Chris Barsanti's Blog, page 149

Weekend Reading: May 15, 2015

“He’s the one we all chase;” “I don’t pay much attention to her;” what Hollywood thinks of top film critics off the record. Test yourself at the National Geographic Bee. Meet ApologetiX, the Christian Weird Al. The robot cars of our future will still need humans. Hillary Clinton takes a stroll around Brooklyn Heights. Funny, were it not sad. To be an American citizen, you just need to be born here; maybe not any longer. Munchausen by Internet; faking illness online. When the president goes...

Now Playing: ‘Slow West’

Michael Fassbender and Kodi Smit-McPhee get acquainted in ‘Slow West’ (A24)

A teenaged boy embarks on an epic journey to track down the woman he loves … and bad guys intervene.

Slow West is playing now in limited release. My review is atFilm Journal International:

Indie westerns have blazed and snuck across screens for the past few years in a variety of flavors, from the lo-fi musings of Meek’s Cutoff to the bloody-minded vengeance of The Salvation. But none has been quite as surreptitiously...

Writer’s Desk: But is it a Job?

Thomas Mann; he wrote.

In his essay for theTimes on whether or not being a writer is a job or not (as opposed to a calling, hobby, or what have you), Benjamin Moser comes down very firmly on the side of, well, maybe.

He knows what it is: Grueling, exasperating, time-sucking, unavoidable.

He knows what it is not: Easy to define or easy to do.

Then there’s this:

“A writer is someone for whom writing is more difficult than it is for other people,” Thomas Mann said; and it is good that no beginne...

Readers’ Corner: Collecting Rare Editions

There are book lovers who don’t care about condition, they will take books in any kind of format: split-back hardcover, old 50-cent Bantam paperback with yellowing pages slipping out of the binding. It doesn’t matter: just gimme.

Then there are the book collectors, many of whom are still book lovers, but who are also entranced by the physical thing itself, the heft and weight of the paper and the delicate tracery of an embossed slipcase from the previous century.

You would think the latter ty...

Now Playing: ‘Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck”

Young Cobain (HBO Films)

Even though it was produced in association with Kurt Cobain’s family, the new documentary about his tragically short life has a bracing honesty that makes it required viewing.

Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck is playing now in limited release and also on HBO. My review is atFilm Racket:

Brett Morgen’s deft and fascinating documentary about America’s last true rock star is shot through with inevitability. But that never detracts from the raw emotional power of a film made...

Weekend Reading: May 8, 2015

Most of the Bible’s spiritual heroes didn’t have “traditional” marriages. Kim Gordon, etc.; aspire to be cool, not beautiful. Maybe just open the borders and let everyone in, everywhere; they probably won’t stay. The myth of those 80-hour work weeks. The babies weren’t dead but secretly given up for adoption. Culture wars: How the neocons kept fighting against the Sixties long after it was over. Google map that might be meaningless: most racist places in America. Think Texas is going to let...

Now Playing: ‘Avengers: Age of Ultron’

SomeAvengers, in a moment of friendly contemplation, sans outfits (Marvel Studios)

The band gets back together in Joss Whedon’sAvengers: Age of Ultron, which is now playing everywhere throughout the Multiverse.

My review is at PopMatters:

A sturdy piece of inessential workmanship, The Avengers: Age of Ultron begins where it ends, with Joss Whedon shooting the works. In “Sokovia,” another made-up slice of the Balkans, the Avengers are assaulting a mountain fortress controlled by Hydra. That wo...

Writer’s Desk: Poe

It’s safe to say that whatever else one thinks about Edgar Allan Poe—besides inventing the mystery story and giving sneaky people in Baltimore something to do for many years—his mastery of setting and mood is unassailable.

So when Poe, inThe Philosophy of Composition, decides to proffer some ideas on writing, it’s best to listen up. His advice has less to do with inspiration or imagineering than it does with planning, plotting, and mapping the whole thing out beforehand. Not one for winging i...

Weekend Reading: May 1, 2015

Bill Gates on the first steps toward saving millions from treatable diseases. It’s not that some conservatives think there’s going to be a disaster, it’s that theywant a disaster. Baltimore defeats the great libertarian hopeful. No Kiss camera, no fans; the creepy silence at Camden. Reasonsnot to put an NHL team (or any other team, really) in Las Vegas. The Society for Creative Anachronism close up. Here’s what theWall Street Journal Interactiveonline edition looked like in 1996. Print a...

New in Theaters: ‘Far from the Madding Crowd’

Carey Mulligan and dog in ‘Far from the Madding Crowd’ (Fox Searchlight)

In Thomas Vinterberg’s take on Thomas Hardy’sFar from the Madding Crowd, the beautiful outfits and gorgeous Dorset vistas don’t detract a bit from a story about a strong-willed woman willing to rebuff all suitors, no matter how well-suited they might seem.

My review is atPopMatters:

Some people have all the luck. Take Bathsheba Everdere (Carey Mulligan), the willful heroine in Thomas Vintenberg’s gleamingly romantic adap...