White House hopeful Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced on Monday a decision to switch parties in his presidential bid by exiting the Democratic party and running as a third party Independent. The move — revealed during a rally held outside the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia that featured remarks by his actress wife Cheryl Hines of Curb Your Enthusiasm fame — was quickly denounced by members of his own family.
“The decision of our brother Bobby to run as a third party candidate against Joe Biden is dangerous to our country. Bobby might share the same name as our father, but he does not share the same values, vision or judgment. Today’s announcement is deeply saddening for us. We denounce his candidacy and believe it to be perilous for our country,” reads a post shared on Instagram by his sister, Oscar nominated documentarian Rory Kennedy.
The sister of Rfk Jr. is...
“The decision of our brother Bobby to run as a third party candidate against Joe Biden is dangerous to our country. Bobby might share the same name as our father, but he does not share the same values, vision or judgment. Today’s announcement is deeply saddening for us. We denounce his candidacy and believe it to be perilous for our country,” reads a post shared on Instagram by his sister, Oscar nominated documentarian Rory Kennedy.
The sister of Rfk Jr. is...
- 10/9/2023
- by Chris Gardner
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
George Clooney is reopening the Watergate scandal at Netflix.
The Academy Award-winning actor will executive-produce the eight-part limited series Watergate, which is currently in development at the streaming service. Per our sister site Deadline, the Rashomon-style project hails from writer Matt Charman (Bridge of Spies). Should it be ordered to series, each episode would focus on a different individual involved in the 1970s scandal that brought down President Richard Nixon, including his counsel John Ehrlichman and former Attorney General John Mitchell.
RELATEDCable/Streaming Scorecard: What’s Renewed? What’s Cancelled?
Watergate is one of two major TV projects for the onetime ER doc.
The Academy Award-winning actor will executive-produce the eight-part limited series Watergate, which is currently in development at the streaming service. Per our sister site Deadline, the Rashomon-style project hails from writer Matt Charman (Bridge of Spies). Should it be ordered to series, each episode would focus on a different individual involved in the 1970s scandal that brought down President Richard Nixon, including his counsel John Ehrlichman and former Attorney General John Mitchell.
RELATEDCable/Streaming Scorecard: What’s Renewed? What’s Cancelled?
Watergate is one of two major TV projects for the onetime ER doc.
- 12/16/2017
- TVLine.com
What drives a man to surf down an avalanche of 100 feet of water? It’s a question Academy Award-nominated and Emmy-winning director/producer Rory Kennedy explores in her portrait of legendary surfer Laird Hamilton, which will premiere at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival.
“Take Every Wave: The Life of Laird Hamilton” includes incredible cinematography of Hamilton’s death-defying surfing, but the film is also an intimate look at the life of the man who became the legend. It’s a film that forced Kennedy into a wide array of shooting circumstances, requiring different techniques and equipment to capture the surfer’s story.
Kennedy is at Sundance for the film’s premiere and will be stopping by the Canon Creative Studio on Main Street in Park City to talk with IndieWire about shooting her latest film, which you can watch on Facebook Live.
Click here to stream the live discussion at 6:...
“Take Every Wave: The Life of Laird Hamilton” includes incredible cinematography of Hamilton’s death-defying surfing, but the film is also an intimate look at the life of the man who became the legend. It’s a film that forced Kennedy into a wide array of shooting circumstances, requiring different techniques and equipment to capture the surfer’s story.
Kennedy is at Sundance for the film’s premiere and will be stopping by the Canon Creative Studio on Main Street in Park City to talk with IndieWire about shooting her latest film, which you can watch on Facebook Live.
Click here to stream the live discussion at 6:...
- 1/25/2017
- by Chris O'Falt
- Indiewire
If you’re in the Southern California area during the days leading up the 88th Oscars on February 28th, there are great events at the Academy that no movie fan will wants to miss.
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences will present a series of public programs celebrating this year’s nominees in the Animated Feature Film, Documentary Feature, Documentary Short Subject, Foreign Language Film, Makeup and Hairstyling, and Animated and Live Action Short Film categories. All events will be held at the Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills.
The Oscar Week schedule is as follows:
Oscar Week: Shorts
Tuesday, February 23, 7 p.m.
Hosted by director Jennifer Yuh Nelson
Yuh Nelson received an Oscar nomination in the Animated Feature Film category for “Kung Fu Panda 2” and is the director of the sequel “Kung Fu Panda 3,” currently in theaters. The program will delve into the...
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences will present a series of public programs celebrating this year’s nominees in the Animated Feature Film, Documentary Feature, Documentary Short Subject, Foreign Language Film, Makeup and Hairstyling, and Animated and Live Action Short Film categories. All events will be held at the Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills.
The Oscar Week schedule is as follows:
Oscar Week: Shorts
Tuesday, February 23, 7 p.m.
Hosted by director Jennifer Yuh Nelson
Yuh Nelson received an Oscar nomination in the Animated Feature Film category for “Kung Fu Panda 2” and is the director of the sequel “Kung Fu Panda 3,” currently in theaters. The program will delve into the...
- 2/2/2016
- by Michelle McCue
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
As the Toronto International Film Festival gets underway with North American and World debuts of films that will hit Awards Season and beyond,a good number of seasoned films that have traveled the festival circuit are finally making their way into the Specialty Box Office. Drafthouse Films will open Cannes ’13 title The Congress starring Robin Wright and Harvey Keitel in a dozen locations this weekend, while SXSW’s Juliette Lewis starrer Kelly & Cal will open exclusively in NYC. Sundance’s Last Days In Vietnam will have a theatrical run before heading to PBS next fall and the Guadalajara Film Festival’s Frontera is taking advantage of a timely topic in the U.S. Venice financed its 2013 premiere Memphis, opening exclusively this weekend in NYC. And China Lion hopes to take a successful template for romantic dramas and apply that to But Always.
The Congress
Director-writer: Ari Folman
Writer: Stanislaw Lem (novel)
Cast: Robin Wright,...
The Congress
Director-writer: Ari Folman
Writer: Stanislaw Lem (novel)
Cast: Robin Wright,...
- 9/5/2014
- by Brian Brooks
- Deadline
The first wave of HBO content has landed on Amazon Prime. Subscribers can now stream dozens of HBO titles including The Sopranos, The Wire, Deadwood, Rome, Six Feet Under, Eastbound & Down, Enlightened, Flight Of The Conchords, and others. The content is available via an exclusive licensing agreement that HBO and Amazon negotiated last month. Under the multi-year pact, more content will be added in the future, including new seasons of current series as well as early seasons of other current shows such as Girls, The Newsroom and Veep. Other offerings include miniseries such as Band Of Brothers, The Pacific and John Adams, original movies Mary And Martha, Temple Grandin and You Don’t Know Jack, comedy specials from Louis Ck, Ellen DeGeneres, Lewis Black and Bill Maher and documentaries such as When The Levees Broke, Ghosts Of Abu Ghraib and the Autopsy and Iceman series.
- 5/21/2014
- by THE DEADLINE TEAM
- Deadline TV
It's not TV, it's HBO on Amazon Prime.
The premium cable network signed a game-changing deal with Amazon Prime, which allows the streaming service to host older HBO series like "The Wire" and "Deadwood." Past seasons of current shows, including "Boardwalk Empire" and "True Blood," will also be available to Amazon Prime customers. Future seasons of "Girls" and "Veep" will be added to the roster about three years after they air on HBO.
Some shows, like "Sex and the City" and "Entourage," aren't included due to other deals. "Game of Thrones" is also not part of it, which just began its fourth season. Plus, as HBO's crown jewel, it may never leave the confines of the channel and HBO Go.
It marks a big change for HBO, which hadn't licensed its shows to a streaming service -- that's why you haven't seen Tony Soprano on Netflix. And it's a huge...
