Posts Tagged ‘beauty’

Short Take: Action packed and emotionally arresting. Rivals "X2" for best of the series.

Director: Matthew Vaughn

Screenwriters: Ashley Miller, Zack Stentz, Jane Goldman, Matthew Vaughn – Sheldon Turner and Bryan Singer (story)

Cast: James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence, Kevin Bacon, Rose Byrne, January Jones

Length: 2h 12m

Synopsis: It is 1963 and the world is still largely unaware of the presence of mutants. This is not to say that they are few in number, but most are still very much in the closet. There are a few, however, that are not shy about their abilities. Sebastian Shaw (Bacon), an ex-Nazi who ran the concentration camp where Erik Lehnsherr (Fassbender) was separated from his family, is a mutant who is trying to manipulate the American and Soviet governments into nuclear war. Meanwhile, mutants Charles Xavier (McAvoy) and Lehnsherr are attempting to recruit a special team of fellow gifted individuals to stop Shaw before it’s too late. But while Xavier is determined to avoid violent methods whenever possible, Erik is looking to get revenge on his former captor by any means necessary. How their battle concludes will not only affect how mutants will be looked at for years to come – as friends or foes – but whether humans will continue to outnumber mutants across the world.

Read the rest of this entry »

Is our judgment of a work of art based solely upon whether or not it delights us in some way?

De gustibus non disputandum (There can be no disputing over matters of taste). – Latin dictum

When it comes to art in general people have been trying for thousands of years (basically since the time of Aristotle) to make heads or tails of why people think the way they do. Are there certain innate likes and dislikes that are embedded in every person, and if so then how can we explain the occasional anomaly? If each person’s taste in art, whether it be concerning architecture, sculpture, paintings, or movies, is unique, how can any consensuses be made about anything? Could such consensuses, if they happen, be considered happenstance or indicative of that certain work’s true value? Should we base our likes and dislikes of works of art on whether or not we apply personal value to them? Are there consistencies and/or patterns that can be discovered in the ways each person applies value to various works of art? Read the rest of this entry »

Short Take: Visually stunning, with depth beyond the aesthetic

Director: Tom Ford (Début)

Screenwriters: Tom Ford (Début), David Scearce (Début)

Cast: Colin Firth (Bridget Jones’s Diary, Love Actually, Mamma Mia!), Julianne Moore (Blindness, Children of Men, The Hours), Matthew Goode (Watchmen, Match Point), Nicholas Hoult (Skins, About a Boy)

Length: 1 hr 41 mins

Synopsis: Eight months after his partner of 16 years, Jim (Goode) dies in a car accident, college English professor George (Firth), decides to end his life.  As George arranges his affairs on what is supposed to be the final day of his life, he is pulled away from his decision to die after visiting his longtime friend Charley (Moore) and spending time with an intriguing and handsome student, Kenny (Hoult).

Read the rest of this entry »