Category: Documentaries (Page 6 of 43)

Okay, now we can talk about the Oscars…

December 2, 2010 /

…Because the somewhat mysterious organization that mysteriously somehow sets the stage and begins the momentum for the awards season, the National Board of Review, has given its awards. Perhaps not so unexpectedly, the big winner appears to be “The Social Network” which earned awards for Best Picture, Best Director (David Fincher), Best Adapted Screenplay (Aaron Sorkin), and, most interestingly, earned a Best Actor nod for Jessie Eisenberg, making him suddenly something of a frontrunner for Best Actor, which is not to say that the award makes him some kind of a sure thing.

At 27, if Eisenberg does wins for his thoroughly on-target performance, he’ll be the youngest winner in that category yet, beating 29 year-old Adrien Brody for “The Pianist.” Still, he’ll likely be facing stiff competition from 50 year-old Colin Firth (“The King’s Speech”), 70 something Robert Duvall (“Get Low“), 30 something co-host James Franco (“127 Hours“) and, perhaps, 60 something Jeff Bridges (“True Grit,” a bit less stiff since he won last year and Oscar likes to spread the love around).

The Best Actress prize was equally interesting. Lesley Manville won for her extraordinary work in the upcoming “Another Year.” I’ve seen (and will be reviewing here), the latest from Mike Leigh. There’s no doubt that Manville did an absolutely remarkable job but her supremely needy, depressed, alcoholic character is often irritating to the point of distraction, on purpose. It hits closer to home because I think most of have known or have actually been (hopefully temporarily) people very much like her. Still, sometimes people tend to blame actors for playing characters they dislike or are made uncomfortable by. Regardless, she’s been noticed. At the press day, I half-jokingly suggested to Ms. Manville that she should work on her American accent.

Jacki Weaver's back in Another heretofore far from world-famed actress who might consider studying up on U.S. dialects is Australian veteran performer Jacki Weaver. She was nominated for her magnetically squirm-inducing crime grandma in the effective thriller, “Animal Kingdom.” It’s the first time she’s been in a film to make a splash stateside since Peter Weir’s “Picnic at Hanging Rock” back before Jesse Eisenberg and James Franco were yet born.

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Actors, Actresses, Animation, Documentaries, External Entertainment, External Movies, Movie Comedies, Movie Dramas, Movies, News

The Price of Pleasure: Pornography, Sexuality, and Relationships

December 2, 2010 /

It was only a matter of time before someone made this doc; pity it wasn’t done better. Once confined to the fringes of pop culture, pornography has exploded in the internet age, and this hour-long documentary aims to dissect the use (and misuse) of pornography and its effect on relationships. The interviewees range from porn producers and stars to academics, along with some candid interviews with porn consumers both on camera and off about how viewing porn flicks affected their sexual desires. (One man, anonymously of course, confesses to preferring rough sex after he saw it in a movie.) The best bit comes when a present-day porn star lists her price for various acts, which will have you thinking, “Really, that’s all you get for that?”

It’s pretty clear that the filmmakers do not approve of porn, and that’s fine; the problem is that they’re too passive-aggressive in their approach. They give the founder of the Burning Angel web site enough rope to hang an army (she says on camera that she has no idea what it means to objectify women), yet they never throw a single follow-up question at any of their so-called villains, just to see how deep a hole they might dig. The filmmakers clearly hold these people in contempt; why didn’t they go for the kill?

That is the least of the film’s troubles, though. The narration is flat, the production is spotty, and one bit towards the end, where they try to compare a series of “Saw”-inspired porn flicks to torture (yes, that sound you hear is the ‘torture porn’ jokes writing themselves), could have used a little more follow-through. They’re not wrong in decrying the unpleasant (read: violent) shift in tone that the industry has undergone (slapping, choking, “Say you’re a dirty whore,” etc.), but they also didn’t go out of their way to find anyone who might challenge their preconceived notions on the subject, either, nor did they discuss the possibility that the industry is a reflection of society, not the other way around.

There is a great movie to be made on this subject, because there are questions here that deserve answers. “The Price of Pleasure,” though, isn’t it. Ironic that, had they been as aggressive as the material they’re trying to eviscerate, they would have been much more successful.

Click to buy “The Price of Pleasure”

Documentaries, External Movie DVDs, Movie DVD Quicktakes, Movie DVDs

Something else to be thankful, from the staff of Pixar

November 25, 2010 /

I’ve got some shocking news for some of you. You might have heard there are a number of Jews in the entertainment industry. Well, there are also quite a few gay people of both genders. Some of them are, also, Jewish, but that’s neither here nor there. Pixar is probably the single most respected outfit in all of entertainment right now, with an absolutely unprecedented run of combined artistic and commercial success — even Nikki Finke respects them.

Though this video is not CGI animated and features no lovable inanimate objects, it’s no surprise that when the good people of Pixar put together an “It Gets Better” video, it should be extremely engaging and moving. Especially if you are a young person struggling with your sexual identity, please watch this. If you know someone who is, especially with an interest in entertainment, make sure they watch it.

This post is dedicated to an absent childhood friend, my first movie-mad buddy, who might have wound up at Pixar, or some place just as cool, if he’d been able to see something like this.

Documentaries, External Entertainment, External Movies, Movies

Box office preview: “Unstoppable”? Perhaps

November 12, 2010 /

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Apparently Tony Scott and Denzel Washington enjoyed making their underground run-away train thriller, “The Taking of Pelham 123” so much, they decided to turn around and make an above-ground run-away train thriller. Not everything would be the same. This time Chris Pine would be in tow instead of John Travolta. Another difference is that, this time, the critics are majorly onboard as well, which may or may not indicate that “Unstoppable” will do better over the long haul than its sister film.

