The Dying Animal by Philip Roth? Not for me; I’ve never read it. Maybe it’s good, but I like the Philip Roth who wrote “Defender of the Faith,” Goodbye Columbus and, perhaps, The Ghost Writer.
All the same, “Elegy,” the Isabel Coixet adaptation of The Dying Animal, is a notable if austere film about a senior-citizen professor and his young Latino lover. (more…)
I got tired long ago of movies that focus on immoral, abusive police officers. There are too many of them. Clint Eastwood‘s “Changeling” does that, too, but I can take a small amount of comfort in the fact that ITS police officers exist numerous decades ago in the late 1920s.
Cover of Changeling
And in the fact that there’s a brutal, psychopathic killer in the film whom the police don’t try to protect.
Ah, but what about all the snake-pit balderdash at the mental hospital to which poor Angelina Jolie is consigned?
“Changeling” is more intriguing than successful. Joe Morgenstern of the “Wall Street Journal” correctly points out that
a) folks in the Twenties didn’t jabber about self-esteem and
b) the woman played by Jolie and the preacher played by John Malkovich are together a lot “but don’t really interact.”
They should, but they don’t.
Eastwood’s film handles some grisly subject matter with an ineptitude so many of his other movies have been marked with as well.
Christopher Nolan’s Batman movie is certainly not a comedy. It has the elements of tragedy, but whereas something like “Macbeth” offers plot simplicity, “Knight” is a complex mediocrity which I found hard to follow.
What I was able to follow–time and again–made no sense.
Image by Getty Images via @daylife
The film’s gravity packs a punch, but with action sequences which fail to satisfy. Christian Bale is no big deal as Batman/Bruce Wayne, while Maggie Gyllenhaal, nifty as usual, has an easy part to play. Aaron Eckhart is sophisticatedly true as a district attorney,
Heath Ledger terrifying and magisterial as the Joker–one of the best acting jobs of the year.
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The brooding, ailing hero of “Synecdoche, New York,” written and directed by Charlie Kaufman, admires the pretty legs of his fetching psychotherapist (Hope Davis), which nevertheless extend to at least one foot that is blistered and bruised. Even THIS he has to put up with! It’s a nice touch in an otherwise spurious film–Spurious because it is excessively dark, wholeheartedly pessimistic. (more…)
Cover via Amazon
Sergei Bodrov of Russia has a penchant for making pictures concerning distinctly important, as well as interesting, matters. His “Prisoner of the Mountains” (1996), for example, deals with friendship and survival in the war between Russia and Chechnya. “Mongol” (with English subtitles) deals with Genghis Khan’s ascent to power in the thirteenth century, i.e. an arduous climb. Khan’s name is Temudgin; the words “Genghis Khan” mean “universal ruler.” (more…)
You believe in devil possession ?? I checked out the Exorcism of Emily Rose…That was some spooky Halloween stuff. You dig? The fact that the movie is based on a true story makes it even more eerie . It has to be one of the spookiest movies I have ever seen.
Cover of The Exorcism of Emily Rose
Deep Questions
Was that chick really possessed by some kind of evil force (devils) or was she mentally ill? Did that priest actually prevent her from getting the medical help that she needed? The meds she was taking obviously were not working.
That crazy movie with Linda Blair back in the day… I saw it with my parents at the drive in.. Fortunately I fell asleep. But that was one scary movie too. It’s said that people were “fainting” and vomiting in theaters from a total freak out! Wow!
She brings up lots of spiritual questions for the viewer. For somebody to watch that and not consider something being “out there” is well…unbelievable. (Pardon the irony) There seems to be unseen powers in this universe that can’t be explained.
Yep. Halloween is fun! Watch the movie, then discuss God, devil possession and all that wacky stuff . Atheist’s welcome… Like…Totally 🙂
