ph: Hilary Walsh
Saturday, March 15, 2014
New York
The lion statues at the New York Public Library, with a mantle of snow during the record December 1948 snowfall
First Lines: Philip Roth - Operation Shylock
I learned about the other Philip Roth in January 1988, a few days after New Year, when my cousin Apter telephoned my in New York to say that Israeli radio had reported tat I was in Jerusalem attending the trial of John Demjanjuk, the man alleged to be Ivan the Terrible of Treblinka.
Scanners II: The New Order (1991)
A scanner discovers a plot by renegade elements in the city government to take power with the help of evil scanners.
Basically a cheap remake of the original directed with less finesse, but much more exploding heads.
Halliwell (no star): "Effective sequel with several exploding heads."
Maltin**: "OK for what it is. david Cronenberg had no cennection with this sequel to his 1981 film."
Art: Helena Almeida
Bio:
http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2009/oct/07/helena-almeida-portugal-artist
Friday, March 14, 2014
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First Lines: E. Annie Proulx - The Shipping News
Here is an account of a few years in the life of Quolye, born in Brooklyn and raised in a shuffle of dreary upstate towns.
Armageddon (1998)
After discovering that an asteroid the size of Texas is going to impact Earth in less than a month, N.A.S.A. recruits a misfit team of deep core drillers to save the planet.
A classic doomsday premise executed with a big budget is ruined by a silly plot and a chaotic ending
Halliwell (no star): "Loud and brainless action movie that was among the top box-office successes of 1998."
Maltin**: "Opens with a bang, and sets up an exciting (if improbable) story...After a while it becomes so routine, so predictable, and so redundant that all the fun is drained away."
Thursday, March 13, 2014
Ransom (1974)
A gang of hijackers seize a British plane as it is landing in Scandinavia and a ruthless military police chief is assigned to rescue the plane and its passengers.
Quite dated with its many political twists this thriller does manage to create some suspense.
Halliwell*: "Topical but unconvincing action thriller with unfamiliar detail; builds up to exciting sequences but is quickly forgotten."
Maltin*1/2: "Muddled thriller...indifferently acted by Connery and McShane, amateurishly directed, and tediously unspooled. Pity, because premise is sound and photography (by Sven Nykvist) is smashing."
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First Lines: Joyce Carol Oates - Black Water
The rented Toyota, driven with such impatient exuberance by The Senator, was speeding along the unpaved unnamed road, taking the turns in giddy skidding slides,and then, with no warning, somehow the car had gone off the road and had overturned in black rushing water, listing to its passenger's side, rapidly sinking.