Isla Fisher Bagged: Confessions Of A Shopaholic
CLICK TO READ REVIEW HERE
AGORA: Dragged from her chariot by a mob of fanatical vigilante Christian monks, the revered astronomer was stripped naked, skinned to her bones with sharp oyster shells, stoned and burned alive as possibly the first executed witch in history. A kind of purge that was apparently big business back then.
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2/6/09
READER MAILBAG: Blissing Out On Movies
THE OBJECTIVE: BLAIR WITCH IN BURKAS WITH ZONED OUT EXTRATERRESTRIAL AFGHANS
You totally missed it:
The struggle of the band of searchers in The Objective reminded me of many of the epic journeys . . . Gilgamesh . . . Hector . . . men trying to cope with what their culture, or their family, or their mission instructed . . . only to have to yield what they know to an incomprehensible power . . . a force far, far beyond the human . . . or die. Forget all that you understand about war, politics, or weaponry and concentrate on the individual struggle to make sense out of something that makes no sense within the paradigms of meaning, which we commonly understand. This film demands the suspension of disbelief. And when you, the viewer, realize this task, you're in for the ride of your life.
4 thumbs loved it!
Z. Gruber
CLICK TO READ REVIEW HERE
FIREPROOF: CRITIC IN READERS' PRAYERS
It seems to me that you really need to keep your judgments to yourself. It’s very clear that building a relationship with the Lord would help you to truly understand the content of the movie and hence more understanding of what really happens when you are able to trust in the Lord.
I will keep you in prayer
M. Herrerra
So, you found something that leaves a positive message in most viewers' minds, but to boost your own self-importance, you chose to tear the film down? I'm no Bible thumper, however it's just wrong to profane such an effort, simply because you seem to have no tolerance. I'll pray for you.
"Prairie..." Isn't that where nothing of importance flourishes? 'Sounds so empty...
Gary D.
FIREPROOF: MOVIE SAVES MARRIAGE
This is a truly inspiration movie!! I would love to know what the steps were for the 40 days!!! J I think it could drastically help my marriage!!! Can you let us know what all of the steps were????
Jennifer S.
FILMMAKERS SHOULD NOT BE FIRED PROOF
The script writers put together a very stilted dialogue. Fire them and get someone who can tell a story properly. The actors seemed capable but they were hampered by words poorly chosen to convey the message intended.
Donald E.
YOUR ASININE REVIEW OF FIREPROOF
Ms. Miller,
In short, you're an idiot.
Sherwood Pictures, much to your dislike, could not care less about making movies that pleasing to you and Hollywood. Their movies are powerful messages that go straight to the heart (IF YOU'RE WILLING TO LISTEN THAT IS....) Making films that change people's lives and are pleasing to God is really all they care about... Sorry you apparently aren't insightful enough to figure that out.
B. Young
Belmond, Iowa
CLICK TO READ REVIEW HERE
THE TORTURER: a.k.a FORCE DRIFT
I agree with Linda Z's overall assessment of the movie but, in my view, this is too important a subject to be limited to plays. We MUST find ways to get people to watch this important film, as it makes clear the true consequences of torture for our whole society and way of life.
It shows us that torture is a cancer, likely to metastatize and spread throughout our nation.
Just because we currently have an administration opposed to torture does not mean this will always be true. Until we raise public awareness of this issue, it will always will have the risk of returning.
Have you considered contacting your local art theater about showing it? Do so!
Joanna
PS--I thought this was possibly the finest performance in Nichelle Nichols' whole career!
CLICK TO READ REVIEW HERE
Joanna:
I agree with your emphasis on the importance of this film, the Torturer and I have already made some inquiries into having it offered as a premium on WBAI radio in the near future. But, I think I need to clarify what I mean when I say it is basically a play.
As a film it does reach many more people than a play would but there is a structural issue that I am addressing. When the film is stagnant in its setting as Doubt is, for instance, then it is to my way of thinking better done as a play. It would be more intense, more dramatic. That doesn't mean it can't be both a play and a film but in saying one predominates I am describing the setting, narrowing the experience to be expected.
