Far Out Isn’t Far Enough: The Tomi Ungerer Story (Bernstein, 2012)
Ungerer ties his bold proclamation that "children should be traumatized" to his artistic vision that pushed children's fiction beyond the benign and banal.
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Exporting Love, Exporting Hate
One of the more striking contrasts between Rocky's mission and IHOP's is that his orphans have names.
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The Editor and The Dragon (Campbell and Clark)
In 1953, the Pulitzer Prize for was awarded to the editor of the Tabor City Tribune.
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After Tiller (Shane & Wilson)
Abortion is not an abstraction.
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A Fierce Green Fire (Kitchell, 2012)
Mark Kitchell's A Fierce Green Fire takes a longitudinal view, contextualizing arguments about global climate change by showing what led up to them.
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Remote Area Medical (Reichert & Zaman, 2013)
It is hard to think of a proclamation of Jesus that is harder to understand--or believe--than "blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." I bring this up in the context of considering Remote Area Medical, Jeff Reichert's and Farihah Zaman's documentary because (at least in the first half) the directors focus on the recipients rather than the dispensers of free medical care. They are consistently, if not universally, a hard bunch to love:
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Venice Souvenir (Gaffin, 2013)
Comprised of dozens of short (one or two minute) vignettes, Venice Souvenir attempts to capture the unique flavor of the location that allegedly gets more tourists than Disney Land.
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In America (Sheridan, 2003) — 10 Years Later
Between 1989 and 2003, Jim Sheridan was nominated for six Academy Awards. Three were for writing, two for directing. The last last was as the producer for a best picture… Continue reading "In America (Sheridan, 2003) — 10 Years Later"
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A Royal Affair (Arcel, 2012)
The themes of surrendering to a self-torturing, illicit passion is rote, but the theme of struggling with a temptation to seize power for the greater good...well, okay, it's pretty rote, too.
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Searching for Sugar Man (Bendjelloul, 2012)
In sublimating every other theme to it, he ends up repressing the film's potential greatness for too long, never fully exploring the deeper questions that transcend the idle narrative curiosity imposed by the artifically constructed mystery.