3 comments about Galileo: On the Shoulders of Giants.

1. As a High School Physics Teacher I really recomend this video for the introduction of the scientific method. It details the importance of experimentation before making conclussions. It is also a unique resource to help teachers develop in students etics and moral values in science. I whish I can get a copy of this video in Spanish since that is the language most of my students understand better.



2. At the dawn of the 17th century, everybody takes the explanations of the great thinkers such as Aristotle for granted. The astronomer and the mathematician Galileo Galilei is about to discover the biggest mysteries of the universe. The lack of money, a brother who lives in his depend and a rival can't stop him from continuing its researches. He finds support in his pupil prince Cosimo (who was spoiled by the monarchy at the beginning of the movie). The education of Galileo is going to change the vision of the prince. He's going to help its teacher to invent the telescope. This film (almost a documentary) is striking as for its attention to details. It's easy to understand why they won two Emmy Awards (as being nominated for five). Michael Moriarty (actor from the series "Law and Order") is excellent in the title role. As good as Kenny Vadas who plays the role of his student. It is very cool at the end of the film when an astronaut finally proves Galileo's theory of falling objects speed.



3. Well, if you're an anti-Catholic bigot, just LOVE empty-headed after-school specials, and know absolutely nothing about the truth of the Galileo case, I'm sure you'll love this badly-acted bit of foolishness. I had my students watch it. The bad acting pained them. One asked: "What did we do to you that made you so angry that you forced us to watch that idiotic thing?" The problem was, I had assigned them to read the actual historical documents on the Galileo case BEFORE they watched the movie. So they saw all the historical absurdities at once. Bottom line: childish pratfalls, intellectually dishonest anti-religious bigotry, along with remarkably stupid historical inaccuracies. As an example of propaganda and bigotry, it's great. As history, well, put it this way: the Scottish accents in the movie "The 300" is closer to the truth of the Spartans than this boring drivel is to Galileo.

2 comments about Goya : Awakened in a Dream.

1. This is the story of the great painter Goya, and Rosarita, a poor child who dreams of 'the art of strokes', while her canvas is the earth, and her finger the only sketch.
   Goya moves from the King's Court to a rustic life, so that he can paint in peace and not worry about what theme in his painting will offend the church.
   When Rosarita chalks out a picture of him as a wicked man, he is impressed by her talent ,but realises that she needs help in 'seeing' more than just two eyes can see, to be a good painter.
   He then appoints Rosa's mother as the housekeeper giving them a roof. While he is doing paintings in his own style, he also teaches Rosa to finetune her skills and lets Rosa do an ivory painting. She does the ivory more justice than expected from a child.
   Two extremes in relation to parents, children and art can be seen. Goya's son is a failure at art. Rosa's mother believes art's no good to earn bread.The son's dedication for father, trying to get him out of Inquisition, have been well brought out.
   Towards the end, an important point is driven home, that it is scary to express your innermost fears, but the result will relieve you, for having found the expression. After all, what good is art if you cannot communicate your deep felt emotions.



2. I have been using this video for several years with high school design students. They respond well to it, and it is a good springboard for class discussions. I follow this in the next class period with a slide lecture on Goya's life and the purposes his art served at different stages, including: sports reporting (for example, "Unfortunate Incident in the First Row"); decorative and practical (the tapestry cartoons); social criticism with Enlightenment values (The Caprices); Political power and criticism (Portrait of King Carlos IV and family); Portraiture--and veiled love note (Duchess of Alba); Propaganda--in a GOOD sense (The Third of May, 1808); a personal thank-you note (Dr. Arietta); psychological self-examination and catharsis (The Black Paintings); even sexual excitation (both the Clothed and Nude Majas).
   
   I believe the students respond better to my slide lecture because they have first gotten to know Goya as a flesh and blood human being through this excellent film. I must have watched it at least twenty times in the last seven years, and can find no significant fault with it.
   
   This year I used it as the beginning of a unit on drawing from observation, and Goya's advice to Rosarita was exactly what I want the students to get: (slightly paraphrased) "You've drawn what you think a tree is like; you must learn to see, and to draw a tree it as it really is."
   
   I just wish it was available on DVD!

