February 5, 2008

Lipstick Jungle - Preview Review
The best news about Lipstick Jungle from previewing the first two episodes is that it is way better than Cashmere Mafia which has become painful to watch. So what to do? Well, since there is nothing on TV (it's beyond pathetic now) watch both, but I have a feeling that one or both of them won't make it when the rest of the shows come back.

Lipstick Jungle comes from the brain of Candace Bushnell who also brought us Sex and the City. What made Sex and the City so great was her collaboration with Darren Star who after a falling out with Bushnell created the Mafia. If you want my opinion (and I know you do ) I think it would be better to have one pretty good show than one ok show, and one not so good show.

The show is about three highly successful women and how they negotiate life, love and responsibilities -- you get the idea. But really what this show does, as does Cashmere Mafia, is make women feel guilty about their successes and failures. It's one thing to have a show like say Grey's Anatomy that shows women dealing with all of life's issues in a way that makes one think instead of making one feel like crap. That's what I love about Grey's. And that's what I hate about both Lipstick Jungle and Cashmere Mafia.

I'm tired of people basing shows on women's guilt -- guilt over being more successful than your husband, guilt over being a bad mommy, guilt over kicking ass at the office, you know what I mean. Brooke Shields as Wendy Healy has the most guilt on the show and the job of her friends is to support her and make her feel like she has nothing to feel guilty about. She is the head of a movie studio and her husband (Paul Blackthorne) is an architect but is really the primary parent of the family. He makes her feel guilty that he has no career and is treated like "the wife" in public, while at the same time he feels guilty himself about not being supportive of his wife's success which he is very proud of.

Kim Raver plays Nico Reilly, a magazine executive, whose marriage to an academic has gone stale and finds herself drawn to a hot young man at a party which we all know can only lead to trouble. Nico is a very ambitious career woman of around 40 without kids and her disgustingly sexist boss starts grooming a guy to take over in case she decides to go off and have a family. He actually says to her "you're a woman of a certain age approaching a critical juncture." Nico does not take to that well, and really people, most women don't have the opportunity or money to check out after having a kid. Women need to work so their kids can eat.

The third player, and weakest link, is Lindsay Price as a down on her luck fashion designer Victory Ford (I really hope she made that name up herself.) She gets trashed at her latest fashion show but just when she's about to call it quits she meets a billionaire. I bet a thousand women have had that same experience. Ha ha.

While the show tries to make it seem like these women are just like us, the harder they try, the harder they fail. Just be honest, they're not like us -- some of the issues may be relevant -- but they're rich, glamorous, skinny, perfectly dressed which makes them all a fantasy. One thing they have going for them is that they look like they like each other unlike Miranda Otto and Frances O'Connor on Cashmere Mafia.

Show premieres February 7 at 10pm on NBC.

SXSW Unveils Lineup
South by South West Film Festival, one of the quirkier and off-bet and cutting edge fests takes place in Austin Texas from March 7-15. Fest will also feature screening of Kimberly Peirce's highly anticipated follo-up to Boys don't cry- Stop-Loss. Here are the films by/about women.

DOCUMENTARY FEATURE COMPETITION
"Bulletproof Salesman," director by Michael Tucker & Petra Epperlein
Fidelis Cloer is a self-confessed war profiteer who found The Perfect War when the US invaded Iraq. It wasn't about selling a dozen cars, or even a hundred, it was a thousand-car war where security would become the ultimate product. (World Premiere)

"FrontRunners," director by Caroline Suh
The campaign for student body president at Stuyvesant, perhaps the most prestigious public high school in the country, is almost as sophisticated as any presidential election. But unlike presidential candidates, they also have to do their homework, take their SATs and write their college applications. (World Premiere)

"The Matador," directed by Stephen Higgins & Nina Gilden Seavey
The epic tale of David Fandila's quest to become the world's top-ranked bullfighter. Heart-wrenching setbacks and thrilling successes dramatize his three-year journey across Spain and Latin America and into the pages of bullfighting history. (World Premiere)

"Some Assembly Required," directed by Dori Berinstein
Over 2000 kids. 400 teams nationwide. Eight months of brainstorming, designing and building. One goal: to create the next great toy. (World Premiere)

"They Killed Sister Dorothy," directed by Daniel Junge
On February 12th, 2005, a 73 year-old Catholic nun from Ohio, was shot six times at point blank range and left to die on a muddy Amazon road. Who was this woman, and why was she killed? What will become of her murderers, and who else was involved? What are the implications of her murder and these trials on the future? (World Premiere)

NARRATIVE FEATURE COMPETITION
"My Effortless Brilliance," directed by Lynn Shelton. Written by Lynn Shelton, Sean Nelson, Basil Harris.
Starring: Sean Nelson, Basil Harris, Calvin Reeder, Jeanette Maus. Successful and self-involved novelist Eric Lambert Jones has been unceremoniously dumped by his life long buddy, Dylan. In an attempt to piece together the fractured friendship, Eric takes a side trip from his latest book tour to drop in on Dylan, newly settled in the picturesque backwoods of Washington state. (World Premiere)

"Older Than America," directed by Georgina Lightning. Written by Georgina Lightning, Christine Kunewa.
Starring: Adam Beach, Tantoo Cardinal, Bradley Cooper, Georgina Lightning, Wes Studi. A woman's haunting visions reveal a Catholic priest's sinister plot to silence her mother from speaking the truth about atrocities that occurred at a Native Indian boarding school. (World Premiere)

"Paper Covers Rock," directed and written by Joe Maggio
Starring: Jeannine Kaspar, Sayra Player, Clint Jordan, Tom Brangle. The story of Sam, a troubled young woman who loses custody of her six year-old daughter in the wake of an unsuccessful suicide attempt. (World Premiere)

"Yeast," directed and writted by Mary Bronstein
Starring: Mary Bronstein, Amy Judd, Greta Gerwig, Sean Williams. A maddeningly oblivious, tyrannical and emotionally stunted young woman tries her best to negotiate two toxic friendships. (World Premiere)