Director Josh Gilbert’s documentary a/k/a Tommy Chong focuses on the legendary comedian’s imprisonment for selling drug paraphernalia over the internet. Famous for his classic film, “Up in Smoke” with his comedic partner Cheech Marin, whom he met in the late 1960’s, Chong (of mixed heritage- Chinese father and Canadian mother) grew up in a very conservative neighborhood in Alberta, Canada where being biracial was a stigma. The documentary discusses the U.S. Justice Department’s massive 12 million dollar sting operation on drugs called, “Operation Pipe Dreams”. The multimillion dollar strongarm was spearheaded by U.S Attorney General John Ashcroft and Mary Beth…
Browsing: Film Reviews
“I was a rocket scientist,” Mr. Shi tells the passenger next to him on the plane from Beijing to the U.S. But even in his well-practiced English, he couldn’t know the nuances of the term in everyday American conversation — how it “doesn’t take a rocket scientist” to figure out why the daughter he is coming all this way to see will hardly be talking to him. Nonetheless it does take us all of the 83 minutes of this seemingly bare-bones parlor drama to get the picture ourselves. Master minimalist Wayne Wang has crafted another of his signature Chinese puzzles,…
Rich-Heape Films brings to us- Told from purely the Native American perspective, “Our Spirits Don’t Speak English” is a true account of the atrocities committed by our own government education policies around the late 19th century. Designed to indoctrinate Native people to what Western society and culture was, the result was catastrophic. For the indigenous children forced into a purely European system, not only was their identity stripped from them, but families were torn apart, languages stolen and spirits crushed. The idea of “Who am I” is a longstanding question for those who went through the system of both mental…
Nobuhiro’s Yamashita’s 2005 film Linda Linda Linda is a coming of age story which touches on the issues of friendship, teen angst, loyalty, relationships and the bonding power of music. The film follow four high school girls as they work and parry in order to perform three musical numbers at their high schools annual culture festival. Kei (Kashii Yu) is the group’s hot headed leader and guitarist. Her stubbornness and combative personality has forced one of the band members (Rinko) to depart, which has left the band shorthanded. Kyoko (Aki Maeda), the group’s drummer, is a friendly and free spirited…
FILM COMMENTS SELECTS is an inspiring film series presenting noteworthy international productions with little or no exposure in the US to NY audiences. The series’ most recent screening at the Walter Reade Theater was CAPTAIN AHAB by French filmmaker Philippe Ramos. Gavin Smith, editor of Film Comment, discovered the film at this years Rotterdam Film Festival and introduced his choice for the evening’s entertainment. CAPTAIN AHAB, a French-Swedish co-production, premiered at last years Locarno Film Festival and was awarded Best Director as well as the prestigious Fipresci Award – but so far has not been picked up for distribution in…
Stealing America: Vote by Vote rightly addresses an issue that has long been swept under the political rug, the possibility of manipulated elections. Unfortunately, the voice and approach of this address is about as stimulating as the monotone droning of a tenured calculus professor. Math was never one of my favorite subjects, and despite its good intentions and thought-provoking research, Stealing America is not one of my favorite films of 2008.As a documentary, Stealing America presents its audience with a clear direction and a definitive objective, to expose the American public to the alarming vulnerabilities within our electoral system. Evidently,…
Last week, the Film Society of Lincoln Center hosted the one and only US theatrical screening of Stephen Frears’ 2003 TV movie THE DEAL – a gripping political drama about the stormy relationship between British Prime Minister Tony Blair and his Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown. The film tracks the pair’s relationship starting in the 1980’s when the two young, energetic, and ambitious politicians worked together as Members of Parliament in the opposition until 1994, when they allegedly brokered a power sharing deal at Islington’s Granita Restaurant; where Brown agreed to step aside and allowed Blair to run for…
From the makers of “Appleseed” and “Appleseed ExMachina” comes the latest CGI futuristic film in the lineup, “Vexille”. The film is both stylistic and sleek to view. Pairing it with its pulse pounding counterpart, the electronica stylings provided by Paul Oakenfold (“The Matrix: Reloaded”, “Swordfish”) the film appears to be of a much darker depiction of the future than its predessors. The story begins in the year 2077, where a persecuted Japan has decided to withdraw from the United Nations. Accused of illegal research in the field of robotics, Japan closes all its doors to the world for ten years…
“Death should not be hard to those who have their hearts at ease. It does not matter if there is nothing beyond this life. At least, to die is to forget. Do not miss life; do not, even if reason tells you that you could have been happy if you hadn’t met me on the path where I have led you to your death…”(Simão, in Doomed Love, by Camilo Castelo Branco) After the successful The Miracle According to Salomé, one of the films that established the awakening of a new era in the Portuguese filmmaking, it’s time for Mário Barroso…
Stephen Chow, noted comedian/director whose filmography includes Shaolin Soccer (2001), Kung fu Hustle (2004), and now CJ7 gives us a futuristic ET-like film which is suitable for the whole family. As with the previous films, CGI is not spared but not overdone. With the star of the film being completely CGI generated, the cuteness factor depends upon how likeable and loveable CJ7 is. Very energetic, reminiscent of a Saturday morning cartoon, CJ7 begins with Stephen Chow and his young son, Dicky (played by a girl, Jiao Xu). As a family, they are a poor family and mom has since passed…