Theatrical Releases

Every Friday we update you all with the week's theatrical documentary releases. Now, this is not a perfect process as our beloved genre prefers the rolling/limited release schedule instead of a big nationwide or international-wide release. So apologies if a film isn't out in your area or if you are a filmmaker and we missed the boat on announcing your documentary's big day (if that is the case, please let us know and we'll correct the mistake).

Now, with that introduction out of the way, here's this weekend's releases with their current rating on the amazing website Rottentomatoes.com:


Prodigal Sons - (75% rating) Marc has had a rough life. Adopted as an infant, he was held back in preschool (putting him in the same grade as his younger brother), failed to graduate high school, and suffered a head injury at twenty-one. His entire worldview was that he was cheated by life. Then he discovered he is the grandson of Orson Welles and Rita Hayworth. 

Unlike Marc, his sister Kim’s life always seemed to be easy. She was the first child born to her attractive parents, into an extended family of tall Montana farmers. She was high school class president and valedictorian, voted most likely to succeed. She was also captain of the football team — you see, Kim used to be Marc’s younger brother. Twenty years later Marc and Kim return home to their small Montana hometown, forcing them to face challenges no one could imagine (Rottentomatoes.com)

The Art of the Steal – (80% rating) In 1922, Dr. Albert C. Barnes created The Barnes Foundation in Lower Merion Pennsylvania, five miles outside of Philadelphia. He formed this remarkable collection of Post-Impressionist and early Modern art to serve as an educational institution. When Dr. Barnes died he left control of his collection to Lincoln University, a small African-American college. His will contained strict instructions, stating the Foundation shall always be an educational institution, and the paintings may never be removed. Such strict limitations made the collection safe from commercial exploitation. But was it really safe? 

More than fifty years later, a powerful group of moneyed interests have gone to court to take the art - recently valued at more than $25 billion - and bring it to a new museum in Philadelphia. Standing in their way is a group of former students who are trying to block the move. Will the students succeed, or will a man's will be broken and one of America's greatest cultural monuments be destroyed? (Rottentomatoes.com)

45365 – (no rating provided) 45365 captures small town American life in striking cinema verité style that peels away the layers of Sidney, Ohio -- population 20,000 -- to reveal a deeper shared experience. Middle America turns out to be much more complicated than a Norman Rockwell painting would have us believe. Filmmakers Turner and Bill Ross deliver slices of life in gorgeous HD photography building the unique faces, places, and events into a powerful mosaic of humanity. (Rottentomatoes.com)

True/False Film Festival begins

If you are near Columbia and you love documentaries, do I have the perfect weekend plan for you.

The True/False Film Festival begins today in Columbia, Missouri and every fan of this site should be excited to see what comes out of this documentary exclusive event. The festival has only existed since 2004 but has still built up a pretty strong following, especially in the documentary world.

The True/False Film Festival will present 40 feature length documentaries between now and Sunday, including several that premiered at Sundance. For documentary lovers, this is the perfect festival to attend as it emphasizes a major line up without all the hassle and overcrowding of other, more major festivals.

Our site will make sure to pass along any news to you, but if you're interested in seeing the line up or just learning more about the festival, head on over to their official website: truefalse.org.

Documentary blames hippies for financial crisis

Objectivity is what we strive for on this site as we don't want to ignore any documentary based on political, religious or cultural beliefs. So with that in mind, I present to you the latest documentary supporting the ideas of the newly founded and fast growing Tea Party movement.

Generation Zero poses an interesting argument about the roots of the current economic crisis the United States currently faces. Because I don't want to misquote a film I know little about, here is the official statement about the documentary: "The current economic crisis is not a failure of capitalism, but a failure of culture. Generation Zero explores the cultural roots of the global financial meltdown - beginning with the narcissism of the 1960's, spreading like a virus through the self-indulgent 90's, and exploding across the world in the present economic cataclysm."

Generation Zero is written and directed by Stephen K. Bannon (who previously created a documentary in praise of Ronald Reagan) and has a rumored theatrical release sometime in March. If you're interested in learning more, head over to generationzeromovie.com. Or if you want a semi-related golden nugget, head here to see a bizarre film Bannon produced a few years ago.

