https://astrolass.com/

Archives for November 2016

Archetypes: Film: Review: ‘Manchester by the Sea’ (2016)

The archetypal Father is many things. The biological dad. A person who behaves like a father. A vigilant caretaker. All these paternal activities encompass the same vital force: guide, lead, protect and introduce the child into the world. Directed and written by Kenneth Lonergan, Manchester by the Sea is a sobering, often heartbreaking story about […]

Archetypes: Film: Review: ‘Nocturnal Animals’ (2016)

In Nocturnal Animals, the sting of a paper cut can penetrate way below the dermal level. Directed and written by Tom Ford, the film, based on the book Tony and Susan, by Austin Wright, demonstrates that a seemingly slight abrasion can turn into a deep, male-inflicted wound, underscoring the movie’s key questions: how do we […]

Archetypes: Film: Review: ‘Arrival’ (2016)

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: ‘Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk’ (2016)

Much of the anticipation surrounding Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk involves both the film’s 4K ultra-high resolution and 3D run at 120-frames-a-second. This experimental technique, created by the film’s director, Ang Lee, is designed to foster a greater level of cinematic artistic expression. And the speed – five times that of traditional movies – gives […]

Archetypes: Film: Review: ‘Elle’ (2016)

Gamers get off on winning battles against creatures that aren’t real. So it’s no wonder that the hot-shot, female, gaming executive in Elle lives her life in Paris as though it were a simulated contest. Directed by Paul Verhoeven, Elle follows the story of Michele LeBlanc (Isabelle Huppert), a divorced woman who, in the first […]

Archetypes: Film: Review: ‘The Eagle Huntress’ (2016)

Who needs a canine for a companion when a gal can have an eagle? That’s the aspiration behind poetic documentary The Eagle Huntress, which follows the yearnings of a young teen who’s got it in her head to break a 12-generation, Kazakh-family tradition in the soaring, magnificently photogenic mountain ranges of the Mongolian steppe. Directed […]

Archetypes: Film: Review: ‘Loving’ (2016)

Occasionally real-life events enter the fray adorned with the sort of proverbial beacons that signal their relevance and even fatedness. The story captured in the quiet, gem-of-a-film Loving, written and directed by Jeff Nichols, is one such piece of historicity. It’s 1958 and the protagonists are Richard and Mildred Loving, with their surname suggesting that […]

Archetypes: Film: Review: ‘Doctor Strange’ (2016)

The adage “Time heals all wounds” is the anti-mantra that pervades Doctor Strange, the new addition to Marvel’s filmography about a gifted neurosurgeon who goes down the proverbial rabbit hole. Co-written and directed by Scott Derrickson, the movie describes the mental and mystical evolution of Dr. Stephen Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) within a framework of Saturnine […]