Saturday, March 5, 2022

Lady Sings the Blues (1972)

 

The story of the troubled life and career of the legendary Jazz singer, Billie Holiday.

The big surprise in this conventional biopic is Diana Ross' great empathetic portrayal of Billie Holiday (although one may argue whether her singing style can match up with the jazz legend); otherwise this is a straightforward, but highly simplified and cliche-ridden depiction of the artist's life.

Halliwell*: "Old-fashioned showbiz biopic with new-fashioned drugs, sex and squalor."

Maltin**1/2: "Black version of Hollywood cliche-biography, sparked by superb performance by Ross...Valueless as biography, but OK as soap opera..."


 

Sherilyn Fenn


 

Today's Cat


 

Wednesday, March 2, 2022

The Movies I Watched in February

Cléo de 5 à 7 1962 7/10

 

Edge of Doom 1950  6/10

L'été meurtrier 1983 6/10 

Forbidden Planet 1956 8/10

Game of Thrones 2011-2019  6/10 

The Glass Wall 1953  6/10 

Gummo 1997 6/10

Homicide 1991  7/10

The Invisible Boy 1957  5/10

Last Night in Soho 2021  7/10

 

Love Affair 1939  6/10

The Monster of Piedras Blancas 1959  5/10 

Schitt's Creek 2015-2020  7/10

Shichinin no samurai 1954  10/10

 

Shock 1946  6/10

This Filthy World 2006  6/10

Titane 2021  6/10

Untouchable 2019  7/10




Irish McCalla


 

Today's Cat


 

Ronja Furrer

 

ph: Andreas Ortner

A day in the life, Sep 10, 2021

 

A day in the life, Sep 10, 2021, Regensburg by night

Sofia Steinberg

 

ph: Nathaniel Goldberg

New Stuff: Merzbow


 

Caroline Silta

 

ph: David Roemer

Tuesday, March 1, 2022

Ugetsu monogatari (1953)

 

A tale of ambition, family, love, and war set in the midst of the Japanese Civil Wars of the sixteenth century. 

This Japanese classic by Kenji Mizuguchi is a carefully crafted and photographed fable and morality play seamlessly mixing genres (melodrama, samurai, ghost story), but always focused on its topic of warning about the dangers of seeking wealth and fame for its sake. 

Halliwell*: "Unique mixture of action, comedy and the supernatural, with strong, believable characters participating and a delightfully delicate touch in script and direction."

Maltin***1/2: "Eerie ghost story..." 


 

Vasilina Panina


 

New Stuff: Utagawa Hiroshige




Chloe Braaten



Monday, February 28, 2022

The United States vs. Billie Holiday (2021)

 

Billie Holiday during her career is targeted by the Federal Department of Narcotics with an undercover sting operation led by black Federal Agent Jimmy Fletcher, with whom she had a tumultuous affair. 

Andra Day's fabulous performance aside, this biopic is well produced, but indecisive with its episodic narrative and, despite all effort, never quite transmits the racism and malevolence Billie Holiday was confronted with nor the true tragedy of her demise.


 

Amit Machtinger



New Stuff: A Place to Bury Strangers

 



Who's That Girl?


 

Art: Fritz Kahn


 
Bio:

Clemence Lognonne


 

Munich

 

Munich Zoo, September 2021

Eniko Mihalik

 ph: Mario Sorrenti

A day in the life, Sep 23, 2020

 

A day in the life, Sep 23, 2020, the house Johannes Kepler lived in

Grace Hartzel

 

ph: Attilio D’Agostino

King Lear (1987)

 

As the world recovers from the destruction of the Chernobyl disaster, William Shakespeare Jr. the Fifth  attempts to restore the human race's great works of art.

Radically obscurantist contemplation on Skakespeare's classic play presents itself as a wild associative stream of images and sound, in a for Godard typically brilliant montage, but presupposes an audience of polymaths; for everybody else it is of limited interest.

Halliwell (no star): "Sheer nonsense doodled by the director with someone else's money."

Maltin*1/2: "Bizarre, garish, contemporary punk-apocalyptic updating of Shakespeare classic. Little to be said about this pretentious mess except...avoid it." 


 

Charlotte Rampling