Trailer: Waking Sleeping Beauty

Though it has recently been toppled by Pixar and other computer animated features, during the 1980s and early 1990s Disney animated films were once the height of quality, family film making: Aladdin, The Lion King, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Beauty and the Beast, The Little Mermaid, the list of award winning films goes on and on. And though this era may have passed, Disney hopes to remind audiences of these classic cartoons by releasing the documentary Waking Sleeping Beauty.

As the title implies, this documentary covers the stretch of animated features that reigned supreme during the Reagan/Bush years and revitalized the once proud studio that brought the world Sleeping Beauty. Providing first hand accounts and interviews with former members of the team, Waking Sleeping Beauty will certainly touch the hearts and minds of Generation X-ers who grew up dragging their parents to theaters.

If you actually need a reason to see a documentary on the best films Disney ever produced, head on over to Youtube to see the trailer. If you are like me and already overjoyed to see the Genie back on the big screen, expect Waking Sleeping Beauty to hit theaters on March 26th.

Trailer: Hubble 3D

On an otherwise slow news day for documentaries, it was great to be able to point out the trailer for the upcoming IMAX film Hubble 3D. Though one might think a film like this will be either over the top cheesy or plain boring, there are several reasons to be looking forward to a documentary about the Hubble telescope.

The first is obvious: it's an IMAX film. You could argue this company is the Pixar of the documentary genre. It seems that no matter what they develop, it turns out to be a monumental success. Even there bad films are better than average because they put the effort into technical mastery and A-list voice talent. Ok, it's also easy to hold an audience's attention when you can blow something up on a 3 story tall screen.

The second is also obvious: 3D films rock. How else can you describe James Cameron's Avator getting a Best Picture nod from the Oscars? It certainly wasn't the mediocre storyline or acting. The rise of 3D beyond mere gimmicks is bringing audiences to theaters in droves and it's great to see the documentary genre jumping on board early. Also, admit it, a film about space is the perfect place to boast 3D capabilities.

Finally, director Toni Myers is a veteran to the IMAX team and space exploration subjects. He has written, edited, directed or produced several films so there shouldn't be any rookie mistakes or blunders in Hubble 3D.

Now admittedly, I've written way too much about a documentary on the Hubble telescope (and in a rather boring, nearly bullet point-esque format), but then again, most of you probably already got so excited over the thought of seeing Hubble images in 3D that you immediately jumped to the film's homepage to see a trailer for yourself. For the rest of you who suffered through this entire entry, take solace in knowing you can still watch the trailer by going to http://www.imax.com/hubble/.

Theatrical Releases

Every Friday we update you all with the week's theatrical documentary releases. Now, this is not a perfect process as our beloved genre prefers the rolling/limited release schedule instead of a big nationwide or international-wide release. So apologies if a film isn't out in your area or if you are a filmmaker and we missed the boat on announcing your documentary's big day (if that is the case, please let us know and we'll correct the mistake).

Now, with that introduction out of the way, here's this weekend's releases with their current rating on the amazing website Rottentomatoes.com:


Phyllis and Harold - (63% rating) Phyllis and Harold is an astoundingly frank journey through a disastrous 59 year old marriage. Drawing on a lifetime of her family’s home movies and interviews made over 12 years, filmmaker Cindy Kleine mixes reportage, cinema verite and animation to uncover family secrets and tell a story that could not be shown publicly as long as her father was alive. Phyllis and Harold delves into the mystery of time passing, the nature of living a life, and the challenges of losing those we love. But it is also a loving, funny expose on the sins of suburbia. Imagine Bergman’s Scenes from a Marriage seen the prism of I Love Lucy. (Rottentomatoes.com)

Celine: Through the Eyes of the World – (no rating available) Celine Dion, the international superstar and best-selling female artist of all time, has toured around the world and back again, and now, Sony Pictures Releasing's special programming division, The Hot Ticket, will let audiences follow her everywhere. Celine: Through the Eyes of the World will bring Celine Dion's 2008-2009 Taking Chances World Tour to theaters. This special motion picture event gives Dion fans who attended the extremely popular tour – which placed Dion second only to Madonna in ticket sales in 2008 – another chance to experience the magical event, this time from a vantage point unparalleled by any ticket. (Rottentomatoes.com)

Vampires, Nerds and Cheesburgers Unite!

