In professional wrestling, the concept of “Kayfabe” refers to an unspoken agreement between fans and performers to never acknowledge the fictional aspects of the sport. In the horror genre, we have something similar with the way Found Footage movies invite audiences to play along with the scares to enhance their viewing experience. And when it comes to Found Footage, no movie handled this blending of reality and fiction better than The Blair Witch Project, which was accompanied by an ingenious viral marketing campaign featuring websites, dossiers and even missing person posters.
Among this supplemental material was an infamous mockumentary known as Curse of the Blair Witch, which premiered on the Sci-Fi Channel and was instrumental in convincing audiences that the film’s footage was meant to be taken seriously. A year later, Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2 had its own lesser-known tie-ins with Ben Rock‘s The Burkittsville 7...
Among this supplemental material was an infamous mockumentary known as Curse of the Blair Witch, which premiered on the Sci-Fi Channel and was instrumental in convincing audiences that the film’s footage was meant to be taken seriously. A year later, Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2 had its own lesser-known tie-ins with Ben Rock‘s The Burkittsville 7...
- 4/11/2024
- by Luiz H. C.
- bloody-disgusting.com
American Cinematheque Launches Major New L.A. Documentary Festival This Is Not a Fiction (Exclusive)
The American Cinematheque is kicking off a robust new Los Angeles nonfiction film festival dubbed This Is Not a Fiction, running from April 10-18. The festival opens with docuseries “Thank You, Good Night: The Bon Jovi Story,” with Jon Bon Jovi in-person at the Aero Theatre for the L.A. premiere screening.
The event will include in-person tributes to distinguished documentary filmmakers including Barbara Kopple, Joe Berlinger, Brett Morgen, Bill Morrison, Kirsten Johnson, Terry Zwigoff, Jeff Tremaine and Véréna Paravel and Lucien Castaing-Taylor, as well as a virtual Q&a with Frederick Wiseman.
Other premieres will include “Ryuichi Sakamoto: Opus,” “Power,” “Strong Island,” “Catching Fire: The Story of Anita Pallenberg,” a restoration of “Lumumba: Death of a Prophet” and “Incident,” plus special presentations of Morgan Neville’s “Steve! (Martin) A Documentary in 2 Pieces” and “Girls State.” A celebration of the 15th anniversary of “30 for 30” will feature a panel...
The event will include in-person tributes to distinguished documentary filmmakers including Barbara Kopple, Joe Berlinger, Brett Morgen, Bill Morrison, Kirsten Johnson, Terry Zwigoff, Jeff Tremaine and Véréna Paravel and Lucien Castaing-Taylor, as well as a virtual Q&a with Frederick Wiseman.
Other premieres will include “Ryuichi Sakamoto: Opus,” “Power,” “Strong Island,” “Catching Fire: The Story of Anita Pallenberg,” a restoration of “Lumumba: Death of a Prophet” and “Incident,” plus special presentations of Morgan Neville’s “Steve! (Martin) A Documentary in 2 Pieces” and “Girls State.” A celebration of the 15th anniversary of “30 for 30” will feature a panel...
- 3/19/2024
- by Pat Saperstein
- Variety Film + TV
Netflix has revealed the new series Crime Scene, which tackles the mythology of locations in contemporary crime. The first season focuses on the nefarious Cecil Hotel in downtown Los Angeles.
Directed by Joe Berlinger, the trailer contains footage of “Hotel Death,” explaining the murders and suicides that have occurred within its walls since the early Thirties. “Is there a room here that somebody hasn’t died in?” the hotel manager asks. “I never got used to that.”
The series also investigates the mystery of Elisa Lam, a Canadian college student...
Directed by Joe Berlinger, the trailer contains footage of “Hotel Death,” explaining the murders and suicides that have occurred within its walls since the early Thirties. “Is there a room here that somebody hasn’t died in?” the hotel manager asks. “I never got used to that.”
The series also investigates the mystery of Elisa Lam, a Canadian college student...
- 1/26/2021
- by Angie Martoccio
- Rollingstone.com
The star, Alexandra Daddario, the writer, Alan Trezza, and the director, Marc Meyers, of the terrific new film We Summon The Darkness walk us through some of their favorite movies.
Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode
We Summon The Darkness (2020)
Burying The Ex (2015)
The Little Mermaid (1989)
Moulin Rouge! (2001)
American Beauty (1999)
Strictly Ballroom (1992)
Ghostbusters (1984)
The Sound of Music (1965)
L.A. Story (1991)
Ghost Dad (1990)
Looney Tunes: Back In Action (2003)
Roxanne (1987)
The Godfather (1972)
The Godfather Part II (1974)
The Godfather Part III (1990)
Fargo (1996)
The Ballad Of Buster Scruggs (2018)
Psycho (1960)
Psycho (1998)
Defending Your Life (1991)
Modern Romance (1981)
The Jerk (1979)
Jaws (1975)
Notting Hill (1999)
Four Weddings And A Funeral (1994)
When Harry Met Sally… (1989)
Love Actually (2003)
Marley & Me (2008)
Mrs. Doubtfire (1993)
World’s Greatest Dad (2009)
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)
Raging Bull (1980)
Mandy (2018)
Heathers (1988)
Ed Wood (1994)
Hellzapoppin’ (1941)
Fletch (1985)
Beverly Hills Cop (1984)
Batman Returns (1992)
Warlock (1989)
Beetlejuice (1988)
Star Wars (1977)
Sixteen Candles (1984)
The Swimmer (1968)
Sherman’s March (1985)
Amadeus (1984)
Amarcord (1974)
Hugo Pool (1997)
Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills...
Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode
We Summon The Darkness (2020)
Burying The Ex (2015)
The Little Mermaid (1989)
Moulin Rouge! (2001)
American Beauty (1999)
Strictly Ballroom (1992)
Ghostbusters (1984)
The Sound of Music (1965)
L.A. Story (1991)
Ghost Dad (1990)
Looney Tunes: Back In Action (2003)
Roxanne (1987)
The Godfather (1972)
The Godfather Part II (1974)
The Godfather Part III (1990)
Fargo (1996)
The Ballad Of Buster Scruggs (2018)
Psycho (1960)
Psycho (1998)
Defending Your Life (1991)
Modern Romance (1981)
The Jerk (1979)
Jaws (1975)
Notting Hill (1999)
Four Weddings And A Funeral (1994)
When Harry Met Sally… (1989)
Love Actually (2003)
Marley & Me (2008)
Mrs. Doubtfire (1993)
World’s Greatest Dad (2009)
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)
Raging Bull (1980)
Mandy (2018)
Heathers (1988)
Ed Wood (1994)
Hellzapoppin’ (1941)
Fletch (1985)
Beverly Hills Cop (1984)
Batman Returns (1992)
Warlock (1989)
Beetlejuice (1988)
Star Wars (1977)
Sixteen Candles (1984)
The Swimmer (1968)
Sherman’s March (1985)
Amadeus (1984)
Amarcord (1974)
Hugo Pool (1997)
Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills...
