Sinister (2012) *

Too long and you never really care about the main character since he is such a smug obnoxious prick (spot on casting by the way). You can see the scares coming from a mile away thanks to the noisy soundtrack and the completely unrealistic and cliched lighting.

Yes, it's official, men are from Mars and women from Venus, and here's the science to prove it - Telegraph

"The first big surprise happens before birth. All men in the world today are essentially biologically modified women, because we all start our embryonic lives as females (that is why, for example, men still have breasts, even though they serve no function). The biological differences that can be found between the bodies and brains of males and females are largely due to the way these embryos develop in the womb."

Jiro Dreams of Sushi (2011) ****

Gorgeous cinematography, compelling subject, sharp direction add up to a wonderfully multi-layered film. Be warned: you'll never be satisfied with your local sushi place again.

The Long, Hot Summer (1958) **

An over the top, Hollywood cartoon version of Southerners, is entertaining nevertheless thanks to a fine cast trying hard to keep some sense of reality in the proceedings.

Terry Gilliam on His Epic New Dystopian Film The Zero Theorem | WIRED

"There's probably $500,000 of savings in there in improved technologies—for example, Christoph and Melanie Thierry recorded some new lines on their iPhones while he was in Berlin and she was in France, emailed them back to me, and they're in the film. We couldn't have done that a few years ago."

The Myth That Sold the Wall Street Bailouts

"The second Great Depression mythologizers — including Geithner, New York Times columnist Tom Friedman and the editorial board of The Washington Post — assume they can say whatever they want and that people will accept it because they are important people whose conventional wisdom is rarely, if ever, challenged. They even managed to retain their authority after failing to see the economic threat posed by the housing bubble. The bottom line is that for these people, the goal was saving Wall Street — full stop. Whether the rest of the country suffered was beside the point."

Drag Me to Hell (2009) **

So-so "horror" flick which may have been ripped off from an episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents, nevertheless provides a nice showcase for Alison Lohman who is in nearly every scene.

A Most Wanted Man (2014) ***

A terrific final performance by Philip Seymour Hoffman and a great eye for visuals by director Anton Corbijn elevate this necessarily talky "spy v. spy" film to something memorable.

Cronos (1993) **

Technically well made but despite an interesting premise, the story goes nowhere and the thrills/chills are so-so.

A Void in the History of September 11th

"Thomas Kean remembers finally having the opportunity to read those twenty-eight pages after he became chairman of the 9/11 Commission—'so secret that I had to get all of my security clearances and go into the bowels of Congress with someone looking over my shoulder.' He also remembers thinking at the time that most of what he was reading should never have been kept secret. But the focus on the twenty-eight pages obscures the fact that many important documents are still classified—'a ton of stuff,' Kean told me, including, for instance, the 9/11 Commission’s interviews with George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, and Bill Clinton. 'I don’t know of a single thing in our report that should not be public after ten years,' Kean said.

Items are classified to protect power.

Your Brain on Metaphors - The Chronicle Review - The Chronicle of Higher Education

"Lakoff and Johnson’s program is as anti-Platonic as it’s possible to get. It undermines the argument that human minds can reveal transcendent truths about reality in transparent language. They argue instead that human cognition is embodied—that human concepts are shaped by the physical features of human brains and bodies."

Dear Murderer (1947) ***

Clever and effective British murder mystery that features a terrific performance by gorgeous Greta Gynt as a femme fatale if there ever was one. Nicely directed with minimal music cues and excellent pacing.

Looper (2012) **

Inventive but confusing time travel yarn fails to make us care for the protagonist who is after all a cold blooded serial killer for hire. After a while nothing makes sense at all.

Lost Horizon (1937) **

Too talky and melodramatic, but there are moments mainly thanks to impressive production and the talents of leading man Ronald Coleman.

An Audio Recording of the Michael Brown Shooting Has Reportedly Surfaced - The Wire

"Also of some serious importance, should the tape's authenticity be confirmed, is the fact that ten (or, by some counts,eleven) shots were fired at Brown by Wilson."

