Movies

12 and Holding

12 and Holding is a peculiar movie about children and adults in small town America.  Jacob and Rudy Carges are twin 12 year olds.  Jac…

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About Schmidt

Hollywood movies tend to aim at a target demographic of younger movie-goers, aged 15-35. However, for the first time in human history, the population of…

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Aileen - Life and Death of a Serial Killer

Director Nick Broomfield made a documentary about Aileen Wuornos in 1992, The Selling of a Serial Killer, in which he showed how those around Aile…

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Beautiful Dreamers

Beautiful Dreamers starts off in late nineteenth century London, Ontario, in a mental asylum.  Dr. Maurice Bucke is the new superintendent.  He fi…

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Boys Don't Cry

The true story of Teena Brandon is a difficult one to portray, as director Kimberly Peirce explains in her DVD commentary to Boys Don't Cry.  It i…

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Breasts - A Documentary

Breasts is a 50-minute documentary from 1996, released on DVD in 2006 with about 20 minutes of outtakes and a 10-minute interview with the filmmak…

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Commune

Black Bear Ranch, in Siskiyou County, located in northern California, became a commune in 1968.  Berman&…

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Dahmer

Dahmer is a portrayal of the life and crimes of serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer.  In the accompanying "featurette" on the DVD, director/wri…

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Dirty Filthy Love DVD

Mark is an architect living in London, and he has obsessive-compulsive disorder.  His marriage is on the rocks, and he and his wife are trying a trial se…

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Evamarie Pilipuf's Yoga Express DVD

This yoga DVD contains four exercises, of four different durations: 10, 15, 20, and 25 minutes.  It is a low budget production, filmed in what looks like…

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Girl, Interrupted

Susanna Kaysen's memoir Girl, Interrupted (reviewed in Metapsychology December 1999) has received wide critical acclaim, and the movie adaptation of the book by James Mangold starring Winona Ryder, Angelina Jolie, Whoopi Goldberg and Vanessa Redgrave was…

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Girl, Interrupted

Susanna Kaysen's memoir Girl, Interrupted (reviewed in Metapsychology De…

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Hard Candy

Hard Candy is an extremely uncomfortable movie that reverses the expected power roles between Jeff, a man in his early thirties, and Hayley, a fou…

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Her Third

Her Third is, at least according to its promoters, a "landmark" of European cinema.  The central character is Margit, an East Ger…

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Hot Body Cool Mind - Level 1

Hot Body Cool Mind Level 1 contains several different kinds of workout, involving Pilates, yin yoga, Chi-Gong, the 5 Tibetans, jazz and ballet.&…

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Identity

Identity is a tightly constructed film in the noir genre that plays with the theme of multiple personality.  Mangold has previously directe…

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In My Skin

In My Skin by French director Marina de Van is a disturbing film about a thirty year old woman who cuts and mutilates herself.  De Van plays Esthe…

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In the Realms of the Unreal

Henry Darger was a janitor who lived in Chicago.  He died in 1973, and in his small apartment thousands of pages of writing and hundreds of pictures were…

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Insight Yoga with Sarah Powers

Insight Yoga is a very well produced DVD package with about four hours of yoga practice.  It has two vinyasa practices, one a 40 minutes sun salut…

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Into Great Silence

I asked a friend if he wanted to borrow this DVD, but he said he had already seen the movie, and if he never saw another 20-minute scene of some old monk…

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Introduction to Ashtanga Yoga DVD

In this yoga DVD, Richard Freeman goes through a flow of standing and sitting positions that involve deep stretches.  The whole program lasts about 75 mi…

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Janis Saffell Beverly Hills Yoga

Janis Saffell has 11 different DVDs available through Mill Creek Entertainment.  They include Tai Chi Balance Workout, South Beach Slam, Kick-It, Dyna…

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Julien Donkey-Boy

Viewing the wide variety of reviews of Julien Donkey-Boy, it becomes clear that reviews of this film tell us as much about the reviewer as they do…

