The Mourning After

There have been a number of films within the last five years that deal with circumstances around the tragedy of 9/11 in New York City. A new film by budding director, Lawrence LAW Watford called The Mourning After is about an extramarital relationship between a man and a woman and affair that took place the night of Sept 10th that would change their lives forever.

Chris and Felicia work at the World Trade Center and on the evening of Sept 10th, the two decide to rent a room in a high rise Manhattan hotel suite. The film begins with Chris and Felicia preparing to go to work when the sounds of police sirens and fire trucks surround the background. Chris' cell phone is ringing off the hook and he immediately turns on the television to see what is going on. The face of Geroge W. Bush is seen annoucing to the world that two airplanes crashed into the twin towers in New York City.

The story turns now to Chris and Felicia, who were supposed to be in that building if not for their heated affair the night before, and both live with not only the guilt of cheating on their spouses, but also the torment of what would have been if they decided to stay faithful to their partners. The film takes a dramatic turn when Chris' life after the affair changes significantly compared to that of Felicia's and the two are battling feelings of shame, pity, and resentment that comes to a climactic close.

There are solid performances in this film and stunning shots of New York City's ground zero. It's a film that shows meaning and purpose in a meaningless act that occured on September 11th. The film was shot on a shoestring budget, but asthetically looks like it was made on larger scale indie budget. The Mourning After is definitely a film worth seeing and shows an intensity in a small sliver of screen time that has you yearning for more.

The film was made on a $12,000 budget in New York City. The trailer of the film can be seen here. Please contact Lawville Solutions if you are interested in more information about the film.

Take a look at the trailer here:

The Mourning After

Here is an inside look at the upcoming film "The Mourning After" directed by Lawrence "Law" Watford.

The film is "The Mourning After"… It’s the story of two corporate executives who were supposed to be in the World Trade Center on 9/11, but instead were in a near by hotel room having an affair. They reunite 3 years later, still deeply affected by the event and why they survived.

The script is an adaptation of a one-act play, written by David Ray. Lawrence’s grad school classmate. "I always loved the story. I was there when David pitched it back in film school. The challenge for David and I was figuring out how to make the most tragic event in U.S. history a backdrop and not the story itself."

The script was originally written in 2002 and was a finalist in filmmaker.com’s short screenplay competition in 2004. But while there was a lot of interest in the topic, nobody thought it was a safe bet as a film…

In 2005 Lawrence contacted David after he completed his last film "A Christmas Wish" and asked if the script was still available… It was and Lawrence immediately began the development… His first target was pitching to actress, Nia Long in 2005. "Melvin Van Peebles introduced me to her at the American Black Film Festival, where "A Christmas Wish" premiered… I asked her if she was interested in producing and she said yes and went from there, but it didn’t develop pass that point"… the project needed funding.

Before he knew it years had passed. During that time, he brought on some friends to help in the development, but the lack of funding made it impossible keep them from other immediate and pressing commitments out in LA.

As more time passed, and having no new material to show Law became antsy and began to randomly reach out to Hollywood talent in the hope that they’d be as attracted to the dramatic nature of the project as he was. "I know that there are a lot of well-known actors in Hollywood, who are pigeon-holed into comedies, or adventure, or television and I was hoping that one of them would see the project as mutually beneficial… I provide them with material that allows them to really demonstrate their chops and they provide me with the celebrity that will help me get the film out in major film festivals"

Law’s efforts eventually paid off when actress Keesha Sharp (Girlfriends) decided to come on board. "Before she came on, there was no project. Just a lot of hope. But once she said she was in, the shoot date became whenever she was free and the budget became whatever I could raise to make it happen"

In an effort to make it worth Sharp’s journey from LA to New York, Law began to search for another Hollywood male to co-star. To help in that effort he brought on talent agent Angela Gulizio, of G&G Talent. "I met Angela on the set of "I Am Legend" and we hit it off. She’s tough and no nonsense, but a genuinely good person who I felt I could trust"

Lawrence and Angela began contacting talent reps, who he thought were attracted to the "audacity" of the concept and the script. "we had interest from Kevin Bacon’s reps, as well as Adam Beach (Flags of Our Fathers). The last meeting we had was with Malik Yoba. We had a great lunch and we were close, but his schedule didn’t allow for him to participate"

In the end it would be the intense and fast approaching schedule, coupled with an inflexible budget that would leave his film starless.

