There is, a critic will argue, a great deal of value in finding and discussing the worst films of the year. All the films released in a given epoch are a reflection of the trends and ideas that produced them, and scoring the bottom of the barrel for the worst filmmaking, the worst ideas, and the most misguided thinking will provide a valuable analysis of where we are as a society. Worst-of lists are important and vital and should be written with enthusiasm. They also let critics blow off steam a little bit; we don't have the luxury to skip bad movies or avoid talking about the ones we hate. It's our job.
The Golden Raspberries, or the Razzies for short, however, lost sight of that value a while back. The annual Razzies announcement is usually a snarky affair that only serves to pick on the year's least popular blockbusters,...
The Golden Raspberries, or the Razzies for short, however, lost sight of that value a while back. The annual Razzies announcement is usually a snarky affair that only serves to pick on the year's least popular blockbusters,...
- 2/15/2024
- by Witney Seibold
- Slash Film
Some apotheosis of film culture has been reached with Freddy Got Fingered‘s addition to the Criterion Channel. Three years after we interviewed Tom Green about his consummate film maudit, it’s appearing on the service’s Razzie-centered program that also includes the now-admired likes of Cruising, Heaven’s Gate, Querelle, and Ishtar; the still-due likes of Under the Cherry Moon; and the more-contested Gigli, Swept Away, and Nicolas Cage-led Wicker Man. In all cases it’s an opportunity to reconsider one of the lamest, thin-gruel entities in modern culture.
A Jane Russell retro features von Sternberg’s Macao, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, and Raoul Walsh’s The Tall Men and The Revolt of Mamie Stover; streaming premieres will be held for Yuen Woo-ping’s Dreadnaught, Claire Simon’s Our Body, Ellie Foumbi’s Our Father, the Devil, the recently restored Sepa: Our Lord of Miracles, and The Passion of Rememberance.
A Jane Russell retro features von Sternberg’s Macao, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, and Raoul Walsh’s The Tall Men and The Revolt of Mamie Stover; streaming premieres will be held for Yuen Woo-ping’s Dreadnaught, Claire Simon’s Our Body, Ellie Foumbi’s Our Father, the Devil, the recently restored Sepa: Our Lord of Miracles, and The Passion of Rememberance.
- 2/14/2024
- by Nick Newman
- The Film Stage
Click here to read the full article.
The much-publicized backlash that has surrounded Andrew Dominik’s Nc-17 biopic Blonde has had the surprising, simultaneous effect of elevating interest in another Marilyn Monroe project that might otherwise have slipped into the past. In 2001, pioneering female filmmaker Joyce Chopra shot a two-part TV miniseries for CBS, adapting the very same Joyce Carol Oates novel Dominik would later spend over a decade bringing to screen for Netflix.
Dominik’s harrowing, nearly three-hour telling of the Marilyn story has been widely criticized for its almost exclusive focus on the many traumas of the Hollywood icon’s life, and for devoting little interest to the episodes where she exercised undeniable agency and self-determination. As The Hollywood Reporter’s lead critic David Rooney put it in his review, “This is a treatise on celebrity and the sex symbol that blurs not only reality with fantasy but also empathy with exploitation.
The much-publicized backlash that has surrounded Andrew Dominik’s Nc-17 biopic Blonde has had the surprising, simultaneous effect of elevating interest in another Marilyn Monroe project that might otherwise have slipped into the past. In 2001, pioneering female filmmaker Joyce Chopra shot a two-part TV miniseries for CBS, adapting the very same Joyce Carol Oates novel Dominik would later spend over a decade bringing to screen for Netflix.
Dominik’s harrowing, nearly three-hour telling of the Marilyn story has been widely criticized for its almost exclusive focus on the many traumas of the Hollywood icon’s life, and for devoting little interest to the episodes where she exercised undeniable agency and self-determination. As The Hollywood Reporter’s lead critic David Rooney put it in his review, “This is a treatise on celebrity and the sex symbol that blurs not only reality with fantasy but also empathy with exploitation.
- 10/13/2022
- by Patrick Brzeski
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
I see lots of talk about Grease as we mourn the loss of Olivia-Newton John, but let’s not forget the real crowning achievement of her career…
Xanadu (1980)
Director: Robert Greenwald
Stars: Olivia Newton-John, Gene Kelly, Michael Beck
Is There A Plot?
A muse from the heavens comes to Earth to better our world by… [checks notes]… helping a struggling artist and an elderly rich man achieve their newfound dream of opening up a roller disco.
What’S The Damage?
Xanadu is a legendary bad movie for many reasons. Razzies creator John J. B. Wilson hated it so much that it led him to invent an official award show to celebrate the worst films of the year. It also has the designation of being screen legend Gene Kelly’s final film before his death, a rainbow-colored pimple on the ass of a renowned career. But, perhaps worst of all, Xanadu’s critical...
Xanadu (1980)
Director: Robert Greenwald
Stars: Olivia Newton-John, Gene Kelly, Michael Beck
Is There A Plot?
A muse from the heavens comes to Earth to better our world by… [checks notes]… helping a struggling artist and an elderly rich man achieve their newfound dream of opening up a roller disco.
What’S The Damage?
Xanadu is a legendary bad movie for many reasons. Razzies creator John J. B. Wilson hated it so much that it led him to invent an official award show to celebrate the worst films of the year. It also has the designation of being screen legend Gene Kelly’s final film before his death, a rainbow-colored pimple on the ass of a renowned career. But, perhaps worst of all, Xanadu’s critical...
- 8/13/2022
- by Jason Adams
- JoBlo.com
As a slew of new voting legislation is being enacted across the country, Brave New Films is set to highlight voter suppression by the GOP in a new documentary, “Suppressed and Sabotaged 2022.”
The nonprofit film company led by Robert Greenwald hopes to help voters in states like Georgia, Texas and more as they “face even more barriers, misinformation, and confusion that could lead to disastrous consequences at the polls.”
The documentary highlights stories from voters in Arizona and Florida, in addition to Georgia and Texas, as they explain how they are directly impacted by these new pieces of legislation, with footage starting from the 2018 Georgia gubernatorial election between Stacey Abrams and Brian Kemp.
You can watch TheWrap’s exclusive trailer for “Suppressed and Sabotaged 2022” in the video above.
More specifically, “Suppressed and Sabotaged 2022” is set to examine “new and more dangerous brand of subversion laws,” which directly focus on election...
The nonprofit film company led by Robert Greenwald hopes to help voters in states like Georgia, Texas and more as they “face even more barriers, misinformation, and confusion that could lead to disastrous consequences at the polls.”
The documentary highlights stories from voters in Arizona and Florida, in addition to Georgia and Texas, as they explain how they are directly impacted by these new pieces of legislation, with footage starting from the 2018 Georgia gubernatorial election between Stacey Abrams and Brian Kemp.
You can watch TheWrap’s exclusive trailer for “Suppressed and Sabotaged 2022” in the video above.
More specifically, “Suppressed and Sabotaged 2022” is set to examine “new and more dangerous brand of subversion laws,” which directly focus on election...
- 4/1/2022
- by Andi Ortiz
- The Wrap
Exclusive: It’s been more than 40 years, but filmmaker Robert Greenwald remembers the call that came in from a man on the run. The caller, one of America’s most famous fugitives, used an assumed name.
“Robert, it’s Barry,” the man said in a gravelly voice. It wasn’t long before Greenwald discerned he was speaking with Abbie Hoffman, the “radical” leftist whose conviction in the celebrated Chicago Seven trial had been vacated. But a pending drug charge had prompted Hoffman to go on the lam.
“He would never say ‘Abbie’ [on the phone] because he was underground and assumed all the phones were tapped,” Greenwald recalls. “But I figured out pretty quickly that ‘Barry’ was Abbie.”
After that initial call Greenwald and Hoffman got to know each other and met up on occasion, in less than clandestine circumstances. Sometimes the setting was Venice Beach, not in a darkened café, but out in the sunshine,...
