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South African enfant terrible filmmaker and artiste-cineaste Manus Oosthuizen meets with Rotten Tomatoes-approved indie film critic Babette Cruickshank in an Echo Park sound studio. With key members of Manus’s crew joining, they record an audio commentary track for his new elegiac feature documentary Razzennest. But the session goes down a different path… cazzart! The ultimate elevation of arthouse horror, just not as you might expect.
Faced with a documentary film that included an interview with a young girl forced into prostitution, Michael Kranz asked himself the apparently banal question of “what can be done?” He travelled to Bangladesh and began to search for the girl. A film that is both self-critical and critical of society about the desire to at least do something and not to simply and passively give in to the injustices in this world.
As Los Angeles prepares for Halloween, mask-wearing armed robbers critically wound detective James Knight’s partner in a shootout following a heist. With Knight in hot pursuit, the bandits flee L.A. for New York, where the detective’s dark past collides with his present case and threatens to tear his world apart…unless redemption can claim Knight first.
The fall of 2021 marked the 50th anniversary of Fiddler on the Roof, the film Pauline Kael (The New Yorker) called “the most powerful movie musical ever made.” Narrated by Jeff Goldblum, FIDDLER’S JOURNEY TO THE BIG SCREEN captures the humor and drama of director Norman Jewison’s quest to recreate the lost world of Jewish life in Tsarist Russia and re-envision the beloved stage hit as a wide-screen epic. Oscar-nominated filmmaker Daniel Raim puts us in the director’s chair and in Jewison’s heart and mind, drawing on behind-the-scenes footage and never-before-seen stills as well as original interviews with Jewison, Topol (Tevye), composer John Williams, production designer Robert F. Boyle, film critic Kenneth Turan, lyricist Sheldon Harnick, and actresses Rosalind Harris, Michele Marsh, and Neva Small (Tevye’s daughters). The film explores how the experience of making Fiddler deepened Jewison as an artist and revived his soul.
As an acclaimed college professor prepares to unveil her landmark study that sparks love between strangers, the launch is threatened when she’s criticized for not taking “The Dating Test” herself. Though she’s vowed never to fall in love again, she agrees to take the test with her biggest critic.
A heartbroken literary critic turns his despair into creativity following a bitter divorce, only to encounter an enchanting beauty who poses a major challenge to his newfound cynicism. Marc Marronnier thought his marriage was going well until his wife deemed him immature, and left him for a high-profile writer. Devastated, he began filtering all of his heartache into a misanthropic manuscript decrying the virtues of true love. But later, when Marc falls hard for his cousin’s radiant and gorgeous wife, his entire life is turned upside down. Louise Bourgoin and Gaspard Proust star in a film by actor and author-turned-director Frederic Beigbeder.
The story of soldier and poet Siegfried Sassoon (1886–1967), who was decorated for bravery on the Western Front, and is best remembered for his angry and compassionate poems about the First World War, which brought him public and critical acclaim. Avoiding the sentimentality and jingoism of many war poets, Sassoon wrote of the horror and brutality of trench warfare and contemptuously satirised generals, politicians, and churchmen for their incompetence and blind support of the war.
Released in 1995, Paul Verhoeven’s SHOWGIRLS was met by critics and audiences with near universal derision. YOU DON’T NOMI traces the film’s redemptive journey from notorious flop to cult classic, and maybe even masterpiece.
Germany, 1933: Little Anna Kemper lives with her family in Berlin. Since her father, a famous theater critic, is an open opponent of the National Socialists, he has to flee to Zurich after Hitler’s rise to power. The mother, Anna and her twelve-year-old brother soon follow him. Because there is hardly any time to prepare for the escape, Anna has to leave her beloved stuffed rabbit in a hurry. But the family does not find a permanent home in Switzerland either. Again and again Anna has to adapt to the constantly changing circumstances, face new challenges with her family and face great privations. Nevertheless, Anna tries not to lose braveness.
Staged at the Stratford Festival and named on many 2018 year-end critics “best of” lists, the Stratford Festival’s “riveting” and “exhilarating” (The New York Times) production of Shakespeare’s Coriolanus, has been called “the show of the decade… a landmark production for the Stratford Festival. Maybe for William Shakespeare, too” (The Globe and Mail), and “the greatest contemporary staging of this play that I have ever seen” (Chicago Tribune).
A rare, intimate glimpse into the life and mind of Jordan Peterson, the academic and best-selling author who captured the world’s attention with his criticisms of political correctness and his life-changing philosophy on discovering personal meaning.
After moving back to her hometown, Lisa (Lenz) plots with her siblings and grandparents to help her father’s bed and breakfast get a five-star review from an incognito travel critic (Webster), but ends up falling for him, not knowing he is the real critic.
1930s Hollywood is reevaluated through the eyes of scathing social critic and alcoholic screenwriter Herman J. Mankiewicz as he races to finish the screenplay of Citizen Kane.
The story behind a critical moment in American history, spawning one of most iconic images of protest from the past century. At the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City, the world watched as two American runners, Tommie Smith and John Carlos, took the stage as the U.S. national anthem played, raising their fists in a symbol of black struggle and solidarity.
