<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<rss version="2.0"
	xmlns:content="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/"
	xmlns:wfw="http://wellformedweb.org/CommentAPI/"
	xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/"
	xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom"
	xmlns:sy="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/syndication/"
	xmlns:slash="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/slash/"
	>

<channel>
	<title>Alternative Film Guide &#187; Dan Schneider</title>
	<atom:link href="http://www.altfg.com/blog/author/dan-schneider/feed/" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml" />
	<link>http://www.altfg.com/blog</link>
	<description>thinking film</description>
	<lastBuildDate>Sun, 22 Nov 2009 09:26:32 +0000</lastBuildDate>
	<generator>http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.6</generator>
	<language>en</language>
	<sy:updatePeriod>hourly</sy:updatePeriod>
	<sy:updateFrequency>1</sy:updateFrequency>
			<item>
		<title>THE WAR GAME Review II</title>
		<link>http://www.altfg.com/blog/classics/the-war-game-review-ii/</link>
		<comments>http://www.altfg.com/blog/classics/the-war-game-review-ii/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 03 Nov 2009 02:14:41 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Dan Schneider</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Classics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Classic Movies]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Documentaries]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Film Reviews]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Kenneth Tynan]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Peter Watkins]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[The War Game]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.altfg.com/blog/?p=18250</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[
THE WAR GAME Review: Part I

Given the spate of nuclear Armageddon films made in the  1960s (e.g., Fail Safe, Planet of the Apes) and up through the early 1980s television production The Day After, it’s  remarkable how such a low-budget effort like The War Game retains its  effectiveness when almost all other films on the topic seem corny. It’s likely  that the timeless effectiveness of Watkins&#8217; film is  the very reason it was banned for  nearly two decades. Scenes of British police shooting civilians were probably deemed too disturbing. Worse yet, the film’s realistic feel and unflinching look at the total  inability of the U.K. government to protect its citizens from a nuclear [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.altfg.com/blog/classics/the-war-game-review-ii/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>THE WAR GAME d: Peter Watkins</title>
		<link>http://www.altfg.com/blog/reviews/the-war-game-peter-watkins/</link>
		<comments>http://www.altfg.com/blog/reviews/the-war-game-peter-watkins/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 03 Nov 2009 02:14:20 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Dan Schneider</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Reviews]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Classic Movies]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Documentaries]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[DVDs]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Film Reviews]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Michael Aspel]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Oscar 1966]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Oscar Movies]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Peter Graham]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Peter Watkins]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[The War Game]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.altfg.com/blog/?p=18248</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[
The War Game  (1965)
Direction and Screenplay: Peter Watkins
Narration: Michael Aspel and Peter Graham
&#160;

&#160;

By Dan Schneider of Cosmoetica:
For anyone who  thinks that those 50-pack mega-DVD sets of public domain films put out by  several different video companies are worthless, I would argue that the amount of  films you get for the money is worth it, even if all were mediocre, and that the  truth is:  each DVD package will come with at least 8-10 enjoyable films, a  few true classics like Carnival of Souls or Night of the Living Dead,  and every so often a great little film will pop up that makes  the package a total steal.
One such 50-pack I  [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.altfg.com/blog/reviews/the-war-game-peter-watkins/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>THE SWEET HEREAFTER &#8211; Ian Holm, Sarah Polley</title>
		<link>http://www.altfg.com/blog/reviews/the-sweet-hereafter-ian-holm-sarah-polley/</link>
		<comments>http://www.altfg.com/blog/reviews/the-sweet-hereafter-ian-holm-sarah-polley/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 02 Sep 2009 08:28:16 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Dan Schneider</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Reviews]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Atom Egoyan]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Ian Holm]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Oscar 1997]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Oscar Movies]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Psychological Drama]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Russell Banks]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Sarah Polley]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[The Sweet Hereafter]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.altfg.com/blog/?p=15754</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[
The Sweet Hereafter (1997)
Direction: Atom Egoyan
Screenplay: Atom Egoyan; from Russell Banks&#8217; novel
Cast: Ian Holm, Sarah Polley, Bruce Greenwood, Tom McCamus, Gabrielle Rose, Alberta Watson, Caerthan Banks, Maury Chaykin
&#160;

Ian Holm, Sarah Polley in The Sweet Hereafter
&#160;

