Time Out of Joint:tag:typepad.com,2003:weblog-812489959698982512011-01-03T09:32:36-07:00a notebook on cinema, hyperreality, and longing . . .TypePadMy Boy Jack | PBStag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d83423522453ef0147e13bda54970b2011-01-03T09:32:36-07:002011-01-06T00:41:34-07:00"Have you news of my boy Jack? Not this tide." — Rudyard Kipling, My Boy Jack In 1914 England, patriotism is high in the early days of WWI, and writer Rudyard Kipling (David Haig, Four Weddings and a Funeral) is one of its most eloquent and passionate voices. John "Jack,"...Reno LauroNarrative and the Grace of God: The New 'True Grit' - NYTimes.comtag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d83423522453ef0148c72390bf970c2010-12-29T00:41:28-07:002010-12-30T00:23:36-07:00The words the book and films share are these: “You must pay for everything in this world one way and another. There is nothing free with the exception of God’s grace.” These two sentences suggest a world in which everything comes around, if not sooner then later. The accounting is...Reno LauroCaution in the Wildernesstag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d83423522453ef013486c4a118970c2010-09-03T08:51:16-07:002010-09-03T08:51:16-07:00I recently experienced the new Arcade fire 'hyperlink-video', The Wilderness Downtown, and was cautiously moved. The video allows you (or more accurately you allow it) to access the memories of your childhood by incorporating Google Earth images of the address where you grew up. I must confess that the sense...Reno LauroSunrise: A Song of Two Humans (1927)tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d83423522453ef0133f357b1cc970b2010-08-26T10:13:39-07:002010-08-26T10:45:39-07:00F.W. Murnau's Sunrise: A Story of Two Humans is one of those films I've waited to see so I could experience it in a cinema atmosphere. I finally had that chance last night at the Paramount Theater in Austin. I must admit that I was utterly unprepared for how 'Modern'...Reno LauroEverlasting Moments: The Gift of Seeingtag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d83423522453ef0133f290748d970b2010-07-26T08:40:02-07:002010-08-01T08:46:32-07:00I finally had a chance to see Jan Troell's Everlasting Moments (2008). A beautiful film shot in 16mm, Everlasting Moments is an evanescent tale of the artist's eye ... the gift of seeing the beauty in the world even if life is weighed down in the ruts of the everyday....Reno LauroSummer Hours: reviewtag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d83423522453ef012876d07f96970c2010-01-13T09:43:07-07:002010-01-13T12:22:54-07:00"i took something ordinary. what would i do with something valuable?" Glenn Kenny hits the nail on the head: Olivier Assayas' beautiful film Summer Hours strikes the perfect chord between ideas and characters. It manages to be both a meditation on the nature of what we call Art versus an...Reno Lauroi'm having a 'panic attack'tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d83423522453ef012876c6a7cb970c2010-01-11T12:11:37-07:002010-01-11T12:28:44-07:00Panic Attack dir. Fede Alvarez By now, you may have already heard about the internet success story Panic Attack! by Fede Alvarez. Director Sam Raimi was so impressed with the '$300' 4:49 Youtube sensation that he is giving Mr. Alvarez $30 million dollars to make an original feature. Panic Attack!...Reno LauroBig Red Onetag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d83423522453ef0147e02356d3970b2006-05-29T10:37:42-07:002006-05-29T10:37:42-07:00It's Memorial Day in the States . . . always a difficult day to commemorate when a country is at war. the most people know about war is through the cinema. war films generally range from the absurd to the pornographic. One film that does get it right, in so...Reno LauroExorcism of Emily Rosetag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d83423522453ef0134897fa5da970c2006-05-16T17:01:00-07:002006-05-16T17:01:00-07:00if you visit rottentomatoes you'll find a mixed bag of reviews of The Exorcism of Emily Rose (2005). I finally watched it last night and was pleasantly surprised . . . The film is loosely based on the events surrounding the death of Anneliese Michel and the subsequent trial (called...Reno Lauroblack Jesus: Son of mantag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d83423522453ef0147e023586d970b2006-01-20T08:56:21-07:002006-01-20T08:56:21-07:00I really appreciate it when people take risks with their art and their theology. 'Son of Man' is such an endeavour. Filmed in South Africa, Son of Man portrays Jesus as a non-violent African revolutionary born in a shanty town ... It seems that the filmmakers have managed to create...Reno Lauro