The Dictator Movie Review

'The Dictator' Shockya.com Movie Review, Written by: Karen Benardello Director: Larry Charles Starring: Sacha Baron Cohen, Anna Farris and Ben Kingsley Actors who have found fame and controversy with a film filled with comedic shock value and offensive stereotypes can have difficulty finding other movies that truly showcase their talent. In the case of Sacha Baron Cohen, who plays the title character in the new comedy ‘The Dictator,’ the actor created another character who regularly finds himself in outrageous scandals, due to his beliefs. While Baron Cohen couldn’t fully recapture Borat’s offensive behavior, ‘The Dictator’ still features his signature, confrontational stereotypes. ‘The Dictator’ follows Admiral General Aladeen (played by Cohen), who rules the anti-democratic country of the North African Republic of Wadiya. Aladeen intends to develop nuclear weapons to use on his enemies. After the United Nations Security Council announces its intentions to intervene in the country with military force, Aladeen travels to the UN Headquaraters in New York City to address its concerns. During his time in New York, he’s kidnapped by a hitman (portrayed by John C. Reilly), who was hired by his traitorous uncle Tamir (played by Ben Kingsley). Tamir plans on replacing Aladeen with a political decoy, who he can manipulate into publicly democratizing Wadiya and open the country’s oil reserves for business. With the help of activist Zoe (portrayed by Anna Farris), who offers Aladeen a job in her grocery store, he’s able to gain access into the UN headquarters, as she’s catering the televised event of the signing of the democracy papers. In the process, Aladeen starts to genuinely love Zoe, who starts to influence his ideas on politics. Baron Cohen, who co-wrote ‘The Dictator,’ his first fully scripted film, succeeded in once again creating a character whose ignorance brought comedic shock value to several sensitive subjects. Some of the jokes were extremely repetitive of ‘Borat,’ including objectifying women as prostitutes and criticizing minorities for their looks and beliefs; however, the actor-writer wasn’t afraid to once again amusingly feature attacks on all races and their biggest stereotypes. To continue reading this review, please click here.

Virginia Movie Review

'Virginia' Shockya Movie Review, Written by: Karen Benardello Director: Dustin Lance Black Starring: Jennifer Connelly, Ed Harris and Emma Roberts Creating an emotional main character that is also complex and challenging, and who isn’t afraid to go after what they want while also protecting the ones they love, isn’t the easiest task for a filmmaker. When that character is also coping with a mental illness, the task is even harder. But writer Dustin Lance Black successfully did just that with the lead title character in his directorial debut, the new drama ‘Virginia.’ While Virginia heavily relies on her son to take care of her, she also realizes that she needs to give him a better life, away from the small town they’ve lived in their whole lives. ‘Virginia’ follows the title character (played by Jennifer Connelly), a single mother suffering from schizophrenia, who’s struggling to raise her teenage son, Emmett (portrayed by Harrison Gilbertson). While she’s determined to leave her small southern town to move to San Fransisco to be with her sister, Virginia is still carrying on a long time affair with Mormon Sheriff Richard Tipton (played by Ed Harris). Their relationship and future are questioned when Richard decides to run for public office. Due his lasting feelings for Virginia, Richard tries to stop his daughter, Jessie (portrayed by Emma Roberts), from starting a relationship with Emmett. Everyone in the town tries to keep their lives together while keeping their secrets hidden. Black created an emotionally complex character in Virginia, whose mental and psychological shortcomings hinder her independence, but still allow her to strive to achieve her goals and dreams. Through the filmmaker and Connelly’s extensive research into mental illness before they began shooting ‘Virginia,’ they created a captivating woman who knows what she wants in life, including building a financially secure and loving life for her son. While she’s unsure how, and emotionally and financially unable, to make the move to California, she’s determined to make a promising life for him, including finding someone who could love him the way he’s loved her his entire life. To continue reading this review, please click here.

