California Literary Review

The Weekly Listicle: The CIA Goes to the Movies

Matthew Newlin — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 22:35:38 +0000

That all changed when we were introduced to Jason Bourne (Matt Damon) in The Bourne Identity. Based on the novel by Robert Ludlum, Bourne is a former CIA operative who is struck with amnesia after a mission goes wrong. Directed by Doug Liman, Identity is fast-paced, constantly layering more and more information about who Bourne was.

Neighbourhood Watch by Alan Ayckbourn. Pre-West End Tour.

Jem Bloomfield — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 16:26:18 +0000

Neighbourhood Watch never feels like an “issue” play, but the London riots, the increasingly draconian Law and Order rhetoric from the Conservative-led government, and a series of police shootings make it exceptionally timely.

The Office Recap: Special Project (Season 8, Episode 14)

Brett Harrison Davinger — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 03:20:13 +0000

A Recap/Review of The Office- Special Project (Season 8, Episode 14)

Yes Academy, We Do Need To Talk About Kevin

Dan Fields — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 01:05:15 +0000

This film will upset you. This film will follow you home and haunt you. This film takes courage to face. You will not forget We Need To Talk About Kevin.

100 Greatest Gangster Films: The Killer, #90

George Anastasia, Glen Macnow — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 05:05:28 +0000

To some fans, The Killer represents the apex of his career—before he went too commercial. It’s got a solid storyline and strong acting. But it’s mostly a lavishly staged ballet of bullets and blood. Guns blaze in slow motion. Bodies fly through the air. This is high-octane violence in a way that makes your typical Sly Stallone or Steven Seagal fare look like Mary Poppins.

House Recap: ‘Nobody’s Fault’ (Season 8, Episode 11)

Holly Hunt — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 14:03:02 +0000

As promised, we get something different this week. We open with the camera panning across a room in the hospital in which something very bad has clearly gone down – blood spatter, a bloody handprint, a cluster of Mylar balloons bobbing ironically against the ceiling. It’s so bad there’s not even any music on the soundtrack until we’ve had a few minutes to take it all in.

Alcatraz Recap: Guy Hastings (Season 1, Episode 5)

Brett Harrison Davinger — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 08:28:05 +0000

A recap/review of Alcatraz: Guy Hastings (Season 1, Episode 5)

Book Review: Ragnarok: The End of the Gods

Marla Wick — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 16:26:21 +0000

Obsessed with the idea of apocalypse, the child whose world is on the verge of unwinding takes comfort in the fantastic tales of sea serpents and ravenous wolves, tortured demi-gods and Yggdrasil—the tree that holds the world in its branches. The thin child finds a way to live in these stories, which vividly reflect the terrors, uncertainties, and vicissitudes of life in a way that both “the sweet, cotton-wool meek and mild” Jesus and “the barbaric sacrificial gloating” Old Testament deity fail to do.

Movie Review: Chronicle

Adam Robert Thomas — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 18:14:42 +0000

So if you want to try a telekinetic tragedy for today’s times, your only real option, at least for now, is Chronicle. It may be a bit predictable and a bit clichéd, but so is Oedipus, that doesn’t make either any less engaging or heart rending by the end.

Movie Review: The Woman in Black

Dan Fields — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 17:35:57 +0000

And what better place for sustained periods of quiet dread than an abandoned child’s nursery, truly the most powerful asset of a Victorian horror story. In between these extremes of suspense and shock are several surprisingly vivid moments of horror, as the curse manifests itself well outside the bounds of the haunted house.

The Weekly Listicle: Giants v. Patriots

Brett Harrison Davinger — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 17:48:20 +0000

The Weekly Listicle focuses on movies with giants AND patriots.

The Office Recap: Jury Duty (Season 8, Episode 13)

Brett Harrison Davinger — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 04:34:55 +0000

A recap/review of The Office: Jury Duty (Season 8, Episode 13) as well as thoughts on the potential Dwight spin-off.

100 Greatest Gangster Films: Gloria, #91

George Anastasia, Glen Macnow — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 05:05:48 +0000

This is a gangster movie without a memorable gangster. But it has one of the all-time great underworld molls in film history. Gena Rowlands, in the title role, is the movie. And that’s both a blessing and a curse.

San Francisco Ballet’s Dazzling Onegin Opens the 2012 Season

Geri Jeter — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 16:00:29 +0000

From the luscious Santo Loquasto sets and costumes, to the Tchaikovsky musical pastiche, and the brilliant dancing by the principals and the corps — it works. There is no question about it, no waiting to see how it all gels. San Francisco Ballet has a resounding hit on its hands.

Henry Ossawa Tanner: Modern Spirit, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia

Ed Voves — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 03:02:00 +0000

This exhibition of the works of Henry Ossawa Tanner is the first major reappraisal of the great African-American painter in a generation. On display in the PAFA exhibit are over 100 of Tanner’s works, including twelve paintings never shown in a previous retrospective. Drawings, photographs, prints and the only two surviving sculptures created by Tanner are featured, along with his paintings.

