DVD Playhouse—February 2012
By Allen Gardner
To Kill A Mockingbird 50th Anniversary Edition (Universal) Robert Mulligan’s film of Harper Lee’s landmark novel pits a liberal-minded lawyer (Gregory Peck) against a small Southern town’s racism when defending a black man (Brock Peters) on trumped-up rape charges. One of the 1960s’ first landmark films, a truly stirring human drama that hits all the right notes and isn’t dated a bit. Robert Duvall makes his screen debut (sans dialogue) as the enigmatic Boo Radley. DVD and Blu-ray double edition. Bonuses: Two feature-length documentaries: Fearful Symmetry and A Conversation with Gregory Peck; Featurettes; Excerpts and film clips from Gregory Peck’s Oscar acceptance speech and AFI Lifetime Achievement Award; Commentary by Mulligan and producer Alan J. Pakula; Trailer. Widescreen. Dolby and DTS 2.0 mono.
Outrage: Way Of The Yakuza (Magnolia) After a brief hiatus from his signature oeuvre of Japanese gangster flicks,...
By Allen Gardner
To Kill A Mockingbird 50th Anniversary Edition (Universal) Robert Mulligan’s film of Harper Lee’s landmark novel pits a liberal-minded lawyer (Gregory Peck) against a small Southern town’s racism when defending a black man (Brock Peters) on trumped-up rape charges. One of the 1960s’ first landmark films, a truly stirring human drama that hits all the right notes and isn’t dated a bit. Robert Duvall makes his screen debut (sans dialogue) as the enigmatic Boo Radley. DVD and Blu-ray double edition. Bonuses: Two feature-length documentaries: Fearful Symmetry and A Conversation with Gregory Peck; Featurettes; Excerpts and film clips from Gregory Peck’s Oscar acceptance speech and AFI Lifetime Achievement Award; Commentary by Mulligan and producer Alan J. Pakula; Trailer. Widescreen. Dolby and DTS 2.0 mono.
Outrage: Way Of The Yakuza (Magnolia) After a brief hiatus from his signature oeuvre of Japanese gangster flicks,...
- 2/26/2012
- by The Hollywood Interview.com
- The Hollywood Interview
Richard Curtis sets out to the high seas to rock our world, Roland Emmerich just obliterates it and Wes Anderson reenvisions it in stop-motion animation, while as a group of documentaries ponder real world issues of war, God, poverty and Glenn Gould.
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"2012"
On behalf of moviegoers everywhere, we here at IFC would like to thank that schoolyard bully who must have so traumatized a young Roland Emmerich that he has spent his recent career ritualistically laying waste to our world one famous landmark at a time. Having previous employed such excuses for mass destruction as alien invasions and global warming, this time cinema's most destructive director turns to an ancient Mayan prophecy that foretells the end of all mankind, and once again batters humanity -- specifically John Cusack and assorted stragglers -- like the...
Download this in audio form (MP3: 16:59 minutes, 15.6 Mb)
Subscribe to the In Theaters podcast: [Xml] [iTunes]
"2012"
On behalf of moviegoers everywhere, we here at IFC would like to thank that schoolyard bully who must have so traumatized a young Roland Emmerich that he has spent his recent career ritualistically laying waste to our world one famous landmark at a time. Having previous employed such excuses for mass destruction as alien invasions and global warming, this time cinema's most destructive director turns to an ancient Mayan prophecy that foretells the end of all mankind, and once again batters humanity -- specifically John Cusack and assorted stragglers -- like the...
- 11/9/2009
- by Neil Pedley
- ifc.com
- “Why do we fight?” is a rhetorical question with an endless amount of answers. But that doesn’t mean that there can’t be opinions formed by facts that may acceptably serve as answers. When we hear the word “War” we can only shake our head and wish there wasn’t such a thing. Eugene Jarecki’s new documentary tries to narrow down the reasons for the modern War. It tries to probe those reasons without taking sides. In the end, “Why We Fight” turns into a university discourse; a video presentation that enlightens the minds of the audience instead of gearing them in a particular direction. Why We Fight covers the case of Weapons of Mass Destruction, the military industrial complex, the power and money of weapon manufactures and their intertwined relationship with the government, the case of oil, America’s policing of nations
- 1/20/2006
- IONCINEMA.com
Sony Pictures Classics has acquired North American rights to Eugene Jarecki's Why We Fight, winner of the Grand Jury Prize for documentaries at this year's Sundance Film Festival. Inspired by President Eisenhower's farewell speech in which he coined the phrase "military industrial complex," the film examines American foreign policy and its reliance on military rather than diplomatic solutions. It includes interviews with such figures as Gore Vidal, William Kristol, Chalmers Johnson, Richard Perle and Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz.
- 5/25/2005
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
PARK CITY -- The term "military-industrial complex" was coined by Dwight D. Eisenhower in his farewell address to the nation at the end of his second term as president in 1961. In ensuing years the phrase has become so commonplace, it has ceased to have any meaning. Now Eugene Jarecki's shattering documentary Why We Fight examines the extent to which the military-industrial complex not only profits from war, but also becomes a force that makes war happen. Winner of the best American documentary prize at Sundance, the thoughtful and extremely well-made film could find a sizable audience of concerned citizens in theaters and later on video.
Before the credits are over, the film jumps to life with the surprising presence of the grandfatherly Eisenhower, the five-star general who led allied forces in Europe during World War II, warning the nation of "the grave consequences" of creating a permanent arms industry. Using that as a starting point, Jarecki argues that the wars of the last 50 years -- Korea, Vietnam and now Iraq -- have been motivated more by profits than policy. Interviews with Eisenhower's son John and granddaughter Susan highlight the president's growing concern that the military build-up following World War II was a dangerous precedent for the country. Weighing in from two sides of the political spectrum are Sen. John McCain, who notes that "the complex is so pervasive, it's become invisible," to William Kristol, head of the neo-con think tank the Project for the New American Century, an architect of American foreign policy. Chalmers Johnson, an ex-CIA operative and critic of current developments, and Richard Perle, former adviser to the Bush administration, square off for and against.