No comments about Marie Curie: More Than Meets the Eye.

1 comments about Strokes of Genius: Franz Kline.

1. This is one of the few vhs/dvd's available about Franz and his work so you have to be patient with it, the video starts off slow and seems to be more about the history of the Village and has DeKooning and his wife Elaine talking about the old days and what people did for fun and where people ate and drank. It's very choppy at first and doesn't get around to really showing pictures of Franz and his best known art until the half way point, and in a thirty minute video that's not much time to cover the complex ideas and forms he is famous for creating. However, if you can pick up a used copy then I would buy it at least to have it in my video library of great artists. I only wish it had been longer and more detailed.

5 comments about Living With Pride: Ruth Ellis @ 100.

1. The life of Ruth Ellis, a 100-year-old African-American lesbian, is beautifully portrayed in this film. It's wonderful & touching--a great perspective on both black & queer history. This bridges both generational & racial gaps. And the woman herself is awesome, funny & quick-witted. You won't regret seeing it!!



2. This 100 year old woman, who lived through times in history some of us have a hard time reading about, is just an absolute gift. Providing a meeting place for gays & lesbians to meet without fear of retribution, opening & operating a business at a time when it was rare for women to be business owners...her life has been an inspirational force. I sincerely hope Ms. Ruth has many, many more years of wearing out the young ones on the dance floor and just continuing to be herself.



3. This video is a graceful and loving portrait of a woman who has created history just by being herself. Living with Pride captures the sheer beauty of Ruth Ellis' life and should be required viewing in any class on not just GLBT history but post-Civil War African American history as well. She is a true inspiration not just to black gays and lesbians but to all who want to know the "secret" of living a long, dignified, truth-filled and healthy life. Ruth is now 101 years old....Wow!



4. I would thoroughly recommend this video. Ruth was an amazing woman for so many reasons. Not the least of which is her inspiring courage in living her life as an "out" lesbian for over a century. Not to mention the other aspects of her life as an entreprenuer, homeowner and spiritual person. I aspire to be like her and hopefully, live my life with as much pride and dignity as Ruth. The movie is well done and a joy to watch. The best scenes are those with Ruth herself, as she describes her life past and present with humor, candor and wit. We love you Ruth!!



5. ~_~

   Ruth Ellis revists her 100 magical years. I call them magical because it is such a miracle that a lesbian -- and a colored lesbian at that -- was able to survive all that Ellis survived. Her wisdom makes me want to be a better human being. Really makes you concentrate on the good things in life.

   What a happy woman! She is just happy... even when she is crying, she is happy. The filmaker works wonders. Her charm at capturing Ellis' timeless wisdom is not only gracious but seems to be effortless. I'm looking forward to seeing more of her work.

   You can't go wrong with this documentary. It is exactly everything a documentary SHOULD be. I'm more than sure that it will inspire everyone, somehow..... someway. Get yourself some inspiration, why don't you!

No comments about Strokes of Genius: Willem de Kooning.

1 comments about Ernest Borgnine on the Bus.

1. One of the most pleasant video experiences in recent years:hop on board "The Sunbum",a customised luxury bus touring the heartland of the US with your driver(and host)Ernest Borgnine and his son Cris.As you tour past the corn fields,down the interstate highways,through the trailer parks,hear Ernest spin stories of Hollywood past - just sit back and relax and take the trip with him.Hear how he managed not to be typecast immediately after his 1955 Academy Award performance in "Marty"(no actor these days would be brave enough to do what he did!)How he successfully talked himself out of the lead in "McHale's Navy"-and who made him come to his senses.And how he successfully managed to talk himself out of being mentioned in Shelley Winters' autobiographies.Hear stories about his favorite movies,the people he's worked with and views on life in general as we thunder through Iowa,Milwaukee and the surrounding states and meet many of the locals he comes across in his travels.The one drawback is that one wishes Ernest could tell his stories without the distraction of driving a 40 ton bus at the same time!Don't expect a film as if it was shot by Gregg Toland--the filmic style here is more like an MTV music video(the soundtrack includes songs by The Who and Bachman Turner Overdrive among others)--and it is not judgmental on anyone involved(you will be amazed at the jaw dropping lack of pretence--all lovely people,all funny stories).Whilst it may only be 45 minutes long,Jeff Krulik's "Ernest Borgnine On The Bus" would be a welcome addition to any serious movie buff's home video library--as well as those who want to rent a tape to hear a tale or two,see some great scenery,and have a good laugh on a cold night.