Thank you for giving me the opportunity to explain myself more precisely
Linda Z
THE READER: GUILT BY EROTIC ASSOCATION
I have seen the movie and studied the story. I am really spell bounded. The internal meaning of the story is immense. The reader is remarkably brilliant in terms of acting casting, directing, etc. I thanks to God that i still alive in this 20th century to see such type of good movie. Thanks Kate and Stephen Daldry as well as those are related to this movie.
Dipankar S.
India
CLICK TO READ REVIEW HERE
SEVEN POUNDS: READER WEIGHS DRASTIC REVENGE FOR REVIEW
Hello.
I am writing to tell you that I'm disappointed with your review of Seven Pounds. It is one of the single greatest tragedies I've ever seen. Will Smith is brilliant in his role as Ben Thomas and that I believe that his is definetly one of his best films. This film would make the most cold-hearted of people cry like a baby as the film portrays true human empathy as well as making the audience feel empathetic themselves. Whoever wrote your review, in my opinion, is quite cold-hearted if they can say those things about an amazing film that could mean a lot to many people in many different ways. I won't be reading anymore film reviews done by your company again as I believe you're extremely inaccurate and don't know the meaning of an excellent film!
Chloe B.
UK
Hello Chloe:
Sorry to hear you were disappointed in this review of Fireproof, which by the way got a 63% negative rating by critics overall in this country. But just as sorry that you're only interested in reviews that share the same opinion - yours. What a sad world that would be, if we were all in robotic lockstep.
Prairie
CLICK TO READ REVIEW HERE
2/4/09
Sugar Review
Written and Directed by Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck (Half Nelson)
Plot:
Sugar is a film about a Dominican pitcher from San Pedro De MacorÃs' struggle to make it into the big American leagues At age 19 he advances to the United States’ minor league system; but when his play on the mound falters, he begins to question the single-mindedness of his life’s ambition
Commentary:
Sports drama, immigrant journey, and coming-of-age story, summed up in a self discovery drama WoW
What more could a child want, what more could a mother struggling to convince her son that maybe being single minded in his thirst for baseball fame and fortune might not be the way to go.
The problem is this film is not truly suitable for children. It isn't robust enough to hold an adults unwavering attention and it's too sophisticated for a child. It is one of those in between films that I want to recommend whole heartedly to my son, but can't.
Sony Pictures Classics will release “Sugar” in April 2009
Linda Z
WBAI Women's Collective
Plot:
Sugar is a film about a Dominican pitcher from San Pedro De MacorÃs' struggle to make it into the big American leagues At age 19 he advances to the United States’ minor league system; but when his play on the mound falters, he begins to question the single-mindedness of his life’s ambition
Commentary:
Sports drama, immigrant journey, and coming-of-age story, summed up in a self discovery drama WoW
What more could a child want, what more could a mother struggling to convince her son that maybe being single minded in his thirst for baseball fame and fortune might not be the way to go.
The problem is this film is not truly suitable for children. It isn't robust enough to hold an adults unwavering attention and it's too sophisticated for a child. It is one of those in between films that I want to recommend whole heartedly to my son, but can't.
Sony Pictures Classics will release “Sugar” in April 2009
Linda Z
WBAI Women's Collective
2/3/09
He's Just Not That Into You: On Call Doormat Blues
SHE'S JUST NOT THAT ONTO YOU
While most movies about men and the challenges they deal with in life, have to do with really big stuff like beating up alien invaders or saving the planet, all that women usually get to face is fretting about those men just not paying some romantic attention to them. And He's Just Not That Into You is hardly an exception, continuing that dreary old school Hollywood habit when it comes to female urges, of putting on the back burner any notions of women making a difference in the world.
CLICK TO READ REVIEW HERE
In any case, why does the world have to be such a small space for women in movies, that rarely extends beyond their sex lives. He's Just Not That Into You: Woman as her own worst enemy, stuck in a self-incriminating rut of petty personal obsessions.
