I have to say I was a bit confused with InSight Films' American Assassin: Lee Harvey Oswald Behind the Iron Curtain, a documentary on Oswald's time in Minsk when he defected to the Soviet Union in 1959. Actually, the back of the DVD hardcase mirrors that confusion by describing the film as both a documentary and a docudrama. It's difficult to tell exactly what purpose American Assassin: Lee Harvey Oswald Behind the Iron Curtain is trying to achieve. Is it an expose of Oswald's life in Russia? Or is it some kind of psychological examination of Oswald's personality, trying to tie up his defection with his actions in Dallas in 1963? Again, one is left a little puzzled after watching the documentary, because American Assassin: Lee Harvey Oswald Behind the Iron Curtain doesn't answer any questions - because it doesn't pose any.

Read the entire review

My first experience with Kozmo.com came in the student newspaper office at my alma mater, American University. The editor-in-chief was sick, but also on deadline, and needed medication. So he surfed by Kozmo, ordered a bottle of over-the-counter cold syrup and a soda. Under an hour later, a deliveryman stopped by the office and dropped off the order. A nifty idea, I thought, but when would it be useful?

Over the next two years, it became "useful" quite often. Kozmo was the ultimate tool for a college student without a car. Having a Krispy Kreme craving at two in the morning? Kozmo. Is the soda machine downstairs out of Coke? Kozmo. Is the newsstand sold out of this month's men's magazine with picture spread of Shannon Elizabeth? Have I said too much?

But as the need for instant gratification wore off, the appeal of Kozmo wore off, to the point that I hadn't visited the site in months wh...Read the entire review

THE MOVIES

Tinto Brass, the Italian director who helmed Caligula, releases three of his other erotic films in The Tinto Brass Collection, a set of DVDs that is more noteworthy for its visual worship of the female form than it is for strong storytelling.

The set consists of 1983's The Key, 1985's Miranda and 1992's All Ladies Do It. Each movie is softcore in nature with much more nudity and sexuality than American audiences are used to in their R-rated fare, but not nearly enough to qualify for an X-rating.

In The Key an older man is married to a somewhat younger wife, whom he notices has taken a liking to their daughter's fianc . When the two dance together at a party, the older man is surprised to find out how turned on he gets by watching his wife with the younger man. He starts to encourage his wife to do more things with his...Read the entire review

The Movie

In A Glass Cage (Tras el Cristal) is a movie not many have seen since its original release in 1986. It's sort of toiled in relative obscurity, never really garnering tons of attention. Now over 15 years later, it gets another shot at reaching a larger audience through the growing phenomenon of DVD, specifically a new 'Special Edition' from CAV. Why this movie hasn't been more widely seen is both obvious and puzzling at the same time. At the heart of the matter is the gruesome subject matter portrayed in the film, which undoubtedly turned many people away. Most audiences prefer to see more sanitized acts of violence and cruelty, and In A Glass Cage is anything but sanitized. Make no mistake about it, this is a hard movie to watch, and will most likely make your stomach turn on more than one occasion. This is not because of extreme gore (al...Read the entire review

Aden Ray has killed his mother and taken off to the desert with a suitcase full of jewels. It is there, out in the middle of nowhere, that Aden meets the diminutive Marvel, a simple primitive man with keen magical insight into nature and a compete naivet about he civilized world. Still pursued by the police, Aden takes Marvel into the city where Marvel is exposed to the modern world and all of its ills and Aden confronts his own inner demons.

The second film by surrealist Fernando Arrabal, following up and continuing the controversial style of his first film Viva La Muerte. I Will Walk Like a Crazy Horse (1973 aka. I Will Go Like a Wild Horse) is the surrealist odyssey one would expect from the writer of Alejandro Jodorowsky's Fando and Lis and co-founder of the "PANIC" theater movement.

I Will Walk Like a Crazy Horse is an unpenitent metaphorical assault blat...Read the entire review

The KeyItalian director Tinto Brass (of Caligula fame) is considered the 'king of European erotic cinema'. And while it's true his films are erotic in nature it's also true that they are often not too well written or directed. Such is the case with The Key.

On the surface the story adapted from a famous Japanese novel is a good one but do to the static nature of the acting, the voice dubbing and the rather flat directing style (even in the bedroom scenes) the film is not of much interest.

The basic story is about a married couple Nino (Frank Finlay) and Teresa (Stefania Sandrelli) living in 1940's Italy who have just celebrated their 20th wedding anniversary. In order to bring a spark into their relationship they both start keeping a diary, which they both read and share their personal sexual thoughts and desires.

