Art and politics make a potent blend in 'The Cordillera of Dreams' (March 5th and 6th at the Cleveland Cinematheque)

[THE CORDILLERA OF DREAMS screens Thursday March 5^th at 6:30 pm and Friday March 6^th at 9:40pm.]

Review by Bob Ignizio

Director Patricio Guzman fled Chile, the country of his birth, in the mid-seventies to escape the brutal Pinochet dictatorship. He remains an expatriate to this date. But although he no longer lives there, he keeps returning to make films, seeking to understand his country and the lasting impact Pinochet continues to exert even after death.

Starting with 2010’s NOSTALGIA FOR THE LIGHT, Guzman has made a series of films exploring the intersection of Chile’s past and present. He has done this by focusing on various regions, beginning with the Atacama Desert in NOSTALGIA, moving south to Patagonia in 2015’s THE PEARL BUTTON, and now focusing on the Andes mountain region in his latest film, THE CORDILLERA OF DREAMS.

Errol Morris questions controversial figure Steve Bannon in 'American Dharma'

[AMERICAN DHARMA screens Friday December 6^th at 7:00 pm and Sunday December 8^th at 8:20 pm at the Cleveland Cinematheque.]

Review by Bob Ignizio

A documentary about Steve Bannon probably seems like an odd choice to review for Utter Trash. I could be snarky and justify it by saying that Steve Bannon is utter trash, but that would be beneath me. No, the real reason I’m reviewing AMERICAN DHARMA is because it was directed by Errol Morris, the filmmaker responsible for some of my favorite documentaries. And since this is my blog, I get to do what I want, dammit!

I may not care much for Bannon, but there’s no denying he’s an interesting figure. And if anyone could make a good film out of such a despicable guy, I figured it would be Morris. After all, he pulled the same thing off with such questionable individuals as Fred A. Leuchter, Jr. (MR. DEATH) and Robert S. MacNamara (THE FOG OF WAR). Both of those subjects proved to be forthcoming and open in their interviews with Morris. But Leuchter was frankly kind of naïve when it came to revealing himself, and MacNamara was looking back on his career with regrets he wanted to get off his chest. Neither of those things is true of Bannon.

31 Days of Halloween 2018: Homemade Scares Are The Best Scares In 'Haunters: The Art Of The Scare'

[Once again I'm going to attempt to do a horror(ish) movie review a day for the entire month of October. I've done this the last few years on The Cleveland Movie Blog. Most of the time I succeeded (usually with the help of a few other writers). Other times I didn't. We'll see if I can pull it off this year.]  

The documentary film HAUNTERS: THE ART OF THE SCARE focuses on three figures in the "haunted attraction" scene: Donald Julson, a former Hollywood prop designer who makes an elaborate but still fairly traditional haunted maze in his home every Halloween, Russ McKamey, a wedding singer and D.J. whose extreme “McKamey Manor” haunted house goes well beyond most people's comfort zones, and haunt actor Shar Mayer, who has been dressing up to scare people for decades now, working in just about every variety of haunted attraction one could imagine. There are also brief asides to visit Blackout, another extreme haunted attraction that goes so far as to include nude actors, and an interactive "haunted play" that has a storyline that incorporates its audience.

One of the major aspects of the film seems to be determining where the line between good, scary fun and physical/psychological abuse is drawn. Given that a large segment of the public seems to want more extreme scares, that’s not as easy to pin down as one might think.