April 14th, 2010 at 5:17 pm
by Sandra (life in general, movies)
Well, I’ve been in Denver just over two weeks and things have been pretty good, but a little bumpy. I’ve already met and gotten in touch with a few new contacts with an interest in bondage but I haven’t been getting out as much as I’d like, as I’m still having some transportation problems. The car still runs but doesn’t feel that reliable anymore so I’ve been going with a friend and doing one of the funnest things you can ever do – visiting used car showrooms! (Cartwheels!) So I’m hoping to get something like a late-model used Toyota or Hyundai within the next few weeks, and be a bit more mobile. But Denver’s nice and the weather’s been good, but I always forget how dry it is in Colorado.
Movies – I missed this one when it came out but in The Box Cameron Diaz wears what looks like some pretty terrific Seventies fashions, so I’m going to have to see it. The premise sounds a bit silly – If you push the button on this mysterious box you’ll get a million dollars and a stranger somewhere will die; would you do it? But I do like the director, who also did Donnie Darko, and well, Cameron Diaz wears Seventies fashions!
I also saw The Informant! (with an exclamation mark) the other night, which is very clever and funny and Matt Damon is terrific as the whistleblower who’s also a total nutcase. And I was really struck by the actress who plays his wife, Melanie Lynskey, who’s no stunning beauty, but whom I found incredibly attractive in a MILF sort of way. There’s nothing kinky about the movie, but there’s one scene where she has a terrific updo and wears some fabulous dangley earrings.
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December 30th, 2009 at 1:15 pm
by Sandra (life in general, movies)
I hope everyone’s having a nice final week of the decade. I’m having a nice time with the family in Atlanta and had a nice evening yesterday seeing “No Country for Old Men” with my Dad on cable TV. I’d seen it once last year but enjoyed it even more this time. It’s really brilliant and the themes of aging and the randomness of the universe really resonated. (Spoiler alert following). One of my favorite moments is when the young wife refuses to call the killer’s flipped coin, and she basically tells him that the coin doesn’t mean anything, it’s just you. I also love the irony of lawman Tommy Lee Jones (who normally always gets his man) never really figuring out anything in this one. It’s pretty dark and mournful but for the end of the decade it just felt perfect and gave my Dad and I plenty to talk about for the next hour.
Back to L.A. on Friday and back to work for the new year. Have fun tomorrow night!
3 Comments
November 4th, 2009 at 7:27 pm
by Sandra (life in general, movies)
I love horror movies and Paranormal Activity is one of the better ones I’ve seen, in the “less is more” camp and quite effective. It’s about a young couple who start to hear weird noises at night in their house and reluctantly begin to suspect that they’re being haunted. It’s amazing that it was shot for all of twenty thousand dollars with a video camera and actors who appeared to just be playing themselves. The couple can be a little annoying at times, but you get a real sense of their composure unravelling as things escalate. The comparison to The Blair Witch Project is inevitable, though I enjoyed this one much better than Blair Witch and there’s less shaky-cam in this one (though still quite a bit). If you’re going to see this, it’s best to see it in a crowded theater to get the audience reaction and also best not to watch the trailer beforehand. I watched it and wish I hadn’t, as there were scenes shown that I found myself waiting for. I think going in less prepared would probably heighten the tension. Definitely recommended.
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July 7th, 2009 at 1:15 pm
by Sandra (life in general, movies)
I had a delightful time with my best friend K. down in the Springs. We’ve been having a lot of rain here so we didn’t venture out for fireworks until Sunday, the 5th, where they were putting on a show up in the mountains. It was fabulous. The symphony was there playing music and they had a couple howitzers to fire during the 1812 Overture, which were perfectly synchronized.
Earlier in the weekend we went out to Club Q, Colorado Springs’ only gay bar (I believe) and saw their Friday night drag show. I just went in guy mode myself and the drag queens put on a nice show, with varying degrees of talent. Some of the girls were really attractive and energetic and really belted it out. I’ve heard of Club Q for several years, so it was nice to see it. The gay bar in the Springs used to be the old Hide ‘N Seek Club, and there have been rumors that they were “forced” out of business by overly strict interpretation of building and fire codes. But who knows? It was a nice place and for years that was the only club in town if you wanted to dress and go out, so it’s nice to see that there’s a new one.
