Shame: A film review

- Vancouver, British Columbia - It was with a fair bit of hesitation that I went to see Shame. The idea behind the film was fascinating enough, but I wasn't sure if I wanted to subject myself to a movie that has so much sexuality in it that in the United States, it earned an NC-17 rating. If anyone is unsure of what that means, it means that no one under 17 is allowed in the theatre regardless of parental accompaniment. This translates to an R rating in Canada, though Shame is 18A up here. It is graphic enough that Michael Fassbender, our lead actor, couldn't watch all of the scenes in it during the initial screening.

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Miss Representation: A film review

 - Vancouver, British Columbia - Miss Representation was first brought to my attention through seeing the unusually long eight-minute trailer on a colleague's Facebook wall. For the most part, I'm not a big viewer of documentaries, as many seem to be focus on some ill in the world and spend the entire film trying to convince me why I should care and take up the cause. Few of the causes are truly ones that are worth getting upset about, nor are they really personal to the lives of the average citizen. It is difficult to inspire someone to action when many documentaries simply illustrate how powerless a normal person should feel. Miss Representation, however, is necessary and compelling, because few of us, except those seemingly living in denial, can say that we don't know a woman or a girl who is suffering as a result of media's inaccurate portrayal women and the pressures that it puts upon women, and how it subtly suggests men look at women.

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