Homeless In America (2004) Review

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(More customer reviews)I screened this film because I wanted to know if it's appropriate for a class in peace and justice studies I teach. It is. Directors Tommy Wiseau and Kaya Redford have put together a very nice collage of homeless people from the streets of LA.
I emphasize the word "collage." If you're looking for facts and figures and analysis, you won't find it in this film. Analysis and data are important--crucial--but their problem is that they tend to distract us from the faces of real people. "Homeless in America" fills that gap by introducing us to a number of very real folks. The film is deliberately impressionistic, and consequently has a strong visual impact that sticks with the viewer.
Some of the unforgettable people interviewed in the film: There's the 70-year-old man, black as ebony, beard snow white, who declaims with the eloquence and fire of a prophet. There's Roy, a baseball-capped man who seems emotionally disturbed, who says that he's on the street because he's running from his problems, but wonders why society isn't a bit more ready to help him now that he wants to quit running. There's the quietly sobbing black girl who lives in a makeshift in a freeway tunnel. An intruder has just stabbed a friend of hers. There's the attractive middle-age woman who claims that she was once the wife of an NBA player, a multimillionare. Who knows if she's telling the truth? Who cares? There's the LA chief of police, who talks in the clipped language of the bureaucrat about the "issue" of homelessness, and there's the aging and weary-looking director of the LA Mission who says, grief and frustration burring his voice, that we need to learn how to love better in this country.
All in all, a good cinematic introduction to homelessness. Especially recommended for middle class folks who generally won't get within a block of a street person.

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Item Name: Homeless In America; Studio:Wiseau-Films

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Inside Deep Throat - Theatrical NC-17 Edition (2005) Review

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(More customer reviews)Enormously entertaining, and extremely enlightening, Inside Deep Throat is so much more than just a documentary on the 1972 skin flick Deep Throat. The film also presents - in often candid and lurid detail - the moral and censorship battles - that have constantly defined American popular culture for more than thirty years. In one pivotal scene, an elderly woman is asked why she went to see Deep Throat, and she replies by saying that she wanted to see a dirty movie, she enjoyed it, and that she didn't want government or anyone else dictating what she should or shouldn't see.
Herein lies the essential argument of this colorfully entertaining, sexually explicit, and occasionally perceptive movie that takes the viewer on a journey from the innocence of the early seventies, through the tumultuous, politically wrought censorship battles of the eighties, to the present day where the adult film business is now a multi-million dollar industry, and where professionalism and money seem to be the name of the game.
Inside Deep Throat uses a mixture of original footage from the film, interviews with the people who made Deep Throat, and questions a number of counterculture types, such as Gore Vidal, John Walters, and Annie Sprinkle, who comment on the effects of the film, past and present. Divided into two distinct parts: the first half is about the making of the film, while the second deals the ramifications of its release, the effect Deep Throat ultimately had on its stars, and the U.S. Government's desperate, and often successful attempts to have the film banned.
It's probably a bit of a stretch to say that Deep Throat single-handedly changed the nature of the industry. But the film definitely served a purpose and came along at a time when the sexual revolution was changing the way people thought about sexual activity. After hearing Johnny Carson's jokes about the movie on the Tonight Show - middle-aged, older, and intrigued suburbanites would line up at seedy theatres all across the country just to get a glimpse of Linda Lovelace's oral abilities. An act that had previously been considered an obscenity and socially forbidden, had now gained a glimmer of respectability- the New York Times even labeled the movie the new "porn chic."
Inside deep Throat does a great job of showing how the movie's fame and notoriety ultimately lead to the victimization and ill treatment of its stars. Linda Lovelace spent her life constantly vacillating between being proud of what she did, and later becoming a spokesperson for the feminist revolution against pornography by claiming that her performance in Deep Throat constituted rape. Approaching middle age and penniless, she desperately cashes in on her fame by appearing nude in an issue of Playboy.
Harry Reems, the hot, young male star who, at the last moment, shed his title as a production assistant to become the primary object of Linda's affections, initially enjoyed celebrity, but found fame and recognition fleeting. Deep Throat had branded him, and he found it impossible to be taken seriously as an actor. Harry faced serious jail time in a federal trial, and spiraled downwards into alcoholism and drug abuse when he couldn't get any conventional acting jobs.
Of course, the advent of the VCR in the late seventies meant that people could watch adult movies in the privacy of their own homes, and the moral crusade against hard-core adult entertainment in movie theatres somewhat tempered. Sharply edited, with a great sense of pacing, and often very funny, Inside Deep Throat is recommended for anyone who lived through the freewheeling, hedonistic days of the seventies. The movie also serves as a reminder that the culture wars, social morality, and issues of censorship are still as relevant today as they were thirty years ago. Mike Leonard February 05.


