Mangy

mangy







Y

[meyn-jee]

(獸) 生疥癬的



D



–adjective

 1. having, caused by, 

or 

like the mange. 



2. contemptible; mean: a mangy trick. 

3. squalid; shabby: a mangy little suburb.  



Also, mangey. 





　

The vigorous muckraking sensibility that informed Eric Schlosser's 2001 nonfiction bestseller keeps this fictionalized screen version of "Fast Food Nation" bobbing along despite its overly slackerish narrative organization. 



Richard Linklater's rough-hewn tapestry of assorted lives that feed off of and into the American meat industry is both rangy and mangy; it remains appealing for its subversive motives and revelations even as one wishes its knife would have been sharper. 



Pre-sold title and contrarian perspective will play into the sympathies of hip, younger audiences, although a more pugnacious comic approach and emotionally bolstered drama might have helped Fox Searchlight push the picture to a more mainstream arena in planned fall release.



contrarian 

做法與一般大眾想法相反的投資人





ulceration

pustule 

rankle

fester

Malice festered his [spirit].  



slough 

mortification

1. humiliate

2. subjugate by abstinence

3. gangrene or necrosis (壞疽) cf. gangling

scabrous

scabby, scabious (covered with scabs)

Scalp

Rife

rife







Y

D



–adjective 

1. of common or frequent occurrence; prevalent; in widespread existence, activity, or use: Crime is rife in the slum areas of our cities.  



2. current in speech or report: Rumors are rife that the government is in financial difficulty. 

3. abundant, plentiful, or numerous.

4. abounding (usually fol. by with).





　

Something worse than a prison camp for cows, the slaughterhouse is rife [with] exploitation and danger. This is where Linklater finds his melodrama, following the fate of three Mexican illegals—fresh meat for the machine. 



The most painfully naive is played by Catalina Sandino Moreno, the open-faced Colombian actress Oscar-nominated for her role in Maria Full of Grace; her character here deserves the same sobriquet. 



The despoliation of Moreno's grave, clear-eyed child of nature is the movie's emotional crux. Her season in hell is the real thing— sentenced to the killing floor, pulling kidneys amid torrents [of] blood, her comradely gaze clouded with ammonia tears. 



despoliation

–noun 

1. the act of plundering.

2. the fact 

or 

circumstance of being plundered. 

torrents

–noun 

1. a stream of water flowing with great rapidity and violence.







bristle

and the moral caution bristles [with] rank and smellable detail under the painter’s touch

bask 

Turtles like to bask in the [sun].

permeate 

Bright [sunshine] permeated the room. 

[Cynicism] permeated his report.  

His speeches are permeated [by] [with] [pessimism]. 

pervasive

pervade

There was a smell of coffee pervadin[g t]he [atmosphere].

This error pervade[s a]ll present-day [systems].



wallow

Goats wallowed in the [dust].  

A [gunboat] wallowed toward [port].  

Waves of black [smoke] wallowed into the room. 

an [elephant] wallow

welter

to welter in [setbacks], [confusion], and [despair].  

the [daily] welter of details and little problems

pigs weltering [about] happily in the [mud].  



dabble

No, I dabble. Mostly I sell [other's] painting.

dabble in [politics] [art]

She dabbled her toes in the [river].

steep

Although the story is steeped [in] sexuality

suggests that he has been not only steeping [himself] in the Old Masters of Italian cinema but reading Stendhal on the side.



engulf

The [overflowing] river has engulfed many small towns along its banks. 

He engulfed [himself] in his studies. 

imbue

She was imbu[ed] [with] strong [family loyalty]. 

Melville's detailed, observant portrait imbues the film [with] a unique credibility, and Belmondo gives a sexy, charismatic performance that [enhances] the film's thematic contrast[s].

suffuse

Some of the early sequences, where McDonagh’s dialogue is suffused [with] his debt to Beckett, are warmed by an idle suspense.

Beleaguer

Budge

budge







Y

(毛向外翻的) 羔羊皮(舊時常作裝飾用)



D



–verb (used without object) 

1. to move slightly; begin to move: He stepped on the gas but the car didn't budge. 

2. to change one's opinion 

or 

stated position; yield: Once her father had said "no," he wouldn't budge.  



–verb (used with object) 

3. to cause to move; begin to move: It took three of them to budge the rock. 

4. to cause (someone) to reconsider or change an opinion, decision, or stated position: They couldn't budge the lawyer.  



–noun 

1. a fur made from lambskin with the wool dressed outward, used esp. as an inexpensive trimming on academic or official gowns. 



–adjective 

2. made from, trimmed, or lined with budge.

3. Obsolete. pompous; solemn.





　

There's a hopeless sense that McDonald's R Us: After two months in the States, one Mexican couple saves enough money to treat themselves to a food-franchise dinner. 



It's one of the wonders of America: "Next week, we'll try pizza." (Later, the coyote who managed their border crossing will welcome two kids to America with a bag of Mickey Bits.) 



Linklater provides his own auto-critique when a frustrated cadre of student environmentalists attempts to liberate a pasture—or "prison camp"—filled with contented cows. The [animals] won't budge. "We should have brought a cattle prod," one kid concludes. 



coyote

【俚】引外國人從墨西哥偷渡進入美國的不法分子





refractory 

a refractory [child]. 

bigotry

which has an endless bigotry-friendly pocket book to give to [Proposition 8] in California.

intransigence

British government's intransigence over recognizing convicted IRA members as [political] prisoners

persevere

Though frequently disillusioned in her efforts to [spread] good will — at one point she is nearly killed by a mental patient — Sister Luke [perseveres].

Nubile

Jeremiad

jeremiad







Y

[jer-uh-mahy-uhd, -ad]



D



–noun 

a prolonged lamentation or mournful complaint.





