Chris Barsanti's Blog, page 159

Department of Weekend Reading: December 19, 2014

Holding torturers accountable: Pardon them.
That story about the high school students who made $72 million in stocks was pretty cool;also totally untrue.
Being smarter about Cuba,only a few decades late.
Bipartisan Cold War rhetoric and the “borderline euphoria” with which defense contractors responded to Russia’s takeover of the Crimea.
The coming year in global instability:Iraq and Afghanistan maybe unraveling; Somalia, less so.
Some reasons whyKeystone may not matter anymore, and everybody can...

New in Theaters: ‘Mr. Turner’

Timothy Spall in ‘Mr. Turner’ (Sony Pictures Classics)

Mike Leigh tends to be the director one goes to for deft character studies (Secrets and Lies, Another Year,and such), not gorgeous period pieces. Nevertheless, Leigh took on the life story of one of Britian’s greatest painters, J.M.W. Turner, with all the costumery and flattering lighting one could ask for.

Mr. Turneropensthis week in limited release. My review is atFilm Racket:

Anybody looking for a cozy holiday costume drama about a famous...

New in Theaters: ‘Song of the Sea’

Song of the Sea is the newest dream-woven piece of Irish animation from Tomm Moore, director of the uncommonly beautifulBook of Kells. It opens in limited release this Friday.

I reviewed it forFilm Journal International:

The film begins as morose as a funeral lament, albeit a gripping one etched in splendidly dark tones. That tone ratchets further down once the children’s stern old hunchbacked Granny comes to stay. But after she convinces Conor to have Ben and Saorise live with her in Dublin, M...

Writer’s Corner: Your Life is Always Good Material

(photo by Steve Lyon)

When I was teaching —I taught for a while —my students would write as if they were raised by wolves. Or raised on the streets. They were middle-class kids and they were ashamed of their background. They felt like unless they grew up in poverty, they had nothing to write about. Which was interesting because I had always thought that poor people were the ones who were ashamed. But it’s not. It’s middle-class people who are ashamed of their lives. And it doesn’t really matte...

New in Theaters: ‘The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies’

Martin Freeman as Bilbo in ‘The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies’ (Warner Bros.)

Six films and who knows how many gajillion dollars of revenue later, Peter Jackson’s monumental, exhausting adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien’s Ring novels comes to an end with the third film in the secondHobbitcycle. Love it or loathe it, this is the end—and it’s going out with a bang.

The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies opens in all known territories nextWednesday. My review is at Film Journal International...

Department of Weekend Reading: December 12, 2014

Five-year veteran of the St. Louis PD: “I won’t say all, but many of my peers weredeeplyracist.“
Here’s one way to hold the last administration and the CIA accountable for torture: Pardon them.
Not only did these guys get paid $80 million to train the CIA how to torture people, they weren’t even good at it.
So who do millionaires want to see as president?
GOP 2016: There can be only one.
How do Republicans keep outperforming Democrats despite, well, reality? Ideological homogeneity and unapologeti...

New in Theaters: ‘Inherent Vice’

Owen Wilson and Joaquin Phoenix sleuth confusedly in ‘Inherent Vice’ (Warner Bros.)

When Thomas Pynchon published Inherent Vice in 2009, it became very clear that the revered author ofGravity’s Rainbow was still interested in his basics (baffling plots, conspiratorial confusion) but was now also cool with knocking out an honest-to-God fun read. Paul Thomas Anderson’s resume of overbusy, overcrowdedSouthern California anthology meta-fictions(Magnolia, in particular) would seem to make him the p...

Department of Awards: ‘Boyhood’ the Best Film of 2014

Dreaming of greatness, or just dreaming, in ‘Boyhood’ (IFC Films)

Earlier today, New York Film Critics Online—a group that quite generously includesyours truly in its membership—met to hash out the most notable films, filmmakers, and performers in various categories during 2014.

In short, Richard Linklater’s 12-years-in-the-makingBoyhoodwon for best picture and in two other categories, with Alejandro Inarritu’s meta-fictional satireBirdman tied at three wins. Other films like The Imitation Game...

Reader’s Corner: #FergusonReads

There’s been some attempts to grapple with the deeper impact of what’s been happening in Ferguson—not to mention what will continue to happen in the St. Louis for months and years after the national media’s attention has turned away.

While small in focus, this book discussiongroup seems just about the perfect way to talkaboutthe dangerously deep gulfs in an ever-more segregated America. According to #FerugsonReads:

This reading group is an attempt to add some civility and context to the mix by...

Department of Weekend Reading: December 5, 2014

“Oath Keepers” on the roofs in Ferguson.
It is nearly impossible to know how many people the police actually kill every year.
Centuries ago in Poland,people were sometimes buried with sickles acrosstheir necks—just in case they might have been vampires.
France gets into the ISIS fight.
Patrolling the north with Canada’s Rangers, their Native American reserve defense force.
Once upon a time, General Motors was Google, and before them…
No more Social Security checks for you Nazis.
At this office, no u...