ph: Vladimir Marti
Saturday, December 11, 2021
First Lines: Salman Rushdie - Haroun and the Sea of Stories
There was once, in the country of Alifbay, a sad city, the saddest of cities, a city so ruinously sad that it had forgotten its name.
Friday, December 10, 2021
Stranger Things, Season 3 (2019)
Summer brings new jobs and budding romance. But the mood shifts when Dustin's radio picks up a Russian broadcast, and Will senses something is wrong.
The third season ups the ante with a Russian threat and a more complex narrative with parallel subplots plus some good new members of the ensemble (Robin and Erica);as before, highly entertaining.
Thursday, December 9, 2021
Wednesday, December 8, 2021
Tuesday, December 7, 2021
What Dreams May Come (1998)
Chris Neilson finds himself in Heaven after his death. However, when his inconsolable wife commits suicide and goes to Hell, he decides to risk his eternal soul to search for her spirit.
Basically
a big sobby tearjerker, this movie presents some fascinating and
spectacular, and at times cheesy, depictions of heaven and hell, albeit
with a lot of half-baked theology.
Halliwell (no star): "Hollywood's brand of warm, huggy theology gets ever stranger: heaven here is a gooey oil painting, psychobabble is the angelic language, there's no deity in view, and the occupants can't wait to leave the place and get back to Earth. The mind boggles."
Maltin BOMB: "Off-putting gobbledygook...Despite its pedigree (a novel by Richard Matheson, a good director and cast), this film fails to evoke any tangible emotions. It just doesn't work. Its elaborate (in fact, overelaborate) special effects won an Oscar."
Monday, December 6, 2021
Sunday, December 5, 2021
The Lady and the Monster (1944)
A millionaire's brain is preserved after his death, and telepathically begins to take control of those around him.
Little dark sci-fi nonsense is fairly entertaining; Erich von Stroheim does an excellent job as the mad scientist.
Halliwell (no star): "Fair, over-padded version of a much filmed thriller..."
Maltin**: "Gloomy, minor entry in the "brain swap" school of sci-fi..."
