfort zone for the October blind spot watch but in 2023 I might have gone too far with Trick R Treat. It wasn’t for me. In 2024 we will see if John Carpenter’s classic The Thing is more my jam. I liked his Halloween so it should be a fascinating watch.

November- Monty Python’s The Meaning of Life by Terry Jones

It’s perhaps surprising I’ve never seen this Monty Python classic because I love Holy Grail so much but it’s true. I know this has a big vomit joke which I hate (I have a very easy gag reflex) but hopefully other jokes will work better for me.

December- It Happened on Fifth Avenue by Roy Del Ruth

Like with animation, there aren’t that many holiday films I haven’t seen but It Happened on Fifth Avenue is one of them. I’ve heard it’s very funny, sweet and got all the Christmas feels which is enough to get me interested.

So there you have it! My blind spot picks for 2024. What do you think of these films? Have you seen them? 

If you enjoy what I do please consider supporting at patreon where you can get tons of fun perks. https://www.patreon.com/hallmarkies

Blind Spot 96: Trading Places

| Rachel's Reviews

I have now done almost 100 posts for in this Blind Spot series and one continuing trend is me not enjoying classic comedies particularly from the 80s. I didn’t enjoy Beverly Hills Cop, Troop Beverly Hills, Lethal Weapon, Slap Shot, National Lampoons Vacation, the list goes on. So it was with some hesitation I added Trading Places to my 2023 lineup but there aren’t that many Christmas-themed movies I haven’t seen so I decided to give it a shot. Now after having seen the film I am glad to say it mostly still works. There are outdated elements but as a piece of social commentary it still feels sharp and incisive.

Trading Places tells the story of two gentlemen, one a rich stock broker and one a small-time criminal, who are entered into a social experiment by 2 richer stock brokers to try and decide the debate of nurture vs nature. Dan Akroyd playing Winthorpe the broker is suddenly stripped of his position, power, money and everything else while Eddie Murphy’s Valentine is given all those things. This is of course very upsetting to Winthorpe and he tries to defend himself which only makes him look more crazy to the uppity people he used to call friends.

Valentine on the other hand is suddenly given power and he does quite well with it. He uses his street smarts to read the room and get better deals than the Wall Street types can achieve. There is also Jamie Lee Curtis playing a prostitute named Ophelia who has pity on the miserable Winthorpe.

What works best about Trading Places is the friendship that emerges between Winthorpe and Valentine once they get on the same side and want revenge on those who orchestrated the social experiment. It’s a movie that might be called woke today because it has something to say about race, class, and other social issues but it doesn’t forget to make you laugh along the way.

The only major problem with the movie is some of the R rated elements feel too vulgar for the tone of the script. I particularly thought the number of times they have Ophelia go topless for no reason seemed excessive. I know she’s a prostitute but it felt too much for a character they were trying to humanize and defend only to then exploit her to try and titillate (literally) 80s male audiences.

There is also a scene of Winthorpe in blackface that is unfortunate. It’s not a particularly funny scene nor does it have that much to say so it makes the entire scene feel gross.

Other than that Trading Places is a good time at the movies and holds up quite well. I want to say it’s one they could remake but it would be impossible with how sensitive everyone is these days when it comes to sensitive issues. We aren’t good at laughing at each other now so we don’t learn all we can from each other.

Blind Spot 95: ‘A Fistful of Dollars’

| Rachel's Reviews

This month’s blind spot is an interesting one because it’s not only checking off a classic film off of my watch list but it’s my introduction to an entire genre. It’s the first spaghetti western I’ve ever seen. I have never seen a film by director Sergio Leone, and I don’t believe any other westerns made by Italian directors. Today we are looking at perhaps the most famous spaghetti western- A Fistful of Dollars.

This movie is a pretty iconic one, a film I can recognize the famous scenes even though I hadn’t seen it. In particular the final duel where the Stranger has the metal plate on and the bullets bounce off I’d definitely seen before.

Clint Eastwood is perfect for this role of the Stranger with a brooding sense of coolness and confidence. This isn’t a nuanced performance but it works for the gravitas of the movie. It’s also only 99 minutes where today it would definitely be stretched out to an interminable runtime.

It is a very bloody movie with the Stranger becoming involved in a feud between 2 families in Mexico. I honestly started to lose track of who was taking revenge on who and for what reasons but it doesn’t matter because it’s not a movie you see for the plot. It’s all about these western duels and Eastwood’s charisma with a gun. His draw is so fast and he’s so quick with his pistol that it makes him a threat in any situation. You can certainly see why everyone is intimidated to go against him!

