bad film, so bad that the only way I can make sense of it is to read it allegorically: God (aliens) reveals himself in mysterious & seemingly inefficient ways to special prophets (Josh O’Connor/ Hugo) and saints (Jane, who manifests the stigmata) who are tasked with telling the Good News; the test of humanity is to Believe. Disclosure Day is Judgement Day and the evil corp trying to protect humanity from the Word = churches
Disclosure Day was atrociously bad.
I mean, potentially one of the worst movies I’ve ever seen.
Multiple people got up and left the theaters, people were on their phones, fidgeting and completely uninterested.
Uninteresting, corny beyond belief, premise sucked. Acting was just bad. Music cringed me out.
This felt like a boomer blockbuster, and Steven Spielberg tarnished himself with this one.
Rough watch, if you can stay awake. Save your money.
in all seriousness it's unfortunately not an allegory since spielberg really believes in aliens. the rather haphazard use of religious imagery is seemingly in service of the idea that we can now do away w. traditional religions bc (his understanding of) the reality -- that aliens have contacted us to teach us about our "place in the universe", and as a result we'll all unite and no longer have war & stuff -- is more compelling.
the trinity(!) of glowsticks being repeated deus ex machinae is so funny.
All so sentimental all so stilted all so terribly executed. And animals definitely go to heaven in Spielberg’s boomer imagination.
Also in the TLS last month reviewing Dan Sperrin's admirable book "State of Ridicule: A History of Satire in English Literature". It has divided opinion, but I think succeeds as a work of serious, meticulously researched longue durée literary history
Games as a way of life; how Franco tried to cheat history; George Saunders’s new ghost story; Korean poets finding freedom; Dickensian women – and much more.
The new issue of the TLS is out now: the-tls.com/issues/current-i…
See below for my review of Peter Ackroyd’s new life of Auden— many thanks to the New Statesman!
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Jane retweeted
Today in the WRB, we feature @yeppjane in @NewStatesman on a biography of Auden and @victoriamoul on a rugby match—read these and more, here: washingreview.com/p/wrbmar-2…
Really looking forward to this instalment of our Lucretius seminar series tomorrow!
I’m giving a paper on Tennyson and Lucretius tomorrow at All Souls, Oxford, at the generous invitation of @miserabiliter and @yeppjane. Do come along if you are interested. It’s at 5pm
Jane retweeted
Sad news about a great historian of the mediaeval Mediterranean. cai.cam.ac.uk/news/david-abu…
Many thanks to the Professor of Poetry @ae_stallings for a brilliant talk on her translation of De Rerum Natura (in rhyming fourteeners!) to kick off our Lucretius seminar series. A major takeaway: there are too many Stoic self-help books & not nearly enough Epicurean ones
Wonderful, inspiring start to our (@yeppjane) Lucretius seminar from @ae_stallings. The fascination with objects, the love of dogs, the amelioration of strangeness. And above all, the power of his poem to *change your life*. We’re going all term; Mondays at 5pm. Come along!
Jane retweeted
I have a list:
thehub.ca/2022/12/22/howard-…
Jane retweeted
Oxford people: come speak at our cool seminar
Attention all graduate students and researchers interested in Lucretius! I'm hosting a seminar series next Term with Barney Taylor @miserabiliter. Here is the call for papers, which will be given in weeks 3-8. Early in term, we will hear from a special guest-poet.
Attention all graduate students and researchers interested in Lucretius! I'm hosting a seminar series next Term with Barney Taylor @miserabiliter. Here is the call for papers, which will be given in weeks 3-8. Early in term, we will hear from a special guest-poet.