Executive producers Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg have reunited for a third historical mini-series, this time taking to the skies with Apple TV+’s “Masters of the Air.” The series follows the members of the 100th Bomb Group, a Boeing B-17 heavy bomber unit that operated in the Air Force during WWII. This isn’t Hanks and Spielberg’s first war-time series, however. They previously executive produced “The Pacific,” which charted the US Marine Corps’ actions in the Pacific Theater of Operations. Before that, they created “Band of Brothers,” which dramatized the story of the Easy Company of the US Army, who went on a mission in Europe during WWII.
“Masters of the Air” looks to be a major Emmys player this year, particularly as it stars popular actors Callum Turner, Austin Butler, and Barry Keoghan. However, before we look ahead at that series’ Emmy potential, lets look back at...
“Masters of the Air” looks to be a major Emmys player this year, particularly as it stars popular actors Callum Turner, Austin Butler, and Barry Keoghan. However, before we look ahead at that series’ Emmy potential, lets look back at...
- 3/25/2024
- by Jacob Sarkisian
- Gold Derby
Camden Toy, the versatile character actor famed for playing a succession of demonic monsters on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, has died. He was 68.
Toy died Dec. 11, after a two-year battle with pancreatic cancer, his representatives confirmed in a press release.
Often caked under layers of makeup as well as special prosthetics, Toy would be unrecognizable for many of his most well-known turns on Buffy and later Angel, playing one of the Gentleman, the Prince of Lies and the demon Gnarl among others, but his unmistakable physical acting would rank him and close friend Doug Jones as firm fan favorites.
“This is hard,” Jones tweeted on Wednesday. “So many memories including working together, decades of laughing, sharing mutual friends, get-togethers, travel, conventions, and huggles with each other and our fans. From Buffy on, 24 years blessed to have this friend. May he rest in God’s peace.”
Toy was born on May 31, 1955, in Pittsburgh,...
Toy died Dec. 11, after a two-year battle with pancreatic cancer, his representatives confirmed in a press release.
Often caked under layers of makeup as well as special prosthetics, Toy would be unrecognizable for many of his most well-known turns on Buffy and later Angel, playing one of the Gentleman, the Prince of Lies and the demon Gnarl among others, but his unmistakable physical acting would rank him and close friend Doug Jones as firm fan favorites.
“This is hard,” Jones tweeted on Wednesday. “So many memories including working together, decades of laughing, sharing mutual friends, get-togethers, travel, conventions, and huggles with each other and our fans. From Buffy on, 24 years blessed to have this friend. May he rest in God’s peace.”
Toy was born on May 31, 1955, in Pittsburgh,...
- 12/14/2023
- by Abid Rahman
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Camden Toy, the actor best known for playing memorable vampires and demons on The WB’s Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel, died Monday after a two-year battle with pancreatic cancer, according to his official Facebook page. He was 68.
Toy appeared in the Season 4 Buffy episode “Hush” as one of the demonic Gentlemen. He played the skin-eating demon Gnarl in Season 7’s “Same Time, Same Place.” He also recurred as a primordial Turok-Han vampire.
On Angel, Toy played the ancient, Nosferatu-like vampire The Prince of Lies in the WWII-themed flashbacks of Season 5’s “Why We Fight”.
Toy was also a series regular on Goodnight Burbank and played Igor Chambers on the Peacock web series The Bay.
On the big screen, the actor appeared in dozens of productions, most recently Average Joe in 2019.
His partner, Bea Henderson, wrote about Toy’s deteriorating condition on Facebook last week:
“He was diagnosed...
Toy appeared in the Season 4 Buffy episode “Hush” as one of the demonic Gentlemen. He played the skin-eating demon Gnarl in Season 7’s “Same Time, Same Place.” He also recurred as a primordial Turok-Han vampire.
On Angel, Toy played the ancient, Nosferatu-like vampire The Prince of Lies in the WWII-themed flashbacks of Season 5’s “Why We Fight”.
Toy was also a series regular on Goodnight Burbank and played Igor Chambers on the Peacock web series The Bay.
On the big screen, the actor appeared in dozens of productions, most recently Average Joe in 2019.
His partner, Bea Henderson, wrote about Toy’s deteriorating condition on Facebook last week:
“He was diagnosed...
- 12/13/2023
- by Tom Tapp
- Deadline Film + TV
Matt Roe has been named head of unscripted for production company Dirty Robber, The Unreasnble, led by Travon Free, Martin Desmond Roe, and Mickey Meyer.
Roe is an Emmy-nominated producer, director, and writer with more than ten years of development and production experience making unscripted premium content.
Starting his career as a story producer, Roe helped shape such projects Kobe Bryant’s Muse for Showtime, The Last Walk Off with David Ortiz for ESPN, and Tom vs. Tom for Facebook.
As a director, he has made content for companies like Religion of Sports and Uninterrupted. As a showrunner, he has helmed the Audience Network’s anthology series Religion of Sports and ESPN Why We Fight.
In addition to his creative credits, Roe has spent the last few years leading development at Dirty Robber during a time when it landed projects such as Heist and We Are The Champions for Netflix,...
Roe is an Emmy-nominated producer, director, and writer with more than ten years of development and production experience making unscripted premium content.
Starting his career as a story producer, Roe helped shape such projects Kobe Bryant’s Muse for Showtime, The Last Walk Off with David Ortiz for ESPN, and Tom vs. Tom for Facebook.
As a director, he has made content for companies like Religion of Sports and Uninterrupted. As a showrunner, he has helmed the Audience Network’s anthology series Religion of Sports and ESPN Why We Fight.
In addition to his creative credits, Roe has spent the last few years leading development at Dirty Robber during a time when it landed projects such as Heist and We Are The Champions for Netflix,...
- 12/9/2023
- by The Deadline Team
- Deadline Film + TV
This year’s documentary nominees explore diverse subject matter as saving birds (“All that Breathes”) and an exploration of the life and career of photographer and activist Nan Goldin (“All the Beauty and the Bloodshed”). But the documentary nominees, which took place at the 15th annual Oscars on March 4, 1943 at the Cocoanut Grove, primarly revolved around World War II.
There were 25 nominees — shorts and features competed against each other — and four winners. The US Navy was the producer of winner “The Battle of Midway,” directed by John Ford. The 18-minute film featured footage from the Battle of Midway which was a crucial victory in the Pacific in 1942. The film featured narration by Ford favorites Henry Fonda, Donald Crisp and Jane Darwell.
The Australian News and Information Bureau produced the full-length documentary winner “Kokoda Front Line!,” which was also the first film from Down Under to win an Oscar. The film...
There were 25 nominees — shorts and features competed against each other — and four winners. The US Navy was the producer of winner “The Battle of Midway,” directed by John Ford. The 18-minute film featured footage from the Battle of Midway which was a crucial victory in the Pacific in 1942. The film featured narration by Ford favorites Henry Fonda, Donald Crisp and Jane Darwell.
The Australian News and Information Bureau produced the full-length documentary winner “Kokoda Front Line!,” which was also the first film from Down Under to win an Oscar. The film...
- 1/25/2023
- by Susan King
- Gold Derby
Exclusive: Range Media Partners has signed award-winning visionary filmmaker Matt Ogens. Ogens new Netflix Original Audible was nominated for Best Documentary Short at the 94 Academy Awards. The documentary is an immersive coming-of-age story told from the perspective of Deaf high school students and communicated through sign language. He is currently in production on his follow up documentary film based on the viral Nigerian Ballet dancer internet sensation.
His breakthrough documentary Confessions of a Superhero, which premiered at SXSW to critical acclaim. He subsequently went on to earn a Primetime Emmy Award for his From Harlem With Love installment of ESPN 30 for 30. Recent projects include the two-time Emmy-nominated documentary series Why We Fight, which Ogens created and executive-produces, as well as the Emmy-nominated La Louvre, an augmented reality film he directed for Ryot and Huffington Post.
On the ad front, Ogens collaborates with top agencies and brands, helming major campaigns...
His breakthrough documentary Confessions of a Superhero, which premiered at SXSW to critical acclaim. He subsequently went on to earn a Primetime Emmy Award for his From Harlem With Love installment of ESPN 30 for 30. Recent projects include the two-time Emmy-nominated documentary series Why We Fight, which Ogens created and executive-produces, as well as the Emmy-nominated La Louvre, an augmented reality film he directed for Ryot and Huffington Post.
On the ad front, Ogens collaborates with top agencies and brands, helming major campaigns...
- 4/22/2022
- by Justin Kroll
- Deadline Film + TV
A total of 46 films and 27 series will be showcased at the online-only event.
Lukas Dhont’s second feature Close and Olga Lucovnicova’s Last Letters From My Grandma are among the 46 feature and 27 series projects to be showcased at Re>Connext, the annual showcase for films and TV series made in Flanders and Brussels, Belgium.
Close is filmmaker Dhont’s follow-up to Girl, which won the Camera d’Or following its premiere in Un Certain Regard at Cannes in 2018. Last year, the project was pitched at Re>Connext under the title The Invisible.
For this edition, drama Close returns as a work in progress,...
Lukas Dhont’s second feature Close and Olga Lucovnicova’s Last Letters From My Grandma are among the 46 feature and 27 series projects to be showcased at Re>Connext, the annual showcase for films and TV series made in Flanders and Brussels, Belgium.
Close is filmmaker Dhont’s follow-up to Girl, which won the Camera d’Or following its premiere in Un Certain Regard at Cannes in 2018. Last year, the project was pitched at Re>Connext under the title The Invisible.
For this edition, drama Close returns as a work in progress,...
- 9/27/2021
- by Mona Tabbara
- ScreenDaily
Netflix’s coming-of-age documentary “Audible,” which world premiered this week at Hot Docs Film Festival, follows Maryland School for the Deaf high school athlete Amaree McKenstry and his close friends during their senior year. Director Matt Ogens speaks to Variety about the film, whose exec producers include actor Peter Berg, the Emmy nominated creator of “Friday Night Lights,” and deaf actor and model Nyle Dimarco, winner of “America’s Next Top Model” and “Dancing With the Stars,” and a deaf community activist.
