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: Film: ‘Nebraska’ (2013)
November 11, 2013 by
People are quick to spit out old-people adjectives. Stubborn. Demanding. Irrational. In Alexander Payne’s Nebraska, Woody Grant (Bruce Dern) wears those descriptives proudly and even defiantly. His senior traits ignite, generating mayhem among those who love him and those who don’t. The catalyst fueling what ensues is a sweepstakes letter, informing Woody, who lives in […]
Astrology: Television: ‘Breaking Bad’ Finale: Baby Blue Meth-Child: Walter White’s Fourth Son
October 1, 2013 by
In a previous “Breaking Bad” post, I wrote about Walter White’s three sons – one biological and two metaphoric – as well as an illegitimate fourth. That would be his meth-child Baby Blue. My taking liberties with the heirs of the White name is, of course, light-hearted. But the last few minutes of “Felina,” as […]
Astrology: Television: ‘Breaking Bad’: ‘Rabid Dog’ Adds Gasoline, Videos and Saxitoxin to Neptuneville
September 2, 2013 by
Neptune, slippery mythological god of the sea, illusion, chemistry and all things fluid, assertively controlled “Rabid Dog,” the mid-point final-season episode of “Breaking Bad.” Even the carpet was audibly squishy, a nod to the god’s – Poseidon to the Greeks – underwater kingdom. As we saw from last week’s cliffhanger, Jesse had dowsed the living […]
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: ‘Elysium’ (2013)
August 7, 2013 by
In the 2154 have vs. have-not world of Neill Blomkamp’s Elysium, the wealthy and elite have taken up residence in a well manicured pseudo-planet in the sky. To the down-trodden masses in Los Angeles, that domicile overhead, which is called Elysium, gleams. It’s Utopia, pure and simple – a Neptunian vision to aspire to, or […]
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: Film: ‘The Time Being’ (2013)
July 24, 2013 by
Does being an artist – free to boundlessly create in unbridled Neptunian fashion – mean having to forsake all else with Saturnine stringency, discipline and ambition? This age-old question is explored in director and co-writer Nenad Cicin-Sain’s The Time Being, in which Daniel (Wes Bentley), a talented, committed but financially unsuccessful painter, gets an opportunity […]
Astrology: Film: ‘The Conjuring’ (2013)
July 16, 2013 by
When the most formidable house-bound evil is the kind you can’t see, you need a special kind of clean-up patrol. In The Conjuring, directed by James Wan, the spiritual scouring is left to real-life couple and paranormal investigators Lorraine (Vera Farmiga) and Ed Warren (Patrick Wilson). Lorraine, now 86, and Ed, who died in 2006, […]
Astrology: Film: ‘The East’ (2013)
May 31, 2013 by
Eco-terrorists are still terrorists. But when they’re as earnest and nice as the ones in Zal Batmanglij’s The East, it will make life a lot more murky for the infiltrator who’s been assigned to find them, become one of them, and take them down. The woman assigned to crack the case – the group’s name […]
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