Donald Sutherland is miscast as the titular Casanova in this beautiful looking interpretation of that story. Every colorful frame of this movie is a surreal compositional masterpiece. Unfortunately, the hodgepodge of a story here doesn’t really work and gets downright tiresome for the last third. I guess this is supposed to be a comic satire and maybe it would make more sense if I was better familiarized with Italian sex comedies. It mostly serves as a study of a pompous, arrogant fool whose life is lonely and empty of real meaning despite his many sexual conquests. Huzzah, art!
The Paul Naschy Collection II went on sale and, of course, I had to get it. I’m starting off by watching this obvious cash-in on The Exorcist in which Naschy plays a priest who is asked to help out a young girl who was in a car accident, is dating a druggy, goes to secret pagan ceremonies, and also is possessed by a demon.
As you can see, the make-up effects are pretty great, but you don’t really get to the expected writhing and cursing until the last ten minutes. Most of the build-up to the final confrontation is pretty slow and unimpressive. Sure you get to see a group of naked cultists and a snapped neck or two, however there is no real tension or suspense. I won’t say I was bored and I do love the style, but this could have used a little more effort.
This is your standard mass-market artist overview with plenty of high quality color images. The writing is to the point, informative, and does what it needs to do. My only complaint is that several of the larger images are presented as two-page spreads, causing the centers of the images to be lost within in the binding of the book.
This is from one of those mass market art book series, Crown Art Library. I’m a sucker for these short, generalized overviews of artists and their work. Unfortunately, the writing in this one feels like a bad translation. Only in the last few pages do we get concrete details about Ensor’s life, but, as always, the writing is second banana to the art itself. The book is filled with high quality images of Ensor’s work which make it worth having.
Quite frankly I was bored by this litany of Scottish people and their ancestors and all their accomplishments. I get it. Scotland produced a lot of talented thinkers. I supposed the first several chapters were laying the historical groundwork as to why the Scots are such go getters, but I really didn’t see the connection. To me, it all just seemed like a who’s who of the kilted set. And of course we all know the Greeks invented everything, amirite?
The 1944 classic is apparently the second film version of the play Gaslight. This version takes its time establishing the main characters and initially feels a bit cheesy. But once the main plot kicks in the acting starts to improve and it’s just as tense as any modern thriller. Bergman’s final monologue is a great payoff but they couldn’t resist throwing in a corny joke at the end.
The third film in the French Noir blu-ray set is probably the best of the three. What’s so great about it is that it is that it sets itself up with a couple of plot switch-a-roos in which you think you are seeing a movie about a man getting away with murder until suddenly you’re not. Eventually, the story finds its way to a young couple and their romance in and around their jobs at a Paris taxi company. The place is filled with interesting background characters and a simmering dread as danger lurks nearby. By the time murder comes back in to the picture you are fully invested in the lives of the young couple and it earns its last 10 or so minutes of car chases through the darkened streets of Paris.
The second film in the French Noir blu-ray set is about as noir-y as noir can get. The movie opens with about ten minutes of dialogue-free intrigue and murder. The plot then goes back in time to show the events that lead to that. As one might expect, what we saw in the opening isn’t quite what we thought. Great black and white visuals throughout and an engaging plot make this a highly recommended watch.
I found this volume in the Mysteries series to be much more readable and informative than the last few I have read. I think it’s because the stupid paranormal aspects of dreaming are limited to the final chapter. The bulk of the book is a more down-to-earth analysis of the cultural importance of dreaming along with the psychological and scientific aspects of sleep and dreams. Even the paranormal chapter is approached from a pseudo scientific angle. The “experiments” include having a Grateful Dead concert crowd sending psychic messages to dreamers. No exactly a rigorously-controlled scientific study.
The Expanse keeps expansing! The story takes a break from galactic politics and focuses on the first group of settlers on the other side of “The Ring.” There was too much focus on the dull new characters for me to get that interested in the goings on here.
