Welcome back to the Weekend Warrior, your weekly look at the new movies hitting theaters this weekend, as well as other cool events and things to check out.
Two Very Different Movies Look to Divide Up the Weekend Box Office Business
With Disney’s Beauty and the Beast continuing to dominate at the box office with $90 million this past weekend, and Saban’s Power Rangers (Lionsgate) also doing exceedingly well with $40 million in second place, you wouldn’t think anyone would try to release a movie that might get overshadowed by those two blockbusters.
That said, what’s interesting about this weekend is the fact there are two very different movies that are competing very heavily for second place with DreamWorks Animation’s latest animated family film, The Boss Baby (20th Century Fox), taking on the live action English remake of Ghost In The Shell (Paramount), starring Scarlett Johansson. In most cases,...
Two Very Different Movies Look to Divide Up the Weekend Box Office Business
With Disney’s Beauty and the Beast continuing to dominate at the box office with $90 million this past weekend, and Saban’s Power Rangers (Lionsgate) also doing exceedingly well with $40 million in second place, you wouldn’t think anyone would try to release a movie that might get overshadowed by those two blockbusters.
That said, what’s interesting about this weekend is the fact there are two very different movies that are competing very heavily for second place with DreamWorks Animation’s latest animated family film, The Boss Baby (20th Century Fox), taking on the live action English remake of Ghost In The Shell (Paramount), starring Scarlett Johansson. In most cases,...
- 3/31/2017
- by Edward Douglas
- LRMonline.com
Combining family history with a lean, but no less detailed look at Germany’s Stasi past, “Karl Marx City” is a documentary with the qualities of a thriller, and today we have the exclusive trailer for the upcoming film.
Directed by Petra Epperlein and Michael Tucker, the duo behind “Gunner Palace,” the film explores the possible link Epperlein’s father had with the security state, while also studying Germany’s Cold War era.
Continue reading Exclusive: A Family Mystery Unfolds In The Trailer For Documentary ‘Karl Marx City’ at The Playlist.
Directed by Petra Epperlein and Michael Tucker, the duo behind “Gunner Palace,” the film explores the possible link Epperlein’s father had with the security state, while also studying Germany’s Cold War era.
Continue reading Exclusive: A Family Mystery Unfolds In The Trailer For Documentary ‘Karl Marx City’ at The Playlist.
- 3/13/2017
- by Kevin Jagernauth
- The Playlist
The real story behind Bowe Bergdahl is only beginning to unfold. While it may take weeks or months to find out exactly why and how the U.S. soldier may have left his platoon in Afghanistan in 2009 and found himself held captive by the Taliban for five years, Bergdahl’s narrative has renewed long seething debates about America’s foreign entanglements in the Middle East. Was Bergdahl a deserter or hero, a traitor or a Pow? And ultimately, was his reason for being in Afghanistan justified or, to use the military acronym, Fubar (fucked-up beyond all recognition)? American documentary cinema has long embraced this debate, with U.S. soldiers like Bergdahl emerging as some of the most powerful characters in this ongoing national drama. Think of Scott Camil, the traumatized Vietnam vet, in 1972’s Winter Soldier, who testified to the horrifying brutalization and murder of innocent Vietnamese civilians by U.
- 6/18/2014
- Fandor: Keyframe
"The Flag," which premieres on CNN tonight, September 4th, at 9pm, serves as a softer counterpart to "9/11: The Falling Man," the 2006 documentary Henry Singer made about the search for the identity of the jumper in Richard Drew's iconic image from the World Trade Center. Drew's unforgettable photograph of a man plunging headfirst past rows of windows on a building that would later crumble was initially deemed too troubling when it appeared in news coverage following the attack, and "9/11: The Falling Man," which premiered on UK TV in 2006 before coming to the Us on what's now Investigation Discovery, carried with it that wounded sense of being a quest to seek out the name of someone who died horribly. "The Flag," directed by "Gunner Palace" filmmakers Petra Epperlein and Michael Tucker, is centered around an image that people were actually eager to embrace after the tragedy -- one shot by Thomas Franklin,...
- 9/4/2013
- by Alison Willmore
- Indiewire
CNN Films has acquired a documentary about film critic Roger Ebert that's executive-produced by Martin Scorsese and Steve Zaillian, along with two other documentaries, the company said on Friday. The Ebert documentary, which is based on the film critic's memoir "Life Itself," will be directed by Steve James ("Hoop Dreams"), and will be produced by Kartemquin Films and Zaillian, along with Garrett Basch's Film Rites. The film will be released theatrically before it airs on CNN next year. A second film, from the directors Michael Tucker and Petra Epperlein ("Gunner Palace"), will...
