Carne Tremula (1997), titled Live Flesh in the US release, is possibly good enough to win over even those of you who hate subtitles. The plot is very strong, it has intrigue and passion, and could have been made in Hollywood, but probably not with as much mood, not with the same quality of art direction, and the sex scene would probably have been less-well lit, and nowhere near as artistic. Frequently foreign "art films" have a very slow pace, not enough plot to fill the running time, and rely on knowledge of the culture to fully appreciate. Director Pedro Almodovar (Tie Me Up, Tie Me Down) again shows why he is concidered Spains best current director.

This film is very accessible to the American mind. Francesca Neri (Elena) is a druggie and rather loose woman. She has had a quickie in a bar restroom with Liberto Rabal (Victor) who shows up at her apartment for a return engagement. She is not even remotely interested. She pulls a gun, a shot is fired, and the police arrive. The older cop tries to play Dirty Harry, while the younger cop tries to talk the situation through. The gun goes off, Victor is jailed, and the young cop is in a wheelchair.

The film actually begins with Victors birth in civil war Madrid to a Hooker on a city bus. He was not exactly from the upper echelons of society, but used his prison time to study. He leaves prison with a plan. Elena has married the young cop, mostly out of guilt for her part in the injury. He is a star wheelchair athlete, but is unable to have real sex. Victor, as revenge, wants to have non-stop sex for a night with Elena, leave her totally satisfied and hooked on him, then dump her. That is enough of the plot to get you started. Rent it and learn the rest. Neri is naked, and shows breasts and buns in a long and very hot sex scene with Rabal.

Maltin and Berardinelli agree on 3 1/2 stars, and IMDB readers say 7/4/10, which is consistent with the critics. The film grossed about $1.5m in the US. I give the film a B.

I looked at these three new releases:

Little Nicky. Sub-par movie. The thing that amazed me the most was the budget. they spend $80 million to make an Adam Sandler comedy. They spent less on Enemy at the Gates to recreate the battle of Stalingrad! It grossed $39 million. I guess it would have grossed the same $39 million if they had made it for $10 million or less. No nudity. 21 friggin' deleted scenes, and still no nudity. And that means I listened to Sandler talk in his kiddie voice for an extra 21 scenes, for nothing! And you think I don't suffer for my "art".

Fall: the Price of Silence. Such a serious title. Sounds like a very serious movie, doesn't it? Wrong. it's a mob farce - an attempt to make a grade-b American version of the Guy Richie genre. Directed by that future Truffaut, the Chubby Baldwin Brother. An average straight-to-vid to begin with, but edited so strangely that it's barely comprehensible. Not that you'd really care. Fucking Kurosawa could re-edit it and it would still not be worth renting.

The Substitute 4. This one is worth renting for two reasons:

1. although it's the same old white supremacist military thing, Treat Williams is excellent in the lead. I hope he can limp back into A movies.

2. two naked chicks, including Angie Everhart's breasts in clear light with no leaves or flowers in the way.

• K.C. Powe (dunno who she is, but cute) (1, 2)

• Angie Everhart (number 3 and 4 are the best) (1, 2, 3, 4)

First off is Gen X starlet of the month, Erika Christensen. Cleaned up the cover and got a couple of other teaser pics scanned. Link #1 is the real winner in the bunch with some see-through action.

On to the images and comments by Mr. T:

No nudes today, just some lovely young things from the pseudo-men's rags.

First we have Leslie Bibb (TV's Popular) from the May FHM. I thought I'd also include two attempts at scanning her 2-page spread just to show people how difficult it can be to put the two halves together. (links 6 and 7) In this case the glue (FHM is a glued, not stapled magazine) spilled out just enough between the pages to cause some tearing, and I didn't have enough picture info left to fill in the gaps. The two samples here show how I would have had to rotate and color balance the two halves to get them to match. Too bad about the tearing, it would have been a nice scan.

By the way, did you ever notice how so many FHM photos have the heads chopped off at the top? What's up with that?

Susan Sarandon
(1, 2, 3)

Kandeyce Jorden

Amanda Donohoe

Lisa Robin Kelly

Parker Posey

Tatjana Patitz
(1, 2, 3, 4)

Tuna did a great job of grabbing Lois Hamilton's one frame of toplessness from "Summer Rental". Sadly, she committed suicide two days before Christmas in 1999 by slipping a plastic bag over her head in a Rio hotel room {detailed in Sleuth, V14 N1}. And, life imitating art, Lois had undergone an awful boob job {like in the film} years before.

Also, the "some dude grabbing Rosie Perez's boobs" in Perdita Durango is none other than this year's Best Actor Oscar nominee, Javier {"Before Night Falls"} Bardem. He was ALSO the lucky bastard nibbling the nipples of pulchritudinous Penelope Cruz in Jamon, Jamon. It's not only Rod Stewart who has "all the luck"...

-CS

Concerning the correction in Tuesday's fun house. The topless and bum pics are indeed Christiane Kruger, but the top row of pics is Senta Berger. Everything else is Christiane. Didn't want Senta to get no credit at all, since she is so beautiful. Just wish she had shed more clothes in the movie.