Saturday, September 14, 2019
First Lines: Neal Stephenson - Quicksilver
Enoch rounds the corner just as the executioner raises the noose above the woman's head.
Flaming Creatures (1963)
An experimental film that features graphic sexual imagery, an earthquake, and a lipstick commercial.
Both aesthetically appealing and provocatively appalling experimental short remains controversial to some, but also arguably is considered a classic in its own right.
Sleepless in Seattle (1993)
A recently widowed man's son calls a radio talk-show in an attempt to find his father a partner.
Quite likable, old-fashioned romantic comedy, with the two leads well cast for the occasion, is so easy-going and unexcited (and predictable due to all the allusions to An Affair to Remember) the happy ending hardly makes any emotional impact.
Halliwell*: "Enjoyable romantic comedy, although its overall tone is excessively sweet."
Maltin***: "Sweet romantic comedy, with perfectly cast stars, though it's repeated allusions to the old tearjerker AN AFFAIR TO REMEMBER make you wonder if the only way to generate old-fashioned romance in a '90s movie is to invoke a product of Hollywood's Golden Age."
Friday, September 13, 2019
Watership Down (2018)
Fleeing their doomed warren, a colony of rabbits struggle to find and defend a new home.
Well-made and staged TV miniseries adaptation of the beloved novel has a rather meandering plot till the final showdown; intriguing, but not quite as heart-wrenching as the 1978 movie version.
Wednesday, September 11, 2019
Messe noire (1928)
The initiation of a neophyte into a satanic cult turns into an orgy.
Pornographic silent short ostensibly celebrating its decadence, but it's original in topic only.