Entrepreneurs Scott and Nicky are desperate for cash to finish their construction project. They turn to Russian mobster Yuri, but after refusing the funding he offered them, Yuri gets revenge by trying to take over their project. The partners are terrified and have nowhere to turn for help, until Nicky’s tough Russian girlfriend Ana decides to step in and help them. Written by TopDawgCritic
St. Elsewhere is an American medical drama television series that originally ran on NBC from October 26, 1982 to May 25, 1988. The series starred Ed Flanders, Norman Lloyd and William Daniels as teaching doctors at a lightly-regarded Boston hospital who gave interns a promising future in making critical medical and life decisions. The series was produced by MTM Enterprises, which had success with a similar NBC series, the police drama Hill Street Blues, during that same time; both series were often compared to each other for their use of ensemble casts and overlapping serialized storylines. St. Elsewhere was filmed at CBS/MTM Studios, which was known as CBS/Fox Studios when the show began; coincidentally, 20th Century Fox wound up acquiring the rights to the series when it bought MTM Enterprises in the 1990s.
Known for its combination of gritty, realistic drama and moments of black comedy, St. Elsewhere gained a small yet loyal following over its 6-season, 137-episode run; the series also found a strong audience in Nielsen’s 18-49 age demographic, a young demo later known for a young, affluent audience that TV advertisers are eager to reach. The series also earned critical acclaim during its run, earning 13 Emmy Awards for its writing, acting, and directing. St. Elsewhere was ranked #20 on TV Guide’s 2002 list of “The 50 Greatest TV Shows of All Time.”, with the magazine also selecting it as the best drama series of the 1980s in a 1993 issue.
This two-hour film will examine the tragic lives and deaths of the mysterious Hart family, exploring the void between their idyllic online persona and the heart breaking reality in which their children lived – calling into question a system that critically failed to protect six innocent children.
Yoshito grew up with his mother Yasue after his father passed away. His mother ran a yakiniku (grilled meat) restaurant that his father had left behind. Yoshito enjoyed eating his mother’s cooking and their restaurant was loved by many people. Things changed after popular food critic Furuyama Tatsuya published false statements about their yakiniku restaurant. Due to that, their restaurant saw a sharp drop in customers. Yasue worked hard to recover business for the restaurant. Due to Yoshito’s behavior in wanting attention from his mom, Yasue decided to shut down the restaurant. 18 years later, Yoshito lives alone and he works as a freelance writer. One day, he takes work for a new online foodie website. He works with editor Takenaka Shizuka. Their first assignment involves yakiniku. Around that time, Yoshito hears that his estranged mother Yasue has collapsed.
A special featuring some of the most famous films along with Screenwriters, Academics and Critics as they guide through the funny, weird and controversial clichés which appear on the screens.
Artisan cheese shop owner Brie finds herself competing for a $50,000 prize in her town’s annual Cheese Festival. To boost her presence, she teams up with an influential cheese critic to profile her vintage smoked gouda. As their friendship develops into romance, a competitor’s business proposal and unforeseen complications force Brie to put her shop – and heart – on the line.
Dean Martin had a laid-back charm that made him successful in everything from big-screen comedies to television variety shows to live acts in Las Vegas. Filmmaker Tom Donahue explores Martin’s varied career, including his complicated relationships with Jerry Lewis, Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr, and others. We hear from admirers such as critic Gerald Early, actor Jon Hamm, and Hip-Hop artist RZA who testify to Martin’s enduring mystique.
As the muse of Hal Hartley’s indie classics and as writer/director of the critically acclaimed Waitress, Adrienne Shelly was a shining star in the indie film firmament. A devoted young mother, her life was right on track until her husband found her dead. Filmmaker Andy Ostroy has been fighting to discover the truth about his wife’s death ever since.
Spain, 1970s. A Clockwork Orange, a film considered by critics and audiences as one of the best works in the history of cinema, directed by Stanley Kubrick and released in 1971, was banned by the strict Franco government. However, the film was finally premiered, without going through censorship, during the 20th edition of the Seminci, the Valladolid Film Festival, on April 24, 1975. How was this possible?
Explore the contradictions at the heart of famed financier Carl Icahn. A polarizing figure described as both an activist investor and a ruthless corporate raider, Icahn rose from modest beginnings in Queens to become one of the richest men in the world, embodying the American Dream. Yet, he openly criticizes corporate excess and the huge wealth inequality gap.
MasterChef Australia is a Logie Award-winning Australian competitive cooking game show based on the original British MasterChef. It is produced by Shine Australia and screens on Network Ten. Restaurateur and chef Gary Mehigan, chef George Calombaris and food critic Matt Preston serve as the show’s main judges. Journalist Sarah Wilson hosted the first series, however her role was dropped at the end of the series.
Just before Anne is moving from Amsterdam to live with her great love Sara in Montreal, her publisher criticizes the manuscript for her first novel. What exactly is the story she’s trying to tell? Does she even have something to say at all? Anne is forced to search for what she wants in life, because it is not only the main character in her novel who seems to be a little lost.
