Bio:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fred_Clark
Saturday, August 31, 2013
First Lines: Karl Marx - Das Kapital
The wealth of those societies in which the capitalist mode of production prevails, presents itself as "an immense accumulation of commodities", its unit being a single commodity.
R.I.P. Seamus Heaney
Eulogies:
http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/books/2013/08/remembering-seamus-heaney-poems-in-the-new-yorker.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/31/arts/seamus-heaney-acclaimed-irish-poet-dies-at-74.html
Friday, August 30, 2013
New Stuff: Miles Davis
Recommended by my pal Gerhard, these live perfromances are well worth the purchase.
Babylon A.D. (2008)
In a near-future dilapidated world a veteran-turned-mercenary Toorop takes the high-risk job of escorting a woman from Russia to America.
A sci-fi road-movie adventure has a star cast and some good visuals, but the story is obscure and the ending quite unsatisfying.
Maltin BOMB: "Incoherent plotting makes this attempted sci-fi epic a complete fizzle."
Thursday, August 29, 2013
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First Lines: Téa Obreht - The Tiger's Wife
The forty days of the soul begin on the morning after death.
An Awfully Big Adventure (1995)
Set right after World War II, a naive teenage girl joins a shabby theatre troupe in Liverpool and falls in love with its narcissistic director.
A major tragedy unfolds amidst a wonderfully chosen cast, but somehow the gloomy story doesn't manage to grip.
Halliwell*: "Good on atmospherics and the detail of backstage bitchery and theatrical ambition, but flawed in its wider ambitions of a girl growing to maturity in circumstances of betrayal, this is a broken-backed melodrama: the first half belongs to Grant's ambiguous director, the second to Rickman's reckless leading man, but the innocent girl at its centre is not a strong enough character to hold it together as a satisfying whole."
Maltin**1/2: "Unfocused but rarely boring drama...The photography - more stylized bleakness from NAKED's Dick Pope - is a plus."
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Jack Goes Boating (2010)
A limo driver's blind date sparks a tale of love, betrayal, friendship, and grace centered around two working-class New York City couples.
The cast shines in an otherwise drab character study that makes you feel like you're watching a therapy group discussing their depressions.
Maltin**: "Hoffman's directorial debut is MARTY-lite, a cloying character study...Based on a play Hoffman performed Off-Broadway, the film is slow and just as tentative as the people it portrays."
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Bad Teacher (2011)
A lazy, incompetent middle school teacher who hates her job and her students is forced to return to her job to make enough money for a boob job after her rich fiancé dumps her.
Indeed, it's a teacher with a bad attitude and surprise: a heart somewhere inside, but the humor is only partially successful, otherwise quite bawdy.
Maltin**: "Heavy-handed, obvious (and crass) comedy paints every adult as a clueless idiot and has all the actors mug like crazy - except Diaz and gym teacher Segel - which would be OK if the film were funny. It isn't."
Wednesday, August 28, 2013
Tuesday, August 27, 2013
R.I.P. Julie Harris
Eulogy:
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/25/arts/julie-harris-celebrated-actress-of-range-and-intensity-dies-at-87.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0
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