“Robert, it’s Barry,” the man said in a gravelly voice. It wasn’t long before Greenwald discerned he was speaking with Abbie Hoffman, the “radical” leftist whose conviction in the celebrated Chicago Seven trial had been vacated. But a pending drug charge had prompted Hoffman to go on the lam.
“He would never say ‘Abbie’ [on the phone] because he was underground and assumed all the phones were tapped,” Greenwald recalls. “But I figured out pretty quickly that ‘Barry’ was Abbie.”
After that initial call Greenwald and Hoffman got to know each other and met up on occasion, in less than clandestine circumstances. Sometimes the setting was Venice Beach, not in a darkened café, but out in the sunshine,...
- 11/4/2021
- by Matthew Carey
- Deadline Film + TV
One of the most important institutions in documentary film is under new leadership.
The International Documentary Association (IDA) announced the appointment Wednesday of Richard Ray “Rick” Perez as its new executive director, effective immediately. He replaces Simon Kilmurry, who had served as the IDA’s executive director since 2015.
Perez comes to the IDA with a wealth of experience in nonfiction, both as an executive and filmmaker. He most recently served as the director of acquisitions and distribution strategies at GBH World Channel, curating and acquiring documentaries for the digital platform’s three original series. Before that he was director of creative partnerships at the Sundance Institute “where he developed, designed, and led artist-based filmmaking programs, including Stories of Change,” according to the IDA. He also designed and led the Sundance Institute’s Documentary Story and Edit Lab in Beijing.
Perez’s filmmaking credits include directing Cesar’s Last Fast, a...
The International Documentary Association (IDA) announced the appointment Wednesday of Richard Ray “Rick” Perez as its new executive director, effective immediately. He replaces Simon Kilmurry, who had served as the IDA’s executive director since 2015.
Perez comes to the IDA with a wealth of experience in nonfiction, both as an executive and filmmaker. He most recently served as the director of acquisitions and distribution strategies at GBH World Channel, curating and acquiring documentaries for the digital platform’s three original series. Before that he was director of creative partnerships at the Sundance Institute “where he developed, designed, and led artist-based filmmaking programs, including Stories of Change,” according to the IDA. He also designed and led the Sundance Institute’s Documentary Story and Edit Lab in Beijing.
Perez’s filmmaking credits include directing Cesar’s Last Fast, a...
- 5/12/2021
- by Matthew Carey
- Deadline Film + TV
Here’s a startling statistic for you. In Mississippi, at the height of the Reconstruction era (which lasted until 1877), African-American voter registration stood at 67 percent. A century later, after America had defeated the Nazis and was being held up as a beacon of freedom, African-American voter registration in Mississippi stood at just three percent.
How could that have happened? Many factors, but a key one was domestic racial terrorism. In “All In: The Fight for Democracy,” a powerfully timely and absorbing documentary about voter suppression and the ongoing battle against it, the author and professor Carol Anderson tells the story of Maceo Snipes, who fought the fascists during World War II and felt like he’d earned some democracy for himself. He wasn’t intimidated by threats against the lives of African-Americans in his native Georgia; he had just come back from a war. So in 1946, he voted — and was...
How could that have happened? Many factors, but a key one was domestic racial terrorism. In “All In: The Fight for Democracy,” a powerfully timely and absorbing documentary about voter suppression and the ongoing battle against it, the author and professor Carol Anderson tells the story of Maceo Snipes, who fought the fascists during World War II and felt like he’d earned some democracy for himself. He wasn’t intimidated by threats against the lives of African-Americans in his native Georgia; he had just come back from a war. So in 1946, he voted — and was...
- 9/3/2020
- by Owen Gleiberman
- Variety Film + TV
In 2018, Stacey Abrams, having served in the Georgia House of Representatives for 10 years, ran as the Democratic candidate for governor of Georgia. She was the first African-American woman in the United States to be chosen as a gubernatorial nominee by one of the two major parties. Abrams had tremendous support, and after losing the election by just 50,000 votes, she sued the Georgia board of elections, citing multiple documented allegations of voter suppression. To this day, Abrams has refused to concede the election, and she’s right — there’s a powerful likelihood that the 2018 Georgia governor’s race was, in effect, stolen. That’s a moral, political, and legal outrage.
But as Robert Greenwald’s scary and galvanizing documentary “Suppressed: The Fight to Vote” demonstrates, the meaning of what happened in Georgia has implications that extend far beyond that race. As the film anatomizes, the Georgia election was a textbook case...
But as Robert Greenwald’s scary and galvanizing documentary “Suppressed: The Fight to Vote” demonstrates, the meaning of what happened in Georgia has implications that extend far beyond that race. As the film anatomizes, the Georgia election was a textbook case...
- 1/19/2020
- by Owen Gleiberman
- Variety Film + TV
The 9-year-old lone survivor of a Georgia knife attack that killed her four siblings and her father alleged to child welfare workers that her mother asked for forgiveness before cutting her and said the girl was “going to the sky to see Jesus,” People confirms.
A report from the Georgia Division of Family and Children Services, obtained by People, alleges that Diana Romero — 33-year-old Isabel Martinez’s only child to survive the woman’s alleged July 6 attack against her husband and children — cried when her mother said this.
She told her mother she did not want to see Jesus, the document states.
A report from the Georgia Division of Family and Children Services, obtained by People, alleges that Diana Romero — 33-year-old Isabel Martinez’s only child to survive the woman’s alleged July 6 attack against her husband and children — cried when her mother said this.
She told her mother she did not want to see Jesus, the document states.
- 7/20/2017
- by Chris Harris
- PEOPLE.com
The 9-year-old lone survivor of a stabbing rampage is still recovering at a Georgia hospital as her mother is accused in her assault and the deaths of her four siblings and their father.
Diana Romero was the only one found alive in the family’s home in Loganville, Georgia, on Thursday after her mother, 33-year-old Isabel Martinez, allegedly stabbed her husband and other children to death.
“She is surrounded by loving family members who are helping care for her,” police said in a tweet on Friday.
Here are five things to know about the case.
1. The Youngest Victim Was 2 Years...
Diana Romero was the only one found alive in the family’s home in Loganville, Georgia, on Thursday after her mother, 33-year-old Isabel Martinez, allegedly stabbed her husband and other children to death.
“She is surrounded by loving family members who are helping care for her,” police said in a tweet on Friday.
Here are five things to know about the case.
1. The Youngest Victim Was 2 Years...
- 7/11/2017
- by Char Adams
- PEOPLE.com
The AppleThe musical possesses a unique form of power rarely afforded to other Hollywood genres. In the words of film scholar Rick Altman, “The musical invites us to forget familiar notions of plot, psychological motivation, and causal relationships.” In contrast to other commercial genres, the musical is almost one-of-a-kind in its ability to arrest time and space, to suspend disbelief, to defy our lived understanding of human relationships and even the very conventions of filmgoing. In what other mainstream genre can fictional characters get away with looking into the camera lens so often? Dramatic logic is replaced in the Hollywood musical by spectacle and raw emotional appeal, with singing as the defining device for such purely cinematic priorities.But what happens to the musical when singing is taken out of it? This was the conundrum of the short-lived disco musical, a sub-genre that ended as soon as it began.Popular...
- 7/10/2017
- MUBI
The Georgia mother accused of stabbing her husband and four of their five children to death this week smiled in court on Friday and gave a thumbs-up to photographers as she appeared in front of a judge for the first time since Thursday’s alleged attack.
Isabel Martinez, 33, told Gwinnett County Magistrate Judge Michael Thorpe that she doesn’t want an attorney as she faces multiple murder charges in the deaths of her husband, 33-year-old Martin Romero, and four of their children: Isabela Martinez, 10; Dacota Romero, 7; Dillan Romero, 4 and 2-year-old Axel Romero.
Martinez wagged her finger at the judge and...
Isabel Martinez, 33, told Gwinnett County Magistrate Judge Michael Thorpe that she doesn’t want an attorney as she faces multiple murder charges in the deaths of her husband, 33-year-old Martin Romero, and four of their children: Isabela Martinez, 10; Dacota Romero, 7; Dillan Romero, 4 and 2-year-old Axel Romero.
