There’s a tasty question posed in the title Only Lovers Left Alive. Are the film’s two protagonists the only two very long term lovers allowed to endure another day, until they’ve racked up centuries’ worth of togetherness? Or are “lovers” – those passionate, caring, committed loyal few under the archetype of Venus – the only […]
Astrology: Film: Review ‘In Secret’ (2014)
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: ‘Child’s Pose’ (2014)
The stunningly self-involved central figure in the Romanian movie Child’s Pose is Cornelia Keneres (Luminita Gheorghiu), the latest in a long line of cinematic devouring mothers who operate from terrifying, chthonic depths when unable to control offspring who’ve had enough of Mommy. Directed by Calin Peter Netzer, Child’s Pose is set in Bucharest, where the […]
Astrology: Film: Review: ‘Stranger by the Lake’ (2014)
There’s something extraordinarily self-contained about the non-descript, scrawny-pined beach and parking lot in Alain Guiraudie’s Stranger by the Lake. The area’s caché – it’s an enclave for gay-cruising – is revealed quickly. However, this French lakeside enclosure also evokes a mythical subterranean realm with a strong Hades-Plutonic overtone. Men of all ages, shapes and sophistication […]
Astrology: Film: Review: ‘August: Osage County’ (2013)
At the heart of August: Osage County, directed by John Wells, is an ugly metaphor for what ails the Weston family. We learn soon enough that Violet (Meryl Streep), the clan’s matriarch and Lunar symbol, is terminally ill with cancer of the mouth, the body part which takes in food and nourishment. In this case, […]
Astrology: Film: Review: ‘The Wolf of Wall Street’ (2013)
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: ‘The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug’ (2013)
As the Smaug of the title indicates, The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug promises a confrontation with dragon flesh. The creature is worth the wait: it’s a massive, meaty and terrifying specimen (threateningly yet seductively voiced by Benedict Cumberbatch) that slithers across the screen like a speeding freight train. Smaug lives within the earth in […]
Astrology: Television: ‘Breaking Bad’: “Granite State”
“Breaking Bad” has always been about the compartmentalization of Walter White’s motives. Caring for his family, so he says, propels him. But so does rising professionally, based on how he uses his chemist’s skill sets, no matter how many people’s lives he destroys. From the very first episodes, we saw Walt’s frustration being a high […]
Astrology: Film: ‘Prisoners’ (2013)
Do you remember the prophetic scene in Raiders of the Lost Ark in which Dr. Marcus Brody tells Indiana Jones not to mess with the Ark of the Covenant? Jones saw no reason to respect spiritual order or the Ark’s energy to take care of itself, and he paid dearly. A similar issue faces Keller […]










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