By Dan Schneider of Cosmoetica:
Some films are well  crafted but lifeless. Others err by believing they can too readily make an  audience care for a character just by having a traumatic situation beset him  early on. The Sweet Hereafter, a 1997 drama by Canadian director and  screenwriter Atom Egoyan, suffers from both maladies. It’s not a bad film, but  it certainly is not a great film, either &#8212; much less ‘the best film of the year’ as  Los Angeles Times [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.altfg.com/blog/reviews/the-sweet-hereafter-ian-holm-sarah-polley/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>2</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>THE SWEET HEREAFTER d: Atom Egoyan</title>
		<link>http://www.altfg.com/blog/film-reviews/the-sweet-hereafter-atom-egoyan/</link>
		<comments>http://www.altfg.com/blog/film-reviews/the-sweet-hereafter-atom-egoyan/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 02 Sep 2009 08:27:39 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Dan Schneider</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Film Reviews]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Atom Egoyan]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Bruce Greenwood]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[DVDs]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Ian Holm]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Russell Banks]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Sarah Polley]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[The Sweet Hereafter]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.altfg.com/blog/?p=15756</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[THE SWEET HEREAFTER Review: Part I
Nichole  is also hamhandedly used  as a symbol when she recites Robert Browning&#8217;s  poem The Pied Piper of Hamelin. The idea of lost children is so obvious in The  Sweet Hereafter  that the reason Egoyan adds this touch is bewildering, save that he &#8212; bizarrely &#8212; felt  the loss wasn&#8217;t evident enough. That   begs the question of just  how confident Egoyan was in Banks&#8217; original work,  for the poem is only one of many  elements in the film that are supposed to be significantly different from the book.
Another side story focuses &#8212; of course &#8212; on the lone man in town, Billy Ansell, who, [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.altfg.com/blog/film-reviews/the-sweet-hereafter-atom-egoyan/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>THE MAN FROM LONDON d: Béla Tarr</title>
		<link>http://www.altfg.com/blog/reviews/the-man-from-london-bela-tarr/</link>
		<comments>http://www.altfg.com/blog/reviews/the-man-from-london-bela-tarr/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 03 Aug 2009 22:22:33 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Dan Schneider</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Reviews]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Béla Tarr]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[DVDs]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Film Reviews]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Georges Simenon]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[László Krasznahorkai]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Miroslav Krobot]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Mystery Movies]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[The Man from London]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Tilda Swinton]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.altfg.com/blog/?p=14947</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[
A londoni férfi / The Man from London  (2007)
Direction: Béla Tarr
Screenplay: Béla Tarr	 and László Krasznahorkai; from Georges Simenon&#8217;s novel
Cast: Miroslav Krobot, Tilda Swinton, Ági Szirtes, János Derzsi, Erika Bók, István Lénárt
&#160;

&#160;

By Dan Schneider of Cosmoetica:
 Style over substance.
 That is the plaint of many a critic when they come across a film or book or any work of art they do not like, but which has undeniable merit, at least technically, if not in a few other measures as well. But the fact is that my opening words have little to do with most of the gripes labeled as such. While there are artworks for which the opening plaint is valid, far more often the correct plaint is [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.altfg.com/blog/reviews/the-man-from-london-bela-tarr/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>1</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>THE MAN FROM LONDON Review II</title>
		<link>http://www.altfg.com/blog/dvds/the-man-from-london-review/</link>
		<comments>http://www.altfg.com/blog/dvds/the-man-from-london-review/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 03 Aug 2009 22:20:40 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Dan Schneider</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[DVDs]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Béla Tarr]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Film Reviews]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Fred Kelemen]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[László Krasznahorkai]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Mihály Vig]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Mystery Movies]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[The Man from London]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.altfg.com/blog/?p=14948</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[
THE MAN FROM LONDON: Part I
From Satantango, Tarr does the almost inverse of what he did with the Damnation sequence, taking several great scenes of people at a bar, and invoking a similar scene in a pool hall in The Man from London. But unlike a similar single scene in Werckmeister Harmonies, which illuminates the lead character’s inner self, the sequence in The Man from London plays as a sort of grotesque bit, tossed in just for shock value. 
In Satantango, the bar scenes play out much longer; one scene, in particular, is shown from two different perspectives at two different points in the film. This causes a parallax that is absent in the pool hall scene, which also fails [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.altfg.com/blog/dvds/the-man-from-london-review/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>THE MAN FROM LONDON Review III</title>
		<link>http://www.altfg.com/blog/directors/the-man-from-london-tilda-swinton/</link>
		<comments>http://www.altfg.com/blog/directors/the-man-from-london-tilda-swinton/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 03 Aug 2009 22:08:43 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Dan Schneider</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Directors]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Artificial Eye]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Béla Tarr]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[DVDs]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Erika Bok]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Film Reviews]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Mystery Movies]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[The Man from London]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Tilda Swinton]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.altfg.com/blog/?p=14954</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[
THE MAN FROM LONDON: Part I
THE MAN FROM LONDON: Part II
We then follow Maloin to his home, where Tarr offers some great scenes of him trying to sleep and dreaming of the prior night. We also see his protectiveness toward his daughter, Henriette (Erika Bok), and his arguments with his nameless wife (played by Swinton), who comes off as a typical harridan. All of these scenes, no matter how well filmed, feel tired and repetitive. By contrast, in Tarr’s earlier Satantango, Erika Bok plays a small girl who violently wrestles with and kills her cat. Despite the ugly nature of that sequence, it elucidates both Bok&#8217;s character and one of that film&#8217;s major plot points and themes. No such corresponding [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.altfg.com/blog/directors/the-man-from-london-tilda-swinton/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>IT CAME FROM BENEATH THE SEA d: Robert Gordon</title>
		<link>http://www.altfg.com/blog/classics/it-came-from-beneath-the-sea-faith-domergue/</link>
		<comments>http://www.altfg.com/blog/classics/it-came-from-beneath-the-sea-faith-domergue/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 29 May 2009 00:09:58 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Dan Schneider</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Classics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[20 Million Miles to Earth]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Charles Schneer]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Chuck Griffiths]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Classic Movies]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Close Encounters of the Third Kind]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Columbia]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Dean Maddox Jr]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Donald Curtis]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Faith Domergue]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Film Reviews]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[George Worthing Yates]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Hal Smith]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Harry Lauter]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Henry  Freulich]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Horror Movies]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Ian Keith]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[It Came from Beneath the Sea]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Kenneth Tobey]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Leonard Nimoy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Mischa  Bakeleinikoff]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Monster Movies]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Mysterious Island]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Ray Bradbury]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Ray Harryhausen]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Richard W. Peterson]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Robert Gordon]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Science Fiction Movies]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[The Fantastic Films of Ray Harryhausen]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[The Harryhausen Chronicles]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.altfg.com/blog/?p=12676</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[
It Came from Beneath the Sea  (1955)
Direction: Robert Gordon
Screenplay: George Worthing Yates and Hal Smith
Cast: Kenneth Tobey, Faith Domergue, Donald Curtis, Ian Keith, Dean Maddox Jr, Harry Lauter, Chuck Griffiths, Richard W. Peterson
&#160;

