tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1712433140506543602024-03-22T06:13:45.716+01:00NANCY'S RAMBLIN'Nancy Stricklandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11274019937897310784noreply@blogger.comBlogger24125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-171243314050654360.post-74913529432586754432016-06-11T18:55:00.002+02:002016-06-30T03:11:56.585+02:00SITE UPDATEHello!
I've been gone a while (long, boring story), and I'm still not really back in action, but here's a quick heads up: we updated our craptacular website. Like Jack Torrance once barked, <a href="http://morebooks.wix.com/desktop">GO CHECK IT OUT!</a> Surfing the web on your mobile device? Then go <a href="http://morebooks.wix.com/mobile">HERE</a>.
Ta.Nancy Stricklandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11274019937897310784noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-171243314050654360.post-55197358162073747952014-12-23T23:56:00.001+01:002014-12-31T03:25:44.276+01:00A YEAR-END REVIEW EXTRAVAGANZABy N & M.</br></br>
The time has come to elicit awe from our peers by making our top whatever lists public. Radical-4-ever, we will first present you with alphabetized capsule reviews of films we caught between October and December. (Want to know what we made of films released between January and September? Feel free to go <a href="http://www.bol.com/nl/p/the-garden-of-culture/9200000036327023/">here</a> and order our book <i>The Garden of Culture</i>, which has already been hailed as the best read of 2014 by ten provincial rehab centers.)</br>
Here, have a manual: Articles are ignored (look under ‘B’ for <i>The Babadook</i>). No stars for wastes of celluloid; four stars for the absolute cream of the crop. Between brackets: director, country of origin, running time, year. </br></br>
<b>ANNABELLE</b> ★½</br>
(John R. Leonetti. USA. 98 min. 2014) </br>
Cast: Annabelle Wallis, Ward Horton, Tony Amendola, Alfre Woodard.</br>
Curb your enthusiasm ye who enter here. <i>Annabelle</i>, a movie both inevitable and trite, is a star vehicle for the inanimate doll that appeared in the prologue of last year’s <i>The Conjuring</i>. Annabelle is creepy as ever, but the redundant story lacks scares more sophisticated than audiovisual stingers. Inspired by events involving a Raggedy Ann doll.</br></br>
<b>ANOTHER ME</b> ★½</br>
(Isabel Coixet. UK/Spain. 86 min. 2014)</br>
Cast: Sophie Turner, Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Claire Forlani.</br>
British schoolgirl becomes convinced an evil doppelganger is trying to take over her life. It is. It succeeds. The film ends. Basically an emo version of a <i>Goosebumps</i> episode, padded out to feature length. Boring and repetitive. From the YA novel by Catherine MacPhail. </br></br>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://i.imgur.com/72gqMoN.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://i.imgur.com/72gqMoN.gif" /></a></div><center>An animated selfie of the lovely Sophie Turner.</center> </br>
<b>BABADOOK, THE</b> ★★★</br>
(Jennifer Kent. Australia. 93 min. 2014)</br>
Cast: Essie Davis, Noah Wiseman.</br>
Amelia, widowed nurse and single parent, is on the brink of a nervous breakdown. Things worsen still when she reads her five-year-old squirt from a creepy found pop-up novel called “Babadook” (an obvious anagram for “a bad book”). Its text and drawings promise Amelia that’s she’s apt to go off the wall and commit filicide. Amelia chucks the damned thing, only to find it waiting for her on the front porch. <i>The Babadook </i>succeeds in scaring and gripping the audience, thanks to Kent’s direction and Davis’s determined performance as Amelia. The bogus ending may give some viewers pause: are we supposed to take it as a parable for grief and domestic violence (Ruth is on the mend, all the while still missing her dearly departed husband and having the sporadic ill thought about her son), or is it a remnant from <i>Monster</i>, Kent’s related short subject from 2005? Despite its minor flaws, <i>The Babadook</i> is the best horror film of the year. </br></br>
<b>DUMB AND DUMBER TO</b> ★★</br>
(The Farrelly Brothers. USA. 107 min. 2014)</br>
Cast: Jim Carrey, Jeff Daniels, Kathleen Turner, Laurie Holden.</br>
Feeble friends Lloyd and Harry team up to locate the latter’s daughter. Late sequel to the 1994 smash hit proves that tragedy can be comedy plus time. We hollered exactly ten times, which is unacceptable for a comedy that drags on for just shy of two hours. Make no mistake, this mediocre mess only exists to give Carrey, Daniels, and the Farrelly brothers a much needed career boost. </br></br>
<b>EDGE OF TOMORROW</b> ★★★</br>
(Doug Liman. USA. 113 min. 2014.)</br>
Cast: Tom Cruise, Emily Blunt, Brandan Gleeson, Bill Paxton.</br>
Military hotshot Cruise suffers from a quaint condition: every time he dies, he wakes up again on the exact same day. After the initial shock, he embraces the notion that knowledge is power; time is on his side when learning how to defeat an aggressive alien species. But wait, let’s back up and go over the same questions <i>Groundhog Day</i> raised one more time. What exactly is going on? Has time stopped for everyone and is Cruise the only one whose memories and experiences aren’t reset before “respawning,” or does time go on for everybody else and does Cruise wake up in an alternate timeline? How our heads ache. In spite of the usual trappings of time travel stories, <i>Edge of Tomorrow</i> is a lot of fun, with Cruise’s character being the butt of several jokes.</br></br>
<b>GONE GIRL</b> ★★½</br>
(David Fincher. USA. 149 min. 2014) </br>
Cast: Ben Affleck, Rosamund Pike, Neil Patrick Harris, Tyler Perry, Carrie Coon.</br>
Gillian Flynn’s novel <i>Go Girl</i> is the kind of potboiler you pick up at the airport and then read at a resort’s poolside, smacking your lips in response to the plot’s scrumptious twists and turns. It doesn’t surprise us that David Fincher’s adaptation has been eulogized as a masterful social satire, but we never understood how Fincher came by his reputation of infallible auteur. Fincher’s output is slick and well-produced, sure, but also in want of personality. So a married gal goes missing and her unfaithful husband seems to know more than he lets on. We wouldn’t dream of revealing the many surprises here, but let us say we thought <i>Gone Girl</i> never fully capitalized on its pulpy premise. Lacking delusions of grandeur, similar films like <i>Malice</i> (1993) and <i>The Last Seduction</i> (1994) are more gratifying. </br></br>
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<center><i>♫ Don't be fooled by the girl that I lost, I'm still Benny from the block. ♫</i></center>
<center>With his girl gone, Ben Affleck finds solace in karaoke.</center> </br>
<b>GOOD MARRIAGE, A</b> ★</br>
(Peter Askin. USA. 102 min. 2014)</br>
Cast: Joan Allen, Anthony LaPlagia, Stephen Lang.</br>
The press kit is adamant about referring to this concoction as “Stephen King’s A Good Marriage.” Feels, looks, and sounds like a fifty minute TV thingy padded out to feature length, so we can dig the distributor’s wish to emphasize King’s involvement (he wrote the screenplay based upon his novella). Darcy discovers her husband of 25 years is an mission-oriented serial killer. Her biggest concern is what the neighbors will say. Could and probably should have been something special. </br></br>
<b>HORNS</b> ★★1/2</br>
(Alexandre Aja. USA/Canada. 120 min. 2014)</br>
Cast: Daniel Radcliffe, Juno Temple.</br>
Aja’s film of <i>Horns</i> is every bit as flawed as the entertaining novel by Joe Hill. It starts with a neat-o premise: murder suspect sprouts devil’s horns and discovers that everyone he encounters can’t help but spill the beans on their darkest needs. This satiric concept is squandered away on a predictable, sentimental whodunit. Radcliffe gives a strong performance, and Frederic Elmes’ cinematography is crisp and colorful.</br></br>
<b>INTERSTELLAR</b> ★★★</br>
(Christopher Nolan. USA. 169 min. 2014)</br>
Cast: Matthew McConnaughey, Anne Hathaway, Jessica Chastain, Michael Caine, Matt Damon, David Gyasi, Wes Bentley.</br>
In a not-so-distant future mankind has exhausted Mother Earth’s resources. Farmer Matthew McConnaughey is drafted to pilot a spaceship that will enter a black hole and be catapulted to potentially inhabitable planets in other galaxies. Pick a Nolan film, any Nolan film, don’t tell us which one, and we’ll give you our one-word review of it. Ready? The film you picked is frustrating. The trick is that “frustrating” can be applied to anything Nolan ever did, including <i>Interstellar</i>. We’re far from Nolan’s number one fans, but the generally excellent <i>Interstellar</i> inspired us to sit down and have a think about why some people adore him while others call the director worse than irritable bowel syndrome. We came up with two reasons: 1. Nolan’s dichotomous storytelling. On the one hand he wants to ground his films in reality. On the other hand, he likes his tall tales and legends. That’s why Bruce Wayne needs six months to recover from a broken back (realistic) and then simply (re)appears in a city we were told was closed off (a parable about justice being everywhere). <i>Interstellar</i> has its share of such moments. Nolan employed technical consultants to make the story’s scientific aspects as feasible and accurate as possible. At the same time, Nolan asks of us to accept that the survival of the human race rides on finding a new home in a faraway galaxy. (Staying put and building bio-domes would be the bigger hassle, I reckon.) 2. Nolan has a knack for preaching. <i>The Dark Knight</i> had the “criminals used to be honorable people” speech and the ferry business, which tried to convince viewers that incarcerated murderers and rapists wouldn’t dream of hurting civilians. In <i>Interstellar</i>, egghead Brand’s new-age diatribe about love would make a guru blush to the roots of their hair. What we're trying to say is that Nolan invariably appeals to the heart and the mind in equal measure, an approach some find off-putting. Even though <i>Interstellar</i> doesn’t feel its running time, it still doesn’t know when to call it quits. We first thought it was going to have a downbeat ending. The gang went on a mission to save humanity and failed. Shit happens; that’s fine by us. Then it seemed to end on a hopeful note. Okay by us. Then it seemed to end on a somewhat far-fetched, syrupy note. Acceptable. But even then Nolan couldn’t leave well enough alone and tacked on an ending that wraps up everything up in a neat little package with a ribbon on top. Drat! Inspired by <i>2001: A Space Odyssey, The Black Hole, Prometheus, Gravity, </i>and every time travel film that dared tackle the bootstrap paradox. </br></br>
<b>LOFT, THE</b> </br>
(Erik Van Looy. USA/Belgium. 108min. 2014)</br>
Cast: Karl Urban, James Marsden, Wentworth Miller.</br>
Five chronic infidels buy a downtown loft where they can<i> schtupp</i> their various lady friends. When the body of a young woman is found chained to the master bed, the lads get busy playing the blame game. What’s worse than a really bad whodunit? A mediocre one, unimaginatively directed and populated by bland characters we couldn’t care less about. What a chore to sit through. Based on a Belgian thriller.</br></br>
<b>MOST WANTED MAN, A</b> ★★★</br>
(Anton Corbijn. UK. 122 min. 2014)</br>
Cast: Philip Seymour Hoffman, Rachel McAdams, Willem Dafoe.</br>
