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: ‘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: ‘We’re the Millers’ (2013)
August 6, 2013 by
What constitutes a family – nature vs. nurture – is the question at the heart of We’re the Millers, a road movie whose four-member clan is brought together as a family (Moon) by ulterior motives and Neptunian deceit. In the movie, directed by Rawson Marshall Thurber, the guy who’ll become the ring-leader patriarch is Dave […]
Astrology: Television: ‘Orphan Black’: Uranian Sisters
June 7, 2013 by
“Orphan Black” started out when a gal with a drug debt, desperately in need of cash, stole a look-alike suicide’s ID. That’s when this dramatic thriller, broadcast in the U.S. through BBCAmerica, changed its identity. Make that identities. And after the program’s Season 1 finale, the audience learned the full ramifications of that theft. As […]
Astrology: Film: ‘The East’: Director Zal Batmanglij Talks ‘Food’ Archetype
June 3, 2013 by
There’s a scene, relatively early on in The East, in which Brit Marling’s character Sarah, a corporate spy working for a high-end consultancy, has her loyalty tested by the members of the eco-terrorist group she’s infiltrated. The proceedings look like a conduit for torture: Sarah’s at the communal dining table, bound in a straightjacket, unable […]
Astrology: Film: ‘The Kings of Summer’ (2013)
May 31, 2013 by
In the coming-of-age movie The Kings of Summer, Patrick’s (Gabriel Basso) parents are prickly hoverers. Joe’s (Nick Robinson) widowed dad Frank (Nick Offerman), on the other hand, is simply a prick. Throw a third kid into the mix – a scythe-carrying weirdo named Biaggio (Moises Arias) – and you have a trio of teens who […]
Astrology: Film: ‘Shadow Dancer’ (2013)
May 31, 2013 by
During the time of The Troubles in 1970s Belfast – marked by ongoing warfare between British and Irish Republican Army forces – a person’s allegiance to Northern Ireland carried the same weight as commitment to one’s own flesh and blood. The Moon – with its connections to family and, especially, Mother – is an ominous […]
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 […]
Movie: ‘Killer Joe’ (2012)
July 25, 2012 by
As a cop, a profession that exudes Mars-infused energy, Killer Joe Cooper (Matthew McConaughey) uses firepower to protect the community in his redneck Texan town. As a part-time hit man – a Mars-Pluto combo – Killer Joe turns families’ murderous fantasies into reality. The Smiths are one of those twisted clans. Chris Smith (Emile Hirsch), […]
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