Drawing a Gun in Ferguson - The New Yorker

"In the eleven days since Michael Brown was shot and killed, we’ve been reminded of the many things that are not illegal (recording police actions) or, if they are, do not carry a death penalty (stealing cigarillos, jaywalking). Cursing police officers is on both of those lists. In an opinion piece in the Washington Post this week, an officer named Sunil Dutta wrote that the way to prevent police shootings is simply for people to show more respect for police authority. ('Even though it might sound harsh and impolitic, here is the bottom line: if you don’t want to get shot, tased, pepper-sprayed, struck with a baton or thrown to the ground, just do what I tell you. Don’t argue with me, don’t call me names, don’t tell me that I can’t stop you, don’t say I’m a racist pig, don’t threaten that you’ll sue me and take away my badge.') That is not how it’s supposed to work, in this country, anyway. We respect the police as professionals because their job is so hard, and so important; it can involve chaotic nights and yelling crowds, or opening the door to an apartment where anything might be happening. Police officers don’t get to wave a gun whenever they think it might make everything easier—when they think it will just make people behave. That is not the sort of authority, in any sense of that word, that will calm the streets of Ferguson, or any city."

Magic in the Moonlight (2014) **

Sumptuously filmed and art directed, but the leads' chemistry is non-existent and the "magic" is not all it needs to be. Enjoyable but forgettable.

My Fair Lady (1964) ***

It's too long and the second act drags, but terrific leads, Shaw's words and ideas, Cecil Beaton's production design and costumes and some fine B'way tunes ably compensate. I would like to see an edit with Hepburn doing the singing (a major mistake to dub her) and the Alfred Doolittle and Freddy Eynsford-Hill songs cut.

Unknown (2011) **

Liam Neeson action vehicle has a few twists to keep things interesting and the wonderful Bruno Ganz, but things unravel at the end and the thin thread of plausibility is lost.

Takers (2010) **

Heist gone wrong actioner in a bit of a hip-hop style can't avoid the genre cliches despite some appealing players. Some exciting sequences.

The Forger (2012) **

Pleasant divertissement thanks mainly to location filming in Carmel, Ca. It's well filmed with decent production values, but the script could have used some more work and the male lead lacks charisma.

Lauren Bacall, Actress, Dies at Age 89 - WSJ

A magnificent woman on all counts. Worth re-reading a great interview with her from 2011. One of the greats.

WATCH: Cops aim weapon at local official, lock media out as Ferguson protests continue

"Alderman Antonio French posted the footage Monday night, following another protest criticizing police for the fatal shooting of 17-year-old Michael Brown. The video shows French being approached by officers in riot gear inside a parking lot. One officer has his firearm drawn toward French while another says, “Get the f*ck out of here” and motions away from the parking lot. It is not clear whether French identified himself as a city official during the encounter in the St. Louis suburb."

This is what you get when you militarize the police. Look how they are outfitted. More like soldiers than community police officers. They're out of control.

Hillary Clinton: 'Failure' to Help Syrian Rebels Led to the Rise of ISIS - The Atlantic

“'I think Israel did what it had to do to respond to the rockets,' she told me. 'Israel has a right to defend itself. The steps Hamas has taken to embed rockets and command-and-control facilities and tunnel entrances in civilian areas, this makes a response by Israel difficult.'

"I asked her if she believed that Israel had done enough to prevent the deaths of children and other innocent people.

“'Just as we try to do in the United States and be as careful as possible in going after targets to avoid civilians,' mistakes are made, she said. 'We’ve made them. I don’t know a nation, no matter what its values are—and I think that democratic nations have demonstrably better values in a conflict position—that hasn’t made errors, but ultimately the responsibility rests with Hamas.'

"She went on to say that 'it’s impossible to know what happens in the fog of war. Some reports say, maybe it wasn’t the exact UN school that was bombed, but it was the annex to the school next door where they were firing the rockets. And I do think oftentimes that the anguish you are privy to because of the coverage, and the women and the children and all the rest of that, makes it very difficult to sort through to get to the truth.'

"She continued, 'There’s no doubt in my mind that Hamas initiated this conflict. … So the ultimate responsibility has to rest on Hamas and the decisions it made.'”

Wow. Complete arrogance and disregard in the ideas and the language. Such blatant, reflexive imperialism. A truly evil person and a complete disaster if elected.

The Yakuza (1974) **

Stately paced noir about Japanese gangsters and their bizarre rituals. Disappointing considering the top talent involved. Extremely talky and expository for the subject matter.

Breezy (1973) ***

Highly enjoyable '70's character study thanks to winning lead performances and nice direction by Clint. William Holden looks 10-15 years OLDER than he was at time of filming making the March-December romance even more "icky" and his penchant for wearing awful old dude sweaters doesn't help. Clint allows a major faux pas when he leaves in a sequence where the characters head for an obviously SoCal beach to watch the sun RISE out at sea! Totally dig the Laurel Canyon home though. Lots of wood and stone and yellow decor.

