Saturday, March 12, 2016
First Lines: Benjamin Franklin - The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin
Dear Son: I have ever had the pleasure in obtaining any little anecdotes of my ancestors.
Friday, March 11, 2016
Carrie (2013)
A shy girl outcast by her peers and sheltered by her deeply religious mother, who unleashes telekinetic terror on her small town after being pushed too far at her senior prom.
Straightforward, almost literal remake of the Brian De Palma classic is very professionaly made and has a good cast, but never manages to reach the impact of the original.
Maltin**: "Too similar to the well-remembered 1976 film...Moore is very good, but while Moretz tries hard, she can't overcome her misfortunate miscasting. Climax is much less impressive than in the original movie, reminding us tha CGI is not always an improvement."
New Stuff: Jörg Buttgereit
A collection of filmmaker Jörg Buttgereit's columns for a German movie magazine.
Who's That Girl?
Two Parisian women on the Champs-Élysées wearing British-made dresses. Photo by Kurt Hutton, 1951
Thursday, March 10, 2016
First Lines: Elie Wiesel - Night
They called him Moishe the Beadle, as if his entire life he had never had a surname.
Wednesday, March 9, 2016
The Sorcerer's Apprentice (2010)
Master sorcerer Balthazar Blake must find and train Merlin's descendant to defeat dark sorceress Morgana le Fey.
Colorful nonsense offers lota of incomprehensive magic and action and fairly little romance, but is clearly intended for an audience of kids.
Maltin**1/2: "Formulaic but enjoyable-enough mix of large-scale action and humor..., ostensibly inspired by the famous sequence in Disney's FANTASIA. Wittiest part of the film is the inventive use of Manhattan locations, from Wall Street to a ledge on the Chrysler Building."
Tuesday, March 8, 2016
New Stuff: Christian Kessler
Christian Kessler's second homage to trash cinema, still need to get the first volume.
New Stuff: Blue Velvet
Finally an edition of this classic including a bonus disc of 52 minutes of previously unseen footage.
New Stuff: Theory of Obscurity: A Film About the Residents
Finally! Excited to see this documentary on of my most favourite bands.
New Stuff: Black Mountain
Heard them in True Season 2, so I got their first album, turns out it's a 10th anniversary with an additional cd of extra tracks.
New Stuff: England's Hidden Reverse
A book I've been trying to ourchase for 14 years. In 2002 I pre-ordered the title before it's release in 2003. My online retailer wasn't able to deliver upon its release, but upheld my order for several years until they gave it up and cancelled my order. Meanwhile, the book was being offered by other dealers for horrendous sums. Even for this new edition I had placed the order in July 2015 and never really believed I'd get it. Voila, 8 months later: here it is!
It's a comprehensive history of (English) industrial music and therefore quite essential to me.