I admired <i>Control</i> but didn’t care much for <i>The American</i>; does <i>Wanted</i> tip the scale in Corbijn’s favor? The late Hoffman plays a government agent who goes above and beyond to catch a criminal sponsoring terrorist attacks. Another director may have turned John le Carré’s novel into a conventional spy thriller with exciting chases and a token lovers-on-the-run subplot, but Corbijn’s approach is just as understated as Hoffman’s acting. Good, not great.</br></br>
<b>NIGHTCRAWLER</b> ★★★½</br>
(Dan Gilroy. USA. 177 min. 2014)</br>
Cast; Jake Gyllenhaal, Riz Ahmed, Rene Russo, Bill Paxton.</br>
Whenever a terrible accident happens, Lou is there front row center to videotape the mayhem and then sell the footage to news stations. Our reading of <i>Nightcrawler</i> is a negotiated one; we recognize the film’s satiric elements, but taking potshots at gutter journalism has become redundant. If you have a hankering for media criticism, try <i>To die For</i> or<i> Natural Born Killers</i>. <i>Nightcrawler</i> is first and foremost a character study. “Your problem is you don’t understand people,” Lou’s long-suffering intern tells him late in the film. Could be. After all, the same Lou who attempted to get a job at a scrapyard later responds to someone’s job offer with an exasperated “Why are you talking to me as if I’m interested?” You ask us, the gaunt go-getter understands people all too well. His problem is that he’s a solipsistic misanthrope, one who’s prone to manipulate those around him with the motivational axioms and carefully rehearsed elevator pitches that keep pouring out of his trap. Lou is also a jack of all trades, not a savant longing for the limelight. Had the owner of the scrapyard hired him, <i>Nightrcrawler</i> would have detailed Lou’s ruthlessness in becoming the finest scrapyard employee that ever was. Profit, by the by, is but Lou’s way of keeping score—he seems content enough with his two-room apartment and the “company” of his peace lily. But as soon as the sun drops behind the horizon, Lou’s all set to whip out his camera and do the best job imaginable … over your dead body if need be. </br></br>
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<center>Almost human. Jake Gyllenhaal as Lou in <i>Nightcrawler.</i></center></br>
<b>OUIJA</b> ★</br>
(Stiles White. USA. 89 min. 2014)</br>
Cast: Olivia Cooke, Ana Coto, Bianca A. Santos.</br>
Teen commits suicide after playing with a Ouija board. It doesn’t take her mourning friends long to figure out what really happened, courtesy of newspaper clippings, video diaries, and a biddy dispensing exposition. If you still refuse to accept the ideometer effect as the explanation for messages “coming through” talking boards, wield the planchette blindfolded—your appointed shorthand reporter’s minutes will consist of gibberish. I suppose such rationalizations matter not. After all, delish old wives’ tales have served as the basis for entertaining films before. That said, we urge you to avoid <i>Ouija</i>. It’s a genuinely evil film, greenlighted only because the suits banked on the mere title being enough of a draw. Ticket buyers indeed showed up in droves, only to emerge from the auditorium feeling robbed and overcome by guilt (thanks for enabling a sequel to come through, jerks). After the first fifteen minutes, which are a carbon copy of <i>The Ring</i>, the film quickly becomes a disjointed series of cheap jump scares. Skip it.</br></br>
<b>SIN CITY: A DAME TO KILL FOR</b> ★½</br>
(Robert Rodriguez, Frank Miller. USA. 102 min. 2014)</br>
Cast: Mickey Rourke, Jessica Alba, Eva Green, Josh Brolin, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Lady Gaga, Bruce Willis, Juno Temple, Rosario Dawson.</br>
Why did this more-of-the-same sequel to the popular 2005 film fail at the box office?<i> Sin City</i> was a big hit and the international movie database listed <i>Sin City 2</i> and <i>Sin City 3</i> as Rodriguez’s next projects, but the sequel was placed on the backburner for nearly a decade. Even loyal fans eventually gave up (and grew up) and moved on. The public didn’t care for Miller's <i>The Shadow </i>(2009), and what was once cutting edge in digital background wizardry became something everybody with a green rag can pull off in their sister’s basement. Okay, so that’s one strike against the film: a lack of audience anticipation. Strike numero dos: this anthology simply misses the urgency and schwung of its predecessor. </br></br>
<b>TUSK</b> ★★</br>
(Kevin Smith. USA. 102 min. 2014)</br>
Cast: Justin Long, Michael Parks, Haley Joel Osment, Génesis Rodriguez, Johnny Depp.</br>
Once upon a time … shockjock Mitch paid Canadian raconteur Howard Howe a social call and got much more than he bargained for. Inspired by Baron Munchausen and Dr. Josef Heiter, old man Howe walks the walk when he daydreams aloud about using a human body to recreate the walrus he once befriended. The first forty minutes had us glued to our seats, but just as we allowed ourselves a glimmer of hope that writer-director Smith was going to knock it out of the park, he introduced the uncredited Johnny Depp as a painfully unfunny Québécois, and the film became as intolerable a comedy as <i>Cop Out</i>. Smith’s and Depp’s daughters appear as grocery store clerks.</br></br>
<b>V/H/S: VIRAL</b> ★½</br>
(Nacho Vigalondo, Marcel Sarmiento, Gregg Bishop, Justin Benson, Aaron Scott Moorhead. USA. 81 min. 2014)</br>
Cast: Justin Welborn, John Curran.</br>
Another year, another V/H/S film that has little to do with the outdated video format. The scares are far and between this time, but at least so is the misogyny. Story 1: A struggling magician is gifted a cloak that grants him superpowers. The filmmakers were clearly at a loss how to incorporate subjective camerawork. Story 2: Equipped with ProGo cameras, Harmony Korin’s kids cross paths with devil worshippers and skeletons. Story 3: A professor builds a portal to another dimension and finds a mirror-image of himself and his house on the other side. For what it’s worth, this yarn is the best of the bunch. We should all be grateful that a fourth segment was cut from the film.</br></br>
<b>WILLOW CREEK </b>★★½</br>
(Bobcat Goldwaith. USA. 79 min. 2014.)</br>
Cast: Alexie Gilmore, Bryce Johnson.</br>
Remember that annoying Zed character from the <i>Police Academy</i> movies? He went and reinvented himself as an indie filmmaker who makes critical darlings. No, really. His latest outing is this unofficial remake of <i>The Blair Witch Project</i>. No, really. Gilmore and Johnson visit a Midwestern town, interview the villagers about a local legend, enter the woods to shoot a documentary, and start hearing creepy noises in their campsite after sunset. And, yes, these mooncalves do get lost. What annoys me the most about this flick is its quality. It should have been a turkey, but it’s not. There are some decent scares, the acting is good, and there’s one bravura sequence that lasts more than fifteen minutes without a single cut. Now, please, pretty please, can we close the chapter on found footage films and produce something halfway original?</br></br>
Here’s our top 10 of 2014. Mind you, some 2013 films weren’t released over here until 2014, and you bet your fur we’ve included them.</br>
1. <i>The Grand Budapest Hotel</i></br>
2. <i>Nightcrawler</i></br>
3. <i>Nebraska</i></br>
4. <i>Her</i></br>
5. <i>Jodorowsky’s Dune</i></br>
6. <i>12 Years A Slave</i></br>
7. <i>Enemy</i></br>
8. <i>The Wolf of Wall Street</i> </br>
9. <i>Under the Skin</i></br>
10. <i>Interstellar</i></br></br>
Bonus: Films we're looking forward to (some of them against better judgment):</br>
1. <i>Inherent Vice </i>(Paul Thomas Anderson)</br>
2. <i>Star wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens</i> (J.J. Abrams)</br>
3.<i> It Follows </i>(David Robert Mitchell)</br>
4. <i>Knight of Cups</i> (Terrence Malick)</br>
5. <i>American Sniper</i> (Clint Eastwood)</br>
6. <i>Mad Max: Fury Road</i> (George Miller)</br>
7. <i>Jurassic World</i> (Colin Trevorrow) </br>
8. <i>Terminator: Genisys</i> (Alan Taylor)</br>
9. <i>Big Eyes</i> (Tim Burton minus green screens, Johnny Depp, and Helena Bonham Carter. I’m in!) </br>
10. <i>Queen of the Desert</i> (Werner Herzog)</br></br>
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Films we hope Kim Jong-un dislikes, so the studios will shelve them:</br>
1. <i>Amityville</i> (unnecessary sequel/remake/reboot/whatever)</br>
2. <i>Resident Evil 6 </i>(unnecessary sequel)</br>
3. <i>Taken 3</i> (unnecessary sequel)</br>
4. <i>Fifty Shades of Grey </i>(adaptation of a stupid book)</br>
5. <i>Paul Blart: Mall Cop II</i> (unnecessary sequel)</br>
6. <i>Poltergeist</i> (unnecessary remake)</br>
7. <i>Point Break</i> (unnecessary remake)</br>
8. <i>Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension </i>(unnecessary sequel)</br>
9. <i>The Woman in Black 2 </i>(unnecessary sequel)</br>
10. <i>Ted 2</i> (unnecessary sequel)</br></br>
Films to watch during the holiday season:</br>
1. <i>Eyes Wide Shut</i>. </br>
2. <i>The Fearless Vampire Killers</i></br>
3. <i>Wonder Boys</i></br>
4. <i>Scott Pilgrim vs. The World</i></br>
5. <i>A Christmas Story</i></br>
6. <i>National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation</i>. This 1990 comedy film favors the Pledge of Allegiance and The Star-Spangled Banner over grace prayers and Christmas carols. Happily married upper middle class family man Chevy Chase lives in a villa big enough to house three families but still throws a profanity-laced tantrum when his yearly bonus turns out to be meager. Written by a republican filmmaker. Greed is good.</br>
7. <i>Gremlins</i>. We’re still not sure if its hero is supposed to be a young professional or a high school student, but <i>Gremlins </i>is loads of fun.</br>
8. <i>Die Hard</i>. Alle Menschen werden Brüder while Bruce Wills and Severus Snape shoot up a highrise. </br>
9. <i>Love Actually </i></br>
10. <i>The Nightmare Before Christmas.</i> </br></br>
Merry Christmas, you filthy animals! And a happy new year!</br></br>Nancy Stricklandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11274019937897310784noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-171243314050654360.post-32834692402256879462014-12-16T16:58:00.001+01:002014-12-16T16:58:18.573+01:00MERRY CHRISTMAS!<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiV10dddwTp1RfK3qQxu72Wejqp181Eg4lckdeOy-fyWqWjjRRcgztDUKEwBAWJJ-IjJ78EzV0-tVtlr_rA9SQtKI-yYkGwJ-A_tk2_r2hEDvwMD-OgI4Dwnl4D83DoA4Twb4TDn9R_0xZG/s1600/gardenchristmas.jpg" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiV10dddwTp1RfK3qQxu72Wejqp181Eg4lckdeOy-fyWqWjjRRcgztDUKEwBAWJJ-IjJ78EzV0-tVtlr_rA9SQtKI-yYkGwJ-A_tk2_r2hEDvwMD-OgI4Dwnl4D83DoA4Twb4TDn9R_0xZG/s400/gardenchristmas.jpg" /></a>Nancy Stricklandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11274019937897310784noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-171243314050654360.post-31295395951186634952014-12-03T18:24:00.001+01:002016-06-11T19:56:56.283+02:00NEW BOOK!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/8GOnlhfRTgs?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
<br />
Our new book is now available!<br />
<a href="http://www.bol.com/nl/p/the-garden-of-culture/9200000036327023/">http://www.bol.com/nl/p/the-garden-of-culture/9200000036327023/</a><br />