The premium cable network signed a game-changing deal with Amazon Prime, which allows the streaming service to host older HBO series like "The Wire" and "Deadwood." Past seasons of current shows, including "Boardwalk Empire" and "True Blood," will also be available to Amazon Prime customers. Future seasons of "Girls" and "Veep" will be added to the roster about three years after they air on HBO.
Some shows, like "Sex and the City" and "Entourage," aren't included due to other deals. "Game of Thrones" is also not part of it, which just began its fourth season. Plus, as HBO's crown jewel, it may never leave the confines of the channel and HBO Go.
It marks a big change for HBO, which hadn't licensed its shows to a streaming service -- that's why you haven't seen Tony Soprano on Netflix. And it's a huge...
- 4/23/2014
- by Kelly Woo
- Moviefone
For cord-cutters who aim to watch the best of television without a cable box (or, in some cases, even a television), HBO has long been the big missing piece of the puzzle. HBO has its own streaming video service, HBO Go, but you can only access it if you already have a cable subscription (or if you have a friend or relative with a subscription who will share their password with you). Cord-cutters ask all the time about the possibility of HBO Go being offered independently, but it would completely undermine HBO's very lucrative business model to do so, and it hasn't happened yet, and likely won't anytime soon. But today in a very big deal for the future of streaming TV — and for the ongoing war for streaming supremacy between Netflix and Amazon (a rare battlefield where Amazon is an underdog) — HBO and Amazon announced an agreement to,...
- 4/23/2014
- by Alan Sepinwall
- Hitfix
Big news for HBO fans: You can now watch many shows from the pay cable service without actually paying for cable, or buying the DVDs (or pirating the shows).
HBO has made a major deal with Amazon that gives Amazon Prime members unlimited streaming access to past seasons of shows like The Sopranos and Deadwood, as well as select seasons of current series such as True Blood and Boardwalk Empire. (See the full list below.) This is HBO’s first deal licensing its content to a streaming service. On average, the deal covers content that is at least three years old.
HBO has made a major deal with Amazon that gives Amazon Prime members unlimited streaming access to past seasons of shows like The Sopranos and Deadwood, as well as select seasons of current series such as True Blood and Boardwalk Empire. (See the full list below.) This is HBO’s first deal licensing its content to a streaming service. On average, the deal covers content that is at least three years old.
- 4/23/2014
- by James Hibberd
- EW - Inside TV
American Experience Films has announced the theatrical release of the new documentary "Last Days in Vietnam," from director Rory Kennedy ("Ethel," "Ghosts of Abu Ghraib"). It will open in New York on September 5th and make its way to other cities throughout September and early October. 'Last Days' premiered at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival and will be the opening film for the Sarasota Film Festival on April 4th."Every so often we commission a film with such emotional gravity and contemporary resonance that we feel it deserves a broad theatrical release," said American Experience Films executive producer Mark Samels. "As we approach the 40th anniversary of the fall of Saigon, and at a time when we as a nation again evaluate what is owed to those left behind when a war ends, 'Last Days in Vietnam' tells a story that is inspiring, cautionary, and remarkably relevant.""'Last Days...
- 3/18/2014
- by Melina Gills
- Indiewire
PBS has announced that this summer it will be airing six new hour-long installments in its documentary series "Makers: Women Who Make America." Founded by filmmaker Dyllan McGee, the "Makers" project launched in 2012 and is a multi-platform initiative that also includes a growing online collection of more than 200 original video interviews. The new films, which are directed and produced by the likes of Rachel Grady and Heidi Ewing ("Detropia") and Rory Kennedy ("Ghosts of Abu Ghraib"), expand on the three-hour doc "Makers: Women Who Make America," which premiered in February 2013 and told the story of the American women’s movement over the last half-century. Here's the list of new films, which will premiere between June and September -- descriptions are courtesy of PBS: Makers: Women & War looks at American women’s increasing participation in war—from Vietnam to the present—as nurses, soldiers, journalists, diplomats and spies. Among those featured are Linda Bray,...
- 1/21/2014
- by Alison Willmore
- Indiewire
Coinciding with the 50th anniversary of Marilyn Monroe¹s death, HBO presents the insightful and often heartbreaking documentary Love, Marilyn from Oscar-nomiated filmmaker Liz Garbus on Monday, June 17, at 9pm Et/Pt. Filmmaker Liz Garbus has spent nearly two decades crafting acclaimed documentaries on a wide variety of social-justice issues — including 2007’s Emmy-winning Ghosts of Abu Ghraib. So dissecting the psyche of Hollywood’s ultimate sex symbol, Marilyn Monroe, wasn’t exactly on her radar for future projects. That is, until she encountered a trove of the actress’ letters, notes and diaries released by the estate of Monroe’s beloved acting coach and [...]
The post Love, Marilyn: HBO’s haunting documentary delves into the mind of Marilyn Monroe appeared first on Channel Guide Magazine.
The post Love, Marilyn: HBO’s haunting documentary delves into the mind of Marilyn Monroe appeared first on Channel Guide Magazine.
- 6/6/2013
- by Lori Acken
- ChannelGuideMag
By peddling the lie that CIA detentions led to Bin Laden's killing, you have become a Leni Riefenstahl-like propagandist of torture
Dear Kathryn Bigelow,
The Hurt Locker was a beautiful, brave film; many young women in film were inspired as they watched you become the first woman ever to win an Oscar for directing. But with Zero Dark Thirty, you have attained a different kind of distinction.
Your film Zero Dark Thirty is a huge hit here. But in falsely justifying, in scene after scene, the torture of detainees in "the global war on terror", Zero Dark Thirty is a gorgeously-shot, two-hour ad for keeping intelligence agents who committed crimes against Guantánamo prisoners out of jail. It makes heroes and heroines out of people who committed violent crimes against other people based on their race – something that has historical precedent.
Your film claims, in many scenes, that CIA torture...
Dear Kathryn Bigelow,
The Hurt Locker was a beautiful, brave film; many young women in film were inspired as they watched you become the first woman ever to win an Oscar for directing. But with Zero Dark Thirty, you have attained a different kind of distinction.
Your film Zero Dark Thirty is a huge hit here. But in falsely justifying, in scene after scene, the torture of detainees in "the global war on terror", Zero Dark Thirty is a gorgeously-shot, two-hour ad for keeping intelligence agents who committed crimes against Guantánamo prisoners out of jail. It makes heroes and heroines out of people who committed violent crimes against other people based on their race – something that has historical precedent.
Your film claims, in many scenes, that CIA torture...
- 1/4/2013
- by Naomi Wolf
- The Guardian - Film News
Ed Burns, whose debut film The Brothers McMullen premiered at the 1995 Sundance Film Festival, was announced today as a jury member for next month’s Sundance in Park City, Utah. Burns joins documentary filmmaker Davis Guggenheim, executive Tom Rothman and 16 others named to five juries that will award prizes at independent film’s most high-profile showcase.
Short Film Awards will be announced at a ceremony on Jan. 22, with feature film awards announced at a separate ceremony on Jan. 26. The festival runs this year from Jan. 17-27.
Click below for the entire Sundance jury list:
U.S. Documentary Jury
Liz Garbus is a prolific documentary filmmaker.
Short Film Awards will be announced at a ceremony on Jan. 22, with feature film awards announced at a separate ceremony on Jan. 26. The festival runs this year from Jan. 17-27.
Click below for the entire Sundance jury list:
U.S. Documentary Jury
Liz Garbus is a prolific documentary filmmaker.
- 12/19/2012
- by Jeff Labrecque
- EW - Inside Movies
"Ethel" is a documentary about director Rory Kennedy's ("Ghosts of Abu Ghraib") mother. But it also, of course, covers a tumultuous swath of U.S. politics from a unique perspective -- Ethel Kennedy, née Skakel, married into America's most famous family in 1950, when she wed Robert F. Kennedy in Greenwich. Extroverted and seemingly tireless, she first helped his brother John F. Kennedy campaign and later worked at her husband's side as he went from Attorney General to U.S. senator to presidential candidate, while giving birth to and raising 11 children. (Rory, the youngest of the siblings, was born six months after her father was assassinated in 1968.) "Ethel" combines newsreel and home movie footage with interviews with the Kennedy children to tell the story of this fiesty matriarch and sometimes reluctant film subject from the perspective of both a public figure and a familial one. Indiewire sat down with the.