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It was banned in 23 states. The government didn't want you to see it. Deep Throat was more than just a titillating curiosity, it was the sexually explicit film that ignited a social and political firestorm. Inside Deep Throat examines the politics and the payoffs, the porn stars and persecution of the cultural phenomenon that remains just as highly controversial today. From Oscar-winning producer Brian Grazer comes this probing look at the sensational adult film that launched a sexual and cultural revolution.

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Born into Brothels (2004) Review

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(More customer reviews)In order to photograph in the red light districts of Calcutta, India, photojournalist Zana Briski lived there for several years. Though many of the residents were wary of her camera, Briski found that the neighborhood children were unafraid and curious. So she began teaching them photography, giving each child a point-and-shoot film camera with which to photograph his or her environment and providing classes on technique and editing. This eventually resulted in international acclaim for the children's photographs and media coverage for Briski's unusual photo classes. "Born Into Brothels" is a documentary of Briski's class of young photographers filmed by Zana Briski and Ross Kaufman about 2 years into the project that has become known as "Kids with Cameras".
The best thing about "Born Into Brothels" is that it allows the children to tell their story in their own words. Zana Briski's class of 8 photographers -who call her "Zana Auntie"- are children of prostitutes, born and raised among the harsh realities of Calcutta's Sonagachi red light district. There are 5 girls: Kochi, Tapasi, Shanti, Puja, and Suchitra, and 3 boys: Manik, Gour, and Avijit, ranging in age from 10 to 14 years, but mostly pre-teens. The documentary is dominated by interviews with the children and by their photographs, with occasional voiceover or footage of Zana Briski. The filmmakers are commendably respectful of the children and their decisions. These kids understand their situations very well and tend to be philosophical about it, yet many of them yearn for opportunities to escape life in the brothel. Interestingly, the kids are not fatherless children of single prostitutes, as I might have expected. Many of their mothers' are married and live with large extended families.
"Born Into Brothels" lets the kids talk about themselves, their families, and their world. We sit in on their photo classes, accompany them on photo field trips to the zoo and the beach, and sympathize with Zana Briski's frustration as she struggles with bureaucracy and prejudice to find boarding schools that will accept children of sex workers. We also see the kids beaming with pride and having some fun as they enjoy international success and a bit of fame in India as well. Zana Briski has obviously done a great deal of work and invested a lot of emotional energy in a project that may change the lives of a handful of children if she is lucky. But even if the kids lives' turn out no different than their parents', photography has broadened their outlook and given them some great experiences. "Born Into Brothels" is an engaging documentary of that process. To learn more or purchase prints, visit www.kids-with-cameras.org .
The DVD (Thinkfilm 2005): There are text bios of Zana Briski and Ross Kaufman. "About the Photographers" includes text bios of the children, which are useful in figuring out who is who.

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A tribute to the resiliency of childhood and the restorative power of art, BORN INTO BROTHELS is a portrait of several unforgettable children who live in Calcutta's red light district, where there mothers work as prostitutes. Spurred by the kids' facination with her camera, Zana Briski, a New-York-based photographer living in the brothels and documenting life there, decides to teach them photography. As they begin to look at and record their world through new eyes, the kids, who society refused to recognize, awaken for the first time to their own talents and sense of worth. Filmmakers Ross Kauffman and Zana Briski capture the way in which beauty can be found even the seemingly bleakest and most helpless of places, and how art and education can empower children to transform their lives.
This product is manufactured on demand using DVD-R recordable media. Amazon.com's standard return policy will apply.

