<?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; Film Reviews</title>
	<atom:link href="http://www.altfg.com/blog/category/film-reviews/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 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>THREE MONKEYS in New York City</title>
		<link>http://www.altfg.com/blog/film-reviews/three-monkeys-nuri-birge-ceylan/</link>
		<comments>http://www.altfg.com/blog/film-reviews/three-monkeys-nuri-birge-ceylan/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 04 May 2009 19:32:56 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Andre Soares</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Film Reviews]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Nuri Bilge Ceylan]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Three Monkeys]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.altfg.com/blog/?p=11305</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[
Nuri Bilge Ceylan&#8217;s drama Three Monkeys, which earned Ceylan the best director award at the 2008 Cannes Film Festival,  opened Friday in New York City. 
Three Monkeys, which also happens to have been Turkey&#8217;s submission for the 2009 best foreign language film Academy Awards, is currently playing at the Cinema Village 12th Street and the Lincoln Plaza Cinemas.
&#160;
]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.altfg.com/blog/film-reviews/three-monkeys-nuri-birge-ceylan/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>LADY WINDERMERE&#8217;S FAN &#8211; Ronald Colman &#8211; d: Ernst Lubitsch</title>
		<link>http://www.altfg.com/blog/film-reviews/lady-windermeres-fan-ernst-lubitsch-colman/</link>
		<comments>http://www.altfg.com/blog/film-reviews/lady-windermeres-fan-ernst-lubitsch-colman/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 30 Mar 2009 07:25:19 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Andre Soares</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Film Reviews]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Bert Lytell]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Classic Movies]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Edward Martindel]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Ernst Lubitsch]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Four-Star Movies]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Irene Rich]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Julien Josephson]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Maude Fulton]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[May McAvoy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Oscar Wilde]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Ronald Colman]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Silent Films]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Sophisticated Comedies]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.altfg.com/blog/?p=9615</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[
Lady Windermere&#8217;s Fan (1925)
Direction: Ernst Lubitsch
Screenplay: Julien Josephson; titles: Maude Fulton and Erik Yorke; from Oscar Wilde&#8217;s play
Cast: Ronald Colman, May McAvoy, Bert Lytell, Irene Rich, Edward Martindel


&#160;
 Bert Lytell is the nice husband, May McAvoy the jealous wife, Ronald Colman the other man, and Irene Rich (above) the scene stealer in Ernst Lubitsch&#8217;s delightful film version of Oscar Wilde&#8217;s play Lady Windermere&#8217;s Fan. 
In the film, Rich plays Mrs. Erlynne, a woman of the world in search of a lordly husband. McAvoy is her clueless daughter, Lady Windermere: she doesn&#8217;t know her mother&#8217;s identity and mistakenly believes that Mrs. Erlynne has set her sights on handsome Lord Windermere (Lytell). 
Petulant child that she is, Lady Windermere goes after eligible [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.altfg.com/blog/film-reviews/lady-windermeres-fan-ernst-lubitsch-colman/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>TOKYO SONATA d: Kiyoshi Kurosawa</title>
		<link>http://www.altfg.com/blog/film-reviews/tokyo-sonata-kiyoshi-kurosawa/</link>
		<comments>http://www.altfg.com/blog/film-reviews/tokyo-sonata-kiyoshi-kurosawa/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 27 Mar 2009 23:55:50 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Andre Soares</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Film Reviews]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Akiko Ashizawa]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Dysfunctional Families]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Family Drama]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Haruka Igawa]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Inowaki Kai]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Japanese Cinema]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Kanji Tsuda]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Kazuya Kogima]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Koji Yakusho]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Kyoko Koizumi]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Kyoshi Kurosawa]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Max Mannix]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Socially Conscious Movies]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Teruyuki Kagawa]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Tokyo Sonata]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Yu Koyanagi]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.altfg.com/blog/?p=9394</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[
Tokyo Sonata (2008)
Direction: Kyoshi Kurosawa
Screenplay: Kyoshi Kurosawa, Max Mannix, Tachiko Tanaka
Cast: Teruyuki Kagawa, Kyôko Koizumi, Inowaki Kai, Yû Koyanagi, Kôji Yakusho, Haruka Igawa, Kanji Tsuda, Kazuya Kogima

&#160;