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Junebug

Junebug is an entrancing movie on a rather familiar theme of a newly-wed coming to meet her in-laws. Madeleine has recently met and married George…

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Kripalu Yoga Gentle DVD

This Kripalu Yoga Gentle DVD is quite distinctive.  The program is split into two main parts, each about half an hour long.  It is led by Sudha Ca…

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Kundalini Yoga for Beginners & Beyond

The DVD Kundalini Yoga for Beginners & Beyond is about an hour and five minutes long, and consists of 2 sets, each of about half an hour. Ana…

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La Sierra

La Sierra is a documentary about the civil strife in Columbia.  It focuses on a barrio in the city of Medellin.  It starts out showing…

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Manufactured Landscapes

Jennifer Baichwal's film about Edward Burtynsky shows his photographic project showing the effects of modernization and industrialization in contempo…

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Maui Pilates

Maui Pilates is a gentle 50-minute DVD workout that is more reminiscent of a beginner's yoga class than a Pilates class.  Instructor Ev…

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Monster

Monster portrays the life of a female serial killer, Aileen Wuornos.  She was abused as a child and lives by prostitution.  She meets a young woman called Selby who hates her strict family and is longing to get away.  The two have a kind of affair.  Ailee…

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Monster

Monster portrays the life of a female serial killer, Aileen Wuornos.  She was abused as a child and lives by prostitution.  She meets a young woma…

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Murderball

Murderball is a documentary about the sport sometimes known as "quadriplegic rugby."  It focuses on the rivalry between the USA and Cana…

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My Flesh and Blood

My Flesh and Blood depicts the family of Susan Tom over the period of a year.  She has adopted eleven children, many of whom have serious illnesse…

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Normal

Normal is a well-constructed film with fine performances about Roy, a husband who after 25 years of marriage reveals to his wife and pastor in a counseling session that he was born in the wrong body, and he is a woman.  He says that he is agony and he wan…

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Normal

Normal is a well-constructed film with fine performances about Roy, a husband who after 25 years of marriage reveals to his wife and pastor in a c…

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Notes on a Scandal

The movie adaptation of Zoe Heller's book is a success.  The scandal of the title is an affair between a female art teacher, Sheba (Cate Blanche…

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People Like Ourselves

People Like Ourselves discusses about 70 movies in seven chapters, each with its own broad theme.  These are titled:…

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Phantom Museums DVD

Phantom Museums is a 2 DVD set collecting the shorter works of the Quay Brothers.  Those on the first DVD are from between 1984 and 2003. &…

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Pieces of April

Pieces of April portrays the reunion of 21-year-old April with her mother at Thanksgiving.  April, played by Katie Holmes, lives with her boyfrien…

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Pollock

There's a scene near the start of Pollock in which Pollock's family is sitting around the dining room table.  He lives with his brother and sister…

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Pop & Me

The basic idea behind Pop & Me seems pretty clear: Chris Roe and his recently divorced father Richard go around the world interviewing fathers…

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Proof

From the director of Shakespeare in Love and Captain Corelli's Mandolin comes this adaptation of a play of the same name.  Gwyneth Paltrow…

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Prozac Nation

Prozac Nation was a memorable memoir by Elizabeth Wurtzel about her dysfunctional adolescence and college years.  Wurtzel's bitchy self-deprecation and righteous indignation made her a charismatic narrator.   It is a book beloved especi…

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Prozac Nation

Prozac Nation was a memorable memoir by Elizabeth Wurtzel about her dysfunctional adolescence and college years.  Wurtzel's bitchy self…

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Psycho Thrillers

It is such a delicious title that Indick's latest book on psychiatry and the cinema has something to live up to. It certainly has a sprinkling of wit, an…

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Rain Man

Rain Man was released in 1988, although it was in development for years.  The original script was by Barry Morrow, and a number of directors, acto…

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Rated X - A Journey Through Porn

