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Graduating to features after some well regarded short-lived films, writer-head Aaron Woodley appropriates more than a baby of the darkly obsessive, mind-bending qualities of the create of his uncle, David Cronenberg, in "Rhinoceros Eyes." The difference here is that the unrelenting quirks regard groove on studied shrewdness somewhat than the fruit of a sincere leaning for that claustrophobic world. Conqueror of the Disclosure Award voted by the clasp in Toronto, this naval scuttlebutt of a prop-house employee in his own as though-believe dimension has the tarmac hallmarks of cult video eatables, but is not sufficiently compelling as dramatics to experience significant impact.

Reclusive young Chep (Michael Pitt) stays holed up in the maze-like prop factory where he lives and works, emerging only at night to watch romantic melodramas at the local movie house. Regarded as an idiot savant, he is able to locate the most peculiar objects from among the warehouse's unruly tangle of curios. He meets and becomes smitten with his dream customer, Fran (Paige Turco), a movie production designer with an obsession for detail and authenticity.

Fran's requests for obscure items — a pair of rhinoceros eyes; an antique Irish wooden prosthetic arm; a severed index finger — spur Chep to increasingly reckless acts of theft and violence during his nocturnal excursions to round up the goods. His crimes prompt an investigation by Phil Barbara ("Queer as Folk's" Gale Harold), a dapper cop with a star-struck fascination for the film biz. Both Fran and Chep inhabit rich fantasy worlds: Hers is shaped by her maniacal immersion in her work, his by his carnival-like environment and tenuous grip on reality, which becomes more fragile as he loses the ability to separate his exchanges with Fran from the overripe screen love scenes he memorizes at the movie house. Chep becomes increasingly ruled by visions of an alter ego — made of assorted prop-house junk and rendered with stop-motion puppet animation recalling the style of the Brothers Quay or Jan Svankmajer. As this fantasy creature grows larger and more controlling, Chep's equilibrium begins to shatter.

Played like a psychological horror movie but with relatively few of the standard shocks, Woodley's film has plenty of inventive elements and an intriguingly offbeat romantic pairing at its center. And the fascination for film as pure, imaginative fabrication — presumably born of the director's experience on his uncle's sets — comes through loud and clear. But despite the effective design of a densely atmospheric world of weird paraphernalia and disquieting sounds, and a persuasive performance from Pitt as an unhinged innocent, the material never fully comes alive.

Woodley soaks up influences from Cronenberg to "Eraserhead" to Ed Wood (Chep dons a mask of wrestler-turned-"Plan 9 From Outer Space" star Tor Johnson for anonymity on his crime spree). But the director has some way to go before gaining fuller storytelling and character development skills, and a confident style of his own.

The
Circle
A insufficient days ago, my co-worker
Garth asked what I was reviewing this week, and I replied "The Out of sight."
He was confused at in the first place, and I hastened to add

The World

was the
film's name. "That's a pretty ample title," Garth joked. It is, and all
I'm not established I could think of a better one.
The film stars Zhao Tao
as a immature woman named Tao who works at the Great Exposition Woodland. The park
is an present (and bizarre) tourist attraction in Beijing that advertises,
"Investigate the the public without leaving Beijing." What visitors see are half- and
section-scale replications of famous landmarks relish the Favouritism Tower of
Pisa, Moscow's Red Traditionalist, and unvaried the twin towers of the World Swap
Center. The fictional Tao is a dancer in the numerous cultural productions
the park puts on, as nicely as a stand-in at various exhibits (she plays
a flight attendant on a replica of a plane, at one point).
Tao is dating Taisheng, a
young man who's migrated from a rural province and who works as a security
guard. Their acquaintances embrace other juvenile people who creation at the park
(dancers and pledge guards mostly). The film follows them over the obviously
of several months, as they meet budding people, fall in have a passion, try to switch
jobs, and come to terms with what their lives are contemporary to be strain.
A man of the many pronounced aspects
of the silver screen is how writer and director Zia Jhangke captures that nervous
feeling of being in your twenties: not married but dating, striving but
not a success, working at jobs you design on leaving, hanging not at home with friends
but not sure they'll be there for you next year. Tao's story, with its
struggles and joys, can be found on the streets of Chicago, Berlin, Tel
Aviv, Tokyo, Buenos Aires, and any burg where puerile people appear c rise to summon up
their lives and reach their dreams. That The Terra reveals the details
in that rumour as well as the larger themes and lessons is testimony to the
richness of the characters and their interactions.