<a href="http://morebooks.wix.com/copy-of-4">http://morebooks.wix.com</a>Nancy Stricklandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11274019937897310784noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-171243314050654360.post-45022259789522474982014-08-18T20:41:00.004+02:002016-06-11T19:58:45.508+02:00NEW WEBSITE FOR OUR BOOKS!<a href="http://morebooks.wix.com/copy-of-4">CLICK ME</a>Nancy Stricklandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11274019937897310784noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-171243314050654360.post-60805968210117713542014-07-05T16:32:00.000+02:002014-07-06T18:54:51.195+02:00MÉNAGE À QUATRE CINÉMATOGRAPHIQUE (From my 2011 book, <a href="http://www.lulu.com/shop/nancy-strickland/landfill/paperback/product-20007460.html">Landfill</a>).<br><br>
Every so often a film comes along that makes the searing heat of its setting and story palpable. I submit for your approval a list of four films that might get you through the summer.<br><br>
<b>THE HOT SPOT </b>(Dennis Hopper, 1990)<br>
This steamy flick chronicles the misadventures of Texan drifter Harry Maddix (Don Johnson), whose favorite pastime is fucking your wives and daughters six ways from Sunday. Jennifer Connelly is the first vixen Maddix happens upon — hot diggity damn, Jahweh sure didn’t skimp on the meat when He crafted this universal fap magnet! The scene where the succulent nineteen-year-old wriggles out of that tight little number to share her luscious assets with Don, his Johnson, and the entire audience, never fails in putting the absorbing power of Brawny to the test! <br><br>
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<center><i>Is there a nip in the air or are you happy to see me?</i></center><br><br>
<b>THE BEACH</b> (Danny Boyle, 2000)<br>
Things get so hot in Bangkok that freshly showered Leonardo DiCapri-Sun is a sweat-coated mess again mere seconds after toweling off. Unf. The nocturnal shrieks of sexual ecstasy emitted by the cute French girl next door make it even harder for our hero to keep his noggin cool. Leo’s object of lust finds herself incapable of resisting his American sass, disrobes, and does the nasty with him. <br><br>
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<center><i>You want freedom fries with that shake, angel cakes?</i></center><br>
<b>REAR WINDOW</b> (Alfred Hitchcock, 1954)<br>
Breaking your goddamned leg in the middle of a heat wave — that’s a bitch right there, son. Lucky for All American Homeboy James Stewart, he’s tended to by Grace Kelly. Contains the classic line “Do me in my dumper when you´re done spying on your homicidal neighbor, Jimmy.”<br></br>
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<center><i>Turn on the fan and pelt some ice cubes at it, why dontcha?</i></center><br>
<b>THE TRIGGER EFFECT</b> (David Koepp, 1996) <br>
Adonis Kyle MacLachlan, loved by millions for his unforgettable turn as FBI agent Zack Carey in <i>Showgirls</i>, is a milquetoast who sees his libido damped by a mid-July power outage — at one point he even fails to notice that his wife (Elisabeth Shue, almost unrecognizable without Nic Cage’s lips wrapped around her J&B flavored papillae) is airing the orchid right in front of him.<br>
Creative drive behind this entertaining farce is the man who went on to pen <i>Henry Jones jr. and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.</i><br><br>
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<center><i>Kyle's Glorious Buns. (Known in the bizz as "The Plump MacLachlan Twins.")</i></center><br><br>
Nancy Stricklandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11274019937897310784noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-171243314050654360.post-70098907815613625352014-06-21T14:51:00.001+02:002014-06-21T14:53:31.638+02:00GARDEN OF CULTURE TEASERNew book. Soon. Sort of. <br><br>
<iframe width="480" height="360" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/xt6wD6R3z6g?rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>Nancy Stricklandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11274019937897310784noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-171243314050654360.post-44588523351564093752014-05-25T13:35:00.000+02:002014-05-26T19:04:21.159+02:00BOWLING FOR AURORA<i>I have nothing new to offer in response to the 23 May Santa Barbara killing spree. Instead, I’ll post a short essay from my book</i> It Happened at the Movies <i>here.</i></br></br>
<i>No guns, no killing.</i><BR>
- Batman (Christopher Nolan's <i>The dark Knight Rises</i>)<br><br>
<i>You can't get around the fact that people who carry guns tend to get shot more than people who don't.</i><br>
- Abernathy (Quentin Tarantino’s <i>Death Proof</i>)<br><br>
<i>Movies don’t create psychos. Movies make psychos more creative.</i><br>
- Billy (Wes Craven’s <i>Scream</i>)<br><br>
<i>Many household items can be used a weapons, but firearms serve no other purpose than to inflict harm upon others.</i><br>
- My pappy<br><br>
On July 20, 2012, <strike>James Holmes</strike> Some Gun-toting Asshole who shouldn’t be made a celebrity, 24, entered the Century Aurora Theater in Aurora, Colorado, and opened fire on those attending a midnight screening of The Dark Knight Rises. Some Gun-toting Asshole killed 12 people and injured 58.<br><br>
In the wake of this tragedy, two tired debates have flared up again: “Should we rethink the second amendment?” and “Do cultural texts have a negative effect on their audiences?”<br>
I’ll be brief about the gun issue. Americans pride themselves on having a limited government; they would not take kindly to it if their constitutional right to keep and bear arms were to be restricted. Besides, banning firearms would have the same impact as making heroin illegal: none whatsoever. If a determined American wants to own a pistelero, they will find a way.<br>
Personally, I find the argument that lives could have been saved had moviegoers carried guns both ludicrous and maddening. In such naïve scenarios, our hypothetical heroes are in a constant state of heightened alertness and clarity, standing by to respond in a swift and infallible manner. Nevertheless, tempting as it may be to point an accusing finger at the second amendment, it would be unwise to forget that the USA is by no means the only country that allows private citizens to own firearms. Just look at Switzerland’s unique and successful gun politics. What’s going on in the United States appears to be a sociocultural problem. A more interesting debate question would thus be: Why do these kinds of shooting rampages usually occur on American soil?<br>
Some saw fit to put the blame on the <i>The Dark Knight</i> franchise. Some Gun-toting Asshole's attire vaguely resembled that of main villain Bane; his hair was dyed a ghastly orange; he allegedly told his arresting officers that he was The Joker.<br> I don't believe in “art imitating life.” It’s always the other way around. Even an extravagant film like <i>Star Wars</i>, which features far away galaxies and alien species, takes its cues from life as we know it by dealing with all too familiar emotions such as love, fear, jealousy, hatred, and hope.<br> I also don't believe in a hypothetical situation where a Joe Doakes comes home from work, kisses the missus, plays with the 2.5 kids, enjoys supper, turns on the boob tube for some R&R, and then morphs into a trigger-happy mass-murderer when he happens upon <i>The Expendables</i> while channel-surfing.<br>
I <i>do</i> believe, however, that if Christopher Nolan’s Batman films and the second amendment didn’t exist, Some Gun-toting Asshole still would have come to the decision to harm people.<br>
And he would have found a way to do it.<br><br>
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A Smith & Wesson M&P15. One of the guns used in the Aurora shootings.<br><br>Nancy Stricklandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11274019937897310784noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-171243314050654360.post-67096447521568850112014-05-24T17:28:00.002+02:002014-05-24T17:31:31.639+02:00NEW BOOK. SOON.<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjz-f_-X9kPuqkRVDngkeozjxS36UxePnO89aaS20gSbt9dqwYkIBQVVPyzKzc5m9wYkv_e9kJZGT1No8MKM0txEtYs6OS9q3j9BojUxo5lmab3cZmvXtB_wTjpPKQPkZRYkn2mV0xk2GDc/s1600/suiland6.jpg" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjz-f_-X9kPuqkRVDngkeozjxS36UxePnO89aaS20gSbt9dqwYkIBQVVPyzKzc5m9wYkv_e9kJZGT1No8MKM0txEtYs6OS9q3j9BojUxo5lmab3cZmvXtB_wTjpPKQPkZRYkn2mV0xk2GDc/s400/suiland6.jpg" /></a><br>
Photography: Holly Ruppert. Model: Serena Taylor. Click to enlarge.<br>Nancy Stricklandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11274019937897310784noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-171243314050654360.post-79220776867308818812014-03-01T13:49:00.000+01:002014-03-28T05:23:57.011+01:00LARS VON TRIER ANTICHRIST<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I’m not in clover! It’s cold as a witch’s teat in my neck of the woods and Aunty Flow’s monthly visitation lasted longer than expected. Long story short, I didn’t get to drop by the Cineplex as often as last month and won’t be able to present you lot with a February round-up. What’s a devochka to do? She telegraphs a certain feller and begs him for permission to reprint one of her contributions to his 2010 anthology, <i>Vigil</i>. (Still available as <a href="http://www.lulu.com/nl/nl/shop/marc-hendriks/vigil/paperback/product-14684686.html">paperback</a> and on <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/nl/book/vigil/id467521882?l=en&mt=11">iTunes</a>.)</br>
So, instead of giving you my two cents on Lars von Trier’s latest sh(l)ockfest, <i>Nymphomaniac</i>, here's my ancient review of the man's 2009 horror flick, <i>Antichrist</i>: </br></br>
In an awkward, vain attempt to make me more appreciative of the finer things, Older Sister sent me a small parcel containing three DVD‘s of films by Danish enfant terrible Lars von Trier.</br>
The films in question were <i>Breaking the Waves, Dancer in the Dark,</i> and <i>Dogville</i>. The first flick revolves around a childlike woman who, egged on by her God, beds as many men as possible to save her injured husband, and dies trying. Nice. The second one tells the story of a woman who suffers from Macular Degeneration, is robbed blind (no pun intended) by her neighbor, and eventually receives the death penalty for a crime she didn‘t commit. Oh happy days. The third and last film centers on a woman who unselfishly helps the people of a hamlet and is chained to a cylinder block and raped repeatedly as a thank you.</br>
O, High Art, where hast thou been all my life?</br></br>
Cute Boy called me this weekend and our telephone conversation went something like this:</br>
<b>Cute Boy</b>: You wanna catch a movie with me?</br>
<b>Me</b>: Yay!</br>
<b>Cute Boy</b>: I got tickets for a horror film titled <i>Antichrist</i>.</br>
<b>Me</b>: Hurray!</br>
<b>Cute Boy</b>: Its director is a Viking by the name of Lars von Trier.</br>
<b>Me:</b><br />
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While an unnamed couple (Willem Dafoe and the lovely Charlotte Gainsbourg) is enjoying hardcore sex, tragedy strikes when toddler Nick crawls out of his crib, heads toward the open window, and plunges to his death at the exact same moment his parents climax.</br>
<i>Holy la petite mort</i>, Batman!</br>
Gainsbourg is inconsolable and committed to Ye Olde Institute for the Ridiculously Nervous. Dissatisfied with the treatment his wife receives, experienced psychoanalyst Dafoe takes Gainsbourg home and subjects her to his own abrasive twelve-step program.
