TAKE SHELTER 10/30/11

Saw film TAKE SHELTER - with an excellent performance by Michael Shannon and a terrific one by Jessica Chastain - a surprise as I found her to be almost invisible in The Tree of Life. I don't want to say too much about this film because I do not want to spoil it for you, but I watched the slow march of anxiety enveloping Michael Shannon, who only wants to keep his family "safe." Of course irony and genetics interfere.
I hated the ending - found it to be a complete cop-out. Almost ruined the film for me. Another Deus ex-machina ploy. Though some critics thought it was brilliant.
But this film has inspired my next painting so something good came out of it.

THE SKIN I LIVE IN 10/24/11

The Skin I Live In -Almodovar's latest film is melodramatic, funny, surreal, beautifully filmed, and a movie that is about gender, loss, revenge, madness and voyeurism. Who are we inside the fragile shell that is our skin? Can we alter our external facade and keep the kernel of who we are intact? Big ?s from a movie that might appear horrifically bizarre at first take. Calling Dr. Frankenstein!