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It was mentioned that the "Across the Stars" motif is based on the main "Star Wars" theme; I don't know about that, but it did remind me of the neat bit of intertexuality. The motif (at least at the beginning of the concert version of the CD) begins with a minor-sixth leap from A to F. Now...

I'm resurrecting this thread because an idea crossed my mind. The evil Superman subplot represents what I think was a missed opportunity to really explore where Superman's altruism comes from and how it might clash with his human desires. So I was thinking that a better movie would have resulted...

Well sure, but Ebert's remark infers that he thinks being Batman is all about dressing up and having fun being a hero and playing with sundry gadgets from his utility belt. That is emphatically not what Batman is about. I'm all for Batman smiling and taking pride in his work at times, but...

Still, when Ebert writes in his review of Batman Returns that he always thought it would be "fun to be Batman," he reveals a deep misunderstanding of what Batman is all about. Although the criticisms of the storytelling faults are on target (you have a film called "Batman" and the story is the...

Hardly. When I listen to it, I don't have the same reaction as I do with say, Liszt's Hungaria, which is twice as long as it should be, and even that is a little too long. It is a work that is too often simply loud and crude (which isn't a trait that applies across the board to his works...

I did know that--reportedly when the Nazis invaded Leningrad, Shostakovich immediately went to the army recruiter to join up, but poor health thwarted that plan--but that doesn't change my opinion that it is a muscially safisfying piece (okay, maybe the first movement could stand to be trimmed a...

I'm not sure what you meant by that; I'll reiterate that I think it's a terrific work. Some may be put off a bit by the repetition in the first movement, but I think it maintains a high degree of momentum, and becomes incredibly intense. The symphony also features another fine slow movement and...

The Fifth Symphony is his most popular for good reason (as is usually the case with noted composers' most popular works). Of course, in terms of technique and imagination, it's a bit of a step back from the Fourth, but musically, it's a stronger work. Those looking to get into Shostakovich...

What exactly were the reasons behind Dutoit's departure? I forget the details, but I do know the parting was acrimonious. We seemed to have strayed from Shostakovich haven't we? :)

Who is the conductor for the OSM these days? Did the orchestra suffer in any way after Dutoit left in a huff back in (I think) 1991? BTW, Dutoit's recording of Ravel's Daphnis and Chloe with the OSM is superb.

I've been going through the cycle during the past few weeks (well, the ones I actually like anyway), and I wondered what everyone's favorite symphony from the all-time great Russian composer (no, it's not Rachmaninoff!) is. These days, I tend to gravitate towards the Tenth, which has a great...

:rimshot Seriously though, deconstruction is designed not to be simple, since it's all about destabilizing meaning. As one of my profs said, "when you think you've got it, it probably means you don't."

The world has lost a great thinker. Link

I've read the interview in the insert and I don't buy it. He can claim this or that until he's blue in the face about what he intended. What Peckinpah intended, or claims he intended, is of very minor importance; what is of importance is the images that are on the screen and how one perceives...

This has nothing to do with whether *I* think she was a slut, rather it was what seemed to be Peckinpah's attitude. Both female characters (Amy and the village girl) are presented as women who behave aggresively sexual and that leads to a bad outcome as if Peckinpah were punishing them for being...

Although it's not my favorite, it is an important film with excellent performances by Hoffman and George. However, there are things about that irk me: for one thing, Peckinpah's depiction of women as sluts who are to blame when they are violated is reprehensible (the constant fetishization of...

A film that ostensibly is about racism by definition cannot be "superficial escapist entertainment." If you're going to deal with such a serious subject, you'd better treat it with the nuance it requires. A Time to Kill descends into sensationalism and becomes superficial entertainment and...

That's what makes A Time to Kill offensive to many: the film pretends that it's an exploration of racism, but all it has on its mind is to exploit our sympathies for the father of a victimized child to get us to root for vigilantism. The movies like to portray taking the law into one's own...

I'll second Mulvey's commentary. I'd like to point out that the article where she discusses the male gaze is called "Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema." You can find it in her book Visual and Other Pleasures. I tend to favor these academic commentaries because they get seriously into meaning...

There was a Saturday Night's Main Event match in 1987 between the Bulldogs and the Hart Foundation (a rematch after the Harts won the titles) where the Bulldogs won two straight falls. Of course the first was a DQ, so they didn't win the titles. Seems the WWF forgot that rule when the Harts...

I feel I must protest the disparaging remarks about Tarkovsky's Solaris: it may be glacially slow paced but I find it anything but boring. The pacing gives us time to ruminate on what we are seeing; this film doesn't rely on considering meaning after the fact (although this occurs as well). Our...

My sig is a quote from Monty Python, specifically a "Vox Pop" one-liner with John Cleese dressed in a business suit (I've been using it for awhile, so maybe it's time I changed it). So, their intent behind the line was likely to annoy conservatives. I myself am what devout conservatives might...

Oh, and the reason that many Vietnam films portray soldiers in a less than flattering light was because of the way many behaved during the war. Basically the insanity of the situation as well as their leaders attitudes towards the war and the Vietnamese in general turned decent men into racist...

Lethal Weapon's plot hinges on the Vietnam war: Riggs and Murtaugh are vets and the whole drug smuggling operation was hatched during the war. The battle between the Ewoks and the stormtroopers in ROTJ is a Vietnam allegory, where the modern "war machine" gets overpowered by a less...

About the process that the films were shot in; the credits say "filmed in Panavision" instead of "Panavision cameras and lenses," which seems to unequivocally say that the films were shot anamorphic. So where does IMDB get the idea that it was filmed in Super 35? I also seem to remember some...

:confused: I don't get it.

I haven't read a fiction book in AGES. Most of what I'm listing I've recently read or currently am reading (although I've read plenty of journal articles and essays from collections, I haven't read a great deal of entire books lately). Music and Musical Life in Soviet Russia by Boris...

You are so right about this. The most egregious example was Public Enemy's "It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back," a brilliant album that had hardly any profanity, yet it carried a PA sticker. Why? Could it be that the (white) power structure couldn't stand black artists articulatly...

Hmmm, it seems no one wants to discuss my interpretation of the film. I'm absolutely crushed. :) My suspicions were correct: no one wants to hear what I have to say. :) ;)

This is a combination of review and discussion of the themes I picked up on. I wasn't thrilled with the first film; I felt that a very good origin story was undone by rather lifeless action scenes in the second half. So I wasn't going into this one with extremely high expectations. This...