Written by Dr Andrew Cousins | 08 November 2006
Posted in people - Carnal Cinema

"You see he didn't start out as a robot. He was a policeman who was gunned down so naturally they transplant his head onto a robot body to keep him alive and turn him into Cybocop. But the thing they forgot was his balls, isn't it? He thought with his balls. They controlled his instincts. "Do I shoot the criminals? What are my balls telling me?" That was how he operated. Without them he's just a big toaster with a gun, isn't he?"

Paul Verhervervint is Holland's biggest export since the tulip. His brash and trashy style of filmmaking, not to mention the often violent or otherwise controversial subject matter has made his films incredibly popular with moviegoers worldwide. Films such as ‘Crude Instinct', ‘Lapdancers', ‘Cybocop' and others have all been extremely successful at the box office - if not always with the critics.

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Written by Dr Andrew Cousins | 02 November 2006
Posted in people - Carnal Cinema

"Is a very powerful love story. There is man. There is woman. Man falls over. Woman falls in love. Man wears funny hat. Oh no! Is woman dying of disease? Yes. Then man fall over some more. She get better. They get married. The end."

Roberto Benitio is best know as the Italian comedian and film maker who directed ‘Wasn’t World War Two Fun?’ which swept the board at the Oscars two years ago. He charmed the American public with his exhuberance during numerous television interviews and with his hilarious antics during the ceremony itself. Who can forget the sight of him mooning Jack Nicholson? Or pushing a custard pie into Steven Spielberg’s face? In another instalment from the vault, and newly illustrated by Eric Dubois, Dr Andrew went to talk to him.

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Written by Dr Andrew Cousins | 02 November 2006
Posted in people - Carnal Cinema

"The Love Bug features a car that comes to life. Is it powered by the love of Jesus Christ? We aren't offered any evidence that this is the case so we must, unfortunately, assume that it is in fact animated purely by the power of the Lord of Darkness. I still feel an urge to pray whenever I see a Volkswagen Beetle."

Watching4Jesus.com is a website run by the Divine Church of Holy Intervention in Alabama, Texas. It aims to provide a method whereby films are rated and classified from a Fundamentalist Christian perspective.

As Netribution begins to republish treats from the Carnal Cinema archive, newly accompanied with cartoons from Eric Dubois, we're proud to reprint Dr Andrew's 2002 'interview' with the outfit's spokesman, the Reverend Aloysius Tork.

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Written by Dr Andrew Cousins | 10 May 2006
Posted in people - Carnal Cinema

It has often been said that men age and women mature. However women, like wine, tend to mature in one of two ways. They either ripen into something full-flavoured, with lots of body and a myriad of intriguing flavours or they turn onto an unpleasant, acidic vinegar.

It's further said that there are no good parts in Hollywood for the older woman. Well, one person would take issue with that. She's about to enter her seventy-fourth year and shows no sign of slowing down. In her time she's worked with James Cagney, Humphrey Bogart and Kirk Douglas. She once called Cary Grant, "a worse kisser then my dog". I went to Beverly Hills to meet the one and only Ms. Margaux Shapiro.

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Written by Dr Andrew Cousins | 14 April 2006
Posted in people - Carnal Cinema

The low budget digital film making revolution is sweeping the industry like a big brush. But in this case the brush is made of pixels, ones and zeros as opposed to the usual brush construction of celluloid, photosensitive dyes and developing chemicals.

One of the leading exponents of this 'Cinema Electronique' is Dutch auteur Hans Von Looz. His films such as, 'Breaking My Patience', 'The Nutters' and 'Oddville' are all made according to a strict set of rules laid down by Von Looz. Dogma 3000, as these rules are known, is intended to be the blueprint by which the next generation of low budget cinema is made. I met with Hans to ask him about film making in the 21st Century and beyond.

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Written by Dr Andrew Cousins | 13 April 2006
Posted in people - Carnal Cinema

This year has seen something of a resurgence of interest in the political movie with 'Good Night. And Good Luck' and 'Syriana' both doing well both critically and financially. In contrast, the British Film Industry hasn't produced a political film since the late eighties. One man aims to change all that. Tobias Blennerhassett has produced some of the most successful films ever produced in this country including, 'Strippers on the Dole' and 'The Short, Fat Thursday'.

I went to speak to him find out more about his plans for what he hopes will be the greatest British political film ever made - Lib Dems: The Movie.

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Written by Dr Andrew Cousins | 08 April 2006
Posted in people - Carnal Cinema

Caine, Hopkins, Connery, Finney, Attenborough, Guinness, Mills, Gielguid, Olivier. Names that epitomise the very best in British acting talent. But one name towers above them all; Sir Wilberforce Reddington.

He made his first screen appearance as Willy Reddington playing Third Cockney Urchin in 'It's a Right Bloomin' Caper Alright' in1937. From then on his face became a familiar fixture on British cinema screens. The list of his screen roles runs to several pages and reads like a roll call of classic film greats.

Now celebrating his 95^th birthday, I went to talk to him and look back over a lifetime in cinema.

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Written by Dr Andrew Cousins | 26 March 2006
Posted in people - Carnal Cinema

Forget Buddhism, Kabbala, and Scientology - there's only one religion that the Hollywood A-list want to be seen to be worshiping these days - Knowledgology.

It began five years ago when the Reverend Doctor-Professor Solomon Profundis set up The Knowledge Hub, a spiritual retreat where burned out celebrities could recharge their batteries and at the same time broaden their religious horizons. Here they are introduced to the Elucidation Programme where the central philosophies of Knowledgology are explained to them. Ever since there has been a steady stream of Los Angeles great-and-good flooding through their doors. However Knowledgology does have its detractors, being variously described as "a cult" and a "bunch of alien-worshiping crackpots".

I went to The Knowledge Hub and met with the head of the Church of Knowledgology, the Reverend Doctor-Professor Solomon Profundis.

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Written by Dr Andrew Cousins | 19 March 2006
Posted in people - Carnal Cinema

Following the success of Brokeback Mountain and Capote, 2006 has been called by some, the gayest year in recorded history. But one man has gone further still. Josh Tenttrow is Professor of Gender Studies at the University of San Francisco. Often called the most flamboyant academic in the US, Tenttrow has written a string of books examining gender and sexuality issues in mainstream cinema. These include works like, 'Steers and Queers: Gay Imagery in the Contemporary Western', 'Is that your Lightsabre or are you just pleased to see me?: Science Fiction and Sexuality' and 'Hello Dolly!: The Musical as a Gay Text'.

Now Tenttrow has gone one step further. He says that in fact all movies have a hidden gay subtext. I went to San Francisco to meet him.

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Written by Dr Andrew Cousins | 04 March 2006
Posted in people - Carnal Cinema

If the 80's were epitomised by the Action film and the 90's were the domain of the more thoughtful independent film, then the early 21st century could easily come to be defined by the dominance of the comic strip adaptation. Ever since 'X-Men' and 'Spider-Man' hit the cinemas, Hollywood has been desperately trying to find the Next Big Thing. Even multi-award winning directors like Sam Mendes and Ang Lee have got in on the act with 'The Road To Perdition' and 'The Hulk' respectively.

Dan Waveney is the latest director to try to breath three-dimensional life into a two dimensional character as he brings Intenso-Man to the big screen.

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