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"Yeah yeah yeah, we all love Al Gore and his jaunty powerpoint presentation but Inconvenient Truth is not the only fruit, dear viewers," writes Erin Donovan. "Here I suggest a few other environmentally-focused documentaries [including Rivers and Tides, pictured above] to make you laugh, cry, act - and seethe with anger." With Earth Day less than two weeks away, and with the release of The 11th Hour and Sharkwater today (which GreenCine's Craig Phillips reviews here) on the heels of the notoriety received by a certain Oscar-winning dog about global warming last year, Donovan brings us recommendations for some other environmental documentaries you need to see. You can also win a copy of The 11th Hour on DVD by going here. Read article >> |
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In This Dispatch:
- What's New: There Will Be Blood, Walk Hard and more.
- What We're Watching: Sharkwater, O Lucky Man! and The Rabbit Is Me.
- Explore: Pedro Costa, and Very Long Films.
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Paul Thomas Anderson's bleak but unforgettable adaptation (loosely) of Upton Sinclair's "Oil!" triggered many fine reviews and quite a bit of debate. Not to mention 8 Oscar nominations, including a win for the mesmerizing Daniel Day Lewis as oilman Daniel Plainview and for cinematographer Robert Elswit. "There Will Be Blood is, in fact, not a historical saga," noted Premiere's Glenn Kenny. "[R]ather, it's an absurdist, blackly comic horror film with a very idiosyncratic satanic figure at its core." Raved Rolling Stone's Peter Travers: "In terms of excitement, imagination and rule-busting experimentation, it's a gusher." More blood here, here and here. |
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Jake Kasdan and Judd Apatow's tuneful comedy got mixed reviews but we think it's a quite spot-on satire of music biopics, with a very "on" John C. Reilly in the lead. "Not since This is Spinal Tap have I had such a good time watching amiable idiocy stumble on toward uncertain glory," wrote Time's Richard Schickel. A "smart and genial satire," adds the LA Times' Kenneth Turan. And dig those song lyrics! |
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Rob Stewart's gorgeously shot, informative - and wistful - documentary Sharkwater is about that mysterious and fascinating of all sea animals, and, the film argues, the most misunderstood. If the film sometimes gets a little choppy, the filmmaker's passion for the subject and the disturbing revelations to be gained from watching the film make it more than worthwhile. The youthful Canadian underwater photographer and biologist Stewart, who quit his job to make this film, narrates and... read review here >> |
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After a stop to play the lead role in Stanley Kubrick's A Clockwork Orange (1971), Malcolm McDowell approached director Lindsay Anderson about working together again after their first collaboration, If.... Anderson told him that good scripts don't grow on trees and that he needed to write his own, so McDowell concocted a yarn out of his own life story (even though he was only thirty). The screenwriter David Sherwin wrote the final script, and O Lucky Man! (1973) was born. It's as audacious as anything made in the 1970s, running three hours without much of a plot; it divided audiences to the same degree that If... united them. Yet McDowell is still commanding; he once again... read review >> |
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"What induced me to queue up The Rabbit Is Me," expresses Jim Van Maanen in his review, "was the idea of an East German film that was initially banned and then not seen in public for 25 years. We never got than many East German movies over here to begin with, and since the fall of the 'wall,' we won't be getting any more. The movie, as it turns out, is worth much more than just the curiosity factor. It holds up well, even without its 'banned in East Berlin' notoriety. In telling the story of a brother and sister separated by an overzealous judge, director Kurt Maetzig and writer Manfred Bieler (from his novel) see to it that all the details ring true, from the 60s time frame to life under a dictatorial government that was always trying to convince itself and its citizens of its higher nature, only to...". read review >> |
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"Let's not make this pretentious; but in some ways my films are dangerous because I work within limited financial means," Pedro Costa tells Michael Guillén. "They're dangerous in the sense that I have to risk each shot of my film. The interview touches on several of the films that have traveled the country as a retrospective that is currently screening at the Pacific Film Archive as Still Lives: The Films of Pedro Costa (through April 12). Fortunately for us, neither Michael nor the Portuguese director are in any rush to move on from one topic to the next. Full article >>
Monica Peck brings us Ten Ridiculously Long Movies (That You Still Need to See).
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