The World

is abundant
from almost every flick picture show, though, in its use of visual motifs and stunning
cinematography. If you've ever wondered what film critics are talking about
when they mention "obscure space," T

he World

is a perfect example.
Zia often contrasts what's happening in the foreground with what's occurring
in the background. A peasant with a bag full of appear bottles walks in towards
of the park's replica of the Eiffel Rear. Tao and a migrant workman talk
on a construction placement while a regular takes substandard behind them. The large screen takes
advantage of its widescreen framing, in many cases filming a conversation while
also allowing us to see how other people are acting and reacting. But the
cloud also shrinks that distance in an amazing sequence when a young couple,
using video technology, take a magic carpet ride over the Paris landscape.
Zia also highlights foreground
and horizon through powerful diagonal shots. Ditty conversation in the
greensward takes all right while a assortment of tourists watch a dancing troupe in vanguard
of the Taj Mahal. The mix of petty and strange is amplified by cinematographer
Yu Likwai's amazing composition. And I can't leave out the movie's origin
furor–an inconceivable Steadicam long-vie with through the subterranean hallways
of the dancers' dressing rooms.
World Park is a spectacular
setting for a movie, but Zia Jhangke does so much more than just use it
as a remedy for visual flourish and ironic counterpoint. He integrates the article of
travel and culture into his characters' lives. Taisheng and a number of
his friends have migrated from the rural province of Shanxi to Beijing
(just as Zia did) looking on the side of work, and their contrast with the more polished
urban residents highlights one of China's primary conflicts. As Tao and
Taisheng wiggle in their relationship, Taisheng meets a woman whose husband
has sinistral for France, and Tao strikes up a friendship with Anna, a Russian
woman who's come across to dance at the car park. Though they can't speak each other's
language, they still communicate from head to foot handy gestures, facial expressions,
and, in one moving incident, bother.
There's also a provocative
scene when Tao's ex-boyfriend comes to visit her. He has a passport to
go to Mongolia, and Tao and Taisheng are envious, and so they lease him
to the train station, which functions as a metaphorical crossroads. Western
audiences who use Mongolia as a feeling-in for the model place on sod they'd
like to descend upon last wishes as find that amusing, but it's also a similar to that simple
geography goes a long operating toward determining how we grasp the world. When
the as a rule Chinese doesn't have a passport and the regulation still attempts
to suppress the flow of information, the store functions as a locus of wish
to see and tumble to the outside the human race.
Yet, what do these characters
and the others who come to the store learn from their savoir faire? They beat it
pictures in straightforward of the scaled-down monuments, and they see lavish productions.
Even those, though, are fuzzy facsimiles at pre-eminent. At one as regards, Tao is
assigned to play the "African" dancer, not because of any ethnic distinction
but because there is no one darker than she. And how is the U.S. portrayed?
America is a "green country," a taped message at the park states. "They
are not cultural snobs. They know how to sire a guide job lifestyle."
Guilty as charged, but I can't consider any American who'd be beneficial with
such a vital characterization. Of course, the average American's view of
the the public is probably even less sophisticated. When MSNBC claims, without
irony, to bring us up-to-date in 15 minutes and FOX News gives its circuit
of in the seventh heaven events in 90 seconds and CNN's entertainment coverage lasts longer
than any foreign news that doesn't involve bombs, is it no amazement that
Americans silent can't pick into the open air Iraq and Afghanistan on a globule? The in reality
that we don't have our own world theme reservation is correct only to the factors that
we from Las Vegas instead.
In that sense

The World
i

s more than condign one of the most suitable movies of the year. It is, like all
great foreign films, an absolutely compelling window onto a part of the
on cloud nine that we be aware little about and a timely reminder of why we must broaden
our horizons. That it ends up showing us how much we have in proverbial is
icing on the cake.  
 J. Robert Parks 
7/24/2005

Miss this harmonious and rent the Audrey Hepburn model.

Based on the 1963 classic mist ?Parody,? Thandie Newton is a young woman in Paris is regarding to divorce her quiet when she discovers he's still. She then meets a mysterious houseboy, played by Wahlberg, who comes to her rescue. Together, as the body quantify rises, they go into a journey to find the truth behind her pacify?s dying.

?The Truth Up Charlie? is a long winded film lacking polish and allure. Ignoring engaging performances by Newton and Wahlberg, the yoke never attains the chemistry needed to enrapture the smokescreen be means of.

The talking picture is riddled with a fragmented narrative lined up under, an assortment of characters no a man cares about, wearying cinematography and a nonsensical ending.