　

Its characters struggle with some of the world's dirtiest jobs—morally as well as physically. In this, Linklater is following in the Sinclair tradition: The Jungle, which also focused on immigrant workers, was intended not so much as an attack on the meatpacking industry as a socialist jeremiad against capitalism itself. 





malaise 

woebegone & hapless

woe

To add to his [woes], Bergman's producer at Svensk Filmindustri informed him that he would not be able to finance his next film if this one didn't [perform] at the box office.

saturnine

[Piccoli], the balding, saturnine slickster with the five-o’clock shadow, and Belmondo, the oily outlaw punk. 

[echoing] Freud's saturnine assessment of the human race. 

plaintive

King's plaintive [baritone] had all the passion of gospel

The studio that Jerry built is about to be demolished, and the [music] dubbed over the shot is Duke Ellington's plaintive "(In My) Solitude."



cf. dole

doleful

a doleful [look] on her face. 

pine

Complicating his life is his beautiful contact who pines [after] him with fetishistic ardor

to pine [for] one's home and family.  

Separated by their families, the lovers pined [away].  



lugubrious

exaggeratedly, affectedly mournful

the film bogs [down] in the [hushed], [lugubrious] narration of disillusioned newspaperman Jack Burden

Scalp

garnish

garnish







Y

D



–verb (used with object) 

1. to provide or supply with something ornamental; adorn; decorate.

2. to provide (

a 

food) with something that adds flavor, decorative color, etc.: to garnish boiled potatoes with chopped parsley. (荷蘭芹)



3. Law.

a. to attach (as money due or property belonging to a debtor) by garnishment; garnishee.

b. to summon in, so as to take part in litigation (訴訟) already pending between others. 



garnishment

扣押債務人財產的通知,扣押令,傳票

garnishee

第三債務人



–noun 

4. something placed around or on a food or in a beverage to add flavor, decorative color, etc.

5. adornment or decoration.

6. Chiefly British. a fee formerly demanded of a new convict or worker by the warden, boss, or fellow prisoners or workers.





　

The thing looks disgusting long before it's established that any individual burger is the ground residue of many, many messily butchered animals (plus their hormones and the contents of their intestines), given a dollop of extra fat, injected with chemical perfume, and possibly dipped in floor dirt or garnished with an employee's loogie.  



intestine

腸

內部的,國內的 intestine [strife]

dollop

塊,團,份





pecuniary

culinary

[Kitchen] Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly

kibble

who watches "Dark Shadows" and eats [kibble]

fodder

It's all just [fodder] for the media machine and the bloodthirsty public



porridge 麥片粥

junket

tapioca pudding 木薯澱粉

mush 軟糊狀食物 which has the effect of turning Eisner's Technicolor comic into a gray glob of [hardboiled] mush.



starch

He is so full of starch he can't [relax].

but the material remains [cloaked] by the very propriety, stiff manners and emotional [starchiness] the picture delineates in such copious detail.   

Dingy

Char

char







Y

D



–verb (used with object) 

1. to burn 

or 

reduce to charcoal (木炭): The fire charred the paper.  



2. to burn slightly; scorch: The flame charred the steak.  



–verb (used without object) 

3. to become charred.

–noun 

4. a charred material or surface.

5. charcoal.  

6. a superior carbon-rich fuel, a by-product of the conversion of coal into gaseous or liquid fuel. 



–noun

any trout (鱒魚) of the genus Salvelinus (or Cristovomer), esp. the Arctic char. 



–noun 

1. a charwoman. (打雜的女佣人)

2. a task, esp. a household chore.

3. chars, odd jobs, esp. of housework, for which one is paid by the hour or day. 



–verb (used without object) 

4. to work at housecleaning by the day or hour; hire oneself out to do odd jobs.

–verb (used with object) 

5. to do (housework, odd jobs, or chores); clean or repair. 



Also, chare. 





　

[Timed] for the centennial of Upton Sinclair's classic muckraker The Jungle, as well as Thanksgiving, Fast Food Nation opens with a slow zoom into the fresh-charred heart of a greasy, gristle-flecked beef patty. 



gristle

軟骨

fleck

斑點,雀斑





cf. decimate

desiccate

What [rescues] his best films [from] desiccation is the playfulness behind the theorizing 

parch

Walking in the [sun] parched his throat.

A staple of the Indian diet was parched [corn]. 

The obsessive central love story here is [repressed] on all levels, which serves to [parch] the film more than [intensify] it.

dank

damp often chilly

a dank [cellar]

Inflict

Fluke

fluke







Y

D



–noun 

1. the part of an anchor that catches in the ground, esp. the flat triangular piece at the end of each arm. 

2. a barb, or the barbed head, of a harpoon (魚叉), spear, arrow, or the like.

3. either half of the triangular tail of a whale. 



–noun

1. an accidental advantage; stroke of good luck: He got the job by a fluke. 

2. an accident or chance happening.

3. an accidentally successful stroke, as in billiards. 





　

Personally, I’d like to see her chained to a word-processor because the screenplay to Juno simply couldn’t have been a fluke and I want more.





insidious

inconspicuous, but actually with grave effect

an insidious [disease].

using an accepted [jocularity] in dealing with misguided members of the far right that [masks] the insidiousness of this form of [nostalgia].

While countless films paint [monstrous] pictures of the horrors of bad parenting, Little Children [sheds] light onto the much more [insidiously] easy trap of negligent parenting.

Twisted into [insidious] grins, their blood-red lips [ooze] a comic horror that will [seep] into the lives of the film's real kids,

It's [insidious], the way Highsmith seduces us into identifying with him and sharing his selfishness,

treacherous

He was cruel, [treacherous] and unscrupulous.

My [memory] is treacherous.

serendipitous

serendipitous scientific [discov]eries. 

Although Spielberg said he wanted to give Tom Hanks the time and space to develop elaborate situations like Tati [serendipit]ously blundered through

Vicinity

Resplendent British actress Vanessa Redgrave is...

resplendent







Y



a. (形容詞 adjective)【文】



          1.    燦爛的;光輝的;華麗的[(+in)]

                      Ted was resplendent in his best grey suit.