&#160;
Some reviews and commentaries describe Tokyo Sonata, winner of this year&#8217;s Asian Film Awards for best film and best screenplay, as showing the disintegration of an &#34;ordinary&#34; Japanese family after the husband-father gets laid off from his administrative post at a big corporation. Although technically that is an accurate summary of Kiyoshi Kurosawa&#8217;s study of social and personal roles in Japanese society, it doesn&#8217;t quite indicate all that happens in this curious, beautifully shot, delicately directed, and capably acted drama.
Written by  Kurosawa (known for his horror films, and no relation to Akira), Max [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.altfg.com/blog/film-reviews/tokyo-sonata-kiyoshi-kurosawa/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>SOLD FOR MARRIAGE &#8211; Lillian Gish</title>
		<link>http://www.altfg.com/blog/film-reviews/sold-for-marriage-lillian-gish-christy-cabanne/</link>
		<comments>http://www.altfg.com/blog/film-reviews/sold-for-marriage-lillian-gish-christy-cabanne/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 24 Mar 2009 20:56:33 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Andre Soares</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Film Reviews]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Arranged Marriages]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Christy Cabanne]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Classic Movies]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[D. W. Griffith]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Frank Bennett]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Immigration]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Lillian Gish]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Ramon Novarro]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Silent Films]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Socially Conscious Movies]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Sold for Marriage]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Three-Star Movies]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[William E. Wing]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.altfg.com/blog/?p=9273</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[
Sold for Marriage (1916)
Direction: Christy Cabanne
Screenplay: William E. Wing
Cast: Lillian Gish, Frank Bennett, Walter Long, Allan Sears, Pearl Elmore, Curt Rehfeld
&#160;

Though all but completely forgotten today, Christy Cabanne (at times billed as William Christy Cabanne) was a respected name in the 1910s and 1920s. Among his credits are the1916  Douglas Fairbanks  vehicle The Mystery of the Leaping Fish, considered by some Fairbanks&#8217; best film of the 1910s; the highly successful 1925 actioner The Midshipman, which helped to seal Ramon Novarro&#8217;s stardom; and several key scenes in the mammoth 1925 version of Ben-Hur, also starring Novarro.
An apprentice to D. W. Griffith, Cabanne seems to have not only learned a good deal from the (now all but insufferable) Master, but [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.altfg.com/blog/film-reviews/sold-for-marriage-lillian-gish-christy-cabanne/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>THE ITALIAN d: Reginald Barker</title>
		<link>http://www.altfg.com/blog/film-reviews/the-italian-george-beban-reginald-barker/</link>
		<comments>http://www.altfg.com/blog/film-reviews/the-italian-george-beban-reginald-barker/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 23 Mar 2009 03:27:00 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Andre Soares</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Film Reviews]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[C. Gardner Sullivan]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Clara Williams]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Classic Movies]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[George Beban]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Immigration]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Reginald Barker]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Silent Films]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Socially Conscious Movies]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[The Italian]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Thomas H. Ince]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.altfg.com/blog/?p=9242</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[
The Italian (1915)
Direction: Reginald Barker
Screenplay: Thomas H. Ince and C. Gardner Sullivan
Cast: George Beban, Clara Williams, J. Frank Burke
&#160;


&#160;
George Beban (right) was a renowned stage and vaudeville star. Even though he never became a major film name, Beban appeared in nearly 20 films from the mid-1910s to the mid-1920s, almost invariably in the role of an Italian. His first feature film, in fact, was quite succinctly called The Italian. 
Directed by the respected Reginald Barker (among whose credits is the 1916 William S. Hart vehicle The Aryan), The Italian depicts the plight of an Italian immigrant who arrives in the Land of Plenty only to find poverty, heartbreak, and death (no, not his own). 
A not uncommon theme for the [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.altfg.com/blog/film-reviews/the-italian-george-beban-reginald-barker/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>TESS OF THE STORM COUNTRY &#8211; Mary Pickford</title>
		<link>http://www.altfg.com/blog/film-reviews/tess-of-the-storm-country-mary-pickford-porter/</link>
		<comments>http://www.altfg.com/blog/film-reviews/tess-of-the-storm-country-mary-pickford-porter/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 23 Mar 2009 00:34:39 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Andre Soares</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Film Reviews]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Classic Movies]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Edwin S. Porter]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Harold Lockwood]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Mary Pickford]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Melodrama]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Olive Carey]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Silent Films]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Tess of the Storm Country]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.altfg.com/blog/?p=9225</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[
Tess of the Storm Country  (1914)
Direction: Edwin S. Porter
Screenplay: B. P. Schulberg; from Grace Miller White&#8217;s novel
Cast: Mary Pickford, Harold Lockwood, Olive Carey (as Olive Golden), David Hartford, Louise Dunlap
&#160;