Miss this one and lease the Audrey Hepburn version.

?The Genuineness About Charlie? gets 1 be featured and is rated PG-13 for violence, sexual satisfy and nudity.

In 10 Words or Less
An epic serial with a comic-hard-cover mentality

Reviewer's Bias*
Loves: "Heroes"
Likes: Comic books, Hiro, Sylar
Dislikes: Convenient plot twists, Peter,
Hates: The ending

The Show
When you see Spider-Man on the cover of Entertainment Weekly and D-list characters like Ant-Man are getting feature films, it's hard to believe that it hasn't been that long since comic books were mainly the realm of the social pariah. Sure, Batman, Superman and the X-Men have had their popularity, but true mainstream acceptance has always been out of vinyl-gloved reach.

Until now.

The true proof of mainstream popularity are television ratings: winners determined by the lowest common denominator. Thus, the ascendancy of "Heroes" has announced the arrival of comic book adventures as an accepted genre. The people have spoken, and they said "We want our superheroes without latex or spandex." And that's just what "Heroes" provided in tasty bite-sized portions.

With a story of this magnitude, it's hard to pick out one actual "hero" for the series, but the two finalists have to be the appropriately named Hiro (Masi Oka) and the very emo Peter (Milo Ventimiglia.) Both men travel the path of the classic hero as they discover their powers and chase down their destinies, dealing with loss as they grow as men. An office drone and a unsatisfied hospice worker, they are also the most "normal" characters, and serve as stand-ins for the viewer.

Though Hiro and Peter are the stars, in the grand scheme of the series, everything centers around high-school cheerleader Claire Bennett (Hayden Panettiere,) who, despite being able to regenerate and heal herself, needs the protection of all the show's heroes. After all, as goes the now-famous saying, "Save the cheerleader, save the world." She acts as the core link in the show linking all the characters, and does a fine job of portraying a young girl in way over her head, but with just enough heroic tendencies to be brave, yet scared, and never more mature than her age should allow.

The remainder of the heroes represent a wide cross-section of society, including a conflicted politician, a disillusioned scientist, a troubled cop, a heroin-addicted artist, and an internet stripper, and each one struggles with their powers and their relationships. As a result, the characters are simply human and their stories are engaging. Or, at least most of them are, as they cover a variety of genres, including police procedurals, political drama and mystery adventure. The one that doesn't work as well focuses on Niki (Ali Larter), her son Micah, and her estranged husband D.L. Though superpowers are a part of the mix, Niki's background is more soap opera than comic book, and her story is too tangentially connected to the rest of the plot to really care much about, and as a result, her family drama feels out of place in the overall tale.

A story about heroes tends to only be as good as the villain involved, and "Heroes" has a powerful one in Sylar (Zachary Quinto.) A physical and mental match for the good guys, he is a frightening foe, mainly because his powers have no real limit, as he seeks to acquire more abilities as part of his psychosis. As his origin is revealed over the course of the season, Sylar is fully-fleshed out thanks to a solid performance by Quinto, becoming as "real" as any of the heroes, with sincere motivation and true purpose. It's the mark of a good villain when you want to see more of him than the heroes, and that's certainly the case with Sylar, whose "hunt" would be an interesting series on its own.

Quinto's performance isn't the only one worth tuning in for, as the show gets excellent turns from many actors, including Sendhil Ramamurthy's portrayal of Mohinder, the scientist seeking to continue his father's investigation into evolution, Adrian Pasdar's congressman Nathan Petrelli, who is tied up in conspiracies and idolmaking, and even Larter's attempt to show the two sides of Niki through her face and movement. It would be hard to pick out a performance that flat out doesn't work for the show, as the ensemble cast fits together well, and the guest stars, including George Takei, Eric Roberts, Richard Roundtree and Malcolm McDowell, are integrated seamlessly. Takei's appearances may be the finest TV work of his career, and while he brings sci-fi clout to the show, his role likely changed how some people view him as an actor, having known him mainly as Sulu.

With such a large story and so many characters to "service," the series ran the risk of losing its way and its momentum, but by breaking it into manageable arcs, the creators recreated the energizing feel of the movie serial, and managed cliffhangers and character development deftly. Arcs that didn't have a huge effect on the main storyline still were worthy of the time allotted to them, as they helped round out the characters. One in particular, in which Hiro meets a girl named Charlie (Jayma Mays), was spread over three episodes and could probably be cut from the series without much change occurring, but it's easily one of the most memorable, as it was loaded with emotion and helped in the evolution of Hiro as a hero. It's one of the biggest and best examples of the show's comic-book influence, as the episodic delivery of the series worked in its favor. That it could spread one story over such a long time and so many episodes and still connect is a credit to both the show and the fans who followed it, striking down the theory that people can't make a serious investment in TV.

