KING COBRA director Justin Kelly TRIBECA FILM FESTIVAL first look review Having seen King Cobra,I must report James Franco, with his queer chic fixation, fails one more time to honor the story. Franco seemingly permanently damaged by Queer Theory guru and one of his mentors, the author and academic Michael Warner, Instead of going to a theory detox, continues his quest to be the Foucault of cinema. His production company takes a sensational and complex real life story that involves the gay porn industry and manages to make a cheesy and embarrassingly acted
..or should I say overacted (Franco) amateurishly acted (Keegan Allen),Garrett Clayton's “Oh Gosh I am beautiful” acting.and Christian Slater's "Damn. Am I glad I have a job acting.” These are not the Actors Studio character study, Justin Kelly has now directed two gay content films with Franco playing the lead. In I Am Michael, the first one, had a lead character who was an activist in San Francisco who finds God and bingo goes "straight".As in his Cruising disaster Franco manages to grab all the light and through the strength of his narcissism sucks literally all the energy out of each frame he is in. Why he is doing these kinds of film baffles me. He is smart and talented... If only Ira Sachs or Travis Matthews or Silas Howard guided by the the steady, tough hand of a Christine Vachon, had she been in charge of this production. Under any of their hands, I know it would have been cast differently and the director would have been in control. And hopefully maybe just maybe the complex human drama of exploitation, desire., jealousy and manipulation might have come through rather than have Franco with his butt up in the air and his once radiant smile now grown weary around edges, take the story into celluloid quicksand. His force of personality and fingers push King Cobra into a gay version of a bad Mexican novella, After reading his rave review, I suggest The Guardian's critic Nigel Smith take a break from low budget gay Hollywood and de-dazzle himself with taste of true gritty reality anywhere away from Lavender LaLa land and its queer hard-core, quick buck fantasy machine.
TRAILOR : http://video.ew.com/v/114620299/video.ht
When the Tribeca Film Festival pulled a film that it had programed and Robert DeNiro had championed it made me wonder why the public was being denied the opportunity to see a film by a major film festival. It felt like censorship to me. I wanted to see VAXXED: From Cover-Up to Catastrophe, because of the number of friends I know who have autistic children without any cause found.. and the prediction in 20 years 1 in 2 children will becoming autistic at the rate of growth we have today. .. I raised the question of censorship and as I did a firestorm of mainstream media went on the warpath and literally told people NOT to see the film. On my Facebook page a very intense discussion raged with friends from Act Up and political organizers raging against a film they had not seen. I listened and read their comments and it only made me want to see the film for myself before i decide how I felt about the film's content . I did see the film and was shocked that all most all of the discussion of what was in the film by people who had not see the film was not what I saw and heard in the film itself. I knew the role that Big Pharma and its lobbyist have played politically to protect their huge vaccine created profit. Rather than rattle on I simply want to say : see the film. A second week has been added at the Angelica and will open in Los Angeles on the 19th. Judge for yourself and if you want to comment, please refrain until you have actually seen the film . Remember my goal here is anti-censorship and in support of people making their own INFORMED choice of what they do with their own and their children's bodies. The Gnome has taught me that each of our bodies is unique. What may work for one person does not mean it will work on every other body. This is for me a huge lesson in health care. Here Del Bigtree, a very articulate producer of Vaxxed, a successful Los Angeles television producer is interviewed by WE THE PEOPLE and asked why he produced the documentary and why you should see it .. I am simply standing up for freedom of expression and against the censorship of any creative person's work.... and my right to withhold judgement on a creative work until i have actual see it .... and I just received News that the film has been pulled from a Film Festival in Houston after heavy political pressure that threatened the future of the Festival and the Editor of the Village Voice has sent out an apology for originally promoting the film .