- 10/18/2012
- by Alison Willmore
- Indiewire
On TV this Thursday: Project Runway sews up its 10th season, Miley Cyrus courts at least one of the Two and a Half Men, Parks and Recreation doubles as the Health Department and the leader of the free world swings by The Daily Show. As a supplement to TVLine’s original features (linked within), here are 10 programs to keep on your radar.
Preview | 30 Rock First Look Video: Jack Takes the ‘Walk of Shame,’ Still Looks Spiffy as Ever
8 pm The Vampire Diaries (The CW) | While Elena’s dealing with the high highs and low lows of her new existence, Stefan...
Preview | 30 Rock First Look Video: Jack Takes the ‘Walk of Shame,’ Still Looks Spiffy as Ever
8 pm The Vampire Diaries (The CW) | While Elena’s dealing with the high highs and low lows of her new existence, Stefan...
- 10/18/2012
- by Kimberly Roots
- TVLine.com
Eight documentary short films have been selected for the 2013 Oscars shortlist, of which three to five will earn nominations. Full list below. The doc subjects range from a portrait of an anti-Islamic preacher ("The Education of Mohammed Hussein") to a Florida retirement community ("Kings Point"); from a Long Island hair salon that sets aside one day a month to serve women with cancer ("Mondays at Racine") to Rwandan children in need of heart transplants ("Open Heart"). Filmmakers with past Oscar nominations or wins make up a good percentage of this year's shortlist, including "Detropia" filmmakers Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady (nominated for "Jesus Camp"), Sean Fine (for "War/Dance") and Sari Gilman (for "Ghosts of Abu Ghraib"). Cynthia Wade won the Oscar in 2007 for "Freeheld." "The Education of Mohammad Hussein," (dirs. Heidi Ewing, Rachel Grady; produced by Loki...
- 10/11/2012
- by Beth Hanna
- Thompson on Hollywood
Tom Hurwitz, Asc, is one of America’s most honored documentary cameramen. A guy who loves to court chance, Hurwitz started out in documentaries, moved into feature and commercial work, then returned to documentary cinematography nearly 25 years ago. During that time, he has put himself in hundreds of situations that have relied on both his willingness to take chances and his ability to have a camera pointed at the right place at just the right time to capture the powerful and the unexpected. Hurwitz’s work extends from “Frontline,” “Nova,” “American Experience” and “American Masters” to “Cathouse: The Series,” from “Paul Taylor: Dancemaker” and ‘Valentino: The Last Emperor” to “Ghosts of Abu Ghraib,” “Killing in the Name” and the Oscar-winning “Down and Out in America.” His latest project, “The Queen of Versailles,” had its world...
- 7/19/2012
- by Tom Hurwitz, ASC
- Indiewire
While they're happy to talk up their upcoming sequels to the likes of "Thor," "Iron Man" and "Captain America", Marvel has been keeping fairly quiet about which of the characters that haven't been adapted for the screen yet will be the ones to fill the two "open slots" in their schedule.
Will it be already announced projects in development like "Doctor Strange," "Ant-Man," or "Guardians of the Galaxy"? Well Latino Review posted a report yesterday that indicates it just might be something else entirely - Black Panther.
In the comics, 'Black Panther' is the name given to royal leader of the fictional African nation Wakanda - in this case a wealthy prince, brilliant scientist and highly skilled warrior named T’Challa.
His nemesis is the physicist Ulysses Klaw who murdered his father to gain access to the precious deposits of vibranium, the rare and precious metal that makes up Captain America’s shield.
Will it be already announced projects in development like "Doctor Strange," "Ant-Man," or "Guardians of the Galaxy"? Well Latino Review posted a report yesterday that indicates it just might be something else entirely - Black Panther.
In the comics, 'Black Panther' is the name given to royal leader of the fictional African nation Wakanda - in this case a wealthy prince, brilliant scientist and highly skilled warrior named T’Challa.
His nemesis is the physicist Ulysses Klaw who murdered his father to gain access to the precious deposits of vibranium, the rare and precious metal that makes up Captain America’s shield.
- 6/6/2012
- by Garth Franklin
- Dark Horizons
Update: EW’s inside sources at Marvel say the report is entirely untrue, although studio reps decline to comment on the rumor.
The Wakanda tourism board should prepare to put in some overtime. They could soon become much more popular.
A report from the movie website Latino Review by writer El Mayimbe says Marvel Studios has committed to making one of its next projects a movie based on Black Panther, the leader of the fictional African nation and the character widely regarded as the first major black superhero.
True? False? Marvel Studios and parent company Disney did not immediately comment on the rumor,...
The Wakanda tourism board should prepare to put in some overtime. They could soon become much more popular.
A report from the movie website Latino Review by writer El Mayimbe says Marvel Studios has committed to making one of its next projects a movie based on Black Panther, the leader of the fictional African nation and the character widely regarded as the first major black superhero.
True? False? Marvel Studios and parent company Disney did not immediately comment on the rumor,...
- 6/6/2012
- by Anthony Breznican
- EW - Inside Movies
Not long after The Avengers hit theatres, Marvel Studios head honcho Kevin Feige revealed that in addition to Iron Man 3, Thor 2 and Captain America 2, there were two other movies going into development soon that they had not yet announced. While Ant-Man, The Incredible Hulk and Doctor Strange would seem to be the most obvious possibilities, this week we're hearing that there is another character in the mix that will likely end up leading one of the two mystery projects. That character is T'Challa, chief of the Panther Tribe of Wakanda... better known as The Black Panther! Move over Blade, the world's first mainstream black superhero is finally getting his own movie. The scoop comes courtesy of El Mayimbe at Latino Review, who claims to have confirmed it with at least four reliable sources. He points out that there have been various clues planted in previous Marvel films,...
- 6/5/2012
- by Sean
- FilmJunk
"Painfully stark yet utterly magnetic," begins Jeannette Catsoulis in the New York Times, "You Don't Like the Truth: 4 Days Inside Guantánamo presents excerpts from the 2003 interrogation of the 16-year-old Omar Khadr, a Canadian citizen accused of killing an American soldier during a firefight in an Afghan village. Working from seven hours of recently declassified tapes, the Montreal-based filmmakers Luc Côté and Patricio Henriquez have assembled an even-tempered glimpse behind a very dark curtain."
Glenn Heath Jr in Slant: "Countless documentaries have walked down this road before, dissecting America's dark and unethical dealings in the name of national security, most notably Michael Winterbottom's The Road to Guantánamo, Laura Poitras's The Oath, and Errol Morris's Standard Operating Procedure. But what sets You Don't Like the Truth apart from these other, more accomplished films is its subject's age: Omar was the youngest detainee at Guantánamo at 16. Labeled a terrorist by...
Glenn Heath Jr in Slant: "Countless documentaries have walked down this road before, dissecting America's dark and unethical dealings in the name of national security, most notably Michael Winterbottom's The Road to Guantánamo, Laura Poitras's The Oath, and Errol Morris's Standard Operating Procedure. But what sets You Don't Like the Truth apart from these other, more accomplished films is its subject's age: Omar was the youngest detainee at Guantánamo at 16. Labeled a terrorist by...
- 9/29/2011
- MUBI
Following on from the hugely successful theatrical run, Dogwoof proudly presents Award-winning filmmaker Liz Garbus’s fascinating portrait of one of the most intriguing and enigmatic figures of the 20th century – World Chess Champion Bobby Fischer.