I would like to think I'm a calm person, but there have been some impressive bits of documentary news this week that have turned me into a giddy child. And today, to my utter delight, "unnamed sources" revealed documentary pop-star Morgan Spurlock (Super Size Me, The Simpsons 20th Anniversary Special – In 3-D! On Ice!) and beloved filmmaker Joss Whedon (Firefly, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Doctor Horrible's Sing-Along Blog) are teaming up to create a documentary about this year's Comic Con.

While details are limited it appears Spurlock and Whedon are looking to follow various Comic Con attenders for several months (leading up to the event, at the event and afterwards).

With the success of King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters, Darkon, Nerdcore Rising and other films, nerds have become a popular source material for the light-hearted documentary genre (i.e. films ignoring global epidemics or political issues, etc) and Comic Con should certainly present a wealth of options for this film making tandem.

So, what do you think? Are you excited about the pairing of Spurlock, Whedon and Comic-Con? Post your thoughts below!

Trailer: The Art of the Steal

Though the final product may fall flat, the trailer for Don Argott's newest documentary The Art of the Steal provides that combination of high power corporate/government greed and stylized entertainment usually found in an Alex Gibney film. But whether you are big into art and/or conspiracies or not, this is a trailer worth checking out.

The story is simple: man collects numerous art masterpieces and stores them in an out of way gallery, man dies, wealthy and politically connected art-trepreneurs (you like that turn of phrase, don't you?) do everything possible to possess his collection.

Sounds like a pretty good story to me (especially when you hear the details!) so why not head on over to Apple's website to sneak a peak. The Art of the Steal opens in theaters starting February 26th.

The Doors finally getting the documentary treatment

This is old news for you film circuit buffs, but for the first time (shockingly ever) the Doors finally have a documentary. Titled When You're Strange (and you should all be humming the song by now), the film details the band from it's formation to the death of lead singer Jim Morrison.

If that's not enough to excite you, When You're Strange features narration by Johnny Depp (who recently raved about the film) and is produced by Dick Wolf (of Law and Order and Miami Vice fame). Ok, that last one is less appealing, but my motto is you always need two extra reasons and director Tom DiCillo doesn't really cut it on the excitement meter.

But why am I trying to persuade you? You should be clamoring to see this. Don't believe me, head to the film's website to see a trailer for yourself. In the meantime I'm going to go wait in line for the April 9th release date.

The Academy Awards' unending list of rules

With all the angst over the Academy Awards' selection process in the documentary film category, I found it interesting how few people actually know the rules set in place. Thanks to a hilarious article posted in the New York Times, I was able to find a link to the Academy's legal speak outline.

And wouldn't you know it, there is quite a lengthy list of do's and don'ts- we're talking more regulations than a fringe religion. It's obviously not the most entertaining read in the world (legal documents = bleh), but it's worth browsing if you are curious as to why certain films qualify while others don't. Of note is the odd requirement that any Academy member wishing to weigh in on the process watch the film in theaters and only in theaters (DVDs, screeners, etc do not count). Also of interest is the demand to prevent documentaries from airing on TV or online until 60 days after it's theatrical run (which, by the way, has to include a week's stint in New York and LA).

These rules are understandable when you consider the sheer number of possibilities in a grassroots heavy field like documentaries, but they also force filmmakers to choose between critical or commercial success. Let's face it, most documentaries aren't meant for the theatrical crowd and with limited finances, relying on Internet and television powers to distribute their product is practically essential (plus a week's run time in two cities is hardly enough time for the entire voting Academy to see a film).

Because of these rules Ken Burns hasn't been nominated for a documentary since the mid 1980s. Similarly, ESPN's recent string of sports films all failed to qualify despite their collection of top notch directors and monumental critical success.

There is a need for the filter, but clearly it's keeping good films from being recognized. But now you know my brief thoughts on the subject, what's your opinion? Read the rules and post below!