&#160;

By Dan Schneider of Cosmoetica:
I looked through  one of my DVD sets, Columbia Pictures&#8217; &#34;The Fantastic Films of Ray Harryhausen, Legendary  Science Fiction Series,&#34;  and plucked an old fave  of mine to rewatch: the 78-minute,  black-and-white, 1955 classic It Came from Beneath the Sea. While not one of the  more hyped Ray Harryhausen productions, this sci-fi effort is still  a cut  above the usual drive-in fare of that era. As a plus &#8212; drum roll &#8212; it stars Faith [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.altfg.com/blog/classics/it-came-from-beneath-the-sea-faith-domergue/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>1</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>THE LIMEY d: Steven Soderbergh</title>
		<link>http://www.altfg.com/blog/film-reviews/the-limey-steven-soderbergh-stamp/</link>
		<comments>http://www.altfg.com/blog/film-reviews/the-limey-steven-soderbergh-stamp/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 04 May 2009 18:05:47 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Dan Schneider</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Film Reviews]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Amelia Heinle]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Barry Newman]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Christopher Nolan]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[DVDs]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Joe Dallesandro]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Lem Dobbs]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Lesley Ann Warren]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Luis Guzmán]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Melissa George]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Nicky Katt]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Peter Fonda]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Psychological Drama]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Steven Soderbergh]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Terence Stamp]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[The Limey]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Thrillers]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.altfg.com/blog/?p=11294</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[
The Limey (1999)
Direction: Steven Soderbergh
Screenplay: Lem Dobbs
Cast: Terence Stamp, Lesley Ann Warren, Luis Guzman, Peter Fonda, Barry Newman, Joe Dallesandro, Nicky Katt, Amelia Heinle, Melissa George

&#160;

&#160;
By Dan Schneider of Cosmoetica:
Director Steven  Soderbergh’s 1999 so-called crime drama The Limey  is  easily the best  Soderbergh effort I’ve  seen. That&#8217;s partly due  to the innovative narrative structure, which  makes all but the  last  few minutes of this great film a flashback. The rest is due to an excellent  script by  Lem Dobbs, whose other great success came a year  earlier, in Alex Proyas’ sci-fi thriller Dark City. Both films, despite  their apparent differences, are acutely focused on human memory and [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.altfg.com/blog/film-reviews/the-limey-steven-soderbergh-stamp/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>THE LIMEY II &#8211; Terence Stamp</title>
		<link>http://www.altfg.com/blog/film-reviews/the-limey-terence-stamp-peter-fonda/</link>
		<comments>http://www.altfg.com/blog/film-reviews/the-limey-terence-stamp-peter-fonda/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 04 May 2009 18:04:33 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Dan Schneider</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Film Reviews]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Alain Resnais]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Amelia Heinle]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Barry Newman]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[DVDs]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Gena Rowlands]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Jacques Tourneur]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Joe Dallesandro]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Lem Dobbs]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Lesley Ann Warren]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Luis Guzmán]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Melissa George]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Michelangelo Antonioni]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Nicky Katt]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Peter Fonda]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Psychological Drama]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Robert Wise]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Samuel Fuller]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Steven Soderbergh]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Terence Stamp]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[The Limey]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Thrillers]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Woody Allen]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.altfg.com/blog/?p=11296</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[
THE LIMEY &#8211; Part I
Aside from memory, there are superbly rendered details that distill the characters: Wilson radiates  affection for Eduardo’s help in tracking down Valentine by fondly calling him  Sancho (as in Panza). All of these things &#8212; along with Eduardo’s and Elaine’s  motivations, and the portrayal of the relationship between the hitmen &#8212; work well. In fact, they work so well  precisely because there are no specifics, but generalities sharply   etched so that the viewer ‘feels,’ as well as understands, the motivations  and relationships. That allows the viewer to feel what goes on inside Wilson, thus creating a stronger identification with him than would be  gotten were all things laid [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.altfg.com/blog/film-reviews/the-limey-terence-stamp-peter-fonda/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>1</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>MY KID COULD PAINT THAT d: Amir Bar-Lev</title>
		<link>http://www.altfg.com/blog/documentary/my-kid-could-paint-that-d-amir-bar-lev/</link>
		<comments>http://www.altfg.com/blog/documentary/my-kid-could-paint-that-d-amir-bar-lev/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 11 Apr 2009 01:00:28 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Dan Schneider</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Documentaries]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Amir Bar-Lev]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Art]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Child Prodigies]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[DVDs]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Film Reviews]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Marla Olmstead]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Michael Kimmelman]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[My Kid Could Paint That]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Painters]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.altfg.com/blog/?p=10015</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[
My Kid Could Paint That (2007)
Direction: Amir Bar-Lev
&#160; 

&#160; 

By Dan Schneider of Cosmoetica:
In a real sense,  the 83-minute  documentary  My Kid Could Paint That is one of  the most disgusting films of all time. It disgusts because 

a) it so vividly displays  the utter nonsense and stupidity of the modern art scamming that has gone on  for the last half century or more (especially in Abstract Expressionism) &#8212; and  that’s a good thing; and 
b) it so vividly displays the exploitation of an  innocent child, Marla Olmstead, to  meet the personal and psychological demands and needs of her Mark and Laura &#8212; and that’s a bad thing.