&#160;
Directed by Edwin S. Porter (of The Great Train Robbery fame), the 1914 version of Tess of the Storm Country is both technically primitive and thematically saccharine. However, this shamelessly manipulative melodrama about a bratty waif who manages to save her father from prison and to marry a  rich, good-looking guy boasts a solid comic performance by Mary Pickford,  at the time probably the most popular film performer in the world. Pickford is so good, in fact, that she succeeds in making the maudlin material at worst bearable [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.altfg.com/blog/film-reviews/tess-of-the-storm-country-mary-pickford-porter/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>1</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>TAKEN &#8211; Liam Neeson</title>
		<link>http://www.altfg.com/blog/film-reviews/taken-liam-neeson-pierre-morel/</link>
		<comments>http://www.altfg.com/blog/film-reviews/taken-liam-neeson-pierre-morel/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 31 Jan 2009 21:05:52 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Reginald Williams</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Film Reviews]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Crime Movies]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Liam Neeson]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Luc Besson]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Maggie Grace]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Pierre Morel]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Robert Mark Kamen]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Taken]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Trhillers]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.altfg.com/blog/?p=3020</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[
Taken (2008)
Direction: Pierre Morel
Screenplay: Luc Besson and Robert Mark Kamen
Cast: Liam Neeson, Maggie Grace, Famke Janssen, Xander Berkeley, Katie Cassidy, Olivier Rabourdin
&#160;

&#160;

Taken, directed by Pierre Morel and written by Luc Besson and Robert Mark Kamen, is a remarkably effective action thriller. Liam Neeson stars as Bryan Mills, an ex-CIA agent who quit his job so as to salvage his relationship with his daughter, Kim (Maggie Grace). Bryan had already sacrificed his marriage to his (by now) ex-wife Lenore (Famke Janssen) and doesn&#8217;t want to repeat the same mistake.
After Bryan saves a flippant singer from a would-be attacker, he encounters a situation infinitely more dangerous than his CIA assignments. Though hesitant, Bryan allows Kim to go to Paris with her friend [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.altfg.com/blog/film-reviews/taken-liam-neeson-pierre-morel/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>1</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</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>PURPLE VIOLETS d: Edward Burns</title>
		<link>http://www.altfg.com/blog/film-reviews/purple-violets-d-edward-burns/</link>
		<comments>http://www.altfg.com/blog/film-reviews/purple-violets-d-edward-burns/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sun, 16 Nov 2008 06:57:18 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Reginald Williams</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Film Reviews]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Hollywood]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.altfg.com/blog/?p=5101</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Purple Violets    (2007)
Direction and screenplay: Edward Burns. Cast:  Selma Blair, Patrick Wilson, Edward Burns, Debra Messing, Dennis Farina, Donal Logue.
&#160;

Writer-director Edward Burns’ perfectly watchable Purple Violets is a romantic drama  about relationships and, to a lesser  extent, the world of fiction writing. The  film&#8217;s focal point  is Patti Petalson (Selma Blair), a real-estate agent who has been married for  seven years to overbearing chef Chazz Coleman (Donal Logue) and who longs to  indulge her true passion, fiction writing. A former college boyfriend, Brian  Callahan (Patrick Wilson), is  actually living that dream, having  become a famous novelist. Brian is so  successful, in fact, that his  detective [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.altfg.com/blog/film-reviews/purple-violets-d-edward-burns/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>2</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>LET THE RIGHT ONE IN d: Tomas Alfredson</title>
		<link>http://www.altfg.com/blog/film-reviews/let-the-right-one-in-tomas-alfredson/</link>
		<comments>http://www.altfg.com/blog/film-reviews/let-the-right-one-in-tomas-alfredson/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sun, 16 Nov 2008 06:17:19 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Reginald Williams</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[European Cinema]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Film Reviews]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Swedish Cinema]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.altfg.com/blog/?p=5099</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Låt den rätte komma in / Let the Right One In   (2008)
Direction: Tomas Alfredson. Screenplay: John Ajvide Lindqvist, from his novel. Cast: Kåre Hedebrant, Lina Leandersson, Per Ragnar, Henrik Dahl, Karin Bergquist.
&#160;

