documentaries

Advertising: Dramatic, Dumb

Hamilton Nolan · 08/20/09 01:53PM

A new documentary called Art & Copy —opening this week—showcases the origins of America's most famous ad slogans. It's from the "Drama, Power, Persuasion" school of advertising industry portrayal. In Australia, there's an example of the other school:

There's Nothing Strange About Ted Haggard

Richard Lawson · 01/29/09 01:20PM

That seems to be the party line for most of the critics' reviews, at least. The New York Times calls the film, which follows the disgraced church leader and his family during his banishment from Colorado, "strangely intriguing," Slant deems it "surprisingly compelling," while the reviewer for the Los Angeles Times says the film arrives at its most fecund points "almost accidentally."

Sundance Is In Love With Journalism

Hamilton Nolan · 12/03/08 05:10PM

Although the business of journalism is currently in the process of imploding, the romance of journalism remains. So while journalists can't find jobs any more, they can at least take comfort in the fact that they are very attractive subjects for Hollywood! The Sundance Film Festival released its lineup today, and there are no less than three documentaries that are all about the drama of the A-list press. They could all conceivably be good, although Anna Wintour sounds like a far more compelling subject than Nick Kristof:

Docmakers' Denver Welcome Gives Way to GOP Convention Crackdown

STV · 08/28/08 07:40PM

For every Steven Spielberg flinging a Democratic National Convention short film out the limo window on his way to his cabin retreat in the Rockies, we're learning there are a few dozen other filmmakers scavenging the floor of the convention hall with cameras and about two hours' sleep. Such is the spirit of democracy (or something — don't ask) fueling the makers of Convention, who have seemingly been everywhere at once this week trailing delegates, pols and pundits alike. And they're not the only ones winding down their routines tonight as Barack Obama's speech closes the event; Mayor of the Sunset Strip director George Hickenlooper is hanging around with his cousin, Denver mayor John Hickenlooper, and Amy Rice and Alicia Sams are neck-deep in their top-secret, Ed Norton-backed documentary following the Obama campaign. We hope they enjoyed the goodwill, because we're also hearing that the folks overseeing next week's GOP Convention in Minneapolis may do things a little differently:

Truck Movie Is Truck Ad

Hamilton Nolan · 08/13/08 10:31AM

Please, sit down and remove your Peterbilt hat: there's something you should know about the upcoming long-haul trucker documentary Drive and Deliver. Sure, the movie is heart-wrenching portrayal of the ups and downs of the trucking life-the long nights, the long days, the lengthy amount of time spent in a sitting position. But all those truck-porn shots of "the behemoth LoneStars, their chrome and oversize grilles gleaming brightly"? Bought and paid for, my friend. The movie is an ad. And maybe the most efficient product placement of all time! Drive and Deliver is directed by Brett Morgen, who also did The Kid Stays In The Picture. But the entire thing is a $5 million marketing scheme by truck maker Navistar International. So while there's a rich history of companies sponsoring their own shows (the "Colgate Variety Hour"), and a rich history of product placement in movies, the idea of bankrolling an entire documentary starring your own company's product gives twice the impact, in a more subtle fashion. First we got previews at the movies. Then we got ads at the movies. Then we got ads in the movies. Now we have movies that are ads. Well, at least our precious TV shows are safe from ads running during the show. No, they're not. [NYT, B&C. Related: I have a shiny nickel for anyone willing to go through NYT ad reporter Stuart Elliott's stories for the past year and see how many times he uses the phrase "branded entertainment." I bet the answer is "many."]

