Tree of Life

Josh Gibbs demurs on my endorsement of Tree of Life : “I found much to like in The Tree of Life , but a few things stick in my craw. First and foremost the fact that Zbigniew Preisner’s “Lacrimosa” plays over images of the cosmos beginning. What is a song from a requiem . . . . Continue Reading »

Tree of life

Critics say that Terrence Malick’s The Tree of Life is incomprehensible in its juxtaposition of the Big-Bang and primeval myth with a 1950s/60s family drama. The O’Brien family experiences a renching loss, despite their confidence that those who live by grace (= self-sacrifice) are . . . . Continue Reading »

X-Men on “My Place in this World”

The latest in the series, X-Men: First Class covers the same thematic material as its predecessors.  The importance of TOLERANCE is stressed, but not in the classical sense of putting up with objectionable practices, nor Jerry Seinfield’s non-judgementalism (“Not that there is . . . . Continue Reading »

Waiting To Be Superman

One of the standard interpretations of the Superman mythology goes something like this: Clark Kent is a seeming weakling who is despised by the girl he wants.  She is mean to him, but he wants her just the same.  He doesn’t just want a relationship with her, he also wants her . . . . Continue Reading »

Stage and screen

Francesca Murphy notes the difference between stage and screen acting ( God Is Not a Story: Realism Revisited ): “Our bodies are the locus of our unity or singularity; You and I are whole or one because each of us is a certain physical space. And so, the stage actor uses her body to make her . . . . Continue Reading »

Long shots

Tarkovsky on long shots: “If the regular length of a shot is increased, one becomes bored, but if you keep on making it longer, it piques your interest, and if you make it even longer a new quality emerges, a special intensity of attention.” . . . . Continue Reading »

The Last Station

 Over the weekend, courtesy of my friends at Netflicks, the wife and I watched what may be the most under appreciated film in quite some time, The Last Station. Beautifully filmed while adhering closely to period costume, architecture, and environment (1910 Russia) the drama examines both . . . . Continue Reading »

Inception’s misconception!

My wife and I went to see Inception Saturday afternoon. I don’t have much ‘good’ to say about the film other than I liked it. It was way to long, and the film itself seemed intent on providing images of  some college sophomore’s perspective of T.S Eliot’s ” . . . . Continue Reading »