- 4/14/2020
- by Kris Millsap
- Trailers from Hell
As the Summer slowly dissolves into Fall, film goers have been regularly bombarded, on an almost weekly basis, with follow-ups and franchise entries. But here’s something unique, a documentary sequel (hey, the “s-word” is even in the title). Well, fairly unique considering the acclaimed Paradise Lost: The Child Murders At Robin Hood Hills inspired several follow-ups, spin-offs (West Of Memphis) and a docudrama. But this new film is rare in its original’s influence on the culture, becoming a fertile source of satire while actually making a splash at the box office, and later garnering not one, but two Academy Awards (Best Song and Best Documentary Feature…a double play). So ten years has passed since the original and former vice-president Al Gore is still fighting the good fight in An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth To Power.
Yes like the last film, Gore is the main focus, a true action...
Yes like the last film, Gore is the main focus, a true action...
- 8/4/2017
- by Jim Batts
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
Tony Sokol May 16, 2017
Zac Efron signs up for the film Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil And Vile, playing Ted Bundy...
Zac Efron will throw off any preconceived notions of what roles he’ll attack in the upcoming Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil And Vile. In the film, he's going to play serial killer Ted Bundy, working off a script by Michael Werwie.
Directed by Joe Berlinger, Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil And Vile will tell the story of Bundy, who killed more than 30 people in the 1970s, through the eyes of his longtime girlfriend Elizabeth Kloepfer. She defended Bundy for a long time, until she turned him in.
The film will be produced by Nicolas Chartier and Ara Keshishian. Efron’s Ninjas Runnin’ Wild banner will produce alongside Michael Simkin and Jason Barrett. Werwie and Jonathan Deckter will be executive producing.
“I have been trying to work with Zac Efron for a long time,...
Zac Efron signs up for the film Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil And Vile, playing Ted Bundy...
Zac Efron will throw off any preconceived notions of what roles he’ll attack in the upcoming Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil And Vile. In the film, he's going to play serial killer Ted Bundy, working off a script by Michael Werwie.
Directed by Joe Berlinger, Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil And Vile will tell the story of Bundy, who killed more than 30 people in the 1970s, through the eyes of his longtime girlfriend Elizabeth Kloepfer. She defended Bundy for a long time, until she turned him in.
The film will be produced by Nicolas Chartier and Ara Keshishian. Efron’s Ninjas Runnin’ Wild banner will produce alongside Michael Simkin and Jason Barrett. Werwie and Jonathan Deckter will be executive producing.
“I have been trying to work with Zac Efron for a long time,...
- 5/15/2017
- Den of Geek
When filmmakers Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky arrived in West Memphis, Arkansas in June 1993, they came with an agenda: to document what looked like a new wave of alienated youth-turned-murderers. A few months earlier, two 10-year-olds in the U.K. had made headlines when they abducted, tortured and murdered a two-year-old, and now the filmmakers had read about the brutal murders of three eight-year-old boys ostensibly committed by teenage Satanists. It seemed like a trend. "We went down to make a film about guilty teenagers, like a real Rivers Edge,...
- 12/14/2016
- Rollingstone.com
The jury is still out, so to speak, on whether the runaway success of the Netflix series Making a Murderer will have any effect on the convictions of Steven Avery and Brendan Dassey. But its impact is already being felt far outside the judicial system. "I've never been busier," says documentarian Joe Berlinger, whose Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills (co-directed with Bruce Sinosfky), has been cited by Murderer's filmmakers as a primary influence. "Crime has always been a staple of television, but I've never been approached more by the networks.
- 1/13/2016
- Rollingstone.com
The Film Society of Lincoln Center will honor the memory of Oscar-nominee and Emmy-award winning director Bruce Sinofsky with a memorial service, his longtime filming partner Joe Berlinger announced on Friday. Sinofsky, a celebrated documentarian and director, passed away in February from complications brought on by diabetes. He first came to prominence in 1996 when he co-directed “Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills” with Berlinger. The film told the story of the West Memphis Three, teenage boys who were convicted in the brutal murders of three younger boys. See Photos: Hollywood’s Notable Deaths of 2015 The film was followed by two.
- 3/27/2015
- by Joe Otterson
- The Wrap
According to Sinofsky's wife Florence, the director, age 58, died from complications of diabetes. A Boston native and graduate of Tisch, Sinofsky and co-director Joe Berling were Oscar-nominated in 2012 for "Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory," the third installment in a series of sprawling crime docs that examined the child murders committed by the West Memphis Three. The first film, 1996's "Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills," won Sinofsky an Emmy, which he shared with his tight-knit crew-members Sheila Nevins (executive producer), Berlinger (producer/director) and Jonathan Moss (coordinating producer). The film also won them a Peabody Award. “Without trivializing the killings they came to investigate, the filmmakers carefully study the tattered social fabric that is the backdrop for an unthinkable crime,” wrote Nyt's Janet Maslin back in 1996. "In this sad, lurid and darkly transfixing story, they locate all the elements of true-crime reporting...
- 2/25/2015
- by Ryan Lattanzio
- Thompson on Hollywood
Director: Atom Egoyan; Screenwriters: Paul Harris Boardman, Scott Derrickson; Starring: Colin Firth, Reese Witherspoon, Kevin Durand, Stephen Moyer, Dane DeHaan; Running time: 114 mins; Certificate: 15
"If these boys are innocent, would you want three more families to lose their children too?"
Based on a compelling true tale of murder and moral corruption that shocked America almost as much as a Janet Jackson nipslip, The Devil's Knot should have proven a perfect fit between auteur and subject matter. Yet the themes of loss and familial tragedy that Atom Egoyan explored so effectively in The Sweet Hereafter are squandered as The Devil's Knot veers awkwardly between docudrama realism and aesthetic expressionism.
Egoyan's film charts the horrific murders in 1993 of three young boys in Arkansas and the subsequent arrest of three teenagers, whose interest in Satanism and heavy metal appears to compel the authorities into labeling them guilty. The staggering inconsistencies in the prosecution's...
"If these boys are innocent, would you want three more families to lose their children too?"