5 comments about Maya Lin - A Strong Clear Vision (Architect Documentary).

1. i watched this film after viewing Nathaniel Kahn's more personal depiction of his father. The latter one is an intimate conversation with the dead. This one is asking the viewers to share the growing process of a living person, in parallel to and through events in the recent history of the USA. A leitmotif of time and history running along with personal perception and interpretation of these events.
   Maya's architecture, funny to say, is a lot about the sensuality of touch, which goes beyond the visual. Never in any other film about an architect's work does the audience being so moved - by the detail depiction of a hand touching a piece of stone engraved with names; the quiet flow of a thin film of water over a piece of stone being interrupted by the tip of fingers tracing the history of a place....tears....
   We see in Kahn's architecture an emptiness of self in order to contain the infinity of the universe in the most cerebral way; while Lin's is an embracement of the past, present and future in the most romantic and sensuous. Sometimes i wonder if it is turning architecture into too much an emotional apparatus?
   Anyway, i would recommend such interesting parallel viewing of the two films about these 2 american architects.



2. why do documentarians need to pad their movies? this wouldve been a nice half-hour film about the building of the vietnam veterans memorial, but it gets lost in far less compelling side tales. truth be told: ms lin is just not a very compelling personality.



3. When Maya Lin was just a twenty-one year old architecture student at Yale, the committee for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial chose her proposal (a class assignment, it turns out) from a national competition of 1,441 submissions as the winning design. Then the battle began. Congress people and even Vietnam veterans opposed it, the latter caricaturing it as a "big, black scar in the earth." Others compared it to a boomerang. Lin was vilified as a communist. And a memorial designed by an Asian, woman, college student? In the end, after congressional hearings at which the young Lin testified, her design was built and then dedicated in 1982. I have taken my family to the memorial when we visited Washington and, along with virtually everyone who has visited, can attest to the incredibly evocative power of this public monument. The first half of this documentary covers the VVM; the last half reviews her other prominent works, namely, the Civil Rights Memorial in Montgomery, the Museum of African Art, the Wexner Center at Ohio State University, a fountain commemorating the contributions of women at Yale, an open air Peace Chapel, and her work with the Presidio project in San Francisco. I am always inspired and encouraged to follow the story of a person whose sense of vocation is so strong and crystal clear. This film won an Academy Award as Best Documentary in 1994.



4. A compelling portrait of a brilliant artist and a surprisingly unassuming person, Freida Lee Mock's fascinating documentary takes us inside this brilliant young artist's unique process, but also lets us get to know her. What emerges is an inspiring visual document about what can be achieved when a gifted youth is given every encouragement and opportunity to pursue her muse. Must-viewing.



5. Courage and focus at such an young age. Reinforces the concept of the individual vision developing beyond what would otherwise be ordinary.

No comments about Newton: A Tale of Two Isaacs.

1 comments about A Sense of the Sacred: A Portrait of Helen M. Luke.

1. A SENSE OF THE SACRED is a deeply moving video portrait of Helen Luke, who, although not an analyst, was a Jungian in the truest sense of the word. In the two years before her death at the age of 93, Helen Luke conducted a series of filmed interviews illuminating her own quite unusual life's journey and sharing many of the finely-tuned ideas which her experiences helped to develop.
   
   In addition to Luke herself, admirers, friends and colleagues of Helen Luke speak in this inspirational portrait of her life which was distributed by Parabola Magazine. The film, introduced by Thomas Moore, includes interviews with Sir Laurens van der Post and Robert Johnson with whom she shared a practice for many years. There is also footage of the Apple Farm Community that she founded. In the film Helen Luke speaks of her life, describes her unusual meeting with Carl Jung and discusses her analysis with Toni Sussman. Appended to the biography is an interview and tribute to Luke by the eminent director and author, Peter Brook.