Friday, November 29, 2013

Have You Heard of Andrew Cunanan?



Cunanan was born in National City, California, to Modesto Cunanan, a Filipino American, and Mary Anne Schillaci, an Italian American. He was the youngest of four children. Modesto Cunanan was serving in the US Navy in the Vietnam War at the time of his son's birth. He murdered 5 men including Italian designer Gianni Versace.

At the time of the crimes, there was much public and press speculation that Cunanan's motives were tied to a diagnosis of HIV infection; however, an autopsy found him to be HIV-negative.

In order to piece together a motive for his killing spree, police searched the boathouse where Cunanan died. However, Cunanan left behind few personal belongings, surprising investigators, given his reputation for acquiring money and expensive possessions from wealthy older men.[16] Police considered few of the findings to be of note, except multiple tubes of hydrocortisone cream and a fairly extensive collection of the fiction of C.S. Lewis.

His motivations remain a mystery. Various theories include jealousy for Versace's role as a "gay icon", as well as necessity and opportunity in some of the other murders. Examination of his behavior from reports also indicates that he may have suffered from psychopathy, a personality disorder characterized by an abnormal lack of empathy.

Thursday, November 28, 2013

Red Satin





After the death of her husband, Lilia's life revolves solely around her teenage daughter, Salma. Whilst looking for Salma late one night, Lilia stumbles upon a belly dance cabaret and though initially reserved and taken aback by the culture of the place, Lilia gets consistently drawn back to it.

She befriends one of the belly dancers and is encouraged into dancing for the audience. Lilia also starts a romance with one of the cabaret's musicians, who unbeknown to both of them, is also romancing Salma.

Sunday, November 24, 2013

Head On



The nineteen-year-old Ari confronts both his sexuality and his Greek family. Ari despises his once-beloved parents, former radical activists, for having entombed themselves in insular tradition; Ari is obsessed with gay sex, though he does make a unenthusiastic attempt to satisfy the sister of one of his best friends. At the same time, he's facing problems with his traditional Greek parents, who have no clue about his sexual activities...

Saturday, November 23, 2013

Little Ashes


"Little Ashes" is set against the backdrop of Fascist Spain in 1922. It follows the love affair between Salvador Dali and poet Federico Garcia Lorcathree. Taking its title from Salvador Dali's 1927-28 painting Cenicitas, it stars Robert Pattinson as Dali, Javier Beltran as Federico Garcia Lorca and Matthew McNulty as Luis Bunuel. This drama film from director Paul Morrison has been premiered at the 16th annual Raindance film festival in London back in October, 2009.

Paul Morrison, the director of "Little Ashes," a film about the strange, complex and forbidden love between Spanish poet Federico Garcia Lorca and surrealist painter Salvador Dali, talks exclusively with The Dish Rag about casting "Twilight" hero Robert Pattinson in the period piece.

At the time, Pattinson was just another undiscovered young British actor (he'd done "Harry Potter"), and little did Morrison know that this young man would draw unparalleled attention to his small film, which opens May 8, without a US premiere.

Paul Morrison: I love the fact that an audience is going to be drawn to the film, partly through Rob, that wouldn't otherwise get to this kind of movie. We played the Belfast Film Festival last week and there were quite a few of Rob's fans there, not the majority by any means, and they loved it and they really took to it, so it's great that kids will be reached by the movie.

Dish Rag: Playing Salvador Dali is a daunting role for a young actor.

PM: Yeah, I don't think Rob realized what he was getting into when he agreed to do it, but he really worked hard at it, he really grappled with it, and I think he's done something very extraordinary. It's so difficult to do, because you have to tread light all the time between playing Dali as a young lovable young man, which he was, and suggesting the kind of pastiche of himself that he became in later life, that he presented to the public in later life, and that's a very tall order, and I think Rob pulled it off.


DR: The resemblance is actually quite amazing.

PM: The intensity was important, but I wasn't really looking for resemblance. And in the performance, I wasn't looking for mimicry either.

DR: How did you find Robert Pattinson?

Wednesday, November 20, 2013

Warm Springs



Warm Springs is a 2005 television film about American President Franklin D. Roosevelt's struggle with polio, his discovery of the Warm Springs, Georgia spa resort and his work to turn it into a center for the aid of polio victims, and his resumption of his political career. Roosevelt's emotional growth as he interacts with other disabled people at Warm Springs prepares him for the challenges he will face as president during the Great Depression.



Friday, November 15, 2013

Northanger Abbey-Jane Austin



Northanger Abbey is the story of a young woman, Catherine Morland, who is invited to Bath with family friends, the Allens, for the waters at Bath will help Mr. Allen's gout. Catherine (called "Cathy" by her many younger siblings) has been quite sheltered all her life, escaping only by reading Gothic novels, and so is delighted to go to Bath. Mrs. Allen introduces Catherine to the Thorpe family, including an older girl, Isabella, who befriends Catherine.

