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 […]
Archives for August 2013
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: Fashion: Diane Kruger’s Jacket in ‘The Bridge’
August 23, 2013 by
In “The Bridge,” the gritty new television drama, Diane Kruger plays Sonya Cross, a detective in the El Paso police department who works closely with a Mexican law enforcement agent (Demian Bichir). Sonya is an effective professional whose conversations and comments are characterized by an astonishing directness and inquisitiveness. The cause is her Asperger’s, a […]
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 […]
Astrology: Film: ‘The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones’ (2013)
August 20, 2013 by
In The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones, New York City has been given an in-depth makeover that’s literally as deep as hell. Based on the first novel in the series by Cassandra Clare, the movie, set in modern times and directed by Harald Zwart, takes us to a Hogwarts-like realm smack in the middle of […]
Astrology: Film: ‘Cutie and the Boxer’ (2013)
August 16, 2013 by
The couple with the ear-popping titular nicknames in Zachary Heinzerling’s documentary Cutie and the Boxer are Noriko and Ushio Shinohara, a Japanese wife and husband who’ve stayed married to each other for 40 years. It’s a triumph of duration that may be at least partially attributed to the Neptunian self-sacrifice of one of the partners. […]
Astrology: Film: ‘Lee Daniels’ The Butler’ (2013)
August 16, 2013 by
Given that the protagonist of Lee Daniels’ The Butler does the bidding of others for a living, the theme of service – tied to Neptunian self-abnegation and passivity – is the heart of this movie. Cecil Gaines (Forest Whitaker), a based-on-a-true-story fictional character who served as a butler in the administrations of seven presidents, makes […]
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