Ogens, whose credits include Emmy winner “From Harlem With Love” and Emmy nominated “Why We Fight,” grew up about 30 miles from Maryland School for the Deaf, and his best friend since the age of eight is deaf, so he knew of the deaf community through his friend and knew of the school.
In addition to documentaries, Ogens directs branded content and commercials, and about 10 years ago directed a campaign...
Ogens, whose credits include Emmy winner “From Harlem With Love” and Emmy nominated “Why We Fight,” grew up about 30 miles from Maryland School for the Deaf, and his best friend since the age of eight is deaf, so he knew of the deaf community through his friend and knew of the school.
In addition to documentaries, Ogens directs branded content and commercials, and about 10 years ago directed a campaign...
- 5/5/2021
- by Leo Barraclough
- Variety Film + TV
These wartime docu-propaganda films are fascinating, but critic Joseph McBride’s critical accompaniment is even better, nailing the meaning of five groundbreaking works of ‘indoctrination’ and giving us a refreshing revisionist take on one of America’s more revered film directors.
Mr. Capra Goes to War: Frank Capra’s World War II Documentaries
Blu-ray
Prelude to War, The Battle of Russia (1&2), The Negro Soldier, Tunisian Victory, Your Job in Germany
Olive Films
1942-1945 / B&W / 2:35 1:85 widescreen / 1:37 flat Academy / 310 min. / Street Date November 6, 2018 / available through the Olive Films website / 29.98
Starring: Walter Huston (frequent Narrator).
Introduction and lecture: Joseph McBride
Executive-produced by Frank Capra
I just realized that this is a big year for the film scholar, biographer and critic Joseph McBride. Not only has he an important new book on the shelves, he plays a significant role in front of and behind the scenes in the finally-finished Orson Welles...
Mr. Capra Goes to War: Frank Capra’s World War II Documentaries
Blu-ray
Prelude to War, The Battle of Russia (1&2), The Negro Soldier, Tunisian Victory, Your Job in Germany
Olive Films
1942-1945 / B&W / 2:35 1:85 widescreen / 1:37 flat Academy / 310 min. / Street Date November 6, 2018 / available through the Olive Films website / 29.98
Starring: Walter Huston (frequent Narrator).
Introduction and lecture: Joseph McBride
Executive-produced by Frank Capra
I just realized that this is a big year for the film scholar, biographer and critic Joseph McBride. Not only has he an important new book on the shelves, he plays a significant role in front of and behind the scenes in the finally-finished Orson Welles...
- 11/6/2018
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Religion of Sports, the media company founded by Tom Brady, Michael Strahan and Gotham Chopra, announced the launch of a new podcast series on Tuesday.
“Why Sports Matter” will be available on the Cadence13 podcast network on Oct. 30. The series will explore the larger themes of tribalism, authenticity, leadership and more through compelling stories that illustrate how sports provide meaning, purpose and significance in people’s lives.
“As long as I’ve been playing sports, I’ve had to fight to overcome obstacles and adversity,” Brady said in a statement Tuesday. “Sports are more to me than wins and losses — its emotions encompass much of my life. Being able to share stories of others like me, with similar struggles and triumphs is compelling and authentic. I couldn’t be more excited about what’s to come for Religion of Sports.”
Also Read: Why Gotham Chopra, Tom Brady and Michael Strahan...
“Why Sports Matter” will be available on the Cadence13 podcast network on Oct. 30. The series will explore the larger themes of tribalism, authenticity, leadership and more through compelling stories that illustrate how sports provide meaning, purpose and significance in people’s lives.
“As long as I’ve been playing sports, I’ve had to fight to overcome obstacles and adversity,” Brady said in a statement Tuesday. “Sports are more to me than wins and losses — its emotions encompass much of my life. Being able to share stories of others like me, with similar struggles and triumphs is compelling and authentic. I couldn’t be more excited about what’s to come for Religion of Sports.”
Also Read: Why Gotham Chopra, Tom Brady and Michael Strahan...
- 10/23/2018
- by Debbie Emery
- The Wrap
Midway through the making of “The King,” the documentary about Elvis Presley and America, director Eugene Jarecki had a chance to bring the twin obsessions of his film together in a single moment.
And he just couldn’t do it. He couldn’t let Donald Trump sit in the back seat of a Rolls-Royce once owned by Elvis Presley.
Jarecki, a Peabody Award-winning documentary director whose previous films include “Why We Fight” and “The House I Live In,” had acquired Elvis’ Rolls-Royce and was driving it to key cities in the iconic singer’s career: Tupelo, Memphis, Nashville, New York, Los Angeles, and Las Vegas. Along the way, a variety of singers, musicians, writers, actors climbed into the car to talk about Elvis and America – with all of this happening in an election year, as Trump and Hillary Clinton waged a campaign that we glimpsed through Elvis’ windows.
Also Read:...
And he just couldn’t do it. He couldn’t let Donald Trump sit in the back seat of a Rolls-Royce once owned by Elvis Presley.
Jarecki, a Peabody Award-winning documentary director whose previous films include “Why We Fight” and “The House I Live In,” had acquired Elvis’ Rolls-Royce and was driving it to key cities in the iconic singer’s career: Tupelo, Memphis, Nashville, New York, Los Angeles, and Las Vegas. Along the way, a variety of singers, musicians, writers, actors climbed into the car to talk about Elvis and America – with all of this happening in an election year, as Trump and Hillary Clinton waged a campaign that we glimpsed through Elvis’ windows.
Also Read:...
- 6/28/2018
- by Steve Pond
- The Wrap
Director Eugene Jarecki’s “The King,” an audacious travelogue that views America through the windows of Elvis Presley’s Rolls Royce as well as the prism of his career, challenges viewers to embrace the Elvis-as-America metaphor. Some may resist the ride, but those who climb in will be rewarded with a sharp, provocative and surprisingly emotional work of cultural and political criticism.
Jarecki’s big, bold and overreaching film — a trimmed and re-edited version of the documentary that screened at the 2017 Cannes Film Festival under the title “Promised Land” — is in love with but also skeptical of its own central metaphor of Elvis’ career as a version of America’s own history. Executive produced by Steven Soderbergh, Rosanne Cash and Errol Morris, this is a film about the poor boy who loses himself in a rich man’s life and ends up stuffed into a spangled jumpsuit, and about a...
Jarecki’s big, bold and overreaching film — a trimmed and re-edited version of the documentary that screened at the 2017 Cannes Film Festival under the title “Promised Land” — is in love with but also skeptical of its own central metaphor of Elvis’ career as a version of America’s own history. Executive produced by Steven Soderbergh, Rosanne Cash and Errol Morris, this is a film about the poor boy who loses himself in a rich man’s life and ends up stuffed into a spangled jumpsuit, and about a...
- 6/26/2018
- by Steve Pond
- The Wrap
Chicago – Elvis Presley, besides being one of the most famous entertainers of the 20th Century, does symbolize to an extent what can happen to icons when they turn towards certain directions in a career. Director Eugene Jarecki has created an amazing documentary about Elvis called “The King,” that uses his rise and decline as a symbol for the American Dream.
Elvis Presley is Everywhere in ‘The King’
Photo credit: Oscilloscope
The film is part bio picture, part fan film and all about America. Jarecki borrowed Elvis’s actual Rolls Royce and put celeb admirers like Alec Baldwin, Ethan Hawke, Ashton Kutcher, Emily Lou Harris and John Hiatt inside the car to talk about the significance of the Elvis celebrity, bigger and brighter at its time than any other. The film is simply a truth about who and what America is, through one of the biggest personalities it ever produced, for better or worse.
Elvis Presley is Everywhere in ‘The King’
Photo credit: Oscilloscope
The film is part bio picture, part fan film and all about America. Jarecki borrowed Elvis’s actual Rolls Royce and put celeb admirers like Alec Baldwin, Ethan Hawke, Ashton Kutcher, Emily Lou Harris and John Hiatt inside the car to talk about the significance of the Elvis celebrity, bigger and brighter at its time than any other. The film is simply a truth about who and what America is, through one of the biggest personalities it ever produced, for better or worse.
- 6/26/2018
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
Eugene Jarecki didn’t set out to make Elvis Presley documentary “The King” a road-trip film, but as soon as production ramped up, he and his team realized it would be almost impossible not to. “In my mind there was always [such a] trip in the abstract,” says the director, known for poignant docs on the American condition like “Freakanomics,” “The House I Live In” and “Why We Fight.” “The King,” which premiered at Sundance and made its international debut in Cannes, will be released commercially courtesy of Oscilloscope on June 22, almost 41 years after the singer’s death.
What wound up on-screen was a movie that was not only about the rise and fall of Elvis but also a metaphor for the rise and fall of the American dream — a story that retraced the trajectory of Presley’s life, traveling through inner cities and the heartland, from Tupelo, Miss., to Memphis to Las Vegas to Beverly Hills.
What wound up on-screen was a movie that was not only about the rise and fall of Elvis but also a metaphor for the rise and fall of the American dream — a story that retraced the trajectory of Presley’s life, traveling through inner cities and the heartland, from Tupelo, Miss., to Memphis to Las Vegas to Beverly Hills.
- 6/7/2018
- by Valentina I. Valentini
- Variety Film + TV
In his upcoming documentary “The King,” director Eugene Jarecki tackles a subject that is vast in its scope and bold in its import: the rise and fall of Elvis Presley, not as an event in itself but as a metaphor for America.
And he does so in a crazy way: by getting ahold of a Rolls Royce that Elvis once owned and driving it around the country to places that meant something to Elvis, with a succession of musicians playing music in the back seat while pundits, experts and fans weigh in on what Elvis means to them. And he did it during the presidential election of 2016, inextricably linking the fall of Elvis with the rise of Donald Trump.