The unstable Gainsbourg is partial to humping the pain away; Von Trier‘s camera makes sure we get a good look at the couple‘s genitals. (For the first of what would be many times that evening, Cute Boy turned to me and whispered, “<i>Sorry, I didn‘t know it‘d be like this.</i>”)</br>
Dafoe asks Gainsbourg what scares her the most, and she says it‘s Eden Forest, where she and baby Nick spent the previous summer in a cabin to finish her thesis on gendercide. Dafoe suggests they go up there so she can face and overcome her irrational fears. </br>Gainsbourg barks that he never showed much interest in what makes her tick until she became his patient - his <i>project</i> - but concurs all the same.</br>
Once there, they do the nasty some more (“<i>Sorry, I didn‘t know it‘d be like this</i>.”) and Dafoe encounters three animals we later learn represent Pain, Grief, and Despair: a reanimated fox who declares, “Chaos reigns”; a miscarrying deer; and a crow whose chick has fallen out of its nest.</br>
As the insatiable Gainbourg mounts her hubby that night, she asks of him to slap her. When he refuses, she runs out into the woods and ferociously tickles her pink speed dial under a tree. (“<i>Sorry, I didn‘t know it‘d be like this.</i>”)</br>
Things take a turn for the worse when Dafoe confronts Gainsbourg with Nick‘s autopsy report: as a result of Gainbourg constantly putting his shoes on the wrong feet, the toddler‘s cuneiform bones were deformed. Gainsbourg responds evasively by telling him her fear of Eden started when she was perturbed by cries of anguish coming from the woods. He tells her she must have imagined it; she shoots back that women and nature are inherently evil. Dafoe says she‘s a few cans short of a six-pack. She confesses she actually saw Baby Nick was in trouble but didn‘t act on it, instead preferring to orgasm.</br>
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Realizing she used sex to ease a pain sex was actually the very cause of, Gainsbourg smashes Dafoe‘s penis with a two-by-four and masturbates her unconscious better half until he ejaculates blood. (“<i>Holy shit! I‘m sorry, I </i>really <i>didn‘t know it‘d be like this!</i>”)</br>
Gainsbourg remains sans panties as she unceremoniously drills a hole in Dafoe‘s leg and bolts a grindstone to it. She then takes a pair of rusty shears to her privates and, in an astonishingly realistic close up, performs a little home auto-clitoridectomy.</br>
Dafoe comes to and, unaware of Gainsbourg‘s self-inflicted wounds, retaliates by strangling her to death and burning her body. As he gets ready to leave, he comes across hundreds of women with blurred faces ascending the hill. <i>Fin</i>.</br>
“<i>What the fuck was that all about?</i>” Cute Boy said aloud to no one in particular when end credits started rolling. He rushed off to the lavatory and I briefly chatted with a couple of other girls in the foyer. One of them called the film horribly misogynistic while the other raised her glass and said, “<i>Here‘s to girl power. Charlotte was the bomb!</i>”</br></br>
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Cute boy had not needed to offer genuinely embarrassed apologies every time a “shocking” image appeared on screen; <i>Antichrist </i>failed to evoke a sense of dread or horror because its provocations seemed calculated and oddly aloof. Von Trier‘s film is expertly made – whenever I gasped, not fear but superficial admiration was the catalyst. I‘m not saying this to come across as your regular Sarah Connor. Truth be told, I‘m actually a Nervous Nelly, scared witless by <i>Paranormal Activity</i>, that other late fall frightfest.</br>
I‘m more than sympathetic to those who‘ve taken a beating from <i>Antichrist</i>, but I don‘t think its Scandinavian auteur is a Haneke or Tarkovsky, who use the language of cinema to express their stances on sociopolitical and theological issues. Von Trier reminds me more of Billy Hastings, a fellow kindergartener who enjoyed getting a rise out of the other kids by showing them his collection of squashed insects. (According to his Facebook page, Billy‘s in law school now. Figures.)</br>
I like to think of Von Trier as a naughty filmmaker who relishes catcalls. Hitchcock once said he enjoyed playing the audience like a piano; Von Trier plays his audience like an electric guitar and smashes the instrument when he completes his set.</br>
Those familiar with the director‘s oeuvre know that a gleeful Von Trier showed up at the end of every episode of his mini-series <i>Riget</i> to offer enigmatic clues. He also took center stage in the theme song‘s official music video. A year later, Von Trier performed a tongue-in-cheek rendition of Peter Skellern‘s song <i>You‘re a Lady</i> to promote his film <i>Idioterne</i>.</br></br>
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Having a pretty good idea of where Von Trier‘s coming from, I was giggling mere seconds into <i>Antichrist</i>. The first onscreen title doesn‘t read "A film by Lars Von Trier" or "Lars Von Trier‘s <i>Antichrist</i>," but "Lars Von Trier.<i> AntiChrist</i>." </br>
O, Lars…you little rascal, you!</br>
The monochrome prologue, admired by many for its visual power and haunting score (Händel‘s <i>Lascia Ch‘io Pianga</i>), also tickled my funny bone because of its similarity to an episode of <i>The Simpsons</i>. Remember when the town of Springfield played host to a film festival? One of the submitted entries was Barney Gumble‘s "Pukahontas", a black & white autobiographical short subject that detailed his life as a substance abuser through time-lapse photography, a score by Philip Glass and Puccini, quotes from <i>Othello</i>, and such images as a rose withering and dying while silk curtains billow in the wind.</br></br>
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For my money (technically Cute Boy‘s money), <i>Antichrist</i> is Von Trier‘s 100 minute remake of "Pukahontas" (with a dash of Roberta Allsworth's "Mirror, Father, Mirror" for good measure) and should have ended with a legend reading "Calvin Klein For Men." </br></br>
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If you so happen to be one of those haughty film students who are showered with praise for spotting the pain/grief/despair figurines on little Nick‘s desk, noticing the crow/fox/deer puzzle Dafoe and Gainsbourg make whoopee on in the opening scene, and mentioning Nietzsche and Freud when discussing <i>Antichrist</i>, please keep the following in mind: </br>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWrWRRp83VBtE4dKP45STcEGRCTxyIbtqyCAhtE11wzRqlXBqcryyO2QFXtjELd_NzmkFJZNoU6CkopYNlOJoXAcdXX27qZIKI4A7n0LdT2WtRMk7uOXAmXNYTOAXzOhP8oRxpA-4VWuNG/s1600/trier.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWrWRRp83VBtE4dKP45STcEGRCTxyIbtqyCAhtE11wzRqlXBqcryyO2QFXtjELd_NzmkFJZNoU6CkopYNlOJoXAcdXX27qZIKI4A7n0LdT2WtRMk7uOXAmXNYTOAXzOhP8oRxpA-4VWuNG/s400/trier.png" /></a></div></br></br>Nancy Stricklandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11274019937897310784noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-171243314050654360.post-43809768767439783552014-01-30T00:30:00.000+01:002014-04-07T18:36:19.261+02:00JANUARY ROUNDUP<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #555555; font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Here
be the January roundup of films I caught this month. Spoiler-free capsule
reviews, alphabetized (definite articles are ignored) and slapped with a star
rating. No stars for wastes of celluloid or digital storage space, four stars
for the absolute cream of the crop.</span></div>
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<b><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #555555; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: NL;">AHI VA EL DIABLO</span></b><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #555555; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: NL;"> </span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #555555; font-family: Wingdings; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: NL; mso-hansi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;">««</span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #555555; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: NL;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #555555; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: NL;">(Adrián
García Bogliano, 2013)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #555555; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: NL;">Sexually
charged horror is <i>Rosemary’s Baby</i> by
way of <i>Lucía y el Sexo</i>. Tween
siblings go missing for one night but return home behaving like somnambulistic body
snatchers. The intransigent Bogliano clutters his film with so many genre tropes
that most of them are dealt with unsatisfactorily. Released abroad as <i>Here comes the Devil</i>. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #555555; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: NL;">BELL WITCH
HAUNTING, THE </span></b><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #555555; font-family: Wingdings; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: NL; mso-hansi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;">«</span><b><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #555555; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: NL;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #555555; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: NL;">(Glenn
Miller, 2013)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #555555; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: NL;">Production
company Asylum, known for its shoestring imitations of blockbusters, tries its gnarly
hand at the found footage genre and delivers, <i>quelle surprise</i>, a laughable piece of guano. If you take a shot of
Jim Beam every time you spot a grammatical </span><span style="color: #555555; font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">error
in the various title cards, you’ll be on life support long before end credits
roll.</span><br />
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<i><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #555555; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif";">Never comfort your terrified
daughter without turning on </span></i></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<i><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #555555; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif";">your trusty camera first.</span></i></div>
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<b><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #555555; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: NL;">CARR</span></b><b><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #555555; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: NL;">IE</span></b><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #555555; font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #555555; font-family: Wingdings; font-size: 12pt;">««</span></div>
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<span style="color: #555555; font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">(Kimberly
Peirce, 2013)</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #555555; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: NL;">Zealous
woman disapproves of her bullied daughter’s telekinetic powers. Film at eleven.