Synecdoche – We also saw the movie “Synecdoche, New York” on DVD and it was excellent, though very very sad. It’s another mindfuck movie from Charlie Kaufman, who wrote the screenplays for “Being John Malkovich” and “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.” It’s even more of the same, with a very complicated plot about a theater director who tries to capture all of life’s experience in his massive new production. It twists and turns and folds in on itself, with actors playing real characters, including one who stands in for himself. Anyway, it’s very hard to describe but incredibly imaginative and worth seeing if you like that sort of thing – but not something to see if you’re feeling emotionally fragile. It really is so very sad. There’s more about it and the trailer, which is very good, on this page.
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March 16th, 2009 at 3:35 pm
by Sandra (life in general, movies)
I’m not normally a big fan of superhero movies but I went out the other night and saw Watchmen with my good friend K., and it’s really terrific. It’s dark and funny, and Malin Akerman, who plays Silk Spectre II, is really hot – heck, she’s wearing this latex fetish outfit with heels whenever she’s out fighting crime and in another scene wears this really nice skirt and belted sweater – a real knockout. All the other actors are really good too and some of my favorites were the actors who played the psychopath Rorschach (Jackie Earle Haley) and The Comedian (Jeffrey Dean Morgan). The latter’s very funny indeed even though he does some truly horrible things to people, including killing the pregnant Vietnamese girl who’s carrying his own child.
The movie itself is really clever and a lot of fun, set in the 1980s and presenting this alternate history where Nixon is serving his third term in office. One really funny aspect is that all the superheroes are troubled and in varying states of unhappiness, including big blue Dr. Manhattan (Billy Crudup), who has godlike powers over space and time – and also relationship problems. So often I find the self-serious tone of superhero movies kind of tedious but this one was a real hoot, commenting on the genre in a fun way. Did I mention that the actress who plays Silk Spectre II is really hot?
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February 11th, 2009 at 9:16 pm
by Sandra (life in general, movies)
I recently saw the new Mickey Rourke movie, The Wrestler, and it’s an excellent “feel bad” movie. It is rather shocking to see how bad Mickey Rourke looks, especially since he was, well, beautiful when he was younger (Hell, I would have had sex with him back then, and I’m not even much into guys). The movie is indeed grim – dealing with aging and decay and how life doesn’t turn out how we would have hoped – but it’s so well done and Mickey Rourke’s performance is so good that it wasn’t nearly as depressing as I feared. And there’s also a good song at the end – one of those hopeless-loser ballads by Bruce Springsteen. Definitely a good choice for a nice wallow.
The Wrestler website
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March 18th, 2008 at 11:11 am
by Sandra (life in general, movies)
I remember seeing the original German-language version of this movie about ten years ago when it first came out. It’s a very nasty little movie about a nice family being held hostage and tormented in their nice home by a couple of young polite psychopaths. I had seen some pictures online of the actress tied up, so of course I had to check it out. Like I say, the movie’s really nasty and dark and it’s supposed to be an indictment of how so many of us like to see nasty and dark movies as entertainment. I got that, but I just wanted to see the bondage and, yes, there were some pretty good, if overly grim, scenes in it.
So now the movie’s been re-shot with Naomi Watts staring in it, and apparently it’s nearly a shot-by-shot duplicate of the original. I’ll have to see it, though most likely when it comes out on DVD. And yes, again I get the director’s indictment of the audience and all that, but I don’t know where to go with it. Am I supposed to feel bad about myself because I like dark stuff? I mean, guilty as charged. And the fact remains that the director did choose to shoot all this dark stuff himself, so maybe it’s not just the audience. I don’t know – it’s probably not worth feeling defensive over. It is just a movie, after all.
As for the bondage, if it’s a shot-by-shot remake, then yes, there will be some – some really mean suffering-and-torment style bondage, but bondage nonetheless. Okay, it’s on my “to see” list.
Review on the NY Times
Movie website from Warner Bros.