- 1/18/2013
- by Tim Kenneally
- The Wrap
After teaming on the sponsored docu The Greatest Story Ever Sold, Morgan Spurlock’s Warrior Poets has teamed with Keith Calder’s Snoot Entertainment to go with a full-blown commercials production operation. New York, NY (May 7, 2012) – Morgan Spurlock’s New York based production company Warrior Poets has teamed with Keith Calder’s Los Angeles based Snoot Entertainment and 16 year commercial production veteran Shannon Lords to create Warpaint, a commercial production company that will serve as a home for innovative directors who are looking to expand their craft into more diverse and lucrative opportunities. The company will represent a diverse array of both established and emerging directors from a variety of production backgrounds. Warpaint will maintain offices in New York, Los Angeles and London. Warpaint completed its first project in January 2012 with acclaimed director Darren Aronofsky, who directed the upcoming campaign for Revlon featuring Emma Stone and Halle Berry. The company...
- 5/7/2012
- by MIKE FLEMING
- Deadline
If Petra Epperlein and Michael Tucker hadn't made "Gunner Palace," their documentary about American soldiers in Iraq, they likely never would have made their new film, "Fightville," which looks at up-and-coming Mixed Martial Arts (Mma) fighters and promoters in Louisiana. What's the connection? The directors didn't even know what Mma was, but the young soldiers they were documenting most certainly did. That put the sport on their radar, which eventually led them to Louisiana and to two young fighters, Dustin Poirier and Albert Stainback, as well as their trainer, Tim Credeur, a Ufc fighter himself, and a local Mma promoter, Gil Guillory, who used to be a professional wrestler. The movie delves into the personal lives of these young men, and captures a number of their fights, too. Poirier, certainly, was a find for the directors, because he has since become a successful Ufc fighter in his own rite. Tucker spoke to Upcoming-Movies.
- 4/30/2012
- Upcoming-Movies.com
If Petra Epperlein and Michael Tucker hadn't made "Gunner Palace," their documentary about American soldiers in Iraq, they likely never would have made their new film, "Fightville," which looks at up-and-coming Mixed Martial Arts (Mma) fighters and promoters in Louisiana. What's the connection? The directors didn't even know what Mma was, but the young soldiers they were documenting most certainly did. That put the sport on their radar, which eventually led them to Louisiana and to two young fighters, Dustin Poirier and Albert Stainback, as well as their trainer, Tim Credeur, a Ufc fighter himself, and a local Mma promoter, Gil Guillory, who used to be a professional wrestler. The movie delves into the personal lives of these young men, and captures a number of their fights, too. Poirier, certainly, was a find for the directors, because he has since become a successful Ufc fighter in his own rite. Tucker spoke to Upcoming-Movies.
- 4/30/2012
- Upcoming-Movies.com
Fightville chronicles two fighters as they grind out bloody local-league fights and train at the gym (in a non-descript strip mall located by the Piggly Wiggley,) both as a way of working out their own personal issues and living the dream of a professional fighter. A short ways into Michael Tucker and Petra Epperlein's (Gunner Palace, How to Fold a Flag) Mma documentary, you may find yourself reeling from the plethora of pontification on the sport by way of trainer/Ufc-competitor Tim Credeur. As he attempts to sculpt two troubled young men into fighters, you get acclimatized to the mythic manner of speaking (the filmmakers are guilty of getting into that game, throwing up title cards quotes from such a diverse collection of individuals - Walt Whitman, Friedrich Nietzsche, Bruce...
- 4/6/2012
- Screen Anarchy
Directed by Petra Epperlein and Michael Tucker (Gunner Palace, The Prisoner: Or How I Planned To Kill Tony Blair)
Opening In Los Angeles And New York On April 20 And Will Be Available On The Same Day Via On Demand And Digital Download
**SXSW Film Festival 2011 (Official Selection) **
Over the last decade, Mixed Martial Arts (Mma) has grown from a controversial no-holds-barred gladiatorial sideshow into a billion dollar phenomenon. Mma has eclipsed boxing as the dominant combat sport in the world, and is so popular that Mma fights regularly appear on U.S. network television – even as a longstanding ban remains in force in New York State. But far from Las Vegas, in sweat-soaked gyms and low-rent arenas across America, the big lights are but a dream. Here, men fight to test their mettle, fortified with the mythic promise that an ordinary man can transform into a champion.
Directed by the...
