by Sam Juliano
Things at Wonders in the Dark have been looking up, what with Allan Fish’s long-awaited return to the ranks, the continued high-quality work of Jim Clark on every other Wednesday, and the imminent staging of the Top 50 Greatest Childhood Films polling and countdown planned for late May. This week the first e mail will be sent out to the e mail network.
There does seem to be a light at the end of the tunnel as far as the unrelenting frigid weather and snow we been regaled with over months, sustaining for one the worst February any of us can remember. On another note I want to thank our very dear friend Dee Dee for her lovely greetings for Allan’s return posted on the sidebar, and as always for her always cherished concern for the site and those who post here. Great too, that Tony d’Ambra is back in print as per his blu ray review of Ride the Pink Horse at Films Noir.et this past week. The Tribeca Film Festival inches closer, and is roughly one month away. To say we will be busy for those 11 days would be a classic understatement, as we manged 51 feature length films during last year’s event.
Lucille and I were very busy this past week with home repairs, assisting the man who administered them, and as a result I was on-line far less than I have been in a very long time. We did get to see two films in theaters:
Wild Tales **** (Sunday) Bow-Tie Cinemas
The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel * 1/2 Chelsea Cinemas
WILD TALES is an exhilarating Argentine black comedy and social satire by Damian Szifrom, that is simultaneously inventive and outrageous. Six stories, all tinged with a subversive undercurrent in an acute study of human behavior. Generally first-rate.
THE SECOND BEST EXOTIC MARIGOLD HOTEL is superficial, predictable, disjointed, episodic, and in the end a major bore. The cast is fine, especially Bill Nighy, but it is really time to close down this series. The first one was no masterpieces, but at least it was moderately enjoyable, but the Brits in India theme has worn thin.
