opticoptic - LiveJournal.comSIFF: Blood Brothers- June 4, 2008 Our second SIFF movie was Blood Brothers (Tian Tang Kou), which SIFF described as a "Dazzling gangster movie, set against the glamorous vice den of 1930s Shanghai". Which sounded pretty good. It turned out to be pretty silly. Oh, it was okay for a while, and looked terrific, but it really went over the top goofy at the end, with just a ridiculous excess of pointless shooting and style-over-substance. Now, far be it from me to criticize a movie for style or explosions -- I enjoy both with gusto..http://optic.livejournal.com/714866.html SIFF: The Wrecking Crew- June 4, 2008 E and I got tickets for a few SIFF movies this year. The first was The Wrecking Crew, a documentary about a group of session musicians (called "the wrecking crew") who played the music for some of rock's biggest albums in the 50s, 60s, and 70s. I was expecting this movie to be totally awesome, and unfortunately it wasn't. The people were great, the music was great, but somehow the movie itself didn't quite work. I think part of the problem was that it felt too amateurish, due partly to its...http://optic.livejournal.com/714610.html Books - May 08- June 2, 2008 Graham Greene - Travels with my AuntDan Simmons - The Rise of EndymionPatrick O'Brian - The Wine-Dark SeaWinifred Watson - Miss Pettigrew Lives for a DayAlexander Kent - In Gallant CompanyTravels with my Aunt is not what I would usually think of as standard Graham Greene material -- a retired banker, prim, virginal, mostly innocent about the world, is swept up by his adventurous aunt, who meets for the first time at his mother's funeral. At her heels, he's drawn into a world of shady characters.http://optic.livejournal.com/714473.html |