Kill Your Darlings (2013) Naive freshman Allen Ginsberg (Daniel Radcliffe) enrolls at Columbia University where he meets Lucien Carr (Dane DeHaan), Jack Kerouac (Jack Huston), William S. Burroughs (Ben Foster) and Edie Parker (Elizabeth Olsen). Carr bribes an older man, David Kammerer (Michael C. Hall) to write his papers by promising sexual favors, but when he grows bored with… Continue reading I silently killed the last guardians of the last seductive galaxy
Month: July 2014
Kinsey spied on the sexy lives of gremlins
Kinsey (2004) After unassuming biology professor Alfred Kinsey (Liam Neeson) falls in love and marries his student, Clara McCmillen (Laura Linney), he discovers an insatiable appetite for sex. When the surprising results of a classroom survey in his sex education class demonstrate how little research has been done in the field, Kinsey dedicates his life to the… Continue reading Kinsey spied on the sexy lives of gremlins
The shadow man fell to Earth
Val Lewton: The Man in the Shadows (2007) Tasked with producing profitable low-budget films for RKO studios in the early 1940s, Val Lewton delivered such well-regarded films as Cat People (1942), I Walked with a Zombie (1943), The Seventh Victim (1943), and The Curse of the Cat People (1944). Relying on innuendo and intimation, his… Continue reading The shadow man fell to Earth
Starsky & Hercules
Hercules (1997) Jealous Hades (James Woods) plots to overthrow his brother Zeus (Rip Torn) and rule Mount Olympus by killing Hercules (Tate Donovan), Zeus’s infant son. He sends his minions, Pain and Panic, to give the child a formula designed to make him mortal, but they fail to give him all of it. Deprived of immortality, but maintaining… Continue reading Starsky & Hercules
Surprise!: This story never ends
Pullet Surprise (1997) Foghorn Leghorn is one of my favorite Looney Tunes because my dad loved the character, but this lesser entry featuring the character is only somewhat amusing. The NeverEnding Story (1984) Bastian Balthazar Bux reads a book to distract him from the troubles of his adolescence. The book tells the story of Fantasia and its fight… Continue reading Surprise!: This story never ends
My prince of Dogtown
The Prince and the Pauper (1990) Longing for freedom from his royal responsibilities, a prince switches places with a peasant doppelgänger. Mark Twain’s novel satirizes the rigid English class system during the Elizabethan period. As expected, this Disney short significantly dilutes the satirical elements and, to increase dramatic tension, adds Pete as an evil palace guard using the… Continue reading My prince of Dogtown
Porgy, Dillinger, and the unbearable Bess
The Unbearable Lightnesss of Being (1988) When waitress Tereza (Juliette Bincohe) moves in with her lover, brain surgeon Tomas (Daniel Day-Lewis), she’s confused by his Bohemian lifestyle. When Sabina, one of Tomas’s other lovers, gets Tereza a job as a photographer, she inadvertently photographs Soviet tanks invading Czechoslovakia, and, realizing their importance, smuggles them to… Continue reading Porgy, Dillinger, and the unbearable Bess
Heaven knows you’ve been unfaithful, Mr. X
Malcolm X (1992) Minor criminal Malcolm Little (Denzel Washington) is arrested for robbing the home of a wealthy white couple and sentenced to eight to ten years in prison because of his association with white women. In prison, he joins the Nation of Islam led by Elijah Muhammad and changes his name to Malcolm X. After he… Continue reading Heaven knows you’ve been unfaithful, Mr. X
Your hairspray, my high five, and our shadowlands
Hairspray (1988) In 1963, overweight Tracy Turnblad (Rikki Lake) becomes a popular mainstay on a Baltimore dance show, infuriating the reigning queen, Amber Von Tussle (Debbie Harry). In addition to their dance floor rivalry, Tracy and her mother Edna (Divine) advocate integration while the Von Tussles fight for segregation. Rikki Lake would go on to… Continue reading Your hairspray, my high five, and our shadowlands
Byzanitum is a contender for the best place to slay badgers in the past
The Past (2013) Iranian Ahmad travels to Paris to complete his divorce from Marie (Berenice Bejo) who’s already in a new relationship with the married Samir, whose wife is comatose after a failed suicide attempt. This is a melancholy film about the difficulties in multicultural relationships and the importance of honesty to the success of… Continue reading Byzanitum is a contender for the best place to slay badgers in the past