MOVIE ROUND-UP WITH ASTRO-RATING

During the past couple of weeks we've watched a rather strange collection of movies: one at the cinema, the rest on TV, cheapo used DVD or tapes. A list of 'em follows, in no particular order, and with brief comment. I've added a wee astrological hint as to the movies' favours - an idea that came to me as I was typing - hope it makes some sort of sense to any lightly astro-literate passers-by.



SKYLINE~ Directors: The Brothers Strause. We saw this at the cinema. A sci-fi alien invasion movie doing the rounds at present. I knew from reading reviews not to expect much, but I can't resist sci-fi, however bad. No redeeming characteristics unless you count good cgi work upon which most of the movie's budget was clearly spent. Not much was spent on script writing, that's for sure. Dialogue of one-liners (not of the fun variety) - a twelve-year old could have done a better job. The movie's ending, whilst logical, simply piles depression upon depression.
ASTRO-RATING ~ Uranus transit of Pluto/Saturn/Mars.






A CLOCKWORK ORANGE ~ (1971) Director: Stanley Kubrick, based on Anthony Burgess's novella. An old "classic" - some would say. A sick piece of film-making by a guy who ought to know better say I, sickened after the first 10 minutes (or less) I almost refused to see the rest, but my husband assured me "it gets better, he gets his come-uppance".
For me it didn't get much better. I hated it all, yet watched it, then out of curiosity did some research next day. I came up with page after page of analysis of the film's hidden "messages" and references, which served only to disgust me more. Malcolm McDowell's brilliant performance was the one redeeming feature of the film, for me; he must be permanently scarred from his efforts - bless 'im.
ASTRO-RATING ~ Scorpio rising with Mars conjunct Pluto on the ascendant.




BARRY LYNDON (1975)~ Another directed by Stanley Kubrick. This one, based on a Thackeray novel, engaged my attention enough to force me to buy part 2. We'd picked up what we thought was the complete film on VHS tape in a junk shop, then found it was only part 1.
The whole is a mannered and darkly humorous tale of a ne'er do-well not unlike a more elegant version of the lead in Clockwork Orange. Set in 18th century Ireland and England. No happy ending here, plenty of come-uppance on all fronts. Rather strange casting of Ryan O'Neal as Barry Lyndon, I thought. It's a stylised period soap opera of sorts. Worth seeing for the settings and costumes, and Thackeray's story-telling. Some of the scenes could easily be mistaken 18th century art pieces.
ASTRO-RATING ~ Saturn conjunct Neptune. Justice prevails in spite of illusions.




IT'S COMPLICATED (2009) Directed by Nancy Meyers. ~ A romantic comedy, shown on HBO recently. Alec Baldwin, Meryl Streep and Steve Martin play out a tale of middle-aged divorcees falling for each other all over again. Entertaining, no effort required, no violence and some good performances by seasoned stars, along with a relative newcomer who caught our eye with some good charismatic comedic timing: John Krasinski who played the eldest daughter's fiancé. Good, and right, ending too!
ASTRO-RATING ~ Venus and Mercury both retrograde while transiting and re-transiting Jupiter in Libra. The past sometimes repeats itself, love-wise.




I'LL BE THERE ~ (2003) A British movie written, directed and starring Craig Ferguson, best-known in the US for his Late Late Show. Co-star is young singer Charlotte Church. Another romantic comedy. A newly discovered biological father theme, blended with rocker on the skids theme, and a charismatic grandpa beautifully played by Joss Ackland.
ASTRO-RATING ~ Venus conjunct Moon & Saturn in Cancer. Mothers and fathers sometimes need a push in the right direction.






TEA WITH MUSSOLINI ~ (1999) Semi-autobiographical movie directed by Franco Zeffirelli, telling the story of young Italian boy's upbringing by a circle of English and American women, before and during World War II, set mainly in Florence and San Gimignano - gorgeous scenery, a cast of great actresses: Joan Plowright, Maggie Smith, Judi Dench, Cher, Lily Tomlin, and a newcomer Baird Wallace as the boy, "Luca". Quality film-making! Good stuff!
ASTRO-RATING ~ Moon in Cancer at mid-heaven. All about the women.







ORWELL ROLLS IN HIS GRAVE (2003) - The only documentary of the group. Made by Rober Kane Pappas, includes appearances by Michael Moore, Senator (then Rep.) Bernie Sanders, Tony Benn (my political hero from the UK), Greg Pallast and others. The film explores the question "Has America entered an Orwellian world of doublespeak where outright lies can pass for the truth? Are Americans being sold a bill of goods by a handful of transnational media corporations and political elites whose interest have little in common with the interests of the American people? The film explores what the media doesn't like to talk about - itself. (Quote from the DVD cover).

