'8: The Mormon Proposition' Trailer

Not sure what I feel about this one.  I'll certainly disagree with some of the viewpoints this filmmaker is so obviously trying to make, but with such a touchy subject it might be hard for Oscar to pass this up come voting time.  Another early contender for Best Documentary I'd say.

"Waking Sleeping Beauty" Trailer

Here's the trailer for "Waking Sleeping Beauty."  My review is below. Hope it comes to your area so you can enjoy this yourselves.

"Waking Sleeping Beauty" Review

One of the great things about “Waking Sleeping Beauty” is that it gives you reasons to both root and condemn the studio it’s about. Rarely will you see a documentary that is more insightful then political, but it just goes to prove that insightful documentaries are always going to be better then political ones. The movie was directed by Don Hahn, producer to some of Disney’s biggest hits including “Beauty & The Beast,” which for the longest time was the only animated film to be nominated for Best Picture (until Pixar’s “Up” came along). Hahn took a break from the studio so that he could work on other projects, and this is the first time we’ve seen him in the directors chair. Turns out he can direct a pretty effective documentary.

Read Rest of Review

Documentaries Shortlisted: Academy Doesn't Capitalise On Moore

The Academy has official shortlisted the documentaries that are eligible for Best Documentary Feature. Below are the 15 films in alphabetical order by their title:

• The Beaches of Agnes, Agnès Varda, director (Cine-Tamaris)
• Burma VJ, Anders Østergaard, director (Magic Hour Films)
• The Cove, Louie Psihoyos, director (Oceanic Preservation Society)
• Every Little Step, James D. Stern and Adam Del Deo, directors (Endgame Entertainment)
• Facing Ali, Pete McCormack, director (Network Films Inc.)
• Food, Inc., Robert Kenner, director (Robert Kenner Films)
• Garbage Dreams, Mai Iskander, director (Iskander Films, Inc.)
• Living in Emergency: Stories of Doctors Without Borders,  Mark N. Hopkins, director (Red Floor Pictures LLC)
• The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers, Judith Ehrlich and Rick Goldsmith, directors (Kovno Communications)
• Mugabe and the White African, Andrew Thompson and Lucy Bailey, directors (Arturi Films Limited)
• Sergio,  Greg Barker, director (Passion Pictures and Silverbridge Productions)
• Soundtrack for a Revolution,  Bill Guttentag and Dan Sturman, directors (Freedom Song Productions)
• Under Our Skin, Andy Abrahams Wilson, director (Open Eye Pictures)
• Valentino The Last Emperor,  Matt Tyrnauer, director (Acolyte Films)
• Which Way Home, Rebecca Cammisa, director (Mr. Mudd)

A nice surprise is to discover Michael Moore's "Capitalism: A Love Story" has been shut out of the documentary race (and now most certainly the Best Picture race).  My deepest condolences to him.  It must not be easy to be snubbed another unearned award on TOP of your film underperforming at the box office!

This Is Jackon's Moment

Though I know most of you are groaning at the idea of the upcoming Sony release of "Michael Jackson's This Is It" the fact of the matter is that movie IS coming!  Yeah it's taking advantage of Michael's death (as well as people's willingness to all of a sudden buy anything with his name on it), but the one aspect we're not looking at is how this will affect the Oscar race.  No, I don't think this is going to be nominated for Best Picture.  I question whether or not the movie will even crack the Best Documentary Feature race.  However the title track of the movie has never been released before, and the studio is making this song a movie exclusive.

If I'm not mistaken this makes it an easy favorite for the Best Song race, a category that has been losing respect slowly but surely over the past several years due to lame nominations and even worse winners.  If nominated "This Is It" will be the favorite song to win.  The only question left will be who sings the song.  I'm not even going to speculate and let the producer of the show deal with that problem.  You know, once a producer is picked that is.

Untitled Michael Moore Documentary

Well, Michael Moore has officially released his first teaser trailer for his upcoming "documentary" on the Wall Street scandal. I will save you all some money and let you know what it's going to be about: Rich greedy Republicans robbed poor people, the Bush Administration helped, only a poor Democratic president like Barack Obama can save us. This is more or less what the film will be, I fully expect the fact sheets to be the size of dictionaries shortly after the film opens. That said I have to admit that this teaser was actually pretty cleaver and funny. I still think the "documentary" is going to be a pile of doggie doo, but because Moore's involved you can bet it will be an Oscar contender in the Documentary race.

Disney Enterting The Documentary Race?

Though Disney has popped up in various Oscar categories over the years the one category they rarely pop up in anymore is Best Documentary. I'm not even sure if they've won in that category yet. However their release of "The Boys: The Sherman Brothers Story" may change that. While Disney's official trailer has chosen to focus on songs and celebrities praise of those songs (most likely in hopes that they'll sell a few more CD's), the fact of the matter is "The Boys" is a terrible story of two brothers who creatively worked well together but through personal differences never had much of a family relationship. It's actually a very tragic movie, one that sticks with you long after the movie is over. I left wondering how two men who wrote such great songs of friendship and love could hate each other so much. Worth hunting down if you can find it.

"Young@Heart" Not Eligible For Documentary Oscar

The story can be read here. The article is actually about a particular distributor and some of the movies that will be affected in the Best Documentary Feature race, but the big blow to me is that "Young@Heart" will not be eligible for nomination in Best Documentary because it was aired on TV in a foreign country. I can't tell you how much this saddens me. Yeah, it's chances of actually getting nominated and winning were pretty slim. This is a category that has given out the most questionable awards out of any category, and the voters for that category are more into Iraq and global warming movies these days. Still though, this is one charming movie, and it's shame it won't be up for a prize it deserves to be nominated for. You can buy the movie here and/or check out the trailer below:



I'll be back later today as a ton of trailers for Oscar potentials have popped up today.

Man Gets Nominated (Maybe)

I saw a screening of the hit documentary "Man on Wire" yesterday...and I was floored. Here is a documentary that has nothing really important to say, it just documents an amazing thing that one crazy man decided to do one year. I know the Academy loves to nominate "important" documentary films, but I think this movie has a shot at getting a nomination because of it's popularity.

A Doc With Potential

I must say that I'm very interested in seeing this documentary. This seems like one of those movies that could affect a lifestyle choice that people seem to think they need but don't. Now I'm not much of a water person. I drink some of it, but I admit that it's difficult for me to enjoy something without sugar in it. So I made a perfect judge when it came to whether or not there was a difference between tap and bottled water. I didn't taste any difference. Then I saw an episode of Penn & Teller's "Bull$h!t" program, and they pretty much confirmed my theory that bottled water was no different then tap water. It's going to be interesting to see what information this doc provides and how it will effect the people who see it. Oh, and it totally looks like it has Oscar potential.