Stories by Dorothy Woodend

Clint Eastwood's Gran Torino: An Exercise in Self-Pity?

Posted on Jan 9, 2009, Source: The Tyee

Gran Torino shows that, after doing considerable damage to the world, men's time of retribution has finally come. And now they want us to pity them.

'Miss Pettigrew': A Hollywood Gem Among the Cultural Ruins

Posted on Mar 25, 2008, Source: The Tyee

Frances McDormand and Amy Adams star in a fun, mad dash of a film.

Hollywood Has Joined in on the Exploitation of Iraq with New Film

Posted on Jun 5, 2007, Source: The Tyee

The Situation, a film about western journalists in Iraq, doesn't convey the horrors of war but instead exploits it.

Pan's Labyrinth: A Shocking Fairy Tale

Posted on Jan 25, 2007, Source: The Tyee

In the new Spanish tragedy, beauty and horror are so closely intertwined it is sometimes hard to pick them apart.

"Open Season" Was Too Dumb for My Child

Posted on Oct 20, 2006, Source: The Tyee

Enough with the animals and stereotypes already. Sony Pictures's latest animation film is an exercize in stupidity.

Vader's Villainy

Posted on May 20, 2005, Source: AlterNet

George Lucas claims that his latest Star Wars film isn't for kids, yet the world is deluged in Darth mania. Amidst all the hype, one bit of information seems to be lacking: Darth Vader is evil.

World of Horror

Posted on Feb 2, 2004, Source: AlterNet

In the last five years the public's appetite for horror movies has increased exponentially. When real life for many is scarier than anything on the silver screen, why is the lust for fear universal?

Paris Hilton, America's True Sweetheart

Posted on Dec 3, 2003, Source: AlterNet

The only thing we love more than beautiful people is the pleasure of witnessing their public humiliation.

Big Boys Rule on the Small Screen

Posted on Feb 6, 2003, Source: AlterNet

Thick is in--if you're a male actor, that is. Why are so many of today's leading men supersized?