Based on a compelling true tale of murder and moral corruption that shocked America almost as much as a Janet Jackson nipslip, The Devil's Knot should have proven a perfect fit between auteur and subject matter. Yet the themes of loss and familial tragedy that Atom Egoyan explored so effectively in The Sweet Hereafter are squandered as The Devil's Knot veers awkwardly between docudrama realism and aesthetic expressionism.
Egoyan's film charts the horrific murders in 1993 of three young boys in Arkansas and the subsequent arrest of three teenagers, whose interest in Satanism and heavy metal appears to compel the authorities into labeling them guilty. The staggering inconsistencies in the prosecution's...
- 6/14/2014
- Digital Spy
Sundance Channel's new drama "Rectify," which premieres Monday April 22nd at 9pm, is about a man named Daniel Holden (Aden Young) who is released from death row after almost 20 years when his conviction is vacated due to DNA evidence. It's a situation that Damien Echols knows all too well. As one of the West Memphis Three, Echols was sentenced to death for the 1993 murders of three boys in Arkansas. He, Jessie Misskelley, Jr. and Jason Baldwin served 18 years and 78 days in prison before being released under Alford pleas following a deal with the prosecutors in 2011. The case and the way it was handled attracted considerable attention and criticism due in large part to the efforts of filmmakers Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky, who documented the trials of the West Memphis Three in 1996's "Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills," following up in 2000 sequel "Paradise Lost 2: Revelations...
- 4/18/2013
- by Alison Willmore
- Indiewire
Director Amy Berg, Damien Echols, Lorri Davis talk West of Memphis In 1993, three 8-year-old boys were found murdered in West Memphis, Ak. Three teens were soon arrested and convicted and one of them was sent to death row. They spent 18 years in prison for crimes, that evidence suggests points to their innocence, before they were released last year. While the case of the “West Memphis Three,” as they were soon to be known as, caught the attention of Hollywood, a new film takes a closer look at what many believe continues to be a great miscarriage of justice in the documentary “West of Memphis.” Damien Echols, Jessie Misskelley and Jason Baldwin were all convicted on murder counts, against Steven Branch, Michael Moore and Christopher Byers, who were found hogtied, naked and dead in a creek in Robin Hood Hills. Echols was sentenced to death. The murders and the ensuing trial...
- 12/25/2012
- Upcoming-Movies.com
Director Amy Berg, Damien Echols, Lorri Davis talk West of Memphis In 1993, three 8-year-old boys were found murdered in West Memphis, Ak. Three teens were soon arrested and convicted and one of them was sent to death row. They spent 18 years in prison for crimes, that evidence suggests points to their innocence, before they were released last year. While the case of the “West Memphis Three,” as they were soon to be known as, caught the attention of Hollywood, a new film takes a closer look at what many believe continues to be a great miscarriage of justice in the documentary “West of Memphis.” Damien Echols, Jessie Misskelley and Jason Baldwin were all convicted on murder counts, against Steven Branch, Michael Moore and Christopher Byers, who were found hogtied, naked and dead in a creek in Robin Hood Hills. Echols was sentenced to death. The murders and the ensuing trial...
- 12/25/2012
- Upcoming-Movies.com
By Joey Magidson
Film Contributor
***
All good documentaries want to make an impact in the world. Ideally, they’d like to change lives, too. It doesn’t happen too often, but once in a while a documentary comes along that truly does bring about change. The ‘Paradise Lost’ trilogy of films falls into that category — it marked the start of a movement.
Filmmakers Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky didn’t set out to make three movies about the same subject matter, but when they first began to look into the case of the West Memphis Three they found something that they simply couldn’t shake.
What began in 1996 with Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills was just the beginning. The year 2000 brought Paradise Lost 2: Revelations, and finally last year Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory completed the job while also resulting in the release of the accused.
The...
Film Contributor
***
All good documentaries want to make an impact in the world. Ideally, they’d like to change lives, too. It doesn’t happen too often, but once in a while a documentary comes along that truly does bring about change. The ‘Paradise Lost’ trilogy of films falls into that category — it marked the start of a movement.
Filmmakers Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky didn’t set out to make three movies about the same subject matter, but when they first began to look into the case of the West Memphis Three they found something that they simply couldn’t shake.
What began in 1996 with Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills was just the beginning. The year 2000 brought Paradise Lost 2: Revelations, and finally last year Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory completed the job while also resulting in the release of the accused.
The...
- 12/24/2012
- by Joey Magidson
- Scott Feinberg
Peter Jackson owns the box office right now with "The Hobbit: an Unexpected Journey," part one of his "Lord of the Rings" prelude.
With the magnificent documentary "West of Memphis," Jackson reveals the results of his own unexpected journey, from New Zealand to rural Arkansas, where he and an unwavering band of filmmakers, artists and other dissenters challenged the judicial system and won.
The case of the West Memphis Three – Damien Echols, Jason Baldwin and Jessie Misskelley, imprisoned as teens in the 1993 murders of three Cub Scouts – has become widely known through the activism of A-list actors and musicians who took up the cause, along with three "Paradise Lost" documentaries that called the convictions into question.
After seeing that first "Paradise Lost" film in 2005, Jackson and wife Fran Walsh stepped in, financing their own investigation and enlisting director Amy Berg (the Academy Award-nominated "Deliver Us from Evil") to chronicle the...
With the magnificent documentary "West of Memphis," Jackson reveals the results of his own unexpected journey, from New Zealand to rural Arkansas, where he and an unwavering band of filmmakers, artists and other dissenters challenged the judicial system and won.
The case of the West Memphis Three – Damien Echols, Jason Baldwin and Jessie Misskelley, imprisoned as teens in the 1993 murders of three Cub Scouts – has become widely known through the activism of A-list actors and musicians who took up the cause, along with three "Paradise Lost" documentaries that called the convictions into question.
After seeing that first "Paradise Lost" film in 2005, Jackson and wife Fran Walsh stepped in, financing their own investigation and enlisting director Amy Berg (the Academy Award-nominated "Deliver Us from Evil") to chronicle the...
- 12/21/2012
- by AP
- Huffington Post
The harrowing new documentary ‘West of Memphis,’ premiered at Florence Gould Hall in New York on Friday night. Written and directed by Amy Berg, the film sheds light on the conviction and release of Damien Echols, Jason Baldwin, and Jessie Misskelley, who served 18 years in prison for the 1993 murder of three eight-year-old boys — Stevie Branch, Christopher Byers and Michael Moore — in West Memphis, Arkansas. The case was made famous by the 1996 HBO documentary “Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills,’ which showed that the men were convicted based on little evidence. Following the film’s release, Johnny Depp, Eddie Vedder, Peter Jackson, and numerous [ Read More ]
The post West Memphis Three Documentary ‘West of Memphis’ Premieres In New York appeared first on Shockya.com.