Law would eventually pull from his friends and the production became a cast and crew of familiars, with some new additions. "The crew was fantastic! We shoot for 5 days with a crew of 5, plus 2 interns… but in the end, everyone, including the actors were taking on crew positions"

Law admits that the schedule was grueling, with one day going as long as 17 hours. "It was the hardest thing I’ve ever done, and I know that a no budget indies are like that, but I can’t wait for the day when I can do this as a low budget idie with 14 hour days and three weeks to shoot"

With the film almost ready for release, Law is hoping to score big, with a spot at the major national and international film festivals, where he hopes the subject of 9/11, along with the films intense drama would connect will audiences.

You can contact Lawville Solutions at:

Publicist: Donnette Dunbar, Dash Media 212-758-7394

Visit the Lawville Solutions website at http://www.lawvillesolutions.com/

Indie Pick O' The Day: New York Lately

Loosely connected characters living in New York City trying to find out who they are. Yes, the genre has been done a number of times, but somehow New York Lately makes us realize that each obstacle a character faces is one that we all inevitably face in our lifetimes. The film is about a group of New Yorkers who have specific burdens in their lives they have to come to terms with.

The film opens up with introducing us briefly to each of our characters at a New York bar. The first crisis starts with Mark, who just broke up with his girlfriend Andrea. He can't break away from his past with her and every girl that comes within his sphere of influence, looks and speaks just like Andrea. He turns a blind eye to anyone who isn't Andrea and has to decide if he wants to stay living in the past, or move on to living in the aftermath of a long term relationship.

Jared works in the human resources department at his company and tends to have a soft spot for his employees. After an employee abuses company phone policy, Jared feels hesitant to fire him, but knows that it has to be done. As a result, he offers the employee and opportunity to extend his benefits to make the termination less harsh than he intended.

Jared meets Truly a cute aspiring folk singer who works at a coffee shop and resembles Corinne Bailey Rae, is saved by Jared by an oncoming bicyclist. They meet and are instantly attracted to each other and have great chemistry.

Truly's friend Veronica is an aspiring actress who also works at the coffee shop. She is waiting for her big break, but lack a great deal of self esteem in her image and confidence in her career. She questions whether or not becoming an artist is truly what she wants and if its worth fighting for.

Ringo Barnes who is a close friend of Jared's finds himself in compromising situations with women---he likes to pay for them! He also has a warped sense of who and what women really are. However, his friendship with Jared is threatened when Jared is forced to make a business decision that that his boss chooses for him.

Elliot George is a down-on-his-luck writer, who has given up his craft--and whom also suspects that his wife is having an affair. He decides to hire a P.I. to investigate. His P.I., a lovely woman named Samantha, becomes more than just a detective for Elliott and teaches him to trust himself again as a writer and stop giving up on himself.

The film has an interesting style and at times can be jarring using jump cut edits and loops that look more like a music video than a movie. However, it's not overdone and it's used in just the right places that allows the scenes to make some sense. Need to see a New York Indie flick?? Check out New York Lately.

NEW YORK LATELY will hit the film festival circuit in 2009 for more info go to this link

Here is the trailer for the film below:

BreakPoint

BreakPoint is a dramatic tennis metaphor in this film . After learning from her doctor that her life will change forever, Gabrielle has to make the decision to give up or keep playing. Who knows what will be served up next?

Directed by Jamie Broadnax




www.reelgood.tv

Old School Movie Review: Kids

There was a film released in 1995 by Larry Clark called Kids which was way ahead of its time when it was released. The film carried alot of controversy and was rejected by a number of film critics and moviegoers at film festivals. The film deals with a group of NYC slackers who spend a great deal of their time drinking, smoking, and sexing their girlfriends. However, the film goes far much deeper than that, especially when the protagonist of the story is HIV positive.