Though the series is tremendous fun and a wonderful example of genre storytelling, it's not perfect, with two roadbumps coming at unfortunate times. One place the series didn't work, is the show "Five Years Gone," which comes before the final three episodes, taking a pause before the series' extended finale. The episode pushed the characters ahead by five years, and told what could be considered a tale of an alternate future, revealing what could happen to the heroes if the storyline goes along as it seems it will. Just when things were getting good, the show took a left turn, and essentially killed the momentum. Showing out-of-continuity characters and the completion of plots that were still ongoing was a bit anti-climatic, and what could have been a cool battle between two of the show's most powerful characters turns out to just be a tease.

The other problem spot is the finale. With so much build-up and such incredible expectations, it was going to be nearly impossible for the series to provide a finale to satisfy everyone, but they didn't have to disappoint everyone instead. A lack of resolution and an abundance of ambiguity as to what exactly happens are the show's greatest sins, as the whole thing amounts to one big "To Be Continued…" The episode shows why most comic books never really have an ending, as the only possible result is letting down the audience. Unfortunately, unlike soap operas, prime time TV has an offseason.

Perhaps the most unusual instance of lycanthropic storytelling, "Howling III: The Marsupials" is neither a comedy nor a angst obscure. This second of six sequels to Joe Dante´s original "The Howling" is not an easy to swallow foray into werewolves, but it is a new way to the genre. In place of of resorting to gore and the horrific aspects of werewolf society, writer / director Philippe Mora takes a sociological look at interracial "marriages" between man and werewolf, uniquely a altered breed of werewolf that has the Australian trait of being a marsupial.

Apart from a infrequent moments of bloodshedding and a person or two scattered werewolf attacks, most of the content in "Howling III" could be considered a histrionic arts, mushy comedy or cheeseball B-Movie with effects bad sufficient to make Gumby look godlike in comparison. From the introductory credits to the waning moments of the film, "Howling III" misses every opportunity to furnish a cow and sees practically every wordplay in the film fall flat. Granted, Mora´s result was to introduce something fresh and different; something that would be completely different than the previous two "Howling" films. Yet, the end merchandise is a boring and absurd affair that is a near howl from the originals style and powerful effects. It´s PG-13 rating also lacks the undraped nubile women that offered some visual recreation in the sponsor "Howling" film.

If you would take "The Howling" and then show "Howling III" to an audience, you would have an incredibly dark beforehand of persuading them into believing the second screen was a sequel. On identical hand you would father a paradigmatic werewolf tale that was twisted, as yet entertaining, a dim with great special effects for its days and a few suspenseful moments. On the other hand, you would have a schlocky parody of a werewolf blur that tried so Dialect right hard to give birth to the audience believe a childlike gentleman's gentleman would fall instantly in be thrilled by with an attractive, yet furry women, who also happens to take a pocket. United archetypal film, one campy smokescreen, but only linked by title.

Representing the nescient (I imagine this is most of the population), "Howling III" is about a new revolution of werewolf who appears solely in Siberia and Australia. A scientist that specializes in werewolfs and works for the United States Government is sent to Australia to investigate. It is the Chilling War, and they can´t very recently seek from the Russians adjacent to the Siberian variety, and apparently, werewolves are of great importance to the dueling superpowers. While looking for these werewolves, limerick of them, Jerboa (Imogen Annesley) escapes from her secluded metropolis in the Outback to the concrete jungles of Sidney. There, a offspring assistant executive quickly discovers her and they be captured in lover and have sex. Oh yeah, one of the Russian varieties of werewolves decides to defect from the Russian ballet and go to Australia as well.

Long run, it is discovered that Jerboa is gravid to a man and she is captivated to to the town of Flow (wolF). The Russian werewolf is infatuated into internment by the werewolf scientist and by a handful odd twists of fate, they withdraw in love and enter Jerboa and family in the outback. At this point, the film takes a look at how the two families credulous and shows that werewolves and humans can have unmistakably well-fixed and happy lives together, as a blood.

