Green Porno: You Won't Want Isabella To Get A Room

LISTEN TO ISABELLA ROSSELLINI GREEN PORNO INTERVIEW HERE

There's an eco-friendly peep show up on the Internet, Isabella Rossellini's Green Porno. From Isabella's six foot long insect penis to her flesh colored body tights boasting graphic anatomically correct female erogenous zones, this amazing series of short films promises never a dull moment sexy shock and awe.

The radiant colors and beyond imagination fantasy costumes and sets are indescribable. In our conversation with Isabella, we wanted to know if her primary impulse in creating Green Porno was to be sexy. And if not, what then?

Rossellini and Dragonflies Make A Porno. Not exactly bestiality, but don't expect Isabella to get a room. CONTINUE READING HERE...

Live And Become: On DVD

Radu Mihaileanu, Director

Can love conquer fear and hate?

Live and Become is a love story and a history lesson with up to date scenes from Israel, where I have never been. It is based on the story of the people who were airlifted from a Sudanese refugee camp to Israel in 1984 during Operation Moses.

This film is a tour de force that opens the viewers eyes to what it is like to be a nine year old orphan, to be different in color and experience from those we live with, and to feel the weight and pressure of unconditional love in spite of the gulf that defines and divides us.

This is a film for the romantic, for the intellectual, for those who might not know about the Ethiopian migration into Israel where the politicians wanted the immigrants to boost their number of citizens but the Israel people were afraid of the color of their skin, the spread of potential desease from AIDs or worse and the possibility that these foreigners were in fact posing as Jewish people but were not Jewish and never had been.

Beautifully acted, the story unfolds slowly with particular attention to detail and the translation, the subtitles were way above average.

Enormous in scope.

Live and Become covers a multitude of issues that most of us would rather forget but can't.

On DVD

Linda Z
WBAI Women's Collective

Sugar Movie Review: More Bitter Than Sweet Baseball Capitalism

Sports in the US, much like Hollywood, presents itself as a celebration of star power and those who make it, while rarely pausing to examine the many more who are discarded, exploited, and very often ultimately destroyed human beings. Unless, that is, their stories render them passing curiosities as profitable, lurid gossip fodder for the tabloids. CONTINUE READING....

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO OUR AUDIO CONVERSATION WITH THE SUGAR DIRECTORS

HE SAID, SHE SAID...Edge Of Love

HE SAID....

Unfortunately, the flow of the story shifts to a Fatal Attraction-style thriller with very few surprising twists. It left me empty and wanting more from the exceptionally gifted actors. CONTINUE READING....

FILM RATING (C+)

Gerald Wright
Film Showcase
HDFest.com


SHE SAID....

More a Gary Springer sex brawl than a Blitzkrieg bohemian romp, with legendary Welsh poet Dylan Thomas mainly playing incorrigibly horny and urinating on house plants. And a court duel from nowhere, landing the entire free love menagerie nastily at each other's throats. Paging Nancy Grace. CONTINUE READING....

Prairie Miller

Older Than America: Georgina Lightning Interview

Older Than America: First Feature Film By A Native American Woman, Georgina Lightning


CLICK TO LISTEN TO INTERVIEW WITH GEORGINA LIGHTNING HERE

READ MORE INFORMATION ABOUT OLDER THAN AMERICA HERE

Native American filmmaker Georgina Lightning also stars in her fact based feature film Older Than America, as a young woman haunted by the ghosts of murdered Cree Nation Catholic boarding school children. And she describes how her own father's tragic suicide, like many others suffering such centuries of physical, psychological and sexual abuse at these government organized boarding schools, inspired her film.

HE SAID, SHE SAID....Women's Bodies

HE SAID....

Every Little Step

...The anguish, anxiety, anger, excitement, fear, frustration and gratitude of each performer's personal and intimate life.

Exploring all aspects of aspiring singer-dancers in one of the themes of this poetic yet nostalgic film that highlights the incredible journey of "A Chorus Line" (stage production). Incorporating the history of the 1975 Broadway dramatic musical play from its initiated concept by choreographer and director Michael Bennett to the contemporary revival in 2006.