Below is a clip from Siskel & Ebert reviewing the film and giving it the review it deserves. The film Kids starred young unknown talents such as Chloe Sevigny, Rosario Dawson, and Leo Fitzpatrick

Indie Pick o' the Day: A Panic in Needle Park

Visiting 72nd Street and Broadway today, one finds the confluence of Sherman Square and Verdi Park. It's a nice little area, complete with statues, tasteful landscaping, and the occasional homeless person scattered among the yuppies and other usual upscale riffraff that haunt the UWS. There's a Gray's Papaya, a Burritoville, a few chain stores and a lot of nice buildings. Physically, it's not far from the area where they filmed exteriors on Music and Lyrics; architecturally, it is second cousin to Prague. In short, it's a nice, hip little street corner.

Thirty years ago, it was "Needle Park," a nasty little triangle of pavement where heroin users congregated to score drugs, hang out, and find johns. The buildings around it, now high-end condos, contained crash pads, flophouses, pawnshops, and cheap restaurants. In the hands of director Jerry Schatzberg, The Panic in Needle Park records this place and time, a moral no-man's land where escape is impossible, addiction is necessary, and there is no hope.

With a painfully sincere script by Joan Didion and John Gregory Dunne, the movie focuses on Helen (Kitty Winn), a young homeless woman who falls in love with Bobby (Al Pacino), a charismatic heroin addict. Over the course of a few months, grinding poverty and her own neediness lead Helen into addiction, and her world shrinks to Bobby, herself, and her next hit. In the process, Helen follows a well-worn path into prostitution and betrayal, until she faces a decision that could mean the choice between her own destruction and her hope of redemption.

Through Schatzberg's lens, the audience descends into the narrow confines of a junkie's New York. It is a world of misery, grime, grit, and isolation. In Needle Park, it is always winter and every day is colder than the last. Early on, Alan Vint's Hotch, a sympathetic cop, tells Helen that, "Everyone in this situation will rat on someone else, always," but she chooses to place her faith in Bobby and her band of friends. Over the course of the movie, she and Bobby learn that they can only rely on each other and that, ultimately, every junkie is alone in his or her addiction.

Kitty Winn, probably most famous for her portrayal of "Sharon" in The Exorcist, received the best actress award at the 1971 Cannes film festival for her work in this movie. As the fragile, aristocratic Helen, she is fresh and playful; even as she descends into prostitution and addiction, she never loses her unfocused, dreamy look of hope. Pacino does a great job as the energetic counterpoint to Winn's shy outsider. His Bobby is all fast talk and hustle, a charismatic survivor making friends even as he picks pockets. Although three decades and a world of personalities separate Bobby and Michael Corleone, it's easy to see why Francis Ford Coppola hired Pacino on the basis of this film.

Panic in Needle Park never reaches the operatic excesses of Trainspotting and Requiem for a Dream. Its depiction of heroin addiction is more subtle, more intimate, and ultimately more real. Its greatest horrors come in its quietest moments, in throwaway lines where the characters reveal the ultimate hopelessness of their lives and the subtle awareness that they will never escape the trap they've fallen into. Ultimately, the film is a classic tragedy, with a series of events that are foreordained and relentless; in their descent, Bobby and Helen show that freedom is, ultimately, only a dream.

Battle in Seattle- Great Message, But Weak Character Development

Yesterday evening, I went to the Ritz Theater here in Philly to check out the movie Battle in Seattle. I was a bit excited to see this movie due to having seen the previews and liking the action of what I saw. However, after seeing this movie, I must Say I was disappointed and wished their could have been more: more character development and less emphasis on riots and screaming. The one good thing is that this movie educated you on the World Trade Organization, made you more aware of its purpose if you were not already. This movie was directed and the screenplay was written by Stuart Townsend.

The story of Battle in Seattle revolves around a group of young, energetic activists who go to Seattle WA, to protest a meeting of the World Trade Organization. These activists hate all of what the World Trade Organization stands for, and are not afraid to interrupt sessions, hold protests, and even wrestle SWAT teams to get their point across. The strongest performance in this movie came from an actress who was not playing an activist but merely the wife of a SWAT team member, Charlize Theron.