                      特德穿著他最好的灰色禮服,光彩奪目。





　

British actress Vanessa Redgrave is resplendent in a printed, sequinned evening ensemble, as she and Italian director Michaelangelo Antonioni arrive at the Festival Palace for a showing of "Blow-up," Antonioni's film in which Miss Redgrave stars.



sequin

(古代威尼斯) 金幣

(裝飾衣服) 圓形小金屬片





　

In both their exquisite appearance and sheer quantity, Dante Ferretti's production design and Gabriella Pescucci's costume design are practically beyond compare, and Michael Ballhaus surpasses himself with his resplendent widescreen cinematography.





incandescent

luscious

lustrous 

having luster, lustrous [eyes]

sheen

Slawomir Idziak's [shimmering] cinematography gives the movie a [spectral] [sheen]



bicker

to flicker, glitter

The [sun] bickered through the trees. Raucous

scintillate

a mind that scintillates with [brilliance].  

lambent

running or moving lightly over a surface, flickering

lambent [tongues] of flame.

lambent [wit] [light]  

Even at its most dubious though, the movie is unfailingly alluring; its [golden], lambent [beauty] remains rapturous throughout. 

Beleaguer

Parch

parch







Y

D



–verb (used with object) 

1. to make extremely, excessively, 

or 

completely dry, as heat, sun, and wind do. 



2. to make dry, hot, or thirsty: Walking in the sun parched his throat. 

3. to dry (peas, beans, grain, etc.) by exposure to heat without burning; to toast or roast slightly: A staple of the Indian diet was parched corn. 

4. to dry or shrivel with cold. 



shrivel

使枯萎,使乾枯,使皺縮

The [seedlings] had shriveled up a bit in the hot [sun].



–verb (used without object) 

5. to suffer from heat, thirst, or need of water.

6. to become parched; undergo drying by heat.

7. to dry (usually fol. by up).





　

The real subject of the film is Newland's adhering to his prescribed role rather than following his heart, and while this is apparent, the emotion is, crucially, not deeply felt or conveyed despite the couple's furtive meetings in the film's second half. 



The obsessive central love story here is repressed on all levels, which serves to parch the film more than intensify it. Nor does a rather flat coda, set in Paris years later, deliver the intended poignance.





cf. decimate

desiccate

What [rescues] his best films [from] desiccation is the playfulness behind the theorizing 

dank

damp often chilly

a dank [cellar]

Inflict

Lorgnette

 









lorgnette



Y

[lawrn-yet]



D



–noun 

1. a pair of eyeglasses mounted on a handle.

2. a pair 

of 

opera glasses mounted on a handle. 





　

Present rendition (Irene Dunne and John Boles starred in a forgotten 1934 RKO version) begins with a lovely floral and lace title sequence by Elaine and Saul Bass, then plunges the viewer into the hotbed of high society 



-- the opera, where the real action is in the boxes, not onstage. The focus of most lorgnettes this evening is Ellen Olenska (Michelle Pfeiffer), a beautiful American recently returned from Europe after leaving her aristocratic husband.





leukemia 白血病 

hemorrhage 出血

stasis 瘀血

vitriol

vitreous 玻璃體的 The film is filled to dazzling with the [vitreous] and the [translucent]

tympanic 鼓膜的

timpani

sphincter 括約肌 remove head from sphincter, then drive!

synapse 突觸 Sometimes avoiding the [synapse]-raping bad habits of splat packers Eli Roth and Alexandre Aja is its own reward,

gurney

Brad Anderson hurt his [back] during filming and directed much of the film while [lying] on a gurney.

Scalp

Cloak

 









cloak



Y

斗篷,披風



D



–noun 

1. a loose outer garment, as a cape or coat.

2. something that covers 

or 

conceals; disguise; pretense: He conducts his affairs under a cloak of secrecy.  



–verb (used with object) 

3. to cover with or as if with a cloak: She arrived at the opera cloaked in green velvet. 

4. to hide; conceal: The mission was cloaked in mystery. 





　

An extraordinarily sumptuous piece of filmmaking, "The Age of Innocence" represents an impeccably faithful adaptation of Edith Wharton's classic novel, which is both a blessing and a bit of a curse. 



Director Martin Scorsese has met most of the challenges inherent in tackling such a formidable period piece, but the material remains cloaked by the very propriety, stiff manners and emotional starchiness the picture delineates in such copious detail. 



Despite all the talent involved, this portrait of an impossible romance set in the upper reaches of New York society in the 1870s has a finite audience, more or less defined by the $ 25 million to $ 30 million grosses achieved by such tony releases as "Howards End" and "Dangerous Liaisons."



starch

澱粉

–noun 

4. stiffness 

or 

formality, as of manner: He is so full of starch he can't relax.  





haberdashery

sartorial 

Argyle

cassock

He is a broad-shouldered man with a gentle voice, a well-fitting [cassock] and a hatred so fierce that it is not destroyed until his body is turned into a blazing pillar of fire. 

babushka

wimple

[Nuns] march past in step, their wimples [bobbing] up and down in unison.



attire

To supervise this task, he stands in front of a [swastika], [attired] in full Nazi fetishwear 

Linda's friends see Amy's masculine [attire] and attitude as a form of self-loathing against being a woman,



brogue rogue galosh

boater fedora



clunky 

awkwardly heavy or clumsy 

clunky metal [jewelry]

clunky [shoes]

but onscreen it’s curiously [clunky] and [flat]

Tony

Elate

elate







Y

D



–verb (used with object) 

1. to make very happy or proud: news to elate the hearer. 

–adjective 

2. elated. 



–adjective 

very happy or proud; jubilant; in high spirits: an elated winner of a contest.  





 　

"Natural Born Killers" is not so much about the killers, however, as about the feeding frenzy they inspire. During the period of their rampage, they are the most famous people in America, and the media goes nuts. 



There are Mickey and Mallory fan clubs and T-shirts; tabloid TV is represented by a bloodthirsty journalist played by Robert Downey Jr., who is so thrilled by their fame he almost wants to embrace them. 



The people Mickey and Mallory touch in the law industry are elated to be handling the case; it gives them a brush with celebrity, and a tantalizing whiff of the brimstone that fascinates some cops.



brimstone

硫磺





ingratiate

gratification

To my [immense] gratification, he fell into the trap. His son's success was a [great] gratification to him.

