Archive Authors

Tinto Brass is a dirty old man, but I’ll get to that later. Tinto Brass directed the film Black Angel in 2002 (when it was called Senso 45), and it is now getting a DVD release. It is an adaptation of the novella Senso, written by Camillo Boito, which was previously filmed by Luchino Visconti. This version takes place in Fascist Italy in 1945. Fascism had been growing in Italy under Benito Mussolini since the early part of the 20^th century. It influenced and eventually became intertwined with German Nazism until their mutual destruction in 1945 with the deaths of Hitler and Mussolini within days of each other at the end of April of 1945. Whatever their goals were at the start, they both devolved into depravity and insanity.
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Whit (Whitby) Hertford is short, around 5 foot 1. He is the writer and star of Dreamworld. I mention this because he is the little dynamo that drives dreams of greatness. He also plays the depressed and scared little mouse because it is a part he understands. Whitby Hertford was a child actor (Nightmare on Elm Street 5: Dream Child), and he has retained the giant puppy-dog eyes even though now he has five o’clock shadow and a puffy face. He has worked regularly through the years, because clearly he is bitten with the bug. He wants to be a star. If he is going to be a star, he will be an unlikely one. At least he hasn’t  gone the way of many child actors. He’s not a drug addict, prostitute or convicted felon. He has the look of someone who is dying, though. He has a sad and longing look.
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By Kevin Tall

“Oh the inanity!”

With so many potential “crash and burn” puns, both good and bad, to describe Hindenburg: The Last Flight, I’m sure you’ll pardon me for ignoring them all—I wouldn’t want to waste good material on this little spot of cinematic rubbish. Suffice to say, the final product from this piece of historical fiction is truly inspired, as in “epic disaster.”
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We can never hope to know all the secrets the government keeps, which includes experiments conducted by the Central Intelligence Agency or even more secretive and possibly unknown agencies. It would be impossible to investigate all the theories and conspiracies, because that could fill a library full of meandering speculation and endless conjecture. Even more speculative is a large number of drugs that have been deemed illegal and suppressed from rigorous and open medical examination. One of these drugs is DMT, which is the most widely available hallucinogen in nature and exists in the human body naturally and probably is produced by the pineal gland in the brain.
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The first thing I should discuss is the title. Brutalization is not the original title of this 1973 forgotten film. The DVD cover puts it very succinctly. “From the most forgotten vaults of European exploitation rises once again this effective and very violent Dutch thriller that boasts a young Sylvia Kristel that later on achieved world fame thanks to her role in the Emmanuelle series.” The intention of the re-release is to capitalize on the late Kristel’s fame. The title Brutalization is probably more marketable and to the point than the original title, Because of the Cats.
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The subject of terrorism is almost impossible to easily analyze. It certainly deserves films that try to understand the complex psychology behind such acts. American Bomber is an interesting take on the subject. It is not a successful film, but it has a sincere desire to get to some hidden truths. The main point that comes out is that many people who become suicide bombers are more interested in suicide than making a political point. Many terrorist acts come from a basic need for revenge because the person feels cheated, neglected or traumatized by life itself.
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One of the easiest ways to shoot a small independent film is to film in your own real life environment. That means you don’t have to think about a lot of the details that go into making most films. You already have and know thoroughly the sets and locals of your shoot. It’s even easier if you don’t have to build sets, since you just use the real locations of your life. It’s even easier if you just remove all pretense and you just make the movie about a guy who is making a movie about a guy who happens to be himself. It makes it even easier when the guy is a casting director, because then you have a ready supply of talent at your disposal.
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In this day and age, making a small film about people on the fringe of civilization is not the way to make friends and influence people. In this case, the film made many friends and influenced many people. It is no doubt a small film, but it won the Camera d’Or at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival. It was nominated as Australia’s official selection to the Academy Awards. It won numerous major awards in Australia, Asia, and oddly enough, at the Dublin Film Festival.
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Women Without Men is a unique film. It is not a perfect one. It is full of divided loyalties between people and cultures. It mixes reality, dreams and magic. It is mundane and beautiful. It is full of resentment, pain and hatred, but it strives for freedom and happiness. The filmmaker Shirin Neshat has been exiled from Iran for many years and has lived in many places including New York City. Neshat left Iran in 1979 when the Islamic revolution overthrew the government of the Shah. As an artist critical of the Iranian government, Neshat has been banned from returning to her homeland since 1996.
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Roger William Corman was born on April 5, 1926. If he ever dies, his funeral will be legendary. It is always possible that he will re-enact some scene from one of his Poe classics and emerge from his crypt. The fact is that many famous people in Hollywood owe an enormous debt to Corman. Some of the people I am talking about are Jack Nicholson, Robert DeNiro, Sylvester Stallone, Charles Bronson, Ron Howard, James Cameron, Dennis Hopper, Sandra Bullock, Martin  Scorsese, David Carradine, Johnathan Demme, Curtis Hanson, Robert Towne, Francis Ford Coppola, Gale Ann Hurd, Nicolas Roeg, John Sayles, Peter Bogdanovich, Richard Matheson, Peter Fonda, Bruce Dern, William Shatner and others too numerous to mention.
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Independent films can be about just about anything. Usually if it’s about something you have never seen before, that can be a good thing. In this case, I’m not so sure. Free Samples is a movie that takes place almost entirely in and around a crappy little van giving away a cup of either chocolate or vanilla ice cream or at least something that resembles ice cream as far as we know. Free Samples is an existential comedy about the search for meaning when you step away from a future that looked very bright in search of who knows what. 
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The right honorable 5^th Baron Haden-Guest is a well known multi-hyphenate. He is probably best known as Nigel Tufnel who likes to turn things up to 11.  He is also renowned as Count Tyrone Rugen, the evil six-fingered man.  He has also been called Corky St. Claire, Herb Minkman, Rajeev Vindaloo, Senor Cosa and Harlan Pepper, but only when he has the appropriate costume. He is married to Jamie Lee Curtis, and she likes to be called the baroness.
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