Adam and Evalyn (1949) **

Thanks to a lovely Jean Simmons this is a watchable rom-com hampered by strange directorial decisions such as filming a several minute sightseeing sequence showing nothing but the 2 main characters feet, and a totally unsympathetic male lead character.

The Simpsons Movie (2007) **

I'm not sure if it is the writers' fault or the audience's perceptions, but expanded sitcoms almost never work. There's something about going beyond the 22 minute expected time frame that's problematic. This movie is no exception. It's okay, about on a par with a weaker regular episode.

Terraces (TV Movie 1977) **

Interesting curio from the '70's is one of those so-bad-it's-good flicks. One of the first mainstream "pro-gay" TV movies is blessedly short and contains a scene stealing star turn by Catwoman.

Obama Says America Tortured, but That's Not Enough - The Atlantic

"There's a moral question: If torture really happened, shouldn't there be some sort of serious attempt to grapple with it? And there's a legal one: As my colleague Conor Friedersdorf and others have pointed out, the U.S. is a signatory to the UN Convention Against Torture, which compels investigation of torture and referral of violators for prosecution."

If that's not an open and shut case for impeachment (at the very least) what is?

Taken (2008) *

Even though it is well-made, it's also preposterous and obviously a revenge fantasy which provides an emotional justification for incredible violence and torture. Despicable.

The Power of Two - The Atlantic

"As long as John and Paul were both alive, the possibility remained that they might remarry. According to Linda McCartney, during the 1970s Paul was 'desperate to work with John again.' John retreated from music in the second half of the decade, but in 1980 he and Yoko released Double Fantasy. He was murdered on December 8, 1980. Had he lived, who knows what might have happened? Jack Douglas, who produced Double Fantasy, said that John was actively planning to team up with Paul the following year."

The article is mainly a straw man diatribe ("the myth of the lone genius" is a thing?) and it is also guilty of the same facile compartmentalization of people the author accuses others of doing. Still it's tempting to consider what might have been in 1981...

via @TomIfNotThen

Lucy (2014) **

The in-your-face allegories (cheetahs stalking prey/innocent girl delivering a package) and faux-science expositions ad nauseum (completely unnecessary Morgan Freeman) waste the terrific presence of Scarlett Johansson. You can't expect close-ups to do ALL the work of engaging the audience. It's colorful and moves quickly (90 minutes thank you!) but the ideas are trite and the technique does not work.

Castle Keep (1969) **

Ambitiously eccentric WWII flick slips over into pretentiousness too often. Beautifully shot though.

Non-Stop (2014) ***

Pretty effective mash-up of airport disaster flicks and whodunits strains credulity to the max yet still delivers the thrills.

Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows (2011) *

One of those very dimly shot films necessitated by an overabundance of CGI effects. The first hour feels like 2 but then it picks up a bit but not enough to save it. Very silly and nonsensical with a waste of some good actors.

Simply Do it: Talking with Woody Allen About Directorial Style | Interviews | Roger Ebert

"When I see cool films, no matter how beautiful they are, there's something off-putting about them. I have all my characters—or 99% of the characters—dress in autumnal clothes, beiges, and browns, and yellows, and greens. And I have [production designer and long-time collaborator] Snato Loquasto make the sets look as warm as possible. And I like the lighting to be very warm, and I color-correct things so that they're very red.

"Sometimes, the cameraman will be shocked. Sven Nykvist said 'My God, their faces will all look like tomatoes!'

"And I said 'Well, let's try it.' He got to like it.

"And when Darius was color-correcting 'Midnight In Paris,' we went all out and made it red, red, red in color-correction. It makes it like a Matisse. Matisse said that he wanted his paintings to be a nice easy chair that you sit down in, and enjoy. I feel the same way: I want you to sit back, relax, and enjoy the warm color, like take a bath in warm color. It's like how I play the clarinet with a big, fat warm tone as opposed to a cool sound that's more liquid, or fluid. I prefer a thicker, richer, warmer sound. The same with color; I feel it has a subliminal effect on the viewer in a positive way."

Under the Skin (2013) ***

Tells its tale cinematically with original, arresting visuals and a terrific Scarlett Johansson performance.

In the House (2012) **

Well made intellectual exercise never gets beyond just that.

