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Pan African Film Festival: Duke’s Doc and Adult Animation

February 19, 2012 By Ed Rampell Leave a Comment

dark girls tsehaie kidane

The Pan African Film and Arts Festival is for Black-themed movies what the Panama and Suez Canals are for international shipping: A vital gateway for the transshipment of, in PAFF’s case, film culture. Here are two examples — a challenging documentary and an Oscar nominated animated feature. Dark Girls Bill Duke is best known to [...]

Filed Under: Film Tagged With: African Film Festival, Bill Duke, black girls, black panthers, Breaking The Mold, Cemetery Club, Charlie S Angels, chico and rita, Colorism, Dark Girls, Deacons For Defense, Dr Martin Luther, Dr Martin Luther King, Kidane, martin luther king, Olympia Dukakis, pan african film festival, Starsky And Hutch, Suez Canals, Tsehaie Kidane, Viola Davis, Vital Gateway, Whoopi Goldberg, Yellow Brick Road

Seductive Power of Fading Advertising Signs

February 18, 2012 By Randy Shaw Leave a Comment

fading advertising signs

I have always loved the sight of old painted advertising signs on the sides of buildings. Such murals bring history alive, revealing once popular but now forgotten cultural products. In 1997, Frank Jump decided to begin photographing New York City’s fading advertising murals. Jump made photographing old murals his life work after being diagnosed in [...]

Filed Under: Film Tagged With: Advertising Signs, Book Advertising, Cultural Heritage, Good Health, Groundbreaking Work, Harlem, History Of New York, History Of New York City, History Texts, Lead Paint, Metaphor, Murals, Old Advertisements, Omega Oil, Personal Story, Poignancy, Seductive Power, Sense Of Urgency, Sign Photos, Sore Muscles, Stiff Joints, Urban America

Toussaint Louverture: Viva la Revolution at the Pan African Film Fesitval

February 15, 2012 By Ed Rampell 2 Comments

toussant louverture

Every once in a while a stand up and cheer movie comes along that sweeps audiences off of their feet. Toussaint Louverture is one of these breathtaking movies. This two-part, three hour-plus saga about the leader of the Haitian liberation struggle is in the same league, and has the epic sweep of classic biopics, such [...]

Filed Under: Film Tagged With: African Film, Best Foreign Film, Black History Month, Color Barrier, Film Fesitval, Frantz Fanon, Indie Features, Lawrence Of Arabia, Liberation Struggle, Mother Africa, paff, Recent Feature, Richard Attenborough, Sir Richard Attenborough, Toussaint Louverture, Tsotsi, Venues In Los Angeles, Viva La Revolution, Warren Beatty, Western Hemisphere, Wretched Of The Earth

Journey 2: Latest South Seas Cinema Offers 3D and IMAX to Da Max

February 10, 2012 By Ed Rampell Leave a Comment

journey 2

JOURNEY 2: THE MYSTERIOUS ISLAND Film Review There have been at least half a dozen screen versions of Jules Verne’s Mysterious Island – including two silent and one Soviet adaptations – and the latest incarnation is a good fun escapist flick with 3D IMAX special effects. Journey 2: The Mysterious Island plays fast and loose [...]

Filed Under: Film Tagged With: Aotearoa New Zealand, Branscombe Richmond, Brendan Fraser, Center Of The Earth, Dwayne Johnson, Georges Melies, Hankering, Island Film, Jonathan Swift, Josh Hutcherson, Journey To The Center, Journey To The Center Of The Earth, Kristin Davis, martin scorsese, Mysterious Island, Mysterious Reason, Robert Louis Stevenson, Rock Islands, Screen Versions, Trip To The Moon

Rampart: Bad Cop, Worse Cop

February 7, 2012 By Ed Rampell Leave a Comment

rampart

Character studies can simply be presented as straightforward dramas. Or they can be encoded in genre conventions, which might improve their box office heft with the multiplex popcorn crowd. For instance, on the surface Bridesmaids is a wild and crazy comedy about females behaving badly. However, it is also — or really — about commitment-phobic, [...]