The Road Movie Review

'The Road' Shockya.com Movie Review, Written by: Karen Benardello Director: Yam Laranas (‘The Echo,’ ‘Patient X’) Starring: TJ Trinidad, Barbie Forteza, Derrick Monasterio, Lexi Fernandez, Rhian Ramos and Louise delos Reyes Foreign language films with subtitles often turn prospective viewers away, as many people don’t have the patience to read what’s going on throughout the entire movie. But some foreign movies not only feature intriguing locations and sets, but enough emotional back-stories to captivate audiences worldwide. The new Filipino horror crime drama ‘The Road’ is one such film, as it entertainingly balances the unique motivations of a ruthless killer, the futile attempts by his victims to escape and an interesting abandoned road and house that largely influence the murders. ‘The Road’ follows police officer Luis (played by TJ Trinidad) as he hopes to impress his superiors after winning a medal. After three teenagers, including Ella (portrayed by Barbie Forteza), her brother Brian (played by Derrick Monasterio) and their friend Janine (portrayed by Lexi Fernandez), vanish while driving on an infamous abandoned road, Luis begins looking into their disappearance. The road the three teens were driving on is the same road where two sisters, Laura (played by Rhian Ramos) and Joy (portrayed by Louise delos Reyes), vanished from 12 years ago. Luis and his fellow investigators are drawn into the road’s gruesome past, which includes abduction and murders that have spanned over the past 20 years. The horror crime drama, which is considered to be the first Filipino film to be commercially distributed in the United States in 50 mainstream theaters nationwide, features an intriguing premise by co-writer and director Yam Laranas. ‘The Road’ elaborately and intriguingly connects and interweaves two different murder cases, the first of which has almost been forgotten by the police department since it occurred 12 years ago. Laranas focuses heavily on the actions of the teen victims, and their clever attempts to escape their elusive pursuer, to little avail. While the filmmaker includes interesting murders in the movie, including the killer’s seeming obsession with strangling his victims, he perfectly balances the killings with the psychological trauma the teens are experiencing as they’re being tormented. To continue reading this review, please visit Shockya.

Interview: Jason Winn Talks The Fat Boy Chronicles

People who are constantly struggling to lose weight can face cruel ridicule by their peers, particularly younger teens who are still learning to adjust to middle school and high school. The negative emotional effects bullying has on younger teens can be psychologically damaging, but the film industry has been teaching them recently that they’re not alone, and there are people who care about them. First time feature film director Jason Winn’s new drama ‘The Fat Boy Chronicles,’ which is based on the acclaimed novel of the same name by Diane Lang and Michael Buchanan, follows 14-year-old Jimmy Winterpock, played by Christopher Rivera. Jimmy, who weighs 187 pounds, is often bullied by his classmates. Life for him outside the comfort of his home and church is difficult, as the taunts of his classmates while in school and during sports make him feel humiliated. But he remains positive by focusing on his goals of losing weight and wining the girl of his dreams. Winn generously took the time to chat over the phone what motivated him to adapt Jimmy’s story for the screen. The director also discussed, among other things, what the casting process for Jimmy was like, and how the character reflects the constant struggles bullied teens live with every day. Written by: Karen Benardello ShockYa (SY): You directed the new drama ‘The Fat Boy Chronicles,’ which is based on the acclaimed novel of the same name by Diane Lang and Michael Buchanan. What was your motivation in adapting the story of the main character, Jimmy Winterpock, into a film? How much knowledge did you have of the book before you began shooting? Jason Win (JW): Well, I was able to read the manuscript before the book was actually published. So I was always drawn to the character of Jimmy Winterpock, and the things that he was doing. Having been a teenager once myself, I could relate to the situations that he was in. As far as my motivations in making the film, it was important to me to make a film that would resonate with parents and kids, and wouldn’t talk down to kids. It would talk to them on their level. We wanted to show what it was really like to go to high school, and how it can be mean and wonderful, but we didn’t want to do it in a caricature way; we wanted to make it real. Hopefully that came across. SY: Diane and Michael also wrote the screenplay for the film. What was your working relationship with them like as you were shooting ‘The Fat Boy Chronicles?’ JW: It was great. Mike and Diane wrote an amazing script, and they turned it over to me whole-heartedly. They allowed me to take the script and all of its wonderful aspects, and add all the things that needed to be added, in order to make it a great film. They were very collaborative. I would say, we don’t have time to shoot this, so we’ve got to get this emotion across in a short period of time. You’ve got to write a scene that kind of looks like this, and they would go off on set and write it. It was done very quickly. It was a constant, well-oiled machine, basically, when we were in production. To continue reading this interview, please visit Shockya.

