Claudia Besso Movies

The third and final season of the adult-oriented anthology Bliss offers eight titillating tales of erotica, crafted for and about women by several of Canada's best and most prolific female writers and directors. The season begins with "Tango," one of several series entries written by the prolific Laurie Finstad-Knizhik, in which an Argentinian woman (Larissa Gomes) moves to Montreal to escape a romantic relationship with a married man -- only to fall for a seductive tango instructor. In "Penelope's Suitors," the title character, played by Stephanie Morganstern, is a single woman living in a suburban neighborhood teeming with handsome and desirable delivery men. Shary Guthrie stars in "Tying Up Gerald" as a conservative businesswoman who tries to understand her husband's obsession with S&M -- especially since he prefers to be the submissive one. "Badness" takes place in a courtroom, where the plaintiff (Zoie Palmer) is attracted to the pertinacious defense lawyer who is determined to win the case by any means. Female hockey goalie (Jessica Greco) ponders a romance with a man who doesn't like forceful women in "Amazon." "The Arrangement" features an independent-minded Indian woman (Pamela Sinha) who is dead set against her parents' choice for her husband. In "Les Petits Mots," a freewheeling nightclub DJ (Patricia McKenzie) is drawn to a bookstore owner who prefers the quiet life. And in the series finale "Steph's Life," a woman trapped in a dull, conventional lifestyle tries to kick over the traces by web-casting her sex life. ~ All Movie Guide

Chuck Barris is best known to most Americans as the guy who used to host The Gong Show. He was also the creator and producer of The Dating Game, The Newlywed Game, and a handful of other successful game shows in the 1960s and 1970s. But was he also a hired killer working with the CIA? That's the take-it-or-leave-it premise of Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, based on the memoir of the same name by Chuck Barris. Barris (Sam Rockwell) grows up dreaming of success in show biz and winning the hearts of beautiful women, but early on, he meets with plenty of resistance from both women and the television industry, despite writing the hit tune "Palisades Park" and scoring a job with Dick Clark on American Bandstand. The 1960s proves more fortunate for Barris; he meets the love of his life, Penny (Drew Barrymore), and sells ABC on the idea of The Dating Game. However, after the show has made him wealthy and successful, Barris is approached by the mysterious Jim Byrd (George Clooney), a CIA agent who wants to recruit Barris as a covert operative. Barris finds the notion of playing spy games intriguing and agrees, but soon discovers what Byrd and his partners really want is for Barris to assassinate uncooperative figures around the world. Soon, Barris finds that his life has been all but taken over by Byrd and another CIA agent, the mysterious and sexy Patricia (Julia Roberts). As he hops the globe, killing people in the name of American security (using his status as a Dating Game chaperone as a cover), Barris learns that the KGB has discovered his not-so-little secret and that his own life is in great danger. Confessions of a Dangerous Mind marked the directorial debut of actor George Clooney, working from a screenplay adapted by Charlie Kaufman from Barris' book. Dick Clark, Dating Game host Jim Lange, frequent Gong Show panelist Jaye P. Morgan, and Gene Gene Patton appear as themselves. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide