Greg Sommer is a grown adult, yet lives in the basement of his mom’s house with his girlfriend, a blow-up doll. Since high school, he’s operated under the pseudonym of Skull Man, so named for the full mask he dons. His passion appears to be turning cardboard into homemade armor for the ongoing “box wars” […]
documentary
Posted inArts & Culture
Aroused
For the film, Anderson interviews 16 female porn stars — including Alexis Texas, Asphyxia Noir and other obviously invented names — about what got them into the business, what they get from it, and what misconceptions they’d like to clear up. In other words, she gives them the opportunity to appear human. In doing so, […]
Posted inArts & Culture
dead again
Computer ChessJust in case there was any doubt that fashions and haircuts of the early 1980s were mighty ugly, the time capsule Computer Chess is a solid reminder. Writer-director Andrew Bujalski, in his use of antiquated cameras and technology that could make a TRS-80 look cutting-edge, evokes the period in gloriously fuzzy black and white. […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Captain America: Collector’s Edition
As you know by now, it didn’t. If you managed not to catch it in its long-delayed VHS debut in 1993 — or the burn-on-demand DVD released in 2011 just to piggyback off the big-budget, blockbuster Captain America: The First Avenger — now you can see it the best it’s ever been and likely ever […]
Posted inArts & Culture
The Arrested Development Documentary Project
Well, it left this fan with an unpleasant aftertaste. At first, I was uncertain who the doc was for. While it certainly is accessible enough for the uninitiated, those people aren’t likely to run across it or even be interested if they do. And since I didn’t learn anything from it, the already converted aren’t […]
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FBI Code 98
No matter, really; I loved it all the same, so much so that I wish it had birthed a series of big-screen outings. (Instead, the idea eventually was rejiggered (sort of) into the long-running Efrem Zimbalist TV show, The FBI, and that doesn’t count.) Directed by Leslie H. Martinson (1966’s Batman: The Movie), the black-and-white, […]
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Burn
Detroit is burning, and the city’s fire commissioner has decided to let it burn. Thanks to a withering automotive industry and violent racial tensions that have rocked the city, Detroit’s population has diminished by half, resulting in 80,000 abandoned buildings. So many fires ravage these vacant structures that some officials have decided that if a […]
Posted inNews
Gone Hollywood?
Credit: Brad Gregg Although it’s doubtless that the filmmakers aim to dispute Inhofe’s contention that manmade climate change is “a hoax,” Oklahoma’s senior senator has said he is tickled to be part of the flick. “I was not surprised to see myself front and center on the promotional material for this climate-change movie, and quite […]
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Happy People: A Year in the Taiga / The Gatekeepers
Happy People: A Year in the Taiga Love a good documentary? If so, you’re in luck, since two excellent, if decidedly different, ones are in town this week. Werner Herzog is easily among the most singular of documentary makers, having made such elegantly strange works as Grizzly Man and Cave of Forgotten Dreams. Still, fans […]
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TPB AFK: The Pirate Bay — Away from Keyboard
The keyword there is “copyrighted,” of course. Violations of that law of have inflamed Hollywood, which responded with predictably fierce legal action. A 2008 court battle drives much of the new film TPB AFK: The Pirate Bay — Away from Keyboard. The feature debut of director Simon Klose, the documentary becomes available on demand from […]