Word: forfend
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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This grim fantasy is engendered by exposure, in rapid succession, to the films underlying those last two presold titles and by the prospect of The Karate Kid III, Lethal Weapon II, Nightmare on Elm Street V and, heaven forfend, Friday the 13th VIII. Not to mention James Bond umpty-ump. The basic criticism of sequels is as familiar as it is correct: they represent the triumph of commercial caution over creative daring...
...does his movie; Maurice (pronounced Morris) is all high-mindedness and good taste. It has no emotional tension or -- heaven forfend -- strong expression of frustration or need. Occasionally an old pro like Denholm Elliott, Barry Foster or Ben Kingsley disregards directorial discretion and rips into a scene, because that's what actors are supposed to do. The young leading men, though, do not have the confidence or the clout to break through Ivory's enervated politesse...
...Ford offers a hypnotizing portrayal of a man covering despair with lunatic optimism, hysteria with bravado and rigid self-control, a fatal prejudice lingers in the audience: we do not want to spend a couple of hours with Allie here any more than we would if he were, heaven forfend, our next-door neighbor...
Which heaven forfend! The stylishness and power of impact of Katz's work are not in doubt. Over the years he has come up with a way of doing quite a lot with limited plastic means. His sources are largely those of Pop art: the quickly seen, iconic, coercive imagery of mass media, which he then modifies and softens with high-art references. His main subject is the human face, close up and cropped by the frame, a pearly or tanned mask of flat paint with schematic shading, great swacking eyelashes and lipstick-colored lips: it is the face...