Nino, who is almost 20 years older than Teresa, finds out that sh...Read the entire review

The Story: When she kills one of their members during a police raid, Inspector Yang Ching (Cynthia Khan) makes an enemy in the deadly and secretive Five Fingers gang. While investigating the gang and a couple of runaway druggie teens that saw them, she gets into trouble when she is knocked unconscious her gun is used to kill the kids and put one of them into a coma. This links her to private detective Chan (Anthony Wong) who was trailing the now comatose runaway girl for her grandmother. So, laid off the force, soon Inspector Yang, her lovesick superior Kwong (Tommy Wong), Detective Chan and his oddball wife (Sheila Chan) are fighting for thier lives because the gang is out for revenge on Yang and anyone connected to her. This includes Yang's father, who has returned from Brazil with a young trophy wife (Kara Hui), who not only is a former girlfriend of a Five Finger gang member but i...Read the entire review

In the late 80's and early 90's there was an explosion of fantasy swordplay films slashing and spinning across HK cinema screens. Some of the more popular ones were Bride with White Hair, Swordsman 2 and Dragon Inn. But, by 1994 the wave had pretty much ended, and Three Swordsmen had already apparently sat on the shelf for a year before it was unceremoniously released in theaters only to quickly disappear due to an unenthusiastic audience.

Here is a case where you have an all star cast, including the likes of Andy Lau (God of Gamblers, Days of Being Wild, Savior of the Soul), Bridgette Lin (Swordsman 2, Chunking Express, Peking Opera Blues), and Elvis Tsui (Gunmen, Viva Erotica, Royal Tramp) hamming it up as the title characters. You get a director like Taylor Wong who previously handled big name stars in Rich and Famous and had a hand in directing tw...Read the entire review

If you want a Van Damme movie review, sorry you're in the wrong place.

The Story: Martial arts students Lau Zhai (Yuen Biao) and buck-toothed So (Wu Ma), members of the esteemed Po Chi Lam school, put the school into a mess when the herbs they brought over from Hong Kong actually contain a large amount of opium hidden within the crates. Lau Zhai takes the fall for the unfortunate mess and begins to track down the smugglers who are smearing his and, more importantly, his schools name. He soon discovers that old friend Ming is working for secret opium impresario Chairman Wah (Yuen Wah), and poor Lau Zhai must team up with the local constable, Panther, and go undercover within the criminal organization in order to get proof of their nefarious activities. But, going undercover means he must go it alone, separate himself from his school and friends, and play at being a bad guy while rece...Read the entire review

First I would like to express my devilish glee at anyone opening this review expecting it to be about the Scorsese film. Sorry, this is a review for the 1998 Hong Kong triad gangster pic.

The Story: Macau, the Monte Carlo, the Vegas of the Orient. Triad gangster Giant (Simon Yam) regales a reporter with the tale of his rise to power in the early 90's fighting his way to the top with his peculiar gangster philosophy. With his fellow Triad Brother Lui, they go from the small time to the big time as a war erupts between their gang and rival Lo Ping, both gangs battling over the control of local casinos. Spending his days gambling and teaching his men to stay level headed and not ruin their lives with drink and drugs, the nonetheless ruthless leader survives multiple fights, an assassination attempt, and manages to outwit Lo Ping and become the leader of Macua's underworld.

The...Read the entire review

The Story: The Emperor is sick and he needs the Little Buddha to heal his malady. The evil Lord Filth wants to stop the Emperor from getting better so he attacks the temple and sends the 18 little kid monks fleeing, one of them secretly, unknowingly, being the precious Little Buddha. The little monks are under the care of the head monks niece, and she has a tough time wrangling the mischievous kids and hiding them from Lord Filth's men who scour the countryside. She must get the kids to Dragon Town and find a man named Sanda who knows how to identify the Little Buddha. She and the kids find an aid in a profit minded puppeteer named Wong Da Rong, who trains the kids in Drunken Fist style and arranges performances for them so they can earn enough money to travel to Dragon Town. But, Lord Filth is hot on their heels and willing to murder the lot in order to become the next Emperor.

...Read the entire review

Ahhh, the underground art film short. Its not a genre I have the highest exposure to, except the usual stuff like the feature Begotten, and classics like Bunuel's Un Chien Andolou, Simon of the Desert, and Welles Hearts of Age. Anyway, this is the real underground, the kind of short saved for backalley S&M Goth Clubs or your occasional German shock film festival. Not for the average film fan, featuring some scarification and genital piercing that is not faked.

