Containers abound in Gone Girl, directed by David Fincher and based on the popular novel by Gillian Flynn, who wrote the screenplay. There are envelopes, which hold the clues for the treasure hunt Amy Elliott Dunne (Rosamund Pike) has prepared for her husband Nick Dunne (Ben Affleck) to celebrate their fifth anniversary, the very day […]
Astrology: Film: ‘Stories We Tell’ (2013)
May 9, 2013 by
Citing parental and sibling resemblances is a bit of a family sport. But what happens when a child who really doesn’t look as though she’s from the same brood takes it step further to pull up what she had assumed were her roots? That’s the subject of Stories We Tell, an autobiographical documentary written and […]
Astrology: Film: ‘The Great Gatsby’ (2013)
May 9, 2013 by
The lush, lavish and raucous The Great Gatsby excels at making its point that nothing – absolutely nothing – was too deliriously large, expansive or optimistic for Jay Gatsby (Leonardo DiCaprio). That “J” on his business card? It’s simply a stand-in for Jupiter. Baz Luhrmann’s 3-D adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel focuses on a […]
Astrology: Film: ‘Iron Man 3’ (2013)
May 3, 2013 by
Films about futuristic weaponry typically fall neatly under the archetypes of Mars and Uranus: Mars for the fighting, metal and militarism. And Uranus for the visionary punch, including robotic machinations, of what’s to come. Most blow-’em-ups manage to cover the larger-than-life gadgetry and the 100-years-from-now angles. But true “Aquarian Age” movies that deliver the entire […]
Astrology: Film: ‘The Iceman’ (2013)
May 3, 2013 by
Early in The Iceman, crime boss Roy DeMeo (Ray Liotta) calls contract killer Richard Kuklinski (Michael Shannon) “cold as ice.” No one would argue that Kuklinski’s murderous proclivities emanate from the archetypal nether regions of Pluto, locked in the depths of the coldest element, earth. But what truly mesmerizes in director Ariel Vromen’s The Iceman […]
Astrology: Television: ‘The Americans’ Season 1 Finale: Home Sweet Home
May 2, 2013 by
That old chestnut “Fly Me to the Moon” could easily have been the Moon-suffused melody of Season 1’s “The Americans.” In its finale, the Moon’s multi-layered definition of what and where the home is – across the sea, in the heart or both – came to a heady and bloody conclusion. Set during the 1980s, […]
Astrology: Film: ‘Love Is All You Need’ (2013)
April 29, 2013 by
You won’t look at lemons the same way after seeing Love Is All You Need, the new romantic comedy from Danish director Susanne Bier. The yellow citrus, after its initial mouth-puckering sourness, transitions into a satisfying sweetness, the transformation audiences will wish for the movie’s heroine Ida (Trine Dyrholm). Ida, a hairdresser who’s just completed […]
Astrology: Film: ‘Mud’ (2013)
April 25, 2013 by
Usually it’s female movie characters who pine away for the guys they just can’t have and interminably wait for the phone to ring. In a refreshing and sobering twist, it’s the male character in Jeff Nichols’s new movie Mud who’s unrequitedly in love. The lovelorn guy holed up on an island in the Mississippi is […]
Astrology: Film: ‘The Reluctant Fundamentalist’ (2013)
April 24, 2013 by
In The Reluctant Fundamentalist, the career and personal life of Princeton-educated Pakistani Changez Khan (Riz Ahmed), a brilliant financial analyst under the aegis of Wall Street guru Jim Cross (Kiefer Sutherland), is on a steep upward trajectory. Then 9/11 happens. Changez, who loves the U.S. for having helped him realize his dreams, nonetheless evinces a […]
Astrology: Film: ‘At Any Price’ (2013)
April 23, 2013 by
At Any Price, directed by Ramin Bahrani, is set in the heart of Iowa farmland that’s home to a snake in the grass. The movie’s slitherer is Henry Whipple (Dennis Quaid), an amoral seeds salesman, who’s been selling – and slyly reselling – genetically modified product and whose ledgers are as cooked as a pot […]
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