Five Easy Pieces (1970) ***

Offbeat and quirky character study of an extremely self-centered and misanthropic individual. Ok, he's an asshole basically. Very well shot and written with several iconic scenes. Always interesting, sometimes cringe inducing, sometimes silly. The kind of American film that doesn't get made much any more.

Perfect Sense (2011) **

It appears to be a failed attempt at a rom-com/dystopia hybrid. Not sure what it's supposed to mean but the two leads are appealing and it moves well.

The Lego Movie (2014) **

Could have been a very good movie but the creators just couldn't resist shoving every last shred of magic and wonder down our throats in a ruinous denouement that makes Spielberg look like Alain Resnais. Some nice voice work, clever animation.

Ethan Hawke's Heartwarming Tribute To A "Boyhood" With Music

"There’s this thing that happens when you listen to too much of the solo stuff separately — too much Lennon: suddenly there’s a little too much self-involvement in the room; too much Paul and it can become sentimental — let’s face it, borderline goofy; too much George: I mean, we all have our spiritual side but it’s only interesting for about six minutes, ya know? Ringo: He’s funny, irreverent, and cool, but he can’t sing — he had a bunch of hits in the ’70s (even more than Lennon) but you aren’t gonna go home and crank up a Ringo Starr album start to finish, you’re just not gonna do that."

Yet another reason to dislike Ethan Hawke. I can't imagine having such an insufferably pretentious father. Now excuse me while I go and "crank up" Time Takes Time.

Blue Is the Warmest Color (2013) ***

This chronicle of a young woman's first coup de foudre experience from start to finish is one of the few 3 hour movies to not feel overlong, thanks to good editing and a sensational performance by Adèle Exarchopoulos.

Months before their first words, babies’ brains rehearse speech mechanics | UW Today

“'Most babies babble by 7 months, but don’t utter their first words until after their first birthdays,' said lead author Patricia Kuhl, who is the co-director of the UW’s Institute for Learning and Brain Sciences. 'Finding activation in motor areas of the brain when infants are simply listening is significant, because it means the baby brain is engaged in trying to talk back right from the start and suggests that 7-month-olds’ brains are already trying to figure out how to make the right movements that will produce words.'”

Life Itself (2014) **

Fairly straightforward documentary about the life of Roger Ebert but mainly about the final days and as such it is tough to take at times. Not exactly entertaining but informative and at times poignant.

Harper (1966) **

Paul Newman and a star supporting cast can't save this overlong, shoddily produced attempt at a hard-boiled detective noir. Some interesting glimpses of mid-60's Los Angeles and an unusual ending.

Almonds Are Sucking the Life Out of California - The Wire

"But even as the almond business booms, California ecology is heading toward a bust. In San Joaquin Valley, the ground has been sinking by an average of 11 inches per year, thanks to over-pumping of aquifers."

The Case for the End of The Modern Zoo -- NYMag

"It is hard to avoid the conclusion that in some way the animals understand that the world around them is an artificial one, that these phobias and psychotic episodes represent reactions to that artifice, or subversions of it. Which means that the central illusion of the zoo is no longer holding. The animals know."

The Pope and the Pederasts by Garry Wills | NYRblog | The New York Review of Books

"3. Patriarchy. The Vatican is not only the West’s oldest monarchy, but its most entrenched patriarchy. For long its official teaching was Thomas Aquinas’s assertion (taken from Aristotle) that “the female is a defective male.” Though the Vatican has tried in recent years to back off from that position, as late as 1976 Paul VI’s Curia said that there can be no women priests because women do not look like Jesus: they lack “this ‘natural resemblance’ which must exist between Christ and his minister.” Pope John Paul II said in 1994 that if Jesus had wanted to ordain women, he would have begun with the best of them, his mother. He ignores the fact that Jesus in the Gospels ordained no priests, male or female. The investigation of American nuns for daring to have opinions of their own shows how far Vatican officials are from understanding women. (How could they understand them?)"

Bud Cort: 'Harold and Maude was a blessing and a curse' | Film | The Guardian

"Bud Cort has just come back from Ringo Starr's birthday breakfast. He has known Ringo for a while he says. 'He's a dear friend and he's my dog's godfather.'"

Rapid Price Increases for Some Generic Drugs Catch Users by Surprise - NYTimes.com

"Insurers can sometimes react to high drug prices by bargaining with manufacturers for better rates. But, Dr. Kesselheim said, those negotiations tend to focus on very expensive new products, like infused drugs to treat arthritis and some cancer treatments, where a good discount could save tens of millions a year.

