Movie Salad

A veces me agarran crisis. Cuando veo una película como esta se me desdibujan todos los límites – y es que de tan simple, de tan ¿mala?, me encanta. No me importa que no busque innovar, que es lo que mayormente se le exige al “buen” arte, al arte “culto”. Como película de suspenso logra su cometido con creces. Incluso logró que yo tenga pesadillas – lo cual no sucede seguido. ¿Cuál es el problema con una película que tiene clichés? No es pretenciosa, no intenta ser otra cosa, no tiene aires de grandeza. Es una película que apuesta al suspenso con las técnicas más clásicas y más utilizadas. Lo logra. ¿Está mal? No lo creo. Permítanme contar más o menos la historia, cosa de no dejarlos tan en el aire. La película arranca con la muerte de una mujer ciega. Los espectadores vemos como esta mujer le habla a alguien que puede o no estar junto a ella. ¿Está loca? ¿Hay realmente alguien ahí? No se sabe. Hasta que sube al banquillo y se pone la soga al cuello. Le dice a su interlo...

TRUE BLOOD: A SERIES YOU DON’T WANT TO SAY YOU LOVE MISS Okay, this will probably be the most whimsical review I’ve written so far. I’m so delighted with its topic that you’ll probably end up thinking my review is too biased to be trusted. Warnings issued, I tell you I think it’s worth giving it a try – even in spite of my (and any other, for that matter) review. ‘True Blood’ is a series about vampires and werewolves and fairies and witches. And politics. And drugs. Oh, yes! And sex, lots of sex. Sounds a little too commercial, right? Yes, you’re right. Of course it’s commercial, it truly is. Yet why not tear that ‘commercial = bad’ prejudice apart? At least it’s honestly commercial (let’s not forget it’s broadcast by HBO, a commercial channel like no other.) You may further argue: those all the topics that shouldn’t go together in a serious product. Yet, no one ever said ‘True Blood’ is totally serious. It’s a damn comedy. And a very good one, it is. It’s like: Kaboom! Rig...

Writing by Federico M. Bones Steven Soderbergh’s ‘Side Effects’: A cobweb of intrigue and conspiracy that will make you wonder Be careful what you wish for… Steven Soderbergh, that chameleon of a director, is quite a unique man. Last year his film ‘Magic Mike’ was released (premiered a couple of months ago here) and, on seeing its trailer, I ended up confused. Wasn’t he the man behind the ‘Ocean’s’ saga? Weren’t those films more ‘crime’ or ‘thriller’ than ‘silly comedy of sexy male strippers doin’ their thing on screen’? Wait a second, wasn’t he behind ‘Erin Brockovich’ too? And wasn’t this one a ‘drama’ about a single mother? Yes, and it’s the same Steven Soderbergh doing all of them. Isn’t it great to be able to make films whose depths range from puddle to ocean trough? Now, ‘Magic Mike’ was not at all engaging to me. Not, at least, if I had to pay a considerable amount of money to see it at my usual cinema. When I saw the poster of ‘Side Effects’ on the mentioned c...

by Federico M. Bones This production  – is it a film? Is it a series? – had always been waiting there, but I kept putting it off. I’ve never been really drawn to Dickens, since it’s known that his works deal with the awful treatment children received during his time. His depictions being so powerful, I couldn’t bear reading his books. Whenever I started one, it shocked me so strongly I had to put it away after, at most, three chapters. And as I’m a book-first-movie-second advocate, I didn’t want to watch productions of Dickens’ books. Now, it’s a well-known fact that boring stretches of time procrastinating on one’s computer can have unimaginable outcomes. What happened? After some hours without much to do, the possibility to watch this film came up once more and, without much consideration, and after a ‘why not?’ I clicked a video with the full thing on YouTube. Little did I imagine how delighted I would be. I’m afraid I’m prone to liking anything where a bunch of actors...

Off The Book — Beyond Fiction … RE LOAD ED !!!! 2013 has so far been a fantastic year as far as literature affairs are concerned. I’ve been able to finish a novel I hadn’t been able to read when I bought, I’ve managed to add some terrific pieces to my (loved and hated) improvised bookshelf, I’ve finally found what I needed in order to start writing my first novel. There’s also a project that was postponed for too long, due to… well… agenda issues mostly. My agenda, of course, but also the cram packed agenda of another essential 33,33%: my iron-strong, genial co-presenter Dee-Dee! (Sorry Dee, but we all are percentages some time or other. The thing is not to be just a number, which of course you aren’t.) I’m referring, you must surely have guessed, to the amazing “Off the Book – Beyond Fiction”! Ups and downs... They mean nothing eventually It could be a metaphor of how, if you struggle for what you want, you’ll surely get it. But, please, let’s not wax self-help....

by Federico M. Bones FX's “American Horror Story” has recently ended its second season. We’ve seen a whole new story absolutely detached from the first one, yet as powerful and fantastic – only much more disturbing. What ’ s this season about? If the first season was about a horror house, this season we are introduced in a mental asylum in mid 1960s America and its modern-day wreckage. In 2012, a couple gets into the dark, abandoned building that once worked as an institution for the criminally insane looking for exciting adventures and sordid, creepy sex. They are raunchy, daring: they have sex on an ECT… is it a chair? A bed? A Table? (it’s whatever, it serves it purposes well enough). She even “blows” him while he films a dark room through a hole in the wall with his cell-phone and… RRRRIP ! He can film no more because his arm has been severed. We are then taken forty eight years back, and witness the easy, countryside life of a man and his wife (Kit, pl...

______________________ Por Federico M. Bones No sé si será lícito comparar obras de disciplinas diferentes, pero en una época en que el cine y la literatura están tan interrelacionados me permito tal licencia (que en cualquier caso no considero un pecado). Miércoles por la tarde. Mi amiguísima, colega y co-conductora Delfina y yo comenzamos de nuevo con un proyecto pospuesto demasiado tiempo: la segunda temporada de Off the book – Beyond Fiction , un programa casero de radio sobre escritores anglosajones y sus obras. En esta segunda temporada elegimos invocar autores estadounidenses, y el primero fue el fabuloso Henry James. “¿Qué mejor”, pensé, “que tratar su novela ‘ Otra vuelta de tuerca ( The turn of the screw )’? Es la más emblemática y me fascinó leerla.” La grabación del episodio se sucedió algo apurada, en parte porque no contábamos con demasiado tiempo; en parte porque cuando uno se entretiene y hace lo que le gusta el tiempo corre. Viernes por la noche. A fal...