Directed by Tomas Alfredson from a screenplay by John  Ajvide Lindqvist, Låt den rätte komma in / Let the Right One In is not only a satisfying horror film from  beginning to end &#8212; one of the best entries in the vampire genre since Blade, Interview with a Vampire, and Bram  Stoker&#8217;s Dracula &#8212; but it&#8217;s also a subtle love story,  which happens to add an intricate ingredient to the film&#8217;s memorability.
 Where 30 Days of Night was more concerned with setting up [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.altfg.com/blog/film-reviews/let-the-right-one-in-tomas-alfredson/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>1</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>YOUNG PEOPLE FUCKING d: Martin Gero</title>
		<link>http://www.altfg.com/blog/film-reviews/young-people-fucking-d-martin-gero/</link>
		<comments>http://www.altfg.com/blog/film-reviews/young-people-fucking-d-martin-gero/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sun, 26 Oct 2008 07:36:28 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Reginald Williams</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Canadian Cinema]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Film Reviews]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Sex]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.altfg.com/blog/?p=4926</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Young People Fucking  (2008)
Direction: Martin Gero. Screenplay: Martin Gero and Aaron Abrams. Cast: Aaron Abrams, Diora Baird, Sonja Bennett, Callum Blue, Kristin Booth, Josh Cooke, Josh Dean, Ennis Esmer, Natalie Lisinska, Peter Oldring, Carly Pope
&#160;

&#160;
Directed by Martin Gero and written by Gero and Aaron Abrams, Young People Fucking is a film about, you guessed it, young adults engaging  in sexual intercourse,  the situations  surrounding the acts, and the lives of  the participants. The situations are: The Friends, The Couple, The First Date,  The Roommates, and The Exes. The sexual acts involved are Prelude, Foreplay,  Sex, Interlude, Orgasm, and Afterglow. 
The ballsy title alone draws one&#8217;s  attention to this romantic comedy, while  [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.altfg.com/blog/film-reviews/young-people-fucking-d-martin-gero/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>WILD WOMEN OF WONGO d: James L. Wolcott</title>
		<link>http://www.altfg.com/blog/film-reviews/wild-women-of-wongo-d-james-l-wolcott/</link>
		<comments>http://www.altfg.com/blog/film-reviews/wild-women-of-wongo-d-james-l-wolcott/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 17 Oct 2008 05:24:47 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Danny Fortune</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Classics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Film Reviews]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Hollywood]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Classic Movies]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.altfg.com/blog/?p=4847</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Wild Women of Wongo (1958)
Direction: James L. Wolcott. Screenplay: Cedric Rutherford. Cast: Jean Hawkshaw, Adrienne Borbeau, Ed Fury, Mary Ann Webb, Cande Gerrard, Johnny Walsh, Zuni Dyer
&#160;
At first, these  women in The Wild Women of Wongo don&#8217;t look so &#34;wild.&#34; They are compliant and obedient to their  Wongo male counterparts, sporting perfectly coiffed hair and donning  custom-made summer wear. (I guess beauticians and tailors were plentiful  around 1,000 BCE.) But when a handsome male member of the neighboring Goona  tribe washes ashore to negotiate for a Wongo bride, the women are so  smitten by him that they rise up against their men to prevent them  from killing the Goona guy, knocking over an [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.altfg.com/blog/film-reviews/wild-women-of-wongo-d-james-l-wolcott/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>1</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>BAGHEAD d: Jay and Mark Duplass</title>
		<link>http://www.altfg.com/blog/film-reviews/baghead-d-jay-and-mark-duplass/</link>
		<comments>http://www.altfg.com/blog/film-reviews/baghead-d-jay-and-mark-duplass/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 12 Sep 2008 08:34:24 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Keith Waterfield</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Film Reviews]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Hollywood]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.altfg.com/blog/?p=4273</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Baghead (2008)
Direction and Screenplay: Jay Duplass, Mark Duplass. Cast: Ross Partridge, Greta Gerwig, Steve Zissis, Elise Muller 
&#160;

