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 […]
Astrology: Film: Review: ‘Dawn of the Planet of the Apes’ (2014)
July 9, 2014 by
In the annals of history, many liberators of the oppressed freed their citizenry only to become tyrants themselves. It’s this age old cycle of restrictive Saturn sidling up to revolutionary Uranus – a rhythm that topples and rebuilds civilizations – that’s at the core of Matt Reeves’ highly charged Dawn of the Planet of the […]
Astrology: Film: Review: ‘22 Jump Street’ (2014)
June 12, 2014 by
Sequels are a dicey business, where a flavor too similar to the original can breed audience contempt. But in 22 Jump Street, co-directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller playfully make replication their creative launching pad. Lovable cops Jenko (Channing Tatum) and Schmidt (Jonah Hill), following the make-it-up-as-we-go-along style of law enforcement, are still basking in […]
Astrology: Film: Review: ‘We Are the Best!’ (2014)
May 27, 2014 by
Punk angst – often expressed in music through stripped-down political, anti-mainstream rants – always starts somewhere. In We Are the Best!, an innocent yet voluminously raucous film about three young punk-obsessed girls, that origination point is Stockholm, in 1982. Directed by Lukas Moodysson and adapted from a graphic novel written by his wife Coco, the […]
Astrology: Film: Review: ‘Night Moves’ (2014)
May 27, 2014 by
You cannot, as the saying goes, make a profit off a dead planet, and the three radical environmentalists who are the key players in Night Moves intend to ensure the earth’s survival in any manner possible. Directed and co-written by Kelly Reichardt, Night Moves revels in the trio’s low-key demeanor, their ease with silence and […]
Astrology: Film: Review: ‘The Lunchbox’ (2014)
February 25, 2014 by
Neither Mumbai’s human congestion nor vehicular gridlock hinders the dedicated guys – the dabbawallahs – who transport thousands of wives’ lovingly cooked hot lunches to their office-worker husbands. These delivery mens’ blemish-free accuracy – documented by a Harvard study! – is jaw-dropping, considering the volume of goods shuttled back and forth. Until one day, there’s […]
Astrology: Film: Review: ‘RoboCop’ (2014)
February 11, 2014 by
For movie goers with a penchant for archetypes, the original RoboCop (1987), directed by Paul Verhoeven, was the ultimate Aquarian-Age piece of celluloid. The preceding Age of Pisces was all about connecting with the Son of God (Pisces) through his mother (Virgo). The balancing act in the Age of Aquarius is the one between Uranus […]
Astrology: Film: Review: ‘Her’ (2013)
December 27, 2013 by
As mobile technological devices and their owners increasingly spend every waking minute together, they both eventually seem to exude a certain mated-for-life aura. So, exactly how far-fetched is the likelihood of genuinely falling in love with one’s companion-gadget? In the not so distant future of Spike Jonze’s Her, set in Los Angeles, the possibility is […]
Astrology: Film: Review: ‘The Wolf of Wall Street’ (2013)
December 26, 2013 by
Based on the true story of crooked broker Jordan Belfort, Martin Scorsese’s The Wolf of Wall Street is a three-hour evocation of the revelry-filled Roman festival known as the Saturnalia. At some point during that ancient manic carnival, the head reveler was put to death. This mythology-as-art winds up imitating life as Belfort’s (Leonardo DiCaprio) […]
Astrology: Film: ‘Dallas Buyers Club’ (2013)
November 1, 2013 by
When we first set eyes on Ron Woodroof during the opening moments of Dallas Buyers Club, a film directed by Jean-Marc Vallée that was inspired by Woodroof’s true story, he’s immediately recognizable as a freedom-loving and non-mainstream figure who’s Uranian to the core. He’s got a druggie tryst happening with two women during a rodeo […]
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