SHERMAN'S WAY

Craig Saavedra Director
written by Tom Nance

Star actors include but not limited to;

JAMES LE GROS
(“The Last Winter” “Drugstore Cowboy”)
ENRICO COLANTONI
(“Just Shoot Me” “Galaxy Quest”)
MICHAEL SHULMAN
(“Can of Worms” “Little Man Tate”)
BROOKE NEVIN
(“The Comebacks” “Infestation”)


Another male bonding film, son in search of father/ father in search of son with a center character of note being the Car. Done with a light touch, an enjoyable juxtaposition of different types of male figures, those who strive to achieve, live by the clock and synchronized common sense versus those who have given up. But what happened to their woman, the woman they are pushing far away, who remain painfully absent, or appear once more as the bad figure to be dethroned from her insidious omnipresent power?

The artistic effort is well worth seeing, the acting is great, the women are not important enough but then, this film was made by men and is about boys coming of age so what can you expect.

Without reservation I recommend this as a date flick, a film that can inspire enjoyable conversation but doesn't have to.


Linda Z
WBAI Women's Collective

THE TORURER

The Torturer: a.k.a Force Drift

Director: Graham Green

From the moment the Torturer started and I, the viewer, was confronted with the image of a torturer, I felt my mind drift to irrelevancies, to almost anything but this low keyed action film that I elected to view.

As the film switched from the actual reenactment of the torture scenes to the plush recovery sessions with the "doctor" apologist for the system of law in support of torture, I anticipated with every change of scene a relief, an end to the torture I experienced as a passive bystander.
Of course, there was none.

As the scenes went first from the actual events of torture to the recollection of the torture sessions from a comfortable upholstered artistically decorated professional office I surrendered to the process, to the moment with the dawning realization that the torturer himself was now out of his mind and that I too was in a limbo state of sanity.

Torture is no longer a lofty and widely disputed intellectual debate about whether or not it leads to finding out the "truth". For me the acts of torture speak to the endless reaction of a vivid imagination, and a science gone wrong without regard to the consequences we face for the torture victim on either side of the process.

This is an anti torture film done with a great deal of thought, of first hand knowledge and a commitment that this is not the way to find the meaning of life nor the source of a potentially deadly act.

As a film The Turturer might reach more viewers but this film is essentially a play to be redone over and over again.

Ideal audience would be politicians
Ideal performers, high school students.

Linda Z
WBAI Women's Collective
Posted by Critical Women at 10:27 AM
1 comments:

Anonymous said...

I agree with her 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 metastize 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!

THE REUNION: to go or not to go, that is the question

Opens March 6, 2009 at the Quad Cinema in New York City

Written and Directed by Alan Hruska

Starring: Christopher McDonald (Happy Gilmore, Quiz Show) , Brett Cullen (“Damages”, “Lost”), Zoe McLellan (“Dirty Sexy Money,” “JAG”), Jamey Sheridan (“Law and Order: Criminal Intent”), Cynthia Stevenson (“Dead Like Me”), David Thornton (“Law and Order: SVU,” The Notebook), Josh Pais (“Bronx is Burning,” “Law and Order,” Adventureland), , Jessica Hecht (Starting Out in the Evening, “Friends”), Alice Evans (102 Dalmations), , Damian Young (Unbreakable, Sex and the City: The Movie, “Californiafaction”), Derek Cecil (“The Beat,” “Gossip Girl”), Felix Solis (The International, “The Sopranos”), Sam Coppola (Saturday Night Fever, “The Wire”), Anna Khaja (Yes Man) and Amy Pietz (“Aliens in America,” “Caroline in the City”)


A full cast of many is always a good thing; it means work for men and women. But the subject matter of the film is suspect.
Who would want to see people after a ten year absence or worse, who wants others to see how they have aged, changed, most likely for the worst.

it is no surprise that the participants are a little nervous and on edge as they approach the board room of a corporation, simulated law film in this case, (but it could have been general motors in times past), to sit facing a group of people who thought they knew one another but maybe never did.

The Reunion is an entertaining and anxiety free viewing event for a reasonably priced night on the town that will leave you, less up tight, maybe even smiling.


Linda Zises
WBAI Women's Collective
Criticalwomen.net

eleven minutes: fashion in a flash or is it?

ELEVEN MINUTES

Opens Friday, February 20, 2008
At the Quad in NYC and on broadcast TV

Please visit: http://www.elevenminutes-jaymccarroll.com/ for additional information.


SYNOPSIS
It’s been a while since the sharp-witted Jay McCarroll was dubbed “the next great American designer” on season one of reality TV’s “Project Runway” and he’s anxious to finally show his first line of clothing.
His vision is to show his work on 42nd street at the Bryant Park eleven minute extravaganza that takes over public property to become the showcase of a world fashion industry that doesn't come as free entertainment It is a show limited, by invitation only.

SHE SAYS:
The importance of documentaries has been fully explored and presented for public scrutiny in recent films that expose the fashion industry; its limitations, its potential joys and its search for money and fame.

i can not cry for the winner or the loser of this artistic endeavor where people come together to work intensely under severe pressure to create mostly women fashion(men seem hell bent on their black suits, shirts, tie and collared shirts that scare most women into submission and many a man as well).

It is worse than a baseball or football player because those men don't dwell on the female form or dictate to women what they should wear in order to be "with it'. This is an industry where too much weight is disallowed, the cost of material renders the thinner the model, the better, less costly; where how you walk, which is never possible for the average women, is valued and where character is lost to the dictates of the female form and flow.

Not an authentic ounce of creativity in my humble opinion emerges from the depths of this film other than the creative effort of the film itself.
Jay McCarroll is real and he is funny and ultimately so very sad until he discovers that he is not the rising star-to-be that others have pumped him up to believe.

Eleven minutes of fame all circled around making money but the Puerto Rican parade has more to say about fashion than the parade of the wealthy few who dominate the "cat walk".

All that artistic work; the sewing, the music, the setting, the colors and fabrics be damned But the documentary should live on. it offers so much to feel good about our not being part of the eleven minute competition.

I say, women

Scrap the fashion industry. Take back the parks, Bryant Park, free for all New Yorkers and its millions of daily visitors.



Linda Z
WBAI Women's Collective
Criticalwomen.net

eleven minutes