&#160;
Baghead, the newest release by the brothers Jay and Mark Duplass, played at Montreal&#8217;s Just For Laughs Film Festival to a packed audience. Baghead has been advertised as a creepy movie about young people in a cabin in the woods, who are stalked and hunted. In truth, Baghead is more about four young extras who decide to take control of their own future by writing a feature film starring themselves, and then setting out to make it. 
Brothers Matt and Chad (Ross Partridge and Steve Zissis) convince their friends Catherine and Michelle (Elise Muller and Greta Gerwig) to go to their uncle&#8217;s cabin [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.altfg.com/blog/film-reviews/baghead-d-jay-and-mark-duplass/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>VICKY CRISTINA BARCELONA &#8211; Javier Bardem, Penélope Cruz &#8211; d: Woody Allen</title>
		<link>http://www.altfg.com/blog/film-reviews/vicky-cristina-barcelona-d-woody-allen/</link>
		<comments>http://www.altfg.com/blog/film-reviews/vicky-cristina-barcelona-d-woody-allen/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 12 Sep 2008 08:30:26 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Keith Waterfield</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Film Reviews]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.altfg.com/blog/?p=4272</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Vicky Cristina Barcelona (2008)
Direction and Screenplay: Woody Allen. Cast: Javier Bardem, Penélope Cruz, Scarlett Johansson, Rebecca Hall, Patricia Clarkson, Kevin Dunn, Chris Messina
&#160;
 
I saw Woody Allen&#8217;s latest film at its Canadian premiere at the 32nd Montreal World Film Festival to a sold-out crowd in the beautiful Italian Renaissance-styled Imperial Theatre. The audience &#8212; people of all ages and types &#8212; had been there for nearly an hour before the show started.
Now, one thing I have been hearing or reading a lot about new Woody Allen films is that people long for the &#34;old&#34; Woody. They complain that new Woody Allen films are not really Woody Allen films. Well, I hate those comments. It is so easy for audience members [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.altfg.com/blog/film-reviews/vicky-cristina-barcelona-d-woody-allen/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>3</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>PINEAPPLE EXPRESS &#8211; Seth Rogen, James Franco</title>
		<link>http://www.altfg.com/blog/film-reviews/pineapple-express-seth-rogen-james-franco/</link>
		<comments>http://www.altfg.com/blog/film-reviews/pineapple-express-seth-rogen-james-franco/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 13 Aug 2008 23:57:17 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Keith Waterfield</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Film Reviews]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.altfg.com/blog/?p=3163</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Pineapple Express (2008)
Direction: David Gordon Green. Screenplay: Evan Goldberg and Seth Rogen; from a story by Goldberg, Rogen, and Judd Apatow. Cast: Seth Rogen, James Franco, Danny McBride, Gary Cole, Rosie Perez, Craig Robinson, Kevin Corrigan
&#160;

&#160;
I saw the newest Apatovian effort, Pineapple Express, at a Just for Laughs Film Festival press screening in Montreal. Directed by David Gordon Green, with a screenplay by Seth Rogen and his close friend Evan Goldberg (both of Superbad fame), Pineapple Express was a pleasant surprise. I was expecting the film to be silly, rude, immature, tripe, and common. And while it is silly, rude, and immature, it is also hilarious and happens to be neither common nor tripe. Now, I must admit that these [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.altfg.com/blog/film-reviews/pineapple-express-seth-rogen-james-franco/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>COBRA &#8211; Rudolph Valentino, Nita Naldi</title>
		<link>http://www.altfg.com/blog/film-reviews/cobra-rudolph-valentino-naldi-henabery/</link>
		<comments>http://www.altfg.com/blog/film-reviews/cobra-rudolph-valentino-naldi-henabery/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 04 Aug 2008 00:38:18 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Danny Fortune</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Film Reviews]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Classic Movies]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[DVDs]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Silent Films]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.altfg.com/blog/?p=3017</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Cobra (1925)
Direction: Joseph Henabery. Screenplay: Anthony Coldeway; from Martin Brown&#8217;s play. Cast: Rudolph Valentino, Nita Naldi, Casson Ferguson, Gertrude Olmstead, Eileen Percy, Lillian Langdon, Hector Sarno
&#160;
Cobra is my favorite Rudolph Valentino film. Directed by Joseph Henabery, with a screenplay by Anthony Coldewey from a play by Martin Brown, this was Valentino&#8217;s finest moment. He is at the height of his beauty, impeccably shot by J. D. Hennings and Harry Fischbeck &#8212; despite the glare from the gallon of pomade in his hair.
In Cobra, Valentino plays Rodrigo Torriani, a dissolute, debt-ridden playboy living in a mansion inherited from his likewise randy ancestors. Rodrigo&#8217;s problem is that he is an irresistible magnet for women. They stick to him like white on rice, [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.altfg.com/blog/film-reviews/cobra-rudolph-valentino-naldi-henabery/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>BAGHDAD HIGH d: Ivan O&#8217;Mahoney and Laura Winter</title>
		<link>http://www.altfg.com/blog/film-reviews/baghdad-high-d-ivan-omahoney-and-laura-winter/</link>
		<comments>http://www.altfg.com/blog/film-reviews/baghdad-high-d-ivan-omahoney-and-laura-winter/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 02 Aug 2008 07:26:36 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Keith Waterfield</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[British Cinema]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[European Cinema]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Film Reviews]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Hollywood]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Politics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Television]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.altfg.com/blog/?p=2993</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[The Boys from Baghdad High / Baghdad High (TV, 2008)
Direction: Ivan O&#8217;Mahoney and Laura Winter. Featuring: Hayder Khalid, Mohammad Raed, Anmar Refat, Ali Shadman
&#160;