Martinez wagged her finger at the judge and...
- 7/7/2017
- by Char Adams
- PEOPLE.com
Exclusive: Hollywood has begun lining up to help get the word out on Robert Greenwald’s documentary feature Oscar contender Making A Killing: Guns, Greed And The NRA. Michael Douglas, Alec Baldwin and Tony Goldwyn are lending their names and voices and have done videos to help promote the film, which was executive produced by Beasts Of No Nation exec prod Bill Benenson and his wife Laurie. But so has California Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom. And, Hillary Clinton’s running mate…...
- 10/18/2016
- Deadline
In his Oscar-winning documentary “Bowling for Columbine” (2002), Michael Moore confronts Charlton Heston and Kmart executives, Michigan militiamen and the producer of “Cops,” but his quixotic search is for the structure itself, the undercarriage of American violence. Though his starting point is the 1999 massacre at Colorado’s Columbine High School, in which two students murdered one teacher, 12 classmates, and injured 21 others, Moore spins a dense web of historical connections and geopolitical comparisons: A montage of American imperialism from the overthrow of Mohammed Mossedegh to the rise of Osama bin Laden, set to “What a Wonderful World”; interviews with ordinary Canadians baffled by the American obsession with crime. “Bowling for Columbine” is, in short, the filmmaker’s most chilling and prescient polemic, framing the United States’ gun epidemic as the logical consequence of our “culture of fear,” and its concomitant economy of terror.
Nearly 14 years on from Moore’s Oscar acceptance speech,...
Nearly 14 years on from Moore’s Oscar acceptance speech,...
- 10/5/2016
- by Matt Brennan
- Indiewire
In the homestretch of a heated election season where gun laws and regulations have been the at the forefront of discussion, Robert Greenwald’s documentary Making a Killing: Guns, Greed, and the NRA is set for a congressional screening led by House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi. She will be joined by other congressional members at Thursday’s screening in Washington, D.C., which is said to be a push toward sparking serious conversations about sensible gun legislation. The…...
- 9/29/2016
- Deadline
Gravitas Ventures Picks up Robert Greenwald’s Powerful Documentary Making a Killing: Guns, Greed and the NRA; Initial VOD Release Planned for November 1st Global indie film distributor Gravitas Ventures has picked up Robert Greenwald’s powerful documentary Making a Killing: Guns, Greed, and the NRA. Through the stories of everyday Americans whose lives have been affected …
The post Gravitas Ventures Picks up Robert Greenwald’s Powerful Documentary Making a Killing first appeared on Hnn | Horrornews.net - Official News Site...
The post Gravitas Ventures Picks up Robert Greenwald’s Powerful Documentary Making a Killing first appeared on Hnn | Horrornews.net - Official News Site...
- 8/16/2016
- by Horrornews.net
- Horror News
Robert Greenwald's powerful documentary Making a Killing: Guns, Greed, and the NRA is getting a theatrical run to qualify it for eligibility for Best Feature Documentary. Laurie and Bill Benenson, whose critically-acclaimed Beasts of No Nation bowed last year, are also the executive producers of Making a Killing. In addition, global indie film distributor Gravitas Ventures will distribute the Brave New Films’ docu on other formats. The film focuses on the money the NRA…...
- 8/12/2016
- Deadline
Keep up with the wild and wooly world of indie film acquisitions with our weekly Rundown of everything that’s been picked up around the globe. Check out last week’s Rundown here.
– Sony Pictures Classics have announced they have acquired the rest of Pedro Almodóvar’s full library of films, including “Pepi, Luci, Bom”; “Labyrinth of Passion”; “Dark Habits”; “What Have I Done to Deserve This?”; “High Heels” and “Kika.” Spc will release his latest, “Julieta,” in theaters on December 21.
Based on short stories by Nobel laureate Alice Munro, “Julieta” is “about a mother’s struggle to survive uncertainty. It is also about fate, guilt complexes and that unfathomable mystery that leads us to abandon the people we love, erasing them from our lives as if they had never meant anything, as if they had never existed. The cast includes Adriana Ugarte, Emma Suárez and Rossy de Palma. It...
– Sony Pictures Classics have announced they have acquired the rest of Pedro Almodóvar’s full library of films, including “Pepi, Luci, Bom”; “Labyrinth of Passion”; “Dark Habits”; “What Have I Done to Deserve This?”; “High Heels” and “Kika.” Spc will release his latest, “Julieta,” in theaters on December 21.
Based on short stories by Nobel laureate Alice Munro, “Julieta” is “about a mother’s struggle to survive uncertainty. It is also about fate, guilt complexes and that unfathomable mystery that leads us to abandon the people we love, erasing them from our lives as if they had never meant anything, as if they had never existed. The cast includes Adriana Ugarte, Emma Suárez and Rossy de Palma. It...
- 8/12/2016
- by Kate Erbland
- Indiewire
The distributor has acquired select North American rights to Robert Greenwald’s documentary Making A Killing: Guns, Greed, And The NRA and has set an initial VOD release for November 1.
Making A Killing: Guns, Greed, And The NRA will get an Academy-qualifying run and play theatrically for one week in Los Angeles from August 12-18 for and one week in New York from August 19-25. Gravitas holds television, streaming, VOD and DVD rights.
The film details how the National Rifle Association (NRA) and gun manufacturers have actively resisted gun control legislation and the violent impact of mass gun production on Americans.
“Making A Killing shines a light on the inordinate power that gun manufacturers and the NRA exert on our political system,” said Democratic vice presidential candidate Tim Kaine.
“The first step in ending the daily tragedies wrought by gun violence is making sure everyone in America knows just who is behind the laws – or...
Making A Killing: Guns, Greed, And The NRA will get an Academy-qualifying run and play theatrically for one week in Los Angeles from August 12-18 for and one week in New York from August 19-25. Gravitas holds television, streaming, VOD and DVD rights.
The film details how the National Rifle Association (NRA) and gun manufacturers have actively resisted gun control legislation and the violent impact of mass gun production on Americans.
“Making A Killing shines a light on the inordinate power that gun manufacturers and the NRA exert on our political system,” said Democratic vice presidential candidate Tim Kaine.
“The first step in ending the daily tragedies wrought by gun violence is making sure everyone in America knows just who is behind the laws – or...
- 8/12/2016
- by govi2016@lawnet.ucla.edu (Alec Govi)
- ScreenDaily
Every week, a bevy of new releases (independent or otherwise), open in theaters. That’s why we created the Weekly Film Guide, filled with basic plot, personnel and cinema information for all of this week’s fresh offerings.
For August, we’ve also put together a list for the entire month. We’ve included this week’s list below, complete with information on screening locations for films in limited release.
See More: Here Are All the Upcoming Movies in Theaters for August 2016
Here are the films opening theatrically in the U.S. the week of Friday, August 12. All synopses provided by distributor unless listed otherwise.
Wide
Anthropoid
Director: Sean Ellis
Cast: Cillian Murphy, Harry Lloyd, Jamie Dornan, Toby Jones
Synopsis: “Anthropoid” is based on the extraordinary true story of “Operation Anthropoid,” the code name for the Czechoslovakian operatives’ mission to assassinate SS officer Reinhard Heydrich. Heydrich, the main architect behind the Final Solution,...
For August, we’ve also put together a list for the entire month. We’ve included this week’s list below, complete with information on screening locations for films in limited release.
See More: Here Are All the Upcoming Movies in Theaters for August 2016
Here are the films opening theatrically in the U.S. the week of Friday, August 12. All synopses provided by distributor unless listed otherwise.
Wide
Anthropoid
Director: Sean Ellis
Cast: Cillian Murphy, Harry Lloyd, Jamie Dornan, Toby Jones
Synopsis: “Anthropoid” is based on the extraordinary true story of “Operation Anthropoid,” the code name for the Czechoslovakian operatives’ mission to assassinate SS officer Reinhard Heydrich. Heydrich, the main architect behind the Final Solution,...
