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To make A CLOCKWORK ORANGE or to not make A CLOCKWORK ORANGE that is the question. I once debated a close friend about this very question. He argued that too many people take it as a glorification of violence rather than the intended indictment, therefore making it a bad influence on society. I argued that an artist isn’t responsible for people not understanding their work. Upon its release, Roger Ebert called it an “ideological mess” and Pauline Kael said it was pornographic. And yet it has endured.

Director Stanley Kubrick adapted Anthony Burgess’s novel about a future where gangs of youth indulge in drug-laced milk then go on good “old ultra-violence” sprees where they beat and rape freely. Alex De Large (Malcolm McDowell, IF…) is the leader of one of these gangs. In one night, they beat up a drunk in the street, fight a rival gang and then con their way into the home of a writer named Mr. Alexander (Patrick Magee, CHARIOTS OF FIRE) where they savagely attack him and force him to watch them gang rape his wife (Adrienne Corri, DOCTOR ZHIVAGO). He’s content with their penny ante thuggery, but his second-in-command, Georgie (James Marcus, TV’s DOCTOR WHO), and the gang’s goon, Dim (Warren Clarke, O LUCKY MAN!), have loftier marks like the rich cat lady (Miriam Karlin), who runs a fitness farm. Alex does not like to be challenged.
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This nonlinear romantic comedy declares from the start that it is not a love story. Tom’s heart has already been broken by Summer when the story starts. It flips through the days of their relationship giving the viewer a peek into their relationship’s ups and downs as Tom tries to piece together what went wrong, and how he can get her back.

Tom is played by one of best young actors, Joseph Gordon-Levitt. On day one of meeting Summer, who is played by the ever charming Zoey Deschanel, Tom is smitten from the start. She’s just one of those girls. As the narrator tells us when she started working at an ice cream parlor, sales rose drastically. But Tom is a shy guy. So it takes Summer, after a night out of karaoke with co-workers, to make the first move. Tom believes he has found his soul mate. I mean she likes The Smiths, for goodness sakes. Even when she tells him that she doesn’t believe in love and isn’t looking for anything serious, Tom goes in head first nonetheless.
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Did you know that you have an outstanding bill of $28,000 and its keeps going up every day? It’s your share of the National Debt. Patrick Creadon’s documentary tries to make an unsexy problem in the U.S. enticing. It may be an uphill battle, but he does a very commendable job. If the U.S. ever looses its leadership position on the world stage, it will be because of this issue. This isn’t a Right or Left issue; it’s an issue of America’s survival.

Through the Bush administration years, the National Debt doubled. This was the first time this had happened in non-World War situation in the nation’s history. How did this happen? It’s simple. The federal government was spending more than it was making. Bill Clinton’s administration had balanced the budget and people thought we were on the road to eliminating the debt. But what many didn’t realize was that we had borrowed so much from the coffers of Social Security that the program is near bankruptcy. In the Bush years, between the Iraq war, a costly new drug program and the rising imbalance in Social Security and Medicare, the problem is only getting worse. There will be a day when your taxes will only be going towards paying part of SS and Medicare and the interest on the National Debt.
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When I first saw the trailer for this Clint Eastwood film, I thought it looked like an old DIRTY HARRY revenge rehash. But I held out faith that marketers go for the widest audience and Eastwood goes for art. I was right to put my faith in Eastwood. While not one of his very best, it is one of his most entertaining and touching.

Walt Kowalski (Eastwood) gives the term crusty old man a new degree of crunchy edges. His wife has died and he can barely force out a grunt at his kids and spoiled grandkids. He’s a man of a different era and doesn’t seem to fit into the modern world. His neighborhood in Detroit is now filled with Hmong immigrants, who he refers to in some colorful language. One night, a disagreement between the next-door neighbor boy Thao Vang Lor (Bee Vang) and some gang members spills over into his yard. He comes out with a rifle and says the already classic line, “Get off my lawn.”
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With the HBO movie GREY GARDENS arriving on DVD, This Weekend’s Film Festival celebrates cinematic eccentrics. Cheery oddballs have been a staple of film from the start and these films embrace eccentrics that inspire. There’s the nicest man you’d ever meet with his giant rabbit. There’s a worldly woman who take in an orphan. There’s a real life eccentric who made innovations in film and aeronautics. Then there’s a double dose of Jackie O’s aunt and cousin.