&#160;
 When I sat down to watch Ivan O&#8217;Mahoney and Laura Winter&#8217;s Baghdad High &#8212; The Boys of Baghdad High in the United Kingdom, where it was initially shown &#8212; I didn&#8217;t know what to expect. 
Baghdad High is a documentary about four Baghdad male youths entering their final year of high school. They have each been given cameras and asked to document their experiences. The year is 2006, which was a grueling time for Iraq. In October &#8216;06, the month they began school, 2,722 Iraqis were killed &#8212; most of them because of their ethnicity and/or [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.altfg.com/blog/film-reviews/baghdad-high-d-ivan-omahoney-and-laura-winter/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>3</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>AMERICA THE BEAUTIFUL d: Darryl Roberts</title>
		<link>http://www.altfg.com/blog/film-reviews/america-the-beautiful-d-darryl-roberts/</link>
		<comments>http://www.altfg.com/blog/film-reviews/america-the-beautiful-d-darryl-roberts/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 01 Aug 2008 20:50:40 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Doug Johnson</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Documentaries]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Film Reviews]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Hollywood]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.altfg.com/blog/?p=2988</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[America the Beautiful (2008)
Direction and Screenplay: Darryl Roberts. Featuring: Gerren Taylor, Eve Ensler
&#160;

&#160;
 When a middle-school principal discusses the effects of the media-driven body-image machine upon young women in America the Beautiful, it is not so much her words as it is the frustration that accompany them that best answer the simple thesis of the documentary. Filmmaker Darryl Roberts asks, &#34;Who benefits from women not being beautiful?&#34; 
In the school administrator&#8217;s guarded but strong tones that register near hopelessness, the obvious answer resonates: no one outside of the industries that fuel this designation. And though, as a woman, this educator has experienced decades beholden to the beauty machine, the fact that one of her students entered the fashion industry at [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.altfg.com/blog/film-reviews/america-the-beautiful-d-darryl-roberts/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>1</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>REPO! THE GENETIC OPERA d: Darren Lynn Bousman</title>
		<link>http://www.altfg.com/blog/film-reviews/repo-the-genetic-opera-darryl-bousman/</link>
		<comments>http://www.altfg.com/blog/film-reviews/repo-the-genetic-opera-darryl-bousman/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 25 Jul 2008 23:52:17 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Keith Waterfield</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Film Reviews]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Hollywood]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.altfg.com/blog/?p=2904</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Repo! The Genetic Opera (2008)
Direction: Darren Lynn Bousman. Screenplay: Terrance Zdunich and Darren Smith. Starring: Anthony Stewart Head, Alexa Vega, Terrance Zdunich, Sarah Brightman, Bill Moseley, Paris Hilton, Ogre, Paul Sorvino
&#160;