The journey of Midlands teenager Johanna Morrigan, who reinvents herself as Dolly Wilde: fast-talking, lady sex-adventurer, moves to London, and gets a job as music critic in the hope of saving her poverty stricken family in Wolverhampton. Based on Caitlin Moran’s bestselling semi-autobiographical novel.
Whether you love him or hate him, there is no question that George W. Bush is one of the most controversial public figures in recent memory. W takes viewers through Bush’s eventful life — his struggles and triumphs, how he found both his wife and his faith, and of course the critical days leading up to Bush’s decision to invade Iraq.
A famous pianist at the twilight of his career meets a free-spirited music critic who soon becomes his rock as his mental state deteriorates.
At an Austrian boys’ boarding school in the early 1900s, shy, intelligent Törless observes the sadistic behavior of his fellow students, doing nothing to help a victimized classmate—until the torture goes too far. Adapted from Robert Musil’s acclaimed novel, Young Törless launched the New German Cinema movement and garnered the 1966 Cannes Film Festival International Critics’ Prize for first-time director Volker Schlöndorff.
Frustrated with the direction of the church, Cardinal Bergoglio (Jonathan Pryce) requests permission to retire in 2012 from Pope Benedict (Anthony Hopkins). Instead, facing scandal and self-doubt, the introspective Pope Benedict summons his harshest critic and future successor to Rome to reveal a secret that would shake the foundations of the Catholic Church. Behind Vatican walls, a struggle commences between both tradition and progress, guilt and forgiveness, as these two very different men confront their pasts in order to find common ground and forge a future for a billion followers around the world.
The incomparable Bruce Springsteen performs his critically acclaimed latest album and muses on life, rock, and the American dream, in this intimate and personal concert film co-directed by Thom Zimny and Springsteen himself.
Prithvi Kumar is an honest young IAS Officer who works as District Commissioner for Bellary District. His main aim is to eradicate the ongoing corruption in the District and stick to his principles: honesty and corruption-free administration. Once he takes office, he discovers that the people of the area are daily drinking contaminated water that is polluted by unstoppable illegal mining companies. He notices that people fall ill due to the polluted water and foresees the future may be very critical if the people continue to have the same water for drinking. His mission is to find out the reason behind the polluted water. He seizes all illegal mining companies around Bellary with no mercy. As a result, Bellary Mining Lords try to kill him. How Prithvi reacts to Bellary Mining Lords conspiracy, even dare to question Government’s decision and be successful in his mission against illegal mining companies is the further story of the film.
The Deported follows four long term residents of the United States, each with an Order of Deportation over their head, and their families as they have to make critical decisions that will either keep their family together and separate them. Their choices are: 1. to self-deport. 2. To take sanctuary in a church. 3. To fight back legally. 4. To fall into denial and do nothing.
This artful and intimate meditation on the legendary storyteller examines her life, her works, and the powerful themes she has confronted throughout her literary career. Toni Morrison leads an assembly of her peers, critics, and colleagues on an exploration of race, history, America, and the human condition.
Young, bestselling author Eryn Bellow concludes her bookstore tour with her agent selling film rights and closing a six figure advance for her follow-up. Headwinds arise as critics get offended by the claims that Eryn is being declared a living literary legend. The storm gathers force as the assaults gravitate from bad reviews to a fake-memoir designed to obliterate her from the field. Through the noise, Eryn attempts to write her way out of the public fray, and reclaim her voice in the minds of her readers. Along the way, she hopes to prove a happy ending is not always a bad thing.
Dennis Hopper is a hard-drinking truck driver who loses control of his truck under the influence and slams it into a busload of screaming children. After serving his five year jail sentence, Hopper finds his daughter, Cebe (Linda Manz), the love of his live, grown into a rebellious punk in a backwater town, having barely been looked after by her junkie mon (Sharron Farrell). Cebe’s hopes of once again becoming a “normal” family painfully proves to be doomed, as she desperately tries to hold everyone together. Hopper’s loose, naturalistic style and sympathetic, yet critical attitude infuses the drama with a painful power that finally erupts in a devastating and thrillling conclusion.
Featuring a wealth of previously unseen archive, this film looks at how Bowie continually evolved: from Ziggy Stardust to the Soul Star of Young Americans, to the ‘Thin White Duke’. It explores his regeneration in Berlin with the critically acclaimed album Heroes, his triumph with Scary Monsters and his global success with Let’s Dance. With interviews with all his closest collaborators, David Bowie – Five Years presents a unique account of why Bowie has become an ‘icon of our times’.
Is it possible that Ice Age people succeeded in crossing the frozen Atlantic Ocean to North America, thousands of years before the Vikings and Columbus? Two archaeologists believe so after discovering artifacts in Chesapeake Bay that bear an inexplicable resemblance to those from prehistoric Europe. Follow them as they combine old-fashioned excavations with exciting new DNA testing to prove their theory, answer their critics, and rewrite the history books.
