John Fiske writes in his book Television Culture, "A representation of a car chase only makes sense in relation to all the others we have seen." This very notion is what makes Nicolas Winding Refn's  Drive, bewildering, as the film doesn't ascribe to the formulas of the past. It's mobster, meets 80's action, meets film noir, and audiences just aren't used to that. Ryan Gosling plays Driver, a stuntman by day and chauffeur for big time robbery at night. What immediately insights a post-modern feeling of...

In The Education of Dee Dee Ricks, a documentary airing tonight on HBO, Dee Dee Ricks is a wealthy, materialistic socialite who has everything--including breast cancer. She is lucky to have the money and health insurance to provide herself with her needed health care. But the piling medical bills are a sobering life changer for Dee Dee, as she becomes empathetic to women with breast cancer who aren’t as lucky as she is. Having cancer opens Dee Dee up...

"It's impossible," observes Nigel Slater, "not to love someone who made you toast."   So begins Toast, an odd, colorful new film about food and love, and based on the English chef's memoir of the same name.  Slater's observations on both topics, read in voice-overs, bring humor to what is otherwise the story of a very sad childhood.   The story opens in a grocery store, where young Nigel (played by Oscar Kennedy, then Freddie Highmore when he grows up) is following around his lovely mum (Victoria...

Tiffany Shlain, the filmmaker who brought us reproductive rights documentary Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness and explored American Jewish identity via Barbie dolls in The Tribe, is back with Connected: An Autoblogography About Life, Death, and Technology.  It’s a film that touches on topics near and very dear to Shlain; as the founder of the Webby Awards, a ceremony recognizing the best of the Internet since 1996 (do you remember the Internet in 1996? Tiffany Shlain does, and while I was a ten...

I will never ever deny the fact that I'm a huge fan of romantic comedies. Despite their formulaic plot lines and almost laughable predictability, I still go googly-eyed and mushy-hearted at all the unlikely heroines/heroes and their even more unlikely love connections. So, when an invitation for a screening of What's Your Number? came up, I quickly snagged it. The movie follows Ally Darling (Anna Faris) as she tries to uncover a diamond in the rough among her past boyfriends after reading an article in...

BUST Magazine is proud to sponsor the fourth annual Citizen Jane Film Festival, taking place this weekend -- September 30th to October 2nd -- in Columbia, Missouri. The Citizen Jane Film Festival grew out of a collaboration with Stephens College (a 175-year-old women's college) in 2008 to spotlight and celebrate films made by women.This year's festival theme, Cirque du Cinema, is inspired by the early history of the circus. Around the turn of the century, when most women weren't able ...

One of the founding ladies of Riot Grrrl is getting a documentary all to herself, but it's running into a serious problem. In fact, you may not even get a chance to see it. That is  unless you help the director, Sini Anderson, and her crew out. With 28 days left, they need all the help they can get to get the movie finished or it just won't happen. "In a feat nothing short of miraculous, we have managed to complete shooting for The Punk Singer...

  All you have to do is watch Jersey Shore, or most reality TV shows really, to see that commercial culture screams that a woman’s most important value is her sexuality.  And there’s rarely a healthy middle ground when sexuality is so constantly focused on.  Either she’s a shamed slut for having too much sex, or she’s a virginal prude.  We see this repeatedly, and don’t often stop to think how damaging these moral double standards really are.  Jessica Valenti, feminist writer and creator of Feministing.com,...

In 2009, only 7% of all directors, producers, writers, cinematographers, and editors working on the top 250 domestic grossing films were women. The numbers don't reflect the amazing work made by women all over the world, so the Citizen Jane Film Festival -- which grew out of a collaboration with Stephens College (a 175-year-old women's college) -- was created in 2008 to spotlight and celebrate films made by women. BUST Magazine is proud to sponsor the fourth annual Citizen Jane Film Festival, taking place from...

  Produced by husband-and-wife team Kate Clere McIntyre and Michael McIntyre, the new documentary Yogawoman is far more than the flexible poses it depicts. The most joyful documentary I’ve ever seen, Yogawoman harnesses the knowledge and activism of yoga rock stars and takes you on a trip to nine different countries, while providing insight into a variety of yoginis leading a quiet revolution. The filmmakers interviewed over 70 amazing women who have found their voice and power through yoga. The beautiful cinematography, which reveals women who...