&#160;
The world premiere of Repo! The Genetic Opera took place at Montreal&#8217;s Fantasia Film Festival on Friday, July 18. When I approached the theatre (over an hour early) there were hundreds of dedicated fans &#8212; who knew about the film through the original play, snippets of songs, online blogs, or short trailers &#8212; wrapped around the building, all waiting to see one of the most imaginative and spellbinding films to come out in recent memory. Some people had driven across the border to be there that night; others had made [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.altfg.com/blog/film-reviews/repo-the-genetic-opera-darryl-bousman/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>3</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>BATMAN: GOTHAM KNIGHT</title>
		<link>http://www.altfg.com/blog/film-reviews/batman-gotham-knight/</link>
		<comments>http://www.altfg.com/blog/film-reviews/batman-gotham-knight/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 16 Jul 2008 23:23:26 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Reginald Williams</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Animation]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Asian Cinema]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[DVDs]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Film Reviews]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Hollywood]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Japanese Cinema]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.altfg.com/blog/?p=2806</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Batman: Gotham Knight  (2008)
Direction: Shoijiro Nishimi, Futoshi Higashide, Hiroshi Morioka, Yasuhiro Aoki, Toshiyuki Kubooka, Jong-Sik Nam. Screenplay: Brian Azzarello, Alan Burnett, Jordan Goldberg, David S. Goyer, Josh Olson, Greg Rucka; based on Bob Kane&#8217;s character. Voices: Kevin Conroy, David McCallum, Gary Dourdan, Corey Burton, Jason Marsden, Jim Meskimen, Kevin Michael Richardson, George Newbern
&#160;

&#160;
Batman: Gotham Knight is a direct-to-DVD animated film in six segments, each directed by a different East Asian filmmaker. The animation quality, both in terms of character and environment detail, exceeds that of the animation found in all the Batman: The Animated Series, Batman: Mask of the Phantasm, and all the other Batman animated films. The fore and backgrounds aren&#8217;t after thoughts; they have as much care [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.altfg.com/blog/film-reviews/batman-gotham-knight/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>LA ANTENA d: Esteban Sapir</title>
		<link>http://www.altfg.com/blog/film-reviews/la-antena-d-esteban-sapir/</link>
		<comments>http://www.altfg.com/blog/film-reviews/la-antena-d-esteban-sapir/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 16 Jul 2008 06:32:16 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Keith Waterfield</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Argentinean Cinema]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Film Reviews]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[South American Cinema]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.altfg.com/blog/?p=2804</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[La Antena / The Aerial (2007)
Direction and Screenplay: Esteban Sapir. Cast: Alejandro Urdapilleta, Rafael Ferro, Florencia Raggi, Julieta Cardinali, Valeria Bertuccelli, Ricardo Merkin
&#160;

&#160;
Esteban Sapir&#8217;s silent, surrealist Argentinean production La Antena / The Aerial had its Canadian premiere to a very appreciative audience at the Fantasia Film Festival on July 4. From beginning to end, La Antena dazzled the eyes and stirred the emotions. As the credits rolled, everyone began clapping; the filmmaker was not in the audience, but everyone was so pleased by what they had seen they couldn&#8217;t help themselves. I&#8217;m sure some of them felt like jumping up and down, and running circles around the auditorium while yelping shouts of glee. Or at least that&#8217;s what I wanted [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.altfg.com/blog/film-reviews/la-antena-d-esteban-sapir/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>1</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>WHAT WE DO IS SECRET d: Rodger Grossman</title>
		<link>http://www.altfg.com/blog/film-reviews/what-we-do-is-secret-grossman-shane-west/</link>
		<comments>http://www.altfg.com/blog/film-reviews/what-we-do-is-secret-grossman-shane-west/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 10 Jul 2008 23:24:25 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Keith Waterfield</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Film Reviews]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Gay and Lesbian]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Hollywood]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Gay Interest]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.altfg.com/blog/?p=2796</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[What We Do Is Secret  (2008)
Direction: Rodger Grossman. Screenplay: Michelle Baer Ghaffari, Rodger Grossman. Cast: Shane West, Bijou Phillips, Rick Gonzalez, Noah Segan, Ashton Holmes
&#160;

&#160;
I caught What We Do Is Secret as part of the Fantasia Film Festival in Montreal on July 6. It was packed &#8212; most of the audience had been waiting many, many years for a film about their favorite band, The Germs and frontman Darby Crash. 
The film&#8217;s title comes from an album of the same name produced in 1981 &#8212; after Crash&#8217;s suicide. It was the first record that director Rodger Grossman bought and needless to say it had a lasting impression on him as he has spent 15 years making this film. He [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.altfg.com/blog/film-reviews/what-we-do-is-secret-grossman-shane-west/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>4</slash:comments>
		</item>
	</channel>
</rss>