Interview: Travis Wall Talks All The Right Moves and Step Up: Revolution

Two of the world’s most famous choreographers and directors, Rob Marshall and Bob Fosse, have garnered widespread attention for their contributions to dance and films. Travis Wall, an up-and-coming choreographer, is following in their footsteps, and showcasing his talents with several upcoming television and film projects. Wall is set to appear in the upcoming summer Oxygen docu-series ‘All The Right Moves,’ alongside his three friends and roommates, including Teddy Forance, a choreographer with Cirque du Soleil; Nic Lazzarini, the first season winner of the hit FOX reality competition ‘So You Think You Can Dance;’ and Kyle Robinson. The show chronicles the four as they launch a dance company, Shaping Sound. Experienced in jazz, lyrical and contemporary dance, Wall also choreographed all of the contemporary dance numbers in this summer’s ‘Step Up: Revolution.’ Wall, who also appeared as a contestant on the second season of ‘So You Think You Can Dance,’ will be returning for the show’s upcoming ninth season, as a resident choreographer. Wall, who has also choreographed for the 82nd Academy Awards and the 2010 MTV Video Music Awards (VMAs), took the time recently to talk with us over the phone about his upcoming projects. The choreographer discussed, among other things, why he decided to chronicle the launch of Shaping Sound on ‘All The Right Moves,’ what it was like working with the cast of ‘Step Up: Revolution’ and why he decided to return to ‘So You Think You Can Dance’ as a choreographer. Written by: Karen Benardello ShockYa (SY): You’re set to appear in Oxygen’s new docu-series ‘All The Right Moves,’ which follows you as launch your dance company, Shaping Sound. What was your motivation in chronicling the start of Shaping Sound on a television series? Travis Wall (TW): It pretty much chronicles the lives of the four guys who live in the house. It’s me and my best friends, and we started a dance company together. It’s really about what it takes to put on a show, and what it takes to be a choreographer in the industry, especially since we’re young choreographers. I’m more established as a choreographer, but my friends are dancers who are branching out to become choreographers. It also exposes our personal careers and our persona lives. It’s interesting, I didn’t know how much it was going to take to actually put into starting a dance company. I just wanted to dance with my best friends, but there was a lot of business stuff that I wasn’t prepared for. It’s been a huge journey. SY: Why did you and your roommates decide to launch Shaping Sound? Did you all always have a desire to be a part of a dance company? TW: Well, I always wanted a dance company, I just didn’t know know when it was actually going to happen. It kind of made sense, we were all kind of working together. I was getting hired for a lot of jobs, and because of all these things, we said, we should really start a dance company. We wanted to create opportunities for our friends to dance. There aren’t many opportunities to dance in what we do, which is contemporary. We wanted to make it as commercial as possible, and open up the opportunity to perform in theaters and on stage and television. SY: How did ‘All The Right Moves’ get started-did you approach Oxygen with the idea, or did the network approach you with the idea for the show? TW: I had a producer come up to me and ask me if I wanted my own reality show. I thought it would be really cool to chronicle my life on ‘So You Think You Can Dance.’ But I said, I don’t know how entertaining I would be by myself, but you should definitely meet me and my best friends. I said, we have an idea to start a dance company, and they said, that’s awesome. So we were picked up by a production company, and met with a bunch of networks. Oxygen was the network we finally chose to go with. To continue reading this interview, please visit Shockya.