Opening In Los Angeles And New York On April 20 And Will Be Available On The Same Day Via On Demand And Digital Download
**SXSW Film Festival 2011 (Official Selection) **
Over the last decade, Mixed Martial Arts (Mma) has grown from a controversial no-holds-barred gladiatorial sideshow into a billion dollar phenomenon. Mma has eclipsed boxing as the dominant combat sport in the world, and is so popular that Mma fights regularly appear on U.S. network television – even as a longstanding ban remains in force in New York State. But far from Las Vegas, in sweat-soaked gyms and low-rent arenas across America, the big lights are but a dream. Here, men fight to test their mettle, fortified with the mythic promise that an ordinary man can transform into a champion.
Directed by the...
- 3/13/2012
- by Melissa Howland
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
When I first heard that the Weinstein Company had lost its appeal to overturn the R rating that the MPAA had given to Lee Hirsch's film Bully, I was taken back to 2005 when we opted for an appeal for our Iraq War film Gunner Palace after it also received an R for language. At the time, the war was raging in Iraq, young people were dying every day, coverage of the war was in decline and we thought it was imperative that high school students have access -- unrestricted -- to a film that could help them relate to the conflict. An R rating would make that impossible, not just in the immediate, but also in the future, because few school districts purchase R rated films for their libraries. So, I flew out to Hollywood with Andy Robbins who ran marketing for our distributor and screened the movie for...
- 3/9/2012
- by Michael Tucker
- Moviefone
There has been no shortage of Mma documentaries released over the past few years, which only makes sense considering the current popularity of the sport. However, up until now, there has not been a single, definitive doc on the subject. Probably the highest profile one was John Hyams' The Smashing Machine, which focused on Mark Kerr, but that was released back in 2002 and things have changed quite a bit over the last decade. Now directors Petra Epperlein and Michael Tucker (Gunner Palace) are throwing their hats into the octagon with a new film called Fightville. The movie follows two fighters working their way up to the Ufc, along with a trainer and a promoter. One of the fighters, Dustin Poirier, is now pretty well-known to fans around the world, and the movie happens to capture his rise to fame. From what I've heard, the movie takes an even-handed approach...
- 3/6/2012
- by Sean
- FilmJunk
New York — Fresh off his Oscar glory with "The Artist," there's no silence for Harvey Weinstein when it comes to his next film.
The famously bellicose producer is protesting the R rating received by a documentary his Weinstein Co. is releasing. "Bully," directed by Lee Hirsch, is an examination of school bullying that follows five kids and families over the course of a school year.
It received the rating, which restricts kids under the age of 17 from seeing it without an accompanying adult, because of six expletives. Weinstein claims such a rating restricts the very audience the film can most benefit: high school teens.
The Weinstein Co. appealed the decision, but the Motion Picture Association of America, which oversees movie ratings, declined to lower the rating to a PG-13.
"I find it outrageous," says Weinstein, who has long been renowned for his combativeness. "This is, on a personal level because of my own temper,...
The famously bellicose producer is protesting the R rating received by a documentary his Weinstein Co. is releasing. "Bully," directed by Lee Hirsch, is an examination of school bullying that follows five kids and families over the course of a school year.
It received the rating, which restricts kids under the age of 17 from seeing it without an accompanying adult, because of six expletives. Weinstein claims such a rating restricts the very audience the film can most benefit: high school teens.
The Weinstein Co. appealed the decision, but the Motion Picture Association of America, which oversees movie ratings, declined to lower the rating to a PG-13.
"I find it outrageous," says Weinstein, who has long been renowned for his combativeness. "This is, on a personal level because of my own temper,...
- 3/2/2012
- by AP
- Huffington Post
Trailer for Fightville directed by Petra Epperlein and Michael Tucker of Gunner Palace. This is right up my alley, being a big Mma and boxing fan. I'll be keen to give this a watch on its release on April 20th. Pic is set to find theatres in Los Angeles and New York and Los Angeles, available the same day via on demand and digital download, and rolls out nationwide with dates to be announced. Over the last decade, Mixed Martial Arts (Mma) has grown from a controversial no-holds-barred gladiatorial sideshow into a billion dollar phenomenon. Mma has eclipsed boxing as the dominant combat sport in the world, and is so popular that Mma fights regularly appear on U.S. network television – even as a longstanding ban remains in force in New York State. But far from Las Vegas, in sweat-soaked gyms and low-rent arenas across America, the big lights are but a dream.
- 3/2/2012
- Upcoming-Movies.com
Trailer for Fightville directed by Petra Epperlein and Michael Tucker of Gunner Palace. This is right up my alley, being a big Mma and boxing fan. I'll be keen to give this a watch on its release on April 20th. Pic is set to find theatres in Los Angeles and New York and Los Angeles, available the same day via on demand and digital download, and rolls out nationwide with dates to be announced. Over the last decade, Mixed Martial Arts (Mma) has grown from a controversial no-holds-barred gladiatorial sideshow into a billion dollar phenomenon. Mma has eclipsed boxing as the dominant combat sport in the world, and is so popular that Mma fights regularly appear on U.S. network television – even as a longstanding ban remains in force in New York State. But far from Las Vegas, in sweat-soaked gyms and low-rent arenas across America, the big lights are but a dream.
