I guess you could call Jeannette Maier a lucky Madam, as unlike Deborah Jeanne Palfrey the so called DC Madam, for when the FBI raided her New Orleans Brothel in 2005 she just lost her livelihood but not her life. In this fascinating documentary on the life of the media-dubbed ‘Canal Street Madam’ what comes shining through is the very … Continue reading
In 1990 in a small New England town Pamela Smart, an attractive blond sexpot teacher who was having an affair with one of her students, was accused of plotting her husband’s murder. This rather scandalous cause celebre was the first ever trial to be televised and this new HBO documentary from filmmaker Jeremiah Zagar focuses … Continue reading
The opening credits of acclaimed filmmaker Pablo Trapero (‘Lion’s Den’) latest movie contain the disturbing fact that some 8000 people die in car accidents in Argentina each year. It’s created a whole industry devoted to scamming victims out of insurance money which is the basis of this gripping bloody socio-drama thriller that makes for a … Continue reading
For the best part of 25 years Ilich Ramirez Sanchez was one of the world’s most wanted fugitives as he, and his gang, wreaked havoc and a whole trail of death and destruction as possibly the most pernicious terrorists of the last century. Infamously known as ‘Carlos The Jackal’ he achieved notoriety with his audacious … Continue reading
Roman Polanski has co-adapted Yasmin Reza’s Tony Award Winning play ‘God of Carnage’ into a movie and despite the performances and Reza’s wonderful words it does still feel very much like a play that just happens to have been filmed. All the action takes place in a very comfortable high-rise apartment in Brooklyn on … Continue reading