The post West Memphis Three Documentary ‘West of Memphis’ Premieres In New York appeared first on Shockya.com.
- 12/10/2012
- by Justine Ashley
- ShockYa
A longtime friend of the festival, Joe Berlinger has brought along with Bruce Sinofsky docu titles such as Brother’s Keeper (Sundance ’92), 1996′s Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills (the first part in the trilogy), Metallica: Some Kind of Monster (Sundance ’04) and Crude (Sundance ’09). We can forgive Berlinger for getting sidetracked and not delivering Raising Hell: The Visions of Clive Barker sooner, after all, he was helping the innocent finally spring free from incarceration (Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory) and he followed Paul Simon’s return to Graceland (Under African Skies). Shot in 2011 (here’s a long preview trailer), there appears to have been a little bit more work added over the years to Barker’s own creations which in sort perhaps added more girth to this docu-exploration. Park City at Midnight folks? Perhaps.
Gist: Inspired by an interview with Clive which he filmed in April 2009 for the Dream The Impossible commercial project,...
Gist: Inspired by an interview with Clive which he filmed in April 2009 for the Dream The Impossible commercial project,...
- 11/21/2012
- by Eric Lavallee
- IONCINEMA.com
It's been 16 years since "Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills," Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky's first documentary about West Memphis Three, premiered at Sundance. The film was instrumental in drawing the public's attention to the case, the murder of three children that prosecutors claimed was part of a satanic ritual, convicting three teenagers using questionable evidence and investigative procedure. Since then, the filmmakers have returned to the story of Jessie Misskelley, Damien Echols and Jason Baldwin for two sequels, documenting how the three fought for a new trial and were eventually released in 2011 in an unusual plea deal. Read More: Critic's Notebook | How the West Memphis 3 Release Transformed The "Paradise Lost" Documentaries And now, it seems, the story's ready to come to TV in procedural form (all three docs aired on HBO). According to The Hollywood Reporter, Berlinger will serve as...
- 10/24/2012
- by Alison Willmore
- Indiewire
An appalling and heinous crime occurred in 1993 in West Memphis, Arkansas. Three eight year-old boys were murdered and their bodies left in a creek bed, naked and hog-tied. The murder shook the local residents and the police force, everyone unable to comprehend how this happened and who could have done such a thing.
Influenced by the, mostly erroneous, belief that satanic cults were on the rise in America the police decided that this was the work of one such cult and began looking for possible culprits. Seemingly top of their list were three local teenagers, Damian Echols, Jessie Misskelley and Jason Baldwin, with Echols positioned as the ring leader of the group. Echols was a fan of heavy metal, although actually relatively tame bands such as Metallica were the ones most often cited, a reader of writers such as Aleister Crowley and someone who often wrote rather dark poems in his journal.
Influenced by the, mostly erroneous, belief that satanic cults were on the rise in America the police decided that this was the work of one such cult and began looking for possible culprits. Seemingly top of their list were three local teenagers, Damian Echols, Jessie Misskelley and Jason Baldwin, with Echols positioned as the ring leader of the group. Echols was a fan of heavy metal, although actually relatively tame bands such as Metallica were the ones most often cited, a reader of writers such as Aleister Crowley and someone who often wrote rather dark poems in his journal.
- 10/12/2012
- by Craig Skinner
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
Reese Witherspoon remained busy filming Devil's Knot, a drama based on the documentary Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills and murder trial of teens Jason Baldwin, Damien Echols, and Jessie Misskelley, tried and wrongfully convicted for the murders of three eight-year-old boys discovered in a muddy creek in the Robin Hood Hills area of West Memphis, Ark. According to Deadline, Witherspoon took time off from her work with Devil’s Knot director Atom Egoyan to acquire the bestselling novel Gone Girl along with her Pacific Standard partner Bruna Papandrea and 20th Century Fox.
- 7/12/2012
- Upcoming-Movies.com
Reese Witherspoon remained busy filming Devil's Knot, a drama based on the documentary Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills and murder trial of teens Jason Baldwin, Damien Echols, and Jessie Misskelley, tried and wrongfully convicted for the murders of three eight-year-old boys discovered in a muddy creek in the Robin Hood Hills area of West Memphis, Ark. According to Deadline, Witherspoon took time off from her work with Devil’s Knot director Atom Egoyan to acquire the bestselling novel Gone Girl along with her Pacific Standard partner Bruna Papandrea and 20th Century Fox.
- 7/12/2012
- Upcoming-Movies.com
Veteran director Atom Egoyan continued to round out the cast on Devil's Knot, a drama based on the documentary Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills and murder trial of teens Jason Baldwin, Damien Echols, and Jessie Misskelley, tried and wrongfully convicted for the murders of three eight-year-old boys discovered in a muddy creek in the Robin Hood Hills area of West Memphis, Ark. Alessandro Nivola recently joined the film as Terry Hobbs, the stepfather of one of the young male victims and a controversial person in the murder trial. Reese Witherspoon, Mireille Enos of the AMC drama The Killing, Kristopher Higgins and Colin Firth also joined the film.
- 6/13/2012
- Upcoming-Movies.com
Veteran director Atom Egoyan continued to round out the cast on Devil's Knot, a drama based on the documentary Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills and murder trial of teens Jason Baldwin, Damien Echols, and Jessie Misskelley, tried and wrongfully convicted for the murders of three eight-year-old boys discovered in a muddy creek in the Robin Hood Hills area of West Memphis, Ark. Alessandro Nivola recently joined the film as Terry Hobbs, the stepfather of one of the young male victims and a controversial person in the murder trial. Reese Witherspoon, Mireille Enos of the AMC drama The Killing, Kristopher Higgins and Colin Firth also joined the film.
- 6/13/2012
- Upcoming-Movies.com
The bizarre criminal case of the West Memphis Three, who were falsely convicted for the grisly murder of three children, has fueled numerous documentaries, including West of Memphis, Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills, Paradise Lost 2: Revelations, and Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory which ended with the eventual release of its subjects, Damien Echols, Jason Baldwin and Jessie Misskelley, after 18 years in prison. In the wake of their release, a pair of narrative dramas have rolled into development. One produced by Johnny Depp is to be based on Echols' yet-to-be published memoir; the other helmed by Atom Egoyan, is inspired by Mara Leveritt's true crime novel Devil's Knot: The True Story of the West Memphis Three. The latter of these is now gearing up for production, having landed Oscar-winners Reese Witherspoon and Colin Firth to star. Deadline reports Alessandro Nivola (Face/Off, Laurel Canyon) has...