2/1/09
WFCC Member Lisa Collins To Screen Oscar Micheaux Film
The Columbia University School of the Arts Film Program, The Film Society of Lincoln Center, and University Seminars on Cinema and Interdisciplinary Interpretation at Columbia University are presenting a landmark film event, Faded Glory: Oscar Micheaux And The Pre-War Black Independent Cinema. The series takes place February 6th and 7th, and conferences are free and open to the public.
This unique presentation will focus on the work by the influential African-American filmmaker, Oscar Micheaux. Newly discovered prints and materials will be shown and discussed for the the first time ever by speakers at this conference. The Film Society at Lincoln Center will screen Micheaux's movies in conjunction with the conference.
A special event will be the presentation by Lisa Collins of her work-in-progress film short, Oscar's Comeback, on Friday February 6th at 3:45pm at Columbia's Schermerhorn Hall, Room 501. It's a sly, complex non-fiction feature set in rural South Dakota about a small, all-white town celebrating its most famous ‘native’ son - black, controversial early 1900s film pioneer Oscar Micheaux. Lisa is a member of The Women Film Critics Circle and the James Agee Cinema Circle, and she produced this film in collaboration with Mark Schwartzburt. A more extensive bio of Lisa Collins is below.
Lisa and Mark (center) shooting on location in Gregory, South Dakota
Professors and film critics and scholars from Columbia University, Yale University, University of Puerto Rico, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, Emory University, Duke University, CUNY Graduate Center, Brooklyn College, Northwestern and more, will appear.
It has been more than fifteen years since the last conference on Micheaux's work, and a new generation of critical thinking and writing has since emerged. The full daytime conferences and evening screening schedule, and a full list of presenters, can be viewed at http://arts.columbia.edu.
Tickets for the screenings are available through the Film Society of Lincoln Center. The venues are: Columbia University Campus, Broadway and 116th Street, Schermerhorn Hall Room 501, and Saturday, February 7th, at The Film Society, 70 Lincoln Center Plaza. For all public inquiries, please contact SoAevents@columbia.edu
* Brooklyn-native, Lisa Collins earned her MFA in Screenwriting & Directing from Columbia University Film School, with a BA from Yale University in American Studies & Photography. She’s developing several feature projects and a TV pilot.
An all-round media-maker, Lisa is Sr. Editor/Sr. Segment Producer for Hollywood.com and Hollywood.com TV. Lisa wrote, directed and has produced two shorts: Miss Ruby's House, a mockumentary, which played in festivals across the country; and Tree Shade, a surreal black comedy that garnered the Gold Medal for Best Alternative Film at the Student Academy Awards from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences. Top honors include: a DGA East Coast Filmmaker award, Best American short at Avignon’s Film Festival, Polo Ralph Lauren Award, and two Rockefeller Foundation nominations. When broadcast, her film headlined PBS’s “Reel New York” series.
With a sharp eye for filmmaking, Lisa has been invited to speak at universities, museums and on panels about her film work; as well she’s been asked to serve on various film juries for festivals and grant fellowships. She also served as a teaching assistant at Columbia University, and has mentored other students. Lisa is a member of the Women Film Critics Circle, and James Agee Cinema Circle.
Lisa Collins was named by Filmmaker Magazine: 'One of the 25 New Faces of Independent Film.' She was invited to workshop her feature-length script, The Grass Is Greener at the Sundance Writers, Filmmakers and Producers Labs, respectively. The project was also invited to participate in the IFFM / IFP’s No Borders Feature Project program.
Currently, Lisa is in post-production with Oscar’s Comeback. She is director/producer on the film with co-director/producer Mark Schwartzburt for Right on Time Productions. So far, the film-in-progress was awarded a prestigious NYSCA grant and two South Dakota Humanities Council grants, with Women Make Movies as its fiscal sponsor. In April 2007, the documentary’s 'presentation trailer' was invited to screen as part of a special program, Creatively Speaking, at BAM. In spring 2008 at Tribeca All Access Awards, Oscar’s Comeback won 2nd Top Prize for Creative Promise (Honorable Mention). Shortly thereafter, it was invited to screen at the Studio Museum in Harlem.