The girls have bonded over their love of similar novels, when their brothers arrive. James (Catherine's brother) falls in love with Isabella, a hardened flirt. Likewise, John (Isabella's brother and James's friend) goes after Catherine, who does not like John half so much as John likes himself. Catherine is in love herself, however, with a quirky young minister, Henry Tilney, whom she met at a dance. Catherine befriends Henry's sister, Eleanor, and goes on many outing with the two siblings, after their brother, Frederick, comes to Bath. Isabella, having learned that James (to whom she is now engaged) is poor, begins to flirt with Frederick Tilney. Eleanor invites Catherine to stay with her at the Tilney's home, Northanger Abbey; Catherine accepts with pleasure, though she imagines that the Abbey will be rather like on the gloomy castles in her books.

Catherine is, at first, welcomed by General Tilney (Henry's father), who has been bragged to by John Thorpe that Catherine (whom John thinks is in love with him) is an heiress. When he realizes that Catherine is not rich, however, he sends her packing. Back at home, Catherine is unhappy, missing Henry and disillusioned about her precious Gothic novels. Henry appears and proposes, however, and the story ends happily.

Thursday, November 14, 2013

Serbis Pinoy Movie


A family runs a cinema called "Family" that has turned to showing old portnographic films to keep making money. The theater also serves as a residence to the family.

During an ordinary day for this family the movie shows how a normal but problematic existence can go on in a place that is being taken over by young homossexual prostitutes that use the back of the cinema room to sell their "services".

"A family manages a porno theater that serves as their residence. Their common life, with happiness and sorrow, happens in the same place where young homossexual prostitutes their "services""

Serbis drama that shows the hard life of the Filipino family Pineda Angeles City. Bigamy, unwanted pregnancy, possible incest and skin irritation - all of these challenges life throws every day heroes of the film, but the real "star" of the film is a huge, dilapidated movie theater that is both home and place of work of the family. Once prestigious entertainment center, this theater is now showing adult movies and is a den of thieves all sorts, prostitutes, and perverts. The film is filled with dirty, stinking atmosphere, the characters are intertwined story lines with customers cinema, thieves and even a "stray" a goat, and the viewer sees the whole picture to the accompaniment sounds bustling city that is in constant motion .

Wednesday, November 13, 2013

Grande Ecole Movie


Grande ecole: Paul and Agnes have been going out for quite a while and Agnes is shocked to learn that he'd rather live with two roommates on campus than move in with her. As soon as he meets one of his roommates, Louis-Anault, Paul's behavior changes - he is attracted to Louis without realizing so himself. Agnes, on the other hand, gets quite jealous and offers a bet: Whoever gets to have Louis-Anault first, wins... If she does, Paul will no longer explore his homosexual desires, if he does - she'll walk away. Meanwhile, Paul meets Mecir, a young Arab worker, who shows him there's more to life than elite colleges....

Monday, November 11, 2013

Doing Time on Maple Drive


In this made-for-TV drama, a New England family's secrets all come tumbling out at once as they spend a weekend together to celebrate the engagement of their youngest son. Lisa Carter (Bibi Besch) and her military husband, Phil (James B. Sikking), couldn't be happier when their youngest son, Matt (William McNamara), brings his rich bride-to-be, Allison (Lori Loughlin), home from Yale. Col. Carter views Matt as the perfect son, especially given the way his other children have turned out. Tim (Jim Carrey) has sunk into alcoholism after dropping out of college, while Karen (Jayne Brook) must support her husband, Tom (David Byron), a struggling art photographer who wants to start a family despite his father-in-law's financial misgivings. As Allison gets acquainted with the Carter clan and its dysfunctions, her fiancé's artfully constructed facade of perfection begins to crumble, ultimately threatening his family's reputation, his impending nuptials, and his very life. Doing Time on Maple Drive debuted March 16, 1992, as a "Fox Night at the Movies" feature on the Fox network; it was later nominated for several Emmy awards. Directed by thirtysomething star Ken Olin, the film features a number of additional television staples among its cast, from Loughlin, star of Full House, to Carrey, then best known as Fire Marshal Bill on In Living Color. Two additional TV personalities from the cast -- Hill Street Blues actor

Saturday, November 9, 2013

The Afterlife Movie


After a horrific car accident, Anna (Ricci) wakes up to find the local funeral director Eliot Deacon (Neeson) preparing her body for her funeral. Confused, terrified and feeling still very much alive, Anna doesn't believe she's dead, despite the funeral director's reassurances that she is merely in transition to the afterlife. Eliot convinces her he has the ability to communicate with the dead and is the only one who can help her. Trapped inside the funeral home, with nobody to turn to except Eliot, Anna is forced to face her deepest fears and accept her own death. But Anna's grief-stricken boyfriend Paul (Long) still can't shake the nagging suspicion that Eliot isn't what he appears to be. As the funeral nears, Paul gets closer to unlocking the disturbing truth, but it could be too late; Anna may have already begun to cross over the other side.