- 8/11/2016
- by Steve Greene
- Indiewire
Deep pockets aren’t the only potential foe when you take on the NRA, according to Peabody Award-winning documentarian Robert Greenwald — there’s also angry people with guns. Greenwald (above middle) sat for a discussion about guns and violence on Thursday, part of TheWrap’s GrillChat series, and the Emmy nominee touched on the challenges of his latest film “Making a Killing: Guns, Greed and the NRA.” “We took some steps to be careful,” Greenwald said. “The only way to avoid any danger was not to do the film. You’re dealing with people who have access to weapons.
- 6/24/2016
- by Matt Donnelly
- The Wrap
Gun control has become a fevered topic since the worst mass shooting in U.S. history, at Orlando’s Pulse nightclub in mid-June. To help parse the debate, and discuss what it means inside outside of Hollywood, TheWrap’s CEO and Editor-in-Chief Sharon Waxman invited two experts to sit for a GrillChat — an offshoot of TheWrap’s annual thought leadership conference TheGrill. Documentary filmmaker Robert Greenwald (“Koch Brothers Exposed” and “Walmart: The High Cost of Low Price”) will speak about his latest film “Making A Killing: Guns, Greed and the NRA,” which aims to expose the powerful gun lobby’s hold on politicians.
- 6/24/2016
- by Matt Donnelly
- The Wrap
Brave New Films’ Robert Greenwald, the documentarian behind such films as the Koch Brothers Exposed and Walmart: The High Cost of Low Price, is now exposing the money behind the National Rifle Association in a new film that lays bare the growing amount of power the lobbying group has been able to wield via politicians over the years. “What we do in the film is make clear that the gun companies and manufacturers are profiting, and the 2nd Amendment is serving the greed,”…...
- 6/2/2016
- Deadline
Ben Bradlee movies: From 'All the President's Men' to 'Born Yesterday' (photo: Jason Robards as 'The Washington Post' executive editor Ben Bradlee in 'All the President's Men') Former Washington Post editor Ben Bradlee aka Benjamin C. Bradlee, best known for his key role in the Watergate scandal that destroyed the Richard Nixon presidency, and who was later played by Best Supporting Actor Oscar winner Jason Robards in Alan J. Pakula's film version of All the President's Men, died of "natural causes" last October 21, 2014, at his home in Washington, D.C. Bradlee, who had been suffering from Alzheimer's disease, was 93. The Washington Post of the 21st century may look increasingly like a more pedantic version of the Rupert Murdoch-owned tabloid New York Post, but things weren't always like that. Back in the days when the American media — at least some of the time — actually bothered reporting news...
- 11/7/2014
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Director Neema Barnette was recently honored at the 6th Annual Lady Filmmakers Festival, and rightfully so. She made history as the first African American Woman to direct a major network TV sitcom, and the first African American woman to get a major studio deal. She has won countless awards (including an Emmy, the NAACP Image Award, the Women in Radio & TV Award, the Lilly Award, and the Peabody Award to name a few) and is a shining example of what is possible for women in film.
Neema shares her thoughts on the Lady Filmmakers Festival, her inspiration and the beginnings of her career, and her own advice to women who are just embarking on their own journeys in film:
What was your impression of the Lady Filmmakers Festival?
I’ve been in many festivals with my film “Civil Brand”, which was at Sundance and won five other festivals, including the American Black Film Festival and the Urbanworld Film Festival. This festival was interesting because it focused on women and the men who work with them, which I’ve never seen before. That was really interesting. It also was very intimate and supportive. What I liked the most is how people came up to me after the first seminar and shared how excited and encouraged they were.
As an experienced female filmmaker and director, I truly understand the significance of this festival. There aren’t enough women directing in our business. Even though the statistics are low, we still have to keep moving them up. It is not true that women can’t fulfill their dreams of becoming filmmakers, and share their voices cinematically.
What was it like for you to start your film career, and what was the inspiration that kept you going?
I was very young, and never the kind of person who was told I couldn’t do things. In school, one of our teachers was Vinette Carol, a black director from the West Indies who directed plays on Broadway - I had never seen a black woman director before. When I was in college, Vinette was working with what was called Urban Arts Corps and chose me to act in her plays.
After that experience, I got a job at the Harlem Ymca as a drama and dance instructor for the summer. It was through this that I recreated Vinette Carol's plays with the kids. I really enjoyed it, and felt authentically creative in this process.
I joined a theater group in Harlem called The Frank Silver Writer's Workshop. They had a play and asked, “Who wants to direct it?” I was young and daring enough to raise my hand, and I did it! I really enjoyed directing that play, and knew it was what I wanted to do.
I was a young director when I got accepted to the American Film Institute. I knew how to work with actors, how to develop characters, but I didn’t know too much about filmmaking. My only film experience prior to this was at Third World Cinema in New York, which was made to train people in developing countries about film and television.
When I got to La, I did my film "Sky Captain"' and I was encouraged. I think my motivation came from my love for directing. It was what I loved to do, and I just kept doing it.
When I graduated and started getting hired as a professional director, I was in heaven. I was getting paid for what I love to do. I was also told things like “You’re too young to be a director,” and “directors are old, and you have to have experience,” but I just ignored that and said I’m directing. That’s it!
There were several people who were very encouraging, including Jean Ferstenburg, Gloria Steinem, and Roselyn Heller. Barbara Corday, Head of Columbia Television at the time, hired me and it was her decision that helped me to make history as the first African American woman to direct in television! I also had support from people like Paul Mason at Viacom, David Putnam at Columbia Pictures, Frank Price of Sony Pictures, Tom Werner of Carsey Werner TV, Robert Greenwald, Bill Haber at CAA and Hugh Wilson. I was kind of a novelty, and very appreciative for them to take a shot and give me opportunities to work.
What is your best advice for young women filmmakers?
I’ve been an adjunct professor at USC for seven years, and this is my 18th year at UCLA. I tell my students that they need to understand that nothing is easy, but when you have a passion for something, you just have to do it.
Now is a better time than ever, because you don’t have to be in Hollywood to make a movie. You can be in Kansas and use your iPhone to make a movie. The Internet has provided such a great creative outlet for young people to tell their stories. With things like the web series, it’s a very exciting time to be a filmmaker.
My advice is to find their tribe, their group of people with positivity, like minds and spirit. You need the honesty of what’s coming ahead, but you also need the inspiration to get you through it. That’s very important. You can’t be a filmmaker because you want to party and where all black at festivals. You have to have a voice, because film is one of the most important art forms for social change we have - even if it’s just pure entertainment, it’s still influential.
I think that we as women have to really stick together, and really understand that the images put on the screen will really affect generations to come. Film is in perpetuity, and we have a responsibility to say something real.
Positivity is important. It doesn’t make sense to keep complaining. The time that you spend complaining is the time that you could spend creating something. A lot of success isn’t all based on talent. It’s based on perseverance and building connections.
What projects are you working on?
I have a couple of projects that I’m working on. I’m writing a script about Ida B. Wells Barnett, one of the first black women to ever have a newspaper. She was active in the anti-lynching movement.
I’m also doing a family film called "Soccer Monkey" with Myrl Schreibman. It's exciting because it's something different from my usual. It’s a heart-warming film (being produced by Good Deed Productions) about a kind of lonely young kid who befriends a chimp who can play soccer. After dealing with films of very serious matters, it’s nice to change it up.
I’m also very excited about a web series that my husband and I started called Black History Mini Docs. They’re docs about black history and are about 90 seconds long. We started it a year ago on Facebook and have gotten so many positive responses.
My daughter, a playwright, has a new play that I'll be directing in New York soon. I’m absolutely thrilled about it!
Neema shares her thoughts on the Lady Filmmakers Festival, her inspiration and the beginnings of her career, and her own advice to women who are just embarking on their own journeys in film:
What was your impression of the Lady Filmmakers Festival?