Jarecki, who directed the revealing The Trials of Henry Kissinger, has learned to allow the material to speak for itself, so when Perle simplistically argues that pre-emptive strikes are akin to defending yourself against personal attack, he seems merely foolish. Summing up American foreign policy of the last 50 years, author Gore Vidal says this is "the United States of Amnesia," where everything is forgotten by Monday morning.
But the impact of Why We Fight, a title taken from the name of Frank Capra's WWII propaganda films for the State Department, goes well beyond a collection of talking heads. Jarecki personalizes the effects of war by including individual stories. One of them is Wilton Sekzer, a retired New York City cop who lost a son on Sept. 11 and petitioned the government to put his son's name on a bomb destined to be dropped on Iraq. When President Bush finally admits that Iraq had no hand in the terrorist attacks, Sekzer is disillusioned and feels that the government "exploited my feelings of patriotism for the death of my son."
Jarecki captures the price of the military-industrial complex in human terms, but sometimes the film's focus seems to wander to presenting arguments against the war. It is necessary to accept Jarecki's premise that the Iraq war is the result of America's imperialistic agenda in order to see corporate greed as the underlying cause.
But he makes his case convincingly, pointing out that we spend more on defense than all other parts of our budget combined. When war becomes that profitable, we have seen and will continue to see more of it. Jarecki uses graphic war footage, a visit to a weapons trade show and interviews with retired military officers -- stitched together seamlessly by editor Nancy Kennedy -- to dispel the notion advanced by presidents Johnson, Reagan and Bush, that America has been a force for peace in the world. Instead, what we see is a militaristic nation in which capitalism is at war with democracy -- and capitalism is winning.
WHY WE FIGHT
A BBC Storyville presentation of a Charlotte Street film in association with BBC and Arte
Credits:
Director: Eugene Jarecki
Writer: Jarecki
Producer: Susannah Shipman, Jarecki
Executive producers: Roy Ackerman, Nick Fraser, Hans Robert Eisenhauer
Directors of photography: Etienne Sauret, May-Ying Welch, Brett Wiley, Foster Wiley, Chris Li, Sam Cullman
Music: Robert Miller
Editor: Nancy Kennedy
No MPAA rating
Running time -- 90 minutes...
Before the credits are over, the film jumps to life with the surprising presence of the grandfatherly Eisenhower, the five-star general who led allied forces in Europe during World War II, warning the nation of "the grave consequences" of creating a permanent arms industry. Using that as a starting point, Jarecki argues that the wars of the last 50 years -- Korea, Vietnam and now Iraq -- have been motivated more by profits than policy. Interviews with Eisenhower's son John and granddaughter Susan highlight the president's growing concern that the military build-up following World War II was a dangerous precedent for the country. Weighing in from two sides of the political spectrum are Sen. John McCain, who notes that "the complex is so pervasive, it's become invisible," to William Kristol, head of the neo-con think tank the Project for the New American Century, an architect of American foreign policy. Chalmers Johnson, an ex-CIA operative and critic of current developments, and Richard Perle, former adviser to the Bush administration, square off for and against.
Jarecki, who directed the revealing The Trials of Henry Kissinger, has learned to allow the material to speak for itself, so when Perle simplistically argues that pre-emptive strikes are akin to defending yourself against personal attack, he seems merely foolish. Summing up American foreign policy of the last 50 years, author Gore Vidal says this is "the United States of Amnesia," where everything is forgotten by Monday morning.
But the impact of Why We Fight, a title taken from the name of Frank Capra's WWII propaganda films for the State Department, goes well beyond a collection of talking heads. Jarecki personalizes the effects of war by including individual stories. One of them is Wilton Sekzer, a retired New York City cop who lost a son on Sept. 11 and petitioned the government to put his son's name on a bomb destined to be dropped on Iraq. When President Bush finally admits that Iraq had no hand in the terrorist attacks, Sekzer is disillusioned and feels that the government "exploited my feelings of patriotism for the death of my son."
Jarecki captures the price of the military-industrial complex in human terms, but sometimes the film's focus seems to wander to presenting arguments against the war. It is necessary to accept Jarecki's premise that the Iraq war is the result of America's imperialistic agenda in order to see corporate greed as the underlying cause.
But he makes his case convincingly, pointing out that we spend more on defense than all other parts of our budget combined. When war becomes that profitable, we have seen and will continue to see more of it. Jarecki uses graphic war footage, a visit to a weapons trade show and interviews with retired military officers -- stitched together seamlessly by editor Nancy Kennedy -- to dispel the notion advanced by presidents Johnson, Reagan and Bush, that America has been a force for peace in the world. Instead, what we see is a militaristic nation in which capitalism is at war with democracy -- and capitalism is winning.
WHY WE FIGHT
A BBC Storyville presentation of a Charlotte Street film in association with BBC and Arte
Credits:
Director: Eugene Jarecki
Writer: Jarecki
Producer: Susannah Shipman, Jarecki
Executive producers: Roy Ackerman, Nick Fraser, Hans Robert Eisenhauer
Directors of photography: Etienne Sauret, May-Ying Welch, Brett Wiley, Foster Wiley, Chris Li, Sam Cullman
Music: Robert Miller
Editor: Nancy Kennedy
No MPAA rating
Running time -- 90 minutes...
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