Saturday, May 8, 2021

Du Juan

 


Clown (2019)

 

A group of teens fights for their lives as they find themselves trapped in a fun-house, stalked by a killer clown who won't rest until every last one of them is dead. 

Lackadaisical​ standard horror flick presents a haphazard plot, bad acting and some gore, obviously aimed for a teenage audience at the drive-in.


 

Jane Birkin


 
ph: Jeanloup Sieff

New Stuff: Hair


 

Who's That Girl?

 


Art: John Batten


 
 
Bio:

Blanca Padilla


 

ph: Philip Gay

Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009)


 

An urbane fox cannot resist returning to his farm raiding ways and then must help his community survive the farmers' retaliation. 

Wonderfully quirky adult animation feature with colorful characters and lots of amusing details, all lovingly staged in old-fashioned stop-motion.

Maltin***: "Amusing fable...brought to life through appealingly old-fashioned stop-motion. Fine voice-work and a buoyant score by Alexandre Desplat complete the package." 


 

Dani Witt


 

ph: Paula Mendez

Today's Cat


 

Friday, May 7, 2021

Mengyao Xi


 

Black-and-white


 

Regensburg, June 2020

Liu Li Jun


 

ph: Lu Li

A day in the life, Jun 15


 

A day in the life, Jun 15, Regensburg by night

Matilde Buoso


 

New Stuff: Muriel Grossmann



 

Kim van der Laan

 


New York

 

Commuters on the Staten Island Ferry, Photo by Misha Friedman, 2020

Natalia Vodianova



ph: Steven Meisel

First Lines: Charlie Jane Anders - All the Birds in the Sky


 

When Patricia was six years old, she found a wounded bird.

Lucan Gillespie


 

ph: Ellen von Unwerth

Thursday, May 6, 2021

Airplane II: The Sequel (1982)


 

A faulty computer causes a passenger space shuttle to head straight for the Sun. Can Ted Striker save the day and get the shuttle back on track - again? 

Lacklustre attempt to rehash the success of the original comedy,  full of warmed-up jokes and hit-and-miss humor.

Halliwell (no star): "Palsied sequel to a funny film, with some of the same cast and some of the same jokes." 

Maltin**1/2: "Mildly funny rehash of AIRPLANE..., but can't match the quantity, or quality, of laughs in the original."


 

Eva Klimkova


 

Today's Cat


 

Anna Vivchar


 

A day in the life, Jun 14


 

A day in the life, Jun 14, Regensburg by night

Rebecca Leigh Longendyke


 

ph: Mario Sorrenti

New Stuff: The Everly Brothers


 

Winnie Harlow


 

ph: Bryce Thompson

The Secret Life of Pets (2016)

 

The quiet life of a terrier named Max is upended when his owner takes in Duke, a stray whom Max instantly dislikes.

Fast-paced, hilariously funny and entertaining animal animation comedy; good family fare.

On rewatching: Admittedly, a guilty pleasure, lots of fun to be had. 


 

Wednesday, May 5, 2021

Anna Cleveland

 

ph: Miles Aldridge

New Stuff: Simple Minds


 

Johanne Landbo


 

Bombshell (2019)


 

A group of women take on Fox News head Roger Alies and the toxic atmosphere he presided over at the network. 

A top cast drama based on the actual events and depicting an important topic gives its stars lots of room to display their talent, but the events are unnecessarily toned down, probably to avoid legal liability, so that its message doesn't have the full impact it deserves.


 

 

Mariacarla Boscono



New Stuff: The New Yorker


 

(art: Bruce McCall)