The surprise hit of the festival circuit Neon Bull. Opens at Film Society of Lincoln Center this week. as well as a retrospective of previous work this new to the US Brazilian director. Neon Bull takes a romantic idealization of the Brazilian cowboy and strips away the gloss to reveal the humanity of one cowboy and how he both lives his life in a small traveling community and his dreams .. some of which will challenged expectation and trust me generate debate ...NEON BULL contains one if the most shocking and beautiful and dreamiest sex scenes in contemporary cinema. the cinematographer is Diego Garcia The director's name is Gabriel Mascaro. He is 34. Please put on your WATCH LIST !
tickets are on sale now at the Tribeca Film Festival .. they have all kind of packages to bring the price down. if you are a movie buff.
I did not
I have been trying to screen as amny as i can to give to give you some first lok recommendations.. I did not pick the obvious .. You can go to the online TFF programhttps://tribecafilm.com/filmguide https://tribecafilm.com/filmguide and learn about the films and purchase tickets .
I will post additional as I see them
Here are ten documentaries and 10 narrative films I recommend at TFF ,
I have concentrated on films that do not have well known actors or directors.
Here are ten documentaries and 10 narrative films I recommend at TFF ,
I have concentrated on films that do not have well known actors or directors. click on title for links, trailers, etc
Documentaries
THE BANKSY JOB insight into the complicated world of social activist and arts Banksy, DO NOT RESIST powerful exploration into the rapid militarization of police forces in the United States, EVERYBODY KNOWS.ELIZABETH MURRAY how the artist balanced success, family and battling cancer., KEEP QUIET what happens when you are a leading anti-semitic leader and you find out you are jewish?, MEMORIES OF A PENITENT HEART Best AIDS related film since David Weissman WE WERE HERE. One life reclaimed from a cold statistic. How religion and reality cause rifts in moments of crisis, A love story denied until now. Twenty fiv e years after Miguel died from AIDS, his niece, filmmaker Cecilia Aldarondo, embarks on an excavation into a quagmire of unresolved family drama.NATIONAL BIRD the ethics and history of Drones Filmmaker Sonia Kennebeck takes on the controversial tactic of drone warfare, and demands accountability through the personal accounts—recollections, traumas, and responses—of three American veterans whose lives have been shaken by the roles they played in this controversial method of attack, PRISON DOGdogs in prison ues as therapy with inmates, SHADOW WORLD perpetual war for profit, SOLITARY unique look at solitary confinement, UNTOUCHABLE sex offender laws do they work? 800,000 0n registry and the abuse continues untouchable triler
HERE IS THE TRAILER FROM Vaxxed: From Cover-Up to Catastrophe. THAT WAS SCHEDULED to play the TRIBECA FILM FESTIVAL that exposes the role of coverup at the CDC over data that purports autism is related to vaccine use in children. A whistleblower at the CDC spoke with director Andrew Wakefield and broke silence. A US Congressman was convinced the truth was being told .. that is at the core of the documentary at . All hell broke loose when it became public that it had been programed. Finally Robert De Niro had a press conference and defended the selection stating "autism was an issue very personal to his family." 24 hours later the film was pulled. The Sloan Foundation a major supporter of the TFF has apparently fiercely objected on scientific terms behind the scene and demanded it be pulled leaving TFF official looking like they have backed away from freedom of expression and the role of a Film Festival to provoke through creative work difficult issues and discussion, When originally scheduled, the film showing was to have been followed directly by a panel discussion. Apparently this did not satisfy the Sloan Foundation who continued to demand it be pulled. It was .. over the next few days more, as they say , will be revealed . Now of course the demand to see it far exceeds the expectations when programed. It is very hard tp get anyone to speak on thr record at this stage.. tbe
click on this link http://www.vaxxedthemovie.com/ it has information on the film. It contains the actual, original TFF posting and trailer l that has been withdrawn,
Here is the complete ABC News interview with the producer Del Bigtree
Having seen King Cobra,I must report James Franco, with his queer chic fixation, fails one more time to honor the story. Franco seemingly permanently damaged by Queer Theory guru and one of his mentors, the author and academic Michael Warner, Instead of going to a theory detox, continues his quest to be the Foucault of cinema. His production company takes a sensational and complex real life story that involves the gay porn industry and manages to make a cheesy and embarrassingly acted 
