Saturday, March 9, 2013
First Lines: Bertrand Russell - The Principles of Mathematics
Pure Mathematics is the class of all propositions of the form "p implies q", where p and q are propositions containing one or more variables, the same in the two propositions, and neither p nor q contains any constants except logical constants.
Friday, March 8, 2013
The Conversation (1974)
A paranoid and personally-secretive surveillance expert has a crisis of conscience when he suspects that a couple he is spying on will be murdered.
Brilliant psychological thriller with political implications, just a bit slow-paced and a bit too long.
Halliwell ***: "Absorbing but extremely difficult to follow in detail, this personal, timely (in view of Watergate), Kafkaesque suspense story centres almost entirely on director and leading actor, who have a field day."
Maltin ****: "Brilliant film...Coppola's top-notch, disturbing script makes larger statements about privacy and personal responsibility. An unbilled Robert Duvall has a cameo. One of the best films of the 70s."
Thursday, March 7, 2013
Deep Blue Sea (1999)
Searching for a cure to Alzheimer's disease a group of scientists on an isolated research facility become the bait as a trio of intelligent sharks fight back.
Slick, enjoyable, tongue-in-cheek deep sea shark thriller.
This is one of those movies German TV keeps repeating time and again, but I do enjoy watching it, cause it's got Saffron Burrows in it, and I like its humour. And again: I still enjoy it:-)
Halliwell (no star): "Basically a B movie on steroids, this delivers all the expected, and more than familiar, thrills and spills, but lacks suprise."
Maltin **1/2: "Sometimes-exciting combinationof JAWS and ALIEN has some surprises, but terrible dialogue and a preposterous premise."
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First Lines: T.S. Eliot - The Hollow Men
(art: Pamela Pengelley)
We are the hollow men We are the stuffed men Leaning together Headpiece filled with straw. Alas!
Wednesday, March 6, 2013
Black Swan (2010)
A ballet dancer wins the lead in "Swan Lake" and is perfect for the role of the delicate White Swan - Princess Odette - but slowly loses her mind as she becomes more and more like Odile the Black Swan, daughter of an evil magician.
Visually beautiful with a great central performance, but with a very predictable plot.
On second view: I still stick with my first review, the movie is clearly very much a show piece for its (brilliant) star.
Maltin **: "Vividly realized fever-dream of a movie - with an Oscar-winning performance by Portman - gives new meaning to the word "overwrought," though some people found it brilliant. Matthew Libatique's cinematography is definitely wothry of praise."
Tuesday, March 5, 2013
First Lines: William Faulkner - As I Lay Dying
Jewel and I come up from the field, following the path in single file.
