Chris Barsanti's Blog, page 177

New on DVD: ‘The Hobbit’ and ‘August: Osage County’

One of last year’s great but overlooked dramas and one of its better-than-average FX blockbusters are hitting DVD and Blu-ray today.

August: Osage County

John Wells’ star-stocked adaptation of Tracey Letts’ sprawling and brawling Pulitzer Prize-winning play about a dysfunctional Oklahoma clan is perhaps a little too truncated but mostly hits it out of the park. For once, Julia Roberts proves herself to be not only not done with acting but able to go toe-to-toe with the likes of Meryl Streep.Ful...

Reader’s Corner: Ideas Box

The Ideas Box, ready for shipping

Once upon a time, the local library’s bookmobile would stop by schools to give kids access to newer books than they had in their own school’s (usually meager) library offerings. Theoretically, that still happens, at least in the few countiesthat haven’t eviscerated their library system’s budget.

That basic idea appears to have been taken by a Paris-based group called Libraries Without Borders and morphed into a frankly cool-looking thing called the Ideas Box th...

Reader’s Corner: Gloriously Fake

Sometimes the best April’s Fool’s bits take a second or two of consideration, such as this cover from The Paris Review:

Department of Weekend Reading: April 4, 2014

The Christian argument for immigration reform.
NFL thins theline separating cheerleaders from exotic dancers just a little bit more.
Just a few centuries on, Spain’s Sephardic Jews asked to come on home.
New books of photos, iconic and unknown, from the Vietnam War.
Koch brothers, looking for ways to increase their evil quotient, now trying to make some kinds of mass transit illegal.
The panic mobs now have even less reason to cry disaster.
Houston police shoot and kill disturbed man, then sue the...

New in Theaters: ‘Under the Skin’

‘Under the Skin’: Scarlett Johansson goes hunting for a few good humans

For his last two films,Sexy Beast andBirth, Jonathan Glazer dealt with the aliens that walk amongst us, whether it was divorced-from-reality gangsters or creepy children. InUnder the Skin, though, he finally gets around to telling a story about an honest-to-God alien—in the form of Scarlett Johansson.

Under the Skin opens in limited release on Friday. My review is atFilm Journal International:

There is a searching, watching...

Now Playing: ‘The Unknown Known’

Rumsfeld: ‘The only things that are lasting are conflict, blackmail, and killing.’

Late last year, possibly in an attempt to garner an Oscar nomination, the Weinsteins’ Radius-TWC outfit gave Errol Morris’ newest documentaryThe Unknown Known a short pre-holiday run. Now,this riveting,feature-length interview with the Bush era’s greatest poetic dissembler, Donald Rumsfeld, is getting a proper release.

The Unknown Known is playing in limited release again starting this week.My review is at Short...

Now Playing: ‘The Lunchbox’

Making up ‘The Lunchbox’

InThe Lunchbox, a sad-eyed office worker nearing retirement in Mumbai gets his regular lunch delivery, only to discover that it’s meant for a married man. But the food is delicious, so he keeps the mistake going and takes up exchanging letters with the cook, a lonely housewife trying to get her husband to notice her.

The Lunchbox is playing now in limited release. My review is atFilm Racket:

The sweet and savory epistolary romanceThe Lunchboxspins a variation on the adag...

Reader’s Corner: Bookpub

This idea seems like it was a longtime coming. Take the micro- (or nano-) brewery concept that’s been gathering speed across the country, particularly throughout the Midwest, and combine it with reading. Books and beer.

Per theIndianapolisStar, University of Michigan English majorJason Wuerfelis starting up a certain kind of awesome with his new “Books & Brews” storefront:

A personal touch isn’t the only thing setting Books & Brews a part from the competition. All of the beer served in the bar...

Now Playing: ‘Anita’

Anita Hill vs. the men of the Senate Judiciary Committee

In 1991, the first of the decade’s great, somewhat shameful, televised scandal melodramas was broadcast: Anita Hill’s grilling by the Senate Judiciary Committee over her allegations of sexual harassment by Clarence Thomas. Then, as now, Hill is a dignified figurewho chooses her words carefully and keeps emotion in check. Although the society at large has, surprisingly, moved on from this watershed moment, Hill finally gets her overdue co...

Department of Weekend Reading: March 28, 2014

The thing about that old favorite, Imo’s: “Legally, it’s not even like pizza.”
First it was guns everywhere, now, knives!
So,isthere kale to be found in New Orleans, and why would that matter?
Warning: This story (well, most stories) may contain material that you or somebody will find offensive.
“Truthiness, insinuations, and allegations are a vital part of political speech”; P.J. O’Rourke’s awesome Supreme Court amicus brief.
Apparently, some people still listen to Rummy.
Crimea ultimately not so...