Available on DVD 12th September, a week after the iTunes release, Bobby Fischer Against the World traces the Grand Master from child prodigy to Cold War hero to controversial recluse. Cutting interviews with Bobby and the people who knew him with footage and news reports, Bobby Fischer Against the World is a mesmerising portrait of the rise and bizarre fall of one of the great American icons. With DVD extras including three short films, selected trailers and “Taking on a Grandmaster” clips; this is a DVD must buy for all chess fans or anyone wanting an insight into troubled genius.
To be in with a chance of winning one of two copies of the DVD we have to give,...
Available on DVD 12th September, a week after the iTunes release, Bobby Fischer Against the World traces the Grand Master from child prodigy to Cold War hero to controversial recluse. Cutting interviews with Bobby and the people who knew him with footage and news reports, Bobby Fischer Against the World is a mesmerising portrait of the rise and bizarre fall of one of the great American icons. With DVD extras including three short films, selected trailers and “Taking on a Grandmaster” clips; this is a DVD must buy for all chess fans or anyone wanting an insight into troubled genius.
To be in with a chance of winning one of two copies of the DVD we have to give,...
- 9/10/2011
- by Matt Holmes
- Obsessed with Film
Bobby Fischer was not only one of the greatest chess players of all time, he was possibly also one of the most enigmatic figures of the 20th century.
After his 1972 World Championship victory in Iceland against the Ussr's Boris Spassky (pictured right), Fischer - who was born in Chicago and raised in New York - vanished off the radar but resurfaced for a 1992 rematch held in Yugoslavia.
However, Yugoslavia was under a Un embargo at the time, so Fischer's American passport was revoked. When he travelled to Japan on the invalid documentation, he was detained there for nine months (see picture below), before being granted citizenship by Iceland where he lived until his death in 2008, aged 64.
Now his story is being brought to life by the award-winning, Oscar-nominated documentary filmmaker Liz Garbus.
Released in UK cinemas by distributors Dogwoof on July 15, Bobby Fischer Against the World traces the Grandmaster from...
After his 1972 World Championship victory in Iceland against the Ussr's Boris Spassky (pictured right), Fischer - who was born in Chicago and raised in New York - vanished off the radar but resurfaced for a 1992 rematch held in Yugoslavia.
However, Yugoslavia was under a Un embargo at the time, so Fischer's American passport was revoked. When he travelled to Japan on the invalid documentation, he was detained there for nine months (see picture below), before being granted citizenship by Iceland where he lived until his death in 2008, aged 64.
Now his story is being brought to life by the award-winning, Oscar-nominated documentary filmmaker Liz Garbus.
Released in UK cinemas by distributors Dogwoof on July 15, Bobby Fischer Against the World traces the Grandmaster from...
- 6/29/2011
- by David Bentley
- The Geek Files
HBO Documentaries is certainly on a roll after producing and/or premiering such films as Gaslight, How To Die In Oregon, James Marsh‘s Project Nim, Martin Scorsese‘s Public Speaking, Reagan, and the Oscar-winning Taxi To The Dark Side. One of their latest films is Bobby Fischer Against the World, and like a few mentioned above, it premiered at the Sundance Film Festival this year.
Liz Garbus‘ doc takes a look at the world’s greatest chess player and received mostly positive reviews at Sundance. I’ve heard you truly have to love the sport to appreciate a doc like this, since his 1972 match with Boris Spassky is the main focus. The film will UK cinemas next month and we have one of their trailers via HeyUGuys. Check it out below.
Synopsis:
Award-winning filmmaker Liz Garbus presents a fascinating portrait of one of the most intriguing and enigmatic figures...
Liz Garbus‘ doc takes a look at the world’s greatest chess player and received mostly positive reviews at Sundance. I’ve heard you truly have to love the sport to appreciate a doc like this, since his 1972 match with Boris Spassky is the main focus. The film will UK cinemas next month and we have one of their trailers via HeyUGuys. Check it out below.
Synopsis:
Award-winning filmmaker Liz Garbus presents a fascinating portrait of one of the most intriguing and enigmatic figures...
- 6/23/2011
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
Dogwoof have sent over their trailer and some new images for their new movie, Bobby Fischer Against the World directed by Liz Garbus. It’s released on 15th July and is focuses around the game of chess! Sounds dull – but we can assure you it isn’t!
Award-winning filmmaker Liz Garbus presents a fascinating portrait of one of the most intriguing and enigmatic figures of the 20th century – World Chess Champion Bobby Fischer. Out in cinemas 15 July, Bobby Fischer Against the World traces the Grand Master from child prodigy, to Cold War hero, to controversial recluse. Cutting interviews with Bobby and the people who knew him with footage and news reports, Bobby Fischer Against the World is a mesmerising portrait of the rise and bizarre fall of one of the great American icons.
In 1958, 14-year old Robert James “Bobby” Fischer stunned the chess world by becoming the youngest Grand Master in history,...
Award-winning filmmaker Liz Garbus presents a fascinating portrait of one of the most intriguing and enigmatic figures of the 20th century – World Chess Champion Bobby Fischer. Out in cinemas 15 July, Bobby Fischer Against the World traces the Grand Master from child prodigy, to Cold War hero, to controversial recluse. Cutting interviews with Bobby and the people who knew him with footage and news reports, Bobby Fischer Against the World is a mesmerising portrait of the rise and bizarre fall of one of the great American icons.
In 1958, 14-year old Robert James “Bobby” Fischer stunned the chess world by becoming the youngest Grand Master in history,...
- 6/23/2011
- by David Sztypuljak
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
Liz Garbus is one of the most pre-eminent documentary filmmakers of the day. Her best-known film may be the prison documentary The Farm: Angola, USA, which won the Sundance Film Festival and was nominated for an Academy Award. But more recently she collaborated with Rory Kennedy on Street Fight, which was also Oscar-nominated, and she produced the Emmy-winning Ghosts of Abu Ghraib. Her new picture is a fascinating work about a fascinating man. Bobby Fischer Against the World just kicked off HBO’s Documentary Films Summer Series, which will feature a second Garbus offering in July. She joined us to talk...
- 6/13/2011
- Pastemagazine.com
According to Entertainment Weekly via The Hollywood Reporter, Marvel is developing a film adaptation of ”The Black Panther”. According to the sites, Marvel has hired documentarian Mark Bailey to write the screenplay for the film. While asking a documentarian to write a superhero movie is a bit out of left field, the sites state that Bailey, who worked on documentaries “Pandemic: Facing AIDS” and “Ghosts of Abu Ghraib”, will add grittiness, depth and realism that will help ground the film. Originally, Wesley Snipes was set to star as The Black Panther (whose name is T’Challa), and Entertainment Weekly suggested Mr. Eko, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje. But what about casting Djimon Hounsou? He’s already been T’Challa for [...]...
- 1/25/2011
- by monique
- ShockYa
Once again, we're at one of those points where there are a bunch of little news tidbits floating around, so in the interest of saving time and not ruining my current and ongoing drunk, I figured we'd knock them all out in one post. So here's another comic book movie roundup, my beautiful little nerdlingers -- with extra cheesecake as a present. Read it and furiously masturbate as necessary:
1. First and least interesting, here's another image of Karl Urban as Judge Dredd in director Pete Travis' upcoming Dredd. It's him on a Lawmaster motorcycle, and it's Ok. It's a little grainy and looks a little Hell Comes To Frogtown-ish, but maybe I'm just being cranky.
(via Slashfilm)
Since everyone always bitches about not being able to see Urban through the helmet (even though that's integral to the character, you assjacky jackasses), here:
2. Next, apparently David E. Kelley's...
1. First and least interesting, here's another image of Karl Urban as Judge Dredd in director Pete Travis' upcoming Dredd. It's him on a Lawmaster motorcycle, and it's Ok. It's a little grainy and looks a little Hell Comes To Frogtown-ish, but maybe I'm just being cranky.