Both of my usual b.o. gurus are suggesting a low-to-mid twenties opening for the thriller from Fox, but there is still some daylight between them. Ben Fritz of the L.A. Times is expecting a tough race for the #1 spot with last week’s big winner, “Megamind,” which grossed over $46 million.  The Hollywood Reporter’s Carl DiOrio, who remains jolly even while his intro music grows oddly sinister, seems more sanguine that the amped-up train ride will do better. However, Fritz may be on to something considering that family animated films have proven to be leggy in the past and that a decline of significantly less than 50% seems very possible. On the other hand, I wouldn’t be surprised to see “Unstoppable” overperform.

Rachel McAdams, Diane Keaton, and Harrison Ford wonder: What's the story?There are two other major releases this weekend, but neither of them really seems to have much oomph behind them. True, jolly Carl is fairly high on “Morning Glory.” It’s a sort of update on “Broadcast News” minus the critical acclaim putting 32 year-old beauty Rachel McAdams alongside 60-something icons Harrison Ford and Diane Keaton. My money is on Ben Fritz’s take, which is that it’ll be fortunate to break $10 million. Exhibit A is that the comedy from Paramount actually opened yesterday and hasn’t shown much life.

Coincidentally, $10 million is the reported budget for the effects-heavy science-fiction tale being released by Rogue and Universal, “Skyline.” The few critics who’ve seen it mostly agree that all the film really has to boast of are the effects. Fritz thinks it’ll do about the same as “Morning Glory” — though obviously from a younger and more male demographic. Since that amount is also roughly its budget, however, this film may just be a success.

Debuting in a fairly aggressive 41 screen limited release is the latest documentary from Ondi Timoner, who made the excellent “DiG!” and “We Live in Public” both of which never really got much distribution. This time, however, her film is getting some critical flack, not too surprising considering it’s kind of an anti-“An Inconvenient Truth” and features a maverick scientist who isn’t exactly a climate denier and who isn’t coming from a politicized perspective, but who does insist that all the global warming fear is just plain overdone. That is no majority scientific opinion. Entitled “Cool It,” it’s so far been ignored by far-right film blog Big Hollywood, which can only be a good sign.

Another film we all might be hearing from later on is the award-winning festival-friendly first feature from Lena Dunham, “Tiny Furniture.” It’s a comedy, but I don’t find this trailer funny so much as aggressively quirky and mildly annoying, perhaps because of the deliberately flat performances of the nonprofessional cast. On the other hand, I sort of dig the look of the thing. See if you disagree.

Action Movies, Actors, Animation, Documentaries, External Entertainment, External Movies, Movie Comedies, Movie Dramas, Movies, News, Sci-Fi Movies

Weekend box office: “Saw 3D” tortures its way to the top

October 31, 2010 /

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Even given my low information preview Thursday night, there really weren’t any big surprises this Halloween weekend as the seventh installment in the “Saw” series, but the first in 3D and therefore logically entitled “Saw 3D,” extracted a healthy but far from huge sum from audiences. The amount was an estimated $22.5 million for Lionsgate if you believe Box Office Mojo and the Playlist, or $24.2 million if you believe Nikki Finke and Anthony D’Alessandro. D’Allesandro, as usual guest/co-blogging with Anne Thompson, also tells us that it really does appear that 3D drove this film to its modest success, with 92% of tickets being sold for “digital hubs,” which I assume translates into 3D screens.

I wonder if that means the film will pay a commensurate price in home video for at least as long as home 3D remains rare. It’s also worth noting that the $20 million budget — modest by Hollywood standards but large by horror film standards — is double that of the prior films and the take is about $10 million below the opening weekends of the series at its peak. Still, making back your budget on opening weekend is never bad.

“Saw 3D” merited a B- on Cinemascore and apparently gave series fans what they want (misery, and lots of it, I gather), though their numbers be diminishing. Now that some of them have finally seen it, what critics want, however, is for the series to end with the  film currently getting drubbed by all but one scribe on Rotten Tomatoes. EW‘s Owen Gleiberman‘s more positive review is less a good review and more a bit of a confession — even the gore hardened critic had to turn away from the screen at one point or risk becoming physically ill — and a rumination on whether it’s even appropriate to enjoy a movie that sounds so invested in human pain that it should never have been allowed anything remotely short of an NC-17. (Which should not be seen as punitive or a a box office kiss of death, but let’s not open that can of worms right now, except that I just did.)

Helen Mirren, Bruce Willis, and Morgan Freeman look relieved in Moving right along in a relatively slow weekend with competition for people’s time heavy from the holiday, the election, and maybe even Jon Stewart’s rally, last week’s much less physically aggressive horror hit, “Paranormal Activity 2,” endured a very usual second-week horror drop  of just under 60% that still left enough for an estimated $16.5 million in the #2 spot. The leggy action-comedy “RED” was #3 with an estimate of $10.8 million and change. And “#4 “Jackass 3D” is predictably sinking like a stone at $8.425 million. However, it started at such a profitable point it actually crossed the $100 million mark in its third week. There are no tears at Paramount.

In limited release, the week’s two highest per-theater takes was as art-house as art-house gets. The single theater showing “Waste Land,” a documentary about Brazilian trash-gatherer/artists, earned a hefty $11,600 estimate over it’s weekend. Meanwhile, the two venues final thriller directed by the late Claude Chabrol “Inspector Bellamy” starring Gérard Depardieu, raked in a very healthy estimated $11,200.  This one is on my list.

Documentaries, External Entertainment, External Movies, Horror Movies, Movie Comedies, Movie Dramas, Movies, News

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