2 Comments
February 2nd, 2008 at 7:03 pm
by Sandra (life in general, movies)
I also got out today with a friend and finally saw There Will Be Blood, and was completely blown away by it. Like everyone’s been saying it’s absolutely amazing and Daniel Day Lewis is incredible. You gotta go see this one.
Website with trailer
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January 1st, 2008 at 4:40 pm
by Sandra (life in general, movies)
It’s funny but when I travel my libido always goes through the roof. I don’t know if it’s just the stress of being away from home, as I’m pretty much a homebody, or if it’s (to be blunt) the fact that I don’t feel comfortable masturbating when I’m staying with family (pretty obvious why that might be weird), but I always find myself ready to peel paint off the walls with my fingernails after a few days.
I find too that when I’m at the airport, or just out and about, I’m always checking out the women, especially the nicely dressed ones, and feeling that familiar longing and desire. It’s the usual transvestite thing – I desire them AND I want to be them and be tied up being them, etc. etc.
Then yesterday I also saw with my family the movie Charlie Wilson’s War, which is very good and very funny, and also has some really hot women in it, including all the office secretaries who are so damn cute. There’s one shot of this adorable girl walking from behind with her high heels and legs and fitted suit and her ponytail swinging back and forth. Yikes! Well, I sound like a total perv but so it is. The lust and yearning just drive themselves into me like a screwdriver. It’s good to be back home and be able to get some relief from it.
4 Comments
August 26th, 2007 at 9:52 pm
by Sandra (life in general, los angeles, movies)
(note: there are some spoilers in this post, but then the title of the movie itself is a bit of a spoiler. I’m not really giving much away that you can’t already guess.)
So I made it out Friday night, just in guy mode, to see the midnight screening of Amateur Porn Star Killer at Laemmle’s Sunset 5. I’d have to say I thought it was brilliantly done, though it’s going to be a tough sell. It’s one of those films that you’re either going to really love or really hate. And you could make an argument for it either way – is it morally bankrupt dreck or a brilliant and challenging art film? I’d go with the latter, but yeah, it is pretty disturbing. I felt a bit shook up afterwards, and driving home the city just seemed really nasty and menacing.
What I really admired, though, about the movie is the sheer ballsiness of the filmmaker Shane Ryan. He’s obviously not afraid to look at his own dark side. He was there at the screening and he seems like a perfectly normal and polite young guy. He plays the killer himself in the movie, though for much of the film he’s offscreen. We just hear his voice behind the camera as he talks to his victim. He plays the role perfectly, though, and in an interview (links below) he talks about how tough and emotionally draining it was to stay in such a dark place for so long. During the screening he also showed a trailer for another film, and an earlier short film, both of which also dealt with some pretty dark stuff – sex, incest, violence, and still more murder.
The movie has a simple but brilliant concept. Some young sleazeball talks this shy young girl into his car and off to his crappy motel room and then proceeds to degrade and videotape her. And I’m not giving anything away here, even the poster says exactly what you’re going to see. I mean, it’s totally sick, and is filmed as though we’re watching an actual snuff film – not a particularly “fun” experience. The pacing is also very slow, and the camera is endlessly jumpy and the motel room poorly lit. Lots of times it’s tough to even tell what’s really going on. One reviewer called it “Ted Bundy with a video camera.” You’re basically watching a young girl shut down emotionally over the course of 71 minutes as it dawns on her what a horrible situation she’s gotten into. Apparently the film was improvised a lot, and the actress, Michiko Jimenez, does an outstanding job. It’s so believable and painful to watch as she grows more and more passive, lost, and aware of what a huge mistake she’s made getting into this guy’s car.
But what really works about the film is that Shane offers up this sex and violence in such a disturbing way that you’re left questioning your own reasons for being drawn to such a film. At least I was. And on a deeper level, I think it looks at the propensity for violence that’s obviously hard-wired into the human creature.