- 6/11/2012
- cinemablend.com
Actor Alessandro Nivola recently wrapped filmmaker Sally Potter’s upcoming period drama about two teenage girls coming-of-age in ‘60s London. Nivola recently jumped from one auteur filmmaker to another by joining veteran director Atom Egoyan on Devil’s Knot, a dramatic film based on the documentary Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills. Deadline reported that Nivola joined the true crime drama as Terry Hobbs, the stepfather of one of the young male victims and a controversial person in the murder trial of Jason Baldwin, Damien Echols, and Jessie Misskelley, tried and wrongfully convicted for the murders of three eight-year-old boys discovered in a muddy creek in the Robin Hood Hills area of West Memphis, Ark.
- 6/11/2012
- Upcoming-Movies.com
Actor Alessandro Nivola recently wrapped filmmaker Sally Potter’s upcoming period drama about two teenage girls coming-of-age in ‘60s London. Nivola recently jumped from one auteur filmmaker to another by joining veteran director Atom Egoyan on Devil’s Knot, a dramatic film based on the documentary Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills. Deadline reported that Nivola joined the true crime drama as Terry Hobbs, the stepfather of one of the young male victims and a controversial person in the murder trial of Jason Baldwin, Damien Echols, and Jessie Misskelley, tried and wrongfully convicted for the murders of three eight-year-old boys discovered in a muddy creek in the Robin Hood Hills area of West Memphis, Ark.
- 6/11/2012
- Upcoming-Movies.com
Veteran director Atom Egoyan continued to prep the start of production on a dramatic film based on Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills. Deadline reported that Mireille Enos, star of the acclaimed AMC crime drama The Killing joined the film as Vicki Hutcheson, the mother on an 8-year-old boy who lives in West Memphis and becomes a witness in the murder trial of Jason Baldwin, Damien Echols, and Jessie Misskelley, tried and convicted for the murders of three eight-year-old boys discovered in a muddy creek in the Robin Hood Hills area of West Memphis, Ark. Known as the Memphis 3 and the subjects of Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky’s documentaries Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills, Paradise Lost 2: Revelations and Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory, the three men were finally released last year after 18 years in prison and cleared of the 1993 murders of three...
- 5/31/2012
- Upcoming-Movies.com
Veteran director Atom Egoyan continued to prep the start of production on a dramatic film based on Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills. Deadline reported that Mireille Enos, star of the acclaimed AMC crime drama The Killing joined the film as Vicki Hutcheson, the mother on an 8-year-old boy who lives in West Memphis and becomes a witness in the murder trial of Jason Baldwin, Damien Echols, and Jessie Misskelley, tried and convicted for the murders of three eight-year-old boys discovered in a muddy creek in the Robin Hood Hills area of West Memphis, Ark. Known as the Memphis 3 and the subjects of Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky’s documentaries Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills, Paradise Lost 2: Revelations and Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory, the three men were finally released last year after 18 years in prison and cleared of the 1993 murders of three...
- 5/31/2012
- Upcoming-Movies.com
When Ben P and I first got to The Sundance Film Festival, I wasn't really sure what this year was going to hold for us. It got off to a slow start as far as movies go, but as time went on it got better and better. By the time it was over, I was incredibly happy with how my Sundance 2012 experience turned out. Unlike Sundance Film Festivals of the past I think there were more good films than bad this year. Usually I find the bad outweigh the good, but there was only one movie I absolutely loathed this year, and that was Sean Penn's This Must Be The Place.
This year I saw a total of 27 movies, and out of those I've chosen my ten favorite movies from Sundance 2012. I believe these are all worth seeing when and if they are released. Just keep a look out for them,...
This year I saw a total of 27 movies, and out of those I've chosen my ten favorite movies from Sundance 2012. I believe these are all worth seeing when and if they are released. Just keep a look out for them,...
- 2/1/2012
- by Venkman
- GeekTyrant
I've been following the story of the West Memphis Three for the last ten years. I was hooked when I first saw the HBO documentary Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills. Since then I've been following everything surrounding the case of with Damien Echols, Jason Baldwin and Jesse Misskelley, and like many of the other people that know of this sad tale, I've been waiting for the day of their release... that day has come and gone. With the help of filmmaker Peter Jackson the investigation of these murders were able to continue, and these investigators brought information to light proving that these three men have been wrongly imprisoned for the last 18 years.
This Jackson produced documentary West of Memphis was directed by Amy Berg, and it takes the audience through a frustratingly long journey of how these boys were part of a modern day witch hunt...
This Jackson produced documentary West of Memphis was directed by Amy Berg, and it takes the audience through a frustratingly long journey of how these boys were part of a modern day witch hunt...
- 1/21/2012
- by Venkman
- GeekTyrant
Paul Simon’s Grammy-winning album Graceland – an irresistible and groundbreaking fusion of American and South African pop music — was an immediate hit when it was released in 1986. It also proved to be a lightning rod for controversy, after South African leaders protested that Simon had broken the cultural boycott of the nation’s oppressively racist apartheid regime. In the documentary Under African Skies, premiering on Sunday at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival, Simon returns to South Africa — which formally ended apartheid in 1994 — 25 years after Graceland’s release. Director Joe Berlinger (Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills) follows Simon...
- 1/20/2012
- by Adam B. Vary
- EW - Inside Movies
Update: The film’s first screening is still going on, but a release has just been sent out from Echols’ legal team about the new revelations that are in the Amy Berg-directed Peter Jackson produced film and came from a WM3 tipline arranged by the legal team fighting to get the three defendants exonerated. Here is the release:
(Mountain Home, Arkansas – January 20, 2012) Terry Hobbs’ nephew, Michael Hobbs Jr., allegedly told his friends “my uncle Terry murdered those three little boys,” according to declarations under penalty of perjury recently given to Damien Echols’ defense team. The three new witnesses were polygraphed about what they stated Michael Hobbs, Jr. told them.
“One day Michael picked us up in his truck. He was very quiet and upset. Michael then said to us, ‘you are not going to believe what my dad told me today. My Uncle Terry murdered the three little boys.
(Mountain Home, Arkansas – January 20, 2012) Terry Hobbs’ nephew, Michael Hobbs Jr., allegedly told his friends “my uncle Terry murdered those three little boys,” according to declarations under penalty of perjury recently given to Damien Echols’ defense team. The three new witnesses were polygraphed about what they stated Michael Hobbs, Jr. told them.