There’s not that much more to A Fistful of Dollars. If you want a bloody movie with a memorable star turn from Eastwood give it a watch. It also has the terrific music from Ennio Morricone, so that adds a layer of enjoyment. If it sounds like your kind of thing you’ll definitely enjoy it.

7 out of 10

Smile Worthy

If you enjoy what I do please consider supporting at patreon where you can get tons of fun perks. https://www.patreon.com/hallmarkies

Blind Spot 94: Trick ‘R Treat

| Rachel's Reviews

If you’ve followed my content for any amount of time you know I’m a bit of a wimp when it comes to horror movies. Nevertheless, I try each year for blind spot to expand my palate and watch an iconic horror film I’ve missed. For the most part that has been a positive experience but I have to admit this year’s selection, Trick ‘R Treat was not one of those moments. It’s not just that the movie was too gory for my taste but its narrative is scattered with too many characters to become invested in thereby, making the scares less chilling than they would be for characters I know and love.

To begin with the trick-or-treater villain with the burlap pumpkin costume isn’t in the movie very much. If anything the villainous school principle Steven Wilkins is more of the villain of the piece but even he isn’t developed very well because the screenplay is constantly moving away from him.

Trick ‘R Treat takes a non-linear approach telling the story of a whole neighborhood that gets haunted on Halloween night. We start out with Emma and Henry in definitely the most gruesome scene of the film and then move over to Principal Wilkins and a boy Charlie who steals candy. Later we learn about a school bus accident where parents wanted to stage an ‘accident’ of their disabled children. Then there are 4 young women who are trying to get laid on Halloween but they have a secret they are ready to release on their dates. Finally we have Kreeg, a grumpy old man, who may have a connection to the bus accident from many years before.


There is definitely tons of gore in Trick ‘R Treat. It is without a doubt the most violent and disgusting film I’ve watched for Blind Spot but I imagine horror fans will enjoy that aspect and have fun with it. I’m a sympathetic puker and gagged at especially one key scene where a character throws up. Gross but I can also see some having fun with the grossness.

My problem was mainly the amount of characters and not being able to emotionally invest in any of them or their narratives. That’s what makes a horror movie scary is when we feel tied to the characters and don’t want anything bad to happen to them. This builds tension and makes the ride exciting. Trick ‘R Treat missed that in its over-crowded screenplay.

I’m not the best judge when it comes to horror and I know many love this movie so count me as an outlier opinion. It wasn’t my favorite and I’d probably never watch it again

5 out of 10

Frown Worthy

If you like my writing and want to support what I do check out the patreon for some great perks here..

Blind Spot 93: OUT OF SIGHT

| Rachel's Reviews

In a way it’s kind of amazing it has taken me this long to check off Steven Soderbergh’s Out of Sight in this blind spot project. It’s a movie I have heard about for years and is a favorite of many of my friends but I just never got around to seeing it. A lot of my blind spots are rated R films from the 90s and earlier because growing up I didn’t watch mature films. It really wasn’t until around 2012 that I realized the rating system was dumb and began challenging myself with more adult content in my media.

It’s funny because this trailer for Out of Sight makes it seem like it’s practically a rom-com and it is a very sexy movie but the relationship is more of a side-story rather than the main focus of the film. I would think of it more as a sexy version of Oceans 11 than a rom-com  (Soderbergh also directed George Clooney in the Oceans films.)

It’s funny because Jennifer Lopez plays the least likely person to be named Karen ever in a film…but her role is as a US Marshall who is forced into a trunk with Clooney’s Jack Foley as he escapes from prison. They then end up in a tit-for-tat with each other over the course of several years. The two actors do have sizzling chemistry and the main sex scene is very spicy but it all works for the story.

One of the strongest aspects of this film is the atmosphere and tone Soderbergh along with his cinematographer Elliot Davis creates. It looks great and all the characters ooze with cool and a slick style that draws you into the story. It reminded me of Pulp Fiction without Tarantino’s more annoying qualities. These are people I am interested in that don’t seem concerned with crafting sound bites but instead making the next great deal and how good they look while doing it.

It’s interesting because Out of Sight was one of Lopez’s first roles and it showed a lot of potential she wouldn’t realize again (despite my enjoyment for her mostly terrible rom-coms) until Hustlers in 2019 (which I think was just an ok movie but she was good in it.) In this movie, however, she brings a strength to Karen that makes her a believable force alongside Clooney and the rest of the cast.