Leads Chloë </span><span style="color: #555555; font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Grace Moretz and Julianne Moore cannot be blamed, but this third
adaptation of Stephen King’s debut novel is witless and bland. A more fitting
title would have been “Carrie 90210.”</span></div>
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<b><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #555555; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: NL;">CITADEL </span></b><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #555555; font-family: Wingdings; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: NL; mso-hansi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;">««</span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #555555; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: NL;">½<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #555555; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: NL;">(Claran
Foy, 2012)<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #555555; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: NL;">After
his heavily pregnant wife is attacked by the hooded freaks from David Cronenberg’s
<i>The Brood</i>, Scotsman Tommy develops a
severe case of agoraphobia. Ambitious horror deals with both social issues and one
man’s PTSD, but the plot contains more holes than a chunk of Gouda. The profane
vicar and his idiot lectures </span><span style="color: #555555; font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">got
on my nerves.</span></div>
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<b><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #555555; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: NL;"><br /></span></b></div>
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<b><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #555555; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: NL;">ENDER’S GAME</span></b><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #555555; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: NL;"> </span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #555555; font-family: Wingdings; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: NL; mso-hansi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;">««</span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #555555; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: NL;">1½<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #555555; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: NL;">(Gavin
Hood, 2013)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #555555; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: NL;">A
young boy is deemed “the one to save the universe.” Sounds familiar? It’s quite
obvious that the studio dusted off this 1985 book by bigot author Orson Scott
Card </span><span style="color: #555555; font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">hoping
to jumpstart a new book-based franchise in the vein of </span><i style="color: #555555; font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Twilight, Harry Potter,</i><span style="color: #555555; font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"> and </span><i style="color: #555555; font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">The
Hunger Games</i><span style="color: #555555; font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">. Problem is that </span><i style="color: #555555; font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Ender’s
Game</i><span style="color: #555555; font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"> is a “cold” story, taking place on a military basis populated by stand-offish
characters. Too long and convoluted for the intended audience, it’s no wonder
this one hardly broken even at the box office. Probably would have worked
wonders as a mini-series. Asa Butterfield is fine as Ender; Harrison Ford looks
old and tired as Colonel Graff.</span></div>
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<b><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #555555; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: NL;">GRUDGE MATCH </span></b><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #555555; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: NL;"> </span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #555555; font-family: Wingdings; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: NL; mso-hansi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;">««</span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #555555; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: NL;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #555555; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: NL;">(Peter
Segal, 2013)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #555555; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: NL;">Farce
about two rival pugilists coming out of retirement for their long-awaited third
fight. These aging sportsmen are portrayed by actors who once upon a time
starred as famous boxers: De Niro played Jake LaMotta in <i>Raging Bull</i>; Sylvester Stallone reprised his role as Rocky Balboa
no fewer than five times. As was the case </span><span style="color: #555555; font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">with
most recent De Niro comedies, </span><i style="color: #555555; font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Grudge
Match</i><span style="color: #555555; font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"> relies on a tried, tired sitcom formula. Additional points deduction
for the horrible CGI in the opening sequence. Kim Basinger looks </span><span style="color: #555555; font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">as lovely as
ever.</span></div>
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<b><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #555555; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: NL;">HER </span></b><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #555555; font-family: Wingdings; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: NL; mso-hansi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;">«««</span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #555555; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: NL;">½<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #555555; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: NL;">(Spike
Jonze, 2013)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #555555; font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">In
the near future, lovelorn Theodore is a copywriter who excels at penning </span><span style="color: #555555; font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">commissioned
love letters. One day he downloads a personal organizer app voiced by the
hoarse Scarlett Johansson … and falls in love with “it.” This easily could have
been the sort of ludicrous comedy Adam Sandler has a monopoly on, but
writer/director Jonze presents us wi</span><span style="color: #555555; font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">th an unpredictable, poignant,
thought-provoking tale of love (in the digital age). In need of light pruning.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzjX7RF7USpR8eAGzVN2LjscVK6v2EAWyUI57ICipVzJbVPpTC1HiHlzet-3Uygu827LEpP3ospw9596NWd9mcszp4sfXLQz0wmg6o3M5zcamik7YpFfi7AGpjAK5m2j90uva6vF6WdM_I/s1600/mov1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzjX7RF7USpR8eAGzVN2LjscVK6v2EAWyUI57ICipVzJbVPpTC1HiHlzet-3Uygu827LEpP3ospw9596NWd9mcszp4sfXLQz0wmg6o3M5zcamik7YpFfi7AGpjAK5m2j90uva6vF6WdM_I/s1600/mov1.jpg" height="200" width="400" /></a></div>
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<i><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #555555; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif";">Theodore and his, um,
pocket-sized lady friend</span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #555555; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif";">.</span></i></div>
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<b><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #555555; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: NL;">HOBBIT: THE
DESO</span></b><b><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #555555; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: NL;">LATION OF SMAUG, THE</span></b><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #555555; font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #555555; font-family: Wingdings; font-size: 12pt;">««</span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #555555; font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">½</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #555555; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: NL;">(Peter
Jackson, 2013)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #555555; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: NL;">The
further adventures of a reluctant Hobbit warrior. I maintain that turning
Tolkien’s </span><span style="color: #555555; font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">slender
children’s book into another 9 hour saga is needlessly excessive, but at the
very least this intermittently entertaining second chapter is better than the
humdrum </span><i style="color: #555555; font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">An Unexpected Journey</i><span style="color: #555555; font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">. Dragon
Smaug is a triumph of digital wizardry.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<b><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #555555; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: NL;">HUNGER GAMES:
CATCHING FIRE , THE </span></b><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #555555; font-family: Wingdings; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: NL; mso-hansi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;">«««</span><b><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #555555; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: NL;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #555555; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: NL;">(Francis
Lawrence, 2013)<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #555555; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: NL;">After
surviving a post-apocalyptic survival of the fittest, new iliads await rebellious
teen Katniss. The second book in Suzanne Collins’s trilogy disappointed me, so
I initially passed on the adaptation when it hit theatres. Verdict: this is one
of those rare instances where I enjoyed the film better than the source novel. Lawrence,
taking over directing duties from Gary Ross, brought a tripod to the set.
Bliss. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<b><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #555555; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: NL;">INSIDE LLEWYN
DAVIS </span></b><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #555555; font-family: Wingdings; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: NL; mso-hansi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;">«««</span><b><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #555555; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: NL;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #555555; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: NL;">(Joel
Coen, Ethan Coen, 2013)<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #555555; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: NL;">An
account of fiddler Llewyn Desmond’s week on skid row. It’s a cinch that even
tho</span><span style="color: #555555; font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">ugh I enjoy Coen Brothers movies, I never much care for their characters.
(The Coens always seem to invite us to laugh </span><i style="color: #555555; font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">at </i><span style="color: #555555; font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">their personages, never </span><i style="color: #555555; font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">with
</i><span style="color: #555555; font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">them.) B</span><span style="color: #555555; font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">earing in mind that I have little patience with bluegrass music, I
expected sitting through the bros’ latest would prove trying. I’m happy to say
the film turned out to be a treat. I tapped my footsies to the tunes and emphasized
with Davis’s plight.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<b><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #555555; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: NL;">MANIAC</span></b><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #555555; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: NL;"> </span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #555555; font-family: Wingdings; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: NL; mso-hansi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;">««</span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #555555; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: NL;">½<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #555555; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: NL;">(Franck
Khalfoun, 2013)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #555555; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: NL;">Remake
of 1980 video nasty that sent the late Gene Siskel running is told entirely
from killer Elijah Wood’s perspective. The idea came, I suppose, from <i>Halloween</i>’s famous opening shot, which
made the audience observe the world </span><span style="color: #555555; font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">through
the peepers of a madman. Sustaining this trick for a film’s duration is perhaps
too much of a good thing, especially when shots keep changing from wide to
medium and back again without Wood moving so much as a single muscle. Still,
it’s an interesting genre piece with good acting and a delicious score.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<b><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #555555; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: NL;">PARANORMAL
ACTIVITY: THE MARKED ONES </span></b><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #555555; font-family: Wingdings; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: NL; mso-hansi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;">««</span><b><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #555555; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: NL;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #555555; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: NL;">(Christopher
Waldon, 2013)<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #555555; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: NL;">High
school graduates wielding a video camera discover something weird is going on
in their tenement. Could it be something … paranormal? Why Paramount presents </span><span style="color: #555555; font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">this
installment as a spin-off in lieu of “part 5" is a question worth considering. Either
way</span><i style="color: #555555; font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">, The Marked Ones</i><span style="color: #555555; font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"> is better than
it has any reason to be, rocking some funny bits and ending on a decidedly
crackpot note. Enough is enough, though.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<b><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #555555; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: NL;">SLEEPWALKERS</span></b><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #555555; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: NL;"> </span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #555555; font-family: Wingdings; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: NL; mso-hansi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;">««</span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #555555; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: NL;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #555555; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: NL;">(Mick
Garris, 1992)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #555555; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: NL;">Oldie
but baddie. My appreciation of Stephen King the novelist is only exceeded by </span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #555555; font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">my
dislike of Stephen King the screenwriter. Everything that makes the Master of
Macabre’s bibliography compelling is absent from his scripts<i>. Sleepwalkers</i>, written </span><span style="color: #555555; font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">directly
for the screen, revolves around mythical humanoids whose sustenance is the
“life essence” of virgins. King repeatedly nixes every potential scare by
including such elements as shape shifting automobiles, juvenile one-liners, and
pointless cameos by novelists and filmmakers.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<b><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #555555; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: NL;">TWELVE YEARS A
SLAVE </span></b><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #555555; font-family: Wingdings; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: NL; mso-hansi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;">«««</span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #555555; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: NL;">½<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #555555; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: NL;">(Steve
McQueen, 2013)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #555555; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: NL;">True
story of free black Solomon Northup, kidnapped by conmen and sold into slavery.