I’ve been in many festivals with my film “Civil Brand”, which was at Sundance and won five other festivals, including the American Black Film Festival and the Urbanworld Film Festival. This festival was interesting because it focused on women and the men who work with them, which I’ve never seen before. That was really interesting. It also was very intimate and supportive. What I liked the most is how people came up to me after the first seminar and shared how excited and encouraged they were.
As an experienced female filmmaker and director, I truly understand the significance of this festival. There aren’t enough women directing in our business. Even though the statistics are low, we still have to keep moving them up. It is not true that women can’t fulfill their dreams of becoming filmmakers, and share their voices cinematically.
What was it like for you to start your film career, and what was the inspiration that kept you going?
I was very young, and never the kind of person who was told I couldn’t do things. In school, one of our teachers was Vinette Carol, a black director from the West Indies who directed plays on Broadway - I had never seen a black woman director before. When I was in college, Vinette was working with what was called Urban Arts Corps and chose me to act in her plays.
After that experience, I got a job at the Harlem Ymca as a drama and dance instructor for the summer. It was through this that I recreated Vinette Carol's plays with the kids. I really enjoyed it, and felt authentically creative in this process.
I joined a theater group in Harlem called The Frank Silver Writer's Workshop. They had a play and asked, “Who wants to direct it?” I was young and daring enough to raise my hand, and I did it! I really enjoyed directing that play, and knew it was what I wanted to do.
I was a young director when I got accepted to the American Film Institute. I knew how to work with actors, how to develop characters, but I didn’t know too much about filmmaking. My only film experience prior to this was at Third World Cinema in New York, which was made to train people in developing countries about film and television.
When I got to La, I did my film "Sky Captain"' and I was encouraged. I think my motivation came from my love for directing. It was what I loved to do, and I just kept doing it.
When I graduated and started getting hired as a professional director, I was in heaven. I was getting paid for what I love to do. I was also told things like “You’re too young to be a director,” and “directors are old, and you have to have experience,” but I just ignored that and said I’m directing. That’s it!
There were several people who were very encouraging, including Jean Ferstenburg, Gloria Steinem, and Roselyn Heller. Barbara Corday, Head of Columbia Television at the time, hired me and it was her decision that helped me to make history as the first African American woman to direct in television! I also had support from people like Paul Mason at Viacom, David Putnam at Columbia Pictures, Frank Price of Sony Pictures, Tom Werner of Carsey Werner TV, Robert Greenwald, Bill Haber at CAA and Hugh Wilson. I was kind of a novelty, and very appreciative for them to take a shot and give me opportunities to work.
What is your best advice for young women filmmakers?
I’ve been an adjunct professor at USC for seven years, and this is my 18th year at UCLA. I tell my students that they need to understand that nothing is easy, but when you have a passion for something, you just have to do it.
Now is a better time than ever, because you don’t have to be in Hollywood to make a movie. You can be in Kansas and use your iPhone to make a movie. The Internet has provided such a great creative outlet for young people to tell their stories. With things like the web series, it’s a very exciting time to be a filmmaker.
My advice is to find their tribe, their group of people with positivity, like minds and spirit. You need the honesty of what’s coming ahead, but you also need the inspiration to get you through it. That’s very important. You can’t be a filmmaker because you want to party and where all black at festivals. You have to have a voice, because film is one of the most important art forms for social change we have - even if it’s just pure entertainment, it’s still influential.
I think that we as women have to really stick together, and really understand that the images put on the screen will really affect generations to come. Film is in perpetuity, and we have a responsibility to say something real.
Positivity is important. It doesn’t make sense to keep complaining. The time that you spend complaining is the time that you could spend creating something. A lot of success isn’t all based on talent. It’s based on perseverance and building connections.
What projects are you working on?
I have a couple of projects that I’m working on. I’m writing a script about Ida B. Wells Barnett, one of the first black women to ever have a newspaper. She was active in the anti-lynching movement.
I’m also doing a family film called "Soccer Monkey" with Myrl Schreibman. It's exciting because it's something different from my usual. It’s a heart-warming film (being produced by Good Deed Productions) about a kind of lonely young kid who befriends a chimp who can play soccer. After dealing with films of very serious matters, it’s nice to change it up.
I’m also very excited about a web series that my husband and I started called Black History Mini Docs. They’re docs about black history and are about 90 seconds long. We started it a year ago on Facebook and have gotten so many positive responses.
My daughter, a playwright, has a new play that I'll be directing in New York soon. I’m absolutely thrilled about it!
- 10/27/2014
- by Erin Grover
- Sydney's Buzz
Robert Greenwald, the filmmaker and political activist behind Outfoxed: Rupert Murdoch's War on Journalism and Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price, has a new target in his documentary War on Whistleblowers. The first part of the film covers a brief history of whistleblowers in America and how they positively changed the course of history. In the second part, he delves into modern day whistleblowers in the Nsa and military contractors and documenting the difficulties they face after coming forward.
Read more...
Read more...
- 8/19/2013
- by Rachel Kolb
- JustPressPlay.net
Los Angeles (AP) — Laura Poitras' skill and boldness as a documentary filmmaker have gained her Oscar and Emmy nominations, Sundance Film Festival honors and a public TV showcase, even if her work fell short of making a "Super Size Me" splash.
But her role as the first point of contact for disclosures about U.S. surveillance programs has drawn the glare of attention to the independent filmmaker who, abruptly, has pushed documentaries deeper into the realm of journalistic immediacy.
For peers and backers of Poitras, the 2012 recipient of a $500,000 "genius grant" from the MacArthur Foundation, it's unsurprising that she has seized a story worth telling. However, her crucial involvement with a confidential source and two newspapers on the same big exclusive is extraordinary.
"She's incredibly driven and determined and she doesn't let obstacles get in the way," said Simon Kilmurry, executive producer of PBS' documentary series "Pov," a home to Poitras' work.
But her role as the first point of contact for disclosures about U.S. surveillance programs has drawn the glare of attention to the independent filmmaker who, abruptly, has pushed documentaries deeper into the realm of journalistic immediacy.
For peers and backers of Poitras, the 2012 recipient of a $500,000 "genius grant" from the MacArthur Foundation, it's unsurprising that she has seized a story worth telling. However, her crucial involvement with a confidential source and two newspapers on the same big exclusive is extraordinary.
"She's incredibly driven and determined and she doesn't let obstacles get in the way," said Simon Kilmurry, executive producer of PBS' documentary series "Pov," a home to Poitras' work.
- 6/14/2013
- by AP
- Huffington Post
Los Angeles — Laura Poitras' skill and boldness as a documentary filmmaker have gained her Oscar and Emmy nominations, Sundance Film Festival honors and a public TV showcase, even if her work fell short of making a "Super Size Me" splash.
But her role as the first point of contact for disclosures about U.S. surveillance programs has drawn the glare of attention to the independent filmmaker who, abruptly, has pushed documentaries deeper into the realm of journalistic immediacy.
For peers and backers of Poitras, the 2012 recipient of a $500,000 "genius grant" from the MacArthur Foundation, it's unsurprising that she has seized a story worth telling. However, her crucial involvement with a confidential source and two newspapers on the same big exclusive is extraordinary.
"She's incredibly driven and determined and she doesn't let obstacles get in the way," said Simon Kilmurry, executive producer of PBS' documentary series "Pov," a home to Poitras' work.
But her role as the first point of contact for disclosures about U.S. surveillance programs has drawn the glare of attention to the independent filmmaker who, abruptly, has pushed documentaries deeper into the realm of journalistic immediacy.
For peers and backers of Poitras, the 2012 recipient of a $500,000 "genius grant" from the MacArthur Foundation, it's unsurprising that she has seized a story worth telling. However, her crucial involvement with a confidential source and two newspapers on the same big exclusive is extraordinary.
"She's incredibly driven and determined and she doesn't let obstacles get in the way," said Simon Kilmurry, executive producer of PBS' documentary series "Pov," a home to Poitras' work.