(via Slashfilm)
Since everyone always bitches about not being able to see Urban through the helmet (even though that's integral to the character, you assjacky jackasses), here:
2. Next, apparently David E. Kelley's...
- 1/23/2011
- by TK
After a failed attempt by Columbia Pictures in the early 1990s, Marvel Studios has hired screenwriter Mark Bailey to pen a new take on the comic book character Black Panther.
The Stan Lee creation debuted in 1966 as the first African-American supehero, before the founding of the political organization of the same name. The title refers to the rank of chieftain of the Wakandan Panther Clan, which grants him a connection to the panther god, giving him superhuman strength, senses, speed, stamina, and agility.
As the Hollywood Reporter points out, Bailey is an odd choice to write a comic book adaptation since his credits include work on hard-hitting documentaries Pandemic: Facing AIDS and Ghosts of Abu Ghraib. But Marvel has gone the unorthodox road before, such as the hiring of Jon Favreau for the first two Iron Man movies, Joss Whedon to write and direct The Avengers, and Scott Pilgrim vs. the World...
The Stan Lee creation debuted in 1966 as the first African-American supehero, before the founding of the political organization of the same name. The title refers to the rank of chieftain of the Wakandan Panther Clan, which grants him a connection to the panther god, giving him superhuman strength, senses, speed, stamina, and agility.
As the Hollywood Reporter points out, Bailey is an odd choice to write a comic book adaptation since his credits include work on hard-hitting documentaries Pandemic: Facing AIDS and Ghosts of Abu Ghraib. But Marvel has gone the unorthodox road before, such as the hiring of Jon Favreau for the first two Iron Man movies, Joss Whedon to write and direct The Avengers, and Scott Pilgrim vs. the World...
- 1/21/2011
- by Jeff Leins
- newsinfilm.com
The Black Panther doesn’t have the same name recognition as fellow Marvel superheroes Spider-Man and Wolverine, but he’s one of the most interesting characters in comic book history. Debuting in the mid-’60s, the Panther is generally credited as the first African-American superhero in mainstream comic books. (He actually predated the founding of far-left-wing ’60s group of the same name.) There’s been talk of a Black Panther movie for decades now, without any success, but it looks like Marvel is willing to try again: According to The Hollywood Reporter, Marvel Studios has hired documentarian Mark Bailey to draft a Black Panther screenplay.
- 1/21/2011
- by Darren Franich
- EW.com - PopWatch
This summer Marvel will bring both Captain America and Thor to theaters, but those two characters are barely scratching the surface of what the studio has planned. With a backlog containing thousands of characters we could be swimming in comic book adaptations for the next 100 years. Last year, Marvel chief Kevin Feige took every opportunity he could to set us up for what they have in store, suggesting solo films about Dr. Strange and Iron Fist, but one of the characters mentioned most often was Black Panther. Now the project is officially moving forward. THR reports that Marvel has hired Mark Bailey, best known as a story editor for documentaries like Ghosts of Abu Ghraib and writing Pandemic: Facing AIDS for HBO, to script a solo film for the African superhero. Created back in the 1960s, movie adaptations have been considered before, the most significant being an attempt in the...
- 1/20/2011
- cinemablend.com
In my last column, I wrote about casting your score — choosing the professional musicians in your team, the men and women, instrumentalists or singers, who will give your musical ideas the best possible voice. Nothing will give your music heart, soul, the real human touch, better than the sounds of skilled musicians. Even if you yourself are the finest, with years of experience, even adding just one pro player will double your firepower, and even casual listeners will notice.
So, now that you are off the phone and someone is on his or her way, it’s time to think about just how to interact for the best possible results. This is where you will be called on to put on your “producer” hat. Let’s talk about what that entails.
Producers In Different Music Types
Most of us are aware of the job of producer, or at least that...
So, now that you are off the phone and someone is on his or her way, it’s time to think about just how to interact for the best possible results. This is where you will be called on to put on your “producer” hat. Let’s talk about what that entails.
Producers In Different Music Types
Most of us are aware of the job of producer, or at least that...
- 10/4/2010
- by Les Brockmann
- SCOREcastOnline.com
Recently I attended the first annual (or bi-annual? More soon, I hope!) SCOREcast Online mixer and picnic at a beautiful home here in La, and I sure enjoyed meeting and getting a chance to talk with a number of terrific folks. I got into an interesting conversation with some composers about the whole concept of “casting” musicians and “producing” their playing as they contribute to your score. Just as a film, television show, or play has a cast of actors to tell the story, so does the score, and the group of musicians you select can have a big impact on how your score comes out. This will be about assembling the perfect “cast” of musicians to enhance your score; in a subsequent article, I will write about the production process.
You may be aware that I am a strong advocate and fan of all the fantastic professional musicians, instrumentalists...
You may be aware that I am a strong advocate and fan of all the fantastic professional musicians, instrumentalists...
- 8/3/2010
- by Les Brockmann
- SCOREcastOnline.com
135 filmmakers and executives have been invited by the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences to join its ranks. Recent Oscar nominees and winners such as Vera Farmiga, Anna Kendrick, Mo'Nique, Carey Mulligan, Jeremy Renner, Gabourey Sidibe and Christoph Waltz have been invited to join; but even "Saw's" Tobin Bell and "Avatar's" Zoe Saldana received invites.
New members will be "baptized" in an invitation-only reception in September at the Academy's Fairbanks Center for Motion Picture Study in Beverly Hills.
Here's a complete list of the 2010 invitees:
Actors
Tobin Bell -- "Saw," "The Firm"
Vera Farmiga -- "Up in the Air," "The Departed"
Miguel Ferrer -- "Traffic," "RoboCop"
James Gandolfini -- "In the Loop," "Get Shorty"
Anna Kendrick -- "Up in the Air," "Twilight"
Mo'Nique -- "Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire," "Phat Girlz"
Carey Mulligan -- "An Education," "Public Enemies"
Jeremy Renner -- "The Hurt Locker,...
New members will be "baptized" in an invitation-only reception in September at the Academy's Fairbanks Center for Motion Picture Study in Beverly Hills.
Here's a complete list of the 2010 invitees:
Actors
Tobin Bell -- "Saw," "The Firm"
Vera Farmiga -- "Up in the Air," "The Departed"
Miguel Ferrer -- "Traffic," "RoboCop"
James Gandolfini -- "In the Loop," "Get Shorty"
Anna Kendrick -- "Up in the Air," "Twilight"
Mo'Nique -- "Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire," "Phat Girlz"
Carey Mulligan -- "An Education," "Public Enemies"
Jeremy Renner -- "The Hurt Locker,...
- 6/27/2010
- by Manny
- Manny the Movie Guy
HollywoodNews.com: Adam Sandler is gearing up for the release of his new film, “Grown Ups,” and has just been announced as one of 135 artists selected to join the Academy.
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is extending invitations to join the organization to 135 artists and executives who have distinguished themselves by their contributions to theatrical motion pictures. Those who accept the invitation will be the only additions in 2010 to the Academy’s roster of voting members.
“The work of these individuals has been appreciated by moviegoers all around the world,” said Academy President Tom Sherak. “The Academy is proud to invite each and every one of them.”
The Academy’s membership policies would have allowed a maximum of 180 new members in 2010, but as in other recent years, the several branch committees endorsed fewer candidates than were proposed to them. Voting membership in the organization has now held...
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is extending invitations to join the organization to 135 artists and executives who have distinguished themselves by their contributions to theatrical motion pictures. Those who accept the invitation will be the only additions in 2010 to the Academy’s roster of voting members.
“The work of these individuals has been appreciated by moviegoers all around the world,” said Academy President Tom Sherak. “The Academy is proud to invite each and every one of them.”
The Academy’s membership policies would have allowed a maximum of 180 new members in 2010, but as in other recent years, the several branch committees endorsed fewer candidates than were proposed to them. Voting membership in the organization has now held...