A Chorus Line (1975) was not just another hit show, however it was a movement that spoke to and for a generation. This was a musical for everyone who ever had a dream and had it come true. In the summer of 1975 this enlightened and euphoric stage production made its way to the Shubert Theatre. From its original run finding a home on the Great White Way it stayed at the Shubert Theatre for 15 years.

The film goes behind the scenes with in depth interviews and archival footage of Michael Bennett choreographer, Bob Avian co-choreographer, Marvin Hamlisch music composer, Donna McKechnie a veteran singer/dancer and an original cast member, and Baayork Lee another original cast member and new revival choreographer. Using flashback scenes from the 1975 original casting calls to the present day auditions the filmmakers brilliantly reveal the real story of the new talented hopefuls need to move from dream to reality in making it in a career as a singer-dancer.

Individual journeys of Yuka Takara, Deidre Goodwin, Alisan Porter, Mari Davi, Jessica Lee Goldyn, Chryssie Whitehead, Jeffrey Schecter, Jason Tam and Charlotte D'Amboise are displayed. Featuring Marvin Hamlisch's Oscar nominated music and sizzling choreography, this thrilling life behind the velvet curtain is truly One Singular Sensation.

What makes this documentary my pick for one of the best doc's so far this year is the theme and the crisp pacing of the film's development allowing the viewer to feel the anguish, anxiety, anger, excitement, fear, frustration and gratitude of each performer's personal and intimate life. After narrowing down hundreds of Broadway hopefuls from numerous casting calls to the final selections the film adds a powerful punch to an already fascinating story.

This movie weaves poignant universal stories of how hard work, talent and determination of a dream of performing on a Broadway stage can come true.

Directed by: James D. Stern & Adam Del Deo
Running time: 96 minutes
Release date: April 17, 2009
Genre: Documentary
Distributor: Sony Pictures Classics
MPAA Rating: PG-13

Film Rating (A)

Gerald Wright
HDFEST.Com
Film Showcase


SHE SAID....

Enlighten Up!

A low keyed documentary done with minimum professional input and a lot of unconditional love.

Director: Kate Churchill
Story: Khari Streeter, Jonathon Hexner, Kate Churchill
Producer: Kate Churchill
Composer: Krishna Venkatesh
Studio: Balcony Releasing

Starring: Nick Rosen

Enlighten Up! is 82 minutes of Yoga for those who 'have a practice' and those who are entering the world of sport because of injury, aging or just because it is the thing to do.

There is no question that Yoga is spreading like wildfire. It is difficult to find a 'small' class where individual attention is afforded without extra fees. Yoga is good for every one except....This documentary isn't about the emergence of a hero. It is about the process of becoming a Yogi, and no pain has been spared the subject of this process nor the audience who bares witness to all the pitfalls visited on this neophyte Yoga guinea pig.

But with all that said, what remains is an ever gowning awareness that Yoga, if you can do it, is a special discipline. This documentary is designed for those who are weak at heart and body as well as those who are committed to the art/sport. We have only one body, one mind. The practice of Yoga aims to preserve and enhance both.

To see how it is done, or avoided at all costs.
Enlighten Up! is The Way!

Linda Zises
WBAI Womens Collective

READER MAILBAG

ADVENTURELAND: KENNYWOOD AMUSEMENT PARK NOT THE PITTS

Wow, nice review, but have you ever been to Kennywood? Known as America's Finest Traditional Amusement Park, it's far from "generic", having much "distinct flava" that has treated millions of amusement park enthusiasts from all over the world. Yes, many come to PITTSBURGH, of all places, just to visit Kennywood!

Kind Regards,
- Jeff C.

ADVENTURELAND: CLICK TO READ REVIEW HERE

Sorry, Jeff. My bad.
Didn't mean to insult Kennywood or Pittsburgh! I was talking more about an insult to Long Island. Which was the true setting of Motola's boyhood.
And no, I've never been out your way. But I have to say that the director did make the place seem rather unsavory. So your beef may actually be with him!
Prairie



DR. MANHATTAN AND HIS HUGE STIMULUS PACKAGE, STREAKING ACROSS THE UNIVERSE


TOO OLD TO CARE ABOUT DOC'S HUGE STIMULUS PACKAGE

Dear Prarie,
Nice review considering you appear to be kind of a psuedo-intellectual!!....The bottom line is that Zack Snyder did something that 4 others(directors) couldn't do and he did it well!......I'm 70+ years old, didn't read the book, and am too old to care about Dr. Manhatten's genitals.......but I loved the movie and the consumer rating is close to 80% positive........So as far as critics are concerned, they influence a lot of people erroneously, and really don't relate to the real people.......
....I think you can do that Prarie!!!....Keep trying......and talk to the people out there who can't afford to go to the movies, and wait to buy the DVD's......Thanks,

Audrey D.
Pittsfield, MA.