This unique presentation will focus on the work by the influential African-American filmmaker, Oscar Micheaux. Newly discovered prints and materials will be shown and discussed for the the first time ever by speakers at this conference. The Film Society at Lincoln Center will screen Micheaux's movies in conjunction with the conference.
A special event will be the presentation by Lisa Collins of her work-in-progress film short, Oscar's Comeback, on Friday February 6th at 3:45pm at Columbia's Schermerhorn Hall, Room 501. It's a sly, complex non-fiction feature set in rural South Dakota about a small, all-white town celebrating its most famous ‘native’ son - black, controversial early 1900s film pioneer Oscar Micheaux. Lisa is a member of The Women Film Critics Circle and the James Agee Cinema Circle, and she produced this film in collaboration with Mark Schwartzburt. A more extensive bio of Lisa Collins is below.
Lisa and Mark (center) shooting on location in Gregory, South Dakota
Professors and film critics and scholars from Columbia University, Yale University, University of Puerto Rico, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, Emory University, Duke University, CUNY Graduate Center, Brooklyn College, Northwestern and more, will appear.
It has been more than fifteen years since the last conference on Micheaux's work, and a new generation of critical thinking and writing has since emerged. The full daytime conferences and evening screening schedule, and a full list of presenters, can be viewed at http://arts.columbia.edu.
Tickets for the screenings are available through the Film Society of Lincoln Center. The venues are: Columbia University Campus, Broadway and 116th Street, Schermerhorn Hall Room 501, and Saturday, February 7th, at The Film Society, 70 Lincoln Center Plaza. For all public inquiries, please contact SoAevents@columbia.edu
* Brooklyn-native, Lisa Collins earned her MFA in Screenwriting & Directing from Columbia University Film School, with a BA from Yale University in American Studies & Photography. She’s developing several feature projects and a TV pilot.
An all-round media-maker, Lisa is Sr. Editor/Sr. Segment Producer for Hollywood.com and Hollywood.com TV. Lisa wrote, directed and has produced two shorts: Miss Ruby's House, a mockumentary, which played in festivals across the country; and Tree Shade, a surreal black comedy that garnered the Gold Medal for Best Alternative Film at the Student Academy Awards from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences. Top honors include: a DGA East Coast Filmmaker award, Best American short at Avignon’s Film Festival, Polo Ralph Lauren Award, and two Rockefeller Foundation nominations. When broadcast, her film headlined PBS’s “Reel New York” series.
With a sharp eye for filmmaking, Lisa has been invited to speak at universities, museums and on panels about her film work; as well she’s been asked to serve on various film juries for festivals and grant fellowships. She also served as a teaching assistant at Columbia University, and has mentored other students. Lisa is a member of the Women Film Critics Circle, and James Agee Cinema Circle.
Lisa Collins was named by Filmmaker Magazine: 'One of the 25 New Faces of Independent Film.' She was invited to workshop her feature-length script, The Grass Is Greener at the Sundance Writers, Filmmakers and Producers Labs, respectively. The project was also invited to participate in the IFFM / IFP’s No Borders Feature Project program.
Currently, Lisa is in post-production with Oscar’s Comeback. She is director/producer on the film with co-director/producer Mark Schwartzburt for Right on Time Productions. So far, the film-in-progress was awarded a prestigious NYSCA grant and two South Dakota Humanities Council grants, with Women Make Movies as its fiscal sponsor. In April 2007, the documentary’s 'presentation trailer' was invited to screen as part of a special program, Creatively Speaking, at BAM. In spring 2008 at Tribeca All Access Awards, Oscar’s Comeback won 2nd Top Prize for Creative Promise (Honorable Mention). Shortly thereafter, it was invited to screen at the Studio Museum in Harlem.
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