Saturday, September 24, 2016
In the Electric Mist (2009)
A detective in post Katrina New Orleans area has a series of surreal encounters with a troop of friendly Confederate soldiers while investigating serial killings of local prostitutes, a 1965 lynching and corrupt local businessmen.
Interesting as this great French director's first American production, but despite all talent involved, the plot goes in all directions and makes the story diffuse and without focus.
On second viewing: still agree that the story is vague and without focus, but the movie hold's one interst with atmosphere and a good cast.
Maltin **1/2: "Atmospheric and well cast, this police procedural with mystical undertones is highly watchable, although some of the characters and relationships seem a bit sketchy ..."
Satan in Art and Images
Wilhelm Schulz: Der Teufel und sein Lehrbuch, 1944 (The Devil and his textbook)
Caricaturist and painter Wilhelm Schulz was part of the Berliner Secession art movement (Lithographische Anstalt Berlin). He was born in Luneburg and educated in Berlin, Hamburg, Karlsruhe and Munich. He was a contributor to magazines like Jugend (since 1897) and Simplicissimus, for which he made among others political caricatures. He died in Munich in 1952
Friday, September 23, 2016
First Lines: Joseph Campbell - The Hero With a Thousand Faces
Whether we listen with aloof amusement to the dreamlike mumbo jumbo of some red-eyed witch doctor of the doctor, or read with cultivated rapture thin translations from the sonnets of the mystic Lao-tse; now and again crack the hard nutshell of an argument of Aquinas, or catch suddenly the shining meaning of a bizarre Eskimo fairy tale: it will always be the one, shape-shifting yet marvelously constant story that we find, together with a challengingly persistent suggestion of more remaining to be experienced than will ever be known or told.
Vampyros Lesbos (1971)
A vixen vampiress seduces and kills women to appease her insatiable thirst for female blood.
Undeniably trashy and exploitative, but wildy (and often irritatingly) stylish, tinged in an erotic (mainly lesbian) atmosphere and with a madly off-kilter soundtrack; these qualities make it watchable beyond the tedium and the fact that the cast act as if under hypnosis.
Halliwell (no star): "A dull and inept horror movie made worse by Franco's penchant for meaningless zooms, abrupt transitions and inappropriate soundtravk music; the pace is leaden, the cast act as though they're zombies, and the director resorts to scenes of lesbian lovemaking at frequent intervals."
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)
When their relationship turns sour, a couple undergoes a procedure to have each other erased from their memories, but it is only through the process of loss that they discover what they had to begin with.
Complex and intriguing love drama playing with our sense of time and memory; well worth watching, but at times a strain putting the parts together.
Halliwell*: "Another film with a beginning, middle and end, though not necessarily in that order; indeed, the beginning is the end. It is too fussy in its writing and direction to maintain interest in its shifting narrative."
Maltin***: "Ingenious, Oscar-winning screenplay by Charlie Kaufman...is extremely well executed by director Gondry (and cinematographer Ellen Kuras), though the film tends to cleverly dance around the roots of emotional and romantic pain rather than fully engage them. Carrey has never been better; Winslet is (as always) exceptional."
Thursday, September 22, 2016
Wednesday, September 21, 2016
First Lines: William L. Shirer - The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich
On the very eve of the birth of the Third Reich a feverish tension gripped Berlin.
Monday, September 19, 2016
Night of the Big Heat (1967)
While mainland Britain shivers in deepest winter, the northern island of Fara bakes in the nineties.
Quite tedious sci-fi yarn with a laughable story (and likewise are the aliens); quite a waste for the two stars in the cast.
Halliwell*: "Sloppily made and over-prolonged science fiction with far too much irrelevant talk."
Keeping Mum (2005)
A pastor preoccupied with writing the perfect sermon fails to realize that his wife is having an affair and his children are up to no good.
Likable and old-fashioned, but otherwise unremarkable British black comedy; the cast is quite adequate for the occasion.
Maltin***: "Small but delightfully realized fun, sparked by a sterling cast."
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