- Doc Soup: The Top 10 Most Powerful People in the Documentary World
Ah, the irony of creating a power list for people in an industry where everyone feels so powerless. And yet, however small the spoils and anemic the troops, there’s no denying that within the doc kingdom, there is a hierarchy of power. My previous two posts have led up to this, a ranking of the […]
- Doc Soup: Announcing a New Series: What Ever Happened to… ?
What ever happened to the boys — now, men — from Hoop Dreams? Where did Little Edie, now deceased, end up after Grey Gardens? Are any of those old guys from Brother’s Keeper still kicking? If you have ever found yourself asking any of these, or similar, questions, then I’m here to help. I want […]
- Doc Soup: Docs of 2009: The Year in Review
As another year comes to a close, we have another opportunity to look back at what was. It is also, of course, the end of a decade, which is even more tempting to reflect upon — but let’s keep our eye on the recent past for a moment here. Just take a look at the […]
- Doc Soup: Oscar Short List
It’s head-scratching season again, which is to say: it’s Oscar time. Last week, the shortlist of 15 documentaries being considered for the five Academy Award nominations was announced. And, sure enough, there were some head-scratchers out there. The most confounding was the exclusion of Michael Moore‘s Capitalism. Sure, this further confirms what I said a […]
- Doc Soup: In Search of the Honest Truth About Docs and Ethics
Leave it to The New York Times to fail to get the facts straight. Or, rather, to presume that there’s such a thing as an immutable fact and that its journalists have the rarified ability to relay facts without prejudice. No documentary filmmaker worth his or her salt would ever make such a claim, but […]
- Michael Moore Says “Good Luck” to POV's Emmy-Nominated Filmmakers!
We heard POV alum Michael Moore (both Roger & Me and Pets or Meat aired on POV in 1992) was in our neighborhood doing some publicity for his new film Capitalism: A Love Story. So we hit the sidewalk, in true Michael Moore-style, to see if he’d speak to us on camera. Lo and behold, […]
- Doc Soup: The 10 Greatest Moments in Documentary Film, Part 1
It’s been a while since I’ve done a list (see my 10 most lugubrious docs and the 10 sexiest) — and as an unabashed advocate of the genre, here’s another. What makes for a great moment in a documentary? That can sometimes be a complicated issue, because some of the “greatest” moments are also the […]
- Doc Soup: The Year in Docs
It’s end of the year wrap-up time, at a juncture when the world of movies and entertainment and even docs seems a little removed from what’s really on our minds: we appear to be stuck in the muck (but for how long?), though many of us are hopeful that an Obama administration could bring great […]
- Doc Soup: Where Are the Docs on the Economy?
With our global economy tanking and everyone peering gloomily forward to a multi-year recession that has us asking, “How could we let this happen?” I figure it’s time to give credit where credit (pun intended) is due in the doc world. Who grabbed that Wall Street bull (ok, no more puns from here on) by […]
- Moore or Less: Slacker Uprising
Michael Moore scored a big buzz with the online release of his latest doc Slacker Uprising, a kind of concert film of his 2004 efforts to get out the (young Democratic) vote in advance of the election. The release, timed for the ’08 contest, functions as a cautionary tale to “not get fooled again” — […]
- Doc Soup: Crossing Over to the Lighter Side
Shame on you, Jessica Yu, documentary director of such serious and elegant and moving and… important documentaries such as Breathing Lessons, about a writer slowly living and dying in an iron long, In the Realms of the Unreal (POV 2005), about twisted shut-in outsider artist Henry Darger, and Protagonist, linking the lives of four men […]
- Doc Soup: Waltz with Bashir
In addition to the exciting tidbit that Michael Moore‘s next film will be a follow-up to Fahrenheit 9/11, the most enticing news from the Cannes Film Festival, which just concluded, is about an Israeli documentary called Waltz with Bashir. It’s a fully animated film by a former Israeli soldier, Ari Folman, who’s trying to reckon […]
- Doc Soup: What Did You Think of 'Expelled'?
Finally caught up with Expelled, the documentary that makes the argument for Intelligent Design, that was released on April 18. The movie stars columnist-humorist Ben Stein, who interviews scientists and other folks in his inquiry to understand if Intelligent Design is a valid intellectual theory and whether those who believe in it have been persecuted. […]
- Doc Soup: Disney's New Docs
I am giddy with joy. Last week, Disney announced that following the box office success of March of the Penguins (a bit of a delayed reaction, no?), it is launching a new film production unit called Disneynature to produce and distribute documentary films. I grew up watching Mutual of Omaha‘s nature show and then the […]
- Doc Soup: Looking into Oscar's Crystal Ball
The Oscars are taking place this Sunday, so I’ll do my best to break down who has the best shot at winning in the Documentary Feature category. First, let’s just do away with Operation Homecoming and War/Dance. You know it hurts me to say it, after having advocated so strongly for both films, but their […]
- Oscar Nominations for Documentary Feature and Short Announced
The Oscar nominations were announced this morning in Los Angeles. Here’s the list for documentary film. BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE NO END IN SIGHT Charles Ferguson and Audrey Marrs OPERATION HOMECOMING: WRITING THE WARTIME EXPERIENCE Richard E. Robbins SICKO Michael Moore and Meghan O’Hara TAXI TO THE DARK SIDE Alex Gibney and Eva Orner WAR/DANCE Andrea […]
- Doc Soup: Overlooked Docs of 2007
Ah, the flush feeling of having a documentary that receives high accolades and big box office returns! As I mentioned last week, not many doc filmmakers have felt that way this year, which puts Charles Ferguson among the elite few. I was at a fancy screening and reception this week for his film No End […]
- Doc Soup: A Whimper at the Box Office for Docs in 2007
As the curtain rises on another entry into the blogosphere, let me quickly introduce myself: My name is Tom Roston, and I was a Senior Editor at Premiere magazine — where I covered movies 24/7 for ten years — until that publication folded this year. I have always been a passionate fan of documentaries, particularly […]