One of the consistent gratification[s] is the cast.

blissful

After a [blissful] summer lounging at the public pool

beatific

a beatific [smile].

a concern [echoed] by the [beatific] single-mom waitress (Aitana Sánchez-Gijón) at the airport café he frequents nightly. 

Snicker

Arraign (續：控訴 公然侮辱 單字大集合)

arraign



Y

[uh-reyn]

傳訊,提訊,控告



D

–verb (used with object) 

1. to call 

or 

bring before a court to answer to an indictment. 



2. to accuse or charge in general; criticize adversely; censure. 



 　

Looking into their faces, I sense a curious slackness, an inattention, as if the trial is a mirage, and their thoughts far away. If they're guilty, it's like they're rehearsing their excuses for the crime. If they're innocent, maybe those empty expressions mean the courtroom experience is so alien they can't process it. Not once since he was arraigned have I caught a shot of Simpson looking normal in any way I can understand. His expression always seems to be signifying, "Yes, but ..."





。法律

。執法人員

。違法

。開庭

Forensic



arraign

call or bring before a court to answer to an indictment

Not once since he was [arraigned] have I caught a shot of Simpson looking normal in any way I can understand. 傳訊,提訊,控告

We'll formally arraign the defendant on his return.



。控訴

litigation

litigious

l don't even want to think about the litigious possibilities.

caveat

a legal notice to a court or public officer to suspend a certain proceeding until the notifier is given a hearing

These are the laws of cause and effect as they work in Primer, albeit with a few more [caveats] that shall be explained below. 

But! But. The caveat. If I smell a rat, if you didn't find something you've never had the courage to say before, I don't pass you. You don't get out of here.



impute

attribute, particularly a crime or a fault

The police impute the rise in crime [to] high unemployment.

impugn 

challenge the truth or integrity of something, attack its veracity

She impugned his stated [reasons] for resigning. 

Well, a long time ago, a lot of people believed the world was flat. Well, at this late date, do you wish to impugn the [integrity] ofthe jury and the court?

indict 

(of a grand jury) to bring a formal accusation against



recrimination 

countercharge

He meets and falls in love with rival revolutionary Veronica Dreyer, and the mutual recriminations begin.


in the midst of all of this activity, the writers set up a fascinating contrast, in adjacent scenes, between Halloran, his wife, and their young son looking toward the future, with the parents of the dead woman, looking back with bitter regret and recriminations -- no movie ever presented in more subtle fashion the contrast between the zeitgeist of the 1930s and that of the postwar era .


rebut

confute

refute 

to prove to be erroneous, rebut & confute... 

I refute the [accusation] that "I have coupled the name of a revered author with a perversion of the sexual instinct,"

apologia

an apology, as in defense or justification of a belief, idea, etc

Literature. a work written as an explanation or justification of one's motives, convictions, or acts 

Unfortunately, it's closer to the yuppies-in-danger subgenre of the 1980s (Pacific Heights, Hand That Rocks the Cradle, et al.), but with new-age apologias standing in for those films' [pulpy] shocks and bloody horror.



demur

pronounced di-MUHR

make objection, esp. on the grounds of scruples (n. v.)

To demur means "to delay, to hesitate because of doubts" as in Tom’s concerns over finances caused him to demur.

He combines his [firm] but friendly demurral with a huge not-too-fake-white smile and I suddenly understand why every woman I know (and teenage girls [galore]) are [doolally] for Gosling.

demurral

demurrer

Law. a pleading in effect that even if the facts are as alleged by the opposite party, they do not sustain the contention based on them. 

[What] he registered is called a demur or a demurral, each of which is an objection, 

or—if it’s a matter of law—a demurrer, which he may file when he believes that whether the evidence is true or not, it will not support the allegations before the court.

Confusingly, a demurrer can also be "[one] who demurs," [tacking] the agentive ending onto the verb demur. 

demurrage

cf. Choppy

Demurrage is another sort of delay, a technical term from the shipping business, meaning "the amount charged the shipper for delay of the ship beyond the agreed-upon time for loading and unloading the cargo"; it can be expressed in money or time.



proscribe

denounce or condemn (a thing) as dangerous or harmful, prohibit

put outside the protection of the law, outlaw 

banish or exile

announce the name of (a person) as condemned to death and subject to confiscation of property 

proscription

One must constantly observe the proscriptions of a [primitive] system of cause and effect that can be questioned only by the reckless or the ignorant. 



。公然侮辱

virility

vilify 

speak ill of, defame, slander

Celebrated and [vilified] in equal measure, the pinup goddess Bettie Page inspired a [legion] of followers,

slander

libel

Law. defamation by written or printed words, pictures, or in any form other than by spoken words or gestures

Still, the dinner is a success. The guests whisper [filthy] slanders to the persons next to them about the persons across from them just like at dinner parties everywhere.

She's libel to take all day.



ignominy 

disgrace, dishonor, public contempt 

ignominious

Los Angeles has the ignominious distinction of being the homeless capital of the nation, and skid row is ground zero of the crisis.

contumely n.

insulting display of contempt in words or actions

mortify 

to humiliate or shame, as by injury to one's pride or self-respect

subjugate (the body, passions, etc.) by abstinence

subjugation

bring under complete control or subjection, conquer, master

make submissive or subservient, enslave 

With no other frame of reference, the innocent Ducasse accepts the subjugation of the black natives by the white [colonists] as the natural order of things. 

Wedekind always worked in lurid metaphoric colors, and Innocence is a fable of puberty told not as awakening but as subjugation. p

affront a. n.

to insult, offend deliberately

I couldn’t forgive his [affront] to [of] his mother.

a sneak thief [ransacking] his own broken home for self-serving material—and some critics at the Toronto film festival this year took Margot as a [scathing] matricidal affront.

















Arraign

Slobber

slobber







Y

D



–verb (used without object) 

1. to let saliva 

or 

liquid run from the mouth; slaver; drivel. 



