|
Inside Lara Roxx: Daniel Garber interviews Director
Mia Donovan and Lara Roxx
Lara, a young woman from Montreal, moves to LA just to make some money in
porn movies. But her life takes an unexpected turn when she is exposed to
HIV on set. I interview filmmaker Mia Donovan and the new movie's subject,
Lara Roxx, about this raw, personal documentary, Inside Lara Roxx (now
playing in Toronto). We talk about the adult film industry, media myths,
exploitation, stigma, and condom use in porn. (This interview includes
sexual topics and adult language.)...(read more)
Movies to Stay Home With. DVDs reviewed: Dream
House, Point Blank
It's winter and it's freezing outside, so sometimes it's better just to
curl up at home and watch something chilling. So this week I'm talking
about two DVD's to watch on a cold night in bed with someone warm. First,
Dream House. When Will (Daniel Craig) quits his publishing job at a big
city firm, he moves with his wife, Libby (Rachel Weisz) and his two young
daughters into an old wooden house in a small town. It's just the relaxing
life he's been hoping for.
But there's something wrong with this old house.... And when Will finds an
"infestation" of mohawked teens in his basement, he discovers that a mass
murderer, five years earlier, had killed everyone -- including a woman and
two young girls -- who lived in that same house....(read more)
Airplanes and Wheelchairs. Films Reviewed:
Red Tails, Moon Point PLUS Oscar nominations
Red Tails has a lot going for
it. I liked most of the acting – an all-around good cast (although the
scenes in Washington, with Terrence Howard pleading his soldiers' case,
were painfully wooden). David Oyelowo, especially, owns the screen. And I
have to say I enjoy the spectacular plane fights up in the air – it felt
like a cool video game. And it’s a good idea to tell little-known history,
to give kids role models, and to celebrate forgotten accomplishments by
African Americans. The problem is in the movie's tone. Seriously -- is it
possible to show such a gung-ho, “war is great” type of movie in this day
and age with a straight face?..(read more)
Unromantic Romances. Movies reviewed: The
Iron Lady, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Not Since You.
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is a catastrophic remake of last year’s
Swedish film.
So what has changed? Well, a left-wing magazine collective is switched to
an ordinary newsmagazine just trying to survive media downturns. The
Vanger’s Nazi and Christian fundamentalist twists are largely swept under
an invisible rug. Creepy hunting lodges have changed into stately
mansions. A crucial, horrendous scene, is changed from chilling, plain
documentation to a grotesquely exploitative and titillating version. But
worst of all, the rough- and-tough invincible, impermeable Lisbeth
Salander is turned into a blubbering, vulnerable little girl who is
infatuated with her Daddy (Blomkvist)...(read more)
An Interview With Derek Hayes, Author of the New
Book “The Maladjusted”
I've read all of your stories many times, but now I'd like to hear you
talk a bit about them. There's a tone of black humour in this book, Derek,
but would you say most of the short stories in your new collection, The
Maladjusted (October, 2011, Thistledown Press) are comedies or
tragedies... and why?
Derek Hayes: I think they are tragic for some of the characters, but not
in any way that matters to anyone but themselves. And for this reason I
hope readers will find the stories funny. I'm interested in characters
that for their own personal, deeply-rooted reasons... (read more)
|
Listen to Daniel Garber's
latest weekly movie reviews, here.
You can download the program here or you can subscribe to the weekly
Cultural Mining podcast
directly with our RSS feed.
Or listen to his broadcasts on CIUT 89.5 FM in Toronto
February 3rd - Inside Lara Roxx: Daniel Garber interviews Director Mia Donovan and Lara Roxx
February 3rd - Movies to Stay Home With. DVDs reviewed: Dream House, Point Blank
January 28th - Airplanes and Wheelchairs. Films Reviewed: Red Tails, Moon Point PLUS Oscar nominations
January 20th - Unromantic Romances. Movies reviewed: The Iron Lady, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Not Since You.
January 19th - Daniel Garber Interviews Noemi Weis, Producer of the new docmentary "Teaching the Life of Music"
January 12th - Genre Mash-ups. Movies Reviewed: Contraband, The Devil Inside, Renzo Martens’ Episode 1
January 6th - New Year's Resolutions for Guys Who Won't Grow Up. Movies Reviewed: Jeff Who Lives At Home, Dark Horse, Starbuck
December 30th - More X'mas Movies. Films Reviewed: The Artist, Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close PLUS My Choice of 2011 Best Eleven Movies
December 24th - Christmas Flicks. Movies Reviewed:
The Adventures of Tintin, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, War Horse
December 17th - Resolutions. Movies reviewed: Young Adult, Margin Call, Always: Sunset on Third Street 2
December 10th - Daniel Garber speaking with Nelson George about his new documentary. "Brooklyn Boheme"
December 9th - Couples. Movies Reviewed: Shame, Salsa Tel Aviv, Carnagee
December 3rd - Movies Reviewed: Surviving Progress, The Descendents PLUS VTape
November 26th - Movies Reviewed: Hugo, The Muppets, Ma Part du Gateau
November 19th - Eurasia. Films Reviewed: Almanya, Piercing 1, Kevin Hart: Laugh at my Pain PLUS EU and Reelasian Film Festivals.
November 12th - The Real ReelAsian Film Festival. Movies Reviewed: Bleak Night, Full Metal Alchemist, Saigon Electric, Buddha Mountain, Amphetamine.