When the film premiered at the 2017 Cannes Film Festival under the title “Promised Land,” TheWrap called it “big, bold and overreaching, in love with but also skeptical of its own central...
And he does so in a crazy way: by getting ahold of a Rolls Royce that Elvis once owned and driving it around the country to places that meant something to Elvis, with a succession of musicians playing music in the back seat while pundits, experts and fans weigh in on what Elvis means to them. And he did it during the presidential election of 2016, inextricably linking the fall of Elvis with the rise of Donald Trump.
When the film premiered at the 2017 Cannes Film Festival under the title “Promised Land,” TheWrap called it “big, bold and overreaching, in love with but also skeptical of its own central...
- 5/22/2018
- by Steve Pond
- The Wrap
“If Elvis is your metaphor for America, we’re about to Od.” The chilling closing line of the trailer for “The King” – the newest documentary from Eugene Jarecki – perfectly captures what the film explores: Elvis Presley’s life and career framed as a metaphor to the modern history of America. Known from his direction on documentaries “The Trials of Henry Kissinger,” “Why We Fight,” and “Reagan” Jarecki is no stranger to sprawling narrative documentaries – and “The King” is no exception.
- 5/22/2018
- by Tyler Casalini
- The Playlist
The King takes a look at America's sociopolitical landscape through the lens of the career of one of the country's most emblematic stars: Elvis Presley.
Filmmaker Eugene Jarecki (Why We Fight) takes a cross-country road trip in Elvis' 1963 Rolls Royce and interviews both fans and critics of the icon, including Van Jones, Chuck D, Mike Meyers and Alec Baldwin.
The doc, which screened at both Cannes and Sundance, counts Steven Soderbergh as an executive producer. The King is opening in a limited release starting June 22.
Filmmaker Eugene Jarecki (Why We Fight) takes a cross-country road trip in Elvis' 1963 Rolls Royce and interviews both fans and critics of the icon, including Van Jones, Chuck D, Mike Meyers and Alec Baldwin.
The doc, which screened at both Cannes and Sundance, counts Steven Soderbergh as an executive producer. The King is opening in a limited release starting June 22.
- 5/22/2018
- The Hollywood Reporter - Film + TV
The King takes a look at America's sociopolitical landscape through the lens of the career of one of the country's most emblematic stars: Elvis Presley.
Filmmaker Eugene Jarecki (Why We Fight) takes a cross-country road trip in Elvis' 1963 Rolls Royce and interviews both fans and critics of the icon, including Van Jones, Chuck D, Mike Meyers and Alec Baldwin.
The doc, which screened at both Cannes and Sundance, was exec produced by Steven Soderbergh, Errol Morris and Rosanne Cash. The King is opening in a limited release starting June 22, with an La release planned for June ...
Filmmaker Eugene Jarecki (Why We Fight) takes a cross-country road trip in Elvis' 1963 Rolls Royce and interviews both fans and critics of the icon, including Van Jones, Chuck D, Mike Meyers and Alec Baldwin.
The doc, which screened at both Cannes and Sundance, was exec produced by Steven Soderbergh, Errol Morris and Rosanne Cash. The King is opening in a limited release starting June 22, with an La release planned for June ...
- 5/22/2018
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
As the 39th Annual Sports Emmy Awards kick off Tuesday night, the Religion of Sports team under Tom Brady, Michael Strahan and Gotham Chopra (above right) hope that their gritty docu-series “Why We Fight” will be victorious in the Outstanding Serialized Sports Documentary category.
The eight-episode series on Verizon go90 network, executive produced by Ufc champion-turned WWE Superstar Ronda Rousey, is far from your typical sports drama — especially as its host unexpectedly relapsed into opioid use during production.
The show was built around active fighter/host Zac “Kid Yamaka” Wohlman, who was recovering from painkiller addiction stemming from injuries in the ring. “He’d been diligently clean and then during our production he had a relapse, and that was something we had to deal with,” Chopra, who recently earned critical acclaim for his Facebook Watch series “Tom vs. Time,” told TheWrap.
Also Read: Tom Brady Says 'Last Year Kind of Sucked,' But Confirms He Will Play in 2018 (Video)
The relapse naturally sparked a moral dilemma for the filmmakers, along with a logistical nightmare, especially regarding insurance issues. “We had a moment where we asked ourselves ‘what are we going to do and should we really be doing this? And, if we’re doing it, how do we support Zac? Are we going to acknowledge it?'” Chopra said.
In the middle of shooting an episode in Tijuana, Mexico, Zac told a fighter who they were filming about his addiction, and from then on “it became a part of the series,” the director said. “I think that as much as it is a show about fighting, it is also a show about opioid addiction, which is a huge issue in this country.
“It became personal and emotional … which really differentiated the series from being another travel show about another sport,” the filmmaker, who is the son of spiritual guru Deepak Chopra, said. “They call it ‘unscripted television’ for a reason, you can go in with an agenda and an outline of what you are going to do but you have to be able to adapt. That sort of tension and drama is what makes these series great, if you have to deal with stuff and if you do it honestly — it really shines through,” he added.
Also Read: 'Tom vs Time' Director on Why the Obsession Around Brady and Gisele Is 'Out of Control'
Another factor contributing to “Why We Fight’s” appeal was the subject matter, Gotham said. “There is something primordial about it. Fighting is the oldest sport we have, and Ufc is a modern day version of it harking back to when two people went into a cage and only one person came out,” he explained.
“Early on in the production, someone said that if you went to a street corner and Kevin Durant and LeBron James are playing one-on-one basketball, Tom Brady and Gronk are playing catch, and two guys you’ve never seen before are having a fist fight — what are you going to watch?” he asked about the must-watch phenomena of fighting. “That really resonated with me and I think it’s true.”
Along with the unexpected storyline of Wohlman’s drug relapse, “Why We Fight” had the benefit having Rousey as an executive producer. “In my opinion, she is one of the most iconic names in fighting. She has really invented herself and is super passionate about what she does,” Gotham said.
The series’ Sports Emmy nomination marks the first for Gotham, Brady, Strahan and co., and was a “pleasant surprise” for the director. “Why We Fight’ doesn’t have a big name attached to it like Tom or LeBron James, as nobody really knows who Zac is, and go90 is not Facebook or Netflix,” Gotham said. “I look at the shows we’re in competition with in this category (such as HBO’s “Hard Knocks” and Showtime’s “A Season With Navy Football”) and it’s pretty intimidating,” he added.
The 34th Annual Sports Emmy Awards are announced live in New York from 7 p.m. Et.
Watch the trailer for “Why We Fight” here.
Read original story How Gotham Chopra’s Sports Emmy-Nominated Series ‘Why We Fight’ Tackles Opioid Addiction At TheWrap...
The eight-episode series on Verizon go90 network, executive produced by Ufc champion-turned WWE Superstar Ronda Rousey, is far from your typical sports drama — especially as its host unexpectedly relapsed into opioid use during production.
The show was built around active fighter/host Zac “Kid Yamaka” Wohlman, who was recovering from painkiller addiction stemming from injuries in the ring. “He’d been diligently clean and then during our production he had a relapse, and that was something we had to deal with,” Chopra, who recently earned critical acclaim for his Facebook Watch series “Tom vs. Time,” told TheWrap.
Also Read: Tom Brady Says 'Last Year Kind of Sucked,' But Confirms He Will Play in 2018 (Video)
The relapse naturally sparked a moral dilemma for the filmmakers, along with a logistical nightmare, especially regarding insurance issues. “We had a moment where we asked ourselves ‘what are we going to do and should we really be doing this? And, if we’re doing it, how do we support Zac? Are we going to acknowledge it?'” Chopra said.
In the middle of shooting an episode in Tijuana, Mexico, Zac told a fighter who they were filming about his addiction, and from then on “it became a part of the series,” the director said. “I think that as much as it is a show about fighting, it is also a show about opioid addiction, which is a huge issue in this country.
“It became personal and emotional … which really differentiated the series from being another travel show about another sport,” the filmmaker, who is the son of spiritual guru Deepak Chopra, said. “They call it ‘unscripted television’ for a reason, you can go in with an agenda and an outline of what you are going to do but you have to be able to adapt. That sort of tension and drama is what makes these series great, if you have to deal with stuff and if you do it honestly — it really shines through,” he added.
Also Read: 'Tom vs Time' Director on Why the Obsession Around Brady and Gisele Is 'Out of Control'
Another factor contributing to “Why We Fight’s” appeal was the subject matter, Gotham said. “There is something primordial about it. Fighting is the oldest sport we have, and Ufc is a modern day version of it harking back to when two people went into a cage and only one person came out,” he explained.
“Early on in the production, someone said that if you went to a street corner and Kevin Durant and LeBron James are playing one-on-one basketball, Tom Brady and Gronk are playing catch, and two guys you’ve never seen before are having a fist fight — what are you going to watch?” he asked about the must-watch phenomena of fighting. “That really resonated with me and I think it’s true.”
Along with the unexpected storyline of Wohlman’s drug relapse, “Why We Fight” had the benefit having Rousey as an executive producer. “In my opinion, she is one of the most iconic names in fighting. She has really invented herself and is super passionate about what she does,” Gotham said.
The series’ Sports Emmy nomination marks the first for Gotham, Brady, Strahan and co., and was a “pleasant surprise” for the director. “Why We Fight’ doesn’t have a big name attached to it like Tom or LeBron James, as nobody really knows who Zac is, and go90 is not Facebook or Netflix,” Gotham said. “I look at the shows we’re in competition with in this category (such as HBO’s “Hard Knocks” and Showtime’s “A Season With Navy Football”) and it’s pretty intimidating,” he added.
The 34th Annual Sports Emmy Awards are announced live in New York from 7 p.m. Et.
Watch the trailer for “Why We Fight” here.