Basically the 22 minute relatively silent, dialogue free avant garde short follows a faceless (except for glimpses of a pig mask) killer who picks up a drifter whose head is covered in gauze bandages. He then takes the victim to an abandoned house, opens up a briefcase full of tools and a book called "Why God Permits Evil", and proceeds to torture the victim, some surreal junk (killer and victim with wrapped bandag...Read the entire review

The early 90's saw a glut of fantasy action, wire choreography, romantic/tragic, ensemble Hong Kong films, many of them adapted from popular period set novels. The list includes Flying Daggers, Deadful Melody, Swordsman, Sword of Many Loves, Kung Fu Colt Master, Comet Butterfly and Sword, Blade of Fury and Sword Stained with Royal Blood (1993) which was adapted from a novel by Jin Yong and previously translated into film by veteran director Chang Cheh in 1981. This time out, director Cheung Hoi Jing, whose previous (and only other credit to my knowledge) film was the 1991 fantasy/comedy Devils Vendetta, has the task of plunging into the simple yet oddly convoluted story surrounded by a large cast of characters and notable HK actors vying for screen time.

The story is too detailed for its own good, and translating a somewhat daunting novel into a light action film doesn't exactly...Read the entire review

The Story: A young monk named Wong La (Yuen Biao- Dreadnaught, Zu Warriors, Project A) from the Potala Monastery in Tibet is assigned the task of going to Hong Kong and bringing back the monasteries long lost artifact, the magical Babu Gold Bottle. At one time, in combination with its cap which Wong La carries with him, the bottle was used to repel the evil Black Section of corrupt Llamas. His escort into this strange an unfamiliar modern land is the henpecked Chueng Seng-neng (Michelle Reis- Chinese Ghost Story 2, Healing Hearts, Fallen Angels). But, the evil leader of the Black Section (Yuen Wah- Eastern Condors, Dragons Forever, On the Run) and his sister are close behind, attempting to thwart Wong La, get the cap and steal the urns powers to restore their evil sect.

The Film: I've always thought Yuen Biao reached a point in the late eighties/e...Read the entire review

WHAT'S IT ALL ABOUT?

This film is a celebration of the female buttocks. It glories in the arse, the backside, the bum, the buns, and the hindquarters. Its camera glides over the sensuous contours of at least 57 tushes, posteriors, rears, and rumps. It wallows in the keister, the bottom, the behind, the derriere, the fanny, and above all the ass. I'm not sure I've ever seen a movie so comically obsessed with the southern-rear portion of the female anatomy.

Best known for directing Caligula (into which Penthouse's Bob Guccione famously inserted hardcore smut footage), Tinto Brass in 1992 came up with the softcore, fetishistic All Ladies Do It, a story about the sexual empowerment of women directed by a famous objectifier of women. This is a strange contradiction of a movie, which seems to take place in an alternate universe where women are demonstrably horny exh...Read the entire review

Walerian Borowczyk's The Beast is one of the more celebrated cult films of the 1970's. Not because it's particularly good but because its sexual content and subject matter have garnered a lot of attention over the years.

It's been called everything from 'dangerous pornography' to 'truly erotic' and seeing the film now it's easy to see why it disturbed people. But like so many films that come with a celebrated profile it doesn't really live up to the hype.

The 'story' part of the film takes place in a contemporary period at a French chateau and involves an aristocratic family trying to deal with their decline by marrying off their unusual male heir to a rich American heiress (Lisbeth Hummel). While waiting for the Cardinal to come and conduct the marriage ceremony the American Heiress has a portentous pornographic dream. And then everyone finds out why the odd son is so unusual.

Truth ...Read the entire review

It's tough to make a film that's sensual and erotic without coming off asponderous and pretentious.The makers of Venus in Furs (1994) have attempted to go back to thesource, Leopold von Sacher-Masoch's classic piece ofliterature about an obsessed relationship that has influencedgenerations offilms like Double Suicide, In the Realm of the Senses, andThe End ofthe Affair since it was published in 1869. By allowing the film tounfold visually and with minimal dialog,writing/directing team Victor Nieuwenhuijs and Maartje Seyferth useimages to tell the story. This wasa good decision, given the fact that their cinematography is theirstrongest asset. The black and white images are luminous and beautiful.While the sets and locations occasionally give the film the look of ahigh-budget student film, the textures, angles, and lighting are alwayscreative.

Venus in Furs fe...Read the entire review