- 6/14/2013
- by AP
- Huffington Post
You don't have to be a rightwing wacko or naive lefty to be chilled by some policies and practices of the Obama administration. Nothing illustrates that better than the administration's treatment of whistleblowers who take on the federal government. Robert Greenwald's latest documentary focuses on the brutal fallout faced by four people—Michael DeKort, Thomas Drake, Franz Gayl, and Thomas Tamm—who exposed corruption in branches of the government or corporations working with the government. Though the individual cases are riveting (for the heroism involved) and infuriating (for illuminating the venality of the powers-that-be), what is most sobering about this timely and unsettling film is what it reveals about how thoroughly owned our government is by big business interests....
- 4/19/2013
- Village Voice
Wikileaks' Manning Curiously Missing from Greenwald's Doc About the United States Government's Attacks on Whistleblowers In 2006, after getting stonewalled in his effort to expose critical flaws in the Deepwater program (designed to modernize the Coast Guard fleet), former Lockheed Martin project manager Michael DeKort made his case in a YouTube video. Only then did the issue get noticed, leading to improvements in Coast Guard safety. Pictured above: Thomas Drake, one of the whistleblowers featured in the documentary. It also led to DeKort spending years defending himself from those trying to discredit him. Indeed, this is where Greenwald’s film cashes in on what little indignation it generates. A lone civilian is seemingly no match against deep-pocketed forces that will do anything to protect their interests, even if -- especially if -- the whistleblower’s claims are accurate. Towards the end of the film, Thomas Drake, the former Nsa senior executive...
- 4/13/2013
- by Gary Lloyd
- Alt Film Guide
Greenwald's latest doc exposes war against those who bring to light the U.S. government's dirty deeds If you want a good example of how the lofty intensions of a new president inevitably give way to the bitter realities of an intractably crooked and selfish world, here’s an old quote in regard to whistleblowing from the web site of the U.S.'s current commander-in-chief: Barack Obama will strengthen whistleblower laws to protect federal workers who expose waste, fraud, and abuse of authority in government. Obama will ensure that federal agencies expedite the process for reviewing whistleblower claims and whistleblowers have full access to courts and due process. Pictured above: a stifled Lady Justice. Some of that statement is true. Mostly the prepositions. The rest, as director Robert Greenwald tells us in his latest documentary, War on Whistleblowers: Free Press and the National Security State, has been forgotten as...
- 4/13/2013
- by Gary Lloyd
- Alt Film Guide
Five new films open in Austin this week, but all have tepid reviews. But not to worry, film fans: For the rest of the year, terrific special screenings are piling up like presents stacked under a Christmas tree. (Or grievances aired around a Festivus pole, or whatever symbols are part of your holiday tradition, if indeed you have one, and it's fine if you don't. Whatever your holiday tradition -- or lack thereof -- the always-inclusive folks at Slackerwood wish you happiness. Or not, if you prefer unhappiness.)
There is, of course, the expected onslaught of holiday film screenings this week. The Alamo Drafthouse offers its usual eclectic mix of holiday movies, from the traditionally warm and fuzzy (It's a Wonderful Life) to the anti-sentimental (the slasher flick Black Christmas, with a live appearance by Margot Kidder) to Jette and Chip's favorite holiday tradition, Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle.
There is, of course, the expected onslaught of holiday film screenings this week. The Alamo Drafthouse offers its usual eclectic mix of holiday movies, from the traditionally warm and fuzzy (It's a Wonderful Life) to the anti-sentimental (the slasher flick Black Christmas, with a live appearance by Margot Kidder) to Jette and Chip's favorite holiday tradition, Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle.
- 11/30/2012
- by Don Clinchy
- Slackerwood
The social justice media organization, Brave New Films, has launched a new Hulu channel featuring the investigative films of director Robert Greenwald. With groundbreaking works such as “Walmart: The High Cost of Low Price,” “Iraq for Sale: The War Profiteers,” and “Koch Brothers Exposed,” Brave New Films delivers politically-themed content to Hulu just in time for the election year debates. “Our documentaries explore issues related to our country’s democracy, foreign policy, and the economy,” said Greenwald, who is the founder and president of Brave New Films. “We are thrilled to offer these films on Hulu, and to bring this information to such a broad audience at such a crucial time.” Additionally, Brave New Films plans to adapt content from their Latino-themed project “Cuéntame” (Spanish for “count me”, or “tell me your story”) for Hulu Latino (hululatino.com). Cuéntame started two years as an on-line community for Latinos on Facebook,...
- 10/2/2012
- by THE DEADLINE TEAM
- Deadline TV
Increasingly, feature-length political documentaries are using new technology to get their films seen. You may recall that the Sarah Palin biopic The Undefeated was made available last September on video-on-demand and pay-per-view to approximately 75 million homes through major cable and satellite companies such as DirecTV, Dish Network, and Time Warner Cable. Now in time for the election cycle, liberal filmmaker Robert Greenwald is employing the same methods with his take on Koch Brothers Exposed which starts streaming on May 8th. The director of docs on Wal-Mart, Rupert Murdoch, and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan takes on billionaires Charles and David Koch and their huge funding of conservative causes as well as their political advocacy group Americans for Prosperity. The film is a project of Brave New Foundation, a 501 (c) 3 non-profit organization, and premiered in NYC on March 29th (in partnership with AlterNet). It continued to Washington DC on Monday...
- 4/4/2012
- by NIKKI FINKE
- Deadline Hollywood
Too bad the critical symposium in the new, Winter 2012 issue of Cineaste isn't online. Participants evidently include Gianni Amelio, Olivier Assayas, Costa-Gavras, Robert Greenwald, and Sally Potter, "among others," but until we get our hands on the print edition, we'll have to make do with what is online, which, after all, is plenty: Patrick Z McGavin on Dave Kehr's When Movies Mattered: Reviews from a Transformative Decade, Richard James Havis on Kyung Hyun Kim's Virtual Hallyu: Korean Cinema of the Global Era, Andrew Horton on New Zealand Film: An Illustrated History and Henry K Miller on Brutal Intimacy: Analyzing Contemporary French Cinema and The New Extremism in Cinema: From France to Europe. And that's just the book reviews.
Besides the interviews with Mona Achache and Charlotte Rampling and festival reports (Locarno, Toronto and Montreal), the 15 reviews include David Sterritt on Kubrick's The Killing (1956), Joseph Luzzi on Raffaello Matarazzo,...
Besides the interviews with Mona Achache and Charlotte Rampling and festival reports (Locarno, Toronto and Montreal), the 15 reviews include David Sterritt on Kubrick's The Killing (1956), Joseph Luzzi on Raffaello Matarazzo,...
- 12/13/2011
- MUBI
Netflix has revolutionized the home movie experience for fans of film with its instant streaming technology. Netflix Nuggets is my way of spreading the word about independent, classic and foreign films being made available by Netflix for instant streaming. Important Note: There may be some films that do not become available on the specified dates. This is merely a report of the most accurate release dates I can find, but is not directly confirmed by Netflix themselves.
If I Want To Whistle, I Whistle (2010)
Streaming Available: 06/07/2011
Synopsis: Just days before his scheduled release from a reformatory, teenage delinquent Silviu takes a pretty social worker hostage and threatens to kill her unless his estranged mother promises not to separate him from his younger brother.
Average Netflix Rating: 3.4 Salt Of The Sea (2008)
Streaming Available: 06/07/2011
Synopsis: Born in Brooklyn to Palestinian refugee parents, Soraya decides to journey to the country of her ancestry...
If I Want To Whistle, I Whistle (2010)
Streaming Available: 06/07/2011
Synopsis: Just days before his scheduled release from a reformatory, teenage delinquent Silviu takes a pretty social worker hostage and threatens to kill her unless his estranged mother promises not to separate him from his younger brother.
Average Netflix Rating: 3.4 Salt Of The Sea (2008)
Streaming Available: 06/07/2011
Synopsis: Born in Brooklyn to Palestinian refugee parents, Soraya decides to journey to the country of her ancestry...
- 6/7/2011
- by Travis Keune
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
In anticipation of the premiere of The Kennedys on ReelzChannel April 3, EW talked to Katie Holmes, who assumed the formidable role of Jackie Kennedy in the eight-part miniseries that’ll air on the basic cable net that reaches 60 million homes. The project from Joel Surnow (24) and director Jon Cassar also stars Greg Kinnear as John F. Kennedy, Barry Pepper as Bobby Kennedy, and Tom Wilkinson as the president’s father, Joe.
