Category Archives: Releases

Coming to DVD and VOD today, Tuesday, April 10: INTO THE ABYSS

Werner Herzog premiered his death row study at Telluride and Toronto. After additional festival appearances, the film opened theatrically at the end of Fall.

I included the doc in my Toronto roundup here.

Coming to to theatres in Los Angeles and to VOD tomorrow, Friday, April 6, and to NYC theatres next Friday, April 13: COMIC-CON: EPISODE IV: A FAN’S HOPE

Morgan Spurlock’s affectionate behind-the-scenes look at the massive San Diego summer spectacle made its world premiere at Toronto last Fall. Since then, it’s played at select festivals gearing up to its release.

I included the doc in my Toronto coverage here.

Coming to theatres this Friday, April 6: SURVIVING PROGRESS

Mathieu Roy and Harold Crooks premiered their study of the pitfalls of progress at Toronto before heading to Vancouver, Montreal, IDFA, and Dubai before the end of the year. Since then, it’s screened at a number of additional festivals in addition to theatrical runs in Canada. First Run Features brings the film to the US for a theatrical run beginning at Cinema Village and the Film Society’s Elinor Bunin Munroe Film Center in NYC this weekend and expanding on April 20.

Adapted from Ronald Wright’s A SHORT HISTORY OF PROGRESS, a treatise on how too-accelerated progress in technology, population, and consumption, may very well lead to the destruction of our civilization, Roy and Crooks gather the author and a number of other notable thinkers to explore the “progress traps” we’ve created for ourselves. While the interview subjects offer compelling food for thought, the filmmakers smartly eschew a strictly talking heads approach by incorporating stunning visuals from all over the globe. Moving from the ancient, defunct civilizations focused on in Wright’s book, the documentary hones in on the present and the underside of today’s interconnected world, where financial or environmental crises recognize no national or geographic border. Despite tackling a huge issue from often disparate, wide-ranging perspectives (though essentially linked by the commonsensical dictum that we should consume less), the film remains grounded and relatable, offering concrete examples of the problems we’re collectively facing, as well as a variety of solutions.

Coming to theatres tomorrow, Friday, March 30: BULLY

Lee Hirsch premiered his doc on young bullying victims (under the original title THE BULLY PROJECT) at Tribeca last year. It was picked up for distribution by The Weinstein Company, and has had a healthy festival life, screening at notable events like Hot Docs, the Hamptons, Silverdocs, and the Los Angeles Film Festival. The film gained a publicity boost when the backwards-thinking, out-of-touch MPAA gave it an R rating, effectively cutting off the younger viewers who would most benefit from it. Despite an appeal by the Weinsteins and a petition, the MPAA has not backed down from their rating, citing language concerns. As a result, the Weinsteins announced earlier this week that the film will be released unrated.

I included the film in my Tribeca coverage here.

Coming to NYC’s Cinema Village this Friday, March 30 and LA’s Laemmle’s Music Hall on April 13: SCENES OF A CRIME

Blue Hadaegh and Grover Babcock premiered their gripping examination of questionable police interrogation practices at Full Frame last year. It picked up the Grand Jury Award at both Full Frame and Doc NYC, as well as the 2011 IFP Gotham Award for Best Film Not Playing At A Theatre Near You.

I wrote about the film out of Silverdocs here.

Released on DVD last week by the Criterion Collection: THE WAR ROOM

Legendary Direct Cinema filmmakers Chris Hegedus and DA Pennebaker premiered their film at Toronto in 1993. It later went on to screen at the New York Film Festival and Berlin, among others, and enjoyed a limited theatrical release. The film was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary the following year.

Embracing the still largely pre-Internet media in a way unlike any previous Presidential candidate, then Governor Bill Clinton gave permission for Hegedus and Pennebaker to film the goings-on at this campaign center in Little Rock AR, the source for their film’s title. While Clinton is occasionally on-camera, the real stars of the doc are lead campaign strategist James Carville and communications director George Stephanopoulos, the masterminds behind Clinton’s 1992 win over incumbent President George HW Bush. Embedded, the filmmakers follow these two men from the New Hampshire Democratic primary through the November election, hitting highlights along the way, including the Gennifer Flowers tabloid scandal, the emergence of Ross Perot as a contender, and dramatic shifts in opinion polls that left the outcome of the campaign in question. Nearly twenty years later, the film remains absolutely compelling, and its infectiously likable subjects as they steer Clinton’s ship to the White House. It’s a remarkable achievement, placing the machinery of election campaigning under scrutiny in a clear manner, from media spinning to speechwriting to analysis of even the most seemingly inconsequential items like the kind of lettering to feature on campaign signs – and all of it always compulsively watchable. This doc set the standard for all campaign docs that have followed, and it’s still the best.