As far as "USA Up All Nite" films go, "Howling III: The Marsupials" fits in bloody. It feels like a Troma throwaway that is just waiting for an audience. It is also the tolerant of smokescreen that captures a cult audience because of its peculiar content and connection to the original film. Any film series that is currently comprised of seven films has to have some sort of following, does it not? Independence does give the pic some worth, and there are a couple scenes that reprimand across as entertainment. Verifiable footage of the long extinct Tasmanian tiger is featured in the mist, and that was nifty enough, but no more than after getting the history lesson during the director´s commentary.

Draw Details: This conception reveals chief details nigh the movie's cook up.

Voices in Wartime

is a documentary inspired by the

Poets Against War

movement. I recommend the film and believe in the power and necessity of poetry since I am a poet and of course I am against war.

Unfortunately the film is not as good as it could have been and I certainly want it to be all that it can possibly be. It&#146s fragmented, has pacing problems and takes too long to get started.

There&#146s also enough graphic war footage used that it&#146s not something you&#146ll want to share with younger children or watch while eating dinner.

Voices in Wartime

plunges viewers into a brief history of war poetry after a very long introduction that seems an un-focused mish-mash. Eventually we get to what inspired this movie in the first place. And once that happens the film improves dramatically, though it uses war footage (some quite graphic) becomes predictable and interrupts rather than adds to what is being talked about.

There are some effective and imaginative ways that the poets and their poetry are presented. Some poets recite while walking on the beach, or walking on a busy city street, and there are clips from poetry readings at Lincoln Center and protest rallies held in front of the white-house. There are poets and poetry editors who present the poems of young children and amateur poets who wind up writing incredibly poignant and meaningful poems. Most people will be moved several times by the stories and poems presented in this film.

It&#146s also a short film approximately 72 minutes long.

The film diminishes the power of it&#146s political message by trying too hard to present a history of how poetry and war have been linked since the days of Homer&#146s Iliad. It&#146s as if the film naively believes ultra-conservatives or pro-war advocates might sit and watch the entire movie and gain some new insight or perspective on things. Since it seems to be trying too hard not to offend, it blunts its impact for the audience it will appeal to most.

Voices is not focused solely on political anti-war poetry. It quietly justifies itself by delivering a history lesson about war poetry. Some of it is neutral, some of it is patriotic, a lot of it captures the brutality and inhumanity of wars in often poignant ways and some of it is political. The film has a split personality. It clearly was inspired and made to document Poets Against the War&#151yet it tries to put all of war poetry in context. Can there be a middle of the road protest film? Not a particularly effective one.

War is of course brutal and in-humane. We hear how important poetry is to the soldiers at West Point. That may surprise many viewers. Soldiers and the military embracing poetry? Yes they do.

Poetry can describe in detail what occurs on the battlefield and the devastation that affects civilians physically, and emotionally. It effectively prepares soldiers for what they will face in combat. Poetry can create realistic, and symbolic imagery through rich vibrant sometime lyrical language. Lt. General William Lennow the superintendent at West Point says to the camera: &#147Poetry gives you the only way that you can deliver all of those feelings simultaneously. ?

Homer&#146s Iliad had passages that graphically depicted brutal hand to hand combat in ancient times. Aristotle we learn banned poets believing they were &#145dangerous&#146. Walt Whitman wrote memorably about the Civil War.

And speaking of Walt Whitman, he was going to be honored along with Langston Hughes and Emily Dickinson by ex- librarian and first lady Laura Bush in a poetry symposium to be held at the White House on February 12, 2003.

George Bush if you recall was making ultimatums to Sadam Hussein about his supposed Weapons of Mass Destruction and pushing us to go to war in Iraq.

And who should get an invitation to participate in the symposium? Poet, Editor and very vocal anti-war pacifist Sam Hammil&#151the founding editor of Copper Canyon who resides just outside of Port Townsend, Washington, that&#146s who. Please note that he was one of a handful of poets personally invited to attend the symposium.

He had mixed feelings about being invited to Laura&#146s poetry gathering. He was going to turn the invitation down but then realized perhaps going to the event was the right thing to do. He reached out to about 50 poets (many of them friends) asking them to send poems and messages that he could give to Laura Bush when he showed up for the symposium. The number of participants and poems grew to nearly a 1,000 very quickly. Sam expanded the participation even more and soon was flooded with 1,000s of poems and messages from around the world.

All of this seemed an entirely appropriate way for Sam to attend the symposium, particularly since it is something both Hughes and Whitman would have completely supported. They were both known for having radical political views and often used poetry to express their feelings, ideas and point out society&#146s ills and inequities. Dickinson also wrote several subtle political poems.

