MorganSpurlock Tagged Articles at Cinematical

Last week, I did some reporting from the CineVegas Film Festival, where I served as a juror. The winners were announced this weekend, and they have me wishing I had been able to see more stuff. She Unfolds By Day, Rolf Belgum's film about "a frustrated middle-aged son trying to manage his misanthropic 80-year-old mother," took home the Grand Jury Prize. A Special Jury Award went to Dark Streets, which our own Eric D. Snider gave a decent review to here. Bill Pullman took home a Special Jury Award for his performance in Your Name Here, reviewed by Eric here. The documentary jury, which included Super Size Me director Morgan Spurlock, selected Beautiful Losers, about "the lives of a loose-knit group of artists in the '80s who created their own art movement outside the mainstream." Hi, My Name is Ryan, focusing on "the clown prince of the downtown Phoenix art scene," picked up a Special Documentary Jury Prize.

Outside the festival circuit, you don't get much of a chance to watch a movie followed by a Q&A with the director, so here's a nice opportunity for you fans of Morgan Spurlock (Super Size Me, 30 Days) to see his new film and meet the guy afterwards. (On a personal note, I've met him twice and he's a very chilled out dude.) Unfortunately, this is only available to those who live in and around the New York City area -- so if that's you, and you're interested, pay attention. Morgan Spurlock will be holding a Q&A after the following NYC performances of Where in the World is Osama Bin Laden?

Thursday, April 17th @ 7:10PM
AMC 19th Street
890 Broadway
New York, NY 10003

Friday, April 18th @ 7PM
Bam Rose Cinemas
30 Lafayette Ave.
Brooklyn, NY 11217

Saturday, April 19th @ 5PM
Landmark Sunshine
143 East Houston St.
New York, NY 10002

Saturday, April 19th @ 7:45PM
AMC Kips Bay
570 Second Avenue
New York, NY 10016

If you meet Morgan, tell him Cinematical said hi.

Cinematical has just received this exclusive poster (click on the image to enlarge) for Where in the World is Osama Bin Laden?, director Morgan Spurlock's follow-up to the ultra-popular documentary Super Size Me. The first poster for the film (which we debuted here) spoofed Indiana Jones. This new one seems to have a Lawrence of Arabia vibe to it, which I totally dig. The film, which premiered earlier this year at the Sundance Film Festival, follows Spurlock to the Middle East on a journey to track down the world's most elusive criminal: Osama Bin Laden. But what awaits our heroic documentarian upon arrival? And will he find a way to make it out alive ... with Osama in his backpack? You'll have to see the movie yourself for the answers to those questions, but in the meantime feel free to check out James' review from Sundance and his interview with Morgan Spurlock.

Where in the World is Osama Bin Laden? arrives in theaters on April 18.

Morgan Spurlock's new documentary Where in the World Is Osama bin Laden? sees the abominable showman, who lived on fast food for a month in Super Size Me, tackle an even more indigestible subject -- the complex and challenged relationship between America and the Middle East. Spurlock spoke with Cinematical about his globe-spanning adventure, the possible personal payback from living his life on-camera, how his life's changed since he first came to Park City, and how it felt to be in real danger on his surreal journey: "When we were embedded with the military ... they target the military. Being with people who are automatic targets is really hard; those (soldiers) are heroes for what they do."

This interview, like all of Cinematical's podcast offerings, is now available through iTunes; if you'd like, you can subscribe at this link. Also, you can listen directly here at Cinematical by clicking below:

Morgan Spurlock -- whose mix of affable good humor, wise guy populism, shameless showmanship and participatory journalism made Super Size Me a breakout hit at Sundance in 2004 -- is back in Park City with his follow-up feature documentary, Where in the World Is Osama bin Laden? And those elements are all still very much in effect in Spurlock's sophomore feature film, even if they may occasionally feel in need of slight fine-tuning. Inspired by the impending birth of his first child, Spurlock hits upon one thing he can do to make the world a safer place for his yet-to-be-born offspring; find and capture Osama bin Laden, the mastermind behind September 11th and the leader of Al Qaeda. As Spurlock notes in his introduction, "If I've learned anything from big budget action films, it's that complicated world problems are best solved by one lonely guy. ...." And while Spurlock may not actually answer the question of where, he actually tackles, with humor, probing wit and a certain grace, the much more important question of why.