- 6/25/2010
- by HollywoodNews.com
- Hollywoodnews.com
Oscar winner Indian sound recordist Resul Pookutty has been invited to join the coveted Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences as a member. Along with Resul the invitation has been extended to 135 film professionals from around the globe that includes Christopher Walts (Inglorious Basterds) and Jacque Audiard (A Prophet). Resul was awarded an Oscar last year for Danny Boyle's Slumdog Millionaire.
Members of the academy vote for the annual academy awards.
“The work of these individuals has been appreciated by moviegoers all around the world,” said Academy President Tom Sherak. “The Academy is proud to invite each and every one of them.”
The Academy’s membership policies would have allowed a maximum of 180 new members in 2010, but as in other recent years, the several branch committees endorsed fewer candidates than were proposed to them. Voting membership in the organization has now held steady at just under 6,000 members since...
Members of the academy vote for the annual academy awards.
“The work of these individuals has been appreciated by moviegoers all around the world,” said Academy President Tom Sherak. “The Academy is proud to invite each and every one of them.”
The Academy’s membership policies would have allowed a maximum of 180 new members in 2010, but as in other recent years, the several branch committees endorsed fewer candidates than were proposed to them. Voting membership in the organization has now held steady at just under 6,000 members since...
- 6/25/2010
- by NewsDesk
- DearCinema.com
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has invited 135 filmmakers and executives -- including such recent Oscar nominees and winners as Vera Farmiga, Anna Kendrick, Mo'Nique, Carey Mulligan, Jeremy Renner, Gabourey Sidibe and Christoph Waltz -- to join its ranks.
The Academy issued its annual invitation list Thursday.
The actor's portion of the list ranged from genre favorites like "Saw's" Tobin Bell to "Avatar's" Zoe Saldana, from "Sopranos" star James Gandolfini, whose film credits include "In the Loop" and "Get Shorty" to rising leading man Ryan Reynolds, who's appeared in "The Proposal" and "X-Men Origins: Wolverine."
An international sampling of directors made the cut: Among them France's Jacques Audiard, Argentina's Juan Jose Campanella, Denmark's Lone Scherfig and, from the U.S., Lee Daniels and Adam Shankman, the latter of whom co-produced the last Oscar show.
Oscar nominee "District 9" was well represented: Matt Aitken and Dan Kaufman...
The Academy issued its annual invitation list Thursday.
The actor's portion of the list ranged from genre favorites like "Saw's" Tobin Bell to "Avatar's" Zoe Saldana, from "Sopranos" star James Gandolfini, whose film credits include "In the Loop" and "Get Shorty" to rising leading man Ryan Reynolds, who's appeared in "The Proposal" and "X-Men Origins: Wolverine."
An international sampling of directors made the cut: Among them France's Jacques Audiard, Argentina's Juan Jose Campanella, Denmark's Lone Scherfig and, from the U.S., Lee Daniels and Adam Shankman, the latter of whom co-produced the last Oscar show.
Oscar nominee "District 9" was well represented: Matt Aitken and Dan Kaufman...
- 6/25/2010
- by By Gregg Kilday
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
There’s an epidemic going on that no one wants to talk about. Lots of people in our business are hurting, and computer work is the main culprit.
One composer I know says every bone and joint in her body hurts all the time. She is saving up for a hydraulic lifter for her keyboard and computer workstation, so she can vary her position, working standing up as well as seated. Another I know has intense shoulder pain, and can’t raise his arm above shoulder level. He doesn’t want his clients to know, because he’s afraid they will think he can’t do the work.
The first person I ever heard of who injured his hands trying to become a better musician was the composer Robert Schumann. In trying to develop increased finger independence at the piano, he famously immobilized his fourth fingers with a length of...
One composer I know says every bone and joint in her body hurts all the time. She is saving up for a hydraulic lifter for her keyboard and computer workstation, so she can vary her position, working standing up as well as seated. Another I know has intense shoulder pain, and can’t raise his arm above shoulder level. He doesn’t want his clients to know, because he’s afraid they will think he can’t do the work.
The first person I ever heard of who injured his hands trying to become a better musician was the composer Robert Schumann. In trying to develop increased finger independence at the piano, he famously immobilized his fourth fingers with a length of...
- 5/26/2010
- by Les Brockmann
- SCOREcastOnline.com
From a technical point of view, preparing music files for delivery according to your client's requirements should be a pretty straightforward thing. Although every project is a little bit different, there are some standard procedures, and we'll go over them, with some definitions, a few precautions, and one or two minefields.
Before I get started, it's a good time to remind you that it's always a good idea to ask your clients what their delivery requirements are. If the producer or director can’t tell you directly, they will refer you to a post production mixer or technician who will have all the answers.
In a past article, I've gone over standard digital file issues, such as sample rate and bit depth. Review if needed. Of course you will be delivering finished mixes (or sometimes "stems"), not raw unmixed instrument tracks.
Since most postproduction work is done using ProTools, you...
Before I get started, it's a good time to remind you that it's always a good idea to ask your clients what their delivery requirements are. If the producer or director can’t tell you directly, they will refer you to a post production mixer or technician who will have all the answers.
In a past article, I've gone over standard digital file issues, such as sample rate and bit depth. Review if needed. Of course you will be delivering finished mixes (or sometimes "stems"), not raw unmixed instrument tracks.
Since most postproduction work is done using ProTools, you...
- 4/27/2010
- by noreply@blogger.com (Les Brockmann)
- SCOREcastOnline.com
Since, as a mixer, I'm not involved in the mysteries of a spotting session, this month's column is going to be another in my series of "tech tips", covering some engineering issues that have recently been in the air.
Just one mic?
I've often been asked, by a composer with a personal studio, what microphone they might buy to record "everything" they need to. To engineers, it's a nice luxury to work in a studio or scoring stage with a well-equipped microphone closet. Part of our expertise is to know and understand the subtle differences, the sonic signatures of fine microphones, and to choose which instruments are best complemented by which mics.
But of course, many folks haven't got the budget for lots of microphones. So here's my advice: an early investment by any aspiring composer should be at least one high quality microphone. I would go with a "condenser...
Just one mic?
I've often been asked, by a composer with a personal studio, what microphone they might buy to record "everything" they need to. To engineers, it's a nice luxury to work in a studio or scoring stage with a well-equipped microphone closet. Part of our expertise is to know and understand the subtle differences, the sonic signatures of fine microphones, and to choose which instruments are best complemented by which mics.
But of course, many folks haven't got the budget for lots of microphones. So here's my advice: an early investment by any aspiring composer should be at least one high quality microphone. I would go with a "condenser...
- 3/30/2010
- by noreply@blogger.com (Les Brockmann)
- SCOREcastOnline.com
Radio show host Rosie O'Donnell is looking to get behind the TV desk again.
O'Donnell signed a deal Friday to bring a new talk show to television for the 2011-2012 season, GossipCop.com tells "Extra," with Robert F. Kennedy's daughter, Rory Kennedy, onboard as Executive Producer.
O'Donnell confirmed the deal on her Sirius Xm radio show today. The new TV show would be similar to her radio gig, which has a decidedly political slant.
O'Donnell signed a deal Friday to bring a new talk show to television for the 2011-2012 season, GossipCop.com tells "Extra," with Robert F. Kennedy's daughter, Rory Kennedy, onboard as Executive Producer.
O'Donnell confirmed the deal on her Sirius Xm radio show today. The new TV show would be similar to her radio gig, which has a decidedly political slant.
- 3/22/2010
- Extra
Seems like there are a lot of ways to spend your money these days, often more money than may be coming in. What are the right choices to move your career forward? Here are a couple of contrasting ideas, both worth considering in their own context.
More bits
To start with, here I am wearing my "technical guru" hat. Let's review some things about digital and computer audio; there's a new technical trend and product you should be aware of.