We know upfront that a happy ending is in the cards for Northup, so the film
works best when it focuses on the general monstrosities of slave trade. Weighed
down by distracting celebrity cameos. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<b><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #555555; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: NL;">TWIXT</span></b><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #555555; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: NL;"> </span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #555555; font-family: Wingdings; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: NL; mso-hansi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;">«</span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #555555; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: NL;">½<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #555555; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: NL;">(Francis
Ford Coppola, 2011)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<i><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #555555; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: NL;">Oy vey</span></i><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #555555; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: NL;">. From the once great
Coppola (<i>The Godfather, The Conversation,
Apocalypse Now</i>) comes this critically drubbed horror tale of a hack writer
(Val </span><span style="color: #555555; font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Kilmer,
looking like he spent too much time at the old country buffet) entangled in a </span><span style="color: #555555; font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">supernatural
murder mystery. Coppola is still enough of a talent to keep things visually
arresting, but this project is tainted by a paucity of vigor. Shot in 2011,
released in 2013.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-KaCVWj_sr26_2fwz8NOmySQjK3SUI2AkatrZBAI67sUVDY7OSGIdOZrqRuU8XcCNtNp9YpBLVSpKqdmU5BzjNR5vPABJOw_300PJljrT8tDK1nUdm4SilXD1VX-W36TR_pLnUFu34e5X/s1600/mov3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-KaCVWj_sr26_2fwz8NOmySQjK3SUI2AkatrZBAI67sUVDY7OSGIdOZrqRuU8XcCNtNp9YpBLVSpKqdmU5BzjNR5vPABJOw_300PJljrT8tDK1nUdm4SilXD1VX-W36TR_pLnUFu34e5X/s1600/mov3.jpg" height="213" width="400" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<i><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #555555; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif";">Stocky Val Kilmer is on
sale. A steal at 19,99!</span></i></div>
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<br /></div>
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<b><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #555555; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: NL;">VIE D’ADELE –
CHAPITRES 1 ET 2, LA </span></b><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #555555; font-family: Wingdings; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: NL; mso-hansi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;">«««</span><b><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #555555; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: NL;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #555555; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: NL;">(Abdellatif
Kechiche, 2013)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #555555; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: NL;">After
a fling with classmate Thomas, unassuming teen Adèle falls for gay art student
Emma. Thusly begins a romantic epic that chronicles their relationship from “meet
cute” to “pink goggles come off” to “neck or nothing.” Just Palm d’Or winner is
a powerful affair deserving of its many accolades, but I found fault with the
film’s long </span><span style="color: #555555; font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">sex
scenes, which tread a fine line between frankly intimate and gratuitous. I’m no
prude; I even enjoy exploitation cheapies that feature scantily clad women
beating up </span><span style="color: #555555; font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">vile
menfolk. (I’m fully aware that these aren’t so much </span><span style="color: #555555; font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">female empowering </span><span style="color: #555555; font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">showcases
as fetishistic fantasies of male directors.) But </span><i style="color: #555555; font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">La Vie d’Adèle</i><span style="color: #555555; font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"> is a serious drama, which makes it lamentable that
Kechiche foregoes his cínema vérité approach whenever the leads disrobe, capturing
the nubile women’s naked bodies from every possible angle as they bathe, masturbate,
perform cunnilingus, and </span><span style="color: #555555; font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">suckle
each other's nipples. (The actresses have gone public with their dislike of Kechiche’s
intimidating on-set behavior.) There are additional flaws: much is made of Adèle’s
friends and parents’ conservative stance on relationships, so why are these
parties unceremoniously dropped from the storyline once Adèle moves in with
Emma? All things considered, </span><i style="color: #555555; font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">La Vie
d’Adèle</i><span style="color: #555555; font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"> is a very good film with more than a few false notes. International
title: </span><i style="color: #555555; font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Blue is the Warmest Color</i><span style="color: #555555; font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">.
Based upon Julie Maroh’s graphic novel </span><i style="color: #555555; font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Dark
Angel</i><span style="color: #555555; font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">.</span></div>
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<b><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #555555; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: NL;">WOLF OF WALL
STREET, THE</span></b><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #555555; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: NL;"> </span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #555555; font-family: Wingdings; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: NL; mso-hansi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;">«««</span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #555555; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: NL;">½<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #555555; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: NL;">(Martin
Scorsese, 2013)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #555555; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: NL;">Scorsese’s
best and most energetic outing since <i>Goodfellas</i>
(1990). It’s no coincidence that <i>Wolf</i>,
too, deals with the rise and fall of an unlikable crook addicted to money, sex,
and a variety of illegal substances. </span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #555555; font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Whereas the dark <i>Goodfellas </i>crackled with ultraviolence, <i>Wolf</i> success</span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #555555; font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">fully </span><span style="color: #555555; font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">tries to tickle your funny bone with its antihero’s
clandestine </span><span style="color: #555555; font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">hijinks. Adapted from the memoirs by Jordon Belfort.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<b><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #555555; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: NL;">YOU’RE NEXT </span></b><span style="color: #555555; font-family: Wingdings; font-size: 12pt;">«</span><span style="color: #555555; font-family: Wingdings; font-size: 12pt;">«</span><span style="color: #555555; font-family: Wingdings; font-size: 12pt;">«</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #555555; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: NL;">(Adam
Weinbaum, 2013)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #555555; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: NL;">Tense
family reunion is cut short when masked killers come barging in. Darkly comic s</span><span style="color: #555555; font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">lasher
pleased mainstream critics but antagonized horror puritans. With Umberto Eco’s definition
of postmodernism in mind, I’m not above taking my 21</span><sup style="color: #555555; font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif;">st</sup><span style="color: #555555; font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"> century
horror films with a scoop of irony, than</span><span style="color: #555555; font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">ks heaps. The filmmakers also deserve a
pat on the back for steering the narrative into several unconventional directions. </span></div>
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</div>Nancy Stricklandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11274019937897310784noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-171243314050654360.post-13975346451728982332013-08-02T00:15:00.001+02:002014-01-09T17:45:38.530+01:00COMING SOONNow available. <a href="bol.com/nl/p/it-happened-at-the-movies/9200000020503801/">Click me!</a></br></br>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqnuBPzj83ipT2s7c-AexLt6iKf6aVeaRuI5CePlFkhzBswdL-A27ZsPDpARZdseXB-bzlXPgRLm4fm553WLWnIWPaObKeLMT6WRdIob5NfYlQtX_TLdXxuHTlEM9A3KUbTxc3aH-IT8VP/s1600/kaft6.jpg" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqnuBPzj83ipT2s7c-AexLt6iKf6aVeaRuI5CePlFkhzBswdL-A27ZsPDpARZdseXB-bzlXPgRLm4fm553WLWnIWPaObKeLMT6WRdIob5NfYlQtX_TLdXxuHTlEM9A3KUbTxc3aH-IT8VP/s640/kaft6.jpg" /></a>Nancy Stricklandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11274019937897310784noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-171243314050654360.post-16198005997626259532012-11-06T18:23:00.001+01:002012-11-06T18:24:32.948+01:00VOTE!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_JoMz6glkuopbj1r7CU9w4uVYULti9mNz-JG6z7uxdrPu48zWqRfqN5f4TrYONl8jQMu_ubFNcTY4jFVPG8dDHKQbrO3AZpFq6OOFpCBtxhsNBFONOHd96Jb6T1k62ATcadO2DAdrlP8r/s1600/obama-romney+x-large.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left:1em; margin-right:1em"><img border="0" height="300" width="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_JoMz6glkuopbj1r7CU9w4uVYULti9mNz-JG6z7uxdrPu48zWqRfqN5f4TrYONl8jQMu_ubFNcTY4jFVPG8dDHKQbrO3AZpFq6OOFpCBtxhsNBFONOHd96Jb6T1k62ATcadO2DAdrlP8r/s400/obama-romney+x-large.jpg" /></a></div><br>
Just because we have a two-party system, doesn’t mean we should sing the praises of one imperfect candidate and demonize the other.<br>
I am friends with both Romney supporters and Obama supporters, and I am able to understand and respect their individual decisions. Doing otherwise is neither constructive nor unifying.<br>
Vote!<br><br>Nancy Stricklandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11274019937897310784noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-171243314050654360.post-23084968197890445962012-06-10T18:50:00.000+02:002012-06-23T04:51:16.732+02:00UEFA: FAILURE WAS AN OPTIONA short post UEFA match WhatsApp chat with an American friend.</br></br>
<b>Harold</b>: A little bird whispered in my ear that Holland lost its first European Championship match.</br></br>
<b>Me</b>: You heard right. We totally suck. Tell me how much we suck. Tell me I’m a bad girl.</br></br>
<b>Harold</b>: Nah, I’m not going to do that. Well, I hope you still had a good time last night.</br></br>
<b>Me</b>: Fun? After witnessing how our boys got their asses kicked by <i>Kong</i> Christian? Oh, sure, we had a blast...until I lost my cool and screamed at my friends that I would ritualistically murder them and bury them in the courtyard.</br></br>
<b>Harol</b>d: O.o How classy of you to take your disappointment out on the girls. How did they react to that?</br></br>
<b>Me</b>: By screaming in agony as I stabbed them to death while pledging to consecrate my life to the Golden Calf.</br></br>
<b>Harold</b>: The fuck?</br></br>
<b>Me</b>: All hail the bovine god. </br></br>Nancy Stricklandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11274019937897310784noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-171243314050654360.post-11467975425503552722012-05-31T22:54:00.001+02:002012-05-31T22:54:54.401+02:00WALTER WHITE LECTURING ME<embed src="http://www.waltswisdom.com/flash/waltsplayer_ext.swf?_id=3105ntf9rd" quality="high" bgcolor="#ffffff" width="489" height="280" name="project" align="middle" allowScriptAccess="sameDomain" allowFullScreen="false" type="application/x-shockwave-flash"></embed>Nancy Stricklandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11274019937897310784noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-171243314050654360.post-84738296087577220262012-05-26T11:47:00.000+02:002014-01-11T19:21:21.169+01:00QUOTES FROM MY BOOK<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhweFYSen9huyv79xIum0XCi41btUZ1q1u0GH6XPxqNSSrudqArSFSkETtgzq_AEEoI8lj0QxLSie-tvHfqUzJQCU8zu1XEunUYBO0jQ9mNjMNs4w3iSSL4FjJyzc2W5NPfxTvAxAOtFgF-/s400/a1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left:1em; margin-right:1em"><img border="0" height="400" width="267" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhweFYSen9huyv79xIum0XCi41btUZ1q1u0GH6XPxqNSSrudqArSFSkETtgzq_AEEoI8lj0QxLSie-tvHfqUzJQCU8zu1XEunUYBO0jQ9mNjMNs4w3iSSL4FjJyzc2W5NPfxTvAxAOtFgF-/s400/a1.jpg" /></a></div></br></br>
Some selected quotes from my book of essays <a href="http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/usernamenancy"><b>Landfill</b></a>:</br></br>
<i>"Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life.</i></br>
-Confucius</br>
<i>Confucius best not show his face in North Philly.</i></br>
-My pappy"</br></br>
<i>"Superstition hinders progress; critical thinking drives it. Unfortunately, western society appears eager to revert to a pre-Rise of reason mentality."</i></br></br>
<i>"Yes, Al Gore, we need to wise up and take better care of our natural resources, but I refuse to plant a tree for every four-ply sheet of Charmin I flush down the privy."</i></br></br>
<i>"I’m pro-choice, not pro-abortion. I believe that abortion should never be an alternative for contraception/contragestion, common sense, and the personal responsibility of those having consensual relations."</i></br></br>
Thirsty for more? Go <a href="http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/usernamenancy"><b>HERE</b></a>.</br></br>Nancy Stricklandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11274019937897310784noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-171243314050654360.post-51564918757468375412012-04-02T20:45:00.015+02:002014-01-11T19:22:04.008+01:00TERRENCE MALICK RETURNS TO CANNESThis just in: Terrence Malick’s new film, <span style="font-weight:bold;">The Burial</span>, is slated to premiere at the Festival de Cannes (May 16-May 27).