Theron is a great actress in that she can complety absorb herself, become another person from another era. Whether it be playing an undercover Alien in the movie Hancock, or playing a wild and free spirit in the movie Monster, you can’t help but believe she is really her character. In Battle in Seattle, Theron plays a middle class, upwardly mobile wife to a hardworking yet caring SWAT team member (played by Woody Harrelson). In Theron’s performance, you see a quiet brewing of emotions. Her character Ella, is pregnant with her first child. Ella has to keep a calm presence around her friends, yet inside one can tell she is really worried about her husband, the work he has to do around the protesters. Theron shows this greatly in a scene at her job. Her friend asks her if she is worried that Dale, Woody Harrelson’s character, will get hurt with all the protests. Ella says no, but how Theron delivers this line and also the tension behind her coolness makes you think that something is troubling her. Also, when Ella tragically loses her baby due to being attacked during the protest, you feel the sadness of this woman through Theron’s emotional depth and humanness she puts to this role.

Martin Henderson, who played Jay, the leader of the activists, brought a passion to his role. Henderson gave Jay a warrior spirit, and you couldn’t help but admire what he does for his group, the extremes he goes to to fight for his cause. Even when Jay ends up in prison with the protestors, after being beat up badly in the riots, I felt a little sad for him; he truly was the ignition, the leader of the group. Andre Benjamin, who played the activist Django, in my opinion, was just ok in his role. He plays the happy, spirited member of the the activist group. I wish I could have seen more of his characters story; where did Django come from? How did he get into the activism? All of these questions were left unanswered, and I felt like Django could have been given more depth. Also, as a music fan of Andre Benjamin, I am not quite used to him as an actor yet. I believe if he gets more challenging roles, we could see more of his acting range ( hint, hint, the life story of Jimi Hendrix…he is the only one I can see playing this role!)

Michelle Rodriguez, her acting as Lou was OK, but she seemed to be too tough and sullen for me. I understand that her character was an activist, so she necessarily was not going to be playing a sweet role. However, as a woman, I wanted to see more of the emotional, sensitive side to her. Women can be strong, but we can also show feeling and have heart. I saw this sensitivity one time in Rodriguez’s performance. There is one scene in which she finds Jay in the prison. Ella and Jay are in love, but had to hold their love at pause due to the cause they were fighting. When Ella starts conversing with Jay again in the prison, she holds his hand and cries. I felt this was good acting by Rodriguez; I saw that tough exterior melting way for awhile. This created a very touching scene.

Overall, Battle in Seattle, it makes you root for the hardworking man and want to stand up and fight for what you believe. I liked that Stuart Townsend educated us movie goers On the World Trade Organization in the very beginning of the movie: many young people may want to go and learn more about this. Also, younger people who generally may not watch the news may start watching it more now after they see this movie. Townsend not only educated you about the World Trade Organization, but he broke the meanings of it down in very simple ways through colorful graphics, definitions of terms. My only regret for this movie is that it did not develop its characters at all: I didn’t learn where a majority of them came from, what their life stories were before activism. If Townsend had showed this, I believe this movie would have been much better.

Top 10 Parker Posey Movies

Who embodies New York indie cinema more than actress Parker Posey?? She's considered to be the Queen of independent cinema, however she's crossed-over a few times to mainstream to get a bigger paycheck. Hey it doesn't hurt. It seems like almost every indie film that has come out in the last 10 years has Parker in it. I remember 8 years ago when I used to work at a video store there was this one guy who rented all of these films that starred Parker Posey. I didn't quite know who she was back then and he insisted I rent some of her movies. I gotta say, I can see why the guy hada thing for her. She's one of the best and yet most underrated actresses in Hollywood. But we love her and want to pay homage to our IndieSeen Favorite!!

Here is our list (both mainstream and independent) of our favorite Parker Posey films!!

10. Superman Returns - This movie sucked major monster's balls. However, thanks to the scene stealing performances of Parker Posey and Kevin Spacey, I acutally kept my eyes open while watching this craptacular flick!

9. Scream 3 - The last installment on this horror trilogy was a hilarious train wreck. We can't say much about the quality of the film's plot or ragged performances, but Posey posing as Gale Weathers was definitely a treat! Posey played it so well we would have been better off having her play the original Gale Weathers

Fast forward to 2:40 see Parker in all her glory

8. SubUrbia - Linklater's signature classic about losers and burnouts features five teens who have nothing else better to do with their lives. However a mutual friend becomes a successful rock star and his manager is Erica played by Posey. Erica is obnoxious, stuck up, and pretentious...just like we like our Parker!