We also get memorable roles from Ving Rhames, Don Cheadle, Michael Keaton, Albert Brooks and more. Like I said, it’s a film that’s loaded with great atmosphere and panache which makes it a very engaging watch. I can see why it has gained a bit of a cult following and is a favorite of so many.

8 out of 10

Smile Worthy

If you enjoy what I do please support me at my patreon here.

Blind Spot 92: ‘The Secret Life of Walter Mitty’ (2013)

| Rachel's Reviews

What people might not know about me is I love movies about work and work/life crisis. There is nothing I love more than an epic quit and a person who realizes their life is worth more than the misery of an unfulfilling job. Perhaps this is why I was attracted to the 2013 retelling (not really a remake) of The Secret Life of Walter Mitty– one of those films I had been interested in but had never gotten around to watching for some reason (what this blind spot project is for!) Well, not only did I see it over the last weekend, but I watched it and the Danny Kaye original with my good friends Jen and Stanford, and we had a wonderful time together.

I must admit was a bit distracted watching the 1947 original but from what I could gather it is quite different than the 2013 film and the only commonalities outside of the names are the daydreaming tendencies of the lead character. The new film is more of an existential crisis movie where the older movie is a screwball comedy meets mystery.

The new film gives us director and actor Ben Stiller as Walter Mitty who is unhappily working at Life Magazine where his only joy in life is his brief interactions with co-worker Cheryl played by Kristen Wiig. One day he loses a key negative for the magazine’s final print issue and he starts a journey through Greenland and Iceland to find the photographer played by Sean Penn.

The cinematography is a stand out (you’ll want to book your trip to Iceland after seeing the film) and like I said the themes of work and what motivates our lives always intrigues me and it was no different here. Walter is a character that is easy to relate with and there’s a voyeurism aspect to the film. We all wish we could find ourselves in Iceland in such a dramatic fashion don’t we?

The only thing I could have used more of in The Secret Life of Walter Mitty is more insight into Walter himself. For a film about life and the human connection we don’t get in his head as much as I would like to. It’s funny the streaming service we watched the movie on suggested Stranger Than Fiction as a similar film, and I do think that film explores work in a more humorous and insightful way while getting more into the lead character, Harold Crick’s, inner-most thoughts and desires. We see the transition and growth of his character more than we do for Walter and so the experience is more moving.


Still, I’m glad I saw The Secret Life of Walter Mitty. Particularly with some changes going on in my career at the moment its themes hit home and it gave me some courage to be bolder, more willing to embrace change instead of wanting to hide from it. If you haven’t seen it I’d recommend it and maybe if you are lucky you’ll have good friends to watch it with just like I did. I’m certainly blessed beyond measure.

If you like what I do please consider supporting me on patreon. There’s some great perks and I sure appreciate it https://www.patreon.com/hallmarkies

Blind Spot 91: FACE/OFF

| Rachel's Reviews

Each year when I make my Blind Spot selections I try to pick a variety to keep it fun for me and hopefully for my readers. There’s some international and arthouse favorites. Some critical darlings and box office successes I’ve missed and also some cult classics with a devoted following. This month’s pick, 1997’s Face/Off is the latter and I’m happy to finally check it off my list. It has some problems, mostly with pacing, but the premise is entertaining enough and the 2 lead performances are so good that it works.

Face/Off is directed by Hong Kong legend John Woo, and I must be honest it’s the first of his films I have seen. My friend said she would give me a list of Hong Kong action to watch so I hopefully will make up for that but you can definitely feel his action roots in this film. The action is guttural and brutal with no punches being pulled. Even children and teens are put in peril with shocking results.

We also have the  entertaining premise of Nic Cage and John Travolta switching faces in a new technology (the former is a ‘criminal mastermind’ Castor Troy, and the latter is the FBI agent, Sean Archer, who’s son was murdered by Troy. )Both actors are up for the camp factor of portraying the other’s personality traits and ticks and these antics are the best part of the movie.

Unfortunately it is also way too long and the premise starts to lose its novelty after a bit and things start to feel repetitive. This movie would be so much better at a 90-100 minute mark not 138. However, the supporting cast is also excellent with the likes of Joan Allen, Gina Gershon, James Denton (I’ve interviewed him!) and Margaret Cho.

All that said, Face/Off is a fun ride and when it works it really does work. I know there have been long talks of doing a sequel and I don’t know if that would be successful given the age of Cage and Travolta but a spinoff with them as “mentors” could be fun.

