TheWar Tagged Articles at Cinematical
Satellite Awards: No Longer Space Junk; Now Just Boring Junk
Filed under: Comedy », Documentary », Drama », Awards », Michael Moore »
I was a little hard on the International Press Academy last year, but they made some ridiculous decisions when handing out their Satellite Awards. Still, at least they came off as being different than every other year-end awards giver by picking winners like Joseph Cross and X-Men: The Last Stand (best comedic actor and best editing, respectively). Those are at least some interesting, unpredictable picks, right? This year, I feel the need to be harder on the organization, because it's gone totally predictable in honoring No Country for Old Men, Juno, Sicko, American Gangster, Ratatouille, Diablo Cody and Christopher Hampton, among others. The actors they honored -- Marion Cotillard, Viggo Mortensen, Ellen Page, Ryan Gosling, Tom Wilkinson/Casey Affleck (tied) and Amy Ryan -- aren't all the most obvious choices, but they aren't shocking, either. Couldn't they have at least gone with nominee Clive Owen or his nominated "comedy or musical" Shoot 'Em Up (!?!?!?), or something?Not that the winners aren't deserving, but what good is yet another awards ceremony if it's not going to distinguish itself from the Golden Globes, which are the Satellite's unrecognized yet unmistakable "baby daddy". Yeah, the Hollywood Foreign Press will likely go with some other winners, but they won't seem that different. Again, I do salute the IPA for having a documentary category, though it wouldn't have hurt to give The King of Kong its one possible prestigious(?) award -- not that it was actually a better film than fellow nominee No End in Sight. Also, it's always enjoyable to see what the IPA picks for best DVDs (The Prestige for overall; Borat and Masters of Horror Season 1 (tied) for extras; Ratatouille for youth-oriented; Ken Burns' The War for documentary; The Graduate 40th Anniversary Edition for classic). For the rest of the nominees and winners, head over to Variety.
DVD Review: Ken Burns' 'The War'
Filed under: Documentary », Independent », Telluride », DVD Reviews », New on DVD », Home Entertainment », Cinematical Indie », War »
Ordinarily, I probably wouldn't write about a PBS series on Cinematical, but Ken Burns' The War deserves an exception. The lengthy documentary, which has seven episodes, first caught my attention at Telluride last year, where one of the episodes was shown as a sneak peek. I knew who Burns was, of course -- his previous documentary series -- The Civil War, Baseball, and Jazz -- are noted for their exceptional quality. But still, The War being added to the Telluride schedule seemed to catch folks by surprise. And then, on the gondola and in line, I started hearing buzz about The War. When I asked people what they'd seen that they liked at the fest, The War was mentioned over and over (usually preceded by, "Well, it's long, but ..."). So when I heard that the DVD set of The War was coming out, I knew I wanted to write it up.
Even if you're not familiar with Ken Burns' work, or you think you're not into war movies, this documentary is so extraordinarily well done that you're bound to find value in it. It is long. Very long. As in, it takes about 14 1/2 hours to get through all seven episodes, and by the time you're done, you're likely to feel like you've been through a war yourself. Burns notes on the 36-minute "Making of" featurette that the production team filmed hundreds of hours of interviews, looked at hundreds of photos, and culled through thousands of hours of archival foootage in pulling together this remarkable project. It's hard to imagine a more comprehensive view of one of the most cataclysmic events ever to impact the world.
Indie Bites: Burns ISN'T Buckling, 'England' Trailer and Gilliam Still Fighting for Quixote
Filed under: Documentary », Drama », Independent », Celebrities and Controversy », Scripts », Trailer Trash », Cinematical Indie », War »
Some bits before the weekend:- So much for that whole story about Ken Burns buckling to pressure and re-editing his latest documentary, The War, as I alerted you to yesterday. Right after reports were released that the film would be edited, a PBS official said that he will not be re-cutting the WWII doc. Who knows how much we can trust any of this back and forth, but as of now, there will still be extra footage, but it will not be seamlessly integrated. According to PBS -- "To the viewer at home, it will be part of the same contiguous experience" with "the same tone and tenor and production qualities" of the long film.
- Yesterday, Jette Kernion let us know that Shane Meadows' This is England had been picked up by IFC and Red Envelope. Today, Twitch has linked to the movie's trailer, and if Martha Fischer's TIFF review wasn't enough to pique your interest, this trailer should be. The film looks flipping great, and the fact that it is based on Meadow's own life, as well as that of his young star, Thomas Turgoose, makes it irresistible in that car crash sort of way.