Great documentary - should be more widely known than it seems to be. On a scale of 10 - it's a 12.
ASTRO-RATING ~ Mercury in Gemini on the ascendant and conjunct Neptune, planet of illusion. Communication, communication, communication.

POSTSCRIPT :

Saw a movie Sunday evening on TV - can't recall the channel but it was a Hallmark film. Hallmarks are likely to be over-the-top sugary even for my taste, but as I flicked through the on-screen programme schedule I spotted Sam Elliott's name attached to this one: November Christmas. I'd watch Sam Elliott in anything, absolutely anything at all. So we watched November Christmas. I'll not expand on the storyline in case others will see the movie at some point this season - it's bound to be repeated and repeated until 2011 and beyond.

Hint: Kleenex needed. Sam Elliott puts the heart into the advertised "heartwarming". This one really was my antidote to the poisonous Clockwork Orange.
ASTRO-RATING ~ All the sweetness and hope of the zodiac - name your own.

Kubrick, "2001", Astrology

For reasons which escape me I'd been fancying to see "2001 A Space Odyssey" again, so bought a used version at the ever reliable Amazon. We watched it this week. "2001" is a movie which really needs to be seen a few times in order to appreciate the layers of meaning, possible allegorical slants and hints it contains. Arthur C. Clarke and Stanley Kubrick were a bit ahead of themselves with the title date. "2100" might have been a better guess, but sci-fi specialists back in the '60s did tend to be over-optimistic about rates of progress in this mad, mad world. Between 1968, when the movie was released, and 2008, much has changed, but not nearly as much as they envisioned.



After some interesting conversations with the husband about the meaning of some scenes in the film, I searched Google for other opinions. Oh my! Some folks really plumbed the deeper layers. Most theories seem feasible, if one likes searching for embedded messages, and esoteric links.

I shall keep things as simple as possible and say that, in a mini-nutshell, the movie is a depiction of human evolution, past, present and future.

There are a few astrolgical nods in the movie. I guess Kubrick had some astro knowledge. He was a Sun Leo, very appropriate for someone whose career brought the screen to life for his audiences. His Mercury was conjunct Pluto (no wonder there are said to be hidden messages and motifs in this and other movies of his, Pluto loves secrets). His Natal Moon at 12 noon was at 25* of secretive Scorpio, that would fit nicely with the Pluto conjunct Mercury, but if he was born very late in the day Moon might have moved into philosophical Sagittarius - that's still a good fit.

The book upon which the movie is based was written, in collaboration with Stanley Kubrick by Arthur C. Clarke (Sun in Sagittarius sextile Uranus in Aquarius) sci-fi writer, inventor, futurist. It was loosely based on an earlier short story of Clarke's - "The Sentinel".

As for the astrological nods, they can be noted in an article by Jay Weidner "Alchemical Kubrick 2001", the author writes:

" Bowman (referring to astronaut Dave Bowman) is also a name for the constellation Sagittarius. Which is a man with a bow. This on it's own may appear to be uninteresting but one of the great alchemical secrets concerns the position of the center of the galaxy. This point in the sky is found right next to the constellation of Sagittarius. In fact, the Bow-Man of Sagittarius is shooting his arrow right into the heart of the Milky Way galaxy. Bowman represents Sagittarius' arrow as it passes through the center of the galaxy. This is also echoed later in the 'Beyond the Infinite' sequence where Bowman witnesses an exploding galaxy. "

"Kubrick uses alchemical allegories through out the film. The obvious analogies are the celestial alignments that proceed each of the alchemical transmutations in the film. The second main allegory is that it is a black stone that initiates these transmutations. Again this mirrors the alchemical lore about the black stone causing the transmutation of the alchemist. "

"....... every time the monolith, the magical stone, appears in the film there is also a strange, beautiful, celestial alignment occurring. And one must also remember that every celestial alignment in the film is followed by a visit from the monolith, that is, except for one. That would be the lunar eclipse that occurs at the very beginning of the film."

Celestial alignments preceded man's enlightenment in Kubrick's movie. I wonder if life will imitate art? When's the next beautiful celestial alignment due?

Here's another idea: using astrolgical doctrine and the four Fixed Signs as "monoliths", one could say that the film follows the progression of humans from their dawning, at Taurus, first Fixed Sign (the apes & tools/weapons) through development to their zenith at midheaven, Leo (the astronauts), onward to Scorpio(once the tools took over and had to be discarded), plumbing the depths of doubts... leading to understanding, and finally into Aquarius having gained knowledge, enlightenment. Then... re-birth. Alternatively the life cycle from Aries to Pisces ccan be used to describe the evolution, but it doesn't provide "the monolith", the angles.

We humans are somewhere around midheaven now, not ready to discard our "tools". We've a few long steps to go before the next monolith is due!