Chris Barsanti's Blog, page 180
February 10, 2014
New in Theaters: ‘The Lego Movie’
Batman and Random ’80s Spaceman Guy Battle the Forces of Evil and Conformity in ‘The Lego Movie’
The last few years have seen a dismal parade of brand-extension movies for toy companies likeGI Joe andBattleship that barely deserved the digital space they occupied in some projection booth’s server. Now, a pleasant surprise: the anarchic, play-centricThe Lego Movie, which could just be that Holy Grail of the family film: Fun for all ages.
It’s playing now pretty much everywhere. My review is atPo...
February 9, 2014
Readers’ Corner: Philip Seymour Hoffman
Philip Seymour Hoffman as Truman Capote: “Folks have thought they had me pegged, because of the way I am, the way I talk. And they’re always wrong.”
One more note on the late, great Philip Seymour Hoffman. Back in 2004, he was interviewed byThe Believerand the talk sprawled over beyond life and acting into things literary.
Hoffman has played a few great figures from both sides of the literary page (Willy Loman, Truman Capote), but that’s not what gave him the credentials for this interview, it’...
February 8, 2014
Now Playing: ‘The Great Beauty’
The great Tom Servillo lives it up in ‘The Great Beauty’
Every now and again, a filmmaker is able to conquer the cinematic world with a work that might not have a lot to say (coherently, at least), but it throws enough at the viewer to send them away impressed and a little dazed. Last year’s version of that film was Paolo Sorrentino’sThe Great Beauty, a bright and comic variation onDante’s Inferno that doesn’t hold together in the light of day but seduced enough lovers of Rome and the high lif...
February 7, 2014
Department of Weekend Reading: February 7, 2014
Dear America: You are officially no longer that special.Good luck finding Jesse Ventura now.
The great Velveeta shortage of 2014.
Single rhino horn stolen from Michael Flatley’s mansion and other news from the week that was.
Koch brothers get billions in food stamps stripped from farm bill, their own subsidies intact.
Charlie Chaplin’s Limelight novella finally published.
Welcome to Sochi: You have been hacked.
Drought-ridden California, as seen from space.
Less orange: replacing sodium-vapor street...
February 6, 2014
Writer’s Corner: Word Virus
Language is a virus from outer space.
—William S. Burroughs
Burroughs, who would have turned 100 yesterday, liked to repeat this quote and variations on its theme in his speaking and writing. Like with much else that he put out there, it’s not meant to be taken with complete seriousness, but he certainly believed in the metaphor of words and ideas as a virus that can spread with disease-like rapdity.
Along those lines, check out China Mieville’s science-fiction novel Embassytown, in which (among...
February 5, 2014
Department of Shameless Self-Promotion: ‘Eyes Wide Open 2013′
‘Upstream Color’: One of the year’s great movies that didn’t make it onto the Oscar shortlist
Just in time for the upcoming Academy Awards but way too late for the SAG Awards, Golden Globes, and just about every movie awards ceremony that means anything, here comes the newest iteration of my now-annual Best-Of and Worst-Of compilation:Eyes Wide Open 2013: The Year’s 25 Greatest Movies (and 5 Worst).
The title should be basically self-explanatory, but here’s the gist of it: I pulled together wha...
February 4, 2014
Screening Room: Philip Seymour Hoffman (1967-2014)
“Be honest, and unmerciful.”
Philip Seymour Hoffman was a bandit of an actor. FromThe Talented Mr. Ripley toCharlie Wilson’s Warand The Ides of March, he was rarely better than when committing full-scale larceny on the screen—walking away with an entire film while leaving A-list actors stumbling about in his wake.
With such a rich body of work cut so horrendously short, you would think it would be hard to zoom in on one particular performance that summed up his appeal. But it’s not. Almost ever...
February 2, 2014
Reader’s Corner: 100 Most Requested Out-of-Print Books
Every year, BookFinder.com compiles a list of the 100 most sought-after out-of-print books. Their 11th annual list was just released and it’s quite the read.
For our sins, the #1 title is Madonna’s oh-so-scandalous “book”Sex. Stephen King makes a few high-up appearances, most surprisingly for the little-knownMy Little Pony, which was released as a limited edition in 1989 with illustrations by Barbara Kruger. Some other highlights:
Nora Roberts (?!) – Promise Me Tomorrow
Cameron Crowe – Fast Time...
February 1, 2014
Now Playing: ‘Generation War’
‘Generation War’: A Drink, For Tomorrow We May Die
Five friends meet for one last night together before three of them head off to war. It’s not the newest of premises but what gives the nearly five-hour epicGeneration Warmore of a kick is that it’s about five German youths who will be hurled into the morally-devastating crucible of World War II.
It’s playing now in limited release and should hit DVD soon. My review is atFilm Racket:
Controversial but also hugely popular in Germany, where it aire...
January 31, 2014
Department of Weekend Reading: January 31, 2014
Richard Sherman—He went to Stanford.
Movie with a message: Dear White People .
From Gone with the Wind to The Wolf of Wall Street; a trajectory of censorship.
What the State of the Union didn’t include.
When St. Louis meets New York.
The Mexican “walking fish”: One more extinction.
The eternalpoetry vs. prose argument gets fatal.
Football players at Northwestern University want to unionize.
Once again, pity the billionaire.
Fine literature, boiled down, hip-hop-style: Thug-Notes.
Fine dining, South Kore...
