Directed by Ron Frank & Mevlut Akkaya Produced by Lawrence Richards, Frank & Akkaya Written by Richards Released by International Film Circuit USA. 76 min. Not Rated When Comedy Went to School sometimes rises above schmaltzy nostalgia to become an informative and entertaining history of the stand-up comic. What makes it worth watching are the […]
Directed by Havana Marking Produced by Mike Lerner Released by Doppelgänger Releasing UK. 90 min. Not rated Wow. Talk about free publicity. The July 28th robbery of an estimated $137 million worth of jewelry on the French Riviera (at the Carlton International hotel, coincidentally a location in Hitchcock’s To Catch a Thief) occurred just days […]
Written & Directed by Cullen Hoback Produced by Hoback, John Ramos & Nitin Khanna Released by Variance Films USA. 79 min. Not rated You know those things you click on all the time when you download a new app, establish an online banking, open a new social media account—“I Agree,” “Create an Account,” “Submit Information”—the […]
Directed by Gabriela Cowperwaithe Produced by Manuel V. Oteyza & Cowperwaithe Written by Cowperwaithe & Eli Despres Released by Magnolia Pictures USA. 83 min. Rated PG-13 Blackfish is most engrossing when it offers an alarming CSI-type forensic analysis into the 2010 death of whale trainer Dawn Brancheau at SeaWorld Orlando, by tracing the background of […]
Directed by Joshua Oppenheimer Produced by Signe Byrge Sorensen, Joram ten Brink, Anne Köhncke, Michael Uwemedimo, Oppenheimer, Christine Cynn & Anonymous Released by Drafthouse Films Denmark/Norway/UK/Sweden/Finland. 122 min. Not rated You may or may not remember a little movie from 1980 called Cannibal Holocaust about the discovery of film shot by a documentary team in […]
Written & Directed by Eliav Lilti Produced by Arik Bernstein Released by Alma Films Hebrew with English subtitles Israel. 93 min. Not rated Like diaries and letters in the old days, home movies are more and more being mined for their historical and sociological significance. The amateur footage edited together in Israel: A Home […]
Produced & Directed by Jamie Kastner Released by Screen Media Canada. 84 min. Not rated Were such hits as “Boogie Wonderland,” “Boogie Fever,” or “Boogie Oogie Oogie” songs of political protest? In his amicable and gossipy overview of 1970’s dance music, director Jamie Kastner poses that question to powerhouse singer Martha Walsh, forever known as […]
Directed by Drew DeNicola Co-directed by Olivia Mori Produced by Mori & Danielle McCarthy Released by Magnolia Pictures USA. 113 min. Rated PG-13 Director Drew DeNicola and Olivia Mori’s documentary rediscovers the Memphis band whose three albums all feature in Rolling Stone’s top 500, even though commercial success eluded them. It’s a story of frustrated ambition, […]
Directed by Richard Rowley Produced by Anthony Arnove, Brenda Coughlin & Jeremy Scahill Written by Scahill & David Riker, in companion with Scahill’s book Dirty Wars: The World Is A Battlefield Released by Sundance Selects USA. 87 min. Not rated Dirty Wars connects how the celebrated successes and piecemeal scandals about the global war on […]