Filed Under: Film Tagged With: Annie Walker, Bad Cop, Brie Larson, Crazy Comedy, Date Rape, Gang Unit, Gangbangers, Genre Conventions, Intimate Portrayal, Kristen Wiig, Lapd Officers, Living Arrangement, Lovers And Friends, Mad Dogs, Men In Blue, Police Brutality, Rampart Division, Rampart Scandal, Vietnam Veteran, woody harrelson

Crazy Horse: Still Crazy After All These Years

February 1, 2012 By Ed Rampell Leave a Comment

crazy horse

CRAZY HORSE Film Review It’s doubly ironic from a schoolboy-ish point of view that the latest documentary by venerable filmmaker Frederick Wiseman is called Crazy Horse, since his first doc was titled Titicut Follies, which was shot at the State Prison for the Criminally Insane in Bridgewater, Massachusetts, in 1967. Of course, the follies in [...]

Filed Under: Film Tagged With: Alain Bernardin, Bridgewater Massachusetts, Crazy Horse, Dance Routines, David Thomson, Documentarian, Eye Patch, Film Historian, Follies, Frederick Wiseman, Genitalia, Historian David, Journalistic Purposes, Madmen, Makeup Sessions, Nonfiction Films, Philippe Decoufle, Pubic Hair, State Prison, Striptease Club

What the Oscars Ignore: Progies Spotlight Films You Should See

January 30, 2012 By Bill Meyer Leave a Comment

In an attempt to draw attention to films of social significance with progressive content, film critic and author Ed Rampell developed The Progie Awards. A collective of international film writers, The James Agee Cinema Circle (JACC), named after the prominent 1930′s film writer, nominates films and actors for these special progressive awards. They’re timed to [...]

Filed Under: Film Tagged With: Academy Members, Bicycle Thief, Comic Style, DemiáN Bichir, Director Elia, ed rampell, Film Critic, Film Lovers, Film Worth, Film Writer, Film Writers, Iranian Film, Italian Film, James Agee, Local Theater, Nakba, Oscar Buzz, Progies, Social Significance, Tragic Loss, War Horse

Lula: Blame It on Brio

January 26, 2012 By Ed Rampell Leave a Comment

lula son of brazil

Lula, Son of Brazil, film review In the past few years a slew of biopics about recent European rightwing leaders have been released, including The Conquest (about Nicolas Sarkozy’s rise to France’s presidency), The Iron Lady (with Meryl Streep as British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher), The Queen (about Queen Elizabeth and Britain’s sellout and warmonger, [...]

Filed Under: Film Tagged With: Brazil Film, British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, Costa Gavras, Fruit Peddler, Giulio Andreotti, Gloria Pires, Il Caimano, Il Divo, Luis Inacio Lula Da Silva, Lula Da Silva, Margaret Thatcher, Meryl Streep, Military Dictatorship, Minister Tony Blair, Nelson Mandela, Nicolas Sarkozy, One Of The Good Guys, Prime Minister Tony Blair, Silvio Berlusconi, Urban Squalor

Racism in “The Descendants”

January 24, 2012 By Michael Haas 2 Comments

the descedants

Is The Descendants one of the most racist films of all time? What many Islanders see is a whitewashing of the culture and history of the proud Native Hawaiian people. And a sweeping under a cinematographic rug the diverse mutual admiration society of Caucasians, Chinese, Filipinos, Japanese, Koreans, Native Hawaiians, Samoans, Vietnamese, and many other [...]

Filed Under: Film Tagged With: Alexander Payne, Bucolic Setting, Commercial Options, Culture And History, Descendents, Facial Features, Father Fred, Filipinos, Forebear, Fred Hemmings, george clooney, Kaui, Matthew King, Mutual Admiration Society, Native Hawaiian Culture, Native Hawaiians, Race Relations, Republican Candidate, Skin Pigmentation, Undeveloped Land

2012 PROGIE Nominations for Best Progressive Films & Artists

January 20, 2012 By admin Leave a Comment

time remain

Progie Nominations: The Progie Awards Honor Outstanding Movies and Artists of Conscience and Consciousness Los Angeles, January 18, 2012 – The James Agee Cinema Circle announces the 5th annual “Progie” Award nominees for 2012’s Best Progressive Films and Filmmakers. Progie Nominees this year include: George Clooney; Viggo Mortensen; a documentary featuring Angela Davis, Stokely Carmichael [...]

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Filed Under: Film Tagged With: Alternative Academy, angela davis, Bill Meyer, Black Activists, British Director, ed rampell, Film Critic, george clooney, Great Debaters, Hollywood Reporter, Iranian Film, James Agee, james cameron, ken loach, michael moore, Progie, Progies, Screenwriter Dalton, Stephen Farber, Stokely Carmichael, Viggo Mortensen

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mike price marsha williams

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