You probably know that digital audio, in the files we create and the way in the signals can flow from one piece of equipment to another, can be in a variety of different sample rates (44.1KHz, 48KHz, etc.) and word lengths (usually 24-bit for most professional applications). (If you need a refresher, check my article "Technical Guidelines for Film and TV Scoring — Part 1".) Recently there has been a lot of...
More bits
To start with, here I am wearing my "technical guru" hat. Let's review some things about digital and computer audio; there's a new technical trend and product you should be aware of.
You probably know that digital audio, in the files we create and the way in the signals can flow from one piece of equipment to another, can be in a variety of different sample rates (44.1KHz, 48KHz, etc.) and word lengths (usually 24-bit for most professional applications). (If you need a refresher, check my article "Technical Guidelines for Film and TV Scoring — Part 1".) Recently there has been a lot of...
- 2/22/2010
- by noreply@blogger.com (Les Brockmann)
- SCOREcastOnline.com
I'm sure you've had this experience: you go to a party, a meeting or seminar, or maybe just an informal gathering of people — friends, work colleagues, folks out in the world. Inevitably there is one person there who stands out, the center of attention, clearly the most confident, smartest, most successful. How did this person get to be that way? Blessed with talent, charisma, and brains, they go through life winning every game they play... it seems.
If you are one of those people, congratulations. But what about the rest of us? How can we hope to compete and succeed in their world, maybe even become a bit like that someday? Let's take a look at a few charismatic successful people I've had the pleasure of meeting and working with over the years, and then talk a bit about what we can learn from them.
The first composer I ever...
If you are one of those people, congratulations. But what about the rest of us? How can we hope to compete and succeed in their world, maybe even become a bit like that someday? Let's take a look at a few charismatic successful people I've had the pleasure of meeting and working with over the years, and then talk a bit about what we can learn from them.
The first composer I ever...
- 1/25/2010
- by noreply@blogger.com (Les Brockmann)
- SCOREcastOnline.com
The first hint was not being sure what was up with my bottom end. Not the one in the chair, the one in the speakers.
I know, I've been there. In the chair, in front of the speakers. Spent a good part of my life there. I should know. I'm a mixer. (Sorry, went into Dragnet mode there!)
With keyboard, screen, mix controller in front of me, and speakers outside of and behind the computer screen in a nice equilateral triangle with my head and ears, the mix is coming together pretty nicely. Got the harps and guitars panned and strings nicely textured with a good convolution reverb. But now — what about the bass? Why do the notes sound uneven, some booming and some receding? And why does the whole thing sound so much different on my other good living room speakers?
Non-gear
So here we are, it's December on SCOREcast,...
I know, I've been there. In the chair, in front of the speakers. Spent a good part of my life there. I should know. I'm a mixer. (Sorry, went into Dragnet mode there!)
With keyboard, screen, mix controller in front of me, and speakers outside of and behind the computer screen in a nice equilateral triangle with my head and ears, the mix is coming together pretty nicely. Got the harps and guitars panned and strings nicely textured with a good convolution reverb. But now — what about the bass? Why do the notes sound uneven, some booming and some receding? And why does the whole thing sound so much different on my other good living room speakers?
Non-gear
So here we are, it's December on SCOREcast,...
- 12/15/2009
- by noreply@blogger.com (Les Brockmann)
- SCOREcastOnline.com
Competition
BERLIN -- Errol Morris looks at the abuse and torture of prisoners by U.S. soldiers in the Abu Ghraib prison in Baghdad with a peculiar fixation in Standard Operating Procedure. The scandal, of course, came to light in 2004 through photographs taken by the Army members who served as prison wardens.
In his documentary, Morris focuses with near-pornographic obsession on how those photos were taken, by whom and for what purpose. The wider context of the war on terrorism, the Bush administration's complicity in prisoner abuse, the moral and legal implications and the damage the scandal did to U.S. prestige worldwide is not even mentioned.
Such subject matter was never going to find a wide audience, especially theatrically. But this Sony Pictures Classics release faces another challenge: A much more encompassing film, Rory Kennedy's The Ghosts of Abu Ghraib, made a year earlier for HBO, covered the identical territory -- even to the point of duplicating some interviews -- and that film did explore the context of the scandal.
Morris draws on three sources for his film: The photos themselves of Iraqi detainees being physically abused, sexually humiliated and in one instance the body of a prisoner evidently tortured to death; interviews with the soldiers who took the photos or appeared in them; and re-created scenes with actors portraying events surrounded the infamous photographic sessions.
Where in Kennedy's docu the soldiers wondered in amazement how they ever got involved in such appalling behavior, Morris' questions put them on the defensive. They point fingers, the women blame the men, the photographers insist they only wanted to document the abuse, and everyone keeps saying they never really hurt anyone. In truth, daily shelling of the prison by insurgents and constant threats of violence by prisoners did create an extremely unhealthy psychological state where illegal orders were obeyed promptly.
Morris' interviews rarely rise above the level of sergeants. He did get on camera Janis Karpinski, who as commander of the military prison brigade in Iraq was a central figure of the scandal and she doesn't mince words. But the film never follows up on her allegations. She mentions that the military intelligence interrogators answered to a General Miller but the film never explains that this is Major Gen. Geoffrey Miller, formerly head of prison operations at Guanatanamo Bay, who was ordered by Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld to bring his methods to Abu Ghraib.
Instead, Morris keeps returning again and again to those photos and in one instance a video and the time frames in which they were taken. It seems like Morris -- no pun intended -- misses the bigger picture.
The film does make a solid point that in at least once instance an Iraqi who was willing to cooperate and give information shut up forever following his humiliation. A soldier relates that one detainee in this purgatory was a mere taxi driver caught up in a sweep of adult males by the U.S. military.
The restaging of the events surrounded these humiliation is in questionable taste, though. What purpose does it serve for actors to recreate these incidents when we already have such strong photographic proof? These sequences, often tricked out with elaborate slow motion, a few optical effects and Danny Elfman's overwrought musical score, put a Hollywood gloss on "SOP" that ill befits its subject.
The interviews are the most impressive element of the film. Despite the pain and shattered lives, these soldiers are willing to face the camera -- and themselves -- to try to make sense out of completely senseless actions that never advanced the American cause in Iraq. This is the real value of SOP.
STANDARD OPERATING PROCEDURE
Sony Pictures Classics
Participant Prods.
Credits:
Screenwriter-director: Errol Morris
Producers: Julie Ahlberg, Errol Morris
Directors of photography: Robert Chappell, Robert Richardson
Music: Danny Elfman
Editor: Andy Grieve
Running time -- 121 minutes
MPAA rating: R...
BERLIN -- Errol Morris looks at the abuse and torture of prisoners by U.S. soldiers in the Abu Ghraib prison in Baghdad with a peculiar fixation in Standard Operating Procedure. The scandal, of course, came to light in 2004 through photographs taken by the Army members who served as prison wardens.
In his documentary, Morris focuses with near-pornographic obsession on how those photos were taken, by whom and for what purpose. The wider context of the war on terrorism, the Bush administration's complicity in prisoner abuse, the moral and legal implications and the damage the scandal did to U.S. prestige worldwide is not even mentioned.
Such subject matter was never going to find a wide audience, especially theatrically. But this Sony Pictures Classics release faces another challenge: A much more encompassing film, Rory Kennedy's The Ghosts of Abu Ghraib, made a year earlier for HBO, covered the identical territory -- even to the point of duplicating some interviews -- and that film did explore the context of the scandal.
Morris draws on three sources for his film: The photos themselves of Iraqi detainees being physically abused, sexually humiliated and in one instance the body of a prisoner evidently tortured to death; interviews with the soldiers who took the photos or appeared in them; and re-created scenes with actors portraying events surrounded the infamous photographic sessions.
Where in Kennedy's docu the soldiers wondered in amazement how they ever got involved in such appalling behavior, Morris' questions put them on the defensive. They point fingers, the women blame the men, the photographers insist they only wanted to document the abuse, and everyone keeps saying they never really hurt anyone. In truth, daily shelling of the prison by insurgents and constant threats of violence by prisoners did create an extremely unhealthy psychological state where illegal orders were obeyed promptly.