Basically, the  film, [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.altfg.com/blog/documentary/my-kid-could-paint-that-d-amir-bar-lev/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>3</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>MY KID COULD PAINT THAT Review Part II</title>
		<link>http://www.altfg.com/blog/documentary/my-kid-could-paint-that-review-ii/</link>
		<comments>http://www.altfg.com/blog/documentary/my-kid-could-paint-that-review-ii/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 11 Apr 2009 00:58:52 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Dan Schneider</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Documentaries]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Amir Bar-Lev]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Art]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Child Prodigies]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[F for Fake]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Film Reviews]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Marla Olmstead]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Michael Kimmelman]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[My Kid Could Paint That]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Orson Welles]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.altfg.com/blog/?p=10027</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[MY KID COULD PAINT THAT Review &#8211; Part I

The My Kid Could Paint That DVD&#8217;s best (or worst)  feature is a brief set of queries directed at the New York Times’ Kimmelman (above).  His answers and disingenuity make for an enjoyable bit of borderline hilarity  as the man shows an utter ineptness in responding to even the most basic and  straightforward queries on art, as well as having nothing of substance to say even  when one decodes his pontifications. It’s as if he’s dedicated to the notion  that art is the preserve of  didacts and dilettantes such as himself. 
Had Bar-Lev really wanted to push the documentary form further, he could have crafted [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.altfg.com/blog/documentary/my-kid-could-paint-that-review-ii/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>DAYS OF &#8216;36 d: Theo Angelopoulos</title>
		<link>http://www.altfg.com/blog/film-reviews/days-of-36-d-theo-angelopoulos/</link>
		<comments>http://www.altfg.com/blog/film-reviews/days-of-36-d-theo-angelopoulos/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 09 Mar 2009 19:54:05 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Dan Schneider</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Classics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[DVDs]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[European Cinema]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Film Reviews]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Gay and Lesbian]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Politics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Classic Movies]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Gay Interest]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.altfg.com/blog/?p=8825</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[
Meres tou &#8216;36 / Days of &#8216;36 (1972)
Direction: Theo Angelopoulos
Screenplay: Theo Angelopoulos, Petros Markaris,  Thanassis Valtinos and Stratis Karras
Cast: Giorgos Kiritsis, Christoforos  Chimaras, Takis Doukakos,  Kostas Pavlou, Petros Zarkadis,  Christophoros Nezer
&#160;


&#160; 
By Dan Schneider of Cosmoetica:
Greek film director  Theo Angelopoulos&#8216; 1972 effort  Meres  Tou &#8216;36 / Days of &#8216;36, winner of the International Film Critics Association award at the  Berlin Film Festival, is the least of  the several films of his that I&#8217;ve seen. It is also, by over a decade and a  half, the earliest  one I&#8217;ve seen so far, and at one hour and 45  minutes it is by a good margin the shortest as well. [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.altfg.com/blog/film-reviews/days-of-36-d-theo-angelopoulos/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>BLADE RUNNER IV</title>
		<link>http://www.altfg.com/blog/hollywood/blade-runner-review/</link>
		<comments>http://www.altfg.com/blog/hollywood/blade-runner-review/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 21 Jan 2009 21:44:40 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Dan Schneider</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Hollywood]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Blade Runner]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Darryl Hannah]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Film Reviews]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Harrison Ford]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Ridley Scott]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Sean Young]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.altfg.com/blog/?p=15611</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[
Harrison Ford in Blade Runner

BLADE RUNNER Review: Part I
BLADE RUNNER Review: Part II
BLADE RUNNER Review: Part III
The DVD version of &#34;The  Final Cut&#34; comes on two discs.  The second disc  offers only a three-hour-plus documentary,   Dangerous Days: Making Blade Runner. While Dangerous Days has some interesting information,  its length is off-putting, especially considering the rather wan film it  explores so deeply. The first disc contains the film, and it is certainly a  visual stunner &#8212; Jordan Cronenweth&#8217;s cinematography is remarkable, though,  again, there is no &#8217;signature&#8217; visual moment that raises Blade Runner  above dozens  of other sci-fi movies. On the downside, Vangelis&#8216; score,  like all his film music, [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.altfg.com/blog/hollywood/blade-runner-review/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>BLADE RUNNER III d: Ridley Scott</title>
		<link>http://www.altfg.com/blog/classics/blade-runner-commentary/</link>
		<comments>http://www.altfg.com/blog/classics/blade-runner-commentary/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 21 Jan 2009 21:43:57 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Dan Schneider</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Classics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Blade Runner]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Film Reviews]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Harrison Ford]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Ridley Scott]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.altfg.com/blog/?p=15610</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[
Harrison Ford in Blade Runner