“One day Michael picked us up in his truck. He was very quiet and upset. Michael then said to us, ‘you are not going to believe what my dad told me today. My Uncle Terry murdered the three little boys.
- 1/20/2012
- by Graham
- City of Films
In 1993 acclaimed director Joe Berlinger arrived in West Memphis, Arkansas, a community still in shock after three eight-year-old boys disappeared, then were found dead in a nearby ravine. Facing a public that was both enraged and afraid, police scrambled to make an arrest. Soon three local teens.Damien Echols, Jason Baldwin and Jessie Misskelley.found themselves in court, accused of the murders.
With no physical evidence linking the teens to the crime, prosecutors pointed to their black clothing and interest in heavy metal music, indications, they said, that the teens had formed a devil-worshipping cult and, inspired by the full moon, murdered the boys as a sacrifice to evil spirits.
Berlinger and co-director Bruce Sinofsky captured the teens' trials and subsequent convictions on film. In 1996 they released Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills, followed in 2000 by Paradise Lost: Revelations, sparking a wave of outrage and legal challenges...
With no physical evidence linking the teens to the crime, prosecutors pointed to their black clothing and interest in heavy metal music, indications, they said, that the teens had formed a devil-worshipping cult and, inspired by the full moon, murdered the boys as a sacrifice to evil spirits.
Berlinger and co-director Bruce Sinofsky captured the teens' trials and subsequent convictions on film. In 1996 they released Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills, followed in 2000 by Paradise Lost: Revelations, sparking a wave of outrage and legal challenges...
- 1/17/2012
- by Joshua Kors
- Aol TV.
In 1993, three 8-year-old boys were murdered in West Memphis, Ark. It was a horrifying, sensational crime. Damien Echols, Jason Baldwin, and Jessie Misskelley Jr. — who’d become known as the West Memphis Three — were painted by prosecutors as devil-worshipping metalheads and convicted. Echols, then 18, was sentenced to death, while Baldwin, 16, and Misskelley, 17, got life sentences. The trial struck many as a sham, and an HBO documentary about the case, 1996’s Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills, outraged and inspired celebrity supporters such as Eddie Vedder, Natalie Maines, Johnny Depp, and Lord of the Rings director Peter Jackson and his partner,...
- 1/16/2012
- by Chris Nashawaty
- EW - Inside Movies
On May 5, 1993, three eight-year-old boy scouts -- Stevie Branch, Michael Moore and Christopher Byers -- were found dead. One month later, three teenagers -- Damien Echols, Jason Baldwin and Jessie Misskelley -- were arrested for the murders, despite a lack of evidence. They spent 18 years in prison for a crime they didn't commit, before being released in August 2011 after taking the Alford Plea deal offered to them.
Filmmakers Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky chronicled the West Memphis Three's 1993 arrests and their sentencing in the 1996 HBO film, "Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills" and a 2000 sequel. The third and final installment of the "Paradise Lost" trilogy, "Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory," premiered on Jan. 12, 2012.
Jason Baldwin, who was just 16 years old when he was arrested and sentenced to life in prison, never gave up hope. He believed that everything would work itself out. Little did he know, however, it...
Filmmakers Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky chronicled the West Memphis Three's 1993 arrests and their sentencing in the 1996 HBO film, "Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills" and a 2000 sequel. The third and final installment of the "Paradise Lost" trilogy, "Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory," premiered on Jan. 12, 2012.
Jason Baldwin, who was just 16 years old when he was arrested and sentenced to life in prison, never gave up hope. He believed that everything would work itself out. Little did he know, however, it...
- 1/13/2012
- by Crystal Bell
- Huffington Post
After serving more than 18 years in prison for the murders of three boys in West Memphis, Ark., Damien Echols, Jason Baldwin and Jessie Misskelley Jr. -- known as the West Memphis Three -- walked free last August.
The three men were allowed to plead guilty to the 1993 murders, and at the same time maintain their innocence, as part of the Alford Plea deal that ultimately set them free.
Filmmakers Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky chronicled the West Memphis Three's 1993 arrests and their sentencing, despite a lack of physical evidence tying them to the murders, in the 1996 HBO film, "Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills" and a 2000 sequel.
Berlinger and Sinofsky didn't intend to make a documentary about the Arkansas judicial system. They intended to make a film about the murders of Stevie Branch, Michael Moore and Christopher Byers and their convicted killers. "The media was telling a very different story back then,...
The three men were allowed to plead guilty to the 1993 murders, and at the same time maintain their innocence, as part of the Alford Plea deal that ultimately set them free.
Filmmakers Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky chronicled the West Memphis Three's 1993 arrests and their sentencing, despite a lack of physical evidence tying them to the murders, in the 1996 HBO film, "Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills" and a 2000 sequel.
Berlinger and Sinofsky didn't intend to make a documentary about the Arkansas judicial system. They intended to make a film about the murders of Stevie Branch, Michael Moore and Christopher Byers and their convicted killers. "The media was telling a very different story back then,...
- 1/13/2012
- by Crystal Bell
- Huffington Post
After serving more than 18 years in prison for the murders of three boys in West Memphis, Ark., Damien Echols, Jason Baldwin and Jessie Misskelley Jr. -- known as the West Memphis Three -- walked free last August.
The three men were allowed to plead guilty to the 1993 murders, and at the same time maintain their innocence, as part of the Alford Plea deal that ultimately set them free.
Filmmakers Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky chronicled the West Memphis Three's 1993 arrests and their sentencing, despite a lack of physical evidence tying them to the murders, in the 1996 HBO film, "Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills" and a 2000 sequel.
Berlinger and Sinofsky didn't intend to make a documentary about the Arkansas judicial system. They intended to make a film about the murders of Stevie Branch, Michael Moore and Christopher Byers and their convicted killers. "The media was telling a very different story back then,...
The three men were allowed to plead guilty to the 1993 murders, and at the same time maintain their innocence, as part of the Alford Plea deal that ultimately set them free.
Filmmakers Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky chronicled the West Memphis Three's 1993 arrests and their sentencing, despite a lack of physical evidence tying them to the murders, in the 1996 HBO film, "Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills" and a 2000 sequel.
Berlinger and Sinofsky didn't intend to make a documentary about the Arkansas judicial system. They intended to make a film about the murders of Stevie Branch, Michael Moore and Christopher Byers and their convicted killers. "The media was telling a very different story back then,...
- 1/13/2012
- by Crystal Bell
- Aol TV.
