Year: 2015

“House of Cards” –On the verge of collapse

Written by diana on March 16, 2015. Posted in movie reviews. 2 Comments on “House of Cards” –On the verge of collapse

In Season 3 of Netflix’s award-winning series, “House of Cards”, the Beltway game is passing Francis Underwood (Kevin Spacey) by and only he seems not to know it. This season is wife Claire Underwood’s story. Whatever the subplots and character arcs, this series continues to hinge upon the tortuous dynamics between Frank and Claire Underwood. They’ve been combustible before, but never quite like this. And now it is Claire’s turn to get center stage. All thirteen episodes again are ready for binge-viewing and, are made for devouring before catching your breath and dissecting...

“Life Itself”—A Beautiful Mind

Written by diana on March 9, 2015. Posted in movie reviews, Unhealed Wound. 1 Comment on “Life Itself”—A Beautiful Mind

Roger Ebert 2013 Based upon the memoir by the same name, “Life Itself” is the autobiography of movie critic extraordinaire, Roger Ebert. This documentary is as much about courage and loyalty as it is about the life of the most famous and brilliant movie critic we have known. Tremendously life-affirming and soul-stirring, “Life Itself” is a portrayal of a man so comfortable with himself that he is always in the present moment, in the face of tremendous challenges towards the end of his life. That Roger Ebert is described by one friend as “nice, but not that nice” says it all: a personality who...

“Wild Tales”—Nothing Tame About This

Written by diana on March 2, 2015. Posted in movie reviews. No Comments on “Wild Tales”—Nothing Tame About This

Wild Tales Nominated for the 2015 Academy Awards for Best Foreign Film (unfortunately losing to “Ida”), “Wild Tales” is like no other film I have seen in recent years. This dark series of six vignettes channeling “Twilight Zone” and “Black Mirror” is the surreal creation of Argentine writer-director Damián Szifrón and produced by Pedro Almodóvar (of “Volver” and “All About My Mother” fame). Grudges, minor insults, infidelity, and heinous crimes all lead to mayhem, revenge, and murder on a cataclysmic, sometimes savage scale. While the first tale is my favorite, all six have scathing, psychological...

“Apparitions: Frottage and Rubbings from 1860 to Now” @ Hammer Museum (UCLA)

Written by diana on February 21, 2015. Posted in Art, Unhealed Wound. 1 Comment on “Apparitions: Frottage and Rubbings from 1860 to Now” @ Hammer Museum (UCLA)

Dominick Di Meo– “Untitled (numbers creatures)” This pioneering exhibit—the first to focus on frottage as an art technique– currently ongoing until May 31, is a scintillating, deceptively simple display of approximately 100 artworks by fifty artists using the technique known as frottage (French: “to rub”). Rubbing a textured surface with a pastel, charcoal pencil, crayon, or printer’s ink over paper or canvas on top of a textured surface, the artist creates a relief image. Associated with the surrealist movement, particularly Max Ernst (1891-1976) , these rubbed...

“Salamander”—Hiding Under a Rock

Written by diana on February 17, 2015. Posted in Television reviews. 2 Comments on “Salamander”—Hiding Under a Rock

“Salamander” the movie This Belgian drama twelve-part TV miniseries, released through Netflix and BBC in 2014, is a crime thriller in the same league as the edge-of-the-seat series Wallander, Bridge, and The Killing. A small private bank in Brussels, is robbed of 66 safe deposit boxes belonging to some of the most prominent statesmen in Belgium. A scandal is brewing since all are members of a secret society, code-named Salamander, dating back to the Second World War. A highly scrupulous police inspector Paul Gerardi (Filip Peeters) begins the investigation, unaware of the...

“Still Alice”—Unforgettable

Written by diana on February 8, 2015. Posted in movie reviews. 2 Comments on “Still Alice”—Unforgettable

Adapted from neuroscientist Lisa Genova’s novel, “Still Alice” takes a straightforward look at the sad, terrifying and difficult-to-bear illness of Alzheimer’s. But bear it we must. The story of Alice Howland (the remarkable Julianne Moore), a fifty-something linguistics professor happily married to a fellow intellectual (Alec Baldwin) and the mother of three adult children (the youngest superbly played by Kristen Stewart) could be a story about any of us. After receiving a diagnosis for Alzheimer’s, Alice attempts to deal with the challenges of the disease as intelligently and courageously...