BLADE RUNNER Review: Part I
BLADE RUNNER Review: Part II
Also,  even if the  original version makes it rather clear he is not a Replicant, who really cares?  Deckard is listless to the point that whether or not he is an android or just a  malaise-ridden human seems of no great import. The more important question about Blade Runner is, Why is it so dull despite  such a rich and complex potential to mine?
Additionally, numerous minor moments are  taken to be symbolically significant despite the lack of any evidence. In  the DVD edition of &#34;The  Final Cut,&#34; on his own commentary track,   Ridley Scott himself ridicules all the [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.altfg.com/blog/classics/blade-runner-commentary/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>BLADE RUNNER II &#8211; Harrison Ford</title>
		<link>http://www.altfg.com/blog/reviews/blade-runner-harrison-ford/</link>
		<comments>http://www.altfg.com/blog/reviews/blade-runner-harrison-ford/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 21 Jan 2009 21:42:50 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Dan Schneider</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Reviews]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Blade Runner]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Film Reviews]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Harrison Ford]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Ridley Scott]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Rutger Hauer]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.altfg.com/blog/?p=15609</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[
Posted by sochmaKer

BLADE RUNNER Review: Part I
Deckard goes to see  Tyrell, and meets his latest version of a Replicant, Rachael (Sean  Young), who does not realize she is a Replicant. (They are supposedly  outlawed, but let&#8217;s go with the film&#8217;s  inconsistencies.) Meanwhile, Batty and Leon  strongarm their way to get information on how to confront Tyrell. Batty, however, can sense his life  is nearing its end. After some encounters that leave lots of humans and Replicants dead, Deckard and Batty face off in a rooftop melee over  L.A. But instead of a final battle, Deckard watches  as Batty&#8217;s life fades away. Before his last breath, Batty utters a  cringe-worthy soliloquy:
&#34;I&#8217;ve seen [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.altfg.com/blog/reviews/blade-runner-harrison-ford/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>BLADE RUNNER &#8211; Harrison Ford &#8211; d: Ridley Scott</title>
		<link>http://www.altfg.com/blog/film-reviews/blade-runner-harrison-ford-ridley-scott/</link>
		<comments>http://www.altfg.com/blog/film-reviews/blade-runner-harrison-ford-ridley-scott/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 21 Jan 2009 21:41:57 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Dan Schneider</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Film Reviews]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Blade Runner]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Classic Movies]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[DVDs]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Harrison Ford]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Oscar 1982]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Oscar Movies]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Ridley Scott]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Rutger Hauer]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Science Fiction Movies]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Sean Young]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.altfg.com/blog/?p=7304</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[
Blade Runner (1982)
Direction: Ridley Scott
Screenplay: Hampton Fancher and David Peoples; from Philip K. Dick&#8217;s novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
Cast: Harrison Ford, Rutger Hauer, Sean Young, Edward James Olmos, M. Emmet Walsh, Daryl Hannah, Joanna Cassidy, Brion James
&#160;

&#160;

By Dan Schneider of Cosmoetica:
Director Ridley  Scott&#8217;s dystopian 1982 sci-fi drama Blade Runner is one of those  Hollywood productions whose initially mixed reviews were actually closer to the mark than the  decades of hagiography  that followed. That&#8217;s not to say that Blade Runner is a bad film; it&#8217;s  only a  much-ballyhooed mediocrity &#8212; due   mostly to its  sluggish screenplay &#8212; rather than a great film. 
Adapted by Hampton Fancher and David Peoples  [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.altfg.com/blog/film-reviews/blade-runner-harrison-ford-ridley-scott/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>5</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>CASABLANCA VII &#8211; Final Commentary</title>
		<link>http://www.altfg.com/blog/film-reviews/casablanca-commentary/</link>
		<comments>http://www.altfg.com/blog/film-reviews/casablanca-commentary/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 22 Dec 2008 20:53:46 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Dan Schneider</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Film Reviews]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Casablanca]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Classic Movies]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Dooley Wilson]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Michael Curtiz]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.altfg.com/blog/?p=16046</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[
Dooley Wilson, Humphrey Bogart in Casablanca

CASABLANCA Review Part VI
On the plus side, Casablanca is quite  modern  in terms of  pacing (and in some aspects of editing), for within the first ten or twelve  minutes you feel as if you know these archetypal characters (for good or ill),  as if you&#8217;d already had a full movie&#8217;s worth of them under your belt. This  is part of the reason why the film sucks you into its vortex, and gets (subjectively) better as it goes on, even if, objectively, it&#8217;s  fairly static  in terms of plot. 
On the downside, Casablanca has not dated well because of its poor special effects (at the level of Alfred [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.altfg.com/blog/film-reviews/casablanca-commentary/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>CASABLANCA VI &#8211; Review</title>
		<link>http://www.altfg.com/blog/film-movies/casablanca-review/</link>
		<comments>http://www.altfg.com/blog/film-movies/casablanca-review/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 22 Dec 2008 20:52:22 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Dan Schneider</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Film]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Casablanca]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Classic Movies]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Film Reviews]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Umberto Eco]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.altfg.com/blog/?p=16034</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[
Ingrid Bergman, Humphrey Bogart in Casablanca