Read original story How Gotham Chopra’s Sports Emmy-Nominated Series ‘Why We Fight’ Tackles Opioid Addiction At TheWrap...
- 5/8/2018
- by Debbie Emery
- The Wrap
Chicago – Elvis is everywhere and the new documentary “The King” proves it. There can’t be a better Closing Night film at Chicago’s Doc 10 Film Festival – April 8th, 2018, at the Davis Theater in the Lincoln Square neighborhood – then this amazing document of Elvis and the American Dream, which was directed by Eugene Jarecki (“Why We Fight”). It’s a must see. For more information, ticket info, click here.
’The King’ is the Closing Night Film of the 2018 Doc 10 Festival
Photo credit: DOC10.org
Director Eugene Jarecki has put together an incredibly creative look at the life and times of The King of Rock ‘n Roll, Elvis Aron Presley. Part bio picture, part fan film and all about America, Jarecki borrowed Elvis’s Rolls Royce and put celeb admirers like Alec Baldwin, Ethan Hawke, Ashton Kutcher, Emily Lou Harris and John Hiatt inside the car to pontificate on the significance of the Elvis celebrity,...
’The King’ is the Closing Night Film of the 2018 Doc 10 Festival
Photo credit: DOC10.org
Director Eugene Jarecki has put together an incredibly creative look at the life and times of The King of Rock ‘n Roll, Elvis Aron Presley. Part bio picture, part fan film and all about America, Jarecki borrowed Elvis’s Rolls Royce and put celeb admirers like Alec Baldwin, Ethan Hawke, Ashton Kutcher, Emily Lou Harris and John Hiatt inside the car to pontificate on the significance of the Elvis celebrity,...
- 4/8/2018
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
A documentary as sprawling and brilliant and flawed as the country it traverses, Eugene Jarecki’s “The Promised Land” is a fascinatingly overstuffed portrait of America in decline. In the process, it’s also: a biography of the 20th century’s most famous musician,; a story about how a man became king of a democratic nation; a nuanced analysis of cultural appropriation in a multi-racial society; a southern-fried rock n’ roll performance piece; a horrifyingly sober look at the rise of Donald Trump; a closed-casket funeral service for The American Dream; the best recent film about how the hell we got here; and more. So much more.
It’s the latest project from a filmmaker who has always been obsessed with the forces that fuel America (watch 2005’s “Why We Fight” for a perpetually relevant dissection of the military-industrial complex) and who always returns to the same one: Money.
The...
It’s the latest project from a filmmaker who has always been obsessed with the forces that fuel America (watch 2005’s “Why We Fight” for a perpetually relevant dissection of the military-industrial complex) and who always returns to the same one: Money.
The...
- 5/20/2017
- by David Ehrlich
- Indiewire
Director Eugene Jarecki has built a well-deserved reputation for impeccably crafted, scrupulous researched and, above all, concisely argued and structured left-leaning documentaries, among them The Trials of Henry Kissinger, Why We Fight and The House I Live In. Sadly, although his latest, Promised Land, may be his most broadly appealing film so far, it’s arguably his messiest and least intellectually satisfying work. A road trip across America in a 1963 silver Rolls Royce that belonged to Elvis Presley, this admittedly often entertaining ramble round Elvis' life and career unfolds during the 2016 U.S. Presidential election campaign, prompting musings from Jarecki...
- 5/20/2017
- by Leslie Felperin
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Exclusive: Eugene Jarecki, helmer of the 2005 Peabody- and Sundance-winning documentary Why We Fight, hits the road all the way to the Cannes Film Festival for his next film. In Promised Land, which will have its world premiere in Cannes’ Special Screening section May 20, Jarecki takes Elvis Presley’s 1963 Rolls Royce on a music-filled (sometimes literally) road trip across the U.S., picking up passengers famous and not-so famous as they travel through an America at a…...
- 5/11/2017
- Deadline
Filmmaker Eugene Jarecki has signed with UTA, The Hollywood Reporter has exclusively learned. He previously was with CAA.
Both of his documentaries — Why We Fight, about the rise of the military-industrial complex, and The House I Live In, about the war on drugs — won Sundance Grand Jury Prizes and Peabody Awards. His other credits include the Emmy-winning HBO documentary Reagan and The Trials of Henry Kissinger, which won an award from Amnesty International and was nominated for an Independent Spirit Award.
Jarecki, the brother of fellow filmmakers Andrew Jarecki (The Jinx) and Nicholas Jarecki (Arbitrage), will...
Both of his documentaries — Why We Fight, about the rise of the military-industrial complex, and The House I Live In, about the war on drugs — won Sundance Grand Jury Prizes and Peabody Awards. His other credits include the Emmy-winning HBO documentary Reagan and The Trials of Henry Kissinger, which won an award from Amnesty International and was nominated for an Independent Spirit Award.
Jarecki, the brother of fellow filmmakers Andrew Jarecki (The Jinx) and Nicholas Jarecki (Arbitrage), will...
- 4/27/2017
- by Rebecca Sun
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
You time is valuable, and so are both services for different reasons.War Machine (Netflix)
Although there may be a competition going on between Amazon and Netflix for subscribers, the truth is that both company’s streaming services are essential for anyone who watches a lot of movies and TV and who wants to be part of the pop culture conversations as they happen.
There’s no denying that Amazon Prime is worth the $99/year, which not only gives you access to many movies but also a good amount of music streaming and digital media access, plus faster shipping for when you actually want some sort of physical product (you can also just get video content for $8.99/month, which oddly means paying more for less).
And Netflix is still a must-have for both its exclusive and nonexclusive content, though depending on one’s usage could be best for sporadic membership rather than continued subscription — now at $120/year...
Although there may be a competition going on between Amazon and Netflix for subscribers, the truth is that both company’s streaming services are essential for anyone who watches a lot of movies and TV and who wants to be part of the pop culture conversations as they happen.
There’s no denying that Amazon Prime is worth the $99/year, which not only gives you access to many movies but also a good amount of music streaming and digital media access, plus faster shipping for when you actually want some sort of physical product (you can also just get video content for $8.99/month, which oddly means paying more for less).
And Netflix is still a must-have for both its exclusive and nonexclusive content, though depending on one’s usage could be best for sporadic membership rather than continued subscription — now at $120/year...
- 4/4/2017
- by Christopher Campbell
- FilmSchoolRejects.com
Every week we dive into the cream of the crop when it comes to home releases, including Blu-ray and DVDs, as well as recommended deals of the week. Check out our rundown below and return every Tuesday for the best (or most interesting) films one can take home. Note that if you’re looking to support the site, every purchase you make through the links below helps us and is greatly appreciated.
Paterson (Jim Jarmusch)
Jim Jarmusch proved he was back in a major way with Only Lovers Left Alive a few years ago, and the streak continues with Paterson, a calm, introspective drama with such positive views on marriage and creativity that I was left floored. In following the cyclical life of Adam Driver‘s Paterson, a bus driver in Paterson, New Jersey, who also has dreams of being a poet, Jarmusch superbly shows that one’s own life...
Paterson (Jim Jarmusch)
Jim Jarmusch proved he was back in a major way with Only Lovers Left Alive a few years ago, and the streak continues with Paterson, a calm, introspective drama with such positive views on marriage and creativity that I was left floored. In following the cyclical life of Adam Driver‘s Paterson, a bus driver in Paterson, New Jersey, who also has dreams of being a poet, Jarmusch superbly shows that one’s own life...
- 4/4/2017
- by The Film Stage
- The Film Stage
‘Five Came Back’: How the Story of Hollywood Directors In World War II Became a Great Netflix Series
Entertainment journalist Mark Harris followed up his well-reviewed 2009 “Pictures at a Revolution” with an even better and more accessible book, the dramatic story of five top Hollywood directors and their roles in producing WWII propaganda films, told over 500 pages: “Five Came Back: A Story of Hollywood and the Second World War. The first book was doomed not to become a movie due to prohibitive clip costs. But the urge to open up Harris’s exhaustive research on “Five Came Back” via dramatic documentary shorts shot in the global arena was irresistible — and they were free.
Read More: ‘Five Came Back’ Review: A Cinephile’s Dream Documentary Becomes Enthralling for Everyone on Netflix
There’s plenty of rich footage to choose from: Frank Capra’s “Why We Fight” propaganda, John Huston’s re-enacted “The Battle of San Pietro,” John Ford and William Wyler’s live footage of the D-Day invasion from sea and air,...
Read More: ‘Five Came Back’ Review: A Cinephile’s Dream Documentary Becomes Enthralling for Everyone on Netflix
There’s plenty of rich footage to choose from: Frank Capra’s “Why We Fight” propaganda, John Huston’s re-enacted “The Battle of San Pietro,” John Ford and William Wyler’s live footage of the D-Day invasion from sea and air,...
- 4/3/2017
- by Anne Thompson
- Thompson on Hollywood
‘Five Came Back’: How the Story of Hollywood Directors In World War II Became a Great Netflix Series
Entertainment journalist Mark Harris followed up his well-reviewed 2009 “Pictures at a Revolution” with an even better and more accessible book, the dramatic story of five top Hollywood directors and their roles in producing WWII propaganda films, told over 500 pages: “Five Came Back: A Story of Hollywood and the Second World War. The first book was doomed not to become a movie due to prohibitive clip costs. But the urge to open up Harris’s exhaustive research on “Five Came Back” via dramatic documentary shorts shot in the global arena was irresistible — and they were free.
Read More: ‘Five Came Back’ Review: A Cinephile’s Dream Documentary Becomes Enthralling for Everyone on Netflix
There’s plenty of rich footage to choose from: Frank Capra’s “Why We Fight” propaganda, John Huston’s re-enacted “The Battle of San Pietro,” John Ford and William Wyler’s live footage of the D-Day invasion from sea and air,...
