InTheShadowOfTheMoon Tagged Articles at Cinematical

What surprises were on Oscar's shortlist for Best Documentary? Which worthy contenders didn't make the cut? How is the documentary field changing in the face of new technologies? Does "Reality TV" really have an effect on documentary audiences? And is Michael Moore's long shadow finally moving on after years of looming over the field? Joining James this time on The Rocchi Review is journalist and performer Tamara Krinsky -- the Associate Editor of Documentary Magazine and the co-host of "That Indie Film Show" on Iklipz.com. You can download the entire podcast right here -- and we hope you enjoy; those of you with RSS Podcast readers can find all of Cinematical's podcast content at this link.

David Sington's new documentary In the Shadow of the Moon has a hook as simple as it is effective: Ask the surviving Apollo astronauts about their experiences. Combining new interviews with archival footage -- from NASA and other sources -- In the Shadow of the Moon's both transcendently beautiful and impressively down-to-earth. The footage of the moon missions -- some of it never seen before -- is both beautiful and magnificent; the interviews with the astronauts (with the notable absence of Neil Armstrong) are human and humble. There are no interviews with cultural commentators or scientists or NASA administrators -- just the small group of men who've been to our nearest celestial neighbor: This is who we are; this is what we did.

Sington's written and directed science-based material for TV, but In the Shadow of the Moon isn't just a TV piece writ large on the big screen; it's cinematic in scope, style and execution. In many ways, the difficulty with a documentary like In the Shadow of the Moon isn't finding archival material but rather trying to whittle a colossal mass of material down into a coherent, comprehensible size. Sington's editing team turns the hours and hours of archival and news footage about the moon missions and manages to condense them into a 100-minute story of wonder and adventure.

This week on Trailer Park, darkness falls across the land.

1-18-08
The turning point in this trailer is when a party is plunged into darkness. This preview, which has been playing with Tranformers, is one of the coolest trailers I've seen in... well, possibly ever. A farewell party in New York City is interrupted by a power failure and a massive explosion several miles away. The roar of something huge is heard in the distance, and a large piece of shrapnel turns out to be the Statue of Liberty's head. Over on IMDB this is still being called the Untitled J.J. Abrams Project. Speculation is running wild on this one. Just check out all the comments on Erik's posting about the film's teaser website. I for one am dying to see what this is all about.

All the Boys Love Mandy Lane
As Jette recently mentioned here, this teen horror flick has dropped off the summer release schedule entirely, been picked up by a new distributor and reassigned an early 2008 release date. In this fairly dark tale of teen lust and angst, a former ugly duckling has fallen in with the popular crowd. Every boy in her class has lusted after her, and during a weekend excursion to a remote ranch, several highly hormonal young men hope to get to know Mandy a whole lot better. Things turn ugly, though, and people start dying. The trailer resorts to lots of quick cuts, preventing the viewer from seeing who is getting offed, but there's a manic energy here that I find intriguing. Check it out:

Image fests aren't only for the big summer blockbusters. IGN has thrown up pictures for a bunch of indie films, so I thought I'd share:

• First, there's The Hottest State, Ethan Hawke's first directorial feature since 2001's Chelsea Walls. I was able to catch the film when it was at TIFF a few years back, and it's not bad. I preferred star Mark Weber's stint in Dear Wendy, but it had an interesting take on NYC romance (surprise, surprise) and a cast that also included Laura Linney and Frank Whaley. The pictures include some of Weber's on-screen romance with Catalina Sandino Moreno, a chat with Michelle Williams and a few other clips as well as the movie's poster. While it's taken a while to get to the public-at-large, State is gearing up for a limited release on August 24.
• This year, Scott Weinberg reviewed The Ten from Sundance, saying that it felt "a little like a "cult flick" waiting to happen," and then I directed you to a trailer for the strange movie will a killer cast. Now, the collection of pictures that IGN has posted over the last month are definitely a must-see if you're curious about the movie. There's Adam Brody stuck in the ground, Justin Theroux's Jesus grabbing some toosh, a room full of almost-naked men with beer and munchies, Winona Ryder embracing a dummy (of the wooden variety) and Ken Marino (Vinnie Van Lowe from Veronica Mars) pointing at an x-ray that shows a scissors resting against a spine. The movie hits theaters on August 3 -- in, of course, limited release.
• Last but not least, there is a little documentary goodness for you indie fans. The final link will send you to images from David Sington's doc -- In the Shadow of the Moon. The movie, which is about the surviving crew from NASA's Apollo missions, won the World Cinema Audience Award this year at Cannes. This final collection of images is one that you space geeks will especially like because it not only includes pics of the crew, but also some funky scenes from space -- high-quality ones at that! Just like the other two, Shadow will head to limited release in a few months -- on September 7.
  

To most movie fans, Sundance is this far-off and distant place they can't visit because, well, it's a pretty damn expensive trip -- and who the heck wants to spend a week on a mountain in January and not ski? The second question I'm always asked upon my return home from Sundance (after "What good movies did you see?") is "What famous people did you meet?" But the third question is usually something like "So when will I actually get to see these movies that everyone's been chattering about for the last two weeks?" And so I decided to collect all the acquisition news from this past festival and offer it all up on one convenient platter. I'll keep the chatter to a minimum, but if you want more info on a particular film, please do partake of all the links below.

• Clubland -- Warner Independent Pictures -- $4,000,000
• Crazy Love -- Magnolia Pictures -- n/a
  
• Grace is Gone -- The Weinstein Co. -- $4,000,000
• How She Move -- Paramount Vantage -- $4,000,000
• In the Shadow of the Moon -- ThinkFilm -- $2,500,000
• Joshua -- Fox Searchlight -- $4,000,000
• King of California -- First Look Pictures -- $3,000,000
• La Misma Luna (The Same Moon) -- The Weinstein Co. & Fox Searchlight -- $5,000,000
• My Kid Could Paint That -- Sony Pictures Classics -- $1,500,000
• Nanking -- Fortissimo Films -- n/a
  
• Once -- Summit Entertainment -- n/a
  
• Protagonist -- IFC & Netflix -- Under $1,000,000
• The Signal -- Magnolia Pictures -- $2,300,000
• Son of Rambow -- Paramount Vantage -- $8,500,000 (some say even higher)
• Teeth -- The Weinstein Co. & Lionsgate -- $1,000,000
• The Ten -- ThinkFilm & City Lights Home Entertainment -- $4,500,000
• Waitress -- Fox Searchlight -- $4,500,000
• Weapons -- After Dark Films -- $1,000,000

Thanks to Variety, Movie City News, THR's RiskyBiz Blog, and our own Cine-maniacs (particularly Jette and Karina) for all the info. [Have any updates, additions or corrections? Leave 'em in the comments section please!] Added Bonus: After the jump you'll find a list of movies that already had North American distribution set up before they arrived at Sundance!