ph: Francesco Scavullo
Friday, August 12, 2016
Satan in Art and Images
Diablerets, Apéritif sain. One of the best "Diablerets aperitive" posters, not signed but attributed to Frederic Rouge, a Swiss painter, illustrator and poster designer, born in 1867 in "Aigle" died in 1950 in "Ollon". The "Diablerets" is the name of a village and a high mountain in the Swiss Alps, where the herbs of this drink were collected. A large Swiss size poster finely printed in stone-lithography.
First Lines: Gregory David Roberts - Shantaram
It took me a long time and most of the world to learn what I know about love and fate and the coices we make, but the heart of it came to me in an instant, while I was chained to a wall and being tortured.
Brighton Rock (2010)
In 1964 the enforcer of a Brighton gang, murders a man, who has himself killed the gang leader, then a young waitress who witnessed the gang's activity, to keep an eye on her.
Stylish and wonderfully photographed in a Noir style in some great set pieces the movie can't quite convince with its shoddy hoodlums (you never really see what their actual business is), and the protagonist's motives are hardly comprehensible.
Maltin**: "Sometimes affecting but too often clinical revision of Graham Greene's 1938 novel...Mirren steals the show as the girl's wordly employer. Writer-director Joffe manages to appropriate many film noir tropes but the leading characters are so off-putting it's to no avail."
Crossfire Hurricane (2012)
Legendary British rock band The Rolling Stones mark their 50th year together.
Although not too revelatory this documentary manages to give some intimate insight into the band's history, cleverly weaving a patchwork of rare material, concert performances and interviews into a coherent history of the band.
Thursday, August 11, 2016
First Lines: Chelsea Handler - My Horizontal Life: A Collection of One Night Stands
I was seven years old when my sister told me she'd give me five dollars to run upstairs into my parents' room while they were having sex and take a picture.
Wednesday, August 10, 2016
The Alligator People (1959)
A woman in a hypnotic state recounts to two doctors the details of a horrific experience from her past life that began with the mysterious and sudden disappearance of her husband.
Despite having a silly story this is an imaginative, above-average B-movie with some memorable moments.
Halliwell (no star): "Moderately inventive 'B' chiller."
Maltin**1/2: "Strictly routine."
Port of New York (1949)
Two narcotics agents go after a gang of murderous drug dealers who use ships docking at the New York harbor to smuggle in their contraband.
Lively, fast-paced crime thriller in the semidocumentary style common in the 40/50s; well-made and worth the watch for a competent Yul Brynner starring as a villain in his cinema debut.
Halliwell*: "Good routine semi-documentary thick-ear, notable for an early appearance by Yul Brynner as villain-in-chief."
Maltin**: "Gloomy tale..."
First Lines: Margery Kempe - The Book of Margery Kempe
When this creature was twenty years of age, or somewhat more, she was married to a worshipful burgess of Lynn and was with child within a short time, as nature would have it.