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This fictional account of Edith Bouvier Beale and her daughter “Little” Edie Bouvier Beale chronicles the aunt and cousin of Jackie O and their eccentric ways. For cult film fans, it serves as a fascinating prequel to the famed documentary of the same name. For all other viewers, it’s a unique look at the black sheep of a famous rich family and as they went from lavish socialites to living in a dilapidated mansion where raccoons lived off piles of trash.

“Little” Edie (Drew Barrymore, E.T.) is a strange bird, who fancies herself a singer and a dancer. Her mother Edith (Jessica Lange, BLUE SKY), a singer herself, advises her daughter to marry a man who provides her with a long leash so that she can truly be free. Edith lives the high life with her music man lover George “Gould” Strong (Malcolm Gets, TV’s CAROLINE IN THE CITY), while her husband Phelan (Ken Howard, MICHAEL CLAYTON) pays the bills. But when he gets fed up with her, he cuts her allowance and moves out. Edie isn’t interested in marriage and moves to NYC to be on Broadway and starts an affair with the married Secretary of the Interior Julius Krug (Daniel Baldwin, JOHN CARPENTER’S VAMPIRES).
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Based on Mary Chase’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play, this fantasy comedy makes one question what society deems acceptable behavior. James Stewart performance as Elwood P. Dowd is just one of his iconic parts, bringing a joyous level of kindness. Josephine Hull (ARSENIC AND OLD LACE) won an Oscar for performance as Elwood’s distraught sister Veta Louise Simmons. Would you be distraught if your brother introduced everyone he meets to an invisible, six-foot-tall rabbit named Harvey?

Elwood P. Dowd might be the nicest man who ever lived. He wants to invite every person he meets over for dinner or out for drinks. Veta’s distinguished circle of friends looks at her brother oddly. Veta’s daughter Myrtle Mae (Victoria Horne, THE GHOST AND MR. MUIR) has lost complete faith that, with her uncle around, she’ll ever find a nice man. Others like Cracker the bartender (Dick Wessel, FATHER OF THE BRIDE) accept Elwood and Harvey as they are. But Veta doesn’t want to befriend bartenders and ex-cons like her brother, so she decides to have him institutionalized. However, her frantic behavior and Elwood’s calm demeanor make one wonder which one of them should be institutionalized.
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The HARRY POTTER series of films will stand as the strongest extended series in film history. Their success however rests on the shoulder of J.K. Rowling’s wonderful novels. So it’s not surprising that the weakest novel has produced the weakest film. But the weakest film in the HARRY POTTER series could easily be the best in any other. So what does it really matter? HALF-BLOOD PRINCE is still funny and exciting and features a lot of snogging.

Harry Potter (Daniel Radcliffe) has sort of come to terms with his Chosen One status and the pain that it brings. He’s less angry at his fate and more accepting, even when it gets in the way of getting dates. Headmaster Albus Dumbledore (Michael Gambon, GOSFORD PARK) has a special task for Harry this year. He needs the Boy Who Lived to recover a memory from the returning potions teacher Prof. Horace Slughorn (Jim Broadbent, IRIS), who taught Lord Voldemort when the dark wizard was just a student named Tom Riddle. Slughorn is a collector of promising students. He’s not psychic, but he knows that it’s good to know future top wizards when they’re young.
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Megan Fox’s body is of interest in Jennifer’s Body

Seems like a lot of horror and sci-fi films got buzzed this week on the Net. There’s one from a certain Oscar-winning writer that I think has the potential to be a big hit. Speaking of Oscars, the trailer for Jim Sheridan’s remake of BROTHERS, starring Natalie Portman, Tobey Maguire and Jake Gyllenhaal, leaked on the web this week and has since disappeared. Don’t know why the studio would want to hold back on it, it looks great. If you saw it you know. Now onto trailers you can see.
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This film was given the go ahead right after Sacha Baron Cohen’s success with BORAT. I couldn’t see how it could work the same. But Cohen has proven me wrong. Equally as funny and provocative as its predecessor, BRUNO does the unthinkable and out shocks BORAT. If you thought nude wrestling with an obese man through a hotel was extreme, you’ve not seen anything yet.

Bruno (Cohen) is the popular host of a fashion TV show in Europe. He has a short Asian boy toy. He gets front row seats at all the fashion events. Life is fabulous. Then the Velcro suit affair at Fashion Week ruins him. With the help of his dedicated assistant Lutz (Gustaf Hammarstan), Bruno decides to head to L.A. to become famous.
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