Life of Agony

Vibrant orange sunflowers. Rippling yelow grain. Trees bursting with white bloom. 'The pictures come to me as in a dream,' Vincent Van Gogh said. A dream that too often turned to life-shattering nightmare. Winner of Golden Globe and New York Film Critics Best Actor Awards, Kirk Douglas gives a fierce portrayal as the artist torn between the joyous inspiration of his genius and the dark desperation of his tormented mind. The obsessed Van Gogh painted the way other men breathe, driving away family and friends, including artist Paul Gauguin (1956 Best Supporting Actor Academy Award winner Anthony Quinn). Directed by Vincente Minnelli and saturated with the hues of Van Gogh's sea, field and sky, Lust for Life captures the ecstasy of art. And the agony of one man's life.

The year is 1984. Frank is an 18-year-old boy, who has just 'come out'. He loves dancing and leads a superficial life partying and discovering his sexuality. He decides to leave for Amsterdam with his friend Rita. However, after a couple of weeks, she heads off to the South of France, which leaves Frank on his own. Frank manages to get a job as a dancer in the House of Boys, a gay cabaret/strip club. There he meets Jake, an American dancer in his early 20's. Frank is attracted to this good-looking, mature boy. After a concert, Jake and Frank's relationship deepens and they make love for the first time. This newfound happiness is threatened when Jake falls ill. He is diagnosed with a new disease officially called AIDS, but referred to as ?gay cancer?. During his long agony, Frank never moves from his friend's side.

For some, a jersey is enough. For a Bulgarian builder, whose world is coloured in the bold red of his beloved Manchester United football club, a jersey is a 24-7 wardrobe necessity. Feeling an increased surge of devotion, his next step is something more permanent: to change his name to Manchester United. A seemingly simple legal request unravels into a journey from the struggles of life in a post-communist nation to the glory of Old Trafford stadium, where Bulgarian hero Dimitar Berbatov plays as Manchester United s star striker. While some may see the builder as nothing but an eccentric sports fan, they re missing what s beneath his Red Devil jersey. Putting a limit on his fandom denies his desire to escape the challenges of his everyday life. My Mate Manchester United shows that the agony of defeat and the ecstasy of victory exist both on and off the field.

Re:Play-Girls -- Michi, a high school girl with a seemingly perfect life -- loving parents, popularity, average grades, one day finds herself wanting to end her own life. When Michi reveals a big secret to her best friend, Haruna, she is betrayed by her. The one person she had trusted most turns on her and Michi becomes a target of bullies at school. Blinded by her agony and hurt, Michi stumbles on to a suicide chat room where she exchanges stories with others in similar situations. After spending some time on the site, she is asked 'Would you like to REPLAY?' Michi impulsively presses 'Yes,' which catapults her on a quest to her own death in the suicide game, 'Re:Play-Girls'.

We all remember the Travelers Insurance commercial with the dog desperately trying to protect its bone and being unable to sleep for weeks as it writhed around in paranoid agony probably not too far off from the actual inner-fears of real-life dogs. The ad made us all a little sad, even if the dog was being a tad unreasonable (wouldn t the safe deposit box also be insured? CALM DOWN, dog!) Anyway, Travelers is currently running this new commercial about the same dog, who, no longer hampered by the shackles of bone-paranoia, becomes infatuated with another dog, goes on a series of doggie dates, and starts a family of pups. As far as epic dog-commercial sagas go, it s nice to know this one landed on its paws: I guess ideally, you d prefer that the parent dogs be spayed or neutered, but as an allegory for human families, we can accept it. Also - puppies.

Brooklyn's finest, Life of Agony discuss the impact on their fans around the world. For more interviews watch 'Headbangers Ball: The Year In Metal' Saturday, December 18th at 12 midnight/11c.

It's been five years since the Brooklyn crew put out new material, so their plan is to take it one song at a time. For more interviews watch 'Headbangers Ball: The Year In Metal' Saturday, December 18th at 12 midnight/11c.

Panacea -- Life is a pain in the neck for our hero - the agony man. So much so that he has tried every kind of therapy and alternative medicine on the planet.... But to no avail. But today could be his lucky day as perchance he stumbles across the art of Alchohology.

If you thought the drill instructors from The Boys in Company C and Full Metal Jacket were pure fictions, this vivid documentary chronicling 12 weeks of basic training shows how true-to-life those loud-mouthed portrayals can be. From the first moment the bus arrives at a San Diego marine base, the screaming begins. Drill instructors shout at the top of their lungs 'Open your mouth!' and 'Hurry the freak up!' as frazzled, fresh-faced recruits tackle any number of tasks: from putting their beds together to cleaning their barracks to enduring the 'boot camp death march' an excruciating endurance test that causes more than one recruit to collapse in agony, only to face the wrath and humiliation of their superiors. Without judgment or bias, Ears, Open. Eyeballs, Click. presents an unfiltered, fly-on-the-wall glimpse into the chaos and pain of boot camp. Are the young men of Platoon 1141 being trained as models of discipline and respect or dehumanized killing machines? The film remains defiantly objective, intent on allowing viewers to enter this secret world and form their own opinion.

The trailer for Leave Them Laughing which will make its Premiere at the 2010 Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival. When life fucks you up the ass, employ the lube of laughter. These are words Carla Zilbersmith lives by. They are also words she s dying by. Diagnosed with ALS (Lou Gehrig s disease) four years ago, this 46-year-old writer, singer, performer, and wickedly funny smart-ass is determined to suck every molecule of pleasure from the one or two years she might have left. Academy Award-winning director John Zaritsky combines Carla s blog, interviews, and skits to create a profound and hilarious pre-mortem. Carla survives her gruelling reality with loving friends and family, especially her gifted 16-year-old son Maclen, who shares her dark sense of humour. Throughout her Kafkaesque battles for medical insurance and the agony of her shrinking independence as her body slowly shuts down, she never loses her blistering ability to tell it like it is. She smashes all barriers of discomfort and politesse, connecting us to the core of our naked, fragile humanity.

The International Trailer for 44 Inch Chest. 44 Inch Chest, a powerful and explosive drama of retribution and is the feature film debut of renowned photographer and commercial director Malcolm Venville. Colin Diamond (RAY WINSTONE) is in agony, shattered by the bombshell of his wife s (JOANNE WHALLEY) infidelity with a young French waiter. His motley crew of friends - Old Man Peanut (JOHN HURT), Meredith (IAN MCSHANE), Archie (TOM WILKINSON), and Mal (STEPHEN DILLANE) - kidnap Loverboy (MELVIL POUPAUD), and assemble a kangaroo court so that Colin can restore his manhood with revenge. A very bumpy night ensues for Loverboy whose life is at stake as Colin wrestles with heartbreak, anger, madness, love and gargantuan self-pity. Potent, provocative and outrageously profane, this visceral exploration of the masculine ego at breaking point is penned by Sexy Beast writers Louis Mellis and David Scinto.