: to disguise or conceal (feelings or intentions)
Well, it's almost the weekend! As of now, we're planning on going up to Columbia to see Catherine. We're just trying to figure out what to do with The Daisy. Catherine's dog, Dexter, has kennel cough! I guess we'll have to separate these two!
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Here are the new movies opening this weekend, some of which are Oscar hopefuls:
The Master A Paul Thomas Anderson picture is always an event, and this long look at post-WWII America is said to be a veiled look at the history of Scientology. Joaquin Phoenix stars as a veteran and a drifter, taken in and tantalized by the L.Ron Hubbard-ish leader of a movement (Philip Seymour Hoffman). Most critics love it - though some are saying it's oppressive and closed-off. Possible Oscar nominations could include Amy Adams as Hoffman's wife.
Verdict: Interested
Arbitrage Richard Gere is getting the reviews of his life - and is destined to be an Oscar nominee for his work as a hedge-fund magnate in way over his head in fraud. Essentially the story of Bernie Madoff, the film is getting good reviews. Written and directed by Nicholas Jarecki, the film might propel Gere to his first ever Oscar nomination; I think the actor has been terrific for a long time. Apparently, there's a lot of Wall Street jargon in it, so beware. It co-stars Susan Sarandon (as Gere's wife) and Tim Roth (as the detective on Gere's trail).
Verdict: Very Interested
Liberal Arts How I Met Your Mother's Josh Radnor wrote, directed, and stars in this campus comedy about a college admissions worker (Radnor) who returns to his alma mater, Gambier, Ohio's Kenyon College (Radnor's own alma mater and where the film was shot), to speak at the retirement party of a beloved professor (Richard Jenkins). While there, he falls in love with a college student (Elizabeth Olsen). Should be fun to see for the Ohio setting and the cast, which includes Allison Janney, Elizabeth Reaser, and, in a small part, Zac Efron as a hippie! Good reviews.
Verdict: Very Interested
10 Years Another month, another Channing Tatum movie. This one's an ensemble piece - a melancholic comedy about that most recognizable cinematic event: the high school reunion. Naturally, old romances are re-kindled, dormant feelings are brought to the surface, and everyone realizes how much growing up they still have to do. Good reviews, mainly because of the appeal of its cast, which includes Tatum's real-life wife Jenna Dewan-Tatum, Chris Pratt, Justin Long, Anthony Mackie, Ari Graynor, Kate Mara, and Rosario Dawson, among others.
Verdict: Interested
Stolen Another month, another piece of Nicolas Cage shlock. The actor's been in re-run mode since the mid-1990s, making nothing but junk. Cage plays a thief who is believed, by the bad guys who kidnap his daughter, to know the location of the millions of dollars that he supposedly hid before going into the slammer. Yawn. Simon West is the Nicolas Cage of directors. Check out his resume: Con Air, The General's Daughter, Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, The Expendables 2. This one co-stars Malin Akerman, Danny Huston, and Josh Lucas.
Verdict: Not Interested
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- Julia and I are excited about watching the series finale of Damages tonight. I haven't been too keen on this fifth and final season - I don't think the central storyline, involving a Wikileaks-like scandal (involving Ryan Phillippe), is that engaging, and too many subplots don't come to any fruition - but overall, it's been an outstanding, beautifully-acted show.
- On this date, in 1916, Roald Dahl was born. Fans of Dahl out there, take this quiz and see how you do:
http://www.sporcle.com/games/g/roalddahl
- A prediction for tonight's game. Hmmm. I really like this Chicago Bears team. Good defense, great running game, and, finally, some actual WRs - big, physical ones, even - for Jay Cutler to throw to. I see the Bears getting into the playoffs. The Packers - well, I still don't like their defense and their offense is struggling because they can't run the ball. With Greg Jennings a maybe for tonight, I see the Pack hurting. That said, I can't see the Packers and A-Rod losing three in a row at Lambeau, I just can't. Green Bay 27, Chicago 24.
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A painting today by the Renaissance artist Andrea Mantegna, who died on this date in 1506.
Lamentation over the Dead Christ
c. 1490
tempera on canvas
Pinacoteca di Brera, Milan (art collection)
As Julia informed me, this Mantegna is a brilliant example of foreshortening; foreshortening is the technique that creates the illusion that an object is receding slowly yet strongly into the distance or background. Here, Mantegna uses it by having the objects closest to us - Christ's feet, lower torso - appear bigger and larger to us than they actually are. The painting is equally captivating for its cold realism, its bare, wrinkled detail. One might even conclude that, because of his technique and clinical eye, Mantegna ultimately exaggerates and inflates Christ's suffering.
Images:
http://www.chinaoilpaintinggallery.com/oilpainting/Andrea-Mantegna/The-Lamentation-over-the-Dead-Christ.jpg
http://collider.com/wp-content/uploads/joaquin-phoenix-the-master.jpg
http://img2-2.timeinc.net/ew/i/2012/01/19/liberal-arts_320.jpg
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