"With cheaper drugs, insurers use simpler tools to discourage use and prod doctors to think about other options: They require physicians to fill out forms — like the one that landed on Dr. Lindenberg’s desk — and move the drug to a category that requires larger patient co-pays.

"If markets function, the current high price of digoxin might induce some more drug companies to begin selling it, which should in turn bring prices back down. But a few years of higher bills could be a strain for older patients, most of them on Medicare, who must contribute to prescription drug costs."

Yet another example, as if we needed another, as to why ESSENTIAL things like food, water, basic medicines, basic energies really shouldn't be left completely to "the market".

Independence Day (1996) *

10 year olds might be ok with it, but this is a very bad movie.

Is there such a thing as the self?

"What LSD is no good for is 'mind control,' as the CIA, to its disappointment, discovered during the Cold War when it set up a string of brothels in San Francisco where prostitutes would slip their johns a tab of acid so agents could observe its effects through two-way mirrors."

The Turning Point (1977) **

Classy soap opera involving the ballet world and long simmering rivalries/regrets. Way too many ballet excerpts pad the running time and make the film seem longer than it is.

Three Days of the Condor (1975) ***

Good leads highlight this 70's exercise in paranoia. Nowadays the implication that power + secrecy leads to bad things is taken for granted but in 1975 this was still, at least for the majority of Americans, a "shocker". Very strange and almost comical "love scene" really dates the picture.

Gambit (2012) **

Like a previous attempt at remaking an Ealing-esque film, this one's also a failure but the cast makes it watchable and even intermittently entertaining.

Island of Lost Souls (1932) ***

Charles Laughton is great in a Lecter-ish sort of way, in a nifty adaptation of the H. G. Wells tale of Dr. Moreau and his experiments in his "House of Pain". Pulls no punches and packs more menace and interesting ideas into 70 minutes than most modern films twice as long.

The Monuments Men (2014) *

Clooney tries to be Spielberg with bad consequences. Supremely arrogant and condescending propaganda.

The Human Stain (2003) **

Watchable but unbelievable due to poor casting. Some fine actors, just really not right for their roles.

Only Lovers Left Alive (2013) ***

Jim Jarmusch's offbeat take on the vampire genre is chock full of gorgeous images and intriguing ideas.

Interview: Jim Jarmusch Talks The Vampiric Charms Of ‘Only Lovers Left Alive’ & Proposing To Muse Tilda Swinton|The Playlist

"That’s interesting that you say that because to me what was most inspiring for me to make this film was the last book by Mark Twain, 'The Diaries of Adam and Eve.' That’s why I named them Adam and Eve, not the direct Biblical thing, but via Mark Twain. That book is very funny, beautiful and kind of slight. It’s just diary entries of Adam and Eve’s vastly different perceptions of the world, via the fact that she’s female and he’s male. It’s a hilarious book and it really inspired me to want to make a film with two characters named Adam and Eve that sort of represented on some level the sun and the moon, but certainly very different perceptions of things."

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004) ****

Brilliant on all counts.

Gattaca (1997) **

Cold and uninvolving with a great supporting cast, nice production values and a very weak lead.

The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (2013) **

The film is beautifully shot but feels wildly overdone and the slight story cannot bear the burden.

Stress Test: The Indictment of Timothy Geithner | Op-Eds & Columns

"The reality is that we had a completely preventable economic disaster hit the country. The result was millions of people losing their homes and/or their jobs, in many cases seeing their lives and the lives of their children ruined. With almost no exceptions the policy makers responsible for the disaster and the bankers who profited from it are doing just fine. And Timothy Geithner can’t understand why everybody isn’t happy."

Jane Eyre (1943) **

This is the version with Orson Welles as Rochester. The acting is very uneven with a wonderful 11 year old Peggy Ann Gardner stealing the picture. The first half is very good, as most Jane Eyre adaptations are, but once Joan Fontaine gets involved things go down hill quickly. It seems the TV versions of this crazy story have been the most successful. This one is very good but if forced to choose, I'm partial to this.

Damsels in Distress (2011) **

Whit Stillman's films are worlds unto themselves and this one is no exception. An appealing cast, literate script, excellently shot, but overall it fails to gel into something more than a Stillman lark.

