ph: Hannah Scott-Stephenson
Saturday, October 8, 2016
The Don is Dead (1973)
After his mistress is savagely beaten up a Mafia leader goes after the killer with a bloody vengeance.
A Godfather rip-off, not populated by any uomini d'onore at all; in fact, this endlessly violent and superfluous production does no honor to the many stars in the cast.
Halliwell (no star): "A failed attempt to cash in on The Godfather, this endless melodrama is boringly violent and totally predictable."
Maltin*1/2: "...trashy, derivative gangster saga."
Anomalisa (2015)
A man crippled by the mundanity of his life experiences something out of the ordinary.
Basically, it's "Disillusioned executive has an affair on one of his business trips, but in the end decides to stay with his family", and obviously this is based on a stage play; but realizing this story in animation emphasizes its conciseness and introspective, somewhat otherworldly character - and its weirdness.
Satan in Art and Images
Satan, Sin and Death (c. 1792, Etching) - James Barry
Barry made this drawing between 1792 and 1795 as he planned a series of large etchings inspired by Milton’s "Paradise Lost." Although the ambitious scheme was never fully realized, this composition was published as an etching, and demonstrates Barry's deep engagement with the sublime. The subject comes from Book II, 630-814 of the poem, lines that describe Satan’s arrival at the Gates of Hell, after being cast from Heaven. Finding the entrance guarded by Death, he aims his spear at the skeletal figure, as the kneeling, bare-breasted figure of Sin attempts to intercede--Satan does not yet recognize his ghastly opponent to be his son, conceived in an incestuous liason with his daughter Sin. Barry’s obsession with the the sublime had been encouraged by Edmund Burke, an early mentor whose 1757 treatise on the subject states that: “terror…in all cases [is]…the ruling principle of the sublime." Milton's triad of fallen heroic male, monstrous female and skeletal wraith offered the artist s a heady combination of horrific drama and symbolic meaning.
Friday, October 7, 2016
A day in the life, Sep 30
A day in the life, Sep 30, Regensburg by night, the house Johannes Kepler lived in
New York
George P. Hall & Son (American, active 1886–1914). Curve at Brooklyn Terminal, Brooklyn Bridge, New York., ca. 1910
Selma (2014)
A chronicle of Martin Luther King's campaign to secure equal voting rights via an epic march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama in 1965.
Stirring historical drama, well-made in good taste, mainly convinces due to an excellent cast.
Grudge Match (2013)
A pair of aging boxing rivals are coaxed out of retirement to fight one final bout -- 30 years after their last match.
Only mildly entertaining star vehicle with a lot of flat jokes; its attraction are the two stars, but one wishes they had got a better script.
Maltin**: "Watchable but awfully contrived vehicle for two aging but agile actors; they deserve better material than this connect-the-dots formula picture, a feeble follow-up to RAGING BULL and ROCKY."
Thursday, October 6, 2016
Wednesday, October 5, 2016
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