CLICK TO READ WATCHMEN REVIEW HERE

CLICK TO READ BILLY CRUDUP INTERVIEW HERE

WATCHMEN: A SECOND OPINION

MISSING THE POINT: A QUESTION OF BLACK AND BLUE

In defense of the penis misses the point that this naked blue man standing in a Rodan type posture is a take off on the Metropolitan museum statue of a larger than life naked black man. Further the last lines of the film indicate that the blue man is always present, like God, whom we do not see. Obviously, if this man is "our heavenly Father" the father of us all, we need expect nothing less than a penis of some worthy proportion,

Art history and appreciation is an entire subject presented but not commented upon in this film. Another gem missed!

Anonymous


READER BLESSES CRITIC...AND MEMPHIS TIGERS

Prairie,

Your review of "Fireproof" was interesting, but a little shallow. Actually, this story is targeted at church-going couples as much as (if not more than) those who never darken the church door. The sad truth is that trends like porn addiction and divorce are as common in Christian circles as anywhere else. As a Christian husband and father who faces the same struggles as every other red-blooded American male, I am grateful for the Kendricks' treatment of these delicate issues.

The reconciliation of the marriage in the movie is ALL about the grace of God. The medical equipment for the mother-in -law just create an interesting sidebar. When Caleb learns to humble himself before God, his priorities change about EVERYTHING...including his use of discretionary income.

If you think the production was cheesy, fair enough. Considering Sherwood's budget, I think they did an admirable job. However, please don't miss the point that God worked in the hearts of both husband and wife to save the marriage.

Blessings to you in Jesus' name.

Kent S.
Arlington, TN

GO MEMPHIS TIGERS!!



FIREPROOF: TWO VIEWS OF PRAIRIE

Prairie Miller sounds like a Christian hating liberal.
Maureen H.

FIREPROOF: CLICK TO READ REVIEW HERE

Hello Maureen

She was mainly commenting about the structure of the story. That is what critics do. If they weren't allowed to comment on something because it involved religion, then how would good quality work be separated from weaker efforts? She was saying the story left loose ends, didn't make sense in some places. It wasn't intended to be an attack on anyone's beliefs. You don't want a lower standard to be applied to a movie just because it contains religious aspects.

Best Wishes
Alan G.


CORPORATE 'DUPLICITY' NOT CLEAR

The concluding sentence makes no sense.
Christopher C.

...The corporate thuggery plays out like mercantile armies deployed and on the offensive to protect their respective fiefdoms, as flabby assassins in suits go at it like the Keystone Cops. Though the clownish antics may seem too benign for some, when assessing the current suspect real life rap sheets of multinationals on display.

CLICK TO READ DUPLICITY REVIEW HERE

Hi Chris:
What I mean to say, is that the corporate heads in this movie are made to seem too silly to be seriously malevolent. Hence the current economic crisis plaguing the planet comes off trivialized.
Prairie


Thanks, Prairie, for your reply.

I guess we can agree to differ on this film. I understand the film as the comic flip side to MICHAEL CLAYTON's deadly serious corporate malfeasance. After all, this one's about hair.
In these times of Hollywood's dumbing down protocol, Gilroy's smart script is like finding the proverbial oasis in the desert.
When the viewer realizes that these two have scripted their entry into corporate espionage, and that the bumps in the road have all been plotted and staged by the lovers, and I'm rooting them on to sure victory only to see them beaten at their own tradecraft, that, to me, is cinematic nirvana.
In my opinion, you write too harshly regarding this film.

Best,
Christopher C.


GLAD I FOUND SOMEONE OUT THERE

I am an undergraduate student, and I am taking some English Literature classes until Fall 2009 when I will be a graduate student in North Carolina, in the English MA concentration in Film Studies program.

