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
Michael Apted How Sweet the Sound by Jay S. Jacobs In 1963, when a twenty-two-year-old researcher for Granada Television in England was sent out to find a representative sampling of British children for a special program on how seven-year olds saw the world, he never realized that assignment would completely change his life. Forty-four years … Continue reading
DARFUR NOW (2007) Featuring Don Cheadle, Hejewa Adam, Pablo Recalde, Ahmed Mohammed Abakar, Luis Moreno-Ocampo, Adam Sterling, George Clooney, Hillary Clinton, John McCain and Arnold Schwarzenegger. Written by Ted Braun. Directed by Ted Braun. Distributed by Warner Independent Pictures. 99 minutes. Rated PG. It’s not easy to make an uplifting film about genocide, but Darfur Now does … Continue reading
THE OUTSIDERS OF NEW ORLEANS – LOUJON PRESS (2007) Featuring Louise “Gypsy Lou” Webb, Jon Edgar Webb, Wayne Ewing and the voice of Charles Bukowski. Directed by Wayne Ewing. Distributed by Wayne Ewing Films. 58 minutes. Not Rated. This short documentary pays tribute to LouJon Press, a little-known self-run publishing house that in a small … Continue reading
STEAL A PENCIL FOR ME (2007) Featuring Jack Polak, Ina Soep and the voices of Jeroen Krabbé and Ellen Ten Damme. Written by Michèle Ohayon. Directed by Michèle Ohayon. Distributed by Red Envelope Entertainment. 94 minutes. Not Rated. Love is never really thought to have bloomed in the Holocaust. With the horrible conditions, the desperation … Continue reading
AIR GUITAR NATION (2007) Featuring David “C. Diddy” Jung, Dan “Björn Türoque” Crane, Hadia “Jam Toast” Ackerman, Lance “The Shred” Kasten, Ryan Kelly, John “Johnny Rocket” Fillon, Ralph “Rufus Sewer” Martin, John Daniel Harding Jr., Lucy “Snatchface” Harrison, Rory “Air Do Well” O’Flaherty, Craig “Czar” Zahler, Paul Fichera, Erika Szanto, Elena Berkowitz, Melinda Murphy, Julie … Continue reading
NO END IN SIGHT (2007) Featuring Faisal Al-Istrabadi, Chris Albritton, Richard Armitage, James Bamford, Amazia Baram, Jamal Benomar, Linda Bilmes, Amb. Barbara Bodine, Gerald Burke, Ashton Carter, Maj. Gen. Paul Eaton, Ali Fadhil, James Fallows, Omar Fekeiki, Marc Garlasco, Gen. Jay Garner, Ann Gildroy, Hugo Gonzalez, Joost Hiltermann, Col. Paul Hughes, Robert Hutchings, Ray Jennings, … Continue reading
SICKO (2007) Featuring Michael Moore, Reggie Cervantes, John Graham, William Maher, Linda Peeno, Tony Benn, Richard M. Nixon, Hillary Clinton and George W. Bush. Screenplay by Michael Moore. Directed by Michael Moore. Distributed by Lionsgate Films and The Weinstein Company. 123 minutes. Rated PG-13. Michael Moore – non-partisan? Is that possible? Could this finally be … Continue reading
ATLANTIC RECORDS – THE HOUSE THAT AHMET BUILT (2007) Starring Ahmet Ertegun, Bette Midler, Chris Blackwell, Solomon Burke, Ray Charles, Eric Clapton, Phil Collins, Aretha Franklin, David Geffen, Taylor Hackford, Mick Jagger, Mick Jones, Kid Rock, Ben E. King, Leiber and Stoller, Wynton Marsalis, Paolo Nutini, Jimmy Page, Robert Plant, Jann Wenner, Jerry Wexler and … Continue reading