Richard Pryor Live on the Sunset Strip (1982) **

Embarrassingly staged and filmed, this is Pryor near the end of his stand-up career and it shows a bit. Still, he can bring the laughs and improvise impressively with a memorable "last time anywhere" appearance by Mudbone.

Broadcast News (1987) **

If you can get past the straining-to-be-cute opening (which should have been cut), the film is as deluded, pretentious, self-righteous and annoying as its main characters. Holly Hunter is a great character actress not a romantic lead.

Like Someone in Love (2012) **

Opens with a great sequence of pure cinema but the film doesn't really end so much as stops leaving viewers in the lurch.

Valkyrie (2008) **

Clichéd and melodramatic with zero thrills since we know the outcome of the story. Un-imaginative direction to say the least. Why must all the "good" Germans be played by Englishmen or Americans?

Fantastic Voyage (1966) ***

Loads of cheesy fun mainly due to the dated political and social mores as presented. The film works though due to the no-nonsense approach to the story and it's treatment as actual, possible science. Smartly paced, colorfully designed.

Margot at the Wedding (2007) **

Bleak, black comedy about a supremely antisocial woman and her effect on people. Hard to watch and not all that insightful due to the extremes of behavior presented.

Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2 (2013) *

Only for those 10 and under. Imaginative "food-imals", but it's all very confusing and nonsensical.

Point Blank (1967) **

Hard boiled, existential mid-60's noir proves you can't beat The System. It's well made, just not enough of a standout. Effective use of Fort Point is a highlight.

What came before the big bang? - Boing Boing

"Translated into statements about the real universe, I am describing an origin in which space itself comes into existence at the big bang and expands from nothing to form a larger and larger volume. The matter and energy content of the universe likewise originates at or near the beginning, and populates the universe everywhere at all times. Again, I must stress that the speck from which space emerges is not located in anything. It is not an object surrounded by emptiness. It is the origin of space itself, infinitely compressed. Note that the speck does not sit there for an infinite duration. It appears instantaneously from nothing and immediately expands. This is why the question of why it does not collapse to a black hole is irrelevant. Indeed, according to the theory of relativity, there is no possibility of the speck existing through time because time itself begins at this point."

Adaptation. (2002) ****

Audacious, original, hilarious, true. Nic Cage has never been better.

Witness to Murder (1954) **

Fairly run of the mill noir kept interesting by the alarming abuse of police authority in the pre-Miranda days, especially when brought to bear upon a "career" woman of a certain age. This has nothing to do with the plot nor is it presented as a subplot, it's just shown as a matter-of-fact aspect of American life in the '50's.

A Countess from Hong Kong (1967) *

Sophia Loren playing a Russian is the least of this overblown screwball comedy wanna-be's problems. The stars have no chemistry, the elaborately set up "jokes" fall flat, and the film is shot as if it is an epic drama on huge sound stages.

Eraserhead (1977) ****

Possible alternate title "Inside David Lynch" or at least his nightmares. A complete, disturbed vision with an amazing sound design.

Wild at Heart (1990) **

Even when he's not entirely successful, David Lynch is always interesting. At once inscrutable and overbearing, and the repetition of images does not help. The actors help out as much as they can, giving consistent over-the-top performances, but it never gels the way the best of Lynch can.

Klimt (2006) **

It worked here but John Malkovich playing himself in this film does not. A plethora of beautiful young ladies in various states of undress helps to maintain interest.

Secret Window (2004) ***

An exceptional cast overcomes a flawed script and pedestrian direction in this effective thriller. We've seen John Turturro's character before though.

An Unmarried Woman (1978) ***

Realistic portrayal of an upper middle class white woman with a fantastic Upper East Side Manhattan apartment coping with divorce. Nice time capsule of 70's NYC, intelligently written and played with a tour de force performance by Ms. Clayburgh.

William Friedkin on Sorcerer, his career, and fate / The Dissolve

"'I felt that the story embodied in The Wages Of Fear, the French novel and the film, fit that template very clearly...because I thought it was timeless. I had no interest in doing a remake or a shot-for-shot or anything like that, but I love the premise, the essential premise of four strangers who mostly didn’t like one another, delivering a load of dynamite, and they either had to cooperate or die. And that seemed to me like a metaphor for the world situation—even more so today.'"

Frozen (2013) ***

Another weak 3 stars. Formulaic and too many songs but the tale has a slight fem-empowerment angle which is somewhat interesting and several well done sequences. Could have used a bit more editing.

