The Ambassador of Filth
25 years after the release of Pink Flamingos, filmmaker John Waters remains the authority on all things low. [2]
Jim Hanas

From Nowhere to Here
A conversation with Nowhere's James Duval. [3]
Marc Savlov

Movie Guru
Hold on to your hats, cinema fans! Coury Turczyn dares to find Box of Moonlight less than completely magical. [4]
Coury Turczyn

Tough Enough
Demi Moore shows her muscles in G.I. Jane. [5]
Susan Ellis

Bugged
While Mimic hints of Kafka-esque themes, it's really just about our revulsion for cockroaches. [6]
Zamfir Quackenbush

A Chef In Love
The latest arthouse offering from France is a tasty treat. [7]
Angie Drobnic

Screen Dreams
The cold world of cyberspace is keeping alive warm memories of the drive-in. [8]
Jerry Renshaw

TV Eye
Feminism and the boob tube. [9]
Margaret Moser

Scanlines
Reviews of Animal Farm, Babe, and Streetfight (all video). [10]

Videodrome
This week, Creature From Black Lake and Transvision Vamp: If Looks Could Kill get the couch potato workout. [11]
Scott Phillips

Videos a Go-Go
Every week, we dish up a movie genre for your enhanced rent 'n' view pleasure. [12]
Jesse Fox Mayshark

Reel World
Hard news and squishy gossip from the local and national film scene. [13]
Devin D. O'Leary

Now What?
What's the matter, couldn't find a review of that blockbuster film you're excited about? We certaintly don't want to leave you disappointed -- why not try some of these larger-than-life movie links? [14]

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hen I woke up this morning, for some reason I thought, "You know, it seems like a good day for interviews with people involved in offensive low-budget filmmaking." Funny, isn't it? Usually I just think, "God I hate that alarm clock beep" or "Boy my breath stinks," but today was different. And do you know what? When I came into work, sure enough my desk contained interviews with John Waters and actor James Duval.

I must be psychic, because somehow I knew Waters would say "I think porn is the only reason possibly to have a television," or defend his thin mustache by saying "Any good taste needs a little bit of vulgarity to make it stylish." And I just knew Duval, the young star of director Gregg Araki's obnoxiously in-your-face films, would explain the nuances of lines like "Excuse me for saving your ass twice in the same night, you fucking furry tuna-taco" and discuss his big break playing a teenager in Independence Day.

The E.S.P. didn't stop there, for as I touched my mouse I was jolted with the knowledge of film reviews as yet unread. I envisioned a critique of Tom DeCillo's Box of Moonlight that said in spite of misplaced magical realism, the movie has enjoyably offbeat moments to spare. Then my mind became briefly aware of a negative look at G.I. Jane, citing the bluntness of Demi Moore's "Suck my dick" line, and an even worse opinion of A Smile Like Yours, blaming the flick's failure on its inherently unfunny infertility-clinic premise.

Like Christopher Walken receiving a premonition in The Dead Zone, the epileptic epiphanies didn't stop there. Visions of a Mimic review told me the film's cockroaches get less scary as they become bigger and easier to see, and a flickering glimpse of an article about A Chef in Love left the words "a tasty treat" imbedded in my consciousness for several lip-smacking hours afterwards.

Things get hazier from there. I vaguely recall a young writer waxing nostalgic about his love of drive-in movie theaters, and then listing web sites in honor of their forgotten contribution to American culture. His voice faded out, only to be replaced with the pleasantly hopeful notes of a lady discussing the rise of women characters in American television shows, from Mary Tyler Moore to Roseanne and Murphy Brown, to the entire female cast of E.R.

Before I awoke with my head resting on a drool-stained keyboard, I caught sight of some strange mini-columns. These odd little scribblings compared president movies like Murder at 1600 and Absolute Power, contrasted pig movies like Animal Farm and Babe, or commented on the activities of actress Fairuza Balk (who recently opened an occult bookstore) and Kids actor Brendan Sexton Jr., who got in trouble for licking the glass windows at a posh restaurant. Whew, looks like my premonition ended just in time.

Talk Back
If you're one of the few who didn't think Volcano blew, The Lost World bit, or The Fifth Element was one element too many, here's the forum to defend your opinion--crazy though it may be.

Curious about a particular director's work? Not sure what to rent at the video store? Enjoy reading several contrasting opinions of the same film? This is the place for you. Hundreds of reviews lie at your fingertips, sortable by genre, date or director.