USA

The Chelsea Hotel has long been consider the creative epicenter of New York City, a sort of unofficial gathering point for the most renowned artists and entertainers that the city has to offer. But while the Chelsea Hotel was once considered an impenetrable, untouchable monument to the creative spirit, an early 21st Century renovation led many to believe that the new management company had little appreciation for it’s unique history. Dennis Hopper, Milos Forman, R. Crumb, Ethan Hawke, Grace Jones, and a whole host of Chelsea Hotel regulars all chime in with their fondest memories about the New York landmark, and their thoughts about what may be in store for the iconic building in the future. —allmovie guideRead More »

A seemingly pleasant fellow, Arthur goes berserk and rapes any woman in front of him wearing gold earrings. One woman tells the investigating detective (who is Arthur’s uncle) she was raped, and flashes back to an erotic love making scene. Another one, a lesbian, relates a story that has to be seen to be believed. Other women flashback to their encounters with Arthur. We find out from a doctor, in another flashback, that Arthur underwent a penis transplant with a just-dead friend, unknowing his friend was a serial rapist who preyed on golden earring-ed women.Read More »

After years of living abroad with her American missionary father, Lana (Michelle Williams) returns to the United States to begin her studies. But instead of focusing on her education, Lana sets out to find her only other living relative – her uncle Paul, her deceased mother’s brother. A Vietnam veteran, Paul is a reclusive vagabond with deep emotional war wounds. A tragic event witnessed by the two unites them in a common goal to rectify a wrong, and takes them on a journey of healing, discovery, and kinship.Read More »

Streetwalkers tired of being harassed by thugs stand up for their rights in this drama from sexploitation titan Barry Mahon. Madame Sue is the leader of a group of prostitutes working in New York City in 1964. Business is good, and thanks to the influx of tourists coming to the Big Apple for conventions and the World’s Fair, there are plenty of customers while cops are too busy to harass working girls. But while the upswing in business doesn’t attract the law, it does attract the attention of Carney Bill, a small-time gangster who wants in on the prostitution racket. Carney Bill demands that Madame Sue and her girls pay his mob a ten-percent protection fee, and his gunmen kill a few of Sue’s hookers to show he means business. Fearful but not about to be pushed around, the working girls form a vigilante group to protect themselves and get revenge for their fallen comrades, with Bill meeting an especially grim fate. — Mark Deming (AMG)Read More »

‘Bobby Fischer Against the World’ is the first documentary feature to explore the tragic and bizarre life of the late chess master Bobby Fischer. The drama of Bobby Fischer’s career was undeniable, from his troubled childhood, to his rock star status as World Champion and Cold War icon, to his life as a fugitive on the run. This film explores one of the most infamous and mysterious characters of the 20th century.Read More »

Quote:
Habit is an autobiographical documentary that follows the current history of the AIDS epidemic along dual trajectories: the efforts of South Africa’s leading AIDS activist group, the Treatment Action Campaign, struggling to gain access to AIDS drugs and the daily routine of the videomaker, a veteran AIDS activist in the U.S. who has been living with AIDS for more than ten years. The videomaker moves through his day, attending to mundane errands, eating, taking pills, having conversations with friends (some of whom have diseases such as AIDS and Breast Cancer, and others of whom are healthy), as recurring memories of a recent trip to South Africa interrupt the routine. Habit presents a rigorous working-through of ideas concerning privilege, ethics, responsibility, futility, solidarity, hope, and struggle.Read More »

Lena Dunham got her start making YouTube videos, but she emerged as a major talent thanks to the breakthrough success of this exceptionally sharp comedy, which garnered the twenty-four-year-old writer-director-actor comparisons to the likes of Woody Allen. Dunham plays Aura, a recent college graduate who returns to New York and moves back in with her mother and sister (played by the filmmaker’s real-life mother and sister). Though Aura is gripped by stasis and confusion about her future, Dunham locates endless sources of refreshing humor in her plight. As painfully confessional as it is amusing, Tiny Furniture is an authentic, incisive portrait of a young woman at a crossroads.Read More »

Only Lillian Gish could have gotten The Scarlet Letter (1926) past the censors of the late ’20s and only she could have made it such an authentic American classic. Ironically, she did it with the help of two Swedes, director Victor Sjöström and leading man Lars Hanson. As she would say in her memoirs, however, “I have always believed that the Scandinavians are closer in feeling to New England Puritans than are present-day Americans.”Read More »

“Two months ago, his girlfriend left him. One month ago, he lost both of his jobs after a nervous breakdown. He can’t work in his mom’s flower shop because he’s allergic to pollen and paperwork. Single, lonely, and jobless, Aaron expends his time and energy nurturing a long standing crush on his best friend Sara. Meanwhile, his other best friend, Erik, sells pot to his kid sister Erin (behind his back, naturally). If he manages to get out of bed, Aaron may mow the lawn, or he may reconstruct Stonehenge with a set of encyclopedias. To avoid embarrassing himself, he makes sure to rehearse all of his conversations in advance. Aaron sees something approaching on the horizon. Whether it’s his future or his doom, apparently it drives a white SUV ” Written by Frank V. Ross ( IMDB)Read More »