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Shine a Light (2008) Review

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(More customer reviews)Set List:
1) Jumpin' Jack Flash
2) Shattered
3) She Was Hot
4) All Down the Line
5) Loving Cup (w/ Jack White)
6) As Tears Go By
7) Some Girls
8) Just My Imagination
9) Faraway Eyes
10) Champagne and Reefer (w/ Buddy Guy)
11) Tumbling Dice
12) You Got the Silver
13) Connection
14) Sympathy for the Devil
15) Live With Me (w/ Christina Aguilera)
16) Start Me Up
17) Brown Sugar
18) Satisfaction
Though the actual track 'Shine a Light' from Exile on Main Street is not played during the (film version of this) set, it is an excellent title for this rock documentary as Martin Scorcese is shining a light so to speak on the Stones themselves, and this light shines mighty bright and mighty close. But Scorcese is not as invasive as you might expect. And this documentary/concert film does not feel like an expose as much as a celebration of a band that still has some kick left in it. Instead of being overly reverent and even elegaic (as perhaps he was in The Last Waltz) Scorcese, takes a lighthearted & lighthanded approach. The first thing that Scorcese documents is the planning of the show itself and the miscommunications that took place between what the Stones wanted (a big venue) and what Martin wanted (an intimate one); miscommunications that could have been avoided had the band been available to actually meet face to face with Scorcese, but these and other miscommunications are treated more as running jokes than as genuine problems. Another running joke is that meticulous detail man Martin Scorcese (perhaps the only living director with a fame that rivals the Stones own) wants to know ahead of time what the set list will be or at least what the first song will be so that he can plan his first shot, but the Stones keep it a secret until seconds before the show begins. Its funny even though no one really thinks for a second that with his arsenal of cameras on and off stage there is any chance that Martin Scorcese will not get the exact shots he wants. But even while having some laughs with the band (at the bands and at his own expense), Scorcese is excellent at capturing what an immense task it is working with a band that is not used to surrendering control nor opening up on camera (and Scorcese inserts several old interviews into the concert footage to document Mick's ability to dodge questions with charm and Keith's utter refusal to play the q & a game at all). The irony is that the Stones have been public figures for over four decades now but we really still don't know them very well. Scorcese does a very good job at remedying this situation by peeling back the Stones mystique and allowing us to see the real personalities behind the public performances. As with his Dylan documentary, he does this by going though the immense Stones Interviews archive and coming up with some very rare interview footage (much of it from Asian and European tv programs). We get to hear the notoriously reticent Charlie discussing an alternative career as a painter, and Ron Wood discussing Keith and how he is nothing like his public image, "Keith's a very decent and very moral guy". The interviews are culled from all phases of their career and are very brief and very selectively inserted between the live songs. Most of them are humorous and/or ironic. Notably absent: any mention of Brian Jones or Mick Taylor or Bill Wyman.
No doubt there will be Stones fans who wish that Scorcese had teamed up with the '72 or '76 or '78 Stones, when the band was a bit more like Scorcese's screen outlaws, but better late than never.
For Stones fans the thrill (and it is immediate and lasts the entire show) is having the feeling of being onstage with the Stones. Jack White, Buddy Guy, and Christina Aguilera all do guest stints onstage but we as audience members feel like we are onstage as well and this is the truly brilliant thing about this film. The cameras are so close that we actually get to see the band play (and see who plays which guitar lines) and hear the between song banter between band members. Scorcese allows us to affirm or reaffirm that Mick is without a doubt the leader of this band and his relentless energy and seductive charms seem to wow his bandmates as much as they wow the crowd. Micks age shows in the close-ups but his real instruments, his voice & his body, seem completely immune from the ravages of time. Keith, at times, seems a bit lost (as when Christinsa Aguilera steps onstage) and he misses chords in a few places, but Scorcese's intimate style really serves Richards well. He is an intensely likable guy who loves what he does and still seems to feel adorably awkward when he takes center stage to sing "You Got the Silver" & "Connection." He is in many ways Mick's opposite. The chemistry of the band and especially the chemistry that exists between the Glimmer Twins is the thing that continues to fascinate and continues to evade documentation.
The show is intense and intimate and revealing. The guest appearances are well chosen. And the ending (which I will not reveal) is perfect.
Note on the soundtrack: The 2 cd edition of the Shine a Light soundtrack will contain four bonus tracks ("Paint it Black", "Little T & A", "I'm Free", & "Shine a Light").

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Widescreen Rated PG 13. Academy Award-winning filmmaker Martin Scorsese and the world's greatest Rock'N' Roll band, The Rolling Stones, unite to bring audiences the year's most extraordinary film event, Shine A Light. With special appearances by Christina Aguilera, Jack White and Buddy Guy, and four Rolling Stones performances not seen in theaters, Shine A Light is a must-own forRock'N'Roll fans across generations. 5.1 Dolby Digital (English, Spanish, French), Behind the scenes featurette, plus four music videos (Undercover Of The Night, Paint It Black, Little T And A, I'm Free)

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Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room (2005) Review

