Juan C. Davila’s insightful documentary examines a decades-long struggle by the people of the Puerto Rican island of Vieques to gain control of the land back from the control of the federal government.
The Bootleg Files: A Place to Stand
BOOTLEG FILES 587: “A Place to Stand” (Academy Award-winning 1967 short).
LAST SEEN: It is on YouTube.
AMERICAN HOME VIDEO: None.
REASON FOR BOOTLEG STATUS: No perceived U.S. commercial value.
CHANCES OF SEEING A COMMERCIAL DVD RELEASE: Unlikely.
Fifty years ago, Montreal became the center of international attention with Expo 67, a World’s Fair that attracted more than 50 million visitors. And one of the most popular attractions at that event was a short film exhibited at the Ontario Pavilion called “A Place to Stand.” While mostly forgotten today, “A Place to Stand” was briefly influential in changing the visual style of late 1960s and 1970s film and television productions – and it even won an Academy Award.
Vision Room (2017)
It feels like Director Phillip Stainsby has a large premise ahead of him that’s just way too big for a twenty minute movie. “Vision Room” has a short time to unfold its story and a large narrative that only has so much space to breathe. Thus what we’re left with is a movie that’s mostly captions and subtitles that establish the mythos, the concept, and the world, and only visits the actual characters sporadically. The movie feels almost like nothing but captions most of the time, and I wanted to see so much more characters doing things and moving the film forward rather than having director Stainsby explain everything to us.
Love The Original Way (2016)
I really like what writer Keldamuzik and director Hassan Leo bring to the table in the realm of romance comedies. “Love the Original Way” is a short film with big screen potential that deals in ideas about romance and how tough it can for a recovering alcoholic. While the film itself is steeped in the classic tropes of the romance comedy, it also charms with a relatable protagonist named Sissy, who is trying to find a way to navigate love and life without the crutch of alcohol.
8 Mile: Dealing with Pain through Music
It’s hard to believe that “8 Mile” arrived in theaters fifteen years ago and took the world by surprise. That’s essentially what Eminem’s career has always been about: Surprising people who have always doubted him. After the stigma of white hip hop artists permeated music for years, Eminem stomped on to the world of hip hop. He didn’t just make a name for himself, but he challenged everything about the world he was in, the music he performed, and the people he ran across every single day of his life. Here was a man who kind of tore through the façade of fame, and also challenged the conventions of hip hop, which by the late nineties, was more about fame and wealth than hardships and confronting a harsh society.
The Violent Shit: Five Film Collection (DVD)
You have to give it to Synapse films. With the decline of physical media, more studios are open to delivering movie buffs the classics, and the obscure titles. Let’s face it, until now, no other major label would have ever made the “Violent Shit” collection available for mass consumption. At the end of the day, this five movie collection of shot on video horror gore films from Germany are strictly a niche release, but they’re at least there for everyone to view. While the “Violent Shit” movies, in fact, complete shit, they are also important cinematic relics. Back in the eighties, when Germany enacted heavy censorship on all film releases, including horror movies, that were cut for mass consumption, a bunch of indie filmmakers got together and made their own gory, graphic, and obscenely splatterific horror movies.
Romantic Comedies: A Guide for Lovers
Scientific studies show that couples who watch romantic movies together and then discuss them and their feelings about them have a much higher “stay-together rate” than couples who enter traditional therapy. Phil Hall’s guest on this episode is Pamela Jaye Smith, author of “Romantic Comedies: These Films Can Save Your Love Life!”
“The Online Movie Show” is produced at the Platinum Wolfe Studios.