I’ve long been of the mind that most people are capable of most anything. Obviously to be human is to have the capacity for love, beauty, connection, compassion, AND also the capacity for utter cruelty and degradation. It’s just the human condition and I don’t think any of us are free of those urges, though we can decide what to do with them, at least most of the time. I think under extreme stress people can and do snap and do crazy things that normally they would be able to keep in check. Just reading a newspaper it’s obvious how nasty we can be to one another. And the people doing those nasty things are people just like you and me. We sometimes have a tendency to distance ourselves from certain kinds of people: neo-nazis, child molesters, rapists, killers and so on – and view them as being so beyond the pale that they couldn’t possibly be like us. But I think they are like us. They’re flawed human beings, just as we all are. Perhaps their urges vary in the details (most of us probably aren’t pedophiles or death fetishists), and clearly their self-control is lacking, but the capacity for cruelty and violence lives in us all. And we can get glimpses of it every night when we’re dreaming. The unconscious mind doesn’t know anything about being politically correct or considerate of the well-being of others when it comes to those primal urges.
So I think Shane’s film touches on these kinds of questions and on why so many of us are drawn to darkness. I mean, when I heard the title of this movie and read a couple reviews, I said, “I gotta see that.” Why is that? What does it say about me? Obviously my own sexual fantasies can get pretty dark sometimes. I’m not turned on by death but clearly if you’ve read any of my stories on my website, fear, loss of control, and being in “over one’s head” are indeed sexy to me. And those sexual fantasies obviously plug into a deep primal place way down in the animal side of my brain.
If you want to read some more about APSK, there are quite a few reviews online, and apparently it’ll be coming out on DVD soon. I just want one of those super-cool t-shirts that Shane was wearing at the screening. The poster art is really good, though the suggestion of bondage, I should point out, is a bit of a tease. The actress in the movie never actually gets chained up or cuffed, though the movie’s so nasty that I’m not sure it would have been much of a thrill for me even if she had been.
Anyway, here are a couple more links to check out below. It probably WON’T be coming to a theater near you. But there is the DVD. It’s not an easy watch, but I’d definitely recommend it.
Interview on Cinema Crazed
Film Threat Interview – Part One, Part Two
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August 19th, 2007 at 8:33 pm
by Sandra (life in general, los angeles, movies)
There’s another sicko horror film coming out that looks right up my alley, something called, “Amateur Porn Star Killer,” that was apparently shot on digital video for something like $45. There’s a midnight screening at Laemmle’s Sunset 5 Cinema in Los Angeles, on the 24th and 25th. Think I might have to make plans to see this one: Article on Skullring.org.
Update: just heard from Chad at Pollystaffle.com, where he’s doing a free ticket giveaway. Also sent a press release on the film. This thing sounds so appalling that I’m afraid I’m going to have to see it.
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March 20th, 2007 at 9:58 am
by Sandra (life in general, movies)
I’ve noticed a few bloggers requesting images of the “Captivity” billboards that were recently taken down in L.A., so in the interests of contributing to the ongoing brouhaha, here are a few more pictures.
Here’s a poster, also quite disturbing and kind of artsy:
And something with duct tape:
5 Comments
March 19th, 2007 at 6:09 pm
by Sandra (life in general, movies)
I was out the other day and saw the billboard for this new movie “Captivity,” and thought, “Wow, that is really sick.” It was located right across the street from an elementary school, believe it or not. And later I saw another one at a city bus shelter.
Now I enjoy a good horror movie, but even I thought it was a bit much to have such a gruesome image inflicted on everyone who goes by, including children. I know if I were eight years old and saw this, I’d be thoroughly traumatized by it.
And I just heard on the evening news that there have been so many complaints about the ads here in L.A., that the studio has decided to take all the billboards down. It makes you wonder if it wasn’t just a very successful publicity stunt. They’ve gotten all kinds of attention for their movie, which is what you want.
The big question: Does it have any good bondage in it? I saw the trailer for it and it looks like it might have one or two tame moments – maybe hand gagging and wrists tied together. But of course, who knows? Early reviews seem to say that it’s pretty bad and basically a rip off of the “Saw” movies. Will I go see it? Well, yeah, I probably will – but I’ll wait till it comes out on DVD.