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(More customer reviews)I went into Alex Gibney's "Smartest Guys in the Room" having read Robert Bryce's "Pipe Dreams" and Kurt Eichenwald's "Conspiracy of Fools" thinking to myself: should be good, but no way the movie is going to come close to telling the story like those two authors did.
Well, surprise, surprise: the movie is outstanding on its own terms and all credit goes to Gibney. While the books focus on unraveling all of Andy Fastow's 'Special Purpose Entities' like the Raptors, LJM, Chewco, etc., Gibney brilliantly focuses on showing us things that are simply better on film: audio recordings of Enron traders jacking the California energy system; a devastated Portland Gas line worker after his 401K has gone to seed; an uncomfortable Skilling getting grilled by a Senate panel while Sherron Watkins glowers at him from 10 feet away; some Enron HR flack urging its employees to put all their 401K money into company stock, etc.
And there are two incredible, spine-tingling moments if you know the Enron story:
- An audio recording of the famous quarterly results analyst call where Skilling loses it and calls an analyst an a------. [The analyst only asked why the company couldn't produce a balance sheet.] Reading Eichenwald's book, you know Skilling is clearly unhinged at this point. For many, this call was the turning point of the great unraveling.
- A secret video recording from Merrill Lynch of Andy Fastow's LJM2 pitch to a bunch of bankers. This is *mesmerizing* stuff. Fastow is front and center in the books, but remains a spooky, off-camera presence in the movie. However, this one piece nails him. He's perpetrating a major fraud with that spiel.
Most of all, the movie is a tribute to the work of reporters Bethany McLean and Peter Elkind, both of whom had the guts to ask at the beginning "How does Enron make money"? No one at the company could answer the question and management's response was to attempt to bully McLean and then, in turn, bully her editors. They didn't bend. The story ran. The rest is history. In business writing, this was journalism on the level of Woodward and Bernstein. All glory belongs to Ms. McLean and Mr. Elkind.
Two other great moves by Alex Gibney:
- Getting Amanda Martin on film to talk about the tragedy of Cliff Baxter's life and of Jeff Skilling's career. What a smart filmmaker. The camera *loves* Amanda Martin. Far better for your film to have her tell that story than have Ken Rice, Lou Pai or any other member of the Skilling inner circle.
- Getting Peter Coyote to narrate. His is the perfect voice for this saga.

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ENRON:SMARTEST GUYS IN THE ROOM - DVD Movie

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National Geographic: Bizarre Dinosaurs (2009) Review

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(More customer reviews)National Geographic is finally on board!
For some years now the BBC has dominated the dinosaur documentary market with Walking With Dinosaurs and all of it's spin offs. The Discovery Channel was right on their heels with another line of CGI dinosaurs filling our eyes and ears with all manner of beasts. Happy Happy Joy Joy!
After the hugely disapointing Super Croc it was as if Nat.Geo. was just not well funded enough to present a presold public with new images to go with their ongoing prehistoric research. They did a very good job on fossil mammals some years ago. And now, finally, they have shown us that dinosaurs are in production! In fact, there are probably more differant kinds of dinosaurs in this one hour than in any other dino DVD yet released.
The digital dinosaurs themselves are not quite as life-like as the BBC creatures. They look less leathery, more shiney or slick somehow. Younger viewers probably will not be bothered by this. Theorhetical adults,like myself always want at least Jurrasic Park quality from the start. Honestly, this imagery isn't quite that good. But it will do just fine.
The subject matter, Bizarre Dinosaurs is a visual feast. Anytime I get to see "live" dinosaurs I am happy. But because of the productions over view of the weird and extravagant dinosaur species,almost all of these creatures have never been shown before.
So a fun time is to be had by all.
I almost forgot!!!! The DVD includes an additional 50 minute feature! The Prehistoric Predators series last year included a spectacular episode spotlighting The Terror Birds. As big or bigger than a man,these flightless monsters got as close to replacing the dinosaurs as birds could ever get.
The graphics are fantastic,and the info is amazing. A real treat on an already delightfull DVD.
Concider the title, Bizarre Dinosaurs for a bit.
Is it just me, or aren't all dinosaurs bizarre? I mean, the whole race of animals was half bird and half reptile with more than enough weirdness to go arround. They ranged from the size of crows to the size of rail road cars or buses. The only thing close to them in the human imagination is midevile dragon. If they were alive today they would be the most dangerous, violent, ravenous,gigantic, and dominant creatures in any place they could live. Had it not been for a global catastrophy they would STILL be the most successful animals this planet has ever seen.
What part of that is not bizzare?
'nuff said, John Fischner

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While dinosaurs may have been some of the mightiest creatures ever to have walked the earth, they also could have been among the most bizarre.With extreme, exaggerated body parts, some predators were loaded with outlandish or disproportionately sized appendages.Join world-renowned paleontologists and travel the globe to unearth some of the lesser-known but most surprising members of the dinosaur family: Mamenchisaurus, whose neck alone was longer than the rest of its body; Chasmosaurus, adorned with a fashionable crown of frilly spikes to attract the eyes of potential suitors; Spinosaurus, with massive extensions from its vertebrae that could have supported a sail or a hump; and Parasaurolophus, whose tube-like head crest may look odd to us, but was a mating magnet back in the day.Why did these animals ever adopt such strange appendages?What was their purpose—and why did these evolutionary changes die out?

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