CinemArchetype #5: The Human Sacrifice

"To the primitive mind, good and evil, life and death are in the nature of materialistic qualities capable of transference or expulsion by quasi-mechanical operations... Sacrifice then is the normal means of transferring life and power to mortal deities to keep them vigorous and beneficent."- E.O. JamesThe innocence lost as a maiden leaps into an active volcano or a heart comes out in an Aztec human sacrifice, the ripping to shreds of a recently...

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Oscar Picks of the Bourgeoisie, in Salieri Shades

Beige in ParisIf you've ever (discreetly) wondered just who the "bourgeoisie" are, you're not alone. They are, indeed, mysterious. The old definition of middle or merchant class no longer applies, and it's become a more cultural 'choice' - a highbrow posture. Obviously 'bourgeois' is a French word and the French are very aware of who they are and if you've ever seen a French film where a pair of resentful maids murder their employer's family, that...

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Decadence Lost: DISHONORED, SONG OF SONGS

From Top: Dishonored, Song of SongsTCM has finally stepped on the D-train in a big way with their new pre-code Marlene Dietrich: Directed by Josef Von Sternberg DVD set, at last completing the R1 DVD representation for the Von Sternberg - Dietrich pre-code Paramount series by presenting the long unavailable Dishonored (1932) and Shanghai Express (1933). They are my two favorites! They're here, and the fine quality of DVD serves Von Sternberg's...

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Unconscious Contact: COMMUNION (1989)

The great Taoist Lao Tzu said "Without looking out of my window I can know the ways of heaven." What if the reverse is also true, that without leaving heaven, aliens can look through our window and know all things on earth? Surely it's quid pro quo, and perhaps no coincidence that our final year of 2012 marks the 25th anniversary of the publication of Communion, Whitley Streiber's groundbreaking true story novel about his own experiences as an alien...

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