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In This Dispatch:
- What's New: The Informant!, Crude, and much more.
- What We're Watching: Damned United, Melies: Encore, and Bliss.
- Explore: Oscar Live Blog coming; Revanche podcast.
- Special Promo: TCM's 31 Days of Oscar.
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Steven Soderbergh's whistleblower story gives its real life plot a deadpan tragi-comic spin. "As Soderbergh lovingly peels away veil after veil of deception, the film develops into an unexpected human comedy," writes Roger Ebert. "Not that any of the characters are laughing." Adds Tasha Robinson: " The Informant! chooses to earn its exclamation point with giggles as well as shock, and the results are thoroughly entertaining." |
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Riveting new documentary from acclaimed filmmaker Joe Berlinger ( Paradise Lost, Metallica: Some Kind of Monster) tells the epic story of one of the largest and most controversial legal cases on the planet, the "Amazon Chernobyl" case. "A powerhouse... makes you feel mad as hell and unwilling to take it anymore," writes Peter Travers in Rolling Stone. It's a "David-and-Goliath tale, full of anger and disturbing accusation, but it's also inspiring.," adds Owen Glieberman . |
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Based on David Peace's novel, which is itself [loosely] based on the true story of Brian Clough's quite doomed 44-day stint as manager in 1974 of the then reigning champions of English football Leeds United, The Damned United is both a sport film and a character study and succeeds pretty damned well at both. Different audiences will have varying levels of appreciation for the film; clearly, football/soccer fans will have higher regard for it though it is not simply a film about sport but a film about male relationships, both friend and professional, and about the damage rendered by the male ego. It is a most lovingly portrayed period piece, capturing... Read review >> |
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Georges Méliès (1861-1938) may well have been just another magician, but one day in 1895, he attended a showing of films by the Lumière brothers. A year later, he had built his own movie studio and began shooting his own films. Between 1896 and 1913, he shot over 500 films, ranging from one-minute to "epics" running more than a half hour. His work covers an amazing array of genres. Many of his films are simple magic tricks, incorporating cutting and double-exposures to create fantastic illusions; his timing and knowledge of the camera are still amazing. Some of them get into more complicated stories of fantasy, using dreams and nightmares, and a few strove toward high art. He is often... Read more >>
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Also out today is an unforgettable if melodramatic film we don't want to see get lost in the shuffle. This Turkish film by Abdullah Oguz is a "consistently gripping, visually intoxicating film," writes the NY Times Stephen Holden, "[that] stands as a landmark of contemporary Turkish cinema." Adds the LA Times' Betsy Sharkey: "Self-discovery always comes with a cost, and in Bliss the price is a great one. It is mesmerizing to watch it unfold in the lives of these two young people." |
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Join GreenCine for our 2010 Oscar Night Live Blog! Special guest panelists will chime in all night as we watch the Oscars together, analyze, comment, mock, cheer and scratch our heads. The fun begins March 7, at 4:30 PM PST. RSVP on Facebook, or go here for details and to set a reminder.
Just released on DVD last week via Criterion is Götz Spielmann's riveting neo-noir Revanche, which was Oscar-nominated last year for Best Foreign Language Film. For a podcast, GC's Aaron Hillis spoke with with Spielmann to talk about "the first Buddhist thriller" (as he recalls an L.A. critic describing it). More >> |
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Turner Classic Movies is in the midst of its month-long event featuring 360 Academy Award-nominated and winning movies, all presented uncut and
commercial-free. The month's schedule is designed so that each movie is linked to the next movie in the lineup through a
shared actor or actress. TCM's Robert Osborne, who is also the official biographer of the Academy Awards and the Academy’s red carpet greeter, hosts 31 DAYS OF OSCAR, which marks its 16th year on Turner Classic Movies. Schedule here >> |
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Oscar Winners:
Best Original Screenplay
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