Rare Photos Of Banksy In Action

Hamilton Nolan · 07/31/08 02:05PM

You thought that the search for new pictures of the mysterious world-famous street artist Banksy had come to an end? It has not! Our earlier shot at digging up photos of the maybe-identified but still unseen artist turned out to (probably) not be him. But! A tipster has sent us a lovely present: three still shots of Banksy in action, taken from a UK documentary filmed in 2000, when he was less obsessive about hiding his identity. We also have two photos of Banksy that were featured in an article in the UK's Squall magazine (now defunct) back in 2000. And for the finale: two art prints that are reportedly drawings of Banksy in profile, dressed as the Queen of England. None are full-on face shots; but this is probably the first time all these rarely-seen images have been collected in one place. Click through to explore. Stills from the 2000 UK documentary Boom or Bust, by filmmaker Si Mitchell:

British Geraldo Meets British Tony Soprano

Hamilton Nolan · 07/18/08 10:01AM

Can there ever be too many British gangster movies? The answer is no. So we fully support the new documentary A Very British Gangster, which is being released in the US today. Not only has the filmmaker, Donal McIntyre, been described as "the British answer to Geraldo Rivera," but the subject of the film, Manchester crime boss Dominic Noonan (pictured), has been compared to Tony Soprano, and his English thugs are accused of having bad teeth and being reminiscent of Trainspotting. It's satisfying to see every single English crime journalism cliche in one place. But the film itself sounds entertaining; anything starring a guy who gets his point across by chopping off the heads of rivals' pets can't be all boring. The trailer is after the jump.

Can This Man (and His Millions) Save The Dying Genre Of Documentary Film?

STV · 07/17/08 04:00PM

Ted Leonsis never spent a dollar he didn't think would somehow change the world. And after generating a few billion at AOL, buying a hockey franchise and dabbling for a while in Web 2.0, it was just a matter of time before he jumped into movies, where change follows the money faster (and certainly more glamorously) than any other industry in which he hadn't already staked a claim. And, like untold scores of entrepreneurs before him, Leonsis's first couple tries — as producer of the documentaries Nanking and Kicking It — flailed in the marketplace. That'll happen.

Way Smart Ex-PR Guru To Make Crazy Movie Version Of Crazy Documentary

Hamilton Nolan · 06/27/08 09:22AM

Dan Klores is the smartest man in PR. That's because he's not in PR any more. He founded his eponymous agency, which made (and still makes) him a ton of money, and then decided, "You know what? Fuck this shit. I'm gonna make movies." Now he spends all his time making (actually good!) documentaries and hosting soirees for various power brokers, without ever having to deal with the actual PR industry much. And he's about to move further up the entertainment industry food chain, because HBO has signed him to direct a movie version of his Believe-it-or-not psycho documentary Crazy Love. This, I will watch.

Muscle Companies Astounded To Find Their Models Use Steroids

Hamilton Nolan · 06/09/08 11:48AM

Bigger, Stronger, Faster , the just-released documentary that reconsiders the terrible public image of steroids, is winning praise for its frank depiction of the pluses and minuses of 'roids. But all the honesty didn't turn out well for Christian Boeving, a fitness model who lost his endorsement contract with Muscletech when it became clear that he admitted longtime steroid use in an interview in the film. "I didn't think I would get into that much trouble, because I thought it was pretty apparent that the top people in the industry use steroids to look like we do," Boeving said. But he admitted it, so he's out. Yes, the entire muscle industry is made up of hypocrites. You'd have thought that some of Boeving's pictures, like these, might have given his totally innocent sponsors a clue:

Liev Schreiber Can't Save Iraqi Kid from Jerkdom

Hamilton Nolan · 06/05/08 04:26PM

A new documentary opening this week called Operation Filmmaker explores the question: Why won't these ungrateful Iraqis be nice? The film centers on Muthana Mohmed, a young Iraqi man rescued from his war-torn country by stolid actor Liev Schreiber, who wants to help the kid break into the movie business. But despite the do-gooding of billions of watts worth of Hollywood stardom, Mohmed turns out to have some personal problems. Apparently he's a bit of jerk sometimes, which makes him like most young people, but also makes him an "essential study in intercultural communication and the ways it can go very wrong." The lesson: Hollywood liberals are to blame for Iraq's problems. Or something! Watch the trailer, after the jump:

Steroids Reconsidered

Hamilton Nolan · 05/30/08 02:12PM

"I can't imagine how my mom would feel if she found out both of my brothers are on steroids right now," says Christopher Bell, the narrator and director of a new documentary called Bigger, Faster, Stronger. Well he can imagine it now, because he made a movie about his brothers being on steroids! Along with other important American cultural figures like Arnold Schwarzenegger, Hulk Hogan, and Sly Stallone. The film is billed as a real, down-to-earth look at all sides of the steroids issue, not just a one-sided condemnation. These drugs are for stupid people and cheaters, but they're also everywhere. Why can't you look like that ripped guy in the gym? Because he's on steroids. Simple! (Anybody know any media people on steroids? Email us). The early reviews are good, and this is yet another thing that guys can do this weekend instead of seeing Sex And The City. Watch the trailer, after the jump.

