OBSTRUCTION 3: Write a review of a movie only by copying and pasting words (at least five consecutive words from one sentence) out of other reviews of the same movie
Well, I won't lie, at first when I saw this challenge, I thought, "Great! Now I don't have to write!". Well, it wasn't that easy. Frankly, it exhausted me. I was still happy I didn't have to write another review, but this was a lot of reading and picking and choosing, and then having to double-back and contact all the writers that I'm using their material. I tweeted Wesley Morris, and e-mailed USA Today, and left a comment for Roger Ebert, although I'm pretty sure he won't get it, but somebody probably will. I'm pretty sure I was supposed to mainly use other bloggers, and I do, but hell, if I'm gonna borrow someone's writing, you might as well borrow from the best. I typically read a lot of reviews for films, but I usually read them for enjoyment and not for work. I hope I go back to that soon.
If you're curious as to why I'm choosing to do this on the titillating documentary, "Inside Deep Throat", well, I'd like to say it was because of the irony of "Lovelace" coming out this weekend or something like that, but actually, it has nothing to do with any ironic or subliminal ulterior motives of any kind. I was behind on my Netflix queue, so I had to stream a bunch of movies, very quickly, and because of that, I've got a lot of movies I have to review for my next batch, and frankly I picked it for the same reason I decided to stream it on Netflix: "I didn't have to think too deeply about it." Don't worry, I've got a lot of reviews coming up where I do have to think too deeply, and I must say that had I written this review with my own words, it would've been a good one, and a fun one too. But, with numerous other films I have to review on the horizon, I'd rather spend my time focusing on them.
I hope I followed the rules. I was supposed to get a "golden checkmark" on myfilmviews.com website, if I used ten sources, I did have ten that I was using, but I seriously doubt that I used them all; I'm pretty sure I only used 8 or 9 in fact, but below my review are the other reviews that I either used or was reading and using as I was putting this article together. Alright, without further ado, here's my review of "Inside Deep Throat"!
INSIDE DEEP THROAT (2005) Director: Fenton Bailey and Robert Barbato
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"Deep Throat" was made on the far fringes of the movie industry. When it opened in midtown Manhattan during the summer of 1972, it showed moviegoers things experienced, for the most part only in their own bedrooms. The film, and the scandal it caused is the subject of "Inside Deep Throat". Directed by Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato, narrated by Dennis Hopper, this is a playful but essentially serious documentary on the first heterosexual hard-core porn picture to focus on fellatio. Producer Brian Grazer, along with heavyweight backing of Universal and HBO, tracked down everyone possible involved in making the film, a raft of intellectual commentators and key participants in the lengthy legal battles. "Inside Deep Throat" is at its core an argument for freedom of expression and a somewhat cautionary tale. The film became the first porn to hit mainstream cities across America, ultimately grossing more than 600 million dollars and with a budget of $25,000, it's actually the most profitable film in motion picture history, although most of the profits went to the Mob, since they owned most of the porn theaters in the pre-video days. (And since they inflated box office receipts as a way of laundering income from drugs and prostitution, it's likely that the box office tally might have been misleading.) Filmmaker Gerard Damiano was a family-man/hairdresser who cooked up the premise when he first saw his future star, Linda Boreman, who he soon christened, Linda Lovelace, demonstrate her prowess during a less ambitious shoot in his living room, and concocted a story about a woman who gets no sexual pleasure from copulation until a doctor, played by Harry Reems, discovers that her clitoris is in her throat. The New York Times validated it a "porn-chic", Mike Nichols told Truman Capote he shouldn't miss it, and then the word just sort of got around; 12 years after the modern era of skin flicks began in 1960 with Russ Meyer's "The Immoral Mr. Teas," "Deep Throat" was the first stag films to see with a date. The same summer, the movie was found obscene and seized, only to be returned to theaters the next day. The money continued to flow, as did the legal and cultural debates as nobody would have expected it to become a solid target for Richard Nixon's war on obscenity. (Ironic, what would Watergate have been without Deep Throat?) Harry Reems, initially brought along as a production assistant was thrust into the male lead out of desperation, was convicted in a federal trial, a decision later overturned on appeal. (A particularly compelling clip shows a passionate and articular Reems on a TV show arguing with none other than Ray Cohn) Reems is now a recovering substance abuser who works as a realtor in Park City, Utah. Lovelace died in a traffic accident at age 53. She was used by her director, her abusive boyfriend, and to an extent, by some feminists who took up her cause. Later in life, with nowhere else to turn for an income, she exploited herself posing for adult magazines. "Inside Deep Throat" is more like your standard HBO documentary, but it's entertaining. The accounts of the Florida shoot are hilarious, and for those with NC-17 hankering, the documentary even features the fabled money shot. It's superficially framed as a lighthearted, fun-loving precis of this pornographic phenomenon and its fallout. A zeitgeist of an era that without censorship to encourage people's curiosity, the whole think would've been over in six months, instead 'til home video came onto the market. (see "Boogie Nights" for the story of that transition).
Rogerebert.com; "Inside Deep Throat" by Roger Ebert
http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/inside-deep-throat-2005
Boston.com; "The Boston Globe", "'Inside Deep Throat' Doesn't Go Anywhere', By Wesley Morris.
http://www.boston.com/ae/movies/articles/2005/02/11/inside_deep_throat_doesnt_go_anywhere/
Slate.com; "Deep Throat Comes Again", by David Edelstein
http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/movies/2005/02/deep_throat_comes_again.html
Variety.com; "Variety", "Review: Inside Deep Throat", by Todd McCarthy
http://variety.com/2005/film/reviews/inside-deep-throat-1200528553/
USAToday.com, "USA Today", "Inside Deep Throat may Surprise You", by Mike Clark
http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/life/movies/reviews/2005-02-10-inside-deep-throat_x.htm
RollingStone.com. "RollingStone", "Inside Deep Throat" by Peter Travers
http://www.rollingstone.com/movies/reviews/inside-deep-throat-20050127
nytimes.com, "The New York Times", "A Cautionary Tale Arguing for Freedom of Expression", by Manohla Dargis
http://movies.nytimes.com/2005/02/11/movies/11deep.html?_r=0
cinemaphile.blogspot.com, "The Cinemaphile", "Film Review-'Inside Deep Throat', by The Cinemaphile
http://cinemaphileblog.blogspot.com/2010/08/film-review-inside-deep-throat.html?showComment=1376130338748#c655467244606160762
TheCinemaSource.com, "Inside Deep Throat" by Adam Biernat and Paul Maniaci
http://www.thecinemasource.com/blog/movies/inside-deep-throat/
TheCinemaBlend.com, "Inside Deep Throat" by Rafe Telsch
http://www.cinemablend.com/dvds/Inside-Deep-Throat-1177.html#discuss
2 comments:
Excellent post! This was a really hard challenge. It exhausted me as well! Still, your finished product is really good.
Thank you very much. I thought yours was quite good as well. :)
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