Interview: Domiziano Arcangeli Talks Waiting for Dracula and Career

Not many contemporary actors have the privilege of saying they were screen tested by Academy Award-winning director Federico Fellini in Rome’s Cinecitta Studios. But Italian actor-producer-writer-director Domiziano Arcangeli, whose career was launched in the 1980s, was not only screen tested by the famed filmmaker, but also appeared in his Oscar-winning movie ‘Intervisa.’ Since his experiences with Fellini, Arcangeli has appeared in countless Italian and American films, television series and plays. Recently, he’s become noted for working in cult and genre horror films, particularly after founding his own production company in 2008, Empire Films. Arcangeli’s upcoming projects include Lionsgate’s upcoming film ‘The Ghostmaker,’ which was directed by Mauro Borelli and is set to be released theatrically in the fall. Arcangeli will also appear in a movie he’s producing, ‘Frankenstein Rising,’ which was directed by Eric Swelstad. Arcangeli recently took the time to discus with us, among other things, why he enjoys acting in horror films. He also spoke about what it’s like producing and directing movies he appears in, including the upcoming ‘Waiting for Dracula.’ Written by: Karen Benardello ShockYa (SY): You have made a name for yourself acting in the horror genre, in such films as ‘Daughter of Fear’ and ‘Frankenstein Rising.’ What it is about the genre that you enjoy so much? Domiziano Arcangeli (DA): I have always really loved cult films and art films; I’m not sure why, I guess it’s just personal taste. I love to be truly surprised or challenged, and when you see things that you could only ‘experience’ in a nightmare. I’m very fond of psychological twists. As a viewer, my favorite experience is when a very celebrated director, like Roman Polanski, Stanley Kubrick or Lars von Trier makes a horror film-then I’m really ecstatic. In fact, I love ‘Rosemary’s baby’ and ‘The Tenant,’ for example. When I started acting in Europe in 1980, at about 11, the genre was strong. I had started making more of that type of art film, or more personal motion pictures. (Federico Fellini called me when he saw me on the cover of a magazine, in a portrait by Helmut Newton in Berlin, and directed my first screen test at the legendary Cinecitta studios! I eventually even got to work with him as well, in the film ‘Intervista,’ with people like Marcello Mastroianni, Anita Ekberg and Nastassja Kinski.) Back then, the giallos the horrors, the zombies, and all other clones, were huge. They’d make so many of them, one could not survive without making horror! Even against my agents’ opinion, who were fearing type casting, I did start accepting offer after offer. I just wanted to work, wanted to be independent. Back then, the industry was golden: great pay checks, and five or six weeks all paid up in first class, in places like Rio de Janeiro, the Philippines, Thailand, Morocco, you name it. I travelled the world with some of those movies back then, and loved most of those crazy shoots. Once you start making them, then you keep on making them over and over. Even when I decided to settle in L.A. (I have a U.S. and an Italian passport, and traveled all my life until then), back in 2000, I was immediately hired for a couple of years, for a TV drama series, the edgy ‘Zalman King’s Chromium Blue’ for Showtime networks (between 2001 and 2003), and then for some more TV, at first. But, at some point, obviously, people knew I had been in horror and had actually worked with quite a few of those euro masters of B exploitation flicks that had just became so hot, being rediscovered by Quentin Tarantino, Eli Roth and many others. All of a sudden, so many films, I thought I would never see anymore, were getting instead a new life, re-mastered and re-presented uncut and in glorious widescreen on DVD. So many horror directors here in L.A. noticed, and they started calling me again. Before I even knew it, I had done over a dozen already. SY: You have served as a producer on several of the films that you have starred in, including ‘The Brides of Sodom’ and ‘The Ghostmaker.’ Why do you regularly produce films that you also act in? DA: Producing gives you a lot of stress, especially these days, with the markets being so iffy. However, producing gives also great freedom. I think it’s almost a natural process. Someone who’s been raised making pictures, after so many years, cannot just keep waiting on your agents calling for a job. Sometimes, even when you book a good role as an actor, you feel so marginal in a way. I know, it may sound strange to people, but, it is true. We go in for a read with the director/producers, if we book the job, we get a script, we do fittings, before we even know it, we are on set working over a few 14 hours a day, and then, they tell you you’re done. Everything has got to happen all over again. At some point, I just wanted more control, especially over the type of material, and even over the role i was going to play. I wanted to be involved in the creation of a movie from the get go, since, at this point, after so many years, i consider myself a filmmaker of sort, and not just an actor. I believe that there’s so much time you can put up with only acting in films. At one point, especially if you are so fond, and passionate of the job, as i have always been, you want more. I’ve executive produced 12 films with my company empire Films, Inc. in about four years. At times, I couldn’t even sleep at night. But now, I am very happy to know that, for example, ‘The Ghostmaker’ will come out in September through Lionsgate and theatrically all over Europe. ‘The Brides of Sodom’ should open in July, and be distributed by Media-Blasters. Despite all the efforts, and hyperventilations, I must say that these are personal achievement that I am really proud of. To continue reading this interview, please visit Shockya.

The Perfect Family Movie Review

The Perfect Family Shockya.com Movie Review, Written by: Karen Benardello Director: Anne Renton (‘Love Is Short’) Starring: Kathleen Turner (‘Peggy Sue Got Married,’ TV’s ‘Friends’), Emily Deschanel and Jason Ritter People at times can become so caught up in appearing successful in their personal and professional lives to the outside world that they often neglect to strongly evaluate the differences and imperfections plaguing their families. It can take even the most seemingly perfect event that their families’ opinions greatly differ on to force them to truly acknowledge and embrace their relatives’ true personalities. Such is the case with the main character, Eileen Cleary, in first-time feature film director Anne Renton’s new comedy-drama ‘The Perfect Family.’ Eileen begins to change her opinions on all areas of life after learning her family’s modern beliefs don’t always match her more conservative ideals. ‘The Perfect Family’ follows Eileen (played by Kathleen Turner), the ultimate Catholic suburban supermom, as her life becomes even more noteworthy when she’s nominated for the coveted Catholic Woman of the Year Award at her local parish. While Eileen feels like she finally has everything she’s ever wanted, the last test she must pass in order to receive the award is introducing her dysfunctional family to the church board. Eileen must contend with the misgivings about her family that are about to come to light after years of being kept secret. Eileen must learn to cope with her gay daughter, Shannon (portrayed by Emily Deschanel), preparing to marry her partner and have a child. Her unhappily married son, Frank Jr. (played by Jason Ritter), is having an affair with the local manicurist. Eileen’s husband, Frank (portrayed by Michael McGrady), is a recovering alcoholic, and their marriage is falling apart. When Eileen decides to take action to make her family appear perfect, she begins to question what truly makes a family impeccable-how it looks on the outside, or how it feels on the inside. The Academy Award-nominated Turner gave another a notable performance as Eileen, providing a great depth and relatability to her character who strived to embody the roles of the ideal mother, wife and community leader. Turner initially portrayed the character as being devoted to her church and taking whatever means necessary to fulfill her obligations as the quintessential woman dedicated to her familial duties. At first, she’s initially hesitant to fully embrace, let alone acknowledge, the life paths her children and husband have decided to embark on. To continue reading this review, please visit Shockya.