A teen-age fan of a Madonna-eque pop star ends up befriending the star, and before long all sorts of boundaries
start getting crossed. Picture a dash of "All About Eve", a little of Altman's "3 Women", and mix in some "Almost
Famous" and you have some of the feel of this dark, but fun brew.

Terrific performances by the two protagonists - Emmanuelle Seigner as the singer, Islid Le Besco as her obsessed
teen protégé drive the film, making scenes that could have seemed ridiculous ring oddly true, if strange.

Not everything works. Among other things the singer's music feels far too cute and generic to drive the kind of
dark obsession we see. And some twists stretch credulity or reason at moments. But if Bergman had directed
"About Famous" we might have gotten something a little like this heady mess of sexuality, loss of self, obsession,
complex familial relationships being created and destroyed, loss of innocence, etc. etc.

The combination of a light touch and humor, real emotion (halfway into
filming the on-screen narrator finds he is going to have a baby, so
suddenly the issue involved gets much more personal), intelligent
presentation of facts without screaming in your ear or overstatement,
and the (sadly comic) attempts to be balanced and get the chemical
industry to go on the record add up to a much more enjoyable and
effective environmental documentary than most.

This is the kind of film that makes you want to change your own habits,
and believe you can make a difference, while never feeling like you're
sitting through a 'this is good for you' lecture. It reminded me of
Michael Moore's documentaries, in its playful tone about a serious
issue, but this has a lighter, less sarcastic, more lovable hand.

This would also be a terrific educational tool for 'tweens and teens
(there's probably a bit too much slightly, good naturedly ribald humor
for little kids, and some of the sad images of wildlife killed or
injured by plastics might be a bit upsetting for tots).

Kudos to all involved for this timely and important work that will
certainly effect my relationship to plastics in my world.

A study in contradictions; a moving film that doesn't really work, with some of our finest actors pouring their
souls into roles they aren't really right for, but touching something human and deep enough to confound the
eye-rolling one is tempted to indulge.

This is one of those 'failures' that is far more interesting than most successes. A film of ideas, even if some
of those ideas are facile or muddled. If it doesn't really work as a treatise on race and racism in the U.S. – which
on the surface seems it's grand ambition – it does succeed as a May-December romance with between two people
who have lost so much that logic is trumped by need.

(It's just about impossible to discuss some of the most glaring failures without giving away key plot
twists, so I will be circumspect).

This is one of those films it would be easy to tear apart, with key scenes and twists that simply don't work. But
I didn't find I wanted to. I'd rather remember the moments of human honesty that transcended the flaws. I'll
remember Anthony Hopkins dancing, first with Gary Sinese, then later with Nicole Kidman, not the heavy handed and
tin-eared social commentary.

No film with Alec Guinness and Leo McKern in the leads, based on a Graham Greene novel can be bad.
But this comes closer than I wish it did.

It’s played far more ‘cute’ than it need be, from the dated, overly up-beat music, to the lack of edge given
to either of the two main characters – a Roman Catholic Priest, and his friend, a communist. There’s no reason
not to allow these men more real, complex personalities.

In addition, the Don Quixote parallels are already quite obvious, but the film insists on pilling them on, and then
explaining them.

But all that said, there are enough wonderful moments of acting to certainly make this watchable, and even
worthwhile, even if it doesn’t hit anywhere near the heights I was hoping for, after spending a long while
tracking down a copy.

Sweet, good hearted little indie about the unlikely close friendship between at 19 year old gay wanna-be
film-maker and his neighbor, a 52 year old wanna be stand up comedian.

While there are rough spots – the low budget shows through, not all the acting is everything it might be,
some plot twists are either obvious or a bit of a stretch – this film deserves lots of credit for dealing with
something as delicate and complex as friendship.

There are obvious parallels to the great “Harold and Maude” (especially when a folky singer who sounds a bit
like Cat Stevens starts singing under the opening scene), but really the two films are very different. “Harold and
Maude” was both far more farcical and more tragic, and dealt with romance. This film is quieter and smaller,
dealing with the subtle humor and sadness of day to day life.

A simple, lovely effort.

Solid, well made biography of master photographer Alfred Stieglitz.

I always admired Stieglitz's photography. What's fascinating, and new to me is what a huge influence Stieglitz had
over early 20th century modern art in North America. His influence went well beyond photography, and well beyond his
own work.

Opening and operating his own gallery for years, he brought attention to the cutting edge of American and European
artists. (He gave Picasso his first solo show in the U.S.) We also get glimpses into his marriage to the great
Georgia O'Keefe.

While not the most emotional of documentaries, with a slight tendency to repeat itself, this is still a deserving and
intelligent work, shedding light on a key moment in the development of modern art and culture.

Quite cute romantic comedy that manages to overcome being predicable in the broad sense with lovely performances, and a quirky
sensibility that allows for smaller surprises within the established rom-com format.

Benoit Poelvorode (in a 180 degree turn from his famous, chilling performance in “Man Bites Dog”) and Isabelle Carre are both, in
different ways, suffering from terrible shyness and fear of emotions and attention. Yet, when she comes to work at his chocolate
company personality and fate keep conspiring to force them together, in spite of their fears.

This has a few laugh out loud moments, and lots of smile inducing ones. In the end, it doesn’t add up to more than what it is; a
blissfully compact (78 minutes) good hearted romantic comedy done with expertise, but in a world full of painful and dead
rom-coms, this is a very nice surprise.