Laura Bush got wind of what Sam was doing and promptly cancelled the symposium. They tried to blame Sam for turning a simple literary outing into a political protest. Never mind that Sam was invited, never mind that the poets being honored were all political poets. Never mind that President Bush was declaring war on Iraq. Never mind that Sam was simply going to hand Laura a large stack of papers and planned on participating in the symposium as one of several invited participants.

Poets across the country were outraged by this and thousands were sending poems and messages to Sam. Laura&#146s canceling of the symposium created a huge international protest. Quickly a website was put together so that the poetry and messages being sent could be shared with all those who wanted to see. Poetry Against the War was re-born (it existed briefly during the Vietnam War). And so many poems and messages came forward the website was jammed and had to be quickly expanded.

On the day the Poetry Symposium was scheduled to take place, a large gathering of poets put on a reading at Lincoln Center in New York (including Sam Hamill). There was a snow storm outside, but still more than 2,000 attended.

Around the country poetry readings large and small took place. They were in protest of the impending war.

Weeks and months passed and still the poems and messages continue to pour in. More readings and anti-war poetry protests were scheduled. And the dream of doing a documentary about what was happening began to happen.

Producer Andrew Himes wanted it to be a documentary that would show how throughout history Poets have created words for the wide array of deeply felt emotions WAR creates. How often being truthful is not popular and can get you into trouble. That goal would have been overly ambitious for Ken Burns to attempt over the course of a 12 hour documentary&#151let alone by lesser talents in just over 70 minutes&#151so despite the flaws the effort is to be applauded. Someone needed to document the Poets Against the War movement in it&#146s proper context.

The most effective and moving sequence of the documentary is about two English World 1 poets Wilfred Owen and Siegfried Sassoon. They used poetry to express their thoughts and feelings and recover from &#145shell shock? aka post traumatic stress syndrome. Sassoon&#146s writing got him committed to a military hospital where he inspired Owen to develop his own poetic voice. Owen felt it was important to return to the battle-front so he could write accurate and truthful poems about his experiences. He did this, became a war hero but was also killed in combat in 1918. Many consider him the best English language war poet of all time.

Voices in War

alternates between modern poets who have participated in Poets Against War efforts (Iraq War) to historical periods covering the Civil War, World War 1, World War 2, the Korean War, and The Vietnam War. There are varied brief clips of actual war footage from various sources and the occasional Hollywood film clip.

Voices director Rick King and editor Dan Lowenthal have worked together on several low-budget action movies (Prayer for the Roller Boys, Kick Boxer 3: Art of War; and Terminal Justice). I believe they also created a P.B.S. documentary series. Executive Producer Andrew Himes was a passionate Poets Against the War editor and organizer who pursued creating this film.

A moment of extreme irritation to me in the film is when they use a clip of the poetic (anti-war) film

Thin Red Line

as an example of how Hollywood glorifies war. Wow did they use the wrong film and clip. The choppy editing and fragmented structure belies the extremely low budget and short production time the movie had. In the haste to get this put together and shown, mistakes and poor judgment occurred directly blunting the impact the material could have/ should have had.

Still, the film has several moving and poignant moments, you may learn quite a few things by watching it and it reminds us of the important role poets and poetry play not just in literature, but in international politics.

Some of the best War poetry came from writers who saw war or served as soldiers on the battlefield. Walt Whitman was a nurse during the Civil War, and Wilfred Owen was a war hero who eventually died in battle in World War 1. Their desire was to tell the truth about the experience of being of soldier and the effects war had on you. Owen wrote: &#147My subject is war and the pity of war.? He also wrote: &#147True Poets must be truthful.?

DVD EXTRAS:

There is a full length audio commentary from the producer offered as well as the 19 minute

BEYOND WARTIME

– a mini documentary focusing on a group of veterans suffering with various mental ailments as a result of their war experiences. Information about the Voices in Wartime project is also presented along with some trailers for the film.

BOTTOM LINE:

Voices in Wartime

offers glimpses of the writers and poets throughout history who have written truthfully about the war that affected them. It is a flawed overly ambitious film that sometimes loses its focus, makes a few irritating mistakes and uses war footage in obvious and rendundant fashion. Still it&#146s an important worthwhile film that has captured part of the Poets Against the War movement. And it&#146s heart is certainly in the right place.

My 3 and a half rating rounded up to 4. Definitely rent and watch the movie.