I was just doing some research because I notice the weird stares that I get when I tell people what I am studying and even though I want to be a professor once I get my PhD, I do not want to stop there. I feel like, I know that there is a voice out there in the world of filmmaking) that is not being heard.

I am not 100% sure of all that I want to do. But I would like to learn filmmaking and eventually make a film worthy enough to be respected by my peers and also to gain some industry recognition.

I am just getting started and I need some direction; virtually all of my professors are men and white, which is not a problem for me but I just want to know that there are others like me (don't we all?). I am glad I found you and I hope that I can see and hear more about you as I begin my journey into film literacy and criticism, etc.

Thank you,
C. Mason






Maureen Harper wrote:
Comment on story http://newsblaze.com/story/20080926142357mill.nb/topstory.html

Adventureland: Kristen Stewart Vamp To Vampire

Superbad followup with superbored minimum wage recession youth, given dramatic intensity by method actress extraordinaire Kristen Stewart, as sullen side dish to flirty Ryan Reynolds' main squeeze spouse. And whether aspiring vamp or vampire, she's got all the ingredients to claim bragging rights as the up and coming James Dean of young hotties.

CLICK TO READ REVIEW HERE

American Violet Movie Review

The Texas Raids Where Men And Women Are Given Equal Maltreatment

Directed by Tim Disney

Starring Alfre Woodard, Michael O’Keefe, Tim Blake Nelson, Will Patton, Charles S. Dutton, Xzibit, and newcomer Nicole Beharie

Based on real events and set in a small Texas town in the midst of the 2000 Bush/Gore presidential election.

AMERICAN VIOLET tells the astonishing story of Dee Roberts (critically hailed newcomer Nicole Beharie), a 24 year old African-American single mother of four who is wrongfully swept up in a drug raid. A raid that is periodically visited on the denizens of the Texas housing projects, and the threat of its re-occurrence does not stop with the end of the film.

The inside view of the prison was riveting. I had no idea of the conditions, the lack of humanity that people incarcerated, even if not guilty, are afforded.

This is a piece of history we need to know. The trip to knowledge that Tim Disney offers is an engrossing, enjoyable, yet disturbing adventure that will not be forgotten by those who see the film. It isn't a Hollywood extravaganza, but a slice of life that draws us into the moment and doesn't let us go, even after the lights come up.

The acting is stunning, the music is so perfect and the story is strong. A good job, a necessary work of art.

Samuel Goldwyn Films releases American Violet April 17th, 2009 nationwide

Linda Z
WBAI Women's Collective

Duplicity: Make Up Spy Sex With Toe Rings

Duplicity teams masters of mutual deceit in sassy make up sex for spies, Julia squirming her way through one night stand pretend amnesia with toe rings, and a different kind of screwing of flabby corporate cutthroats in designer suits.

CLICK TO READ REVIEW HERE

Shall We Kiss?

SHALL WE KISS: LACKLUST-ER FOREPLAY

Written and Directed by
Emmanuel Mouret

Starring Virginie Ledoyen, Emmanuel Mouret, Julie Gayet, Michaël Cohen, Frédérique Bel, Stefano Accorsi

Just when we thought the slow moving, low action film about love and friendship and the quality of relationships was an event of the past having been covered too often too much, along comes yet another film questioning the nature of love and friendship. It strives to draw a line between the two when in fact the age old understanding that this line is thin and only our restrained actions can ultimately bring to resolution the nature of who we are to one another.

'Shall we Kiss?' is best answered with a conscious decision not with an act compelled solely by an emotional impulse.

The film brings this point home with the use of suburb acting. The augmentation of the dialogue with vivid fine works of art that hang from the walls. Even the wall paper in the last scene, age old in design, becomes so strong an addition to the film that one is forced to look at it and only with effort to look away to the actors as they perform their parts exquisitely well.

But why this film at this time?

I never thought the Internet would bring us so far afield of how to relate, that "hooking up" would become the norm and voyeurism the way of life for the very young through adolescence and beyond. But here we are on the precipice of never having to leave our personal abodes to be fully entertained, to never having to say our names or going through all those uncomfortable introductions We are on the brink of being so segmented in our daily interactions, so false in our ability to convey our essence that this film 'Shall We Kiss?' poses a question that survived for centuries and is now as never before threatened with extinction.