2. to indulge in mawkish sentimentality: My family slobbered all over me when I finally got home.  



–verb (used with object)

 3. to wet or make foul by slobbering: The baby has slobbered his bib. 

4. to let (saliva or liquid) run from the mouth: The baby slobbered milk on his bib. 

5. to utter with slobbering: He [sobbed] and [slobbered] the bad news.  



–noun 

6. saliva or liquid dribbling from the mouth; slaver.

7. mawkishly sentimental speech or actions. 



Also, slabber. 



bib 

(小孩吃飯時用的) 圍涎,圍嘴





 　

Natural Born Killers is a vicious, gory, disgusted kick in the pants to America, as Oliver Stone seemingly throws the culture's sickness back in its face, screaming "You like this kind of stuff? Here!" In a country which made Bonnie and Clyde heroes and slobbered [over] bloody gloves and horrifying 911 calls for over a year, how do you make this kind of satire crazy enough?



Stone tries to do so by taking every facet of the crime/glamor obsession to its extremes. Mallory (Juliette Lewis) and her psycho sweetheart Mickey (Woody Harrelson) commit over 50 murders and become big stars, with Stone tracing every step of the mad journey to celebrity in a multitude of styles including color, black-and-white, hand-held Super 8, and even cartoons. 



At one point, he presents Mallory's obligatory "unhappy childhood" as a demented sitcom, with sexually abusive dad Rodney Dangerfield spouting abuse to big laughs from a delighted audience. It's all just fodder [for] the media machine and the bloodthirsty public, as Robert Downey, Jr. illustrates as a camera-obsessed reporter whose quest for fame has blinded him to the perversion of what he is doing.



fodder

飼料,秣





schmaltz 

lachrymosity

mawkish

maudlin



cetacean 

blubber

The [child] seemed to be blubbering something about a lost ring. 

[thick], blubber lips, blubber-[faced].  

Penn even tries to evoke the working-class [blubber] of the original version's star, Broderick Crawford 

cf. 

babble jabber blurb 

Nubile

Usurp

usurp







Y

[yoo-surp, -zurp]



D



–verb (used with object) 

1. to seize and hold (a position, office, power, etc.) 

by 

force or without legal right: The pretender tried to usurp the throne.  



2. to use without authority or right; employ wrongfully: The magazine usurped copyrighted material.  



–verb (used without object)

3. to commit forcible or illegal seizure of an office, power, etc.; encroach. (侵佔)





　

Ferrara and his writers are also clever in placing the body snatching story in the middle of a pre-existing family crisis. Marti and her stepmother do not get along, and there is a sense in which the teenage girl already feels that her "real" mother has been usurped by an impostor, and her father subverted. Even her little brother is an enigma: She likes him, but resents having to share love and space with him. So if some of these people turn out to be pods, the psychological basis for her revulsion has already been established.





coddle

poach

They can't poach herring from our [waters].

a staff poached [from] other companies. 

plunder 

to plunder a [town]. 

to plunder the [public treasury].  

ravage

The marauders ravaged the [village]. 

All three are symbolically [annihilated] by Jared, who [ravages] her while grunting [sexist] and [racist] epithets in her ear.

ravish

While ravishing [her], he excuses himself by rationalizing that she'd [fare] worse on the streets.

The [soldiers] [killed] the few men there, and brutally ravished the [woman].

The [storehouse] door had been [broken], and all the supplies had been ravished [away].

Their playing of the double concerto simply ravished the [audience].

She looked [stunning], absolutely ravishing, when she made her entrance.   

cf. 

lavish Dissipate

buccaneer

Sham

Omnibus (bill)

omnibus







Y

D



–noun 

1. bus (def. 1). 

2. a volume 

of 

reprinted works of a single author or of works related in interest or theme. 



–adjective 

3. pertaining to, including, or dealing with numerous objects or items at once: an omnibus bill submitted to a legislature.  



omnibus bill

綜合條例草案





　

HBO's popular franchise of woman-centric omnibus melodramas continues with this second installment, which boasts a gaggle of big-name talent and an similarly outsized earnestness that ultimately sinks the entire project.



The film culminates with a regrettable they're-having-a-baby vanity project directed by Anne Heche and starring her then-girlfriend Ellen DeGeneres; their ostensible stab at domestic comedy only underlines how low the film has [stooped] from its opening salvo.



gaggle

鵝群

咯咯聲





plonk

variant of plunk 

To strum or pluck (a stringed instrument).

the [stasis] of the visuals means it plays like a piece of legit [plonked] in the middle of the movie. 

plunked the [money] down on the counter. 

plunked onto the [couch] with a sigh of relief. 



cuneiform 楔形文字

iambic pentameter 抑揚格五音步

bard 吟遊詩人, 護馬鎧甲 

And that, plus one really funny joke about the Bard himself, is plenty. 

Threnody

Grudge

grudge







Y



vt. (及物動詞 transitive verb)



          1.    怨恨;妒忌[O1]

                      I don't grudge her success.

                      我並不妒嫉她的成功。



          2.    勉強地給;勉強地准許;不情願做[v-ing][+to-v][O1]

                      At a time like this, I don't grudge a thing.

                      在這樣的時候,我什麼都捨得。



n. (名詞 noun)



          1.    怨恨;嫌隙;妒忌[C][(+against)]

                      I don't hold any grudge against you.

                      我對你毫無忌恨。





精靈教母黛芬賽莉格說 women grudge 





D



–noun 

1. a feeling of ill will 

or 

resentment: to [hold] a grudge against a former opponent.  



–adjective 

2. done, arranged, etc., in order to settle a grudge: The middleweight fight was said to be a grudge match.  



–verb (used with object) 

3. to give or permit with reluctance; submit to unwillingly: The other team grudged us every point we scored. 

4. to resent the good fortune of (another); begrudge. 



–verb (used without object) 

5. Obsolete. to feel dissatisfaction or ill will.





　　

Tibbs reveals himself to be a Philadelphia police detective; after he and Gillespie come to a grudging understanding of one another, Tibbs offers to help in Gillespie's investigation. As the case progresses, both Gillespie and Tibbs betray a tendency to jump to culture-dictated conclusions. Still, the case is solved thanks to the informal teamwork of the two law officers.