- 3/2/2012
- Upcoming-Movies.com
Trailer for Fightville directed by Petra Epperlein and Michael Tucker of Gunner Palace. This is right up my alley, being a big Mma and boxing fan. I'll be keen to give this a watch on its release on April 20th. Pic is set to find theatres in Los Angeles and New York and Los Angeles, available the same day via on demand and digital download, and rolls out nationwide with dates to be announced. Over the last decade, Mixed Martial Arts (Mma) has grown from a controversial no-holds-barred gladiatorial sideshow into a billion dollar phenomenon. Mma has eclipsed boxing as the dominant combat sport in the world, and is so popular that Mma fights regularly appear on U.S. network television – even as a longstanding ban remains in force in New York State. But far from Las Vegas, in sweat-soaked gyms and low-rent arenas across America, the big lights are but a dream.
- 3/2/2012
- Upcoming-Movies.com
In late 2002, CIA officers at Guantanamo Bay reportedly rented the 1998 Roland Emmerich flick "Godzilla." The film had largely failed to engage the interest of even the most explosion-happy action fans, but the agents were not looking to be entertained. Abu Zubaydah, a high-ranking al Qaeda operative, had confessed to them under interrogation that the terrorist organization had made plans to blow up "the bridge in the Godzilla movie." Had the officers been familiar with the movie they would have known he was talking about the Brooklyn Bridge.
The possibility that a Saudi terrorist knew more about Hollywood than a roomful of American intelligence officials may be obvious in its irony, but isn't unlikely. The men who conceived of and carried out the September 11th attacks were infatuated with American entertainment (the young Bin Laden was said to have been particularly taken with "Bonanza").
The template for the Hollywood action movie is the Western,...
The possibility that a Saudi terrorist knew more about Hollywood than a roomful of American intelligence officials may be obvious in its irony, but isn't unlikely. The men who conceived of and carried out the September 11th attacks were infatuated with American entertainment (the young Bin Laden was said to have been particularly taken with "Bonanza").
The template for the Hollywood action movie is the Western,...
- 9/9/2011
- by Saki Knafo
- Huffington Post
[How to Fold a Flag is now available to watch instantly streaming from Netflix and via VOD on iTunes, Hulu, Vudu, Cinema Now, Amazon.com, and other digital platforms.] As the Us relaxes into the Memorial Day weekend, How to Fold a Flag prods the nation to think about the true meaning of the holiday by profiling four men who served in Iraq. Filmmakers Petra Epperlein and Michael Tucker pick up their stories five years after documenting their experiences in their superb war documentary Gunner Palace. As one of them says, 'We served together for 15 months. Now we're alone.' That's a common experience; we could say the same of any four people who have worked, schooled, or lived together for a period of years....
- 5/28/2011
- Screen Anarchy
Reviewed by Khia Beauchesne
(May 2011)
Directed by: Petra Epperlein and Michael Tucker
Written by: Michael Tucker
Starring: Javorn Drummond, Michael Goss, Stuart Wilf and Jon Powers
Five years after filming “Gunner Palace,” an Iraq War film that follows American soldiers of the 2/3 Field Artillery, directors Petra Epperlein and Michael Tucker deliver closure with “How to Fold a Flag.” The film focuses on the same soldiers as the previous movie, this time recording their returns home. Presented in scattered sequences, the four men offer various perspectives on the price of being a veteran.
The film does a solid job of immersing the viewer amid the raw emotion and hardships of the returning soldiers. Opening the film on Javorn Drummond and a tour of his trailer home sets the tone for the realities of a soldier’s postwar experience. Mail advertising the benefits of enlisting in the American army attempts to seduce...
(May 2011)
Directed by: Petra Epperlein and Michael Tucker
Written by: Michael Tucker
Starring: Javorn Drummond, Michael Goss, Stuart Wilf and Jon Powers
Five years after filming “Gunner Palace,” an Iraq War film that follows American soldiers of the 2/3 Field Artillery, directors Petra Epperlein and Michael Tucker deliver closure with “How to Fold a Flag.” The film focuses on the same soldiers as the previous movie, this time recording their returns home. Presented in scattered sequences, the four men offer various perspectives on the price of being a veteran.