CASABLANCA V d: Michael Curtiz
In his essay &#8216;Casablanca, or, The  Cliches Are Having a Ball&#8216; writer-philosopher Umberto Eco states:
&#8216;Casablanca is not just one film. It is many films, an  anthology. Made haphazardly, it probably made itself, if not actually against  the will of its authors and actors, then at least beyond their control. And  this is the reason it works, in spite of aesthetic theories and theories of  film making. For in it there unfolds with almost telluric force the power of  Narrative in its natural state, without Art intervening to discipline it. And  so we can accept it when characters change mood, morality, and psychology from  [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.altfg.com/blog/film-movies/casablanca-review/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>CASABLANCA V d: Michael Curtiz</title>
		<link>http://www.altfg.com/blog/dvds/casablanca/</link>
		<comments>http://www.altfg.com/blog/dvds/casablanca/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 22 Dec 2008 20:51:46 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Dan Schneider</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[DVDs]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Casablanca]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Classic Movies]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Film Reviews]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Howard Koch]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Julius J. Epstein]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Michael Curtiz]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Phillip G. Epstein]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.altfg.com/blog/?p=16033</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[

CASABLANCA IV &#8211; Ingrid Bergman
Casablanca  is part of a two-disc DVD package, put out by Warner Bros.  Disc one has the film in a transfer  (1.33:1 aspect ratio) stunningly free of  blemishes. The disc also has two theatrical trailers (the original  and re-release trailers); an introduction by Bogart&#8217;s widow, Lauren Bacall;  and  two commentaries. The lesser one is by film historian Rudy Behlmer. It&#8217;s loaded  with information on the making of the film, but Behlmer is just reading from a  script of Warner Bros. inter-office memos about the film, and few of the  facts are scene-specific. Behlmer&#8217;s monotone is also rather off-putting, and he  rarely ventures an idea or [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.altfg.com/blog/dvds/casablanca/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>CASABLANCA IV &#8211; Ingrid Bergman</title>
		<link>http://www.altfg.com/blog/hollywood/casablanca-ingrid-bergman/</link>
		<comments>http://www.altfg.com/blog/hollywood/casablanca-ingrid-bergman/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 22 Dec 2008 20:50:30 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Dan Schneider</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Hollywood]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Casablanca]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Classic Movies]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Claude Rains]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Conrad Veidt]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Film Reviews]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Ingrid Bergman]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Peter Lorre]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.altfg.com/blog/?p=16032</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[
Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman in Casablanca

CASABLANCA III &#8211; Humphrey Bogart
That brings me to the last and least of the trio of star performances:  Ingrid Bergman&#8217;s rather mediocre portrayal of Ilsa Lund. First, it&#8217;s not a truly bad  performance, but it&#8217;s nowhere near great. One need only look at contemporaneous  performances by, say,  Katharine Hepburn, Joan Crawford, Bette Davis, or even Judy  Garland, to see how much Bergman pales in contrast. Ilsa is a pawn, a toy, a  heroine whose life is the plaything of the two men in her life &#8212; and,  incidentally, isn&#8217;t it interesting how similar in facial construction both  Henreid and Bogart are? A fortuitous development that adds some [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.altfg.com/blog/hollywood/casablanca-ingrid-bergman/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>CASABLANCA III &#8211; Humphrey Bogart</title>
		<link>http://www.altfg.com/blog/reviews/casablanca-humphrey-bogart/</link>
		<comments>http://www.altfg.com/blog/reviews/casablanca-humphrey-bogart/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 22 Dec 2008 20:49:26 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Dan Schneider</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Reviews]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Casablanca]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Classic Movies]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Film Reviews]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Humphrey Bogart]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.altfg.com/blog/?p=16031</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[CASABLANCA II &#8211; Paul Henreid
Now, contrast  Henreid&#8217;s Victor with Bogart&#8217;s Rick. Rick is rather one-dimensional despite  the character&#8217;s early evocations of depth. His attraction to Ilsa seems quite  superficial; after all, in the flashback scenes in Paris and even those in  Casablanca, does he ever speak of higher purpose? No, Rick is wholly selfish,  through and through. Bogart&#8217;s Rick  is also a far showier role than Henreid&#8217;s Laszlo. But does Bogart do anything  more with it?
Despite some wittier lines and the nice scene where  Rick lets a Romanian refugee couple win at roulette to pay for their visas out  of Casablanca, is Rick Blaine sufficiently different from the Sam Spade Bogart [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.altfg.com/blog/reviews/casablanca-humphrey-bogart/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>CASABLANCA II &#8211; Paul Henreid</title>
		<link>http://www.altfg.com/blog/classics/casablanca-paul-henreid/</link>
		<comments>http://www.altfg.com/blog/classics/casablanca-paul-henreid/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 22 Dec 2008 20:48:13 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Dan Schneider</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Classics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Casablanca]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Classic Movies]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Film Reviews]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Paul Henreid]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.altfg.com/blog/?p=16030</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[
Paul Henreid, Ingrid Bergman, Claude Rains, Humphrey Bogart in Casablanca