EW How did you feel when you were first approached about the role?
Katie Holmes I was very excited and flattered because I love her. At the same time...
EW How did you feel when you were first approached about the role?
Katie Holmes I was very excited and flattered because I love her. At the same time...
- 3/30/2011
- by Lynette Rice
- EW - Inside TV
In anticipation of the premiere of The Kennedys on ReelzChannel April 3, EW talked to Katie Holmes, who assumed the formidable role of Jackie Kennedy in the eight-part miniseries that’ll air on the basic cable net that reaches 60 million homes. The project from Joel Surnow (24) and director Jon Cassar also stars Greg Kinnear as John F. Kennedy, Barry Pepper as Bobby Kennedy, and Tom Wilkinson as the president’s father, Joe.
EW How did you feel when you were first approached about the role?
Katie Holmes I was very excited and flattered because I love her. At the same time...
EW How did you feel when you were first approached about the role?
Katie Holmes I was very excited and flattered because I love her. At the same time...
- 3/30/2011
- by Lynette Rice
- EW - Inside TV
Now that a network has elected to air it, we can take a look at the controversial 'Kennedys' mini-series.
The eight part series, produced by noted conservative Joel Surnow, was pulled from its scheduled airing by The History Channel after complaints from the Kennedy family and a protest led by liberal filmmaker Robert Greenwald, was finally picked up by ReelzChannel on Wednesday after another series of rejections, led by Showtime's passing. The pickup was a savior for the expensive series, led by Greg Kinnear (JFK) and Katie Holmes (Jackie Kennedy).
ReelzChannel has released a preview for the stormy epic, which examines John F. Kennedy's time in the Presidency, up to his assassination in 1963. For more on the series, including controversial looks at the Kennedys' alleged womanizing, read the leaked preview here.
Watch:
The Kennedys | Barry Pepper | Greg Kinnear | Katie Holmes | Tom Wilkinson | Movie Trailer | Review...
The eight part series, produced by noted conservative Joel Surnow, was pulled from its scheduled airing by The History Channel after complaints from the Kennedy family and a protest led by liberal filmmaker Robert Greenwald, was finally picked up by ReelzChannel on Wednesday after another series of rejections, led by Showtime's passing. The pickup was a savior for the expensive series, led by Greg Kinnear (JFK) and Katie Holmes (Jackie Kennedy).
ReelzChannel has released a preview for the stormy epic, which examines John F. Kennedy's time in the Presidency, up to his assassination in 1963. For more on the series, including controversial looks at the Kennedys' alleged womanizing, read the leaked preview here.
Watch:
The Kennedys | Barry Pepper | Greg Kinnear | Katie Holmes | Tom Wilkinson | Movie Trailer | Review...
- 2/4/2011
- by Jordan Zakarin
- Huffington Post
'The Kennedys' -- the eight part miniseries about the legendary family recently dropped by The History Channel -- does not make the political dynasty seem very presidential.
Created by noted conservative Joel Surnow, the creator of the terrorism-themed action series '24,' the mini-series was dropped by The History Channel, and subsequently rejected by cable outfits such as Starz and Showtime, under pressure from the actual Kennedy family.
The Daily Beast obtained the script of the first episode, uncovering some reasons why the family would want what they called a skewed version of events to be kept off television.
In one scene, during World War II, the Daily Beast found:
Wilkinson's Joe Sr. fondles his secretary in his office at the ambassador's residence in London in 1938. As he dictates a note to the president, Joe "fondles her breasts" and "nuzzles her neck." When sons Joe Jr. and Jack enter his office,...
Created by noted conservative Joel Surnow, the creator of the terrorism-themed action series '24,' the mini-series was dropped by The History Channel, and subsequently rejected by cable outfits such as Starz and Showtime, under pressure from the actual Kennedy family.
The Daily Beast obtained the script of the first episode, uncovering some reasons why the family would want what they called a skewed version of events to be kept off television.
In one scene, during World War II, the Daily Beast found:
Wilkinson's Joe Sr. fondles his secretary in his office at the ambassador's residence in London in 1938. As he dictates a note to the president, Joe "fondles her breasts" and "nuzzles her neck." When sons Joe Jr. and Jack enter his office,...
- 1/14/2011
- by Jordan Zakarin
- Huffington Post
The Daily Beast obtained an exclusive, early copy of the script of the botched History Channel miniseries The Kennedys. Jace Lacob picks eight salacious bits from the first episode.
Ask just about anyone in Hollywood what they had thought of The Kennedys, the History Channel miniseries about the Kennedy clan, and they'll tell you it was so far off their radars that they didn't give it a thought. That changed last week when the History Channel, a division of A&E Television Networks, announced that it had opted to shelve the project-from 24 co-creator Joel Surnow, director Jon Cassar, and writer Steve Kronish-stating that the "dramatic interpretation [was] not a fit for the History brand."
Related story on The Daily Beast: Nightline Squeezed, but Surviving
The news was particularly shocking as The Kennedys features actors Greg Kinnear and Katie Holmes as John F. Kennedy and Jacqueline Kennedy, and Tom Wilkinson as Joe Kennedy Sr.
Ask just about anyone in Hollywood what they had thought of The Kennedys, the History Channel miniseries about the Kennedy clan, and they'll tell you it was so far off their radars that they didn't give it a thought. That changed last week when the History Channel, a division of A&E Television Networks, announced that it had opted to shelve the project-from 24 co-creator Joel Surnow, director Jon Cassar, and writer Steve Kronish-stating that the "dramatic interpretation [was] not a fit for the History brand."
Related story on The Daily Beast: Nightline Squeezed, but Surviving
The news was particularly shocking as The Kennedys features actors Greg Kinnear and Katie Holmes as John F. Kennedy and Jacqueline Kennedy, and Tom Wilkinson as Joe Kennedy Sr.
- 1/14/2011
- by Jace Lacob
- The Daily Beast
- The History Channel has dropped its most expensive project ever, the $30-million Kennedy mini-series starring Katie Holmes and Greg Kinnear, bowing to pressure to drop the mini-series as not "fit" for the channel. The series was offensive to the Kennedy family, led by Caroline Kennedy and Maria Shriver, who lobbied aggressively to stop it from airing. Filmmaker and Kennedy friend Robert Greenwald actively campaigned by collecting 50,000 petition signatures and creating the website StopKennedySmears.com. Producers Muse Entertainment and Asylum are confident that American audiences will still see the series; foreign rights have already been sold. A note from the website and their campaign video is after the jump: - Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West, Gregory Maguire's bestseller, ...
- 1/10/2011
- Thompson on Hollywood
Pasadena, Calif. — After the History channel said it would not air a controversial miniseries on the Kennedy family, producers were already seeking another television home.
The Showtime pay cable network has been approached to air the eight-part series, a spokesman said on Saturday. Eight years ago, Showtime aired a movie about President Reagan that CBS had made but decided not to broadcast when it faced pressure from some of that former president's family.
Showtime won't make a decision about the Kennedy miniseries until its executives have a chance to see it, spokesman Richard Licata said.
The multi-million dollar miniseries, which stars Greg Kinnear and Katie Holmes as John and Jackie Kennedy, was History's most expensive project ever. But the network issued a statement late Friday saying that after watching the finished product, "we have concluded this dramatic interpretation is not a fit for the History brand."
Producers have sold the...
The Showtime pay cable network has been approached to air the eight-part series, a spokesman said on Saturday. Eight years ago, Showtime aired a movie about President Reagan that CBS had made but decided not to broadcast when it faced pressure from some of that former president's family.
Showtime won't make a decision about the Kennedy miniseries until its executives have a chance to see it, spokesman Richard Licata said.
The multi-million dollar miniseries, which stars Greg Kinnear and Katie Holmes as John and Jackie Kennedy, was History's most expensive project ever. But the network issued a statement late Friday saying that after watching the finished product, "we have concluded this dramatic interpretation is not a fit for the History brand."
