Although last night’s “To’hajiilee” ended in a Mars-fueled gun duel, the episode was a Mercurial feast, involving just about every activity connected with the planetary messenger of the gods. It’s a long list: written, spoken and visual communication, devices that generate communication, news, trickery, information and data, transportation, contracts, teaching and commercial enterprise. The episode […]
Astrology: Film: ‘Adore’ (2013)
September 3, 2013 by
As soon as heterosexual boys hit a certain age, erotically feminine and Venusian attributes so highly prized in girlfriends become horrifically taboo when displayed and confidently owned by their own mothers. Of course, these restriction don’t necessarily apply to other fellows’ mothers. Or, as depicted in Adore, your best friend’s mother. Adore, a sophisticated piece […]
Astrology: Film: ‘Populaire’ (2013)
September 3, 2013 by
Can a movie about national and international typing competitions be a sly nod to Uranian equality in the workplace and female egalitarianism and independence? Mai oui! That’s the message of Populaire, a frothy and visually delicious French delight, directed by Régis Roinsard. Set in 1958, in a small French village, Rose Pamphyle (Déborah François) is […]
Astrology: Television: ‘Breaking Bad’: ‘Rabid Dog’ Adds Gasoline, Videos and Saxitoxin to Neptuneville
September 2, 2013 by
Neptune, slippery mythological god of the sea, illusion, chemistry and all things fluid, assertively controlled “Rabid Dog,” the mid-point final-season episode of “Breaking Bad.” Even the carpet was audibly squishy, a nod to the god’s – Poseidon to the Greeks – underwater kingdom. As we saw from last week’s cliffhanger, Jesse had dowsed the living […]
Television: ‘Breaking Bad’: ‘Confessions’ Marks Jesse as Scapegoat
August 26, 2013 by
In biblical times, being sorry for your sins wasn’t enough. A more conclusive way of making that point was metaphorically loading up the head of a goat – the scapegoat or patsy – with the entire village’s package of wrongdoings and sending the creature out to Belize – uh, the desert – never to be […]
Astrology: Film: ‘Closed Circuit’ (2013)
August 26, 2013 by
When catastrophe strikes, how deeply are those in charge willing to dig for the truth? That’s the issue explored in Closed Circuit, directed by John Crowley, which starts off by plunging the viewer into a large-scale, 9-11-type terrorist attack in London. The apparent culprit – Farroukh Erdogan (Denis Moschitto) – is apprehended quickly enough. To […]
Astrology: Film: ‘Short Term 12’ (2013)
August 23, 2013 by
When biological parents fail to nurture their teenaged offspring, unexpected hope can come in the form of young, caring adults not much older than the troubled and love-deprived victims. This reality is at the heart of Short Term 12, written and directed by Destin Daniel Cretton, which took the Grand Jury Award at this year’s […]
Astrology: Film: ‘The World’s End’ (2013)
August 22, 2013 by
There’s merit to finishing incomplete projects. Even when, as is the case in Edgar Wright’s The World’s End, the mission needing resolution is two decades’ old. The action centers around five adult Brit males who, when they completed studies in 1990, went on their Golden Mile pub crawl that would culminate at The World’s End, […]
Television: ‘Breaking Bad’: ‘Buried’ Too Deep to Resurrect
August 21, 2013 by
There’s a reason they call it “filthy lucre,” and in “Buried,” the most recently aired episode of “Breaking Bad,” the term is an especially apt archetypal gut punch. Derived from the Latin word lucrum, which means monetary or other wealth-related gain, “lucre” is a stand-in term for money, as is the Biblical expression “filthy lucre.” […]
Astrology: Film: ‘Drinking Buddies’ (2013)
August 20, 2013 by
Beer is not the only thing brewing in Drinking Buddies, a romcom with a serious edge written and directed by Joe Swanberg. With a Chicago craft brewery as its setting, the movie explores the notion that a taste for mates may not be so changeable as one’s palate for artisanal hops. High-spirited and quippy Kate […]
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