>
At one point in time, we thought we wanted to be her. Now, looking back on this scene from the camp classic, Myra Breckinridge, we suspect another slightly confused dynamic might also have been at play.
A fond farewell. (And a bonus sighting of film critic Rex Reed!)
>Or where’s your nomination, rather, which we’re currently accepting for the CineKink Tribute, an annual award that honors outstanding depictions of kink and sex-positivity in mainstream film and television.
Last year’s CineKink Tribute was presented to the film Shortbus— which was directed by our long-time nemesis, John Cameron Mitchell, and distributed by ThinkFilm–for its “frank, funny and human look at the inextricable role sexuality plays in our day-to-day lives and the many flavors it can exhibit.”
Meanwhile, honorable mentions (aka the CineKink Nod) went to Focus Feature’s Lust, Caution, to ThinkFilm’s documentary release Zoo and to the syndicated series, The Oprah Winfrey Show. (Yes, that Oprah…for the episode “237 Reasons to Have Sex”!) (You thought there were only 236?)
A wide range of works–will it be Tyra?–are eligible for consideration, as long as they were released for US distribution (theatrical, broadcast and/or cable) at any time in 2008. Winners will be announced in conjunction with CineKink NYC, which is coming up February 24-March 1, 2009.
So, who’s gonna take it home this year? Let us know!
>We’ve been so pins-and-needles over tomorrow’s election thing, we’re totally late to the party for the 40th birthday of the MPAA’s rating system. Oh, well–it’s not like they bothered to show up for our 40th shindig.
Founded in 1968, largely as a way for industry to stave off government intervention in the movie business, the ratings were/are intended as a way to help parents decide which titles are appropriate for the precious youngsters, but have tended to be a bit, er, capricious over the years.
In a fitting birthday gift to the MPAA, Defamer has come up with a very special list of questionable rulings made over the years, “40 Reasons to Wish the MPAA Ratings System an Unhappy 40th Birthday.”
Be sure to check out the rest, but just a few of the hits:
Boys Don’t Cry: Threatened with an NC-17 for a lingering shot of a topless Chloe Sevigny experiencing an orgasm, but allowed to keep the climactic rape scene and gunshot to Brondon Teena’s head.
and, of course…
Waiting For Guffman: A classic example of the “Fuck Rule”; a Christopher Guest mockumentary with no sex or violence but featuring the F-word used one too many times in an actor’s audition using the scene from Raging Bull. Its R-rating was upheld on appeal. (You can use “fuck” in a non-sexual way up to four times in and retain a PG-13 — maybe.)
And in an interesting coincidence (or is it?!), Zack and Miri Make a Porno, which barely squeaked away from it’s own NC-17 rating, opened on the MPAA’s birthday to not-so-spectacular results. At work might have been a skittering away from the the film’s title and subject matter by mainstream newspapers and venues… though several reports underlined the odd hypocrisy of limiting the sex-themed feature while glorifying such torture-porn fare as Saw V.
Then again, going back to Defamer, it could just be bad marketing on the part of the distributing Weinstein brothers. Shocking, indeed!
>We’re a little dubious about how affirmative a depiction one might expect in Choke, the adaptation of the Chuck Pulahniuk novel of the same name, but we have been amused at the trailer’s bits of a forced entry roleplay scenario unfolding in the midst of cable news coverage of our nation’s pending financial “bail-out.”
Here, in a clip from the movie, our haplass, sex-addicted protagonist negotiates the terms of said scenario:
The movie opens tonight, but in the meantime, distributor Fox Searchlight is interested in hearing about your favorite types of roleplay. If you’d like to weigh in–or check in on some of the creative (or not) suggestions thus far–your chance is right here.
>In Kevin Smith’s ongoing struggle with the MPAA to get his latest film, Zack and Miri Make a Porno, out into the theaters and in front of an audience, comes news that the agency has rejected the original poster for the movie. Featuring the title characters, each fully clothed, you may also notice at the bottom edge of the poster the somewhat humorous suggestion that each is getting oral, er, attention from the other. Pretty innocuous–and banned by the MPAA!
Interestingly, as noted on CinemaBlend.com, the MPAA earlier approved very similar imagery for the Dane Cook-vehicle, Good Luck Chuck, for a poster that went even further–if you can call it that–featuring the actor more apparently in flagrante delitico.
One might chalk up the discrepancy to mere bureaucratic inconsistency. Or, perhaps something more insidious, as it brings to mind contentions made in the documentary, This Film Is Not Yet Rated, that the MPAA regularly applies far more rigorous standards when a depiction includes female sexual pleasure–and not just some guy boffing a pie.
Hypocrisy much? Meanwhile, first reports on the film, which just premiered in Toronto, can be found here!
>Between last week’s visit home with family and the past few days indulging a consuming fetish for national politics, we’ve been too distracted to think […read more…]
>Kevin Smith‘s upcoming latest, Zack and Miri Make a Porno, in which two friends attempt to overcome debt(!) by entering the adult film world, just […read more…]
>It’s summertime and – much to our delight! – they definitely seem to have sex on the brain over at SPOUTBlog! Just today, there’s a […read more…]
>In honor of Fleet Week and the fine men, women and all possible variations thereof who have served our country over the years: Enjoy the […read more…]
>A twist on an old joke has cropped up around CineKink, surfacing more frequently around festival submission time: “What’s the difference between art and pornography?” […read more…]