[d]etest

vehement, besides a sense of [d]isdain

To detes[t a] combination of ignorance and arrogance.

ab[hor]

a deep-rooted [hor]ror or sense of repugnance

[Nature] abhors [a] vacuum.

abominate

express repulsion toward something thought of as unworthy, unlucky

To abominate [treachery].

Detest

Paramour

paramour







Y

D



–noun 

1. an illicit lover, esp. of a married person.

2. any lover. 





　

With Las Vegas garbage man and fellow vet Josh Howard (Sammy Davis Jr.) and several casino employees among their number, the titular band of thieves have just a few days to get ready for their caper. When Duke Santos, Jimmy's mother, and one of Ocean's discarded paramours all show up in Sin City at the same time as the veterans, the crew's perfect plans face some serious hurdles.





alimony & [p]alimony

dowry

They are going straight into her hope chest, she explains. She is preparing her own [dowry].

celibate

which includes the kind of [graphic] descriptions of improbable sex acts 

that [guys] sometimes [indulge in] while killing vast amounts of [celibate time]. 



consummate

That night at the beachhouse they consummated their [marriage]. 

Kate Winslet, as the [un]consummated love of Jack's youth,

coalesce 

mesh

splice

and splicing of Broadbent [into] color TV broadcasts is well done. 

and it was beautifully spliced [into] the sentimental efficiency of the whole story.

They'll be spliced in [June]. 



conjugal connubial

nuptial

the nuptial [day] 

the nuptial [behavior]

Naturally I watched the nuptial[s] of the Prince and the Princess of Wales.

Nubile

[綜藝] 大家都說我愛 Vincent Gallo

A one? one! I was BRILLIANT, can't you see BRILLIANCE? One? you see that? I should have got a ten! ten!



原來我偶像除了北西北也有模仿蠻牛，亞歷桑納夢遊真是個偉大的電影，該不會因此成為第一部庫斯杜力卡吧！請觀賞變色龍強尼戴普也甘拜下風的 Vincent Gallo 綜藝秀。



強尼戴普：「出神入化。」



延伸閱讀：

The Brown Bunny (2003)









　我想這就是 Vincent Gallo 對自己作品信心與觀眾 (影評) 反差最佳寫照。



　Vincent Gallo 抱怨分數伍迪艾倫感十足！

[下海] 就是不截圖 10.

恐懼的代價 The Wages of Fear

138 min. 1953



1953 Cannes Film Festival Grand Prize of the Festival

1953 Berlin International Film Festival Golden Berlin Bear



Writing credits

Georges Arnaud (novel)

Henri-Georges Clouzot (adaptation and dialogue) (as H.G. Clouzot)

Jérôme Géronimi (adaptation and dialogue) (as Jérome Geronimi)



Yves Montand  ...  Mario 

Charles Vanel  ...  M. Jo 

Folco Lulli  ...  Luigi 

Peter van Eyck  ...  Bimba (as Peter Van Eyck) 

Véra Clouzot  ...  Linda (as Vera Clouzot) 

Jo Dest  ...  Smerloff  



1.

Henri-Georges Clouzot originally planned on shooting the film in Spain, but Yves Montand and his wife, Simone Signoret, refused to work in Spain as long as fascist dictator Francisco Franco was in power.

1.5

Filming took place instead in the south of France, near Saint-Gilles, in the Camargue. The village seen in the film was built from scratch.



延伸閱讀：

相當於今天的金棕櫚獎









腥風怒吼 Candyman

98 min. 1992



Writing credits

Clive Barker (story "The Forbidden")

Bernard Rose (written by)



Original Music by

Philip Glass 



Virginia Madsen ...  Helen Lyle

Tony Todd ...  The Candyman / Daniel Robitaille

Xander Berkeley ...  Trevor Lyle

Kasi Lemmons ...  Bernadette 'Bernie' Walsh

Vanessa Williams ...  Anne-Marie McCoy

DeJuan Guy ...  Jake

Carolyn Lowery ...  Stacey 



1.

There is a Guy Fawkes mask hanging next to Helen's bathroom mirror. 1.5

Fawkes is an infamous figure in English history (an influence from Clive Barker's original story perhaps), who attempted to blow up the English Parliament on November 5, 1605.

1.6

Every year the British celebrate Guy Fawkes Day by lighting bonfires and burning Fawkes in effigy.

2.

Virginia Madsen claims that she was hypnotized for some of the film's scenes.

3.

"Sweets to the Sweet" which is written on the walls in two areas of Cabrini Green is actually a line from Shakespeare's Hamlet.

4.

Philip Glass was asked by director Bernard Rose to compose a score for his film "Candyman". Glass accepted and wrote a "gothic" score for chorus and pipe organ.

4.5

The final version of the film was a disappointment to Glass. He felt that he had been manipulated. What was presented to him as a low budget independent project with creative integrity became (in his opinion) a low budget Hollywood slasher flick.

4.6

As a result, Glass with held his consent for the release of the recordings of the score for years, until 2001. 









愛情和香煙 Romance & Cigarettes

105 min. 2005



James Gandolfini  ...  Nick Murder 

Susan Sarandon  ...  Kitty Kane 

Kate Winslet  ...  Tula 

Steve Buscemi  ...  Angelo 

Bobby Cannavale  ...  Fryburg 

Mandy Moore  ...  Baby 

Mary-Louise Parker  ...  Constance 

Aida Turturro  ...  Rosebud 

Christopher Walken  ...  Cousin Bo 

P.J. Brown  ...  Police Officer  



1.

The movie was delayed for almost two years because of James Gandolfini's commitment to The Sopranos (1999).

2.

Writer-director John Turturro chose the songs featured in this film before he had secured their rights. While waiting for Gandolfini to be free from shooting The Sopranos (1999), the director went around to secure these rights from their songwriters and singers.

3.