Read More: ‘Five Came Back’ Review: A Cinephile’s Dream Documentary Becomes Enthralling for Everyone on Netflix
There’s plenty of rich footage to choose from: Frank Capra’s “Why We Fight” propaganda, John Huston’s re-enacted “The Battle of San Pietro,” John Ford and William Wyler’s live footage of the D-Day invasion from sea and air,...
- 4/3/2017
- by Anne Thompson
- Indiewire
Several years ago, Mark Harris began feeling a little self-conscious about a gap in his film-history knowledge. As a journalist for Entertainment Weekly, New York Magazine and the late, lamented Web site Grantland, among others, he'd covered the waterfront of contemporary moviemaking. As an author, his book Pictures at a Revolution dissected the moment in the late 1960s when the last gasp of the Golden Age studio system gave way to what become known as "New Hollywood." Ask him about the works of legends like, say, John Ford and Frank Capra,...
- 4/1/2017
- Rollingstone.com
When their country needed them, five of America’s most powerful and influential film directors left behind the glamor of Hollywood to risk their lives and careers on the battlefields of World War II.
For each director-turned-soldier, the experience of the war, and the footage they captured, not only changed their lives forever, but also influenced the way in which the American public would understand the Second World War for generations to come.
The three-part Netflix docuseries Five Came Back, based on journalist Mark Harris’s expansive book of the same name and narrated by Meryl Streep, brings the story of each director — John Ford,...
For each director-turned-soldier, the experience of the war, and the footage they captured, not only changed their lives forever, but also influenced the way in which the American public would understand the Second World War for generations to come.
The three-part Netflix docuseries Five Came Back, based on journalist Mark Harris’s expansive book of the same name and narrated by Meryl Streep, brings the story of each director — John Ford,...
- 4/1/2017
- by Mike Miller
- PEOPLE.com
Arguably the best documentary ever made about Hollywood and wartime, Five Came Back is nirvana for movie lovers and a real eye-opener for anyone new to the subject. Based on the brilliant, richly detailed bestseller by Mark Harris, this three-part chronicle of filmmakers doing their patriotic duty is receiving a theatrical run while also being available as a miniseries on Netflix. Whichever way you catch it, don't think of missing it.
Subtitled A Story of Hollywood and the Second World War, Harris' 2014 book pivoted between the P.O.V.s...
Subtitled A Story of Hollywood and the Second World War, Harris' 2014 book pivoted between the P.O.V.s...
- 3/30/2017
- Rollingstone.com
The 2016 presidential election is finally coming to an end, but The Orchard is just getting started on “11/8/16,” the follow-up to Jeff Deutchman’s 2008 documentary about the election of President Obama, “11/4/08.” Produced by Deutchman and directed by more than 40 filmmakers who will capture footage from all over the country on Tuesday, November 8, the film represents the most ambitious Election Day documentary ever produced.
Read More: Hillary Clinton for President: 37 Filmmakers Reveal Why She’s the Best Choice
Filmmakers contributing to the project include “Suited” director Jason Benjamin, who will be following Lena Dunham as she volunteers for the Hillary Clinton campaign; “Bombay Beach” director Alma Har’el, who will be following Clinton’s director of video Sierra Kos; “Being Evel” director Daniel Junge, who will be follwing the Los Angeles Times’ assistant managing editor of politics, Christina Bellantoni; and “Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry” director Alison Klayman, who will be following NPR...
Read More: Hillary Clinton for President: 37 Filmmakers Reveal Why She’s the Best Choice
Filmmakers contributing to the project include “Suited” director Jason Benjamin, who will be following Lena Dunham as she volunteers for the Hillary Clinton campaign; “Bombay Beach” director Alma Har’el, who will be following Clinton’s director of video Sierra Kos; “Being Evel” director Daniel Junge, who will be follwing the Los Angeles Times’ assistant managing editor of politics, Christina Bellantoni; and “Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry” director Alison Klayman, who will be following NPR...
- 11/8/2016
- by Graham Winfrey
- Indiewire
Next month, Netflix has a wide variety of films — modern to classic, animated to live action, Oscar winners to romantic comedies — and we’ve picked seven that you should watch once they’re made available on the streaming service. Enjoy.
1. “Under the Sun” (available November 11)
Directed by Vitaly Manski, the documentary follows a year in the life of a family in Pyongyang, North Korea as their eight-year-old daughter, Zin-mi, prepares to join the Korean Children’s Union on the Day of the Shining Star.
2. “The Ivory Game” (available November 14)
Directed by Kief Davidson and Richard Ladkani and produced by Leonardo DiCaprio, the documentary sheds a light on the seedy underbelly of elephant poaching in Africa and black market ivory trading in China.
Read More: ‘The Ivory Game,’ Produced By Leonardo DiCaprio, Is a Shocking Look at an Underground Marketplace — Telluride Review
3. “Just Friends” (available November 14)
On a lighter note, who...
1. “Under the Sun” (available November 11)
Directed by Vitaly Manski, the documentary follows a year in the life of a family in Pyongyang, North Korea as their eight-year-old daughter, Zin-mi, prepares to join the Korean Children’s Union on the Day of the Shining Star.
2. “The Ivory Game” (available November 14)
Directed by Kief Davidson and Richard Ladkani and produced by Leonardo DiCaprio, the documentary sheds a light on the seedy underbelly of elephant poaching in Africa and black market ivory trading in China.
Read More: ‘The Ivory Game,’ Produced By Leonardo DiCaprio, Is a Shocking Look at an Underground Marketplace — Telluride Review
3. “Just Friends” (available November 14)
On a lighter note, who...
- 10/20/2016
- by Liz Calvario
- Indiewire
The first and most powerful Holocaust reassessment extends the horror with the assertion that, in 1955, its reality is already fading from the world memory. Alain Resnais uses the form of the art movie and his own essay-film innovations to communicate the yawning wound in the human consciousness. Night and Fog Blu-ray The Criterion Collection 197 1955 / Color & B&W / 1:33 flat full frame / 32 min. / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date July 19, 2016 / 39.95 Narrator Michel Bouquet Cinematography Ghislain Cloquet, Sacha Vierny Assistant Directors André Heinreich, Jean-Charles Lauthe, Chris Marker Film Editor Alain Resnais Original Music Hanns Eisler Written by Jean Cayrol Produced by Anatole Dauman, Samy Halfon, Philippe Lifchitz Directed by Alain Resnais
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
Although I review more than my share of grim shows about the Holocaust, I don't think I have an unusually morbid curiosity; subjects like the Shoah and The Bomb are important problems difficult to fully understand.
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
Although I review more than my share of grim shows about the Holocaust, I don't think I have an unusually morbid curiosity; subjects like the Shoah and The Bomb are important problems difficult to fully understand.
- 7/17/2016
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Teresa Wright in 'Shadow of a Doubt': Alfred Hitchcock heroine (image: Joseph Cotten about to strangle Teresa Wright in 'Shadow of a Doubt') (See preceding article: "Teresa Wright Movies: Actress Made Oscar History.") After scoring with The Little Foxes, Mrs. Miniver, and The Pride of the Yankees, Teresa Wright was loaned to Universal – once initial choices Joan Fontaine and Olivia de Havilland became unavailable – to play the small-town heroine in Alfred Hitchcock's Shadow of a Doubt. (Check out video below: Teresa Wright reminiscing about the making of Shadow of a Doubt.) Co-written by Thornton Wilder, whose Our Town had provided Wright with her first chance on Broadway and who had suggested her to Hitchcock; Meet Me in St. Louis and Junior Miss author Sally Benson; and Hitchcock's wife, Alma Reville, Shadow of a Doubt was based on "Uncle Charlie," a story outline by Gordon McDonell – itself based on actual events.
- 3/7/2015
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
On December 17, El Dia de St. Lazaro, something extraordinary happened! Equivalent to the “Fall of the Wall”, President Barak Obama simultaneously with Raul Castro of Cuba announced that diplomatic relations between our two countries was being restored; the last of the Cuban Five imprisoned for 15 years in the U.S. for spying (on Cuban terrorists based in Miami) would be returned to Cuba in exchange for Alan Gross (imprisoned for 5 years for bringing Cuba forbidden internet technology), and an unnamed CIA agent incarcerated for 20 years, along with other Cuban political prisoners; And that this would be the first step in finally normalizing relations between Cuba and the U.S.A.
Read More: Sydney Levine's First Impression at the 2014 Havana Film Festival
As my friends and I were driving from Trinidad to visit a sugar plantation which was the basis for the Cuban wealth of the 19th century, we got a message that in one hour Raul Castro would make the formal announcement and President Obama’s address would also be broadcast.
As we entered the former plantation home, now a restaurant, we heard the singing and jubilation coming from the bar and immediately joined in as the only Americans to share the joy; the Scotch (not rum) was flowing and the dancing and singing continued until the address came on the television.
I realized that in my 15 years of coming to Cuba, this was the moment I had been waiting for. We watched Raul Castro explain, and we watched President Obama explain, and as I watched the faces of the beautiful Cuban people as they listened, some with tears and others with smiles, all with great intensity, I understood the meaning of “rapprochement”. We turned toward each other in pure happiness and felt ourselves united after 55 years of separation.
This is The Place and I am here.
We knew when the Mercosur Heads of State were gathered under tight security at the Hotel Nacional during the first days of the festival that something was afoot. We heard that not only were they planning a possible counter boycott of U.S. in their upcoming May meeting, shutting out U.S. from attending, but the Hotel Nacional’s guest roster included the name of an American who was negotiating something much bigger.
Some speak of the idealism behind this long-wished-for move of U.S.; others speak of the economic necessity. Looking back at my most incredible year of traveling around Latin America, I understand that with the new expansion of the Panama Canal enabling the huge Chinese container ships to pass through, the most convenient next-stop-port for them is Havana. And from Havana, the most convenient port is not Cartagena or Cali in Colombia but New Orleans! And so we may see the rapprochement bring back the glorious days when music and adventure were equated with the Louisiana-Cuban connection. My hope is that the values held so dear in Cuba spread to U.S. and that we Americans don’t spread our U.S. arrogance when we land on the shores of the country which has managed 55 years with no help from us.