The film does a solid job of immersing the viewer amid the raw emotion and hardships of the returning soldiers. Opening the film on Javorn Drummond and a tour of his trailer home sets the tone for the realities of a soldier’s postwar experience. Mail advertising the benefits of enlisting in the American army attempts to seduce...
- 5/27/2011
- by admin
- Moving Pictures Network
Reviewed by Khia Beauchesne
(May 2011)
Directed by: Petra Epperlein and Michael Tucker
Written by: Michael Tucker
Starring: Javorn Drummond, Michael Goss, Stuart Wilf and Jon Powers
Five years after filming “Gunner Palace,” an Iraq War film that follows American soldiers of the 2/3 Field Artillery, directors Petra Epperlein and Michael Tucker deliver closure with “How to Fold a Flag.” The film focuses on the same soldiers as the previous movie, this time recording their returns home. Presented in scattered sequences, the four men offer various perspectives on the price of being a veteran.
The film does a solid job of immersing the viewer amid the raw emotion and hardships of the returning soldiers. Opening the film on Javorn Drummond and a tour of his trailer home sets the tone for the realities of a soldier’s postwar experience. Mail advertising the benefits of enlisting in the American army attempts to seduce...
(May 2011)
Directed by: Petra Epperlein and Michael Tucker
Written by: Michael Tucker
Starring: Javorn Drummond, Michael Goss, Stuart Wilf and Jon Powers
Five years after filming “Gunner Palace,” an Iraq War film that follows American soldiers of the 2/3 Field Artillery, directors Petra Epperlein and Michael Tucker deliver closure with “How to Fold a Flag.” The film focuses on the same soldiers as the previous movie, this time recording their returns home. Presented in scattered sequences, the four men offer various perspectives on the price of being a veteran.
The film does a solid job of immersing the viewer amid the raw emotion and hardships of the returning soldiers. Opening the film on Javorn Drummond and a tour of his trailer home sets the tone for the realities of a soldier’s postwar experience. Mail advertising the benefits of enlisting in the American army attempts to seduce...
- 5/27/2011
- by admin
- Moving Pictures Magazine
The Iraq war documentary How to Fold a Flag opens with an intriguing quote from German writer and military veteran Ernst Jünger: "We were asked to believe that the war was over. We laughed. For we were the war."
This quote is wholly appropriate for the SXSW 2010 film, which has just become available on cable VOD and online, including Amazon Instant Video. Like much of Jünger's writing, How to Fold a Flag delves into the isolation soldiers feel while fighting wars and after returning to their "normal" lives. (Defining what is "normal" is a recurring theme in the film.) The quote also is appropriate in that Jünger was a conservative German nationalist; How to Fold a Flag presents the American equivalent in all its flag-wrapped glory.
Directors Petra Epperlein and Michael Tucker follow up on five soldiers featured in their acclaimed 2004 documentary Gunner Palace. How to Fold a Flag updates...
This quote is wholly appropriate for the SXSW 2010 film, which has just become available on cable VOD and online, including Amazon Instant Video. Like much of Jünger's writing, How to Fold a Flag delves into the isolation soldiers feel while fighting wars and after returning to their "normal" lives. (Defining what is "normal" is a recurring theme in the film.) The quote also is appropriate in that Jünger was a conservative German nationalist; How to Fold a Flag presents the American equivalent in all its flag-wrapped glory.
Directors Petra Epperlein and Michael Tucker follow up on five soldiers featured in their acclaimed 2004 documentary Gunner Palace. How to Fold a Flag updates...
- 5/26/2011
- by Don Clinchy
- Slackerwood
Morgan Spurlock may be a more effective promoter than filmmaker, but he's certainly been willing to put his name behind worthy movies that might otherwise be ignored. How to Fold a Flag is the latest release under his "Morgan Spurlock Presents" label. Due out on digital platforms on May 23 -- i.e., via streaming and on demand services including Netflix, Hulu.com, Amazon, Vudu, and CinemaNow -- the film, directed by Michael Tucker and Petra Epperlein, is a follow-up to the duo's pungent war doc Gunner Palace, this time following soldiers returning home to the Us and dealing with their combat experiences "in a country largely indifferent to their service," according to the description in the press release, which you can read in its entirety at...
- 5/10/2011
- Screen Anarchy
It was a Mixed Martial Arts weekend here in Toronto as the Ufc comes to down as a huge live event, but also in the form of a documentary film as one of the opening nights Galas at this years HotDocs. Fightville chronicles two fighters as they grind out bloody local-league fights and train at the gym (in a non-descript strip mall located by the Piggly Wiggley,) both as a way of working out their own personal issues and living the dream of a professional fighter. A short ways into Michael Tucker and Petra Epperlein's (Gunner Palace, How to Fold a Flag) Mma documentary, you may find yourself reeling from the plethora of pontification on the sport by way of trainer/Ufc-competitor Tim Credeur. As he attempts to sculpt...
