Chris Barsanti's Blog, page 132

Weekend Reading: February 26, 2016

Is Saudi Arabia a criminal cartel or family corporation? Either way, it can’t last as a country; here’s why. Stop telling little girls to be careful and scared all the time. What happens whenDylan quotes end up in Supreme Court decisions. 25 years after Desert Storm, still fighting the old war. Evangelicals, not necessarily all right-wing. “We beg Clinton to run, and then accuse her of feeling ‘entitled’ to win.“ Donald Trump and the white supremacists campaigning for him. Sen. Lindsey Grah...

Rewind: Bill Murray’s Moonage Daydream in ‘The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou’

As the first in an occasional set of posts that look to some great (or even not so great) films from years or even decades ago that are worth going back to revisit, let’s start off with a real gem: Wes Anderson’s Bowie dream of a Bill Murray acid trip,The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou.

“Bill Murray’s Moonage Daydream inThe Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou” is atMedium:

Murray ambles through his performance as oceanographer Steve Zissou, whose longtime partner was just eaten by a rare species...

Writer’s Desk: Writing Advice from Antonin Scalia

Although the late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia was best known for his strident dissents from not only his fellow liberal judges on the bench but even occasionally his conservative allies, he always prided himself on not just theslashing wit contained in his decisions but on his readable and provocative style.

A few years back, Scaliaco-authored a book,Making Your Case: The Art of Persuading Judges. Some of its advice on presentation — dress to impress, and “Maintain a dignified and r...

Weekend Reading: February 19, 2016

Golf, bubblegum, and soccer: Some of Scalia’s more notable dissents. Now the black helicopter crowd is getting in on it. And the oddsmakers have it: Sri Srinivasan as Barry’s appointee. For your enjoyment: The Scalia Insult Generator. And what’s going to happen in North Carolina? What the Supreme Court could stand to learn from the Jedi Council. Thanks, by the way, for not caring about exonerated prisoners and giving us Bush v. Gore . Print and read: Don’t believe the hype, Scalia let politic...

TV Room: ‘Vinyl’ Misses a Step With Punk

Thenewest Martin Scorsese/Terence Winter seriesVinyl is in many ways like their last one,Boardwalk Empire: A pulpy concoction of jagged historical anecdotes thrown into the HBO antihero blender. This time, instead of bootleggers and crooked politicians conniving duringProhibition in a glitzed-up Atlantic City, it’s an origin story for punk (and potentially hip-hop) set in a rotting 1973 New York.

Vinyl is running Sunday nights on HBO. My review of the two-hour Scorsese-directed premiere is a...

Screening Room: ‘Embrace of the Serpent’

InEmbrace of the Serpent, the partially real, highly imagined stories of two white explorers in the Amazon rain forest are threaded into a kaleidoscopic journey into the last daysof a pre-modern civilization.

Embrace of the Serpentopens in limited release this week. My review is atFilm Journal International:

Further research would be needed to prove this theory. But it’s probable that nowhere in the writings of Theodor Koch-Grünberg(1872–1924) and Richard Evans Schultes(1915–2001) would you...

Screening Room: ‘The Witch’

A period creep-fest,The Witch dives into the surprisingly rarely-tilled soil of Puritan-era New England for its tale of possession, madness, and magic afflicting one isolated family.

The Witch opens this week in limited release. My review is atPopMatters:

A shiver machine that runs cool and low with spiritual trepidation and darkly sexual undercurrents, The Witch makes a daring choice. Set in 17th century New England, it wraps primary-sourced dialogue and folklore into a horror story. Writer...

TV Room: ‘The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution’

If your PBS affiliate shows the seriesIndependent Lens, one of the better non-cable televisual outlets for documentaries right now, tune in tonight forThe Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution. It’s directed by the greatStanley Nelson (Jonestown, Freedom Riders), who turns his gaze to the story of the country’s last great radical movement, and how it was destroyed just before falling apart.

My review of The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution, which played in theaters last fall,i...

Writer’s Corner: Kill Your Cliches

Marlon James, the Booker Award-winning author of The Book of Night Women andA Brief History of Seven Killings, has some advice on cliches, presented as a series of questions to the struggling writer.

A few selections:

“How many times can the sun kiss you before it gets inappropriate?” “If noise keeps assaulting your ears can you file a complaint?” “Why are pipes always leaking, heat always sweltering, breezes always gentle, rain always soft, eyes always blue, streets always busy, holes alway...

Screening Room: ‘Mountains May Depart’

Now that the Chinese stock market is whipsawing from highs to lows and the permanent growth cycle appears to be broken, it’s probably the perfect time for a state-of-the-nation drama from one of the great modern Chinese directors:Jia Zhangke.

Mountains May Depart is playing now in limited release. My review is atPopMatters:

Whatever is left of China at the start of Jia Zhangke’sepic triptych Mountains May Depart, it isn’t a place for which anyone will feel nostalgic. The first scene, set in 1...