Scalia Thinks Having Two Phones Is Suspicious -- NYMag

"Owning a second cell phone, like, say, a BlackBerry for work in addition to a better one for everything else, is not a concept familiar to the Supreme Court justices, never known for their technological acumen. During arguments today about the rights of police to search phones without a warrant following an arrest, Chief Justice Roberts, 59, and Justice Scalia, 78, expressed shock at the very idea..."

It's not that complex, really. It's just a series of tubes...

Angel Heart (1987) ***

Atmospheric noir thriller still holds up thanks to a good script and some very good performances particularly Lisa Bonet. (May not be entirely appropriate for members of PETA.)

A New Leaf (1971) ***

A weak three stars because this isn't the picture the director wanted to make and it shows. Still there are plenty of good one-liners and some good supporting work, but Walter Matthau, as good as he is, is miscast.

Capital Man - The Chronicle of Higher Education

"Piketty’s argument recently got an indirect boost from a much-discussed study published in February by the International Monetary Fund, hardly a radical body. The study, a multicountry analysis of income inequality, found not only that there is 'scant evidence that typical efforts to redistribute'—taxes and credits—'have on average had an adverse effect on growth,' but that lower inequality was generally associated with faster growth.' As Jonathan D. Ostry, the study’s lead author, put it in an email to me, 'this logic was indeed an eye opener for us.'"

Seeing red? The mind-bending power of colour - Telegraph

“'The whole point of colour vision is not to inspire poets, but to allow contrast detection,' says Russell Foster, professor of circadian neuroscience at the University of Oxford. 'You’ve got a much better chance of detecting an object against a background if you have colour vision.' Birds are the masters at this, he says – they are tetrachromatic, having four colour detectors, and would see things that we see as a single red as an infinite, glorious wash of colours."

The Day Christ Died | TaborBlog

"Today, with Passover and Easter falling together during the same week, I write this post on a Thursday night, on the eve of 'Good Friday.' I have been convinced for several years now, as I explain in my book, The Jesus Dynasty, that Jesus died on Nisan 14th, which in the year A.D. 30, fell on a Thursday not a Friday. So this is indeed, the 'day Christ died.' He was put in the temporary rock hewn tomb just before sunset, and Friday, the following day, was the first day of Passover. This means the Passover meal or Seder was eaten that Thursday night, just as the Gospel of John records (John 13:1; 18:28). The next day, Friday, was indeed a 'Sabbath,' but not Saturday, the weekly Sabbath, but rather one of the seven “annual” Sabbaths of the Jewish festival cycle (see Leviticus 23:7). This means there were two Sabbaths, back to back, Friday and Saturday, that year. Sunday morning, when Mary Magdalene went early to the tomb and found it empty, it was indeed 'three days and three nights' that Jesus had laid in that tomb (Thurs, Friday, Saturday nights), which comports with the tradition that Matthew has received (Matthew 12:40). Surely a million Sunday school kids over the years have asked, not to mention adults, how can you get three nights, from Friday to Sunday morning. It simply will not work."

UPDATE: Original link is gone. Here is a similar link.

They Drive by Night (1940) *

This one doesn't hold up. George Raft and Bogie play truck driving brothers struggling to start their own trucking company. That's about as interesting as it gets.

The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014) ****

As layered, detailed and delicious as the favorite treat of the central character M. Gustave H, concierge at the GBH. A film that demands multiple viewings if only to savor the production design. Style is the substance.

Jiminy Glick in Lalawood (2004) *

Martin Short is a very funny guy and his Jiminy Glick character is hilarious, but this movie is painfully un-funny. Ill conceived and a waste of a fine cast.

8 Million Ways to Die (1986) **

Attempt at a modern noir starts promisingly but becomes repetitive and nonsensical. A waste of a good cast.

Barton Fink (1991) ****

Master class in how to take an intellectual exercise and turn it into a highly entertaining film. Spectacular, inventive, smart, funny, beautifully shot with a standout performance by John Turturro.

Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2011) **

I realize this is a sci-fi fantasy film, but the script relies on characters doing too many implausible things, and the director shoots action sequences without any regards for real physics. The final sequence on the Golden Gate bridge (and you KNOW the final sequence will be there since the picture is located in the Bay Area) is nicely done.

Mean Girls (2004) **

Not as funny as you'd think, but I'm told it nails some of the more annoying aspects of high school at the turn of the 21st century. Some enjoyable parts, just not enough of them.