Yes, We Shall Kiss. We should know each other's names and the smell of our bodies and what each other thinks or doesn't. What else is there in life if not this friendship and love for one another. It might not be the ultimate meaning of life, but it certainly is an important ingredient in that search.

I recommend we get back to basics. 'Shall We Kiss?' is a good beginning to an always questionable end.

Linda Z
WBAI Women's Collective

Gigantic Movie Review

Written and directed by Matt Aselton

Starring Zooey Deschanel, Paul Dano (Now shooting “The Extra Man” with Katie Holmes, “There Will be Blood”, “Little Miss Sunshine”)
Edward Asner, Jane Alexander & John Goodman

An unmarried, (and uninvolved) working class man of twenty something in search of his life's fantasy/mission/goal; to adopt a Chinese baby.

Gigantic is an empty fantasy style film that can proudly boast about its extraordinary acting. But why these great performers decided to take the job remains unclear.

For starters, what does the title signify? That an immediate comprehensible answer does not come to mind even after one lives through the film experience is a serious problem. The second problem is with the "attacker". Is he real, a fantasy, a product of drugs too many, a rip off of one of the brothers? That said.........

John Goodman is so so so funny! The Chinese baby at the end of the film is a delight, a wonderful memorable character. But what is the film about?

I loved Jane Alexander, how could I not? The only down moment was again the woman, the mother John Goodman's former wife who was so out of it, such a downer. Why is it always the women who miss the boat, who cause the real pain and irreparable problems in film plots.

What is wrong with this film is the private references and important personal memories that somehow never achieve public cognition. What is right with this film is the fun in the making that comes across the screen and the acting.

The acting and character stretches are well worth seeing

Release date: April 3, 2009

Linda Z
WBAI Women's Collective

Hunger: The Life And Death Of Bobby Sands - An Audio Conversation With Director Steve McQueen

ON THE BODY AS THE LAST RESOURCE OF POLITICAL PROTEST

CLICK TO LISTEN TO THE INTERVIEW HERE

Sunshine Cleaning: Sisterhood Of Economic Crisis Cinema

Zany postmortem hick flick with New Mexico sisterhood in scrubs, channel surfing for mom, and beyond the call of duty girl bonding over an edible necklace. Sunshine Cleaning is economic crisis cinema on the grim side, but irresistibly Albu-quirky.

CLICK TO READ REVIEW HERE

Forbidden Lie$

Anna Bronowski
"We are never deceived, we deceive ourselves" Goethe.

Story line:
The film's subject is Norma Khouri, a Jordanian woman who has a perfect American accent that could only have been developed in a non English speaking person under the age of seven.
Khouri found fame and fortune in 2001 with the publication of her book Forbidden Love, said to be a biographical story concerning a Muslim coming of age girl and friend of Norma Khouri who was brutally murdered (stabbed to death) by her family for having a relationship with a Christian man.
A few years later journalists started poking holes in the story, leading the public to question the veracity of the story told.
Forbidden Lie$ covers this statement of fact quickly but thoroughly in the beginning of the documentary, and from there we spend most of our time in the company of Norma Khouri as she tries to convince us that her novel is more than fiction. Thankfully she fails.

Reviewer Comments:
Director Anna Broinowski has found a truly fascinating woman to study. She conducts endless interviews with Khouri as she seeks the truth. As in life, the truth is not so easy to find.
Norma claims she fears for her life, worried about violent backlash over the unsavoury portrait her novel paints of Jordanian Muslims. She refuses to return to Jordan and show us the facts. Broinowski is not deterred however, and slowly puts the pieces together in front of us.

The documentary is done with a great deal of good feeling towards Norma Khouri who continues to spin a deceit upon her viewing/reading audience.

But at the core of this very well done, entertaining documentary is a fundamental ethical question, one that might be lost in the moment as we are taken from one journey to another in search of Truth. To entertain has its limits. To feed off of current prejudice to compose a supposedly true story that takes these erroneous and deleterious ideas to an extreme is immoral. To allow ourselves to be taken into the criminal world of a woman who dumps her children on a single woman of limited resources, emotionally and financially. and justifies her lack of honesty by siting former president G.W. Bush as her moral authority, is reprehensible.

