The story goes something like this. In the year 2036, a man calling himself John Titor was sent back in time to 1975 to retrieve pieces of a rare, early IBM computer for use in rebuilding an America that was decimated by nuclear war in 2015. Twenty-five years later, Titor began posting on the Internet about his experiences. And this absolutely happened. Or, at least, an Internet posting by someone using that name and offering that story happened.
Sounds intriguing, no? Well a documentary called How To Build A Time Machine is currently in production to try and uncover the truth’s of Titor’s mysterious and famous claims. Since there’s obviously not actual footage of any of this, director Jay Cheel (Beauty Day) has created a trailer to entice people into contributing to high quality re-creations. And even if you don’t have money to do that, you’ve got to watch this trailer. Read More »
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Maybe you’ve noticed over the past few years, but we here at /Film are fans of limited edition, pop culture art. This is evidenced by the copious amounts of posts we write on the subject, be it Mondo, Gallery 1988, Spoke Art or just some talented artist who does work portraying TV, movies or comics. And maybe you remember last year when we exclusively revealed that an in-production documentary on that subject was titled Just Like Being There. We even revealed some early, early footage.
That film, directed by Scout Shannon, has finally been completed and was accepted into South by Southwest 2012. However, as tends to be the case with any documentary, in the several months since we first wrote about it, the film’s focus has shifted a little. The music gig poster, while still a major part of it, also led the filmmakers to explore the current movie poster craze driven by the work by the aforementioned galleries and companies. So the crew ended up at several Mondo Mystery Movies, Gallery 1988 openings and even a certain /Film writer’s apartment to see his disgusting collection.
To that aim, they’ve cut a brand new trailer for the film and you can check it out after the jump. Read More »
For film fans, one of the most enticing films coming out of the 2012 Sundance Film Festival was Room 237, an experimental documentary directed by Rodney Ascher which explores wild theories buried deep in Stanley Kubrick‘s masterpiece The Shining. It made my best of the fest but there were doubts fans would ever get to see it because of all the licensed footage in the film.
Apparently, that’s not an issue as IFC Films has acquired the awesome film and will release it theatrically and on VOD later this year. Read more after the jump. Read More »
Jamie Benning has made three excellent ‘making of’ documentaries — or ‘filmumentaries,’ as he calls them, about the original Star Wars trilogy. His efforts collate interviews and rare behind the scenes footage and photos in what are essentially the most detailed commentary tracks a fan could hope for.
Benning followed his Star Wars docs with Raiding the Lost Ark, which tracks the creation of the first Indiana Jones film, Raiders of the Lost Ark. We’ve showcased the beginning of this ‘filmumentary’ in the past, but the full-length version is now available online. It’s a must-see for any Raiders or Steven Spielberg fan. No matter how much a viewer knows about the making of Raiders, I’d be very surprised if there was nothing here that is new, as Benning has incorporated everything from classic interviews to the minutia of little-seen production reports. Read More »
In this day and age, pop stars getting 3D concert movies is pretty standard. However, most of the time – like with Miley Cyrus, the Jonas Brothers and most recently Justin Bieber – they’re squarely aimed at a tween audience. The latest pop star in talks to have her own 3D movie, Katy Perry, certainly plays to that audience but has a much broader appeal too. At least, that’s what Paramount is hoping. They’re currently in talks with the multi-platinum singer behind hits like “I Kissed A Girl,” “Firework” and “California Gurls” to star in her own 3D concert film. Read more after the jump. Read More »
The Lord of the Rings saved the West Memphis Three. It sounds like a crazy statement but one of the many things a viewer takes from Amy Berg‘s breathtakingly detailed and effective documentary West of Memphis is that co-producers Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh spent a lot of time, and even more money, to assist in the legal defense, new investigations and expert testimony which eventually lead to the 2011 release of the West Memphis Three, three men accused of murdering three boys in West Memphis, Arkansas in 1993. Jackson and Walsh got a lot of their money from The Lord of the Rings so, put two and two together, and the statement seems less crazy.
Jumping off where Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky took off with their Paradise Lost documentary trilogy, Berg’s film makes Purgatory, the latest of Berlinger and Sinofsky’s movies, feel elementary. It expands greatly on all of the revelations on that film, and provides new ones of its own that were filmed as recently as January 12, 2012. Whereas the first Paradise Lost was the definitive documentary on the beginning of this massive, controversial case, West of Memphis is the definitive documentary on its conclusion. Read More »
If Stanley Kubrick were still alive, Room 237 would make him extremely happy. Directed by Rodney Ascher, the experimental documentary gives the legendary filmmaker a ton of credit, maybe too much at times, as it explores several wild, and not so wild, theories about his 1980 horror masterpiece The Shining.
Some theories, such as the suggestion that the film is a metaphor for the murder of Native Americans, are almost plausible. Others, like that insinuation that Kubrick made the film to clue everyone in that he faked the footage of the Moon landing, are much less believable. But no matter the case, Ascher’s film is a fascinating, funny and incredibly well made ode to a film that’s obviously way more dense than most of us give it credit for. The documentary is an absolute must-see.
Room 237 played as part of the New Frontier category of the 2012 Sundance Film Festival and, after the jump, you can check on the poster and read more about it. Read More »
Bart Layton‘s The Imposter might technically be a documentary, but it feels like a narrative feature. The film tells the story of a Texas family whose 13-year-old son goes missing, only to show up three and a half years later in Spain with a story about kidnap and torture. He is returned home to his family where he lived for a few months before it was revealed that he was an imposter — a frenchman named Frédéric Bourdin.
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