If it has ever seemed improbable that a twenty-one year old female could have conceived the idea of one of the greatest horror monsters in human history, that is because a crucial piece of information has been missing from all the previous adaptations of Mary Shelly’s book. That crucial detail? Frankenstein was HOT. You didn’t […]
Author Archives: lisathatcher
February
23
I heart Huckabees – David O. Russell and what happens in the meadow at dusk. (Film review)
posted by lisathatcher
It will come as no surprise to regular readers of this blog (have I told you lately that I love you?) that I heart Huckabees is not only my favorite David O. Russell film, but its one of my favorite films to watch and enjoy – perhaps it’s not completely convincing in its approach and […]
February
23
Privates on Parade – Alice Livingstone modernises Peter Nichols big questions. (Theater Review)
posted by lisathatcher
British self-consciousness is rarely a serious thing. Self criticism is often performed through comedy or parody and is part of why we love British humour so much – it seems so much smarter than what other nations can produce. Set in 1948, Privates on Parade sits in the early stages of that political oddity known as the Malayan emergency and follows […]
February
22
Everything I know I learnt from Madonna – Wayne Tunks and the pop star muse. (Theatre Review)
posted by lisathatcher
I have a tale to tell Sometimes it gets so hard to hide it well I was not ready for the fall Too blind to see the writing on the wall Madonna – Live to tell. We appropriate and colonise music more than any art form. A book takes you from your world and transports […]
February
20
Unsex Me – Mark Wilson and the wars within. (Theatre Review)
posted by lisathatcher
Unsex Me Mark Wilson and PACT theatre, February 19-22 Buy tickets here. When Foucault argues that the history of sexuality has not been one of a linear narrative in getting closer to the proposed mystery, but rather a complex cycle of entanglement perpetually distorted by politics, science and the church, the modern thinker is given yet […]
February
19
The Dead Ones – Margie Fischer and the power of memory. (Theatre Review)
posted by lisathatcher
The Dead Ones February 18-22 Seymour Centre. Buy Tickets here. What happens to us when we die? Philosophy has always been concerned with what happens to us when we die, only because it is the single most important factor of life. Death is the thing we have in common with animals, plants and each other. It dominates […]
February
18
Three Kings – David O. Russell’s anti-anti-war film. (Film Review)
posted by lisathatcher
Continuing with the ideas that so evidently interested David O. Russell in his first two films, he moves into his third with an altogether different take on the theory and idea of the Lacanian Big Other, although still retaining it as an important motivator. Three Kings is based on a script written earlier by comedian John Ridley, […]
February
18
Nebraska – Alexander Payne and the perfectly painted character. (Film Review)
posted by lisathatcher
Nebraska, the first film Alexander Payne has made as a director that he did not write, or co-write, is a step away from the acceptance despite damnation history that marked an Alexander Payne film right up until The Descendants, even if it still deals with unlikable characters. Nebraska speaks more to the layers, that old onion thing, and the […]
February
17
30 years ago today – Footloose (the first)
posted by lisathatcher
I was a nerd in high school. Not one of those faux nerds who wears black, adores Daria and secretly designs rockets and makes downscale models of them work, not one of those nerds a-la Molly Ringwald who is shy and designs super-amazing clothes out of thrift store rags in her spare time, not one of those […]
February
17
Flirting with Disaster – David O. Russell and the sexual enormity of our parents. (Film Review)
posted by lisathatcher
There is a general idea that David O. Russell is the master of that 90’s indie aesthetic, character driven, quirky-screwball-laced-with-heart films that go a little deeper into clichés, usually by subverting them. They’ve almost developed into their own mini art-house genre now and American Hustle does see Russell distance himself from the idea more and use depth, not […]
Lisa Thatcher 