Like archetypal wing-footed Mercury who zips through the air and Underworld doing the bidding of the gods, pilot Barry Seal, the anti-hero of Doug Liman’s American Made, flies. And, in Mercurial style, there are a lot of deities from whom he takes orders. Relentlessly and dizzyingly in motion, the movie is so consistently zany – […]
Archetypes: Film: Review: ‘Logan Lucky’ (2017)
August 19, 2017 by
Being unlucky is often in the eyes of the beholder. That’s the conceit at the heart of Logan Lucky, a comedic heist movie directed by Steven Soderbergh, which takes a couple of brothers – their entire “simpleminded” family is nestled in Boone County, West Virgina and carries the generational “bad luck” stigma – and watches […]
Archetypes: Film: Review: ‘Arrival’ (2016)
November 13, 2016 by
What does a host say to the newly arrived? Especially when they’re aliens? That’s the key question posed in Arrival: What’s your business here, given that 12 of your ships that look like squished Bosu balls standing upright have plopped down all over our planet. Directed by Denis Villeneuve and based on the Ted Chiang […]
Archetypes: Film: Review: ‘Self/less’ (2015)
July 5, 2015 by
Death means disintegration of the body, as well as the evaporation of every thought and mental talent the deceased ever accrued in life. Damian Hale, a wealthy real estate mogul with terminal cancer, is one of those people who’d like to stick around a bit longer. Self/Less, a medical thriller directed by Tarsem Singh, explores […]
Archetypes: Film: Review: ‘True Story’ (2015)
April 13, 2015 by
On the surface, True Story is about the connection between a disgraced reporter and a man on trial for murdering four members of his family in the early aughts. Directed by Rupert Goold, the drama, at its core, is about the challenges and transformational potential of communication. Mercurial activities, such as conversation and writing, are […]
Archetypes: Film: Review: ‘Ex Machina’ (2015)
April 6, 2015 by
Artificial intelligence, a boon when it brews coffee and cleans the house, has its dark side. What happens if it becomes less obviously “artificial,” to the point where humans can no longer pinpoint the “otherness” of the carrier? All intelligence is Mercurial, but what happens if flesh-and-blood smarts are no longer capable of picking out […]
Archetypes: Television: Review: ‘Better Call Saul’ (2015): ‘Pimento’: Oh, Brother!
March 31, 2015 by
During his run as the affable, fast-talking criminal attorney in “Breaking Bad,” Saul Goodman (Bob Odenkirk) was essentially the collegial “brother-in-crime.” After last night’s “Pimento” episode of “Better Call Saul,” it’s clear that Saul’s depraved clients in the future were probably more brotherly than his real life older brother Chuck (Michael McKean). Astrological Mercury rules […]
Archetypes: Film: Review: ‘Still Alice’ (2014)
December 28, 2014 by
Physical aging is often a blatant visual affront, but the brain’s wearing way can be much more subtle. In Still Alice, co-written and co-directed by Richard Glatzer and Wash Westmoreland, linguistics professor Alice Howland (Julianne Moore) experiences the first clue to her mental degeneration when she can’t put her finger on a specific word while […]
Astrology: Film: Review: ‘Nightcrawler’ (2014)
October 28, 2014 by
In the business world, adding value is the name of the game. In Nightcrawler, this type of proactive goal-setting is the mantra of Lou Bloom (Jake Gyllenhaal), the amoral, manipulative, lying, eruptive sleazebag of an entrepreneur whose behavior is, in equal measure, both horrifying and fascinating. Written and directed by Dan Gilroy, Nightcrawler introduces Lou […]
Astrology: Film: Review: ‘Citizenfour’ (2014)
October 25, 2014 by
The most vibrant movie characters, fictional or biographical, tend to carry the most riveting archetypes. Citizenfour, Laura Poitras’ documentary about Edward J. Snowden, falls – rather, bursts – into that category of memorable players. And, like most of the U.S. population unaware of how its government was massively breaching citizens’ privacy, Poitras begins her project […]
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