Aug 012008
 

>It’s summertime and – much to our delight! – they definitely seem to have sex on the brain over at SPOUTBlog!

Just today, there’s a round-up of The 10 Best Masturbation Scenes that will first have you questioning if there’s even that many. Then have you rushing to comment on your favorite glaringly obvious omission. (Um, hello. Secretary?!?)

Beyond that, we’ve been horribly remiss in mentioning the blog’s weekly posts by our provocative friend, Lauren Wissot, who began writing regularly for Spout back in June: “We wanted to call her column ‘Art Films To Jerk Off To,’ but in the end that might be too limiting––after all, who’s to say what qualifies as art?”

Since then, Lauren’s missives on the libidinous in indie and mainstream cinema have touched upon such natural candidates as David Lynch, the S/M classic Maitresse and the Five Unsexiest Movies About Sex: The Breillat Awards(!!). And they’ve incorporated some unlikely subjects as well, from the consideration of Charlie Chaplin as sexy rogue to the BDSM underpinnings of Hitchcock’s Marnie:

She was “always pulling her skirt down over her knees as if there were a national treasure,” Marnie’s lecherous employer-turned-victim Mr. Strutt mutters at the beginning of Hitch’s classic, introducing us to Hedren’s character as a trobbing cock-tease – who, of course, needs to be punished like the naughty little girl she really is deep down inside. Enter Connery’s controlling Master Rutland, immaculately dressed in suit and tie (I love a man in a uniform!), a big bad wolf smile on his face as he eavesdrops on Strutt’s report to the police. Is there any doubt that this is the perfect square-jawed, hairy-chest daddy for the B&D job?

We imagine she does – but we can’t wait to see if Lauren shares our take on The Sound of Music!

Apr 092008
 

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A new documentary, Stalags, examines the pornographic paperbacks, featuring colorful depictions of buxom SS officers bending captives to their will, that cropped up in Israel around the time of the Holocaust trials in the early 1960s.

Claims by Max Mosley to the contrary notwithstanding – and as a subsequent slew of sexploitative titles will attest – Nazi iconography can pack a huge libidinous wollop. In a comprehensive review of the film, Lauren Wissot discusses the film’s powerful dissecting of the phenomenon:

Simply put, this film is a revelation. Like the best investigative journalists, Libsker patiently sifts through each and every contradiction to discover that something that would seem so horrifically paradoxical on its face proves ultimately inevitable beneath the surface. How could Israeli Nazi pornography even exist, let alone be a widespread phenomenon? Stalags answers, “How could it not?”

Stalags open tonight at NYC’s Film Forum and runs through 4/22.

Jan 182008
 

>Naturally, just as soon as we finally manage to convince the relevant men in our life that this whole “teeth in the vagina” phobia is merely primal fear turned urban legend, along comes, well, Teeth.

The movie, about a virginal, teen-age girl who discovers that she does in fact suffer from vagina dentata, was a cult hit at last year’s Sundance and is going out in limited release this weekend from Roadside Attractions. As is often the case, a comparison of the promotional posters created for its festival vs. theatrical release is pretty illuminating, an interesting glimpse into who the marketing-powers-that-be see is the film’s true potential audience – and what needs to be tapped to get them in the seats.

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No tagline, but t-shirt reads “Warning: sex changes everything.”

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“Every rose has its thorns,” plus pull-quote “The most alarming cautionary tale for men since Fatal Attraction.”

Ooooh, scary boys – look out! To be fair, probably a more accurate pitch, since this isn’t some wacky rom-com. But if fear’s not your only motivator and you’re looking to know more before you go, Lauren Wissot‘s got the review over at The House Next Door.