- 5/1/2011
- Screen Anarchy
Toronto's 2011 Hot Docs Film Festival is now officially underway, having kicked off the proceedings last night with a screening of Morgan Spurlock's The Greatest Movie Ever Sold. Over the next week we will be catching some of the many great documentaries playing this year, so you can expect some reviews to turn up on Film Junk and The Documentary Blog in the near future. However, if you're interested in attending some screenings yourself, I thought it might be worthwhile to offer up a quick preview of what's playing so you can try and order some tickets [1] before it's too late. Check out our top picks of the fest, complete with trailers or video clips where possible, listed after the jump! Being Elmo: A Puppeteer's Journey Directed by: Constance Marks Synopsis: The film traces Kevin Clash's rise from his modest beginnings in Baltimore to his current success as the...
- 4/29/2011
- by Sean
- FilmJunk
We're just two weeks away from the kick-off of South by Southwest 2011 -- and while I'm prepping for our big Spirit Awards weekend, I'm also trying to really dig into this year's SXSW schedule. Thankfully, SXSW's YouTube channel has almost 100 trailers uploaded. I picked out five of the more intriguing looking (but maybe a little lesser known) films to share here. This is what I picked:
"Fightville"
Directed by Michael Tucker and Petra Epperlein
SXSW Premiere: Saturday March 12, 4:30 Pm, Vimeo Theater
The newest documentary from the directors of "Gunner Palace" is the story of what a baseball fan like me would describe as the "minor leagues" of Mixed Martial Arts: the training ground where young fighters are made or destroyed. Mma is a huge part of the modern sports scene but it's been almost completely unexamined from a documentary perspective, so I'm really looking forward to seeing this.
"Surrogate Valentine...
"Fightville"
Directed by Michael Tucker and Petra Epperlein
SXSW Premiere: Saturday March 12, 4:30 Pm, Vimeo Theater
The newest documentary from the directors of "Gunner Palace" is the story of what a baseball fan like me would describe as the "minor leagues" of Mixed Martial Arts: the training ground where young fighters are made or destroyed. Mma is a huge part of the modern sports scene but it's been almost completely unexamined from a documentary perspective, so I'm really looking forward to seeing this.
"Surrogate Valentine...
- 2/25/2011
- by Matt Singer
- ifc.com
After the MPAA handed an ‘R’ rating for language to an acclaimed documentary about NFL-player-turned-Army-Ranger Pat Tillman, the makers of the movie have lost an appeal to have the rating changed to PG-13. The filmmakers tried to argue that The Tillman Story — which delves into the official military cover-up of Tillman’s death in Afghanistan by friendly fire and the way in which he was exploited as a potent patriotic symbol — is exactly the kind of historically significant film that should be exposed to as many young people as possible, not hidden from them due to squeamishness over some bad words.
- 8/12/2010
- by Josh Rottenberg
- EW.com - PopWatch
Americans soldiers, weighted down with backpacks and machine guns, rush up a hill in the remote mountains of Afghanistan. We follow them closely through the underbrush as bullets whiz past their heads, then voices call out -- a man is down, one of theirs. A grieving soldier goes into shock, breathing heavily, on the verge of breakdown, as his comrades try to steady him. It's utter chaos -- in short, this is war.
But this is a very specific representation of war -- as chronicled in new documentaries like Tim Hetherington and Sebastian Junger's "Restrepo," the Danish Cannes winner "Armadillo" and photojournalist Danfung Dennis' work-in-progress "Hell and Back Again." Visceral, alarming and in-your-face, these Afghanistan docs offer a depiction of war that isn't exactly new in the mediascape, but it stands in striking contrast to the images we've seen coming out of Iraq for the last several years.
But this is a very specific representation of war -- as chronicled in new documentaries like Tim Hetherington and Sebastian Junger's "Restrepo," the Danish Cannes winner "Armadillo" and photojournalist Danfung Dennis' work-in-progress "Hell and Back Again." Visceral, alarming and in-your-face, these Afghanistan docs offer a depiction of war that isn't exactly new in the mediascape, but it stands in striking contrast to the images we've seen coming out of Iraq for the last several years.
