The Underworld energy of Pluto is alive and kicking in In Secret, which blurs the line between physical and moral disintegration in mid-1860s France. Based on Émile Zola’s novel Thérèse Raquin, the movie, written and directed by Charlie Stratton, lays out life-and-death matters from the start. Thérèse, an illegitimate child, has been saved by her […]
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: Review: ‘American Hustle’ (2013)
December 10, 2013 by
David O. Russell’s American Hustle is a massive con-artist romp whose every moment bursts with its characters’ desperation, greed and lies. A period piece set in New York and New Jersey during the late 1970s, the movie is loosely based on the Abscam scandal, tied to the FBI’s attempt to take down corrupt government officials […]
Astrology: Fashion: Katniss Everdeen’s Epaulets
December 3, 2013 by
They look feathery feminine and flower-petal sleek. But make no mistake about it. Those shoulder-level adornments worn by Jennifer Lawrence’s Katniss Everdeen in The Hunger Games: Catching Fire are epaulets. Also known as epaulettes – the singular means “little shoulder,” derived from the French word épaule; the feminine “ette” has très appeal – these devices clearly […]
Astrology: Film: ‘Frozen’ (2013)
November 27, 2013 by
In genuine stories of sisterhood, blood or otherwise, men tread lightly until the gals sort things out. That’s the basis of Disney’s 3-D animated movie Frozen, in which older sis Elsa (voiced by Idina Menzel) and younger sibling Anna (voiced by Kristen Bell) must get to the bottom of what tore them apart as children. […]
Astrology: Film: ‘The Book Thief’ (2013)
November 7, 2013 by
Books, storytelling and theft are the perfect Mercurial trifecta that’s the heart of The Book Thief, a movie directed by Brian Percival and based on the global best-selling novel about a little girl growing up in Nazi Germany. Little Liesel (Sophie Nelisse) experiences tragedy early. In 1938, while on a train with her mother who’s […]
Television: ‘Breaking Bad’: Episode 13: Unbreakable Contracts
September 9, 2013 by
Although last night’s “To’hajiilee” ended in a Mars-fueled gun duel, the episode was a Mercurial feast, involving just about every activity connected with the planetary messenger of the gods. It’s a long list: written, spoken and visual communication, devices that generate communication, news, trickery, information and data, transportation, contracts, teaching and commercial enterprise. The episode […]
Astrology: Film: ‘The Patience Stone’ (2013)
August 13, 2013 by
The female character portrayed by Golshifteh Farahani in The Patience Stone – co-written and directed by Atiq Rahimi, the Afghan-born filmmaker who also wrote the novel on which his movie is based – has every reason to be talking to herself. She’s a young Muslim woman – the players in this chilling parable are designated […]
Astrology: Film: ‘In a World…’ (2013)
August 9, 2013 by
In a World…, a smart girl-power movie starring, and written and directed by Lake Bell, is literally about our heroine’s defining (Saturn) her own voice (Mercury). Carol (Bell) is a speech and vocal coach, whose dream is to make it big as voice-over artist. Her surname is different from that of her father, Sam (Fred […]
Astrology: Film: ‘2 Guns’ (2013)
July 30, 2013 by
The boundless movement, talk and sibling-like play that pervades 2 Guns makes this movie Mercurial to the core. The leading male characters are undercover DEA agent Bobby Trench (Denzel Washington) and Marcus “Stig” Stigman (Mark Wahlberg), a naval intelligence officer who’s gone AWOL. The two men, as we learn, stumbled upon each other a while […]
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