I seem to be in the minority, but for me season 3 represented a bit of frustrating fall off from the preceding years,
although it still has it's share of strong moments, and the last 2 episodes are very powerful. But some of the earlier weaknesses
have gotten more prevalent; twists that seem a bit arbitrary, rules of its world that seem to shift to fit story convenience, story
lines that get dropped, character choices and complex morality that aren't really explored or are over-simplified, episodes that
seem a bit disconnected from the others.

And some of the strengths are less played too; fewer ironic or emotional uses of rock music, fewer visually inventive scenes,
and most importantly, less genuine emotion, and more slightly histrionic soapy-ness. (Suddenly the characters seem to
cry in every episode, which starts to make those powerful moments lose their impact). And the questions of 'what are good
and evil in a complex world' seem to be less deeply explored than before. (There's tremendous room to explore 'what is guilt'
'what is mercy' and 'what is evil' in this particular season, and in the end the answers given seem a bit too neat.)

There are also episodes in the middle that feel a bit dull, as if treading water. Perhaps this season would have been stronger
as 5 or 6 episodes.

Certainly good television, and worth watching, but for the first time I found myself less emotionally moved, and more apt to
find my mind wandering. The climax (which in some ways feels like a natural ending to the series) certainly makes up for a
lot of that, but not all of it.

Season 1 - Very inventive series, which morphs somewhat along the way during it's first 6 episode season.
A vampire. a werewolf and a ghost all share a small house in England. They desperately want to simply fit
in, be accepted and not hurt anyone. It's got a lot of dry wit and some real emotions as well, with strong
performances throughout. Someone remarked it's like `Seinfeld' with undead characters, and that is part
of the appeal early on, seeing these characters more in human, often humorous ways than in scary supernatural
ones. But over the course of the season, the supernatural and darker tones become more and more prominent.
This leads to some confusion in tone at times, along with some messiness as to just what the rules of the game
are for these creatures. There's also a few hard to take leaps of faith (e.g. a human character who hardly seems
fazed when he leans the true identity of our three leads.). When it first turned from `dramedy' to drama, and
the supernatural elements began to grow stronger I was very disappointed, as it seemed like the show was losing
what made it unique, but then it regained it's balance by amping up the emotions along with the other-worldly,
and making the characters' pain at being trapped between worlds, and their love for each other moving and real,
while avoiding (mostly) clichés or the familiar. I'll be very curious to see where it goes from here.

Season 2 - While still uneven at times, with it's goofy moments of humor not always meshing smoothly with it's darker
and more emotional sides, the series has grown a bit in it's 2nd season. While still not (for me) up with the all time great
series like The Wire or Mad Men or Breaking Bad, at it's best, it's an amazingly potent mix of heartrending drama, dark,
off-beat humor and some effective horror as well. But this is horror with all the rules reversed, with the `monsters' being
the human race, and the heroes our vampire werewolf and ghost who simply want to live like other people. At times, in
an odd way it reminded me of "Dexter", the outsider with scary possibilities, who wants to fit in. But whereas Dexter
is all about emotions repressed, here the emotions are on the sleeve (occasionally a bit too much, and there are a few
soapy moments).

Much like the first season this starts strong, seems to lose its way a bit in the middle, with some forced humor, and
repetitive moments but finishes with such a kick that its easy to forgive any lapses. The acting is on a very high level,
the writing is witty and human, and the direction and camerawork can be very effective at creating mood and scares
on a TV budget. Not perfect perhaps, but it's a rare TV show that can make me think, laugh, cry, and send a shiver
down my spine all in one episode. Some great use of rock tunes to set the mood tops it off.

Season 3 - I seem to be in the minority, but for me season 3 represented a bit of frustrating fall off from the preceding years,
although it still has it's share of strong moments, and the last 2 episodes are very powerful. But some of the earlier weaknesses
have gotten more prevalent; twists that seem a bit arbitrary, rules of its world that seem to shift to fit story convenience, story
lines that get dropped, character choices and complex morality that aren't really explored or are over-simplified, episodes that
seem a bit disconnected from the others.

And some of the strengths are less played too; fewer ironic or emotional uses of rock music, fewer visually inventive scenes,
and most importantly, less genuine emotion, and more slightly histrionic soapy-ness. (Suddenly the characters seem to
cry in every episode, which starts to make those powerful moments lose their impact). And the questions of 'what are good
and evil in a complex world' seem to get answered a bit more facilely than before

There are also episodes in the middle that feel a bit dull, as if treading water. Perhaps this season would have been stronger
as 5 or 6 episodes.

Certainly good television, and worth watching, but for the first time I found myself less emotionally moved, and more apt to
find my mind wandering. The climax (which in some ways feels like a natural ending to the series) certainly makes up for a
lot of that, but not all of it.

Warning: mild spoilers.

Tremendously touching if rough edged documentary of co-director Sami Saif's search for the father who abandoned him
years earlier. The quest takes him from Denmark where he lives with co-director (and apparent girlfriend) Ambo to Yemen
where he discovers he has a huge extended family.

The emotion unleashed by Saif meeting his family for the first time, after a bad childhood and years of isolation is deeply
moving, especially his intense connection with an older brother he had no idea he had.

Visually it's interesting in that it's a hand-held, low-fi video film, but shot in 2:35, an aspect ratio usually reserved for
bigger more visually sophisticated features, but it definitely adds something here.

There are some questionable choices in terms of some moments being cut short, and others lingering a bit too long.
And it's one of those rare films I actually wish was a bit longer overall, so we could have gotten even more of the story.
But that speaks to how interesting and affecting it is.