When "Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills" premiered on HBO in 1996, it documented the Arkansas judicial system's corrupt handling of the West Memphis Three, a trio of teens wrongfully convicted of murdering three boys in their Christian hometown.
The TV movie's sequel, "Paradise Lost 2: Revelations," premiered in 2000 and left little doubt that the convicted trio, the West Memphis Three -- Damien Echols, Jessie Misskelley and Jason Baldwin -- were innocent.
More than a decade later, in August 2011, "Paradise Lost" filmmakers Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky had just finished editing the third film in the franchise, when they learned that the West Memphis Three had been released, thanks in part to the Alford plea, which allowed them to walk free even though they're still convicted murderers.
Now re-edited, "Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory," premieres on HBO on Thurs., Jan. 12 at 9 p.m. Est, and HuffPost TV has some...
The TV movie's sequel, "Paradise Lost 2: Revelations," premiered in 2000 and left little doubt that the convicted trio, the West Memphis Three -- Damien Echols, Jessie Misskelley and Jason Baldwin -- were innocent.
More than a decade later, in August 2011, "Paradise Lost" filmmakers Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky had just finished editing the third film in the franchise, when they learned that the West Memphis Three had been released, thanks in part to the Alford plea, which allowed them to walk free even though they're still convicted murderers.
Now re-edited, "Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory," premieres on HBO on Thurs., Jan. 12 at 9 p.m. Est, and HuffPost TV has some...
- 1/11/2012
- by Crystal Bell
- Huffington Post
When "Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills" premiered on HBO in 1996, it documented the Arkansas judicial system's corrupt handling of the West Memphis Three, a trio of teens wrongfully convicted of murdering three boys in their Christian hometown.
The TV movie's sequel, "Paradise Lost 2: Revelations," premiered in 2000 and left little doubt that the convicted trio, the West Memphis Three -- Damien Echols, Jessie Misskelley and Jason Baldwin -- were innocent.
More than a decade later, in August 2011, "Paradise Lost" filmmakers Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky had just finished editing the third film in the franchise, when they learned that the West Memphis Three had been released, thanks in part to the Alford plea, which allowed them to walk free even though they're still convicted murderers.
Now re-edited, "Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory," premieres on HBO on Thurs., Jan. 12 at 9 p.m. Est, and HuffPost TV has some...
The TV movie's sequel, "Paradise Lost 2: Revelations," premiered in 2000 and left little doubt that the convicted trio, the West Memphis Three -- Damien Echols, Jessie Misskelley and Jason Baldwin -- were innocent.
More than a decade later, in August 2011, "Paradise Lost" filmmakers Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky had just finished editing the third film in the franchise, when they learned that the West Memphis Three had been released, thanks in part to the Alford plea, which allowed them to walk free even though they're still convicted murderers.
Now re-edited, "Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory," premieres on HBO on Thurs., Jan. 12 at 9 p.m. Est, and HuffPost TV has some...
- 1/11/2012
- by Crystal Bell
- Aol TV.
Whenever the question arises whether a documentary can make a difference, the "Paradise Lost" series by directors Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky will inevitably be brought up, and with the airing of Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory on HBO on Thursday, January 12, it ends a journey for the filmmakers that began nearly nineteen years ago. In 1996, HBO aired "Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills," a film that covered the trial of three teenagers--Damien Echols, Jason Baldwin and Jessie Misskelley--who were accused and convicted of the ritual murder of three young boys in West Memphis, Arkansas in 1993. Echols received a death sentence while the other two received life in prison, even though some felt there wasn't enough proof they committed the crime....
- 1/11/2012
- Comingsoon.net
Chicago – If Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky hadn’t been in West Memphis, Arkansas to track the case of the young men who would become known as the “West Memphis Three,” one of them would almost certainly be dead and the other two would still be in jail. The powerful 1996 HBO doc “Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills” put the controversial case in a spotlight that burned brightly until the now-not-so-young men were finally released at the end of 2010. No one could have predicted that there would be enough twists and turns to this case that it would take over fifteen years, involve hundreds of people, and support three long feature documentaries, the last of which debuts Thursday, January 12th, 2012 on HBO and has been shortlisted for the Academy Award (and is predicted by most pundits to be a nominee). See one of the best documentaries of...
- 1/10/2012
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
I just recently decided to delve into Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky's Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills, which has since turned into a trilogy of films about the "West Memphis Three". It appeared to have everything you could possibly need to translate into a film, but apparently it wasn't enough. Peter Jackson and his Wingnut Films have announced completion of helmer-scribe Amy Berg's West of Memphis, a docu about the West Memphis Three, who were jailed for murder and recently freed, reports Variety. What's interesting is that Damien Echols, one of the three, produced the film with his wife Lorri Davis. 8 years in the making, Jackson and Fran Walsh helped reinvigorate the case in 2005 when they funded a new probe into the conviction of Echols, Jason Baldwin and Jessie Misskelly Jr., who were teenagers at the time of the murders of three 8-year-old boys and spent.
- 12/5/2011
- bloody-disgusting.com
The parents of an Arkansas boy scout bludgeoned to death in 1993 have asked Academy Awards bosses to make sure a documentary about the tragedy is not nominated for a 2012 Oscar.
The murder led to the arrest and conviction of three West Memphis teens, who were released from prison earlier this year after maintaining they did not carry out the slayings of eight-year-old Michael Moore and two of his friends.
Director Joe Berlinger's film Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory, which recounts the gruesome murders and the incarceration and release of Damien Echols, Jason Baldwin and Jessie Misskelley - who became known as the West Memphis Three - picked up the Best Documentary prize at the National Board of Review Awards on Thursday.
But Todd and Dana Moore have requested Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences officials exclude the film from Oscars contention, claiming the documentary glorifies the men they are still convinced killed their son.
In a letter sent to the Academy, the Moores write, "Michael's killers were unjustly able to enter into a plea agreement, were released from prison and now pose additional threats to society.
"We implore the Academy not to reward our child's killers and the directors who have profited from one of the greatest frauds ever perpetrated under the guise of a documentary film."
Berlinger has responded to the letter in the Jonesboro Sun newspaper, stating, "We feel tremendous sorrow for them (parents) and we understand why a film that comes to a different conclusion than they do would make them feel this way... We fervently believe the West Memphis Three are innocent."
The Moores briefly appeared in Berlinger's first film about the killings, 1996's Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills, but maintain they were "misled" and "manipulated".
The murder led to the arrest and conviction of three West Memphis teens, who were released from prison earlier this year after maintaining they did not carry out the slayings of eight-year-old Michael Moore and two of his friends.