House Recap: ‘Runaways’ (Season 8, Episode 10)

Holly Hunt — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 14:02:39 +0000

This week’s premise – “A Different House,” in which we see House caring for a patient as he never has before – is a bit oversold. Pretty much, House stands up for a teenage runaway’s right to hate her pill-popping mother and make a life without her. Though, to the writers’ credit, the parallels with House’s own father issues aren’t pushed too hard.

Alcatraz Recap: Cal Sweeney (Season 1, Episode 4)

Brett Harrison Davinger — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 06:34:56 +0000

A recap/review of Alcatraz, Season 1, Episode 4, Cal Sweeney

Oscars 2012: Slighted Soundtracks And Fantasy Scores

Dan Fields — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 17:54:10 +0000

Acting, directing, and writing awards are the most popular targets for discussion, but there were more very creative folks left off the roll this year. Two aggressively original outsiders are out in the rain, peeping in at the Best Original Score category without so much as an acknowledgment.

Movie Review: Albert Nobbs

Julia Rhodes — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 18:08:11 +0000

Albert, says Garcia, is “beyond the closet.” It doesn’t matter what his sexual orientation is (or isn’t), nor does it even particularly matter his gender. In the end, he’s just a human being striving to be happy, and we can identify with that.

Movie Review: Man on a Ledge

Matthew Newlin — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 17:35:12 +0000

The heist movie is one of the most beloved genres in cinema and its great legacy is tarnished by films like Man on a Ledge.

Hamlet, starring Michael Sheen at the Young Vic, London

Jem Bloomfield — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 16:35:37 +0000

The psychiatric setting also forces – or helps – the production into a particular vision of the play. In some ways this is quite an old-fashioned take, with Hamlet framed as a study of a mind in disintegration.

Into the Void: The Bicoastal Legacy of Weldon Kees

Holly Hunt — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 17:46:49 +0000

This is very different stuff than the angst of later confessional poets such as Lowell and Plath, whose despair is essentially personal, rooted in disappointment and disillusionment. Kees, by comparison, proposes that this is simply how it is, and does so with enough coolness and elegance that it comes as no surprise that Wallace Stevens wrote to Kees ordering a volume of a limited edition of his verse.

100 Greatest Gangster Films: El Mariachi, #92

George Anastasia, Glen Macnow — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 05:05:03 +0000

But there’s a lot of energy and creativity in El Mariachi. Rodriguez has gone on to become a popular and successful director. Watching this film gives you the sense of watching a rock star back when he was in a neighborhood garage band.

Video Game Review: AMY

Adam Robert Thomas — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 20:33:00 +0000

No, what truly hurts is that AMY squanders more potential than a philosophy student. Especially to me, as the game combines a favorite genre, Survival Horror, with a favorite game, ICO, and adds a dash of novelty by using a character you don’t often get to play as: an average woman ill-prepared for combat using her cunning to get by.

The Mid-Weekly Listicle: Oscar Nominations 2012

Brett Harrison Davinger — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 17:07:38 +0000

Our thoughts on the Oscar nominations

Alcatraz Recap: Kit Nelson (Season 1, Episode 3)

Brett Harrison Davinger — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 05:56:40 +0000

A recap/review of Alcatraz- Season 1, Episode 3: Kit Nelson

House Recap: ‘Better Half’ (Season 8, Episode 9)

Holly Hunt — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 05:36:14 +0000

So, here we are, back at Princeton-Plainsboro. House still has an ankle monitor, Dr. Chi Park still has an interestingly spiky personality, Dr. Jessica Adams still doesn’t have much personality at all. Taub is absent this week, attributed to a sick daughter. House makes a Taub-is-short joke about how he’s got Taub in his backpack.

San Francisco Ballet’s 2012 Gala Performance

K. W. Jeter — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 16:25:33 +0000

A gala performance such as this, kicking off San Francisco Ballet’s 2012 season, is inevitably programmed with virtuoso showpieces, designed to show off the extraordinary capabilities of what is undoubtedly a world-class company and arguably the finest dance organization in the U.S.

Movie Review: Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

Brett Harrison Davinger — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 18:10:48 +0000

But when you wear your heart on your sleeve, you risk the audience recognizing that it's as fake as the Tin Man's, and Loud goes so far in the wrong direction that it almost becomes a comedy. By the halfway point, you're no longer watching the magic act, you're enjoying the magician fumbling with the deck of cards.

Movie Review: Haywire

Matthew Newlin — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 17:39:48 +0000

Having already dominated the world of female mixed martial arts (MMA), Carano easily assumes the role of ass-kicking special operative Mallory Kane. Almost like a 21st century “Man With No Name,” Mallory only speaks when absolutely necessary. Carano is surprisingly convincing given she has no acting experience prior to this film.