Producers have sold the...
- 1/8/2011
- by AP
- Huffington Post
Doug Pray's 2009 Sundance entry Art & Copy finally hit DVD and Netflix Instant this week, and I'm always intrigued about the advertising world so I consumed it immediately. But that was extremely underwhelming so I went looking for another documentary on the topic and came upon the 2004 Frontline episode The Persuaders. Does the PBS series count as documentary in the way I approach it here? I don't want to discuss that just now. I will say, though, that this isn't the first time I've been more fulfilled in my cravings by a Frontline episode after watching an unsatisfying doc feature. Following my viewing of Robert Greenwald's Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Living, for example, I checked out the much better Frontline: Is Wal-Mart Good for America?
Art & Copy and The Persuaders aren't quite as similarly focused as the Wal-Mart films. The former concentrates on the creative side of advertising...
Art & Copy and The Persuaders aren't quite as similarly focused as the Wal-Mart films. The former concentrates on the creative side of advertising...
- 5/6/2010
- by Christopher Campbell
- Cinematical
By Sharon Waxman
Left-wing documentary firebrand Robert Greenwald Thursday challenged actors Greg Kinnear and Katie Holmes -- who were cast this week to play John F. Kennedy and his wife Jackie in a History Channel miniseries about the Kennedys -- to "insist on a historically accurate and politically unbiased script."
In February, Greenwald corralled a group of prominent historians including former Kennedy advisor Ted Sorenson who in a video took objection to the scri...
Left-wing documentary firebrand Robert Greenwald Thursday challenged actors Greg Kinnear and Katie Holmes -- who were cast this week to play John F. Kennedy and his wife Jackie in a History Channel miniseries about the Kennedys -- to "insist on a historically accurate and politically unbiased script."
In February, Greenwald corralled a group of prominent historians including former Kennedy advisor Ted Sorenson who in a video took objection to the scri...
- 4/30/2010
- by Sharon Waxman
- The Wrap
By Christopher Stipp
The Archives, Right Here
I was able to sit down for a couple of years and pump out a book. It’s got little to do with movies. Download and read “Thank You, Goodnight” right Here for free.
Check out my new column, This Week In Trailers, at SlashFilm.com and follow me on Twitter under the name: Stipp
Terribly Happy - Review
You have to look at a performance by Christoph Waltz in Inglorious Basterds in order to fully comprehend why Jakob Cedergren, who plays town cop Robert Hansen in Terribly Happy, deserves his own spot on the world stage.
Cedergren takes a character, an urban police offer who is exiled into a rural, remote village town after having a nervous breakdown, and twists it into a complex individual who has no predictability, no hints about what he’s going to do next. He’s thrilling...
The Archives, Right Here
I was able to sit down for a couple of years and pump out a book. It’s got little to do with movies. Download and read “Thank You, Goodnight” right Here for free.
Check out my new column, This Week In Trailers, at SlashFilm.com and follow me on Twitter under the name: Stipp
Terribly Happy - Review
You have to look at a performance by Christoph Waltz in Inglorious Basterds in order to fully comprehend why Jakob Cedergren, who plays town cop Robert Hansen in Terribly Happy, deserves his own spot on the world stage.
Cedergren takes a character, an urban police offer who is exiled into a rural, remote village town after having a nervous breakdown, and twists it into a complex individual who has no predictability, no hints about what he’s going to do next. He’s thrilling...
- 2/19/2010
- by Christopher Stipp
Ok I’m back from what seems a decade in Latin America. The most notable real life events come from seeing society’s rich and poor working side by side without seeming to be aware of one another. Days are filled with commerce in Buenos Aires and life in the night (outside of the night clubs) is filled with refuse left from the day and scavengers collecting (and eating!) all that is salvageable.
In Cuba, as the Cubans are fond of saying Castro has democratized poverty, the scale seems to have tipped upwards since my last visit in 2003 after which Bush pulled the plug on travel. It is now legal again under general licenses; Lax hosts a weekly charter as do Miami and New York.
Most notable film events in Buenos Aires’ Ventana Sur, a $3,000,000 event (extravaganza?) which I hope will yield enough business for it to be repeated, perhaps...
In Cuba, as the Cubans are fond of saying Castro has democratized poverty, the scale seems to have tipped upwards since my last visit in 2003 after which Bush pulled the plug on travel. It is now legal again under general licenses; Lax hosts a weekly charter as do Miami and New York.
Most notable film events in Buenos Aires’ Ventana Sur, a $3,000,000 event (extravaganza?) which I hope will yield enough business for it to be repeated, perhaps...
- 12/19/2009
- by Sydney
- Sydney's Buzz
DVD Playhouse—November 2009
By
Allen Gardner
Watchmen—The Ultimate Cut (Warner Bros.) Director Zack Snyder’s film of Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons’ landmark graphic novel is as worthy an adaptation of a great book that has ever been filmed. In an alternative version of the year 1985, Richard Nixon is serving his third term as President and super heroes have been outlawed by a congressional act, in spite of the fact that two of the most high-profile “masks,” Dr. Manhattan (Billy Cruddup) and The Comedian (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) helped the U.S. win the Vietnam War. When The Comedian is found murdered, many former heroes become concerned that a conspiracy is afoot to assassinate retired costumed crime fighters. Former masks Nite Owl (Patrick Wilson), Silk Spectre (Malin Akerman) and still-operating Rorschach (Jackie Earle Haley, in an Oscar-worthy turn) launch an investigation of their own, all while the Pentagon’s “Doomsday...
By
Allen Gardner
Watchmen—The Ultimate Cut (Warner Bros.) Director Zack Snyder’s film of Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons’ landmark graphic novel is as worthy an adaptation of a great book that has ever been filmed. In an alternative version of the year 1985, Richard Nixon is serving his third term as President and super heroes have been outlawed by a congressional act, in spite of the fact that two of the most high-profile “masks,” Dr. Manhattan (Billy Cruddup) and The Comedian (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) helped the U.S. win the Vietnam War. When The Comedian is found murdered, many former heroes become concerned that a conspiracy is afoot to assassinate retired costumed crime fighters. Former masks Nite Owl (Patrick Wilson), Silk Spectre (Malin Akerman) and still-operating Rorschach (Jackie Earle Haley, in an Oscar-worthy turn) launch an investigation of their own, all while the Pentagon’s “Doomsday...
- 11/15/2009
- by The Hollywood Interview.com
- The Hollywood Interview
This week's offerings give us the choice of walking with death or battling the undead. For those taking it easy this week, there's also roller skating with Ellen Page and having fun playing God (or inventing him, at any rate) with Ricky Gervais.
Download this in audio form (MP3: 14:51 minutes, 13.6 Mb) Subscribe to the In Theaters podcast: [Xml] [iTunes]
"Afterschool"
After making a name for himself at Cannes with his award-winning shorts, Nyu film grad Antonio Campos took his feature debut there last year. "Afterschool" earned its share of controversy during its festival run, along with as a Spirit Award nomination for best first feature. Reminiscent of Gus Van Sant and Michael Haneke, this hazy story of digital detachment blends viral video and prep school tragedy in its story of a paranoid internet junkie (Ezra Miller) who witnesses the death of a pair of classmates who overdose on drugs, and...
Download this in audio form (MP3: 14:51 minutes, 13.6 Mb) Subscribe to the In Theaters podcast: [Xml] [iTunes]
"Afterschool"
After making a name for himself at Cannes with his award-winning shorts, Nyu film grad Antonio Campos took his feature debut there last year. "Afterschool" earned its share of controversy during its festival run, along with as a Spirit Award nomination for best first feature. Reminiscent of Gus Van Sant and Michael Haneke, this hazy story of digital detachment blends viral video and prep school tragedy in its story of a paranoid internet junkie (Ezra Miller) who witnesses the death of a pair of classmates who overdose on drugs, and...
- 9/29/2009
- by Neil Pedley
- ifc.com
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