There is still more to this tale of reunion, but I am sworn to secrecy for the moment. But you will read it in papers other than this blog. Thirteen months of secret negotiations took place in Canada with the help of the Pope. At a wonderful dinner at a newly opened up Cuban-Russian restaurant on the Malecon, “Nostrovia”, our friend the restaurant owner, Rolando Almirante, whom we know as a documentary filmmaker and host of a weekly Cuban TV show, introduced us to a Canadian and an American both of whom had been involved with the long negotiations. Together we toasted the event with vodka.
To return to the Hotel Nacional and the festival:
Exceptionally quiet for those political reasons, it was also quiet because but there was none of the active debating over the new Law of Cinema which so excitedly animated the festival here last year. There was a low-key conference about the law of cinema and audiovisual culture held by the Cuban Association of Cinema Press with Fipresci and other invited guests to discuss and express opinions about whether most countries by now have a law of cinema, whether developing countries are planning on establishing a law of cinema, whether a law of cinema is necessary for a country aspiring to a higher level of culture for its population, and in what way would a law contribute to the development of production and to the appreciation of cinema. But you do not see everyone gathering in groups to discuss these ideas as they did last year.
Some of last year’s top filmmakers – producers like Ivonne Cotorruelo and Claudia Calvino are so busy preparing their next coproductions that they have no time for such discussions. Others shrug and resignedly express Cuban forbearance as usual.
I asked my friends what is the status of the law being established here in Cuba where only one law of cinema exists, which is the establishment of Icaic, the government institute that determines everything about film behind closed doors. Their answer was “Nothing”. Nothing has changed since last year. Discussions are continuing, and there will be a law established, but not yet…and so I learned that once the first big step is taken here, the next steps are very slow to follow.
So here is what happened on Day 3, December 7 of the my festival:
Our friend Pascal Tessaud whose short from France “City of Lights” brought him to Los Angeles several years ago, had a screening of his new film “Brooklyn”. Its premiere screening here (It premiered in Cannes’ Acid section earlier this year) was to an odd audience of older people. No doubt they were expecting a film about “Brooklyn” (which used to be the name of a bar in Central Havana) but instead got a film about a young Afro-Swiss rapper-girl named “Brooklyn” who enters the rap scene of Paris, made up of Arabs and Africans.
“Afronorteamericano” films were also spotlighted with Oscar Micheaux’s “Assassination in Harlem” (1935), “Within our Gates” (1920), “Body and Soul” (1926) starring Paul Robeson, “Underworld” (1937), “Swing” (1938), and Spencer William’s “The Blood of Jesus” (1941).
Also showing were North American documentaries “Citizen Koch”, “The Notorious Mr. Bout”, “The Overnighters”, and an homage to filmmaker, Eugene Jarecki (“Capturing the Friedmans” 2003, “Arbitrage” 2012, “The Trials of Henry Kissinger” 2002, “Why We Fight” 2006, Emmy Award winning “Reagan” 2011 and 2012’s “The House I Live In” about the war against drugs which along with “Why We Fight” won the Grand Jury Prize for Best Documentary at Sundance) and a retrospective of Haitian filmmaker Raoul Peck. Trinidad & Tobago’s annual showcase featured “Creole Soup” from Guadalupe and “Legends of Ska” by American DJ and ska specialist Brad Klein. And of course there was the latest crop of new films from Latin America and the newest films from Cuba, and much, much more.
Today Benecio del Toro, a regular at this festival, won the Coral of Honor for his role as “Che” in Steven Soderbergh’s movies and for his role as the narcotraffiker, Pablo Escobar in the NBC miniseries “Drug Wars: The Camarena Story” and here now, as Escobar in “Escobar: Paradise Lost” directed by the Italian Andrea Di Stefano. For Benecio, Cuba is “a dream come true”.
Day 4, December 8.
There seems to be a trend toward films about children. The prize winning film “Conducta” and Cuba’s submission for Academy Award Nomination as Best Foreign Language Film has already won awards around the world including The Coral for Best Picture and Best Actor here in Havana. This young boy loses every government protection because of his family’s dysfunctions and yet he maintains the spirit of survival and transcendence. Another story from Argentina, Poland and Colombia, France and Germany, “Refugiado” directed by Diego Lerman, also deals with a child who returns home from a birthday party to find his mother unconscious on the floor. The mother then flees seeking a safe place for them and he experiences fear in all the formerly secure places he has known. “Gente de Bien” a Colombia-France coproduction directed by Franco Lolli also explores the world of a young boy, abandoned by his mother and placed in the disheveled home of his impecunious father, who is taken in by a teacher who means well but whose family refuses to accept him. This little kid reaches his limit when his dog dies; but thrown back to his caring if off-kilter father, you get the feeling he too will be all right after all.
A couple of new gay films showed: Cuba’s “Vestido de Novia” was so crowded I could not get near it. Lines around blocks and blocks to get into the 1,000 seat theater were incredible proof of how much Cubans love cinema. Winner of last year’s prize for a work-in-progress, “Vestido de Novia” (“Wedding Dress) will soon be on the festival circuit. Two years ago, at Guadalajara’s coproduction market “Cuatro Lunas” by Sergio Tovar Velarde was being pitched. A sort of primer on gayness, four stories tell the tale of 1) discovery of one’s gayness, 2) first gay love, 3) first gay betrayal of love and 4) love at a mature stage of life. Producer Fernando … hung out with us a bit as we all come from L.A. and have friends in common.
What – aside from the new rapprochement between Cuba and U.S.A. – is “good for the Jews”? A wonderful film from Uruguay, Spain and Germany, “Mr. Kaplan” directed by Alvaro Brechner and produced by my most helpful friend Mariana Secco, and my German friends Roman Paul and Gerhard Meixner (Isa: Memento) brought a new understanding for the good and the bad in our recent history. Almost a comedy and almost a tragedy, the film’s resolution served to transform our propensity to see and judge in black and white.
Read More: Sydney Levine's First Impression at the 2014 Havana Film Festival
As my friends and I were driving from Trinidad to visit a sugar plantation which was the basis for the Cuban wealth of the 19th century, we got a message that in one hour Raul Castro would make the formal announcement and President Obama’s address would also be broadcast.
As we entered the former plantation home, now a restaurant, we heard the singing and jubilation coming from the bar and immediately joined in as the only Americans to share the joy; the Scotch (not rum) was flowing and the dancing and singing continued until the address came on the television.
I realized that in my 15 years of coming to Cuba, this was the moment I had been waiting for. We watched Raul Castro explain, and we watched President Obama explain, and as I watched the faces of the beautiful Cuban people as they listened, some with tears and others with smiles, all with great intensity, I understood the meaning of “rapprochement”. We turned toward each other in pure happiness and felt ourselves united after 55 years of separation.
This is The Place and I am here.
We knew when the Mercosur Heads of State were gathered under tight security at the Hotel Nacional during the first days of the festival that something was afoot. We heard that not only were they planning a possible counter boycott of U.S. in their upcoming May meeting, shutting out U.S. from attending, but the Hotel Nacional’s guest roster included the name of an American who was negotiating something much bigger.
Some speak of the idealism behind this long-wished-for move of U.S.; others speak of the economic necessity. Looking back at my most incredible year of traveling around Latin America, I understand that with the new expansion of the Panama Canal enabling the huge Chinese container ships to pass through, the most convenient next-stop-port for them is Havana. And from Havana, the most convenient port is not Cartagena or Cali in Colombia but New Orleans! And so we may see the rapprochement bring back the glorious days when music and adventure were equated with the Louisiana-Cuban connection. My hope is that the values held so dear in Cuba spread to U.S. and that we Americans don’t spread our U.S. arrogance when we land on the shores of the country which has managed 55 years with no help from us.
There is still more to this tale of reunion, but I am sworn to secrecy for the moment. But you will read it in papers other than this blog. Thirteen months of secret negotiations took place in Canada with the help of the Pope. At a wonderful dinner at a newly opened up Cuban-Russian restaurant on the Malecon, “Nostrovia”, our friend the restaurant owner, Rolando Almirante, whom we know as a documentary filmmaker and host of a weekly Cuban TV show, introduced us to a Canadian and an American both of whom had been involved with the long negotiations. Together we toasted the event with vodka.
To return to the Hotel Nacional and the festival:
Exceptionally quiet for those political reasons, it was also quiet because but there was none of the active debating over the new Law of Cinema which so excitedly animated the festival here last year. There was a low-key conference about the law of cinema and audiovisual culture held by the Cuban Association of Cinema Press with Fipresci and other invited guests to discuss and express opinions about whether most countries by now have a law of cinema, whether developing countries are planning on establishing a law of cinema, whether a law of cinema is necessary for a country aspiring to a higher level of culture for its population, and in what way would a law contribute to the development of production and to the appreciation of cinema. But you do not see everyone gathering in groups to discuss these ideas as they did last year.
Some of last year’s top filmmakers – producers like Ivonne Cotorruelo and Claudia Calvino are so busy preparing their next coproductions that they have no time for such discussions. Others shrug and resignedly express Cuban forbearance as usual.
I asked my friends what is the status of the law being established here in Cuba where only one law of cinema exists, which is the establishment of Icaic, the government institute that determines everything about film behind closed doors. Their answer was “Nothing”. Nothing has changed since last year. Discussions are continuing, and there will be a law established, but not yet…and so I learned that once the first big step is taken here, the next steps are very slow to follow.
So here is what happened on Day 3, December 7 of the my festival:
Our friend Pascal Tessaud whose short from France “City of Lights” brought him to Los Angeles several years ago, had a screening of his new film “Brooklyn”. Its premiere screening here (It premiered in Cannes’ Acid section earlier this year) was to an odd audience of older people. No doubt they were expecting a film about “Brooklyn” (which used to be the name of a bar in Central Havana) but instead got a film about a young Afro-Swiss rapper-girl named “Brooklyn” who enters the rap scene of Paris, made up of Arabs and Africans.