7. The Oh in Ohio - Posey plays a woman who is orgasmically-challenged. Uh..I just made that term up. But basically she can't climax and need some serious help! Uuuuuhhhhaaahhhh!

6. A Mighty Wind - What better way to enjoy a movie night than to watch a folk song mockumentary? Posey is by far the best when it comes to the Christopher Guest improvisational flicks!

Parker Posey is not featured in this clip

5. Best In Show - Here's another one for ya. This anal-retentive A personality dog owner will do everything it takes to make sure her puppy is the winner! A sure fire winner!

4. Clockwatchers - Working as a temp at a shitty job never seemed so adventerous as it does in this Posey classic.

3. The House Of Yes - In the film she plays a woman who is obsessed and thinks she is Jackie Kennedy and has a creepy “incestuous-like” relationship with her brother Marty who brings his fiancée with him to visit the family. It’s a fun dysfunctional family type flick.

2. Waiting For Guffman - A hilarious comedy about a small town who puts on a pageant, despite the residents lack of theatrical or stage performance experience. Again...Posey kills it in another mockumentary classic

1. Party Girl - After getting in trouble with the law, Posey ends up having to work as a librarian for her godmother to pay her back for bailing her out. Posey is a New York night life scenester at heart and has to wrestle with her burning desires to drug, drink, and be fabulous and her godmother's constant finger waving dissaproval.

The Short & Precise Movie Review!

THE AIR I BREATHE 2008

A chronicle that explores human emotion and the circumstantial fate that it represents in life. Love, joy, sorrow, pain, and torment, foresight the lives of a banker (Forest Whitaker) betting on a better life, a premonitory gangster (Brendan Fraser) dueling with the right and wrongs of morality, a discontent pop star (Sarah Michelle Gellar), seeking validated geniality, and a doctors(Kevin Bacon) heartfelt love and obligation to oath, whose destinies are bound together by an tyrannical insidious crime boss (Andy Garcia). Familiar formula that tries to draw an unconformity view of reality. Its heavy-laden dialogue shortcuts its premise. A forcible dramatic rationale that results in an absence of assignable cause. Great ensemble cast, disappointing context.
1 star

Indie Pick O' The Day: A Man and a Woman

A few years back, The Onion ran an article about a man who was arrested for stalking. As the story progresses, it becomes increasingly clear that the gentleman's crimes were, essentially, plot devices taken from various romantic comedies. While the article was hilarious, it was also painfully true: anyone choosing to take his or her cues about male/female interactions from the big screen would be convinced that all relationships either involve zany schemes or are snoozefests featuring Richard Gere and Diane Lane.

The key elements of Claude Lelouche's A Man and a Woman are clearly expressed in the title. The movie basically involves a man and a woman, both widowed and both single parents, who are attempting to fall in love. In the process, they must both navigate their own (and each other's) emotional baggage and escape the memories of their respective spouses. The basic story is simple, yet never simplistic, the romantic quest reduced to its most essential elements.




Contrasting the uncomplicated story, the soundtrack and cinematography are both beautiful, lush, and groundbreaking. The music, by Francis Lai, is a mix of lounge, Samba, and a more traditional orchestral soundtrack, and is beautifully integrated into the movie. Any fan of Bebel Gilberto will probably get a thrill out of watching the characters listening to Samba together, and the discovery of the then-novel musical form parallels the discovery of new love.

The cinematography, whose beauty belies Lelouche's origins as a fashion photographer, moves back and forth between black and white, full color, and sepia tones. At times, it takes on a documentary style, only to return to an exquisite intimacy. A careful observer will notice shots that clearly inspired many subsequent directors, including Robert Altman, whose long-distance close ups arguably owe a debt to Lelouche.

Largely forgotten today, A Man and A Woman was incredibly significant in its time. It won the Grande Prix at the 1966 Cannes Film Festival, as well as the Best Foreign Film award at both the Oscars and the Golden Globes. More significantly, Lelouche and the female star, Anouk Aimee, were both nominated for Oscars in their respective categories, a distinction that is very rare for a foreign language film.


Admittedly, some of the elements seem dated and Americans might have a hard time with the film's shrugging acceptance of the male lead's mistress. On the other hand, for anyone who realizes that male/female interaction runs a little deeper than defiled apple pie, A Man and A Woman makes a sterling case for thoughtful, transformative romance.