Malick’s previous cinematic endeavor, <span style="font-weight:bold;">The Tree of Life</span>, won the festival's 2011 grand prix. Remember the film’s breathtaking “formation of the universe” sequence? Here it is in glorious HD. </br></br>
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/9EEIeH7ymwA?rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></br></br>
Curious as to what I thought of Malick's polarizing tour de force? Order my book of essays <a href="http://www.lulu.com/shop/search.ep?keyWords=landfill+nancy+strickland&sorter=relevance-desc">Landfill</a>
today and find out! Mystery discount until April 6! </br></br>Nancy Stricklandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11274019937897310784noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-171243314050654360.post-61704776593924099532012-03-05T21:03:00.005+01:002012-10-15T05:52:50.560+02:00E-BOOK AVAILABLE!<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgY-a1l8iNsAOs3__MizriFW8g3fOKyllFik0NNeuuivH9KUzSIYO_YDyEiOD3r_fzNPp_1Avw2zeYIRdq4scfJ4sihDLPZgUkdCx0jHAmyyPYoFK0YnqS_WkFutco1PZ5ohH4jZCXSn4e6/s1600/lolol.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 310px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgY-a1l8iNsAOs3__MizriFW8g3fOKyllFik0NNeuuivH9KUzSIYO_YDyEiOD3r_fzNPp_1Avw2zeYIRdq4scfJ4sihDLPZgUkdCx0jHAmyyPYoFK0YnqS_WkFutco1PZ5ohH4jZCXSn4e6/s400/lolol.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5716507317389720930" /></a></br></br>
<a href="http://tinyurl.com/6ltjjnd">Landfill</a>, my book of essays,
is now also available as <a href="http://tinyurl.com/7konw4k">e-book</a>
</br></br>
If you ordered me at gunpoint to give you a one-sentence summary of this book, I’d probably stutter: “It’s about what I thought, observed, and experienced in 2011...please don’t shoot me!” Need a more thorough introduction? Then kindly turn to the page headed “Introduction.” For now, permit me to entice you with some tags: Harry Potter, the May 21 end times prediction, New Age shenanigans, feminism, Osama bin Laden, the Norway attacks, and this year's most anticipated movies (Melancholia; The Tree of Life; Scre4m; Somewhere). Booyah! — Nancy Strickland</br></br>
Pics: Photographer Amanda De Vito posing with the book.</br></br>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMVCdnM6cmzf5Brw0Jhivi-aGweKB9FJ0GZ9aTfJNFQjDzOnwXnYAIGSVi5TrzVHfkwEvlWjZ52Zep6ayrRjTJ1j_LlOFbK3i0COtFU5gJwVfaYyNHveSMWxqQNuG5xl6OKmKEHleYhTqn/s1600/423829_10150639333244765_626014764_9009462_1987343176_n.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 268px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMVCdnM6cmzf5Brw0Jhivi-aGweKB9FJ0GZ9aTfJNFQjDzOnwXnYAIGSVi5TrzVHfkwEvlWjZ52Zep6ayrRjTJ1j_LlOFbK3i0COtFU5gJwVfaYyNHveSMWxqQNuG5xl6OKmKEHleYhTqn/s400/423829_10150639333244765_626014764_9009462_1987343176_n.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5721401565242442338" /></a>Nancy Stricklandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11274019937897310784noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-171243314050654360.post-45878679660291671202012-01-26T22:26:00.013+01:002012-12-13T04:45:54.742+01:00MORE RELIGIOUS HATE MAILYesterday I was watching a YouTube video featuring the late Christopher Hitchens. I scrolled down to the comment section and found a recent one from someone whose username sounded oddly familiar. After massaging my temples for a few seconds, I realized that this was the same individual who'd left some aggressive comments on a video that debunked Scottish medium Derek Ogilvie. </br></br>
His comment on the Christopher Hitchens video: “<span style="font-style:italic;">This guy should find god!</span>” </br></br>
Feeling compelled to reply to this, I wrote: “<span style="font-style:italic;">Mr. Hitchens died in December 2011. Maybe you should refrain from commenting on someone you know nothing about. Aside from that, telling others they need to find God is a bit rich coming from someone who is belligerent and disrespectful in his own (Dutch) comments ("eerloze rotkop", etc). You want others to change? Then set an example. (Let he who is without sin cast the first stone.)</span>” </br></br>
His reaction: “<span style="font-style:italic;">I may express myself the way I like…You’ve got nothing to do with that. Fuck you!</span>” </br></br>
My. Jesus would have been in envy of such biting wit and intellectual superiority. </br></br>
I never avoid debates, but if it becomes apparent that my opponent is ignorant (or not quite right in the head) and so chooses to counter my arguments with insults and non-sequiturs, I walk away from it. </br></br>
But, color me amazed, this individual wasn’t quite done with me yet and sent me the following private message: </br></br>
“<span style="font-style:italic;">I was a non believer to till i was 29. Now i am finding my way into religion.... It helps me to stay more focused and calm, and yes I got a litlle bit crazy during the years. But I am getting better now it was a hard long way for me believe that. I hope for you your life will be easier!</span>” </br></br>
I couldn’t let this one slide. My reply: “<span style="font-style:italic;">First you say </span>‘fuck you!’ <span style="font-style:italic;">to me in a comment and then you have the nerve to send me a personal message claiming your belief in God CALMS you...Wow. Good luck with your obvious emotional instability (which is something you have in common with other people who suddenly started believing in God for wrong, insincere reasons). Tip: THINK before you post comments on videos.</span>” </br></br>
His reply: “<span style="font-style:italic;">Fuck you! You suck!</span>” </br></br>
The mind boggles. </br></br>
I thought long and hard about it and finally decided to disclose the individual’s username: <a href="http://www.youtube.com/user/normanwieanders">normanwieanders</a>. My reasoning: other YouTube users should know that this person can’t be reasoned with. It just might save them precious time and energy. </br></br>Nancy Stricklandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11274019937897310784noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-171243314050654360.post-24636105485152586102011-12-22T09:16:00.010+01:002012-10-15T04:56:11.868+02:00KIM-JONG IL AND THE DUBIOUS TEARS OF THE PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC<center><iframe width="460" height="215" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/pSWN6Qj98Iw?rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></center></br></br>
Bad acting? Crocodile tears? No, the salty droplets that trickled down millions of cheeks are as sincere as a Christian’s fear to spend eternity in hell if they were to ignore their God’s list of do and don’ts.
In the isolated country of North Korea, where censorship runs rampant and the government’s propaganda machine is one’s main source of information, people are inclined to believe that rainbows and a new star indeed appeared in the sky when Kim Jong-Il was born. </br>
The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea is largely secular, but Kim was worshipped as a man with godlike qualities. He was the supreme leader, the general who single-handedly made North-Korea such a nirvana. In reality, the population lived in poverty while Kim was living it up and doing as he pleased. </br>
But the people of North Korea aren´t ignorant — how could they be when the less-than-wonderful reality is part of their everyday lives? They know the score. They also know that complaining could lead to a life sentence, or worse. </br>The national impact of the larger-than-life Kim's death is something we privileged westerners will never be able to fathom. The great leader you were spoon-fed to obey and love dies and the news cameras are up close to record your sadness, so a subtle approach won't do. No, you turn on the waterworks. You cry harder than the comrades flanking you. You give the mothers of the Plaza de Maya a run for their money. You sob, bawl, cry a river, howl, scream. You thrust your fists against the wall and throw in an agitated “why?!” for good measure.</br>
And if the sadness of some people appears less than genuine, well, that´s because no matter how adept they've grown at fooling themselves, they can never completely silence their inner bullshit-o-meters. </br>Nancy Stricklandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11274019937897310784noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-171243314050654360.post-90358135949164711852011-12-20T22:27:00.018+01:002011-12-29T20:28:32.629+01:00CHRISTOPHER HITCHENS DIES, CHRISTIAN VULTURES SWOOP DOWN<center><iframe width="460" height="215" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/8FmIMAA46A8?rel=0&hd=1" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></center></br>
Mr. Fischer:</br></br>
How classy of you to say such things so soon after Christopher Hitchens’s untimely death. I'm willing to wager the €8.23 in my savings account that this episode´s script was written months ago. I'm right, am I not? You are such a ghoul that you wanted to have a response ready the second Mr. Hitchens passed away.</br> Taking into account that he didn´t just defy your imaginary friend but also your imaginary nemesis, the idea of Mr. Hitchens in hell simply doesn’t make a lick of sense. You often say “Let me explain” in your videos. Not because your statements are intellectually compelling and need elucidating, but because they are so illogical that bending over backwards is required to make them appear infallible. </br>
I completely fail to see how sending Mr. Hitchens to hell would be an act of love. No matter from what angle I approach this nonsensical concept, the conclusion is always: it would be an act of gleeful sadism. </br>
Inspired by your reasoning, I wrote the following fictional dialogue between a mother and her child. </br>
Child: “What’s for dinner tonight, mommy?” </br>
Mother: “Sweetheart, you always have something bad to say about my cooking. You don’t like my salads and you flat-out refuse to sample my casseroles. Today it dawned on me how cruel it would be of me to keep serving you my culinary creations. This is why I have decided to force feed you dog turds from this point on. It’s the most logical and loving thing a mother can do.” </br></br>
Definitely not yours, </br>
Nancy B. StricklandNancy Stricklandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11274019937897310784noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-171243314050654360.post-19148654665909229712011-12-05T10:27:00.006+01:002012-12-20T01:26:28.376+01:00CHILDREN AS POLITICAL WEAPONS<center><object width="480" height="360"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/2K8CGeC2M_U?version=3&hl=nl_NL&rel=0"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/2K8CGeC2M_U?versionhttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif=3&hl=nl_NL&rel=0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="480" height="360" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true"></embed></object>></center></br>
The title of this video is <span style="font-style:italic;">Activist Elijah</span>. One person who reblogged this video called Elijah "a brave little man." Sigh. Young master Elijah is as much a brave activist as Basmallah (<a href="http://youtu.be/ZL0C2QvqIlo">http://youtu.be/ZL0C2QvqIlo</a>) is a determined antisemite. Both shy kids were obviously coerced into citing rehearsed lines. </br>
Manipulation is suddenly okay when our side is doing it, eh? GTFO, hypocrite twits.Nancy Stricklandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11274019937897310784noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-171243314050654360.post-24106664644186347502011-04-10T00:50:00.020+02:002011-12-29T03:11:34.114+01:00THE HUMAN CENTIPEDE<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2zX-CWbPBbKu8d3rYriPCPVGXSlbE5dYf41hn-bV2RGVwmxWFj4wrjZPq8wVINBbP8OVtDalKJ-6DK5St5DWSsV_dqdVxboOKoXOfIBTLs4ToRtBA9zCKXbWHakN8FKJJsd2PlA8xxxlo/s1600/09.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 180px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2zX-CWbPBbKu8d3rYriPCPVGXSlbE5dYf41hn-bV2RGVwmxWFj4wrjZPq8wVINBbP8OVtDalKJ-6DK5St5DWSsV_dqdVxboOKoXOfIBTLs4ToRtBA9zCKXbWHakN8FKJJsd2PlA8xxxlo/s320/09.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5604752161214630290" /></a><br></br>
