AUDIO: Luis Buñuel’s The Young One: Anatomy of White Male Supremacy We open with the jazz tune, “Epistrophy,” from Eric Dolphy’s Last Date recorded in Holland in 1964. Epistrophe, from the Greek, means “a turning about” –…
Browsing Category Movie Reviews
Learn to Read, Güero
Last night we saw a movie with friends and then went out to share a meal and chat. Normal sounding stuff but really a bit sideways to normal. We went to Güeros, a Spanish language…
The Reactive Consequence of Force: Whiplash as Cultural Critique
(Spoiler below) Will you listen? Let us first understand whiplash as a reactive consequence of force…but one that weakens with repetition. Further on Whiplash (The Dystopian Perfection of Whiplash), the movie starring J.K. Simmons (Daniel…
The Dystopian Perfection of Whiplash
We watched Whiplash last night. By all accounts it was an intense experience. Nerve-wracking to say the least. Perhaps triumphant in the end, but I don’t think so. Have you seen it? If not, in…
Assume Forever-War: Thoughts After Viewing Wounds of Waziristan
There is some contention that in particular cases of cancer, removing tumors, often the only treatment that can extend life by reducing the burden of carrying the disease (thus reducing its effects), actually speeds metastatic…
Salt of the Earth
One of the benefits of living in Bloomington is that the University has built a superb, state of the art, movie theater. Jon Vickers is the founding director of the IU Cinema and he deserves…
UPDATE: About a Boy? Richard Linklater’s Critique of Woman
UPDATE, 1/5/2014: Patricia Arquette as quoted on IMDB concerning her character submitting to drunken abuse by men: “Now, I wouldn’t be like that. I would climb across the table and stab him in the head…
Vitruvius (and Lego) Against the Imagination
Perhaps you’ve seen the recent Lego movie. It’s gotten a good critical response based first on the ability of the “digital magicians” to make the action appear as if it were filmed via the manual…
The Descendants: Payne Reading Paine
Briefly, regarding the George Clooney/Andrew Payne move The Descendants which takes place on an Hawaiian island. I found the movie somewhat “after school special” while watching it and immediately afterwards. But after some time and…
On Losing by Winning the Hunger Games
Read the book. Our oldest child (12) said at the movie’s end, “That was not as good because they couldn’t show the things Katniss was thinking and most of the book is her thinking about…