Word: vortexes
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Bigger does not always mean better, and parts of the new version are unnecessarily long-winded and could be chopped. In particular, descriptions of some of the fighting, though gripping, are hard to follow: the reader is sucked into a vortex of almost incomprehensible battlefield jargon...
...unlike the recluse of the last years, the young Henry Adams pushed toward the vortex of events. In Washington in 1869 he wrote brilliant articles on the corruption in the Grant Administration. When liberal Republicans tried to overthrow President Grant by nominating Henry's father, Charles Francis Adams, Henry exulted: "Just now I am engaged singlehanded in the slight task of organizing a new party to contest the next presidential election...
...consumed ourselves in disputes over negotiations and weapons systems, SALT I, at first widely acclaimed, was drawn into that vortex. SALT II never emerged from it. Advocates of arms control belittled the extent to which it was being overtaken by technology. Opponents focused on the numerical "advantage" that SALT I allegedly gave the Soviets, overlooking that the agreed totals reflected exactly the level of U.S. forces the Pentagon chose long before there was any thought of arms control and that we retained a large numerical edge in warheads and airplanes...
...Vortex, the milieu is not punk but the sensibility is. The film-making couple known as Scott B and Beth B have worked in the New York new wave underground since the mid-'70s, shooting on Super 8 stock and exhibiting the results in punk nightclubs. Vortex, made in 16 mm on an $80,000 budget, is their first shot at the relatively big time. Its plot is standard sleuthing in the corridors of power. A Congressman has been killed on orders from a reclusive plutocrat (Bill Rice). Private Eye Angel Powers (Lydia Lunch) finds the source...
...pulse rate of Vortex is as slow and regular as a long-distance runner's. The acting is uneven, from Russo's Method overacting to Lunch's delicious coarseness as she tries to remember her lines. None of this matters much. What does is the look of the film: a downtown gallery of elegant, provocative images. Warning shadows pin actors against the wall. Bedrooms and boardrooms alike are illuminated by lasers, neon, smoke, creepy red and blue filters. Single-source lighting throws every face and motivation into sinister relief. And under the action, jazz-rock music...