November 5th - Hallowe'en! Films Reviewed: Paranormal Activity 3, Rabies, Anonymous PLUS Guillermo del Toro's Devil’s Backbone & Cronos, NFB, Face-Off 40th Anniversary re-release, and Stop
Concussions!.
October 29th - Another Rendezvous with Madness. Films Reviewed: UFO, Corridor, 22nd of May, Gods of Youth, Take Shelter, Like Crazy.
October 22nd - The Calm Before the Storm. Movies Reviewed: Restoration, Weibo's War, 50/50 PLUS ImagineNATIVE.
October 15th - ImagineNATIVE! Movies reviewed: On
the Ice, Wapos Bay, Footloose.
October 8th - Changes. Solar Taxi, Waking the Green
Dragon, Restless, PLUS Planet in Focus.
October 1st - Palestine. Films Reviewed: (No) Laughing Matter, Children of the Revolution, Pomegranates and Myrrh PLUS
TPFF, We Were Here, Resurrect Dead
September 23rd - TIFF aftermath. Films reviewed:
Where Do We Go Now?, Drive, Limelight
September 16th - Women Directors at TIFF. Films
Reviewed: Union Square, Elles, UFO in Her Eyes, Hysteria, PLUS Road Movie
September 9th - TIFF it! I Am a Good Person, I Am a
Bad Person, Melancholia PLUS TIFF
September 2nd - Families. Movies Reviewed: Blue
Collar Boys, Colombiana, Our Idiot Brother, and Don’t be Afraid of the
Dark PLUSS TIFF and Toronto Indie Film Fest
August 27th - End of Summer. One Day, Spy Kids: All
the Time in the World in 4D, We Were Here PLUS TIFF
August 13th - Temperatures Rising. Movies reviewed:
Devil’s Double, The Help, Rise of the Planet Of The Apes, Final
Destination, Gun to the Head
August 6th - Things Inside Other Things. Movies
Reviewed: Cave of Forgotten Dreams, The Change-Up, Cowboys and Aliens
July 29th - Multiculturalism Not Dead! Movies
Reviewed: Snow Flower and the Secret Fan, Rocksteady: the Roots of Reggae
July 22nd - Final Fantasy. Movies reviewed: Captain
America, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2, Shirome
July 15th - Things Fall Apart. Movies Reviewed:
Horrible Bosses, Page One: A Year Inside the New York Times, Hospitalité
July 8th - Films Without Superheroes. Movies
Reviewed: The Tree of Life, Blank City PLUS Shinsedai, Toronto After Dark,
HotDocs
July 1st - Planes Trains and Automobiles… and
Submarines! Movies reviewed: Submarine, Transformers: Dark of the Moon,
The Trip
June 23rd - Women at Centre Stage, Men at the
Fringe. Movies Reviewed: J.X. Williams' Cabinet of Curiosities, William S
Burroughs A Man Within, Bridesmaids, Bad Teacher
June 23rd - Women at Centre Stage, Men at the
Fringe. Movies Reviewed: J.X. Williams' Cabinet of Curiosities, William S
Burroughs A Man Within, Bridesmaids, Bad Teacher
June 17th - Indie Enough for You? Movies reviewed:
Hip Hop Mom, Notes from the Kuerti Keyboard, 6 Ft Hick , You Can’t Sing it
for Them, Below New York, Hori Smoku Sailor Jerry: the Life of Norman K.
Collins.
June 9th - Guy Pictures: Movies Reviewed: Cell 213,
X Men: First Class, Super 8.
June 2nd - Inside-Out Festival: The "L" Word. Films
Reviewed: Circumstance, The Evening Dress, PLUS L'Amour Fou
May 28th - Inside Out Festival. Renee, Lost in the
Crowd, Gun Hill Road, Black Field, Harvest, We Were Here
May 21st - All the Lonely People. Movies Reviewed:
The Collapsed, Bobby Fischer Against the World, Resurrect Dead: The
Mystery of the Toynbee Tiles PLUS Inside Out Festival.
May 14th - History, Geography, Language TJFF 2011
Films Reviewed Acne, Jewish Girl in Shanghai, Names of Love, Between Two
Worlds,Little Rose PLUS Meek's Cutoff, Modra.
May 7th - More Underdogs at Hotdocs! Weibo's War,
The Guantanamo Trap, Draquila: Italy Trembles, Hot Coffee, Bury the
Hatchet, Melissa-Mom and Me.
April 29th - Fighters! Hotdocs Documentaries
Reviewed: Better This World, Fightville, Open Secret, The Greatest Movie
Ever Sold, Recessionize! For Fun and Profit! Plus Alan Zweig.
April 14th - The Space-Time Continuum. Movies
Reviewed: Source Code, Repeaters, American: The Bill Hicks Story, The Tiny
Ventriloquist.
April 9th - War and Filmic Vocabulary. Movies
Reviewed: The Christening, Essential Killing. PLUS Cold Fish, Images
Festival.
April 2nd - Morality in Movies. Films reviewed:
Limitless, Outside the Law, West is West.
January 1st - Top Ten Movies of 2010! Top Ten Movies
of 2010! Black Swan, Winter’s Bone, Fish Tank, You Are Here, True Grit,
Enter the Void, The Kid s Are All Right, Kick Ass, Mother, Nowhere Boy.
|