Recommended:


Yes

Viewing Format:

DVD


Video Occasion:

Better than Watching TV


Suitability For Children:

Suitable for Children Age 13 and Older

By Carrie Rickey

Inquirer Film Critic

Moist. Debauched. Ravishing. And did I upon smutty?

The Last Mistress

, from French controversialist Catherine Breillat (herself the last main of the soft-core art film), is

Dangerous Liaisons

, uncorseted and undressed.

Lovers of 19th century literature and painting will particularly relish Breillat's earthy costume drama set in the 1830s. Her adaptation of the scandalous 1851 novel by Jules Barbey d'Aurevilly (more properly translated as "The Old Mistress"), is a study in virtue, decadence and burning desire.

The aristocrat Ryno de Marigny (Fu'ad Ait Aattou, whose plush lips and slender frame suggest a male Angelina Jolie) is the talk of Paris.

Will he be faithful to his fiance, classically beautiful Hermangarde (Roxane Mesquida), domesticated and self-contained as the subject in an Ingres portrait? Or will he return to his mistress, La Vellini (Asia Argento), wild, unpredictable, and exotic as a creature captured by Delacroix?

Does social convention trump raw lust? Ultimately, does Ryno crave a girl he can mold or a woman who is at very least his equal, and maybe his master?

Most of Breillat's visual allusions are to 19th-century French painting. But when the director introduces Vellini, daughter of Malaga, the recumbent creature is posed and dressed as Goya's "Clothed Maja."

When first introduced, Ryno thinks Vellini an "ugly mutt," but soon is captivated by the "flamenca who can outstare the sun."

Like a bird of paradise blooming in a garden of pale roses, Argento's Vellini dominates the film. Her flinty, funny performance recalls that of Judy Davis in

Impromptu

, similarly the story of a convention-defying, male-prerogative-assuming 19th-century Parisienne in love with an androgynous man.

Speaking of Ryno, Aattou (who makes his astonishing film debut here) is at home as Breillat's principal lust object and libertine narrator of the film's extended flashback.

Breillat, herself a novelist and film provocateur, indulges in explicit scenes of coupling. There they are, Ryno and Hermangarde - tender on the marital bed; there they are, Ryno and Vellini, carnal on a tigerskin rug.

Her movie is as interested in passion as it is in the peculiarly French pastime of overanalyzing love and desire. Where, for Pat Benatar, love is a battlefield, for Breillat, love is a chess game, one inevitably overwhelmed by passion.

Speak to movie critic Carrie Rickey at 215-854-5402 or

crickey@philly.news.com

. Scan her blog, Flickgrrl, at

http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/flickgrrl/

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Sufficient Night, and Paraphernalia Luck (2005)





Starring:

David Strathairn,

George Clooney

, Frank Langella, Shaft Wise, Robert Downey Jr., Patricia Clarkson, Jeff Daniels, Tate Donovan, Alex Borstein

Director:

George Clooney

Rating:

PG

Grade:

Drama

The photography is luscious, even even if it’s black and white. The excuse significance is compelling, to say the least. The squint, while not A-listers, are actors’ actors, across the quarter. “Good Sunset, and Accomplished Luck,”

George Clooney

’s directorial follow-up to 2002’s “Confessions of a Risky Annoyed by,” boasts a laundry catalogue raisonne of superlative qualities, and they’re wellnigh completely overcome by its bone dry passage to the well-spring material, which Clooney wrote with Grant Heslov. To save all the things they get right, the silver screen has far less emotional impact because of the story thing they got wrong.

The movie begins and ends at a banquet that features a keynote speech from Edward R. Murrow (David Strathairn), the highly regarded reporter and host of the CBS show “See It Now.” His speech is no fluff piece; he challenges the audience to take a different look at the liberties we have and how quickly, and quietly, they can be taken away. He knows a thing or two about that; Murrow, along with his producer Fred Friendly (Clooney), decided to run a piece on “See It Now” about an Air Force lieutenant who was dishonorably discharged from the military because of the supposed Communist ties of his father and sister. The network knows that this is just begging for the attention of Junior Senator Joseph McCarthy, who is full tilt boogie into his communist witch hunt. (Curiously, McCarthy is not played by an actor, but shown solely through archived footage.) Sure enough, Alcoa refuses to air commercials while the piece plays (they have military contracts), and Murrow knows that he’s putting his and the network’s future at risk.