“Afronorteamericano” films were also spotlighted with Oscar Micheaux’s “Assassination in Harlem” (1935), “Within our Gates” (1920), “Body and Soul” (1926) starring Paul Robeson, “Underworld” (1937), “Swing” (1938), and Spencer William’s “The Blood of Jesus” (1941).
Also showing were North American documentaries “Citizen Koch”, “The Notorious Mr. Bout”, “The Overnighters”, and an homage to filmmaker, Eugene Jarecki (“Capturing the Friedmans” 2003, “Arbitrage” 2012, “The Trials of Henry Kissinger” 2002, “Why We Fight” 2006, Emmy Award winning “Reagan” 2011 and 2012’s “The House I Live In” about the war against drugs which along with “Why We Fight” won the Grand Jury Prize for Best Documentary at Sundance) and a retrospective of Haitian filmmaker Raoul Peck. Trinidad & Tobago’s annual showcase featured “Creole Soup” from Guadalupe and “Legends of Ska” by American DJ and ska specialist Brad Klein. And of course there was the latest crop of new films from Latin America and the newest films from Cuba, and much, much more.
Today Benecio del Toro, a regular at this festival, won the Coral of Honor for his role as “Che” in Steven Soderbergh’s movies and for his role as the narcotraffiker, Pablo Escobar in the NBC miniseries “Drug Wars: The Camarena Story” and here now, as Escobar in “Escobar: Paradise Lost” directed by the Italian Andrea Di Stefano. For Benecio, Cuba is “a dream come true”.
Day 4, December 8.
There seems to be a trend toward films about children. The prize winning film “Conducta” and Cuba’s submission for Academy Award Nomination as Best Foreign Language Film has already won awards around the world including The Coral for Best Picture and Best Actor here in Havana. This young boy loses every government protection because of his family’s dysfunctions and yet he maintains the spirit of survival and transcendence. Another story from Argentina, Poland and Colombia, France and Germany, “Refugiado” directed by Diego Lerman, also deals with a child who returns home from a birthday party to find his mother unconscious on the floor. The mother then flees seeking a safe place for them and he experiences fear in all the formerly secure places he has known. “Gente de Bien” a Colombia-France coproduction directed by Franco Lolli also explores the world of a young boy, abandoned by his mother and placed in the disheveled home of his impecunious father, who is taken in by a teacher who means well but whose family refuses to accept him. This little kid reaches his limit when his dog dies; but thrown back to his caring if off-kilter father, you get the feeling he too will be all right after all.
A couple of new gay films showed: Cuba’s “Vestido de Novia” was so crowded I could not get near it. Lines around blocks and blocks to get into the 1,000 seat theater were incredible proof of how much Cubans love cinema. Winner of last year’s prize for a work-in-progress, “Vestido de Novia” (“Wedding Dress) will soon be on the festival circuit. Two years ago, at Guadalajara’s coproduction market “Cuatro Lunas” by Sergio Tovar Velarde was being pitched. A sort of primer on gayness, four stories tell the tale of 1) discovery of one’s gayness, 2) first gay love, 3) first gay betrayal of love and 4) love at a mature stage of life. Producer Fernando … hung out with us a bit as we all come from L.A. and have friends in common.
What – aside from the new rapprochement between Cuba and U.S.A. – is “good for the Jews”? A wonderful film from Uruguay, Spain and Germany, “Mr. Kaplan” directed by Alvaro Brechner and produced by my most helpful friend Mariana Secco, and my German friends Roman Paul and Gerhard Meixner (Isa: Memento) brought a new understanding for the good and the bad in our recent history. Almost a comedy and almost a tragedy, the film’s resolution served to transform our propensity to see and judge in black and white.
- 12/27/2014
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
The Academy has announced the new class of invited members for 2014 and, as is typical, many of which are among last year's nominees, which includes Barkhad Abdi, Michael Fassbender, Sally Hawkins, Mads Mikkelsen, Lupita Nyong'o and June Squibb in the Actors branch not to mention curious additions such as Josh Hutcherson, Rob Riggle and Jason Statham, but, okay. The Directors branch adds Jay and Mark Duplass along with Jean-Marc Vallee, Denis Villeneuve and Thomas Vinterberg. I didn't do an immediate tally of male to female additions or other demographics, but at first glance it seems to be a wide spread batch of new additions on all fronts. The Academy is also clearly attempting to aggressively bump up the demographics as this is the second year in a row where they have added a large number of new members, well over the average of 133 new members from 2004 to 2012. As far as...
- 6/26/2014
- by Brad Brevet
- Rope of Silicon
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is extending invitations to join the organization to 271 artists and executives who have distinguished themselves by their contributions to theatrical motion pictures.
Those who accept the invitations will be the only additions to the Academy’s membership in 2014.
“This year’s class of invitees represents some of the most talented, creative and passionate filmmakers working in our industry today,” said Academy President Cheryl Boone Isaacs. “Their contributions to film have entertained audiences around the world, and we are proud to welcome them to the Academy.”
The 2014 invitees are:
Actors
Barkhad Abdi – “Captain Phillips”
Clancy Brown – “The Hurricane,” “The Shawshank Redeption”
Paul Dano – “12 Years a Slave,” “Prisoners”
Michael Fassbender – “12 Years a Slave,” “Shame”
Ben Foster – “Lone Survivor,” “Ain’t Them Bodies Saints”
Beth Grant – “The Artist,” “No Country for Old Men”
Clark Gregg – “Much Ado about Nothing,” “Marvel’s The Avengers”
Sally Hawkins – “Blue Jasmine,...
Those who accept the invitations will be the only additions to the Academy’s membership in 2014.
“This year’s class of invitees represents some of the most talented, creative and passionate filmmakers working in our industry today,” said Academy President Cheryl Boone Isaacs. “Their contributions to film have entertained audiences around the world, and we are proud to welcome them to the Academy.”
The 2014 invitees are:
Actors
Barkhad Abdi – “Captain Phillips”
Clancy Brown – “The Hurricane,” “The Shawshank Redeption”
Paul Dano – “12 Years a Slave,” “Prisoners”
Michael Fassbender – “12 Years a Slave,” “Shame”
Ben Foster – “Lone Survivor,” “Ain’t Them Bodies Saints”
Beth Grant – “The Artist,” “No Country for Old Men”
Clark Gregg – “Much Ado about Nothing,” “Marvel’s The Avengers”
Sally Hawkins – “Blue Jasmine,...
- 6/26/2014
- by Michelle McCue
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
Michael Fassbender and Lupita Nyong’o of 12 Years a Slave were two of the 271 artists and industry leaders invited to become members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, which determines nominations and winners at the annual Oscars. The entire list of Academy membership—which numbers about 6,000—isn’t public information so the annual invitation list is often the best indication of the artists involved in the prestigious awards process. It’s worth noting that invitations need to be accepted in order for artists to become members; some artists, like two-time Best Actor winner Sean Penn, have declined membership over the years.
- 6/26/2014
- by Jeff Labrecque
- EW - Inside Movies
Pop quiz: What do Chris Rock, Claire Denis, Eddie Vedder and Josh Hutcherson all have in common? Answer: They could all be Oscar voters very soon. The annual Academy of Motion Pictures Arts & Sciences invitation list always makes for interesting reading, shedding light on just how large and far-reaching the group's membership is -- or could be, depending on who accepts their invitations. This year, 271 individuals have been asked to join AMPAS, meaning every one of them could contribute to next year's Academy Awards balloting -- and it's as diverse a list as they've ever assembled. Think the Academy consists entirely of fusty retired white dudes? Not if recent Best Original Song nominee Pharrell Williams takes them up on their offer. Think it's all just a Hollywood insiders' game? Not if French arthouse titans Chantal Akerman and Olivier Assayas join the party. It's a list that subverts expectation at every turn.
- 6/26/2014
- by Guy Lodge
- Hitfix
Review Billy Grifter 4 Apr 2014 - 09:55
Revolution serves up one of its rare sense-making, engaging episodes. Here's Billy's review...
This review contains spoilers.
2.18 Austin City Limits
Just when I thought Revolution had completely imploded, it entirely confused me by chucking a story light on silliness, and strong on performance.
I knew something was wrong from the outset, because the opening scene between Giancarlo Esposito (Tom) and J.D. Pardo (Jason) was probably the best they’d ever done together. Mr Pardo did some acting, and Mr Esposito resisted the temptation to ham it up outrageously. I should have worked out then that this wasn’t good news for one of these two, but it did strike me as an odd interaction at the time.
Tom’s descent is almost complete. He’s only to work out that his wife sold him out for the whole deal to be done. Jason wanders off,...
Revolution serves up one of its rare sense-making, engaging episodes. Here's Billy's review...
This review contains spoilers.
2.18 Austin City Limits
Just when I thought Revolution had completely imploded, it entirely confused me by chucking a story light on silliness, and strong on performance.
I knew something was wrong from the outset, because the opening scene between Giancarlo Esposito (Tom) and J.D. Pardo (Jason) was probably the best they’d ever done together. Mr Pardo did some acting, and Mr Esposito resisted the temptation to ham it up outrageously. I should have worked out then that this wasn’t good news for one of these two, but it did strike me as an odd interaction at the time.
Tom’s descent is almost complete. He’s only to work out that his wife sold him out for the whole deal to be done. Jason wanders off,...
- 4/4/2014
- by louisamellor
- Den of Geek
Monroe is tired of waiting for the right moment to fight the Patriots and takes matters into his own hands. His respect for Miles is not enough anymore as he fights to take back the Monroe Republic. The episode begins with the Patriots raiding another safe house as Monroe, Rachel and Miles watch on. The [&hellip
Revolution 2.17 “Why We Fight” Review...
Revolution 2.17 “Why We Fight” Review...