Rated X is a low-budget documentary by Dag Yngvesson on the porn industry.  He interviews porn stars, directors, camera operators, make-up…

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Red Lotus Yoga

With the development of cheap digital video cameras, DVD manufacturing and online sales, it is now much easier for individuals and small organizations to…

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Requiem for a Dream DVD

Requiem for a Dream starts with Harry taking his mother's television set while she hides in the closet.  The screen is split, so we see her mutter…

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Speak

Speak is the story of Melinda, a girl starting high school who clearly has some sort of problem.  Her best friend from middle school won't talk to her, and she is ostracized by almost everyone else.  Only one other girl, Heather, is friendly…

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Speak

Speak is the story of Melinda, a girl starting high school who clearly has some sort of problem.  Her best friend from middle school won…

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Stranger Than Fiction

Harold Crick is an accountant with some mild obsessive symptoms such as counting rituals.  This obsessive quality, especially with all his calculating, makes him good at his job, at least in being able to see the flaws in people's tax returns.&nb…

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Stranger Than Fiction

Harold Crick is an accountant with some mild obsessive symptoms such as counting rituals.  This obsessive quality, especially with all his calculati…

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Strength, Grace, Healing

This two-DVD yoga instruction by Max Strom proceeds at a slow pace, occasionally holding postures for long periods, and once or twice for minutes.  So al…

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Sunset Story

Sunset Hall is a residential home for elderly radicals.  Sunset Story is a short documentary focusing two women who live at the home: Irja…

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Sylvia

Sylvia tells the story of the marriage and death of the famous confessional poet Sylvia Plath.  Its characterization of Plath is straightforward:…

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The Better Sex Guide to the Kama Sutra

The Better Sex Guide to the Kama Sutra includes a 60-minute CD of Eastern-flavored music and a DVD of sex instruction.  The main feature on the DV…

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The Big Book of Porn

            The Big Book of Porn is an enthusiastic and colorful look at the world of por…

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The Devil and Daniel Johnston

Director Jeff Feuerzeig and producer Henry Rosenthal believe that Daniel Johnston is a major musician and visual artist.  In their commentary to thi…

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The FIRM Power Yoga DVD

The FIRM has a website that advertises programs and sells products aimed at sculpting muscles and burning fat.  It features some success stories about wo…

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The Snake Pit

The Twentieth Century Fox Studio Classics DVD release of The Snake Pit from 1948 features a commentary by Aubrey Solomon, who has written two bo…

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The Three Faces of Eve

Joanne Woodwood won an Oscar for her performance in The Three Faces of Eve as a woman from Augusta, Georgia, and this made her a star.  She plays…

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Thumbsucker

17-year-old Justin is a high school senior who lives at home with his parents and younger brother.  He has never even kissed a girl.  He has a crush on Rebecca who believes in environmental causes, and is also a little awkward with him.  He…

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Thumbsucker

17-year-old Justin is a high school senior who lives at home with his parents and younger brother.  He has never even kissed a girl.  He has a…

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Tierney Gearon

Tierney Gearon is a photographer whose recent work has focused on her mother, who she says is manic depressive and schizophrenic.  We see her mother…

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Unborn in the USA: Inside the War on Abortion

The pro-life movement gets portrayed in many different ways in the media, but however they are shown, it is rarely in depth.  Unborn in the USA…

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Waking Life

Waking Life is an animated movie with strong philosophical themes.  It emphasizes the randomness of life, predetermination, creating one's own lif…

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Yoga Beauty Body

The Yoga Beauty Body DVD sets out more Kundalini yoga.  Some elements are very similar to those on the two previous DVDs made by Ana Brett…

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Yoga for Regular Guys DVD

Diamond Dallas Page put out a book on Yoga for Regular Guys in 2005.&nbs…

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Yoga To Go's Yoga Quick Fixes DVD

This Yoga to Go DVD has three 20 minute practices: Energy to Go, Strength to Go, and Stretch and Soothe.  The production quality is rather rough. …

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