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12 articles from 2008

16 July 2008 3:55 PM, PDT | From screeninglog.com | See recent screeninglog news

Documentaries are a fascinating way to learn a lot more about someone or something. Okay, some documentaries are intended to deliver a certain message or reflect a personal opinion (Michael Moore, anyone?), but most of the ones I’ve seen so far taught me a lot more about a person or an event important or special enough to rouse my curiosity.

One documentary I am particularly excited about is James Marsh’s “Man on Wire,” a film about tightrope walker Philippe Petit, who performed an illegal dance on a wire rigged between the twin towers in New York City in 1974.

Playing at several film festivals around the world, “Man in Wire” already won numerous awards, including the audience award for best documentary at the Los Angeles Film Festival and the Standard Life audience award at this year’s Edinburgh International Film Festival.

A great trailer for the film is now online,

Franck Tabouring

29 May 2008 2:05 PM, PDT | From avclub.com | See recent The AV Club news

Why do people get bent out of shape about athletes using performance-enhancing drugs, but not when athletes use medical procedures and training methods to produce exactly the same effects, with roughly the same amount of expended effort? Are anabolic steroids actually more dangerous than other kinds of drugs or supplements, or is the evidence against them merely anecdotal? Christopher Bell's first-person documentary Bigger, Stronger, Faster* attempts to look beyond the hysteria and consider exactly how and why a culture that values physical power has internalized the idea that steroid use in sports is a scourge. Bell's main reason for his inquiry? Both of his brothers have been using for years. The family angle gives Bigger, Stronger, Faster* a personal and emotional underpinning that almost justifies the movie's adherence to the pro forma Michael Moore style. Bell opens with the telltale wry tone of the modern issue doc, poking fun.

Noel Murray

26 May 2008 5:13 AM, PDT | From wenn.com | See recent WENN news

Filmmaker Michael Moore is "outraged" by the widespread criticism Madonna has received for adopting a baby from Africa.

The Material Girl hitmaker produced and narrated documentary I am Because We Are after recently travelling to Malawi, where she adopted toddler David Banda.

And Moore has hit back at children's rights groups who have accused her of using her celebrity status to fast track the adoption process, reports Gigwise.com.

Defending the star, Moore says the criticism of Madonna was "just one more reminder to me of just how dishonest so much of the media is in this country (U.S.)".

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23 May 2008 6:09 AM, PDT | From Digitalspy | See recent digitalspy news

Michael Moore has praised Madonna's new film about the plight of orphans in Malawi. The documentary-maker announced at Cannes that Madonna will appear for a screening of I Am Because We Are at his Traverse City Film Festival on August 2. Talking about the project, which the singer narrated and produced, he said: "She's sort of entered my realm. When I saw it, I thought, 'Wow, it's like she's been making these films for years'. "She takes the viewer through a very personal journey and tries to connect us, living here in the Us, giving us a window (more)

Beth Hilton

17 May 2008 7:03 AM, PDT | From wenn.com | See recent WENN news

Controversial filmmaker Michael Moore confesses he shouldn't be allowed to make a sequel to his controversial documentary Fahrenheit 9/11 - because its plot is "toxic".

The Oscar winner has signed a deal to begin work on the follow-up to his hit film, and is currently offering the idea to foreign buyers at the Cannes Film Festival in France.

The original film took aim at the Bush government in the aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist attacks in September 2001.

But Moore admits making another controversial documentary will be "risky".

He says, "It's something I shouldn't make, something that is dangerous."

The new movie will pick up where the last one left off, following Bush's plummeting ratings, the struggling U.S. economy and the ongoing war in Iraq.

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14 May 2008 6:33 PM, PDT | From wenn.com | See recent WENN news

Filmmaker Michael Moore is planning a second attack on U.S. President George W. Bush in a sequel to his controversial documentary Fahrenheit 9/11.

The Oscar winner has signed a deal to begin work on the follow up to his hit film, and is currently offering the idea to foreign buyers at the Cannes Film Festival in France. The original film took aim at the Bush government in the aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist attacks in September, 2001.

The new movie will pick up where the last one left off, following Bush's plummeting ratings, the struggling U.S. economy, and the ongoing war in Iraq.

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14 May 2008 2:03 AM, PDT | From Digitalspy | See recent digitalspy news

Michael Moore's next film will be a follow-up to his controversial 2004 documentary Fahrenheit 9/11.

The film, rumoured to be titled Fahrenheit 9/11½, will focus on the the ongoing war in Iraq, George W. Bush's approval rating decline and the economic recession.

Nick Meyer, President of Paramount Vantage, which will co-finance and distribute the film, said Moore is "one of the most inspiring, innovative and thought-provoking filmmakers of our generation".

"With his . . .