- 6/16/2010
- by Anthony Kaufman
- ifc.com
Due to its scarcity, safety may be the most precious commodity of all in a warzone. And since scarcity raises prices, it's the rich and well connected who can afford the most security -- or at least the perception of it. No one knows this as well as Fidelis Cloer, a salesman who has spent nearly twenty years selling high-priced, German-made luxury armored cars to kings, presidents, dictators and officials in some of the world's most unstable and dangerous regions. Cloer is the subject of the documentary Bulletproof Salesman, co-directed by Petra Epperlein and Michael Tucker, the duo behind the documentaries Gunner Palace and The Prisoner or: How I Planned to Kill Tony Blair. The film follows Cloer as he enters Iraq shortly after the fall of Baghdad, confident that he'll find plenty of eager customers for his cars amidst...
- 4/19/2010
- by Jonathan Kim
- Huffington Post
Nearly nine years after September 11th, Hollywood is still figuring out just what to do with the tragedy, the war on terror, and related subjects. On one hand, of course, the staunchly apolitical Iraq War indie The Hurt Locker just won the Best Picture Oscar. On the other hand, Paul Greengrass's Green Zone -- a partisan tract on a nine-figure budget -- bombed at the box-office last weekend, proving that audiences are still cautious about broaching the subject as entertainment. The most successful attempt to distill current events for mass consumption has also been the best: Ridley Scott's Body of Lies took a step back from the hot-button issues and snuck devastating commentary on our Middle East quagmire into a breathless spy thriller.
On the other hand, documentary filmmakers, blessed with reduced commercial expectations, have been able to attack the subject from all directions, to the point where...
On the other hand, documentary filmmakers, blessed with reduced commercial expectations, have been able to attack the subject from all directions, to the point where...
- 3/21/2010
- by Eugene Novikov
- Cinematical
Fans of Ewan McGregor, Kristen Stewart and James Van Der Beek (!) will be seeing double this spring, as arthouses and multiplexes host an array of indie films ranging from the travails of septuagenarian New Yorkers looking for love ("The Last New Yorker") to 13-year-old assassins on the hunt for their first kill ("Kick-Ass"). If real life is more your speed, there are new documentaries about reviving animation strips (the Disney doc "Waking Sleeping Beauty") and stripping down (the burlesque history "Behind the Burly Q"), while foreign wonders like the French crime epics "A Prophet" and "Mesrine" mix with Korean treasures "Mother" and "The Good, The Bad and The Weird."
But of course, why limit yourself to just what's playing in the first-run theater near you? We've also included a look at the films that will be playing Anywhere But a Movie Theater (online, on demand, and on DVD) in the next few months,...
But of course, why limit yourself to just what's playing in the first-run theater near you? We've also included a look at the films that will be playing Anywhere But a Movie Theater (online, on demand, and on DVD) in the next few months,...
- 2/16/2010
- by Stephen Saito
- ifc.com
First Run Features has acquired Michael Tucker and Petra Epperlein's feature documentary "Bulletproof Salesman," a look at war profiteer Fidelis Cloer.
An early 2010 theatrical release is planned, with home video and broadcast releases to follow.
Tucker and Epperlein are the husband-and-wife documentary filmmaking team behind the 2004 doc "Gunner Palace" as well as 2007's "The Prisoner: Or How I Planned to Kill Tony Blair."
Their latest work, "How to Fold a Flag," is at the Toronto International Film Festival.
"Salesman" was repped by Josh Braun at Submarine and produced by Pepper & Bones Films.
An early 2010 theatrical release is planned, with home video and broadcast releases to follow.
Tucker and Epperlein are the husband-and-wife documentary filmmaking team behind the 2004 doc "Gunner Palace" as well as 2007's "The Prisoner: Or How I Planned to Kill Tony Blair."
Their latest work, "How to Fold a Flag," is at the Toronto International Film Festival.
"Salesman" was repped by Josh Braun at Submarine and produced by Pepper & Bones Films.
- 9/10/2009
- by By Gregg Kilday
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
- Count me in for about covering about half the doc offerings at Tiff this year. Kudos to Thom Powers for putting together a stellar line-up of offerings from some top names in the documentary filmmaking world and for subject matters that certainly make this cat curious. Seventeen doc films (nine world preems) have been added to the festival, but still no mention of Michael Moore's Capitalism: A Love Story, while The White Stripes Under Great White Northern Lights (directed by Emmett Malloy - an habitual for band docs) is confirmed as a Vanguard Section selection. Worth checking out is Aj Schnack's post announcement interview Powers who explains how some titles with unfamiliar names got into the fest. Here is the list of docs worth seeking out in T.O. The Art of the Steal Don Argott, USA World Premiere This art-world whodunit investigates what happened to the
- 7/21/2009
- IONCINEMA.com
Severe Clear is the Iraq documentary I've been awaiting conscientiously if not eagerly. There certainly hasn't been a shortage of retrospective examinations from a position of authority - e.g. the macrocosmic No End In Sight and the microfocused Standard Operating Procedure - or, in lesser quantities, on-the-ground reportage. The best-known of those is probably 2004's Gunner Palace, which could be politely described - in internet slang - as Epic Fail. Well-intentioned though they were in spending time with soldiers both at rest and patrolling, Michael Tucker and Petra Epperlein screwed up by including little you couldn't have seen on the news - gore and atrocities discreetly off-screen - and also in basic competence, like providing audible sound. Working from the footage of Marine Mike Scotti, Kristian Fraga</strong ...