Director Joe Berlinger's film Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory, which recounts the gruesome murders and the incarceration and release of Damien Echols, Jason Baldwin and Jessie Misskelley - who became known as the West Memphis Three - picked up the Best Documentary prize at the National Board of Review Awards on Thursday.
But Todd and Dana Moore have requested Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences officials exclude the film from Oscars contention, claiming the documentary glorifies the men they are still convinced killed their son.
In a letter sent to the Academy, the Moores write, "Michael's killers were unjustly able to enter into a plea agreement, were released from prison and now pose additional threats to society.
"We implore the Academy not to reward our child's killers and the directors who have profited from one of the greatest frauds ever perpetrated under the guise of a documentary film."
Berlinger has responded to the letter in the Jonesboro Sun newspaper, stating, "We feel tremendous sorrow for them (parents) and we understand why a film that comes to a different conclusion than they do would make them feel this way... We fervently believe the West Memphis Three are innocent."
The Moores briefly appeared in Berlinger's first film about the killings, 1996's Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills, but maintain they were "misled" and "manipulated".
- 12/1/2011
- WENN
The parents of one of three West Memphis, Ark., boys found dead 18 years ago are asking that a documentary about the killings be excluded from Academy Award consideration. Todd and Dana Moore made the request in a letter sent Nov. 22 to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ documentary division. In it, the Moores argue that Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory glorifies Damien Echols, Jason Baldwin and Jessie Misskelley, who were released from prison in August after their sentences were set aside and they pleaded guilty to lesser charges.
“Because of public pressure that exploded due to gross misrepresentations of...
“Because of public pressure that exploded due to gross misrepresentations of...
- 12/1/2011
- by Associated Press
- EW - Inside Movies
Jonesboro, Ark. — The parents of one of three West Memphis, Ark., boys found dead 18 years ago are asking that a documentary about the killings be excluded from Academy Award consideration.
Todd and Dana Moore made the request in a letter sent Nov. 22 to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences' documentary division. In it, the Moores argue that "Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory" glorifies Damien Echols, Jason Baldwin and Jessie Misskelley, who were released from prison in August after their sentences were set aside and they pleaded guilty to lesser charges.
"Because of public pressure that exploded due to gross misrepresentations of fact in the two previous documentaries, Michael's killers were unjustly able to enter into a plea agreement, were released from prison and now pose additional threats to society," the letter reads.
"We implore the Academy not to reward our child's killers and the directors who have profited from...
Todd and Dana Moore made the request in a letter sent Nov. 22 to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences' documentary division. In it, the Moores argue that "Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory" glorifies Damien Echols, Jason Baldwin and Jessie Misskelley, who were released from prison in August after their sentences were set aside and they pleaded guilty to lesser charges.
"Because of public pressure that exploded due to gross misrepresentations of fact in the two previous documentaries, Michael's killers were unjustly able to enter into a plea agreement, were released from prison and now pose additional threats to society," the letter reads.
"We implore the Academy not to reward our child's killers and the directors who have profited from...
- 12/1/2011
- by AP
- Huffington Post
Plenty of documentaries, most notably The Thin Blue Line and Paradise Lost: The Child Murders At Robin Hood Hills, have implicitly argued against the death penalty by asserting the innocence of someone on death row. Werner Herzog’s Into The Abyss isn’t one of them. While Herzog does give the convicted perpetrators of a 10-year-old triple homicide in Texas an opportunity to share their (conflicting) stories and plead innocent, the case is more endemic than special, just another execution in a state where prison death houses are more like abattoirs. Herzog’s goal isn’t to convince an appeals ...
- 11/10/2011
- avclub.com
Just as their collaboration with Lou Reed, Lulu, has been provided for listening purposes (I am the table), Deadline reports that Metallica are developing and self-financing a 3D feature. Other than extreme thrashing that pops out at you, what we can expect is anybody’s guess.
Still, we do know that Charlotte Huggins, the producer behind both Journey to the Center of the Earth movies, is being used to “get the ball rolling.” A director hasn’t been found yet, but the group is seeking someone “with the stones to direct a Metallica-style feature.” Don’t ask me why, but that gave me a good laugh.
This wouldn’t be the band’s first film project; the use of their music in Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills helped bring attention to the plight of the West Memphis 3. The filmmakers behind that documentary, Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky,...
Still, we do know that Charlotte Huggins, the producer behind both Journey to the Center of the Earth movies, is being used to “get the ball rolling.” A director hasn’t been found yet, but the group is seeking someone “with the stones to direct a Metallica-style feature.” Don’t ask me why, but that gave me a good laugh.
This wouldn’t be the band’s first film project; the use of their music in Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills helped bring attention to the plight of the West Memphis 3. The filmmakers behind that documentary, Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky,...
- 10/23/2011
- by jpraup@gmail.com (thefilmstage.com)
- The Film Stage
Might be a weird week to be Metallica. The band is on the verge of releasing Lulu, a collaboration with Lou Reed that has earned some of the most scornful reactions I've ever seen directed at any album in any genre. But no matter what happens, reviews be damned, Metallica keeps on going. I can respect that, even if I can't respect all of the work the band does. The band has a strange place in film history. The first major film allowed to use the band's music was Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills. The prominence the songs gave the documentary is credited with helping bring attention to the three young men, aka the West Memphis Three, convicted of murdering young boys in Arkansas. The association between the band and Paradise Lost directors Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky resulted in the 2004 documentary Some Kind of Monster,...
- 10/22/2011
- by Russ Fischer
- Slash Film
"Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory premiered in September at the Toronto International Film Festival in an unfinished form because the film's real ending arrived, unexpectedly, a few weeks earlier," begins indieWIRE's Eric Kohn. "The men known as the 'West Memphis 3,' imprisoned while teenagers for crimes they likely didn't commit, spent 18 years behind bars. In August, they entered a trio of 'Alford pleas,' relying on a little-known law that allowed them to plead guilty while maintaining their innocence. Sentenced to time served, they went free that day. That meant 36-year-old Damien Echols evaded the death penalty; Jesse Misskelley and Jason Baldwin were released from their life sentences." In the Toronto cut, "the simple news of their freedom brings the rush of a happy ending. The final version, however, takes a much angrier direction."
"If you're unfamiliar with the case," writes Drew Taylor at the Playlist, "it essentially breaks down like...
"If you're unfamiliar with the case," writes Drew Taylor at the Playlist, "it essentially breaks down like...
- 10/11/2011
- MUBI
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