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March 12th, 2007 at 11:42 am
by Sandra (life in general, movies, websites)
A friend sent me this link for this funny parody site on terrorism preparedness. Good stuff. There’s also the real “Ready America” site from the good folks at the Office of Homeland Security. They’ve got us covered.
Also those great airline safety cards from Fight Club:
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February 13th, 2007 at 9:24 pm
by Sandra (life in general, movies)
A friend recently sent me a couple of old Sally Roberts VHS tapes which I checked out the other night. I love that stuff from the late 70s and early 80s. Technically the videos are pretty bad, but as a model Sally Roberts was so good that she overcomes all the glitches and corny acting. She just nails that whole girl next door look and is really hot, with a super cute voice and that straight brown hair. There was one scene where she’s being held by Susan Blair (another regular from that period) and Sally asks in the cutest way, “I don’t suppose you have to gag me?” So, of course, she gets gagged – and very well, with a wad of cloth shoved into her mouth and a long white scarf wrapped between her teeth and wrapped twice around her head.
I’ve looked at way too many bondage pictures and videos over the years, which has kind of deadened the spark a little, so to speak. But I was amazed at how hot this scene was. It was simple but had a real charge, like back when I was 18 and went into my first adult bookstore and – holy cow! – saw this whole wall of bondage books and videos. My mouth went dry and I felt weak inside. It’s frustrating and a little sad that when you get older re-awakening those old feelings becomes so much harder. But every now and then something still really connects and takes me away.
Anyway, these tiny pictures are from some different Sally Roberts tapes, but still nice to look at.
5 Comments
January 22nd, 2007 at 7:55 pm
by Sandra (life in general, movies, websites)
Well, I finally finished up the DVD that I’ve been working on for the last few months and I’m really excited about it. Now that it’s done, I’ve been having lots of ideas for the next one. It’s a lot of work to shoot all that video but is really satisfying when you’re editing a scene and it’s working. I just put up a link to the DVD on the website and there’s a 40 second streaming video preview there, in three different sizes depending on your internet connection, also some frame grabs.
2 Comments
January 15th, 2007 at 9:03 pm
by Sandra (life in general, movies)
I did tear myself away from the computer for a little while, though, and had a chance to see the DVD of this movie “The Descent,” about six women friends who go caving and end up in big trouble. I really liked this one. It’s super creepy. And has a rather cool website too.
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January 6th, 2007 at 5:59 pm
by Sandra (life in general, movies)
Yesterday I went out to see the new David Lynch movie, “Inland Empire,” and I thought it was really great, and so freakin’ weird, and even scary in parts. It’s really long too – 3 hours. The first hour is the most straighforward part, in terms of having something like a story and plot, about a has-been actress named Nikki Grace (Laura Dern) working on a melodramatic movie called “On High in Blue Tomorrows,” but after a while it just goes crazy and much of it is like watching extra-long versions of the really strange scenes from “Twin Peaks” or “Mulholland Drive,” where you don’t know what the heck is going on but it feels like it sort of makes sense – or not – in an emotional sort of way. I tend to love stuff like that so found it thoroughly enjoyable. Apparently it was shot on regular ol’
DV video – not even the hi-def stuff – but it works surprisingly well on the big screen and fits the weirdness of the movie. If you like David Lynch, you’ll love this one; if you don’t, your patience will be thoroughly tried. It looks like it’s just in limited release right now so it may take a while for it to come around. If you have a chance to see it though, I’d definitely check it out.
Inland Empire Website
Movie Trailer on YouTube
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December 30th, 2006 at 2:14 pm
by Sandra (life in general, movies, websites)
The snow finally stopped falling today, so at last my best friend K. and I were able to get out. We’ve been playing Scrabble, eating too much and watching lots of DVDs.
Last night we saw Mulholland Drive, which is really excellent. I’d seen it a few years ago and was completely baffled by it, but this time we were able to go back and check out key scenes and kind of figure out what the heck was going on. It plays like a dream, so the logic behind it is still odd and hard to figure out, but it’s worth the effort. If you like weird movies this is a good one, very sexy too (though no bondage.) The clothes and make-up that the two female leads wear are terrific.
Official movie site.
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