CASABLANCA Review Part I
Beginning with the three top-billed  actors: Humphrey Bogart as club owner Rick Blaine, Ingrid Bergman as his ex-lover  Ilsa Lund, and Paul Henreid as Ilsa&#8217;s husband, the Czechoslovakian Nazi  Resistance outlaw, Victor Laszlo. Virtually all critiques of this trio leave  Henreid as the odd man out, mainly because the film focuses on the love angle  between Rick and Ilsa. But from a purely technical standpoint, Henreid gives,  by far, the best performance of the trio.  Because it is the most retrained and understated, however, it usually gets  dismissed as stiff acting, rather than good acting of an intentionally stiff  [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.altfg.com/blog/classics/casablanca-paul-henreid/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>CASABLANCA</title>
		<link>http://www.altfg.com/blog/film-reviews/casablanca-d-michael-curtiz/</link>
		<comments>http://www.altfg.com/blog/film-reviews/casablanca-d-michael-curtiz/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 22 Dec 2008 21:47:00 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Dan Schneider</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Film Reviews]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Casablanca]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Classic Movies]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Humphrey Bogart]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Ingrid Bergman]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Michael Curtiz]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Oscar 1943]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Oscar Movies]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Romantic Movies]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.altfg.com/blog/?p=6005</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[
Casablanca (1942)
Direction: Michael Curtiz
Screenplay: Julius J. Epstein, Philip G. Epstein, Howard Koch; from Murray Burnett and Joan Alison&#8217;s unproduced play &#34;Everybody Comes to Rick&#8217;s&#34;
Cast: Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman, Paul Henreid, Claude Rains, Sydney Greenstreet, Peter Lorre, Conrad Veidt, S. Z. Sakall, Dooley Wilson, Joy Page
&#160;

Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman in Casablanca
&#160;

By Dan Schneider of Cosmoetica:
About three years  ago, I finally gave in to watch It&#8217;s a Wonderful Life (1946) for the first time.  I had hesitated because of the five- and ten-minute snippets of the film I had  seen, and for its reputation as a hokey Christmas story &#8216;chestnut.&#8217; Well, was I wrong, for It&#8217;s a Wonderful Life  is a truly great film &#8212; arguably the best [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.altfg.com/blog/film-reviews/casablanca-d-michael-curtiz/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>3</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>MAN BITES DOG d: Benoît Poelvoorde, Rémy Belvaux, André Bonzel</title>
		<link>http://www.altfg.com/blog/film-reviews/man-bites-dog-poelvoorde-belvaux-bonzel/</link>
		<comments>http://www.altfg.com/blog/film-reviews/man-bites-dog-poelvoorde-belvaux-bonzel/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 19 Nov 2008 23:29:01 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Dan Schneider</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[DVDs]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[European Cinema]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Film Reviews]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.altfg.com/blog/?p=5132</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[C&#8217;est arrivé près de chez vous / Man Bites Dog aka It Happened in Your Neighborhood (1992)
Direction: Benoît Poelvoorde, Rémy Belvaux, André Bonzel. Screenplay: Benoît Poelvoorde, Rémy Belvaux, André Bonzel, Vincent Tavier. Cast:  Benoît Poelvoorde, Rémy Belvaux, André Bonzel, Jean-Marc Chenut, Alain Oppexxi, Vincent Tavier
&#160;

&#160;
By Dan Schneider of Cosmoetica:
The 1992 Belgian  mockumentary C&#8217;est arrivé près de chez vous / Man Bites Dog (or, somewhat literally, It  Happened in Your Neighborhood) is one of those films that is neither bad nor  good, and not really its own &#34;thing,&#34; either. By that I mean that it is manifestly  influenced by  works that came before it, so it is nothing original, while also  displaying techniques that [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.altfg.com/blog/film-reviews/man-bites-dog-poelvoorde-belvaux-bonzel/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>FIRE d: Deepa Mehta</title>
		<link>http://www.altfg.com/blog/film-reviews/fire-deepa-mehta-azmi-nandita-das/</link>
		<comments>http://www.altfg.com/blog/film-reviews/fire-deepa-mehta-azmi-nandita-das/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 11 Sep 2008 06:45:18 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Dan Schneider</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Asian Cinema]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Bollywood]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Canadian Cinema]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[DVDs]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Film Reviews]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Gay and Lesbian]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Gay Interest]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.altfg.com/blog/?p=4201</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Fire (1996)
Direction and screenplay: Deepa Mehta. Cast: Shabana Azmi, Nandita Das, Jaaved Jaaferi, Kulbhushan Kharbanda, Ranjit Chowdhry, Kushal Rekhi, Alice Poon
&#160;
By Dan Schneider of Cosmoetica:
I watched the 1996 Canadian film Fire by Indian filmmaker Deepa Mehta after having long heard of its taboo nature based mainly on its depiction of lesbianism. And while not a silly film &#8212; such as the softcore When Night Is Falling or the horrid Hollywood &#8216;Hook&#8217;em&#8217; Brokeback Mountain &#8212; Fire is nowhere near a great film, either.
As for the lesbianism, there is very little skin and the &#8216;love story&#8217; is rather demure. On the other hand, there is far too much radical Feminist (capital F) ideology that lowers the intellectual argument of Mehta&#8217;s film &#8212; [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.altfg.com/blog/film-reviews/fire-deepa-mehta-azmi-nandita-das/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>2</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>LAST YEAR IN MARIENBAD d: Alain Resnais</title>
		<link>http://www.altfg.com/blog/film-reviews/last-year-in-marienbad-d-alain-resnais/</link>
		<comments>http://www.altfg.com/blog/film-reviews/last-year-in-marienbad-d-alain-resnais/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 07 Jul 2008 23:06:47 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Dan Schneider</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Classics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[European Cinema]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Film Reviews]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[French Cinema]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Classic Movies]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.altfg.com/blog/?p=2785</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[L&#8217;Année dernière à Marienbad / Last Year in Marienbad (1961)
 Direction: Alain Resnais. Screenplay: Alain Robbe-Grillet. Cast: Delphine Seyrig, Giorgio Albertazzi, Sacha Pitoëff
&#160;

