Search
Under the direction of founder and world-renowned DJ Peanut Butter Wolf, Stones Throw Records has consistently released critically acclaimed, left-of-center albums since its founding in 1996. Drawing on live concert footage, never-before-seen archival material, inner-circle home video and photographs and in-depth interviews with the folks who put Stones Throw on the map, this documentary will delve deeper into the label’s enigmatic artists, history, culture and global following.
Far outside what’s normally taught as “history”, this 6-hour documentary attempts to explain what’s normally glossed over – Germany’s actions prior to WWII, Hitler’s popularity, the support of the Nazis by the Germans, the basis for hardline Nazi stances against Jews, and why Nazism was such a danger to the established world powers. It chronicles the German WWI defeat, communist attempts to take over Germany; hyperinflation during the Weimar Republic, widespread unemployment and misery that served as the foundation of Nazi principles, and Hitler’s amazing rise to power. It also reveals a personal side of Hitler: his family background, his artwork and struggles, and what motivated him to pursue a career in politics. While open to criticism for being “pro-Nazi” in its perspectives, the documentary does present many factual foundations for those perspectives, highlighting an endless list of hypocrisies and double-standards imposed on Germany in the years before, during, and after WWII.
Gravity & Grace may be writer and critic Chris Kraus’ final and exuberant attempt at an artists’ career. Kraus is best known for her novels, (I Love Dick, Aliens & Anorexia, Torpor and most recently Summer of Hate), her art criticism (Video Green, Where Art Belongs), and her work in publishing subjective narratives through Semiotext(e)’s Native Agents Series, which she founded. Prior to writing, Kraus was an artist, actress and filmmaker. She made short, experimental, low-budget films, and one feature, Gravity & Grace; its failure on the market is chronicled in detail in her book Aliens & Anorexia.
A critical and often humorous look at the upper class, tracking the protagonist’s harrowing odyssey from a deeply traumatic childhood through adult substance abuse and, ultimately, toward recovery.
Henry Adler lives in Ontario by himself, regularly visits his gruff and critical father, and works in a bank; he’s also an actor. He finds new purpose in life when he’s cast as a cop in a realistic TV show. He gets into the part, borrowing the uniform from wardrobe, and walking around the city streets. Soon he’s talking to bank customers as if he’s a cop; this gets him in trouble with his boss, but Henry doesn’t care. He falls for one of the actresses, Charlie, and they practice together. Henry’s quirks and his intensity creep her out, though, and she breaks off all contact. He’s desolate. Things come to a head when one of LA’s finest mistakes Henry for a real cop.
John Adams is a 2008 American television miniseries chronicling most of U.S. President John Adams’ political life and his role in the founding of the United States. Paul Giamatti portrays John Adams. The miniseries was directed by Tom Hooper. Kirk Ellis wrote the screenplay based on the book John Adams by David McCullough. The biopic of John Adams and the story of the first fifty years of the United States was broadcast in seven parts by HBO between March 16 and April 20, 2008. John Adams received widespread critical acclaim, and many prestigious awards. The show won four Golden Globe awards and thirteen Emmy awards, which is more than any other miniseries in history.
Summer Heights High is an Australian television mockumentary series written by and starring Chris Lilley. It is a parody of high-school life epitomised by its three protagonists: effeminate and megalomaniacal “Director of Performing Arts” Mr G; self-absorbed, privileged teenager Ja’mie King; and disobedient, vulgar Tongan student Jonah Takalua. All played by Lilley, the characters never interact. It lampoons Australian high school life and many aspects of the human condition and is filmed in a documentary style, with non-actors playing supporting characters.
Following a similar format to Lilley’s previous series, We Can Be Heroes: Finding The Australian of the Year, Lilley plays multiple characters in the show. Filmed in Melbourne at Brighton Secondary College, the series premiered on 5 September 2007 at 9:30 pm on ABC TV and continued for eight weekly episodes until 24 October 2007. Each episode was also released as a weekly podcast directly after its screening via both the official website and through any RSS podcast client in either WMV or MPEG-4.
