Word: portrayal
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1990-1999
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Shingledecker's death was easy to portray as a clear-cut case of cause and effect. On Oct. 10, he and three carloads of friends saw the movie The Program at a drive-in theater not far from his home in rural Stoneboro, Pennsylvania. Early in the film, its hero, a college quarterback, tries to prove grace under pressure by lying down in the middle of a busy highway flipping through a magazine as the trucks swerve to avoid him. He goes unscathed. Shingledecker did not seem especially moved by the film, his girlfriend reports. But the next weekend...
...basic premise on which all this rests is slightly wacky: namely that all sex divorced from procreation (or openness to procreation) is valueless. It may well be that promiscuous, casual sex, engaged in with strangers tends toward the utterly valueless and distracting. It is implausible and simplistic, however, to portray every form of non-procreative sexuality as no better than the least valuable form...
...feel manipulated when Aaron ultimately comes out as the king of the hill, beating the odds of the Depression. Careful not to portray Aaron as a slick and smug Ferris Bueller type, Bradford plays him as a wide-eyed, ingenious little boy who is as amazeds as we are when he does triumph...
...order has barred prosecutors from giving sneak previews of their strategy, but they have indicated that they will portray Abouhalima as a major player in the conspiracy. After the tower attack, they claim, he flew to the Middle East to escape. Abouhalima, for his part, says that during the bombing he was at home with his family in Woodbridge, New Jersey, observing the rituals of the Muslim holy season of Ramadan. His flight to the Middle East, he claims, was a pilgrimage to Mecca followed by a reunion with parents and siblings in Egypt...
...fault lies with the principal actors. Although it is of course unpleasant to criticize Daniel, Michelle or Winona, it is this reviewer's loathsome task to report that none of them is anything to write home about. Their characters are predictable and devoid of development. Certainly, they portray individuals locked into position by tight-laced mores. However, since the movie purports to examine or question the hegemony of these mores, one could reasonably expect more than Daniel's impotent teeth-grinding, Michelle's little huffs and puffs while deep kissing, and Winona's starry-eyed smiles. On the other hand...