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: ‘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, […]
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 […]
Astrology: Film: ‘Jobs’ (2013)
August 15, 2013 by
In Joshua Michael Stern’s Jobs, our first glimpse of Steve Jobs (Ashton Kutcher) is at the Apple Town Hall staff meeting in 2001, as he’s making his way towards the podium minutes before introducing the iPod. He’s walking his idiosyncratic forward-leaning walk – short steps, slightly pigeon-toed, with his head in front of his body. […]
Astrology: Film: ‘You Will Be My Son’ (2013)
August 14, 2013 by
Sometimes child emotional abuse continues well into adulthood. You Will Be My Son, a French film directed by Gilles Legrand, explores a parent-child relationship in which the earnest adult son of a renown and highly successful vintner in Saint-Emilion just can’t please Daddy and winds up at the receiving end of constant verbal belittlement. Paul […]
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