Although the film was shown at the Venice Film Festival and had an official release in the UK in 2006, the movie was not released in the US for years. This was mainly due to the fact that MGM was bought by a consortium headed by Sony in 2005, which led to a legal mess of whom, either MGM or Sony has the rights to the movie. In August 2007 director John Turturro decided to distribute the movie with his own money.









This is the film in which Widmark's character gigglingly pushes a wheelchair-bound old lady down a flight of stairs. Reviewer James Agee said it best: "You feel that murder is the kindest thing he is capable of".



龍爭虎鬥 Kiss of Death

98 min. 1947



Writing credits

Ben Hecht (screenplay) 

Charles Lederer (screenplay)

Eleazar Lipsky (story)



Victor Mature  ...  Nick Bianco 

Brian Donlevy  ...  Assistant D.A. Louis D'Angelo 

Coleen Gray  ...  Nettie 

Richard Widmark  ...  Tommy Udo 

Taylor Holmes  ...  Earl Howser--Attorney 

Karl Malden ...  Sgt. William Cullen

Mildred Dunnock ...  Mrs. Rizzo (uncredited) 

Jo Jones ...  Jazz Drummer (uncredited) 



1.

Often cited as Victor Mature's best performance.

2.

Originally, Patricia Morison played Victor Mature's wife, who is attacked and raped by a gangster who is supposed to be watching out for her while Mature is in prison, and afterwards commits suicide by sticking her head in the kitchen oven and turning on the gas.

2.5

Both scenes were cut from the original print at the insistence of the censors, who wanted no depiction of either a rape or a suicide, so although Morison's name appears in the credits, she does not appear in the film at all.

2.6

Mention is made later in the film about Mature's wife's suicide and a now obscure reference is made by Nettie that the unseen gangster Rizzo contributed to the wife's downfall. 









離迷劫 Irma Vep

99 min. 1996



Maggie Cheung  ...  Herself 

Jean-Pierre Léaud  ...  René Vidal 

Nathalie Richard  ...  Zoé 

Antoine Basler  ...  Journalist 

Nathalie Boutefeu  ...  Laure 

Alex Descas  ...  Desormeaux 

Dominique Faysse  ...  Maïté 

Arsinée Khanjian  ...  L'américaine 

Bernard Nissile  ...  Markus 

Bulle Ogier  ...  Mireille 

Lou Castel  ...  José Mirano  



"Bonnie and Clyde"

Written by Serge Gainsbourg

Performed by Luna









"To a new world of gods and monsters."



眾神與野獸 Gods and Monsters

120 min. 1998



1999 Academy Awards Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium

1999 Independent Spirit Award Best Feature, Best Male Lead, Best Supporting Female



Writing credits

Christopher Bram (novel "Father of Frankenstein")

Bill Condon (screenplay)



Ian McKellen  ...  James Whale 

Brendan Fraser  ...  Clayton Boone 

Lynn Redgrave  ...  Hanna 

Lolita Davidovich  ...  Betty 

David Dukes  ...  David Lewis 

Jack Plotnick  ...  Edmund Kay 

Rosalind Ayres  ...  Elsa Lanchester 

Jack Betts  ...  Boris Karloff 

Todd Babcock  ...  Leonard Barnett 

Cornelia Hayes O'Herlihy  ...  Princess Margaret 

Brandon Kleyla  ...  Young Whale 

Pamela Salem  ...  Sarah Whale 

Michael O'Hagan ...  William Whale

Amir Aboulela ...  The Monster

Marlon Braccia ...  Elizabeth Taylor

Kent George ...  Whale at 25

Martin Ferrero ...  George Cukor 



1.

Ian McKellen said that he felt very comfortable playing the role of James Whale. For, like Whale, McKellan is a homosexual British actor who spent his early career in the theater and ultimately started a career in Hollywood.

2.

There are five original James Whale drawings in this film.

3.

As of 2007, one of only three films since the advent of the Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar to win the award without receiving a Best Picture nomination as well. The first was The Bad and the Beautiful (1952), the second was Sling Blade (1996). 

4.

The role was an important one for Fraser, who was previously better-known for lighter fare, such as 1997's George of the Jungle. The movie was also a great success for writer-director Bill Condon, who was previously best-known for the B-movie sequel Candyman: Farewell to the Flesh (1995).









監視 Surveillance

98 min. 2008



Julia Ormond  ...  Elizabeth Anderson 

Bill Pullman  ...  Sam Hallaway 

Pell James  ...  Bobbi Prescott 

Ryan Simpkins  ...  Stephanie 

Cheri Oteri  ...  Mom 

Michael Ironside  ...  Captain Billings 

French Stewart  ...  Officer Jim Conrad 

Kent Harper  ...  Officer Jack Bennett 

Caroline Aaron  ...  Janet 

Gill Gayle  ...  Officer Degrasso 

Hugh Dillon  ...  Dad  



"Speed Roadster"

Written by David Lynch

Performed by David Lynch

Published by Bobkind Music Inc. (ASCAP)

Courtesy of David Lynch Music Company



延伸閱讀：

獲邀坎城影展午夜放映









琴謎變奏曲 La Tourneuse de Pages

84 min. 2006



Catherine Frot  ...  Ariane 

Déborah François  ...  Mélanie 

Pascal Greggory  ...  M. Fouchécourt 

Clotilde Mollet  ...  Virginie 

Xavier De Guillebon  ...  Laurent 

Christine Citti  ...  Mme Prouvost 

Jacques Bonnaffé  ...  M. Prouvost 

Antoine Martynciow  ...  Tristan 

Julie Richalet  ...  Mélanie enfant 









"What would you think if I shaved my moustache?"