Simon Reynolds

6 May 2008 4:09 PM, PDT | From ifc.com | See recent IFC news

By Aaron Hillis

It was only a matter of time before renowned British documentarian Nick Broomfield ("Kurt & Courtney," "Biggie & Tupac," "Aileen Wuornos: Life and Death of a Serial Killer"), whose on-camera muckraking begat Michael Moore and Morgan Spurlock, would tackle the Iraq War. But what's surprising for a guy who's been developing his doc style since the early '70s is that "Battle for Haditha," based on a 2005 tragedy in which U.S. Marines slaughtered 24 Iraqi men, women and children as kneejerk retribution for an Ied attack, isn't a documentary at all. A progressive but blisteringly angry re-enactment that may be the first Iraq-themed narrative with any intelligent sense of the complexities at hand, Broomfield's drama casts real-life Iraqi civilians, insurgents and U.S. marines to depict the humanity from each side of the story. I sat with a no-nonsense Broomfield at Nyc's Film Forum to discuss the film,

Aaron Hillis

28 March 2008 9:12 AM, PDT | From wenn.com | See recent WENN news

Filmmaker Michael Moore has been cleared over allegations of defamation relating to TV interview footage he used in his documentary Fahrenheit 9/11 - without asking the respondent's permission.

U.S. Army Sergeant Peter Damon, an Iraq war veteran who lost both of his arms when a helicopter he and a colleague were servicing exploded, claims he was left humiliated and emotionally distressed after Moore included video footage of the traumatic incident in the 2004 film.

Fahrenheit 9/11 documents the affects the 2001 terrorist attacks had on the U.S., and looks into Moore's argument that President George W. Bush's administration allegedly used the event to press ahead with an unjust war in the Middle East.

Damon sued Moore for his inclusion in film, in which he comments about a new painkiller used by the military on wounded soldiers.

He alleged the way the video clip was used makes it look like he was "voicing a complaint about the war effort". Instead, he claims he was complaining about the "excruciating type of pain" of his injuries.

When Damon's original lawsuit was thrown out of court, he took the case to the federal appeals court.

However, in a ruling on 21 March, Judge Aida Delgado-Colon of the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that while Damon's frustration at the matter was understandable, the video footage was not considered defamatory and dismissed the lawsuit altogether.

Delgado-Colon told the court: "There is no reason to believe that a reasonable member of the military or veteran community would conclude that Damon's appearance in the documentary conveyed a defamatory meaning, and therefore lowered his reputation or subjected him to scorn, hatred, ridicule or contempt in that community."

Damon is now looking to challenge the decision and take the case to the U.S. Supreme Court.

His lawyer Philip Moran says, "He totally disagrees with the tenor of Michael Moore's position. He just felt he never should have been in the movie without his permission."

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10 March 2008 1:57 PM, PDT | From ifc.com | See recent IFC news

By Neil Pedley

This week, our cup runneth over with a "Karate Kid" knockoff, a shot-for-shot remake and more documentaries than Michael Moore can shake an overpriced hot dog at.

"Blind Mountain"

The recipient of plenty of acclaim at last year's Cannes Film Festival, director Li Yang has a casual yet immediate style that's been touted as something of a Chinese answer to Ken Loach. "Blind Mountain" offers an uncomfortable but powerful indictment of China's one child policy and the sex trade that has flourished under it. The film follows the desperate struggle of a young woman who accepts a job in a remote mountain village, only to discover that she has unwittingly been sold into marriage as a slave.

Opens in New York.

"Doomsday"

Before anyone had heard of Angelina Jolie, model-turned-actress Rhona Mitra was the original face of "Tomb Raider"'s Lara Croft. Ten years later, she's traded

Neil Pedley

21 February 2008 10:28 AM, PST | From Studio Briefing | See recent Studio Briefing news

Oscar voters on Sunday will have a chance to attend screenings of all five nominated films in the documentary category. Three are anti-war films. Michael Moore, who is among the nominees for his film Sicko about the U.S. health-care system, told the French news agency Agence France Press Wednesday, "The Academy has nominated three anti-war films: the thing that I was booed off the stage for is now being honored." He was referring to the negative reception he received in 2003 when, in accepting the documentary Oscar for his film Bowling for Columbine, he declared, "We live in a time when we have a man sending us to war for fictitious reasons. ... We are against this war, Mr. Bush. Shame on you!" On Wednesday, Moore remarked, "Times have changed." Among this year's nominated documentaries is Charles Ferguson's No End in Sight. Ferguson, a former member of the Brookings Institution thinktank, spent $2 million of his own money to pay for a film in which more than 70 people who were involved in managing the war after the invasion were interviewed. He told Afp that he made the film because he had become "quite disturbed at the quality of media coverage of the Iraq war."

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24 January 2008 | From wenn.com | See recent WENN news

Michael Moore is amazed his movie Sicko has received an Academy Award nomination, because he thought he'd never be invited back after slamming U.S. President George W. Bush onstage in 2003. Moore outraged many with his controversial speech, which Oscars producers cut short, when picking up the Best Documentary award for Bowling For Columbine. But the 53-year-old was pleased to hear his film about America's health care problems had picked up a Best Documentary Academy Award nomination on Tuesday. He says, "I'm appreciative that they allowed me back in the building (Kodak Theater). If I'm fortunate enough to stand on that stage again, I will be true to myself and very gracious and grateful for the acknowledgment, but I would start by finishing the last 10 seconds of the previous speech." And the famously unstylish filmmaker adds, "I would thank my wardrobe designer and hair stylist."

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12 articles from 2008