Drunken Writers Celebrate Drunken Writer Den

ian spiegelman · 05/28/08 05:38PM

Lushy journalists turned out in force for Jack Bryan's documentary on the storied, now-shuttered hole of a watering hole Siberia when the flick premiered last night at Soho House. Gawker founding editor Elizabeth Spiers, former Page Sixer Chris Wilson, The New York Observer's George Gurley, publicist / bigtime author Sloane Crosley and a host of other party-loving media types showed up to watch themselves and their colleagues ramble nostalgically about the place that ruined so many young livers. Sadly, one member of that crowd was home with a mystery illness. "Former 'Page Six' reporter Ian Spiegelman opens the film: 'I don't even know how you could make a documentary about Siberia,' he says. 'I don't know how people have any memories of what happened there.'"

Loud, Coarse Motorhead Legend to be Featured in Surprisingly Loud, Coarse Documentary

STV · 05/22/08 07:00PM

Where to even start when discussing a documentary about Lemmy Kilmister, the legendary Motorhead frontman and apparent subject of a forthcoming film appropriately enough titled Lemmy? Even the fucking co-directors don't even know, with filmmaker Greg Olliver telling Billboard today: "Shooting Lemmy is like filming dangerous wildlife. He never does what you expect him to do, and he never does anything you want him to do." Olliver's partner, Wes Orshoski, agreed: "Lemmy never ceases to surprise me. ... You think you know who Lemmy is, but you have no idea. If you think you have Lemmy all figured out, trust me. You don't!" Actually... we think we might.

Everybody Wants Some In 'Sex: The Revolution'

Mark Graham · 05/14/08 05:55PM


While the Michael Hirschorn era at Vh1 will likely be best remembered for bringing pop culture talking heads (I Love The..., Best Week Ever), washed-up celebs (Surreal Life) and horny musicians (Flavor Of Love, Rock Of Love) into millions of homes, there is one program from his tenure that was just as critically acclaimed as it was popular. Back in the summer of 2006, a four-part documentary called The Drug Years aired to rave reviews — Variety called it a "fascinating insight into the growth of the counterculture and ... its eventual hangover" — and arguably became the first series in the channel's history that was equally appealing to pop culture enthusiasts and intellectuals. Now, after nearly two years worth of research and production, the same creative team that put The Drug Years together has returned with a brand new four-part doc entitled Sex: The Revolution. Defamer recently sat down with series writer Martin Torgoff and executive producer Brad Abramson to talk about the series that, as Torgoff explains, puts its focus on "how the sexual revolution fed into the dynamic of what became the Culture Wars in the United States."

Campus Conservatives Cry Out For Own Victim Status

Hamilton Nolan · 04/17/08 02:49PM

Bizarre racial thinker and conservative columnist John McWhorter today muses over his run-ins with the smug, misguided intellectuals who infest American higher education with their "radical leftist perspective." It's a standard-issue argument against political correctness, which ignores the salient point that conservatives are just as convinced of their own righteousness as liberals, they just don't have the numbers to assert their will on most campuses. Also, a tip for McWhorter: if you don't want to get argued with, you shouldn't have worked at freaking Berkeley. He says that the documentary "Indoctrinate U," out now, will help strike a blow against closed leftist minds. We agree that liberal political correctness is terribly annoying—almost as annoying as Republicans who use it as a canard to distract the world from their happy march towards fascism. Hey, this post is like a bad Poli-Sci class! The trailer for the film that will save beleaguered Ivy League ROTC students, after the jump.