If you haven’t already seen Tyson, James Toback’s documentary of Iron Mike, do so immediately. Toback’s lack of editorial lets one of the most fascinating athletes ever speak in his own surprisingly introspective and articulate words. Toback heightens the manic contradictions in Kid Dynamite’s personality with schizophrenic, split-screen editing, creating a film that has a...
Has Tyson director James Toback ever angrily confronted a film critic? we wondered at the New York Film Critics Circle Awards on Monday night. Turns out he has! "Years ago, I went to a New York Film Critics dinner with Pauline Kael, and I confronted Vincent Canby, who had given a vicious review [to 1978's Fingers ], and who idolized and groveled before Truffaut, who called [ Fingers ] one of...
1. Critics Matter. Accepting the award for Best Actor for his roles in Up in the Air and Fantastic Mr. Fox, George Clooney shouted out to Rex Reed who always expresses reservations about Clooney's performances, “I will not sleep-at my...
It's no secret that Film Junk has a few documentary fans on staff and every year we try and highlight some of the stand out non-fiction films. Although The Cove and Anvil! The Story of Anvil made some appearances on our year end lists -- along with a few others on our end of decade list -- we didn't really get a chance to write up any doc specific lists, so I figured I'd share some of the love The...
It's been a long, fascinating year for DP/30. 125 interviews. Over 200 interviewees. More than 60 hours of conversation. There are a few links missing and will be added in over the next few days. Thanks to everyone who participated. I look forward to another year of great conversation, starting first thing Monday morning... ======================= 1. Frost/Nixon 1 - screenwriter Peter Morgan 2. Doubt...
Here is a list of my favorite documentaries of the decade. Most of these, not surprisingly, are film and music related but I also included a couple covering some different topics from the ones I typically approach here at Moon in the Gutter. Some of my favorite films are documentaries, and these ten are all incredible works that manage to be as informative as they are entertaining. 1. James Toback’s...
I reviewed The Hangover when it was a big hit in June, then watched as it snowballed into a phenomenon. It’s the fourth top-grossing movie of 2009 to date and the only one that isn’t animated or a sequel or a reboot, and it did well overseas, which is rare for a U.S. comedy. [...]
A reliable source tells us that the New York Film Critics Circle's choice of The Hurt Locker and Kathryn Bigelow as Best Picture and Best Director was not the result of a particularly contentious voting session, with Up in the Air coming in second for Picture and Fantastic Mr. Fox 's Wes Anderson the runner-up for Director. The one heated race was for Screenplay, which went all the way to a third...
One more thing. Actual blog content is soon to come. I wrote about Matteo Garrone's Gomorrah for the Baltimore City Paper 's "Year in Film", it was ranked #2, right after Revanche , whatever that is... "Sinners in the hands of an angry director. Eurotrash beats apathetically pound over scenes of sitting around and shooting all the same--and no self-justified, too-tan character is spared...
Delightful dinner last night at Monkey Bar with Elvis Mitchell and S. Epatha Merkerson, whom some of you may recognize from Law & Order, unless you've been living under a railroad trestle lo these many years. What do the three...
Inglourious Basterds(18, £19.99/ Blu-ray £24.99) 5/5 That marvellous maverick Quentin Tarantino has done it again, and slaughtered the competition with an outrageous, spectacular film that takes you on a merry, bloody dance through an alternate wartime history. It begins...
This year I utilized our family’s Netflix subscription to go on a documentary binge. There’s something about documentaries that stirs my spirit in ways regular films cannot. Maybe it’s their ability to capture raw snapshots of real life with its twists and turns, leaps and falls without the padding of “it’s just a movie.” Maybe it’s the [...] No related posts....
Lately I have been looking at some of my year-end awards screeners, mainly the documentaries. My critics' group votes for the year's best documentary; we each vote for our top five and then vote again from the top five finalists. It's not easy to figure out this year's front-runner as of yet, and most of the contenders have been huge yawners. For several years in a row, the big award-winners have...