Wednesday, November 6, 2013

Amistad

Amistad is the name of a slave ship traveling from Cuba to the U.S. in 1839. It is carrying a cargo of Africans who have been sold into slavery in Cuba, taken on board, and chained in the cargo hold of the ship. As the ship is crossing from Cuba to the U.S., Cinque, who was a tribal leader in Africa, leads a mutiny and takes over the ship. They continue to sail, hoping to find help when they land. Instead, when they reach the United States, they are imprisoned as runaway slaves. They don't speak a word of English, and it seems like they are doomed to die for killing their captors when an abolitionist lawyer decides to take their case, arguing that they were free citizens of another country and not slaves at all. The case finally gets to the Supreme Court, where John Quincy Adams makes an impassioned and eloquent plea for their release.



This is a remake of the 3 Idiots Movie. I like the original better than this remake.


The Last Casino is a 2004 Canadian television film on the subject of card counting. This movie draws heavily from the ideas espoused in the book Bringing Down the House.

Mathematics professor Doug Barnes has big problems. He is seriously addicted to gambling, and is heavily in debt to a vicious gangster (the Usurer). Barnes has been banned from his local casino, and the Usurer wants his money back. Barnes has only one card left up his sleeve.

Professor Barnes is paid an unexpected call at his university office by the Usurer. Barnes explains he has had a bad patch; but the Usurer wants his money. Barnes quickly comes up with the idea of forming "a team" of card counters, telling the Usurer "It's the only way you'll get your money back". At this, the Usurer snips the tip off the professor's little finger as a warning to pay the debt; but tells him he will consider the proposal. Barnes goes ahead and recruits three of the brightest, if mostly impoverished students from the university, luring them in with the promise of $1,000 per night each for "doing a little math". He then goes ahead and teaches them the art of card counting. Whilst initially highly successful, the three of them soon begin to succumb to the tempation easy money presents, and the pressure is soon on them to raise the money necessary to pay the professor's debts.

Friday, November 1, 2013

Guilty as Sin





Jennifer Haines (Rebecca De Mornay) is an up-and-coming Chicago attorney. She wins a big case, celebrates with the man in her life, Phil Garson (Stephen Lang), and returns to work to a hero's reception.

Into her life walks David Greenhill (Don Johnson), who was seated in the gallery during her previous trial. Greenhill is a debonair and arrogant ladies' man who stands accused of murdering his wealthy wife, Rita (Brigitte Wilson). He wants Haines to represent him, but she declines.

Something about him intrigues her, though, so the equally arrogant Haines has second thoughts. She tells her law firm's superiors that this promises to be a high-profile trial and she wants it because: "I am that good."

Greenhill maintains his innocence but shows signs of irrational behavior that make Haines wary of him. She assigns her longtime investigator Moe (Jack Warden) to do some digging and he begins to unearth the defendant's shady past. Greenhill in the meantime starts showing up unexpectedly in Haines's social life, stalking her and dropping hints that something is going on between them.

Phil dislikes the guy intensely and demands Haines drop him as a client. She doesn't care for Greenhill either but resents being told what to do. She refuses to quit his case until her law partners notify her that the fee Greenhill promised remains unpaid. An unsympathetic judge (Dana Ivey) tells Haines it's her own fault and refuses to let her abandon her client.

Learning from Moe that Greenhill has a history of dating older women who usually end up dead, a horrified Haines wants to turn him in, but is bound to attorney-client privilege. She instead tries to sabotage her own case by having evidence planted at Greenhill's apartment, hoping that it will lead to his conviction. He knows she must be behind it and takes his revenge by viciously assaulting Phil, who ends up hospitalized.

Greenhill's case ends in a mistrial, after the jury fails to reach a unanimous verdict. Greenhill, seemingly pleased, displays regret that he never had a chance to take the stand. He does so privately for Haines in the empty coutroom, revealing that he had been scouting her far in advance of the murder case. He confesses that he did indeed kill his wife and provides vivid details.

Greenhill further tells Haines that he knows she planted the evidence. He could use this to blackmail her, but says he has come to tire of her. Haines fears the psychopathic Greenhill will now come after her. She prepares to disclose everything, even at the cost of her career.

Greenhill anticipates this. He murders Moe, knocking him out and then setting fire to his office. He then intercepts Haines at her apartment building. He casually states that between Phil's beating and Moe's death, she is grieving enough to commit suicide. A fierce struggle ensues. Greenhill manages to throw Haines over a railing, but to his horror, she pulls him down with her. They fall several stories together. Greenhill is killed in the fall. Haines, cushioned by his body, is severely injured but survives.

As she is carried off to hospital, she triumphantly states: "I beat him, Phil. I beat him. Tough way to win a case."
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