- 3/14/2009
- by Vadim Rizov
- Spout
- I bet there aren’t that many facebook buddies over at Abu Ghraib – but one odd friendship was sparked and gives a new meaning to mistaken identity.Petra Epperlein & Michael Tucker are habitual doc filmmakers when it comes to documenting the tragedy that is Iraq – after Gunner Palace, the pair give us the story that originates in Baghdad , September 2003: In a middle class house on a quiet street, a family is fast asleep. Without warning, the front door is crashed and American soldiers storm the house looking for weapons and bomb-making material. To be distributed by Truly Indie, The Prisoner or: How I Planned to Kill Tony Blair will be released n select theatres on March 23rd. Pick your poison below -http://server.mammothnyc.com/prisoner/prisoner_trailer_320X180.movhttp://server.mammothnyc.com/prisoner/prisoner_trailer_480X272.movhttp://server.mammothnyc.com/prisoner/prisoner_trailer_640X360.movhttp://server.mammothnyc.
- 3/14/2007
- IONCINEMA.com
Faced with a documentary renaissance, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has selected a record 15 docus for consideration in this year's best documentary Oscar category. With 82 eligible films from which to choose, the Academy's documentary branch screening committee, utilizing a new rule change, was able to designate more than 12 films, which had been the upper limit in years past. Although a few of this year's more prominent documentaries, such as the gleefully foul-mouthed The Aristocrats, the Iraq war-set Gunner's Palace and the tragic nature tale Grizzly Man, did not make the cut, the Academy's documentarians drew up an eclectic list with subjects that range from the long-suffering birds of Warner Independent Pictures' March of the Penguins to the corporate sharks of Magnolia Pictures' Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room.
- 11/16/2005
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Faced with a documentary renaissance, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has selected a record 15 docus for consideration in this year's best documentary Oscar category. With 82 eligible films from which to choose, the Academy's documentary branch screening committee, utilizing a new rule change, was able to designate more than 12 films, which had been the upper limit in years past. Although a few of this year's more prominent documentaries, such as the gleefully foul-mouthed The Aristocrats, the Iraq war-set Gunner's Palace and the tragic nature tale Grizzly Man, did not make the cut, the Academy's documentarians drew up an eclectic list with subjects that range from the long-suffering birds of Warner Independent Pictures' March of the Penguins to the corporate sharks of Magnolia Pictures' Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room.
- 11/16/2005
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
TORONTO -- The Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival on Wednesday said it has hired Sean Farnel away from the Toronto International Film Festival to become its first-ever director of programming. Farnel, who most recently programd documentaries at the Toronto festival since 2000, will join Hot Docs, North America's largest documentary festival, in November. Over the last five years, Farnel brought a host of award-winning docs to TIFF, including Spellbound in 2002, The Story of the Weeping Camel and The Yes Men in 2003, and Gunner Palace last year. In between his TIFF duties, Farnel programd Hot Docs' monthly documentary series, Doc Soup, which he will continue to do. The 13th edition of Hot Docs is set to run from April 28 to May 7.
- 10/19/2005
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
TORONTO -- A flurry of wheeling and dealing marked the opening weekend of the Toronto International Film Festival, with a slew of pacts closing and further features primed to sell in the coming days. Lions Gate Films won a bidding war for the star-studded ensemble drama Crash, while Sony Pictures Classics closed deals on two foreign titles -- Kim Ki-duk's 3-Iron and Jan Hrebejk's Up and Down. Meantime, Palm Pictures targeted the Iraq-set Gunner Palace as the fest' first documentary buy. Other films generating heat North of the Border now include the feature docu Three of Hearts, Ra'up McGee's homage to '60s French film noir Automne and the U.K. import My Summer of Love. As expected, the hotly tipped Crash -- a Los Angeles-set ensemble drama featuring Don Cheadle, Sandra Bullock, Matt Dillon, Brendan Fraser, Ludacris, Thandie Newton, Ryan Phillippe, Jennifer Esposito and Larenz Tate -- prompted instantaneous offers from buyers after its Friday premiere in the Special Presentations section.
- 9/13/2004
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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