To smile at a job well done by Anna Broinowski without the proper perceptive compromises the appeal of her work.
With that in mind, if you want pure entertainment and know what the film is about, then by all means, enjoy the moment.

Linda Z
WBAI Women Collective

Everlasting Moments Movie Review

'Endowed With The Gift Of Seeing...'

CLICK TO READ REVIEW HERE

There is barely a single moment in this film that doesn't amaze and astonish. Whether focusing on the joys and tragedies of family life; the battles of exploited workers for their humanity; young girls selling their locks of hair for bread; or the flowering of this extraordinary woman as she slowly evolves into someone in the process of figuring out herself and the world, and painfully torn between being artist and a mother.

Elliot Gould On Getting Out Of His Own Way: An Audio Conversation

The 70s Icon And Former Mister Barbra Streisand In A Trippy Conversation On Being Lured Into An Anti-Capitalist Thriller, Filling Bogart's Shoes As Philip Marlow And Robert Altman's Muse, Getting Out Of His Own Way, And Pondering Einstein In The Room.

"It's like taking acid and watching bacteria grow on linoleum for days. It's so boring and monotonous, that it's fascinating."

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO THE INTERVIEW

Multinational corporate terrorism as narrative second fiddle to mock sleuthing around via poetry and existential sweet nothings dropped into a voice concealment cell phone device. The Caller: Dial-up assisted suicide by gumshoe.

THE CALLER: READ THE REVIEW HERE

WATCHMEN: Glow In The Dark Guy Nudity

Cratchmen: Tricky Dick Point Man, Or Rather Blue Balls In Outer Space

CLICK TO READ REVIEW HERE


The Billy Crudup Dr. Manhattan Watchmen Interview: Geeking Out On Watchmen Lore And Glow-In-The-Dark Guy Nudity.

CLICK TO READ INTERVIEW HERE

TOKYO!

Michel Gondry, Leos Carax and Bong Joon-Ho

This film rises above most other films not for its ability to entertain, because it doesn't, not for its melodious music, because the music is crisp like streaks of laser beams shooting across the screen, not for its sex appeal, its endearing characters, its understanding of how people relate or its scintillating dialogue of which there is little to none.
This is a film about how damaged the Japanese people are from the change in their traditional life styles and customs, from the impact of the bombs and the earthquakes and from the strenuous confining tracks for upper mobility that few can achieve. The film has three separate segments.

Segment l
presents the
Japan we are used to, the over crowding and the boy/girl relationship into clear focus but that is short lived. Because Tokyo is about people who do not relate, who are not human as we know human to be.
It is about a woman who feels that she can not talk to her boyfriend because he skirts the subject she brings to his attention. He is an artist who makes her feel useless and invisible. Invisible she becomes but not useless.


Segment ll
In the second story we meet merde, the french curse word for shit. But if you say it with the full French pronunciation you can hear the anger the disgust intended. A man who lives in shit (but isn't everyone living in shit) comes out of the hole in the ground. He appears to interact but his rules and the rules of the ruling society are at odds. He can not tolerate them and they can not tolerate or survive his destructive behavior. He is scary, repulsive, unintelligible. Mostly he is different. And it is his difference that makes it close to impossible to understand him, to communicate with him or him with anyone else. Only one man finds the key to understand what Merde says and that man is as strange as Merde or he becomes so as the film progresses.

Segment lll
For me the last segment, the segment where people in the audience laughed, was the most gripping because the mental illness of the "shut in" is not just a problem, a Japanese phenomenon and definitely not a laughable matter.

It is here, in Brooklyn where I live with two such men close to my domicile. They are "shut in" for years and years. One for ten years and then some, the other for fifty years. it isn't that they don't go out, they do, but it is only to get food if it isn't delivered and then they venture forth with the proviso that no one make eye contact with them. The preferred hour of egress is four am. when the streets are empty.

These people do not interact with others. These people represent the illness of the future already here.

Tokyo is a very serious film that speaks to all of us, not of today per se but of tomorrow. I hear Samuel Beckett, I hear Franz Kafka, I hear the voice of the artists who know the pain, the torment from living beyond the norm, the everyday rat race that can't be won.

The acting is superb, the filming is so crystal clear, the music is striking. Tokyo is a masterpiece that will gain importance as time goes on


Linda Z
WBAI Women's Collective