- 3/21/2014
- by Lindsay Bradley
- TVovermind.com
Review Billy Grifter 21 Mar 2014 - 07:52
Revolution delivers one of its better episodes in Why We Fight. Here's Billy's review...
This review contains spoilers.
2.17 Why We Fight
After so many disjointed and unsuccessful stories, those behind Revolution took an entirely different tack with Why We Fight, and the result was a singularly more watchable story. It wasn’t a huge surprise to discover that this was written by Rockne S. O'Bannon, who also penned the stronger stories this season, Come Blow Your Horn and Mis Dos Padres.
There was no hint this week of Aaron and his long walk back from Lubbock, if he’s not still there having another Matrix experience. And, with relatively little from Tom and Jason, they managed to write simple but effective narrative with the basic premise of answering the question of the hour for the majority of characters.
Undoubtedly the episode's strongest parts involved Miles and Gene,...
Revolution delivers one of its better episodes in Why We Fight. Here's Billy's review...
This review contains spoilers.
2.17 Why We Fight
After so many disjointed and unsuccessful stories, those behind Revolution took an entirely different tack with Why We Fight, and the result was a singularly more watchable story. It wasn’t a huge surprise to discover that this was written by Rockne S. O'Bannon, who also penned the stronger stories this season, Come Blow Your Horn and Mis Dos Padres.
There was no hint this week of Aaron and his long walk back from Lubbock, if he’s not still there having another Matrix experience. And, with relatively little from Tom and Jason, they managed to write simple but effective narrative with the basic premise of answering the question of the hour for the majority of characters.
Undoubtedly the episode's strongest parts involved Miles and Gene,...
- 3/21/2014
- by louisamellor
- Den of Geek
The CW’s new sci-fi drama The 100 got off to a solid start on Wednesday night, delivering more premiere viewers than any new CW show this season. The future-shock series, about a group of young troublemakers sent down to a radioactive and uninhabited Earth, opened to 2.6 million viewers and a 0.9 among adults 18-49. That performance built upon slightly its Arrow lead-in and greatly improved upon the average performance of The Tomorrow People in this time period (where it averages a 0.5 demo rating), though tied its series premiere in the demo.
Over on NBC: “Why We Fight” was the title of...
Over on NBC: “Why We Fight” was the title of...
- 3/20/2014
- by James Hibberd
- EW - Inside TV
Revolution, Season 2, Episode 17: “Why We Fight”
Written by Rockne S. O’Bannon
Directed by Fredericke E. O. Toye
Airs Wednesdays at 8pm (Et) on NBC
The art of war is playing on everyone’s minds this week as some of our heroes (and anti-heroes) try to refine and figure out just what the hell it is they’re actually fighting for — in case there’s any doubt, it’s right there in the episode’s title. Miles and Gene are on a mission to recruit the townspeople of Willoughby in an uprising against the oppressive patriots when Gene questions what Miles is fighting for. He is battling for Rachel and Charlie, just as Rachel is fighting for her daughter. Miles once tried to fight to make things better, before that idea turned into the oppressive Monroe Republic. It’s not an ideological fight for them this time; they’re in it to survive.
Written by Rockne S. O’Bannon
Directed by Fredericke E. O. Toye
Airs Wednesdays at 8pm (Et) on NBC
The art of war is playing on everyone’s minds this week as some of our heroes (and anti-heroes) try to refine and figure out just what the hell it is they’re actually fighting for — in case there’s any doubt, it’s right there in the episode’s title. Miles and Gene are on a mission to recruit the townspeople of Willoughby in an uprising against the oppressive patriots when Gene questions what Miles is fighting for. He is battling for Rachel and Charlie, just as Rachel is fighting for her daughter. Miles once tried to fight to make things better, before that idea turned into the oppressive Monroe Republic. It’s not an ideological fight for them this time; they’re in it to survive.
- 3/20/2014
- by Kris Holt
- SoundOnSight
It would appear that Revolution is putting together a little streak of explicitly telling us the stuff that's happening. After last week's "Exposition Road" offered insight into the back stories of the only two characters we probably didn't care about -- Truman and Doyle -- now they are diving into explaining "Why We Fight."
Despite the annoyances of "tell-me-don't-show-me" exposition, this episode was half action-packed awesomeness with important plot developments and half bizarre decision making and questionable motivations that back up the "what's the point of all this" issues I've had all season.
Despite the annoyances of "tell-me-don't-show-me" exposition, this episode was half action-packed awesomeness with important plot developments and half bizarre decision making and questionable motivations that back up the "what's the point of all this" issues I've had all season.
- 3/19/2014
- by editor@buddytv.com
- buddytv.com
Mark Harris's study of the interwoven war careers of Ford, Wyler, Capra, Stevens and Huston impresses Philip French
The two most remarkable film books of last year were both about the ways – mostly craven and temporising – that the American cinema responded to the rise of Nazism: The Collaboration: Hollywood's Pact with Hitler by Ben Urwand and Hollywood and Hitler 1933-1939 by Thomas Doherty. By a useful coincidence, the first important movie history so far this year, and likely to prove one of the most memorable, is Mark Harris's Five Came Back. His complementary work picks up Urband's and Doherty's studies at that crucial point where the bombs fall on Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941 and Hollywood rolls up its sleeves and swaps the diplomatic velvet glove for a patriotic steel fist. As in his impressive first book, Scenes from a Revolution, a long, detailed study of five 1967 movies that...
The two most remarkable film books of last year were both about the ways – mostly craven and temporising – that the American cinema responded to the rise of Nazism: The Collaboration: Hollywood's Pact with Hitler by Ben Urwand and Hollywood and Hitler 1933-1939 by Thomas Doherty. By a useful coincidence, the first important movie history so far this year, and likely to prove one of the most memorable, is Mark Harris's Five Came Back. His complementary work picks up Urband's and Doherty's studies at that crucial point where the bombs fall on Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941 and Hollywood rolls up its sleeves and swaps the diplomatic velvet glove for a patriotic steel fist. As in his impressive first book, Scenes from a Revolution, a long, detailed study of five 1967 movies that...
- 3/17/2014
- by Philip French
- The Guardian - Film News
New Revolution season 2,episode 17 official spoilers,plotline revealed by NBC. Recently,NBC served up the new,official,synopsis/spoilers for their upcoming "Revolution" episode 17 of season 2. The episode is entitled, "Why We Fight," and it sounds like things will get pretty intense as Neville's latest acts put he and Jason in major danger, and more! In the new,17th episode press release: While Dr. Porter and Miles venture into Willoughby in search of allies within the town, Monroe will seize an opportunity to surprise the Patriots. Neville's political maneuverings are going to put him and Jason in serious danger as Aaron and Priscilla continue on their journey. Episode 17 is set to air on Wednesday night, March 19th at 7pm central time on NBC.
- 3/12/2014
- by Megan
- OnTheFlix
This week: The powerful documentary "The House I Live In" takes a serious look at America's War on Drugs and is the best new offering in what is annually a subdued week for home video releases.
Also new this week is the shelved shocker "6 Souls" with Julianne Moore and Jonathan Rhys Meyers, the thriller "Inescapable" with Alexander Siddig and Joshua Jackson and the Blu-ray debut of the comedy classic, "The Kentucky Fried Movie."
'The House I Live In'
Box Office: $210,752
Rotten Tomatoes: 93% Fresh
Storyline: Filmed in over 20 states, this comprehensive documentary about the United States' so-called War on Drugs of the past 40 years by "Why We Fight" director Eugene Jarecki captures emotional stories from all socioeconomic levels: the grieving mother, dealer, senator, inmate, federal judge and more. 'The House I Live In' provides a definitive and well-researched portrait of America's longest war and reveals its profound human rights implications.
Also new this week is the shelved shocker "6 Souls" with Julianne Moore and Jonathan Rhys Meyers, the thriller "Inescapable" with Alexander Siddig and Joshua Jackson and the Blu-ray debut of the comedy classic, "The Kentucky Fried Movie."
'The House I Live In'
Box Office: $210,752
Rotten Tomatoes: 93% Fresh
Storyline: Filmed in over 20 states, this comprehensive documentary about the United States' so-called War on Drugs of the past 40 years by "Why We Fight" director Eugene Jarecki captures emotional stories from all socioeconomic levels: the grieving mother, dealer, senator, inmate, federal judge and more. 'The House I Live In' provides a definitive and well-researched portrait of America's longest war and reveals its profound human rights implications.
- 7/1/2013
- by Robert DeSalvo
- NextMovie
The creator of TV's The Wire will take part in an Observer debate on the war on drugs later this month
How did you get involved in The House I Live In [Eugene Jarecki's prize-winning documentary on Us drugs policy]?
He just called and asked if I'd talk about the drug war. At that time I didn't have much expectation. I'd done interviews before about the drug war and they had not come out with any complexity in thought. It's my own fault – I hadn't researched Eugene's work well enough when I first encountered him. It was only subsequent to the interview that I saw Why We Fight and realised he was for real.
The film puts you in the position of being spokesperson against the "war on drugs". Is that a role you're happy to play?
I've been doing it now since I worked on The Corner [forerunner of Simon's influential HBO TV series, The Wire]. And I was working on that book in '93. That...
How did you get involved in The House I Live In [Eugene Jarecki's prize-winning documentary on Us drugs policy]?
He just called and asked if I'd talk about the drug war. At that time I didn't have much expectation. I'd done interviews before about the drug war and they had not come out with any complexity in thought. It's my own fault – I hadn't researched Eugene's work well enough when I first encountered him. It was only subsequent to the interview that I saw Why We Fight and realised he was for real.
The film puts you in the position of being spokesperson against the "war on drugs". Is that a role you're happy to play?
I've been doing it now since I worked on The Corner [forerunner of Simon's influential HBO TV series, The Wire]. And I was working on that book in '93. That...
- 5/11/2013
- by Andrew Anthony
- The Guardian - Film News
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