- A year and a half ago, Cinematical posted that Terry Gilliam was trying to get back his script to The Man Who Killed Don Quixote. According to Gilliam: "There was kind of a legal situation where the insurance company and French production company put up a lot of money, but it looks as though things are loosening up." Things weren't as loose as he thought, and all these months later, he still doesn't have it. However, while being interviewed at the Amsterdam Fantastic Film Festival, Gilliam says that he's in "final, final, final stages of getting the script back." Once he does, he will talk to Johnny Depp and "find out if and when he's available." Will it happen? I won't hold my breath. "Loosening up" took over a year, so I have no idea how long "final, final, final" is! [via FilmIck]
Indie Bites: Ken Burns Buckles, So-Ri Plays Handball and Rollins, Wedding Performer
Filed under: Documentary », Drama », Foreign Language », Horror », Independent », Casting », Celebrities and Controversy », Fandom », Remakes and Sequels », Cinematical Indie », War »
For your mid-week movie nourishment:- Earlier this month, Christopher Campbell posted that Latinos were protesting Ken Burns' latest documentary. Burns, who is the PBS powerhouse that brought us Jazz and Civil War has been working on The War, a documentary that details the WWII as told the residents of 4 towns. Yesterday, the filmmaker agreed to re-cut the documentary to include the war contributions of Latino and American Indian service members. At first, PBS declared that they would make an add-on for the film about the efforts of these groups. Now, it will be fully incorporated with the help of Hector Galan, who has produced PBS docs including Chicano! History of the Mexican-American Civil Rights Movement. The pair have to to hurry -- the DVD deadline for the film is this June, so they've got to conduct interviews, write, shoot and re-edit the documentary.
- Korean actress Moon So-Ri is the latest woman to sign on to The Best Moment of Our Life, the upcoming film by Yim Soon-rye. The feature, which has already signed on Kim Jeong-eun, Kim Ji-young and Jo Eun-ji, is about the Korean women's handball team while they were at the 2004 Athens Olympics. Moon will play the headstrong lead player of the team and Jeon-eun will be the team's leader. The team made it to the finals, defeating Brazil and France, before losing the gold to Denmark with a score of 38-36. The actresses have their work cut out for them -- before shooting, they will have 3 months of handball training, and the film is still planned to be released later this year.
- Years ago, my dad and I were sitting around at a wedding, musing over what my one-day wedding would entail. King Crimson was going to be the band, and Henry Rollins was going to officiate, of course. Unfortunately, I didn't think to write a sequel to a horror movie and schmooze the singer-writer-performer-actor in time, and Joe Lynch has stolen the idea. It seems that Rollins had a great experience with Lynch during the filming of Wrong Turn 2, and when the director asked, he couldn't say no. Fie! Rollins, if you're reading, what could I do to schmooze you? I'll accept you heading the nuptials, or being the man to slip the ring onto my finger.
PBS Assigns Hispanic Helper to Ken Burns Doc
Filed under: Documentary », Celebrities and Controversy », Home Entertainment », Politics », Cinematical Indie », War »
Earlier this month it was reported that Latino groups have been protesting Ken Burns' latest documentary mini-series. The PBS-funded production about WWII, titled The War, apparently ignored the half-million Hispanic soldiers who fought in the war. Well, the Latinos have won. PBS has hired Hispanic documentarian Hector Galan to assist Burns with a revision to the completed film that will now feature Latinos respectfully represented. Galan, who has directed many programs for PBS, most recently made the feature Los Lonely Boys: Cottonfields and Crossroads. He is currently working on a new film about Latin rhythms, which is now on hold until his work with Burns is completed.Burns, who is one of the most celebrated documentary filmmakers, has to be somewhat upset about being mandated a helper, but of course he isn't displaying any frustration. Following the announcement of Galan's hiring, Burns told reporters that the revision is a win-win solution. Obviously, though, he lost a little bit in the agreement. Considering the 14-hour series took six years to produce, it could take all summer to introduce even a little bit about Hispanic soldiers. The duo will have to work fast if they want to finish in time for the scheduled premiere this September.
Jeremy Renner Wants To Be An Avenger
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Indie Roundup: 'Sweetgrass,' 'Clarkworld,' 'Broken Embraces'
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