Travis Simpkins

Saturday, March 7, 2015

The Extraordinary Adventures of Adèle Blanc-Sec

Directed by Luc Besson, The Extraordinary Adventures of Adèle Blanc-Sec (2010), alternately titled Les Aventures extraordinaires d'Adèle Blanc-Sec and Adèle: Rise of the Mummy, was loosely based on the comic books by Jacques Tardi. The story focuses on a famous journalist and travel writer named Adele Blanc-Sec, on expedition in Egypt in 1911 looking for the mummy of a royal physician, who desperately needs it's ancient magic to heal her injured and comatose sister. Oh, and there is a pterodactyl, hatched from a 135 million year old egg at a natural history museum, on the loose in Paris. Great acting, witty French humor, free sense of adventure and wondrous mummy effects permeate the well-written script. The cinematography is superb, capturing the vintage early 20th Century Museum environment and archaeological atmosphere in vibrant hues, including shots of the galleries inside the Louvre and panoramas of the Sphinx and Great Pyramid of Giza. Louise Bourgoin is fantastic and beautiful as Adèle Blanc-Sec. The supporting cast is great as well, including Mathieu Amalric, Gilles Lellouche and Jean-Paul Rouve.

Louise Bourgoin as Adele Blanc-Sec

The Extraordinary Adventures of Adele Blanc-Sec

Louise Bourgoin as Adele Blanc-Sec

The Extraordinary Adventures of Adele Blanc-Sec

Louise Bourgoin as Adele Blanc-Sec

The Extraordinary Adventures of Adele Blanc-Sec

Louise Bourgoin as Adele Blanc-Sec

The Extraordinary Adventures of Adele Blanc-Sec

"The Extraordinary Adventures of Adele Blanc-Sec"

Friday, March 6, 2015

Portrait of Glenn D. Lowry, Director of the Museum of Modern Art. by Travis Simpkins

Glenn D. Lowry, 2015. by Travis Simpkins

Portrait Sketch of

Dr. Glenn D. Lowry

Director of the Museum of Modern Art, New York

by Travis Simpkins

Glenn D. Lowry: MoMA

For more info, please visit:

www.moma.org

Glenn Lowry. by Travis Simpkins. Museum of Modern Art

Thursday, March 5, 2015

"The Fallen Angel" by Daniel Silva

"The Fallen Angel" by Daniel Silva

HarperCollins, 2012

Brief Review by Travis Simpkins

An intriguing mix of murder, looted antiquities, espionage and terrorism is masterfully typed out in the pages of The Fallen Angel, the twelfth entry in the popular "Gabriel Allon" book series by Daniel Silva. The story begins and ends on Holy Ground, starting with a tragic death under St. Peter's Dome in the Vatican… where a young female curator has seemingly committed suicide by leaping to her death. Retired Israeli spy turned art restorer Gabriel Allon is cleaning a work by Caravaggio nearby when he is called to quietly investigate. Gabriel immediately dismisses the suicide theory, and with the Pope's blessing, begins a dangerous journey to solve the murder, dodging bullets and bombs through the corrupt and illicit world of looted antiquities… which leads to a Hezbollah terrorist plot to destroy the Holiest site in Jerusalem. Gabriel Allon remains one of the great characters and paradoxes of modern fiction, with decidedly opposing halves… one gentle, the other lethal. It is no wonder that former U.S. President Bill Clinton cites Gabriel Allon as his favorite fictional character. Daniel Silva is a master at interweaving genres, historical periods and topics. His knowledge of the areas in which he writes is substantial, adding a real sense of place to the descriptions… from the Sistine Chapel to the offices of the Carabinieri, from the slopes of St. Moritz to the narrow lanes of Vienna, from the Dome of the Rock to the archaeologically-rich ancient tunnels beneath the Temple Mount. The story is fictional, but many real-life aspects of the trade in looted antiquities are laid bare, including the case of convicted Italian smuggler Giacomo Medici, which is given ample pause for thought. The fictional characters, many making reappearances, are thoroughly enthralling as well, including Gabriel's lovely wife Chiara, Ari Shamron, Eli Lavon, David Girard, Massoud Rahimi, Uzi Navot, Pope Paul VII and his right-hand-man Luigi Donati. Touchy subjects involving the Israeli-Palestine conflict are dealt with in a bravura manner, including the so-called "Temple Denial", which is the basis for a large portion of the plot. As with his other Gabriel Allon books, Silva combines art crime and espionage with adept skill, and The Fallen Angel is one of the best entries thus far.