And while Where in the World Is Osama bin Laden? offers more than a spoonful of sugar to help the medicine go down, at least there is a little medicine. After security training and an extensive battery of shots, Spurlock begins touring the globe to find out who Osama is and where he came from. A quote from Dick Cheney gives a party-line take on the roots of terrorist hatred for America: "They hate us, they hate our country, they hate the liberties for which we stand." But, as comedian David Cross notes in one of his charged stand-up bits, if the terrorists really hated freedom, then the Netherlands would be dust long before America got attacked. ...

So why do they hate us? Spurlock goes out into, as the op-ed pieces call it, 'the Arab street,' in Jordan and Morocco and Palestine and Egypt and Saudi Arabia and elsewhere to not only ask about Osama's whereabouts but also ask the people there how they feel about 9-11 and America. And with a mix of interviews and escapades and animations, Spurlock lays out a simple thesis: That America's image has been hurt and sullied for years by its own conduct, primarily by propping up authoritarian regimes that deny their citizens economic and political freedoms, with those angry, disenfranchised poor embracing Islamic fundimentalism as the only thing that will listen and violence as the only way they can be heard. (Oh, and invading Iraq. And supporting Israel's efforts in the contested territories. And ...) Al Franken notes that when Liberals say they love America, it's like the love in a long marriage -- "I love you, but I'm mad you didn't take out the trash ... " or "I love you, but I can't believe you gave billions of dollars in arms and aid to Iraq during the '80s." It's still love, but it's tough love -- which includes asking hard questions and raising ugly facts. Spurlock says, flat-out, that in our desire to support two precious resources -- anti-communism during the Cold War and oil right now -- we have helped create the poverty, hopelessness and anger that is the meat and drink of fundamentalist Islamic terrorism.

So, Kim already told you about the insanity going on at last night's Alamo/Magnolia party. It was held at this massive condo with five floors, with lots of action taking place on each level. And the Nachos! Holy crap, were they good. Each tray had several layers of junk on them; no one knew what the hell they were eating, but man, did they hit the spot. Highlights for me include meeting David Wain, Morgan Spurlock (who injured his hand snowboarding prior to the big debut of his much-buzzed about flick Where in the World is Osama Bin Laden?) and Michael Paul Stevenson, who's currently in the middle of directing that sweet-looking Troll 2 flick (Best Worst Film) we told you about recently. I met several more people, though I don't remember any names (it was that kind of night if you know what I mean). But props go out to Alamo Drafthouse's Tim League for doing a bang-up job as MC, and for pimping out a Hulk-a-Mania t-shirt all night long.

The line of the night, though, belongs to Scott Weinberg. While chatting with Spurlock in a small circle of friends, Weinberg blurted out, "So Morgan, can you f**king tell us already -- did you find him or not?" There was this awkward pause before Weinberg continued with ... "Did you find the f**king Cloverfield monster, Morgan? Did you?!" I guess you had to be there with beer in hand, but nevertheless I'm still chuckling about it this morning. Today I have three films: American Son, Dear Zachary (Slamdance film with crazy buzz right now) and Bigger, Stronger Faster. Then I shall attempt to drag my ass to the Bigger, Stronger Faster party, though I'm neither strong nor fast -- so we'll see. Look for more pics from last night's party (courtesy of Weinberg) real soon.

Jeffrey Blitz had enormous success with his debut film Spellbound. It is the 14th highest grossing documentary (better than it sounds; it made more than $7 million worldwide, while most docs never break $1 million), it was nominated for an Academy Award and it has lasting acclaim (it's #4 on IDA's list of all-time best docs). So it's OK that his follow-up, the fiction film Rocket Science, only made a tenth of what Spellbound grossed (yeah, that means it didn't break $1 million -- but it did win Blitz a directing award at Sundance). You can't hit the jackpot twice, right? Well, Blitz might know best, since he's returning to non-fiction for a documentary about the lottery. According to the Hollywood Reporter, the film is expected to finish in time for a 2008 release, it's being produced by Peter Saraf (Little Miss Sunshine) and it currently has no title.