鬍子驚魂 La moustache

86 min. 2005



Directed by

Emmanuel Carrère

Writing credits 

Jérôme Beaujour (writer)

Emmanuel Carrère (novel) (screenplay) 



Original Music by

Philip Glass (musical composition by) 



Vincent Lindon ...  Marc Thiriez

Emmanuelle Devos ...  Agnès Thiriez

Mathieu Amalric ...  Serge Schaeffer

Hippolyte Girardot ...  Bruno

Cylia Malki ...  Samira

Macha Polikarpova ...  Nadia Schaeffer

Fantine Camus ...  Lara Schaeffer 



延伸閱讀：

I AM ALIVE AND YOU ARE DEAD:A JOURNEY INTO THE LIFE OF PHILIP K. DICK 









VAMPYR was produced in 1931/32 in German, French and English versions. The original negative for picture and sound was lost. Partially complete prints of the German and French versions served as the basis for this restoration. The new German version of 1998 was a collaboration between Cineteca del Comune di Bologna, Deutsche Kinemathek and ZDF/Arte.



"Vampyr isn't the easiest classic film to enjoy, even if you are a fan of 1930s horror movies. It was originally shot as a silent film and later dubbed with a limited amount of dialogue;



the performances are uneven (with some stylized acting that's reminiscent of the silent era), the disjointed plot would be considered confusing in any era, and the sparse dialogue makes the film seem even more vague and disquieting."



--AllMovie 



吸血鬼 Vampyr

75 min. 1931



Writing credits

Sheridan Le Fanu (based on a book by) (as J. Sheridan Le Fanu)

Christen Jul (screenplay)

Carl Theodor Dreyer (screenplay) (as Carl Th. Dreyer)



Julian West ...  Allan Grey

Maurice Schutz ...  Der Schlossherr (Lord of the Manor)

Rena Mandel ...  Gisèle

Sybille Schmitz ...  Léone 



Original Music by

Wolfgang Zeller 



Cinematography by

Rudolph Maté   

Louis Née (uncredited)  



1.

The movie was dubbed into English, French, and German versions for different markets. Its actors came from varied national and linguistic backgrounds, and so in certain versions it appears that some of them are speaking their lines phonetically.

1.5

Additionally, the film was shot fairly cheaply using an experimental sound process, and the technical quality of the soundtrack leaves much to be desired.

1.6

Most versions in distribution through the late 1990s (including those on video) are composites of the German and French versions, which differ for cuts made by the censors in each of those countries. As of 2004, no prints of the English version are known to circulate.

2.

In order to achieve the strange, dream-like photography, a thin gauze was put in front of the lens as a filter.

3.

This was the first talking picture directed by Carl Theodor Dreyer.

4.

The film was shot entirely on location. In fact, the old castle featured in the film also served as the lodging for the cast and crew.

5.

The dank doctor's surgery and its abandoned, dirty look covered in cobwebs was said to be achieved by the director breaking jam jars on the floor then leaving the room shut off for a little over a month to attract various bugs and insects.









"I'll suck your dick if you give me the job I want."



春心蕩漾俏媽咪 SherryBaby

96 min. 2006



Maggie Gyllenhaal  ...  Sherry Swanson 

Michelle Hurst  ...  Dorothy Washington 

Giancarlo Esposito  ...  Parole Officer Hernandez 

Caroline Clay  ...  Parole Officer Murphy 

Rio Hackford  ...  Andy Kelly 

Brad William Henke  ...  Bobby Swanson 

Bridget Barkan  ...  Lynette Swanson 

Ryan Simpkins  ...  Alexis Parks 

Danny Trejo  ...  Dean Walker 

Sam Bottoms  ...  Bob Swanson Sr. 

Kate Burton  ...  Marcia Swanson  









One, two, three four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten. Ready or not, here I come.

Marco.

Polo!



"Free from the exploitative qualities of Larry Clark's Kids, Alpha Dog shows the absolutely true transmogrification of bored suburban youths into drug kingpins and other reckless associates."



-- AllMovie



阿爾發狗 Alpha Dog

117 min. 2006



Bruce Willis  ...  Sonny Truelove 

Matthew Barry  ...  Interviewer (as Matt Barry) 

Emile Hirsch  ...  Johnny Truelove 

Fernando Vargas  ...  Tiko 'TKO' Martinez 

Vincent Kartheiser  ...  Pick Giaimo 

Justin Timberlake  ...  Frankie Ballenbacher 

Shawn Hatosy  ...  Elvis Schmidt 

Alex Solowitz  ...  Bobby '911' 

Alec Vigil  ...  P.J. Truelove 

Harry Dean Stanton  ...  Cosmo Gadabeeti 

Frank Cassavetes  ...  Adrian Jones 

Regina Rice  ...  Dance Bitch Girl 

Ben Foster  ...  Jake Mazursky

David Thornton ...  Butch Mazursky

Anton Yelchin ...  Zack Mazursky

Sharon Stone ...  Olivia Mazursky

Alexandra Cassavetes ...  Jonna Kirshner (as Xan Cassavetes)

Chris Kinkade ...  Juergen Ballenbacher

Dominique Swain ...  Susan Hartunian

Chris Marquette ...  Keith Stratten (as Christopher Marquette)

Alex Kingston ...  Tiffany Hartunian

Amanda Seyfried ...  Julie Beckley

Charity Shea ...  Sabrina Pope

Amber Heard ...  Alma

Lukas Haas ...  Buzz Fecske

Adrianna Belan ...  Leigh Fecske

Sadie ...  Dale Dierker's Dog (uncredited)  



1.

To prepare for his role in this movie, actor Ben Foster asked one of his friends who was an ex-crystal meth addict for guidance. The friend introduced him to a group of people who gave Foster an all-access pass into the lifestyle.

2.

Ben Foster risked his sight for the movie by adding glaucoma drops to his eyes for much of the shoot to dilate his pupils, making him appear to be high. He'd hide in the bushes at night and cover his eyes between takes to keep the lights from shining into them. He would also talk to Nick Cassavetes with his eyes closed.

3.

In a scene where they have a fight, Sharon Stone hit Ben Foster so hard that his nose started bleeding. He told her to do so, because he said the scene needed to be as realistic as possible.

4.

The song "Say Goodbye to Hollywood" plays as Johnny Truelove (Emile Hirsch) is getting ready to skip town and go on the run from the police. This makes sense, as Jesse James Hollywood is the person Johnny Truelove is based on.