Two female American tourists in need of a tow knock on a German recluse’s door and end up being unwilling participants in a gruesome surgical experiment called<em>The Human Centipede</em>. And how, exactly, does one create a human centipede? Aided by a stomach churning slideshow, Dr. Heiter explains that the “segments” (the girls and a male tourist from Japan) are to be sewn “ass to mouth.” Gulp.<b></b><p></p>
Dutch director Tom Six made two other films prior to <span style="font-style:italic;">The Human Centipede</span>: <span style="font-style:italic;">Gay</span>, a lowbrow comedy about, well, gays in Amsterdam; and <span style="font-style:italic;">I Love Dries</span>, a comedy centering on the fictional kidnapping of a real Dutch singer by a married couple in short supply of celeb donor seed. Oh my. You’ll forgive me for being less than stoked upon the announcement that Six had another flick in the can.<b></b><p></p> When I was given the chance to see <em>The Human Centipede</em> at a genre festival in Amsterdam, I tentatively entered the auditorium with zero expectations (that’s not entirely true — I expected an abomination), but when the lights went back on, I’d been surprised. Not pleasantly surprised per se, but surprised all the same. While it's true that <em>The Human Centipede</em> (taking place in Germany but shot in Holland) gives new meaning to the phrase “ass to mouth,” Six left most to the imagination. Maybe he realized gore wasn’t necessary — the premise alone suffices to make some people heave — or perhaps he simply lacked the funds to create convincing special make up effects. Either way, it’s not in the gore department alone where Six shows admirable restraint: his actresses are topless for a significant portion of the film’s running time, but not once does the camera linger on their breasts.<br>
<em>The Human Centipede</em> isn’t cerebral by any stretch of the imagination, but Six DOES seem to be more interested in the victims’ mental ordeal than in gratuitous exploitation. <b></b><p></p>
<em>The Human Centipede</em> never becomes as intense as a, say, <em>Martyrs</em>, but the victims’ anguish is palpable enough: the two girls can’t do anything but moan and sob uncontrollably, their eyes expressing continuous fear and pain. Just imagine the humiliation, the strain on your neck, the cramps in your arms and legs, the inability to properly breathe, the knowledge that if you’d yank yourself loose…um, you know what, let’s not even go there.<b></b><p></p>
A particularly interesting aspect of the film is that the victims and their tormentor are of different nationalities. Ironically, it’s the Japanese Katsuro Dr. Heiter made the ‘head’ of the centipede; while the intactness of his vocal cords enables Katsuro to verbally express hate and disgust, he neither speaks nor understands German or English and the crazy doctor simply treats him like a disobedient pet. At the same time, intonation proves to go a long way when it comes to conveying meaning and intention. Besides, the majority of the communication in this film is of the nonverbal variety anyway: pain, anger, and fear are international emotions that make subtitles superfluous.<b></b><p></p>
Critics have been unkind about the acting abilities of leads Ashlynn Yennie and Ashley C. Williams. I don’t know on what kind of yardstick judging of acting with one’s lips wrapped around an “arsch” can be based, but I think both girls are solid. Creepy Dieter Lasser as Heiter is the undeniable show stealer here, despite — or because of — his tendency to ham it up (“<em>Feeeddd herrr</em>!”). Akihiro Kitamura is probably the best of the bunch, convincingly displaying a wide range of emotions. <b></b><p></p>
I’m not sure if <em>The Human Centipede</em> is a good film. It’s an effective piece of work, that’s for sure, but it never becomes the hard slap in the face it could have been. Maybe Six lacks the experience to take the audience to a really dark place, or maybe he got scared of the material’s potential and opted to keep things as lighthearted and unpretentious as possible. <b></b><p></p>
Looking forward to <em>The Human Centipede: Full Sequence</em> (to be released later this year) yet? <b></b><p></p>
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/IX8fKLjC__c?rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>><br></br>Nancy Stricklandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11274019937897310784noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-171243314050654360.post-89468760397463867992010-11-20T00:02:00.004+01:002012-10-15T05:10:26.109+02:00MARTYRS<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrnlVzGLJXuViJlbGpn2_VadNOhhTlmL-rdnZ87exqmG4sDjW7dNRMTlzeN5u9_6DuJ4sPZ4KHI38ejzn7PFHMOAQ8P9akBRasXiIP2Bz58OFEPCdc4nJTI9KkgSGqATN7tQRtYvFXu4cF/s1600/martyrs.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 236px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrnlVzGLJXuViJlbGpn2_VadNOhhTlmL-rdnZ87exqmG4sDjW7dNRMTlzeN5u9_6DuJ4sPZ4KHI38ejzn7PFHMOAQ8P9akBRasXiIP2Bz58OFEPCdc4nJTI9KkgSGqATN7tQRtYvFXu4cF/s320/martyrs.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5601158938239595586" border="0" /></a>
</P>I never say upfront “it’s gonna be the best night ever” when my pahdroogas and I organize a slumber party but I don’t expect to be a traumatized shell of a lass by the time the rooster starts crowing either. <br>What the hell has gotten into them Frenchies? The country that has given the world freedom fries, weirdly shaped bread, hairy armpits, and cinematic darlings such as Truffaut, Godard and, um, a bunch of others whose names my derriere can’t pronounce, is now responsible for some of the sickest films my peepers have been exposed to. I enjoyed <em>Haute Tension</em> (and will forever defend its third act twist), admired <em>À l'intérieur</em> (O, copy-paste, how I love thee), but Pascal Laugier's M<em>artyrs</em> felt like punishment. <br><br>The film starts on young teen Lucie running through some desolated industrial landscape, screaming her head off. Baffled authorities turn the site upside down, find nothing, and place the disturbed girl in a mental institute. Lucie hasn’t been raped, physical damage is minimal, and because she refuses to talk about what happened during the 18 months she’d gone missing, investigations quickly come to a dead end. Lucie slowly regains her ability to socialize and interact with other people, but the nightly visits she receives from a ghostly apparition indicate that the girl is far from cured.<br><br>Fifteen years later Lucie knocks on the door of a suburban house and guns down every member of the nuclear family that lives there. She then gives her friend Anna a call and asks her to pick up a shovel or two at the hardware store on her way over. <br>What in the world gave Lucie the idea that this family is responsible for whatever happened to her? A reasonable question also posed by Anna. “It’s the mother’s perfume. I smelled this every day I was in there,” an exasperated Lucie tells her and we can tell by the look on Anna’s face that she’s thinking the same things we are: As if this woman is the only person on earth to use this particular perfume…as if she’d still use the same brand fifteen years later. And why the hell did you also shoot the innocent teenage children? Lucie, you’re demented. But Anna is in lesbians with Lucie so she decides to let this one slide. <br><br>A flashback shows us what Lucie had to endure during her captivity: she was tied to a chair, force fed, and slapped around. Pretty mild stuff by torture porn standards. When she managed to escape, she had to make a quick and difficult decision: save another, older girl in an adjacent room or abscond. Lucie opted for the latter and the violent apparition that has haunted her ever since is nothing more than a manifestation of her guilt over abandoning the other victim. <br><br>Lucie ends up slicing her own throat and Anna, having no other engagements, decides to stick around. By chance, she happens upon a hidden underground chamber where she encounters a chained, enunciated woman wearing a metal mask bolted to her face. Anna realizes that Lucie was right all along and frees the woman, who also goes razor happy on herself. <br><br>We’ve hit the halfway mark at this point and <em>Martyrs</em> will now make a sharp U-turn. Associates of the butchered family show up and imprison Anna in the underground chamber. An old woman tells Anna that she (the old bag) belongs to an organization that believes in making young women suffer in order to gain knowledge about the afterlife. Um, right. <em>Give me that old-time religion, Give me that old-time religion, Give me that old-time religion, It's good enough for me. <br></em><br>Suffer Anna will. I know that many people don’t care for this part of the film, calling it run of the mill torture porn with a tacky pretentious twist. Yeah, well, maybe, but hey, it’s a French film so you can bet Little Timmy ten bucks that it’ll contain two things: snootiness and jugs. I don’t care for the highfalutin reasons behind the tortures either but that doesn’t change the impact Anna’s suffering had on me. Films like<em> Saw</em> and <em>Hostel</em> are <em>Grand Guignol</em> for the multiplex audiences, featuring bland characters being offed in grotesque ways that inspire giggles and apathetic admiration for the make-up effects. No power tools or weird contraptions are to be found in Martyrs, nor does it need any. When Anna is locked up in the underground chamber, we’re right there with her. We have been through hell with this girl, we genuinely care for her and hope she’ll manage to escape. Gradually it dawns on both Anna and the viewer that she won’t find a way out of her predicament and it hurts to see the repeated beatings and mental anguish taking their toll on the poor thing. Anna’s physical beauty fades and she has a complete mental breakdown. Finally, she reaches what Dr. Katherine Kübler-Ross would call ‘the stage of acceptance.’ <br><br>After an unspecified period (weeks? Months? Years?), the cult decides that Anna is ready for the next level…and flay her alive. The tortures unexpectedly turning gory packed a real punch in my dorm room. I hit the pause button and, as if on cue, my friend and roommate Denise bolted for the bathroom. Judging from the sounds that emerged from the little girl’s room, she was giving Regan MacNeil a run for her money. My friend Linda's response to the horrors on the screen was more subdued: she started to tremble and cry. In lieu of consoling her, I put on my coat and went outside, relishing the cool air and the peaceful chirping of crickets. <br><em>Children of the night, what sweet music they make.</em> <br><br>Usually the gals and I whoop and cheer while watching a horror film. We make sarcastic remarks and throw popcorn at the television screen when characters make one dumb decision too many for our liking. In the case of <em>Martyrs</em>, seeing the ghostly apparition rear its ugly mug for the first time made us scream with delight and we uttered a collective ‘wow!’ when Lucie shot the head of the family, but it didn’t take the film long to turn us into mutes. No one went to the fridge to get another Pepsi, the big bowl filled with buttery popcorn was ignored, and cigarette breaks were skipped in silent agreement. And now Denise was sitting on all fours tossing her cookies, her hair kept out of her face by a sobbing Linda. <br><br>I tried to put some distance between<em> Martyrs</em> and myself by approaching it in a pseudo-intellectual way: Was it a good film? Did it have anything insightful about the human condition to offer? How many stars would I reward it? Does any of that matter when a film has the power to turn its viewers into emotional wrecks? <em>Martyrs</em> succeeds in what it set out to accomplish and, like <em>Lilja-4-Ever</em>, is one of those rare films I applaud but never want to see again. <br><br>Now, where did I put that goddamn bottle of Prozac?
<P><font style="FONT-SIZE: 12px"></font></P>Nancy Stricklandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11274019937897310784noreply@blogger.com0