Sean Penn, Josh Brolin, James Franco, Emile Hirsch, Alison Pill, Gus Van Sant and Dustin Lance Black Recruited by Harvey Milk by Jay S. Jacobs “I’m Harvey Milk, and I’m here to recruit you!” This was the battle cry of 1970s San Francisco politician Harvey Milk, the first openly gay man voted into public office … Continue reading
Clint Eastwood Becomes a Changeling by Brad Balfour An avowed Republican in Hollywood is nearly as rare as the giant Comodo Dragon — and they’ve had the spiteful bite of one as well. But with Barack Obama’s victory, they’ve made themselves pretty scarce since election day. Hell, even a straight-shooting, no bullshitter like Clint Eastwood — long known as … Continue reading
ALEX GIBNEY The Director Goes Gonzo on Dr. Hunter S. Thompson, His Life and Work by Brad Balfour At a time when we need counter-culture heroes more than ever, Oscar-winning director Alex Gibney’s Gonzo-The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson explores in a relatively unvarnished fashion Rolling Stone magazine’s late wild man of journalism and a counter-culture … Continue reading
Another Happening from Director M. Night Shyamalan by Brad Balfour Like his work or not, director M. Night Shyamalan employs big ideas and challenges himself and his viewers with unusual and dark storylines with the framework to express them. After his incredible success with The Sixth Sense, Unbreakable and Signs, he was hailed as a youthful wunderkind with a … Continue reading
John Leguizamo, Katherine Waterston and David Ross Adventures in Babysitting by Jay S. Jacobs The hot-button topic film The Babysitters was a low-budgeted labor of love. Written and directed by David Ross, it starts as a star-crossed infatuation story that spirals wildly out of control. A teen babysitter who has a crush on one of her clients … Continue reading
A Very Brady Musical Lloyd Schwartz and Hope Juber Reimagine the Family Business by Ronald Sklar For the producers of The Brady Bunch, it was more like Family Affair. Creator Sherwood Schwartz (who also gave the world Gilligan’s Island) worked closely with his son, Lloyd, and still does. However, for those five sunshine-day seasons on ABC, the Schwartz team lived, … Continue reading
Director Stephen Walker Celebrates Being Young@Heart by Brad Balfour Of the many surprises at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, one of the most charming was a little doc called Young@Heart. Filmed over a several months’ rehearsal period leading up to a concert tour, veteran British director Stephen Walker and his wife, producer Sally George, tell the … Continue reading
ALEX GIBNEY RIDES THE TAXI TO THE DARK SIDE by Brad Balfour Having previously made The Trials of Henry Kissinger and Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room, documentary director Alex Gibney has become an expert on people corrupted by and abusing their power. A prize–winner at last spring’s Tribeca Film Festival, few films resonate like Taxi to the … Continue reading
Michael Moore Heats up the Debate with SiCKO by Brad Balfour What can be said about the 53-year-old Michael Moore that hasn’t been said before? He’s probably one of the first documentary directors – if not the first – to become a household word in his own right, almost a celebrity who commands gossip-porn coverage … Continue reading
Stefan Ruzowitzky and Karl Markovics A Director and an Actor Make an Authentic Holocaust Film out of The Counterfeiters by Brad Balfour Just when you think everything that happened during the Holocaust has been chronicled, another film appears based on a true story that offers another look at that horrible experience in a way which … Continue reading