I'm Not There and The Dark Knight: When Blockbusters Become Art and Art Becomes a Waste of Time

I have moderately schizophrenic tastes in film, a fact that is borne out by my viewing choices this weekend: I'm Not There and The Dark Knight. On the surface, these films have nothing in common, but it struck me that The Dark Knight's two leads, Heath Ledger and Christian Bale, were also two of the stars in Todd Haynes' rambling rumination on celebrity, genius, and the fluidity of identity. Of course, this is the kind of random detail that is fun in a game of Trivial Pursuit or a late-night drunken conversation ("And Kennedy had a secretary named LINCOLN!"), but ultimately seems meaningless. That having been said, the two films cover surprisingly similar ground and the two actors offer performances that raise interesting questions.

As everyone knows by now, I'm Not There's gimmick lies in a combination of identity play and stunt casting: rather than hire one actor to play Bob Dylan, Haynes hired six, each of whom took over responsibility for a separate aspect of Dylan's public persona. The most famous of these was Cate Blanchett, whose androgynous "Jude Quinn" caught the singer after his transformation from folk star to hipster hero.

While Ledger and Bale's performances were less lauded, they were more transformative. Bale's "Jack Rollins" begins as the shy and retiring public persona that Dylan presented during his early folk performances, evolves into an unwilling cultural hero, and ultimately becomes a self-proclaimed born-again 1970's prophet. Similarly, Ledger's "Actor" is all about portrayal of self: he is tasked with showing Dylan as a man who plays a part for the screen, for a wife, for children, and for friends, yet whose forays into the development of an actual identity are always too small, too pathetic, and too delayed. While Bale's Rollins is heavily reborn into a variety of personas, Ledger's Actor seems to constantly shift depending on his audience and the exigencies of the moment.


The thing, though, is that for all of Haynes' thoughtful writing and impressive casting, his film ends up being a somewhat shallow and disconnected view into the life of a man whose willingness to transform often made his audiences wonder if he had any real identity at all. Haynes wanted to make a movie about the development of self; instead, he produced a vision of the identity dreams that a self-obsessed Dylan might have had at different points in his life. Rather than produce a universal vision, the director created a trifling curiosity, of interest to Dylan obsessives, Dylan himself, and almost nobody else.

By comparison, Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight pairs Ledger and Bale as two men for whom the battle between the individual and the iconic has reached operatic proportions. Bale's Batman is a man who, in his search for decency and light, has surrendered himself to darkness. He has become a vision of evil and, by the end of the film, has given into his most reactionary and evil impulses. Ledger's Joker, by comparison, is a character whose quest for identity has dissolved into a mass of shifting genesis tales and instinctual actions. If the Batman is man absorbed by role, the Joker is role defined by whim. Both ultimately find their respective ambitions simultaneously aided and thwarted by Aaron Eckhart's Harvey Dent, a true white knight who ultimately becomes comprimised by the savage politics of his city. In his emergence as a representation of the division between good and evil, order and chaos, Dent physically embodies the struggle at the heart of the narrative.

This is heady stuff, especially for a blockbuster comic book movie, and Nolan doesn't pull any punches. His Batman uses "enhanced interrogation" techniques, makes decisions that get people killed, and employs sophisticated technology to tap into every cell phone in Gotham. In short, his quest for order and decency, like contemporary America's attempts to deal with terrorism, often carry a price in terms of his own stated goals. More to the point, can anyone--even a caped crusader--trample freedoms in the quest to defend freedom?

On one side of the Dark Knight/I'm Not There equation, lies a blockbuster movie that prods its viewers to ask fundamental questions about the nature of human identity, the requirements of freedom, and the cost of celebrity. On the other side, there's a self-indulgent, rambling, borderline-incomprehensible foray into the imagined navel-gazing of one of America's foremost poets. If the role of blockbusters is to entertain and the role of indie films is to make us think, then it's worth asking why Christopher Nolan is stuck carrying the entire load.

THE SHORT&PRECISE MOVIE REVIEW!