Morris' interviews rarely rise above the level of sergeants. He did get on camera Janis Karpinski, who as commander of the military prison brigade in Iraq was a central figure of the scandal and she doesn't mince words. But the film never follows up on her allegations. She mentions that the military intelligence interrogators answered to a General Miller but the film never explains that this is Major Gen. Geoffrey Miller, formerly head of prison operations at Guanatanamo Bay, who was ordered by Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld to bring his methods to Abu Ghraib.
Instead, Morris keeps returning again and again to those photos and in one instance a video and the time frames in which they were taken. It seems like Morris -- no pun intended -- misses the bigger picture.
The film does make a solid point that in at least once instance an Iraqi who was willing to cooperate and give information shut up forever following his humiliation. A soldier relates that one detainee in this purgatory was a mere taxi driver caught up in a sweep of adult males by the U.S. military.
The restaging of the events surrounded these humiliation is in questionable taste, though. What purpose does it serve for actors to recreate these incidents when we already have such strong photographic proof? These sequences, often tricked out with elaborate slow motion, a few optical effects and Danny Elfman's overwrought musical score, put a Hollywood gloss on "SOP" that ill befits its subject.
The interviews are the most impressive element of the film. Despite the pain and shattered lives, these soldiers are willing to face the camera -- and themselves -- to try to make sense out of completely senseless actions that never advanced the American cause in Iraq. This is the real value of SOP.
STANDARD OPERATING PROCEDURE
Sony Pictures Classics
Participant Prods.
Credits:
Screenwriter-director: Errol Morris
Producers: Julie Ahlberg, Errol Morris
Directors of photography: Robert Chappell, Robert Richardson
Music: Danny Elfman
Editor: Andy Grieve
Running time -- 121 minutes
MPAA rating: R...
- 2/14/2008
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
PARK CITY -- The three people director Rory Kennedy would most like to see her documentary Ghosts of Abu Ghraib are George W. Bush, Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld. Unfortunately, they probably won't, but many Americans will get the opportunity when HBO gives the film a limited theatrical release prior to its airing in February. In these troubled times, it should be required viewing for all thoughtful citizens.
Not only does the film thoroughly and skillfully explain the context in which something as heinous as Abu Ghraib could happen, it attempts to understand the psychology of those involved. Interviews with members of military intelligence, military police, inmates from the prison and experts on the legal and moral implications of torture, create a complete and disturbing view of a tragedy far more complex than the work of "a few bad apples."
The film is framed by black-and-white footage from a 1961 documentary of a Yale University study in which recruits were required to administer 450 volts of electricity to people they didn't know. The point of the study was to observe an individual's willingness to inflict pain when ordered to do so, which, according to Kennedy, is what happened at Abu Ghraib.
The MPs whom Kennedy interviews are seemingly mild-mannered, even likable people who were forced into a job as prison guards for which they had no training. One of them, Javal Davis says, "the place turned me into a monster," a feeling echoed by others. This was not what innocent-faced MI officer Israel Rivera, only 21 at the time, or MP Sabrina Harman, fresh out of basic training, signed on for. After September 11 they wanted to defend their country and do some good. So they didn't question the torture they witnessed, and in some cases administered, because these were, after all, terrorists of the worst kind. (Ironically, as the film points out, none of the prisoners were ever charged.)
In the bigger picture, the film convincingly traces an administration policy that laid the groundwork for these atrocities. Scott Horton, chairman of the committee on international law for the New York City Bar Assn., cites a 2003 Pentagon intelligence briefing in which Rumsfeld called for the "gitmoizing" of Iraq's prison, which lead to the assignment of Major Gen. Geoffrey Miller, formerly head of prison operations at Guanatanamo Bay, to bring his methods to Abu Ghraib.
Other witnesses, including a retired judge advocate general of the Navy, connect the dots between the acts in the prison and the administration's decision to redefine the terms of torture in ways contrary to those established by the Geneva Convention in 1948.
The photographs and grainy homemade videos shot inside the prison that Kennedy and her team have collected are no less shocking today than when the story broke in 2003. And cinematographer Tom Hurwitz has done an outstanding job shooting the interviews, especially the prisoners. Close-ups on their face and forehead suggest the fractured souls they have become. In one instance, an ex-inmate movingly details the murder of his father in Abu Ghraib, while another kisses the photograph of his dead brother.
This is clearly not an uplifting chapter in American history and it is difficult to watch at times. But as a restorative for the values this country aspires to and a condemnation of the injustices at Abu Ghraib, it is an important and eloquent piece of filmmaking.
GHOSTS OF ABU GHRAIB
HBO Documentary Films
Moxie Firecracker Films
Credits: Director: Rory Kennedy; Writer: Jack Youngelson; Producers: Rory Kennedy, Liz Garbus, Jack Youngelson; Director of Photography: Tom Hurwitz; Music: Miriam Cutler; Editor: Sari Gilman
No MPAA rating, running time: 82 minutes.
Not only does the film thoroughly and skillfully explain the context in which something as heinous as Abu Ghraib could happen, it attempts to understand the psychology of those involved. Interviews with members of military intelligence, military police, inmates from the prison and experts on the legal and moral implications of torture, create a complete and disturbing view of a tragedy far more complex than the work of "a few bad apples."
The film is framed by black-and-white footage from a 1961 documentary of a Yale University study in which recruits were required to administer 450 volts of electricity to people they didn't know. The point of the study was to observe an individual's willingness to inflict pain when ordered to do so, which, according to Kennedy, is what happened at Abu Ghraib.
The MPs whom Kennedy interviews are seemingly mild-mannered, even likable people who were forced into a job as prison guards for which they had no training. One of them, Javal Davis says, "the place turned me into a monster," a feeling echoed by others. This was not what innocent-faced MI officer Israel Rivera, only 21 at the time, or MP Sabrina Harman, fresh out of basic training, signed on for. After September 11 they wanted to defend their country and do some good. So they didn't question the torture they witnessed, and in some cases administered, because these were, after all, terrorists of the worst kind. (Ironically, as the film points out, none of the prisoners were ever charged.)
In the bigger picture, the film convincingly traces an administration policy that laid the groundwork for these atrocities. Scott Horton, chairman of the committee on international law for the New York City Bar Assn., cites a 2003 Pentagon intelligence briefing in which Rumsfeld called for the "gitmoizing" of Iraq's prison, which lead to the assignment of Major Gen. Geoffrey Miller, formerly head of prison operations at Guanatanamo Bay, to bring his methods to Abu Ghraib.
Other witnesses, including a retired judge advocate general of the Navy, connect the dots between the acts in the prison and the administration's decision to redefine the terms of torture in ways contrary to those established by the Geneva Convention in 1948.
The photographs and grainy homemade videos shot inside the prison that Kennedy and her team have collected are no less shocking today than when the story broke in 2003. And cinematographer Tom Hurwitz has done an outstanding job shooting the interviews, especially the prisoners. Close-ups on their face and forehead suggest the fractured souls they have become. In one instance, an ex-inmate movingly details the murder of his father in Abu Ghraib, while another kisses the photograph of his dead brother.
This is clearly not an uplifting chapter in American history and it is difficult to watch at times. But as a restorative for the values this country aspires to and a condemnation of the injustices at Abu Ghraib, it is an important and eloquent piece of filmmaking.
GHOSTS OF ABU GHRAIB
HBO Documentary Films
Moxie Firecracker Films
Credits: Director: Rory Kennedy; Writer: Jack Youngelson; Producers: Rory Kennedy, Liz Garbus, Jack Youngelson; Director of Photography: Tom Hurwitz; Music: Miriam Cutler; Editor: Sari Gilman
No MPAA rating, running time: 82 minutes.
- 1/20/2007
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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