Fahrenheit 9/11 movie: In one of the posters for Michael Moore’s 2004 blockbuster documentary, the invariably contentious filmmaker is seen holding hands with U.S. President George W. Bush, a key…
Protests, calls for censorship, and bombings: Starring Sunny Deol – known for flag-waving actioners like Indian and The Hero: Love Story of a Spy – Rahul Rawail’s Jo Bole So…
Iraq War parallels in Revenge of the Sith? According to director-screenwriter George Lucas, similarities between his film’s intergalactic wars of the future and the earthbound wars of the present are…
Clip from slain Dutch filmmaker Theo van Gogh’s anti-Islam short film Submission: Part 1 to be aired on Italian television’s current affairs show Punto e a capo. Freedom of expression…
Ahmed Zaki: The hugely popular Egyptian film actor is best remembered for his portrayals of noted Egyptian presidents Gamal Abdul Nasser and Anwar Sadat in the flag-waving dramas Nasser 56…
Volcanoes of the Deep Sea: Creationist fanatics vs. nature documentaries. Costly IMAX-geared nature movies have become the target of creationist anger for their depiction of evolution as a scientific fact.…
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring movie: Ring-related conflicts on screen have resulted in huge grosses, whereas coin-related conflicts off screen have resulted in deep animosities.…
Movie festival news from around the world: Starring Joan Allen and Simon Abkarian, and featuring dialogue in iambic pentameter, Sally Potter’s romantic drama Yes is one of dozens of titles…
Marie Antoinette Versailles shoot: U.S. screenwriter and director Sofia Coppola’s next project to star Kirsten Dunst in the role previously played by, among others, Norma Shearer, Michèle Morgan, and Anita…
The highest grossing comedy ever? According to a recent report, Jay Roach’s neuron-zapping 2004 box office hit Meet the Fockers – starring Ben Stiller, Robert De Niro, Barbra Streisand, Dustin…
Priest sex movie Sins: Catholic radicals are outraged by Vinod Pande’s drama in which a priest – like Gael García Bernal in another “priest sex movie,” The Crime of Father…
Meera Nazar kiss controversy: Smooching – and, one assumes, revealing costumes – in the supernatural Bollywood thriller Nazar have reportedly led Pakistan’s Ministry of Culture to fine the Pakistani actress…
El Chupacabra Michael Moore: The Sicko and Fahrenheit 9/11 filmmaker has been turned into an urban legend. According to an executive at a U.S.-based pharmaceutical company, there have been various…
Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s World War I-set French drama A Very Long Engagement would have been one of the Oscars’ top Best Foreign Language Film contenders – had it been eligible. But…
Soviet masterpiece Battleship Potemkin: Alongside Orson Welles’ Citizen Kane, Jean Renoir’s The Rules of the Game, Akira Kurosawa’s Seven Samurai, and Federico Fellini’s 8½, Sergei Eisenstein’s 1925 classic is one…
Missing link movie Man to Man: Régis Wargnier’s historical drama about the racist defense of the human-ape connection – pygmies? – in mid-19th-century British scientific circles will open next year’s…
Wine Country road movie Sideways: Life lessons, picturesque views of California’s Santa Ynez Valley Wine Country, and the (sexist) portrayal of adult men as overgrown babies are all found in…
Is there a Jesus Christ & George W. Bush connection? “Hollywood observers” purportedly claim that the United States’ presidential election is somehow reflected in the Academy Awards’ Best Picture category.…
Dynasty actress Joan Collins, in show business for more than six decades, contributes the first of seven quotes in this post. Other quotables include Lauren Bacall, Nicole Kidman, Michael Moore,…
The London Film Festival’s Satyajit Ray Award winner, Nicole Kassell’s U.S.-made feature debut The Woodsman chronicles the attempts of a child molester (Kevin Bacon) to resume his life after years…
Named Best Film at this year’s Carthage Film Festival, Mohammed Asli’s socially conscious drama In Casablanca, Angels Don’t Fly focuses on three Berber migrant workers and the challenges they encounter…
The next recipient of the Cecil B. DeMille Award – the Golden Globes’ equivalent to the Honorary Oscar for lifetime achievement – Robin Williams has been a steady film actor…
Shot with nonprofessionals in the manner of post-World War II Italian neorealist classics like Vittorio De Sica’s Bicycle Thieves and Umberto D., Kurdish-Iranian filmmaker Bahman Ghobadi’s Iraq invasion drama Turtles…
Brad Bird’s animated Pixar hit The Incredibles – on its way to becoming one of the year’s biggest blockbusters in the global market – is one of 11 titles eligible…
Oscar contenders: The Academy has announced the list of semifinalists for the Best Documentary Feature Oscar; included are several high-profile titles, but, somewhat surprisingly, Iraq War-themed films have been thoroughly…
Andrzej Wajda will next tackle the Soviet-led World War II massacre of Polish prisoners of war – a.k.a. the Katyn massacre. The issue is personal: The Polish filmmaker’s father was…
Mighty Times: The Children’s March: Documentary or docudrama? Bobby Houston’s now controversial Best Documentary Short Academy Award winner depicts – with the assistance of elaborate “reenactments” – the 1963 civil…
What are the Academy Awards? One choice answer: “A celebration of mediocrity,” as per Oscar winner Mel Gibson. Here’s another – albeit less pointed summation: “Peer group nods of approval,”…
Miguel Albaladejo’s Bear Cub, about a gay man who becomes the surrogate father of his nine-year-old nephew, was one of three gay-themed features that led to obscenity accusations against the…
Offering a peek into the controversial – and influential – Qatar-based news network Al Jazeera, Jehane Noujaim’s Al Jazeera documentary Control Room elicited strong reactions at this year’s inaugural Dubai…
Gay Republicans: How can a(n even moderately) sane person be both openly gay and a member of the United States’ openly anti-gay Republican party? Wash Westmoreland’s Gay Republicans attempts to…
Was Alexander the Great gay? Opinions vary about the compulsive Macedonian conqueror’s sexual orientation – not to mention the very concept of “sexual orientation” in the Hellenic world of the…
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