Walk All Over Me 2007

Alberta (Leelee Sobieski) is a naive walking disaster, who somehow keeps repeating her mistakes. Again, finding herself in the middle of a life-threatening situation that moves the story into slapstick mode, that off sets a light and breezy tone. The colorful assortment of characters give the film a bit of life. All and all nothing too serious about this film.
1 star




Cassandra's Dream 2007

Tale of two brothers with extravagant dreams. Facing financial woes and addiction, one becomes obscenely smitten with a young actress; the other is consumed by a mounting gambling debt, which reiterates the fact, that money is the root to all-evil. This film explores themes of hope, love, doubt, crime, family and guilt. This is a real morality melodrama, with great cinematography. Collin Farrell stands out among the rest .Interesting dilemma, situations and characters. Woody Allen does this film at his own pace.
2 1/2 stars




Boarding Gate 2007

An Italian Moll (Asia Argento) has a manipulating, monetary, love-lacking affair with an underworld entrepreneur (Micheal Madison). An erotic thriller with a bizarre love triangle with a touch of what some would call intriguing espionage. Artsy retro B Foreign film, a real slow goer, too much excessive mindless banter. This film crawls to the end.
1 star




Margot at the Wedding 2007

Self-righteous Margot (Nicole Kidman) en route to the wedding of her estranged sister (Jennifer Jason Leigh). This is a wry comedy about psychologically damage people with injured relationships. This film gives off a dry unrealistic dialogue, with characters that seem whiny and flawed, with twisted views, and bizarre behavior. This makes it all the easier to dislike them. Main plot deviates to neurotic side stories, which give the story interpersonal drama.
1 star



Descent 2007

A Quiet college girl savagely raped tries to cope with the demons created from the horrific event, only to descend further from reality. Rosario Dawson (Maya) gives great screen! This film is dark, wicked, steamy and seedy an expected seductive twist that you only have to see for yourself. Examine what happens when the victim finally gets a chance to exact revenge upon her attacker. A pleaser to the end.
3 stars

Weird Ass Movies

Here is our list of the weirdest ass movies we've seen so far. There's a lot out there...you may agree or disagree...but these movies are just fuggin weird!!!





Oldboy - A guy is imprisoned for 15 years by a some random hot guy who has an agenda....but the story becomes even creepier when the former prisoner falls for a woman who turns out to be...aiight we won't spoil it for you...but lets just say its WEIRD.

Female Trouble - A spoiled schoolgirl runs away from home, gets pregnant while hitchhiking, and ends up as a fashion model for a pair of beauticians who like to photograph women committing crimes....the spoiled schoolgirl is played by a dude. The legendary Divine.

Heathers - Veronica Sawyer plays "Bonnie" to JD who's her "Clyde" and is fascinated with murder and mayhem. Veronica accidentally finds herself involved in a school killing spree---Veronica like totally didn't mean to kill her best friend Heather and stuff...

Battle Royale - Wow. Wish I wrote this film. A Japanese film about a group of students who are recruited to Battle Royale Island. The kids are assigned to kill each other one by one and whoever survives is the winner! A lesson to juvenile disobedience.

Pumpkin - A girl falls in love with a retard. Nuff said. (excuse our political incorrectness)

Nowhere - This film goes nowhere. A bunch of California teens trippin on acid, consuming X, and have tons and tons of orgy sex. Okay...maybe that is somewhere.

Dumplings - An aging actress tries to maintain her youth by eating steamed dumplings. So what's so weird about that?? It's what INSIDE of the dumplings that gets freaky.

Twin Falls Idaho - Siamese twins and one of the twins fall in love with this goth-like chick. Gets a lil bizarre when the they decide to have sex.

SEEN O' The Day: Manic

So haven't we all at one point had this conversation? Whether you're stoned with friends or leaving the movie theater after seeing a great superhero flick somehow the conversation wanders to...who is the greatest superhero of all time and why? The film Manic is about a juvenile commited to the wing of the Northwood Mental Institution. Several other guys are there with a variety of crazee problems. The hotness that is--JGL plays Lyle, who interacts with other patients and staff on a human, and sometimes not so human level. The psychological problems of the patients also forms the fabric by which we see what's right with them, and what's wrong with the society that affects them.

Look at the moments where JGL looks over at the girl...but its almost like he's flirting with the camera instead. Sometimes he doesn't even have to say anything and his performance is solid. :::SIGH:::

Here is the scene where they discuss at length superheroes and their abilities and inabilities as crime fighters.