&#160;
By Dan Schneider of Cosmoetica:
Forget all prior claims you&#8217;ve read about Alain Resnais&#8216; 90-minute, black-and-white L&#8217;Année dernière à Marienbad / Last Year in Marienbad (1961) from the bad to the good, from publicity nonsense which declaims the three main characters are named after letters (they are actually unnamed), and see it raw; for then you&#8217;ll see why greatness is its own company. That&#8217;s because the difference between this truly great film, a work of art considered a cinematic high point, and the 1962 Carnival of Souls, considered a B-horror film, are minimal. Their similarities, however, are considerable, even [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.altfg.com/blog/film-reviews/last-year-in-marienbad-d-alain-resnais/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>STARDUST MEMORIES &#8211; Woody Allen, Charlotte Rampling</title>
		<link>http://www.altfg.com/blog/film-reviews/stardust-memories-d-woody-allen/</link>
		<comments>http://www.altfg.com/blog/film-reviews/stardust-memories-d-woody-allen/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 12 Jun 2008 05:09:31 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Dan Schneider</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Film Reviews]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[DVDs]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.altfg.com/blog/?p=2729</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Stardust Memories (1980)
Direction and Screenplay: Woody Allen. Cast: Woody Allen, Charlotte Rampling, Marie-Christine Barrault, Jessica Harper, Tony Roberts, Daniel Stern, Amy Wright
&#160;

&#160;
By Dan Schneider of Cosmoetica:
One of the interesting things about a great work of art is how, upon re-experience a) it holds up and/or b) deepens into something even better. From the first time I saw Woody Allen&#8217;s 88-minute black-and-white 1980 effort Stardust Memories (made early on in Woody&#8217;s Golden Era of 1977-1992) on a VHS tape, I knew I was watching one of the greatest films ever made. 
In the following years &#8212; after 12-15 rewatchings of the film (progressing to DVD) &#8212; nothing has changed my mind in that regard. Not even the red herring of linking [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.altfg.com/blog/film-reviews/stardust-memories-d-woody-allen/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>2</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>SALÒ, OR THE 120 DAYS OF SODOM d: Pier Paolo Pasolini</title>
		<link>http://www.altfg.com/blog/film-reviews/salo-or-the-120-days-of-sodom-by-pier-paolo-pasolini/</link>
		<comments>http://www.altfg.com/blog/film-reviews/salo-or-the-120-days-of-sodom-by-pier-paolo-pasolini/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sun, 20 Apr 2008 04:30:02 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Dan Schneider</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Censorship]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[DVDs]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[European Cinema]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Film]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Film Reviews]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Gay and Lesbian]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Italian Cinema]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Sex]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Gay Interest]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.altfg.com/blog/?p=2559</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Salò o le 120 giornate di Sodoma / Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom (1975)
Direction: Pier Paolo Pasolini. Screenplay: Pier Paolo Pasolini and Sergio Citti; inspired by the Marquis de Sade&#8217;s book. Cast: Paolo Bonacelli, Giorgio Cataldi, Umberto Paolo Quintavalle, Aldo Valletti, Caterina Boratto, Elsa De Giorgi, Hélène Surgère, Sergio Fascetti, Bruno Musso, Antonio Orlando
&#160;

&#160;
 By Dan Schneider of Cosmoetica:
Why is it that bad artists always try to justify their garbage by claiming to be experimental, political, or any other label that does not pertain to the quality of the artwork itself? Well, it&#8217;s simple &#8212; they cannot justify it in any other way. Naturally, when the film or novel or painting has been banned in many places, it [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.altfg.com/blog/film-reviews/salo-or-the-120-days-of-sodom-by-pier-paolo-pasolini/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>15</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>SANSHO THE BAILIFF d: Kenji Mizoguchi</title>
		<link>http://www.altfg.com/blog/film-reviews/sansho-the-bailiff-by-kenji-mizoguchi/</link>
		<comments>http://www.altfg.com/blog/film-reviews/sansho-the-bailiff-by-kenji-mizoguchi/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 24 Mar 2008 07:12:06 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Dan Schneider</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Asian Cinema]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Classics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[DVDs]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Film Reviews]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Japanese Cinema]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Classic Movies]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.altfg.com/blog/film-reviews/sansho-the-bailiff-by-kenji-mizoguchi/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Sanshô Dayû / Sansho the Bailiff (1954)
Direction: Kenji Mizoguchi. Screenplay: Fuji Yahiro; from the old legend and Ogai Mori&#8217;s 1915 short story &#8220;Sansho the Steward.&#8221; Cast: Shindô Eitarô, Kyoko Kagawa, Yoshiaki Hanayagi
&#160;
By Dan Schneider of Cosmoetica:
One of the nostra about Japanese film director Kenji Mizoguchi is that he is &#8216;the most Japanese of all filmmakers.&#8217; Another is that, compared to his two titanic contemporaries, Yasujiro Ozu and Akira Kurosawa, Mizoguchi was the hardest to pin down in a style or genre. Having just watched Sanshô Dayû / Sansho the Bailiff (1954) I can agree with both of the above sentiments.
 First, Mizoguchi excels at the jidai-geki (historical drama) genre. Second, whereas Ugetsu Monogatari (the only other Mizoguchi film I&#8217;ve seen) [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.altfg.com/blog/film-reviews/sansho-the-bailiff-by-kenji-mizoguchi/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
	</channel>
</rss>