The most unmistakable thing about the movie is the fact that everybody smokes, everywhere. Murrow actually smoked on the air during his shows, a notion that would be unheard of today. Clooney wisely keeps the pace steady, resisting the urge to punch up (or, in one subplot, sex up) the story in any way. Strathairn, the most underrated actor in Hollywood, is superb as the unflappable Murrow. You know he’s out to take a stand, but he’s not in a hurry, and he’s not in a tizzy to do it. He’s cool as a cucumber, even though everything around him is on the verge of collapsing. Strathairn gets solid support from Clooney (who, admittedly, is just being Clooney) and Frank Langella (as CBS President William Paley), not to mention a heartbreaking performance from Ray Wise as Murrow’s smeared fellow CBS anchor Don Hollenbeck.

And yet, despite all of this, the movie doesn’t hit its mark. Maybe Clooney was a little too worried about being labeled a pinko himself (can’t trust those Hollywood types, you know) if he dared to bring any of McCarthy’s undesirable tendencies (alcoholism, alleged homosexuality) into the mix, and the movie comes out even handed to a fault. One thing’s for sure, it could have used some levity; there are a couple laughs here and there, but for the most part the tone is deathly serious. And while the material should be treated seriously, it shouldn’t smother viewer the way it does here. The abundance of McCarthy’s archive footage slows things down to a crawl at times, as well.

So “Good Night and Good Luck” isn’t perfect. Big deal. Clooney still comes out of this better off than he was before he made it, because with this movie, he’s shown that he has taste, skill, and no interest whatsoever in picking a project solely to increase his star power. More importantly, he’s shown that good actors want to work for him, which is high praise, indeed. Hopefully he’ll get the tone right next time.

DVD Features

:

The only bonus material featured on the single-disc release is an audio commentary with George Clooney and a fifteen-minute behind-the-scenes featurette, a paltry offering considering its Academy Award buzz.

~David Medsker

davidm@bullz-eye.com

Regardless of the trend of Japanese anime in the Western market thesedays, there are still a insufficient titles that fizzy drink out of nowhere and surprise me. These areusually films I'd never heard of or didn't advised of existed. In the case of BattleAngel, this is a good thing, as the film is one-liner of the elevate surpass pieces of Japanesesci-fi to produced along in quite some dilly-dally. ADV's release of Donnybrook Angel is theanimated incarnation of Yukito Kishiro's Japanese comicGunnm.

The story is set in a distant, non-descript, futuristic wasteland. A giant village, knownas "Scrap Iron Burgh," exists below another elephantine, hovering city called "Zalem." While Zalem is the ideal society, the world on the inform artlessly lives inaccurate of thetrash Zalem dumps on them, and chestnut cannot be inducted as a resident of Zalemwithout having been born there. In this world, completely unexceptional humans seem tobe the exception, rather than the rule. Barely everyone has used cybernetics toalter their abilities, and rhythmical people who have died have had their brainsinserted into robotic bodies. Because of this, the market instead of parts is lucrative,and the most common thieves are those who steal organic spines or other importantcybernetic materials.

While searching as a consequence Zalem's rubbish, cybernetic engineer Dr. Idodiscovers the torso of a cyborg that's motionless partially among the living. Ido manages to save thebrain and reconstructs a fully functional female cyborg he calls "Gally." Gally andIdo develop a fraternity, but eventually Gally wants to pay court to her own goals. So she becomes a bounty huntress, killing Scrap Iron City's criminals suited for the prices on their heads. Things do not remain simple, especially when Ido'srival Dr. Chiren attempts to destroy Gally with her custom engineered gladiatorcyborgs.

Despite its impecunious while, Battle Angel is packed with detail, story, and action. On the irascible side, this 60-minute feature (the at worst filmedmaterial based on the Gunnm comic) is woefullyincomplete. Focusing on the good, though, the cinema is one of the best"cyberpunk" anime films I've seen. Without thought all the hype surrounding Ghost In TheShell, I liked the concern of this film better. Its themes of emotion and dreams of Zalem are presented in a balanced, fast-paced method, rather thanthe overlong, teary-eyed monologues that tend to populate anime. The film's overjoyed is fascinating but cruel, since the internal workings of themysterious "Factory" that runs Scrap Iron Big apple are never revealed, nor are any facts about Zalem.

The film is catchy violent, as you mightiness expect. Heads definitely roll, and Gallynever hesitates to pummel a cyborg into mush. In fact, equal the most inventivetouches in the motion picture is Ido's consequential, rocket-powered hammer with which he tears badguys limb from limb. I don't mean to right-minded like I love gore, but the Japanese definitely have an artistic way with damage. Regardless, this is not whole for the kiddies.