7 out of 10

Smile Worthy

If you like what I do please consider supporting me on patreon. There’s some great perks and I sure appreciate it https://www.patreon.com/hallmarkies

 

Blind Spot 90: TOKYO STORY

| Rachel's Reviews

Last year as part of my Criterion Project I was introduced to the famed Japanese filmmaker Yasujiro Ozu and his film Late Spring. It was one of my favorite episodes of the podcast as we had Dave Fiore and Elise Moore from the There’s Sometimes a Buggy podcast. They are experts on classic film, Ozu, and actress Setsuko Hara who stars in Late Spring and other Ozu films. I enjoyed our discussion so much that it inspired me to pick another Ozu film for Blind Spot this month: Tokyo Story and it proves to be another winner.

There are some people who will find Tokyo Story to be boring and I can understand that as not much happens plot-wise. However, not all movies are about the plot. Some are about the characters and giving us a chance to walk in the shoes of other humans for a couple of hours. That’s what Ozu does here in Tokyo Story. I defy any viewer to not relate to these characters- even when they are being petty and frustrating (maybe especially when they are so?)


Tokyo Story tells the story of an elderly couple who come to Tokyo to see their grown up children including a daughter-in law Noriko who was married to a son killed in World War II. None of the couple’s children have time for their parents but their busyness is understandable and most of us have been annoyed by family even if we don’t want to admit it. At one point the Father says “losing your children is hard but living with them isn’t easy either.” I don’t have any children myself but isn’t that the case with family? We love them fiercely but also wish we could be alone away from them at the same time. Who can’t relate to such feelings?

The daughter-in-law played by Hara is the kindest and most welcoming to the couple and a lot of that comes from the natural warmth and kindness the actress embodies in all her roles. I also think every family has the person who keeps everyone together and happy (I am not that person…) just like Noriko does for her adopted family.

Ozu and his cinematographer Yūharu Atsuta have crafted a beautiful, intimate film with Tokyo Story that feels like it could have been made today instead of 1953. In fact, if it was remade today I don’t know if anything would be different with this family except there would be more ways to communicate and as a result more ways to forget each other. It’s a very sad story but oddly comforting to know that flawed families exist in every society, in every era, and maybe we can all be more like Noriko and be kinder to our loved ones?

9 out of 10

Smile Worthy

If you like what I do please consider supporting me on patreon. There’s some great perks and I sure appreciate it https://www.patreon.com/hallmarkies

Blind Spot 89: National Lampoon’s Vacation

| Rachel's Reviews

I always try and have a variety in this blind spot series. Last month I had an aggressively artsy movie with Jeanne Dielman, this month I have a classic comedy with National Lampoon’s Vacation and next month a foreign film Tokyo Story. This variety keeps the series interesting for me and hopefully for you the reader as well. As a Christmas movie fanatic I had of course seen the National Lampoons Christmas Vacation many times and enjoyed that but had never seen the original Vacation film. Now that I have seen it, I’d say it isn’t bad but it is aggressively average. Perhaps it was more cutting edge in 1983 when it was released but honestly these days I’d recommend watching A Goofy Movie over this. It has all the same tropes but funnier and more endearing.

In National Lampoon’s Vacation we follow the Griswold family as they travel across the country to try and visit Walley World (an obvious Disneyland copycat.) If family shenanigans are your jam then you will probably love this. There are all kinds of gags involving crazy hotel rooms, weird relatives and of course lots of problems with their poor beleaguered station-wagon.

I guess the one difference with this film in 1983 and now is it would almost certainly been rated pg13 these days instead of R. There are definitely some raunchy jokes, sexual situations and uncouth behavior as well as one family member flat out dying on the way to Wally World. We also have Chevy Chase holding John Candy up by a gun so they can go to the park. I don’t think you’d see that in our Dad character today.

Pretty much the whole cast is good in this with the likes of Beverly D’Angelo, Imogene Coca, a young Anthony Michael Hall and more. We also get loads of cameos from Eugene Levy, James Keach and more.

Where National Lampoon’s Vacation loses me is 2 very outdated scenes. The first is when the Griswold’s get lost on the ‘wrong side of town’ and they get harassed by the Black citizens, given bad directions and have all their hubcaps removed. This is in poor taste even in 1983. Also a scene where Keach pulls the Griswold’s over and proceeds to harass them as a police officer despite admitting they did nothing wrong. It’s inappropriate and frankly not funny.

Other than that, like I said, this movie is completely average. If you are dying for a dysfunctional family comedy it’s ok but nothing special. I think A Goofy Movie is much better and that you can watch on Disney Plus.

If you like what I do please consider supporting me on patreon. There’s some great perks and I sure appreciate it https://www.patreon.com/hallmarkies