Saturday, April 13, 2013
First Lines: Heinrich Böll - Billiards at Half Past Nine
This morning, for the first time ever, Faehmel was curt with her, almost rude.
Friday, April 12, 2013
The Phantom (1996)
The Phantom, descendent of a line of African heroes, travels to New York to thwart a criminal genius.
Playful mixture of superhero comic and jungle adventure, mildly entertaining.
Halliwell (no star): "A limp action movie featuring a dull super-hero, this is below-par Saturday matinee stuff."
Maltin **: "Lead-footed emulation of Saturday matinee serials, using Lee Falk's masked comic-strip hero ("the ghost who walks"), who starred in a bona fide serial in 1943...Well-meaning INDIANA JONES wannabe has no energy and offers large-scale stunts without knowing how to stage them!"
Incendies (2010)
Twins journey to the Middle East to discover their family history, and fulfill their mother's last wishes.
Gripping and in the end harrowing exploration of the impacts war has on the lives on everyone involved, unfortunately told in a roundabout way.
Maltin ***1/2: "A tough, spellbinding story that deals with forgiveness and resolution, adapted by the director from Wajdi Mouawad's play. Note that the Middle Eastern country is never named."
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Thursday, April 11, 2013
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First Lines: Pablo Neruda - Memorial de Isla Negra
something started in my soul,
fever or forgotten wings,
and I made my own way,
deciphering
that fire
and wrote the first faint line,
faint without substance, pure
nonsense,
pure wisdom,
of someone who knows nothing,
and suddenly I saw
the heavens
unfastened
and open.
Wednesday, April 10, 2013
New Stuff: Carmen Villain
Interesting experimental album by an artist, othewise known as the fashion Carmen Maria Hillestad.
Dead Silence (2007)
A widower returns to his hometown to search for answers to his wife's murder, which may be linked to the ghost of a murdered ventriloquist
Nasty little shocker with a silly plot and no surprises.
Maltin **: "The creators of SAW fashioned this ho-hum horror chiller...While not as gratuitously gory as many contemporary horror films, it's annoyingly illogical and overly familiar."
New Stuff: Joseph Byrd
An album of Joseph Byrd's early works, something I've been searching for ages.
Hooligans (2005)
A wrongfully expelled Harvard undergrad moves to London, where he is introduced to the violent underworld of football hooliganism.
Lively and violent drama about English hooligans with a dubious stance, and it is also questionable, if the hooligan scene is depicted realistically.
Maltin **: "Intriguing film plays out badly, with story contrivances and changes in tone submerging some of its better qualities. Painfully violent at times."
Reservation Road (2007)
The lingering weight of tragedy threatens to pull two men under following a harrowing hit-and-run accident.
Although well played and staged, this drama unfortunately doesn't find an appropriate resolution.
Maltin **1/2: "Balance of the story explores the anguish of the bereaved parents - and the driver's overpowering, paralyzing guilt. Intelligent, well-acted adaptation of John Burnham Schwartz's novel (which he wrote with George)...but emotionally demanding and tough to watch."
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