The doc apparently won't be much of an investigation into the industry, at least not in the scrutinizing vein of Michael Moore or Morgan Spurlock. As Saraf has said: "It's not the Fahrenheit 9/11 of lotteries," which is pretty disappointing considering I heard that lotto winners collect their money for a few years and then some guy with a bat comes to their house and convinces them they don't need anymore money. I'm sure that is just a rumor/urban legend, but I'd like a film to tell me for sure. The film will focus partially on the lives of winners, though, particularly on how those lives have changed or not changed since winning. Other people interviewed for the doc include obsessive players who have never won, and Saraf assures us that Blitz is far more interested in the people than in the industry. If you've seen Spellbound, you can kind of imagine what the lotto film will be like. But will he ever be able to find a subject as interesting as his little poster boy, Harry Altman?

Economy is everywhere. It's in the classrooms, through the world, and even on the bookshelves. If you haven't read Steven D. Levitt and and Stephen J. Dubner's bestselling pop culture economy book, Freakonomics, you've probably at least heard of it, or have spotted the apple-orange cover to the right. After making the waves in the reader world, using economics to discuss mundane and controversial topics, Variety reports that an excellent collection of popular documentary directors are coming together to film a doc based on the book.

Under producers Chad Troutwine (Paris je t'aime) and Seth Gordon (The King of Kong), Freakonomics will bring together Super Size Me's Morgan Spurlock, Rachel Grady and Heidi Ewing from Jesus Camp, Alex Gibney (Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room), My Country My Country's Laura Poitras, Eugene Jarecki of Why We Fight, and finally Jehane Noujaim (Control Room) -- each of whom will film a section of the book. Most of the directors are still finalizing topics, but Gibney is said to be filming a segment on cheating teachers and sumo wrestlers, while Jarecki will tackle one of the most controversial segments -- that a drop in crime can be attributed to Roe v. Wade. But it's not just politics under the microscope -- other issues covered in the book include Adam Vinatieri's football career as a field goal kicker.

Each segment will be 15 minutes long, and will then come together into a feature-length documentary that includes an intro and interstitials from Gordon. Producer Troutwine says: "I stalked the authors for a year because I saw cinematic appeal to the book as soon as I read it. It showed that conventional wisdom should always be tested and never trusted, and that is what documentaries are all about." Are you ready to get freaky with economics?

We don't know, but we're sure to find out in a little over a month from now as Morgan Spurlock's Where in the World is Osama Bin Laden is scheduled to premiere at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival. It's taken some time to get a new feature doc out of Spurlock, who arrived on the scene in a Big (Mac) way following his break-out hit Super Size Me. Since then, he's shelled out a couple seasons of the very entertaining TV show 30 Days, as well as attached himself as producer to docs like What Would Jesus Buy. Above is our first look at the new Spurlock film, which follows the filmmaker as he attempts what the United States government hasn't been able to do: Find the elusive and infamous Osama Bin Laden.

The film first screened for a select group of buyers earlier this year at the Berlin International Film Festival. At the time, it was the talk of the town (mainly because those in attendance were asked to sign some insane confidentiality agreement) -- and I remember the buzz could be heard in front of every screening for the next several days. Eventually, The Weinstein Co. wound up with the doc and, according to some involved, Spurlock uncovered some insane stuff. But did he find Bin Laden? I, personally, cannot wait to find out. Currently, no release date is scheduled, though we'll have a full review of the film once our Cinematical team arrives in Park City, Utah next month.

[via Slashfilm]

Morgan Spurlock is at it again with another spellbinding documentary. This time it has nothing to do with feeding on heart-stopping foods like in Super Size Me, but with the continued search for one of the most famous men in the world, Osama bin Laden. The doc apparently details the hunt for Bin Laden, and Spurlock is currently rushing back and forth from the Middle East to capture completion footage in time for the Toronto Film Festival.

The film is already greatly anticipated and its rights were purchased (by The Weinstein Co.) during the Berlin fest -- few details have been released to date, however. Spurlock's lips, along with anyone working on the project, are tightly sealed. Here's one detail -- the director of photography, Daniel Marracino, told Variety, "Visually, this film is going to be gorgeous."

Spurlock's body of work often puts him right in the middle of the danger zone. In Super Size Me his doctor pleaded for him to quit the diet for fear of severe liver damage, and in his FX series 30 Days he put himself in jail for a number of weeks in an attempt to document the experience. The passion and ferocity in his filmmaking may help us gain some new understanding in the seemingly anti-climactic search for the world's leading terrorist. So when can we expect to see the film? As of June 5, Spurlock stated he was 95% finished, and the opening date for the Toronto Film Festival is September 6. Good luck Spurlock, see you in September!