For a podcast, Aaron Hillis spoke with filmmakers Ryan Fleck and Anna Boden over the phone about their new film Sugar [GreenCine review], working with non-professional actors, what they learned about the real-life exploitation of minor-league baseball players, and why they, as a couple, don't bicker when they collaborate. Also: While at the Sarasota Film Festival, Aaron found time for a podcast interview with Film in Focus editor Nick Dawson, who wrote a new book on an underrated director, Being Hal Ashby: Life of a Hollywood Rebel and helped pay homage to the late Hal Ashby at Sarasota. More >>

Doubt Rent  

While some reviewers felt the Broadway version of John Patrick Shanley's play was superior to the subsequent film, it's power still remained for many. "Doubt is still overpowering," wrote David Edelstein. "[I]t took me a while when it was over to stop shaking. It's the dramatist’s business to sow doubt, to set down points of view that can't be reconciled, and Shanley makes visceral the notion that one can be right but never absolutely right, that doubt might be our last, best hope." Adds Roger Ebert: "[The film] causes us to start thinking with the first shot, and we never stop."

I.O.U.S.A.Rent  

"If they handed out an Academy Award for Most Gripping Graphs and Charts," wrote EW's Owen Glieberman, "this film would take it." Patrick Creadon's doc certainly couldn't be more timely, given our current economic crisis. Adds Steven Rea of the Philadelphia Inquirer: "There's no quick fix for a culture 'addicted to debt,' as one wag puts it in the film. But watching I.O.U.S.A. is a good place to start." Peter Bradshaw in the Guardian UK called it "a scary, exhilarating blast of atheist common sense."

Also out today: Doubt; The Day the Earth Stood Still; Pre-Code Hollywood Collection (great stuff from the early 30's); Nighthead Genesis Vol. 4; Yes Man [see more below]; The Fox and the Child; Shaw Brothers Collection; The Tale of Despereaux; Tokyo Zombie; 1612; Donkey Punch; Paper Chase: Season 1; A Rather English Marriage (Albert Finney and Tom Courtenay in a wonderful Masterpiece Theater from '99); Max Fleischer's Superman: 1941-1942; Living Room Cinema: Films From Home Movie Day 1 [see below]; Bedtime Stories; Exosquad Season 1; The Mysterious Cities of Gold; Vinyan; A Song Is Born; The Secrets; Euro-Sex Comedy Collection; Peanuts: Snoopy's Reunion; Live and Become.

New and Coming Releases lists | Your Queue | Discuss! | GreenCine's review blog: Guru | GC Member Reviews and Lists | New DVD Spotlight

Yes Man Rent  Read 

Loosely based on the true story of British humorist Danny Wallace's attempt to inject more positivity into this life, Yes Man stars Jim Carrey as Carl Allen, a mid-level loan officer whose strategy for promotion is to take no risks with his bank's money and suck up to the boss. His lackadaisical approach to work has bled into his personal life, Yes Man opens on a scene that is both funny and melancholic as Carl makes up a series of elaborate excuses to a friend for why it is imperative he stay in and rent videos that night... read review >>

More like this Fun With Dick & Jane | Down With Love

Don't Look Down Rent  Read 

Eliseo Subiela's most successful movie stateside is probably Man Facing Southeast (1986, sadly out of print on DVD), although his The Dark Side of the Heart was an enormous success in Latin America, Europe and Canada. Other titles worth renting are Don't Die Without Telling Me Where You're Going, Last Images of the Shipwreck and his sequel, Dark Side of the Heart 2. In all of these, the writer/director combines his penchant for philosophy, history, imagination and physicality into motion pictures that take us places we rarely venture. His latest film is also worth a rent... read review >>

More like this En La Cama (In Bed) | The Aura

Living Room Cinema Rent 

A groundbreaking compendium of films from a range of amateur film. Film Comment's Margaret Barton-Fumo wrote: "With 22 films amounting to two hours of utterly non-boring footage that spans approximately 70 years, and optional commentaries by archivists, film historians, and the sometimes hilarious families themselves, Living Room Cinema proves to be much more than a cultural artifact, or a collectible item for film freaks and small-gauge enthusiasts; it'll really a must-have for anyone who's ever been captivated by the wordless draw of moving images, or the common intimacies of other people's lives"

More like this Beirut: Last Home Movie | Tarnation

Aaron Hillis has been here there and everywhere over the past month before ending his travels at the Sarasota Film Festival. Besides recording a couple of fine podcasts, as mentioned at the top, he also found time to catch some films, including two must-sees (or must-seek-out). More >>

Subscribe to MovieMaker for just $1 per issue! As a GreenCine member you have your favorite flicks, choice directors and preferred actors; now you can add another "favorite" to your list by making MovieMaker your favorite source for exclusive interviews, advice and tips on breaking into the biz, festival information and more. For a limited time, you're invited to take advantage of a very special offer: One year of MovieMaker at the unheard of price of just $6.00* ($1 per issue, more than 85% off the newsstand rate) just for being a friend of GreenCine! Sign up today.

Also, congratulations to the winners of our Gigantic tickets giveaway: Caitlin Fitzwater and Alyssa Kail (Akail). Enjoy the movie!