Change Your Image
shop-29
Reviews
That Vitamin Movie (2016)
Very Useful Info Big Pharma Doesn't Want You to Know
Big Pharma can only make money from chemicals they invent, so natural ones like vitamins, minerals and food-based supplements get few research dollars. Thus there are still lots of good questions about natural substances already found in our bodies. This movie addresses some of the more promising areas for healing, some of which have solid science. If you're waiting for your doctor to figure out that vitamin C might cure cancer, it will be a long wait. Big Pharma wants to sell you their pricey drugs and they control most of the medical journals and continuing medical education for doctors.
Before you yell, "snake oil," keep in mind that research is required for both proof and disproof. If I claim that vitamin mega doses cured my thyroid cancer and you say that's nonsense, both of us need science to establish our position. Nowhere in the scientific method does it say "shoot down all new ideas." The problem is most doctors aren't researching vitamins and Big Pharma's marketing departments don't want us to know how effective some supplements are.
If you care to educate yourself about natural remedies, this movie is a good place to start. Only open minds learn.
Tipping the Velvet (2002)
Unique, Fabulous and Sexy Entertainment
This BBC series is astonishingly good fun. I'd only seen a few minutes before I knew I had to own it and watch it again with all my friends. I wouldn't recommend this to anyone prudish, but almost anyone else is going to enjoy it--from the cinema snob to the entertainment-hungry masses. The lead character is a lesbian, but it's still worth watching if that's not your thing.
Rachael Stirling is incredible in a lead role that stretches her into a dazzling assortment of emotions and situations, some of a bizarre nature. No one who saw this series would ever say she can't act. She makes us laugh, cry, get turned on and slap our foreheads in amazement.
You can't really compare this story to anything else. It's not a rehash of style or plot. It's entirely it's own beastpart comedy, historical drama, erotica, coming-of-age tale, musical and more.
Gotta praise the BBC for making this story. I can't imagine anyone in the (overly prudish and formulaic) U.S. ever doing it. So, stop reading about it and go buy it.
Cold Mountain (2003)
Art Is Not Just Pretty Scenery & Unhappy People
Lots of good stuff about this film: scenery, acting, most of the writing. The story held my interest, though the end was predictable. Renée Zellweger was fresh, terrific and funny. Jude Law acted beautifully in his long-suffering role (best take some Prozac before watching). Nicole Kidman didn't move me, but she presented a coherent character.
However, through my eyes, it didn't add up to anything fresh. Predictably, a bunch of really bad things happen and the people are all miserable. It's probably about the courage of the human heart, or some such thing. If you're having a good day, it's, "love, no matter how brief, is worth fighting for." On a down day, it's more like, "give up your romantic fantasies and get on with your f**ing life." If the message isn't important to you, and you love the craft of acting and pretty scenes, go for it. If you like romance and need a cathartic cry, try Somewhere in Time.
For me, it was just people suffering (beautifully). By the end of the film, I felt sorry for the characters and the actors. And myself.