ph: Derek Kettela
Saturday, April 16, 2016
Pulp Fiction (1994)
The lives of two mob hit men, a boxer, a gangster's wife, and a pair of diner bandits intertwine in four tales of violence and redemption.
Arguably Quentin Tarantino's best movie, a stroke of genius concerning several intertwined plots swinging back and forth in time, a treasure trove of cinematic allusions, tongue-in-cheek humour and a very carefully and accurately selected cast; all his subsequent movies have been more or less variations of what you can find here.
Halliwell***: "Clever, witty, violent celebration of junk culture, drawing rather too heavily on past thrillers but blessed with some excellent performances which crackle with menace."
Maltin***1/2: "Audacious, outrageous look at honors among lowlifes, told in a soemwhat radical style overlapping a handful of separate stories. Jackson and Travolta are magnetic as a pair of hit men who have philosophical debates on a regular basis; Willis is compelling as a crooked boxer whose plan to take it on the lam hits a few detours. (In fact, there are no slackersin this cast.) This voluble, violent, pumped-up movie isn't for every taste - certainly not for the squeamish - but it's got morevitality than almost any other film of 1994."
The Cold Light of Day (2012)
After his family is kidnapped during their sailing trip in Spain, a young Wall Street trader is confronted by the people responsible: intelligence agents looking to recover a mysterious briefcase.
Lacklustre espionage thriller doesn't miss a cliche in the book; the star cast aren't challenged in any way, and one wonders if they really understood what it was all about.
Friday, April 15, 2016
First Lines: Randy Pausch - The Last Lecture
A lot of professors give talks titled "The Last Lecture."
New Stuff: The Hollow of the Hand
Between 2011 and 2014 PJ Harvey and Seamus Murphy set out on a series of journeys together to Kosovo, Afghanistan, and Washington DC. Harvey collected words, Murphy collected pictures, and together they have created an extraordinary chronicle of our life and times
A veteran assigned to extract Earth's remaining resources begins to question what he knows about his mission and himself.
An intelligently made sci-fi movie that will satisfy fans of the genre with its fantastic settings and desolate post-apocalyptic, but beatiful landscapes and a story that keeps your attention as the mystery unravels.
On second view: still like it for the same reasons.
Maltin**1/2: "Intriguing if unoriginal science-fiction premise, from director Kosinski's graphic novel, becomes more obvious as it heads toward a less-than-startling conclusion. Never boring, thanks to outstanding production design...and solid performances from its highly attractive stars."
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New Stuff: Palo Alto
American drama film written and directed by Gia Coppola, based on James Franco's short story collection Palo Alto (2010).
New Stuff: Aretha Franklin
"Atlantic issued a recording from the concerts as a double LP, in 1972, and it has sold two million copies, double platinum, making it the best-selling gospel record of all time. It is perhaps her most shattering and indispensable recording." (David Remnick, The New Yorker)
Wednesday, April 13, 2016
First Lines: Henry Adams - The Education of Henry Adams
Under the shadow of Boston State House, turning its back on the house of John Hancock, the little passage called Hancock Avenue runs, or ran, from Beacon Street, skirting the State House grounds, to Mount Vernon Street, on the summit of Beacon Hill; and there, in the third house below Mount Vernon Place, February 16, 1838, a child was born, and christened later by his uncle, the minister of the First Church after the tenets of Boston Unitarianism, as Henry Brooks Adams.
Tuesday, April 12, 2016
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