If you grew up in the eighties or nineties with cable television, there was always a few occasions where you’d be cruising through the channels looking for something to watch. And there was always a chance you’d happen upon channels like Showtime, Cinemax, or HBO and inevitably stumble on to an erotic thriller. These glossy movies were made cheap, and fast, and almost always featured a hard boiled male protagonist as well as an absolutely sexy woman, and always featured softcore sex. From the late eighties to the end of the nineties, the erotic thriller was a popular facet of late night television and video store shelves.
Tag Archives: Documentary
King On Screen (2023)
The best thing about “King on Screen” is the prologue by Daphne Baiwir which finds her walking in to a shop called the “Creepshop” where she hopes to show a painting she’d purchased. The setting, the characters, and the items in the shop are all subtle visual and verbal references to Stephen King and elements of Stephen King’s stories. It’s something that hooked me in right away and I quite loved the entire effects of Baiwir being savvy to King enough to deliver something of an ode to King. It compensates for “King on Screen” which, in its root, is another basic talking head documentary.
Y’a une étoile (2023) [Fantasia Film Festival 2023]
A documentary about queer life in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick as seen through the eyes of queer people and their loved ones interconnected with the songs of Angele Arsenault.
tOuch Kink (2023) [Fantasia Film Festival 2023]
I’ve always maintained that, as long as its legal and consensual, we should embrace our sexuality and kinks no matter how unusual it may seem to others. Kinks and fetishes are a form of human expression as much as they are about desire, and they can be important in deciding who we are and how we can operate on the outside. Sexuality shouldn’t be vilified it should be openly explored and embraced. “tOuch Kink” is a refreshing documentary that, while about sex and erotica, is also about humanity. It’s about our inner desires and how they can be a catharsis and even therapeutic.
A Disturbance in the Force (2023) [Fantasia Film Festival 2023]
When I think about it, it’s pretty shocking that no one has made a movie about “The Star Wars Holiday Special” yet. It’s an untapped corner of the “Star Wars” fandom that has remained mainly a running joke and mythical hurdle a fan must endure as a rite of passage. Director Jeremy Coon and Steve Cozak team up to deliver what is one of the breeziest, interesting and most entertaining “Star Wars” documentaries of all time. Likely to be regard as a classic fandom documentary, “A Disturbance in the Force” chronicles the making of “Star Wars” and how the pop culture climate took a fairly straight faced science fiction adventure movie and transformed it in to a disco variety show.
Sharksploitation (2023)
With the anniversary of “Jaws,” Stephen Scarlata’s documentary comes at the right time, as sharksploitation has managed to experience something of a resurgence. Along with “The Meg 2” coming to theaters, we’ve also had fodder like “The Black Demon,” “The Devil’s Mouth,” “Deep Water,” and “Cocaine Shark.” So “Sharksploitation” is something of an overdue account of the creation of sharksploitation movies, and how one movie named “Jaws” created what would become a fascinating, often infamous sub-genre of action and horror movies that’s spanned decades.
Barbie Nation: An Unauthorized Tour (1998)
The 25th Anniversary Director’s Cut will be available on Demand June 27th.
One thing you can’t accuse Susan Stern’s documentary “Barbie Nation” of being is biased. Through and through “Barbie Nation” is a biography about the creation of Barbie, but it’s also an objective one. It’s bizarre, it’s humorous, it’s self deprecating, and most of all it reveals the pros and cons of the Barbie fandom. Director Susan Stern is a lot more interested in taking a look at the more surreal side of the Barbie fandom. While “Barbie Nation” does explore the culmination and conception of the doll, “Barbie Nation” also looks at the small pockets of fandoms that have popped up.