OsamaBinLaden Tagged Articles at Cinematical

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!

Egyptian cinema hasn't been too popular in America, but now there's good news. A production company based out of Cairo called Good News for Film and Music is trying to make Egyptian films that appeal to Western audiences in addition to those in Arab countries. Last year Good News released The Yacoubian Building, which was the most expensive film ever produced in Egypt and was intended to be accessible to moviegoers in Europe and North America. The film has screened at a number of international festivals, including Berlin, Rome and Tribeca, where it won an award for Best New Feature Director, and though it wasn't nominated or even shortlisted for the foreign language Oscar -- it was Egypt's official submission -- it has so far been pretty well received (see Cinematical's review here).

Now Good News is following the success of The Yacoubian Building with a few more high-profile films that should be geared towards and possibly appeal to American audiences. The first is a biopic about Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri and the history of al Qaeda. According to Good News head Adel Adeeb, the plot will focus on the two al Qaeda leaders as they contact an American journalist in order to tell their life stories. This seems likely to be a framing device for a film told in flashback, and the fictional Western filter should make it easier for American audiences to digest the film, which will certainly be controversial no matter how accessible.

Two separate documentaries to be shown on French television display some controversial concerns for world travelers. They appear to be unrelated, each set to appear on different stations, but they share the common interest of safety and security as related to 9/11.

The first film, airing this Friday, is about airport security at French airports. A reporter named Laurent Richard tested the security by seeing just how easy it would be to get different weapons onto a plane. It turned out to be very easy. With hidden cameras, he shows himself sneaking on box-cutters and de-activated explosives, plus he presents footage of himself driving a truck into secure, restricted areas. It is imaginable that beginning this weekend, wait times will be longer and security measures will be stronger all over France.

The second documentary, which doesn't yet have an air date, reports that French soldiers could have killed Osama Bin Laden, but were not ordered to do so by the U.S. military. Bin Laden: Failings of a Manhunt presents the testimony of four anonymous soldiers who were part of a special forces unit commanded by the U.S. in Afghanistan. They all claim that they had Bin Laden in their rifle scopes in 2003 and 2004 but were never permitted or ordered to fire. The French defense ministry, however, denies there is any truth to the story.

Both films reek of American fear-monger journalism, and if it weren't for the weak performance of Death of a President here, I'd be surprised if American distributors or television stations didn't pick up rights to show either of them in the U.S. Surely there are some viewers over here that would love to see them.

AmIAnnoying.com has released its official lists of the Most and Least Annoying personalities of the year, and whilst all the usual suspects are represented - Michael Jackson, Paris Hilton, Britney Spears and, for the second consecutive year in the number five slot, the elusive Osama Bin Laden – surely the least surprising "winner" is the sites pick for the most annoying celebrity of all, Mr. Tom Cruise. His antics have a far reach: surely at least in part thanks to his promotion thereof, the whole of Scientology came in at #17. Also on the list: Sadaam Hussein (still annoying in jail), Adolf Hitler (still annoying in death), and Tara Reid (still annoying in Taradise). Far more random is the Least Annoying, which is topped by the venerable Gene Hackman and includes such strange listfellows as John Goodman, Lisa Kudrow, and Leonardo Da Vinci. And surely there's been some mistake - how could Mandy Moore be the 4th least annoying person of the year? Shouldn't Entourage fans be up in arms?