Summer Heights High was a massive ratings success for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, and was met with mostly positive critical reaction. In 2008, the series won a Logie Award for Most Popular Light Entertainment/Comedy Program.
One of the sickest bloodbaths in horror movie history occurs after a deranged stalker becomes obsessed with real life horror film critic Todd Smith.
In the Republic of Belarus, Europe’s last remaining unreconstructed Communist dictatorship, the Belarus Free Theatre risks censorship, imprisonment and worse to stage their provocative and subversive plays in secret performances at home and to critical acclaim abroad. Director Madeleine Sackler goes behind the scenes with this group of gutsy performers as they brave a renewed government crackdown on dissenters in 2010.
This award winning documentary, narrated by Lou Reed, explores the breadth and depth of Occupy Wall Street and how it quickly grew from a small park in lower Manhattan to an international movement. The film highlights why people from diverse age, ethnic and financial backgrounds support the movement and its focus of removing money from politics in order to reclaim democracy from entrenched corporate interests so that critical issues including job creation, affordable access to health and education, protecting the environment and gun safety can be fully addressed. Featuring interviews with a wide range of subjects including Occupiers, economist Jeffrey Sachs and business magnate Russell Simmons.
Anchored by intimate, one-on-one interviews with the man himself, Nicholas Wrathall’s new documentary is a fascinating and wholly entertaining tribute to the iconic Gore Vidal. Commentary by those who knew him best—including filmmaker/nephew Burr Steers and the late Christopher Hitchens—blends with footage from Vidal’s legendary on-air career to remind us why he will forever stand as one of the most brilliant and fearless critics of our time.
A mysterious criminal steals a secret state-of-the-art time machine, intent on destroying America as we know it by changing the past. Our only hope is an unexpected team: a scientist, a soldier and a history professor, who must use the machine’s prototype to travel back in time to critical events. While they must make every effort not to affect the past themselves, they must also stay one step ahead of this dangerous fugitive. But can this handpicked team uncover the mystery behind it all and end his destruction before it’s too late?
Alicia Keys hosts the 61st annual gala, which celebrates the best in music. Performers include Diana Ross, Camila Cabello, Cardi B, Brandi Carlile, Chloe x Halle, H.E.R., Lady Gaga, Dua Lipa and St. Vincent, Janelle Monáe, Maren Morris, Kacey Musgraves, Dolly Parton and Katy Perry. From the Staples Center in Los Angeles. Kacey Musgraves won the Grammy Award for Album of the Year with her critically acclaimed album “Golden Hour”.
The story of a farmer, Helmer, who realizes that his life has been influenced to an unhealthy extent by his aging father. An adaptation of a bestselling and critically acclaimed novel by Gerbrand Bakker.
A cultural portrait of the American dream at a critical time in the nation’s history. Set against the 2016 American election, The King takes a musical road trip across the country in Elvis Presley’s 1963 Rolls Royce.
Canadian Richard Hannay, residing in London, meets secret agent Annabella Smith immediately following a shots fired incident. She asks to go home with him. Back at Hannay’s flat the mysterious woman confides that she fears for her life and is on a critical mission relating to protecting state air ministry secrets. Later that night assassins murder her. Believed by the police to be her killer, Hannay is forced to go on the run and flees to Scotland in a desperate attempt to see Annabella’s mission through before it’s too late. Along the way he chances upon beautiful Pamela, who unwillingly becomes his accomplice in the mission.
The Legend of Korra is an American animated television series that premiered on the Nickelodeon television network in 2012. It was created by Bryan Konietzko and Michael Dante DiMartino as a sequel to their series Avatar: The Last Airbender, which aired on Nickelodeon from 2005 to 2008. Several people involved with creating Avatar, including designer Joaquim Dos Santos and composers Jeremy Zuckerman and Benjamin Wynn, returned to work on The Legend of Korra.
The series is set in a fictional universe where some people can manipulate, or “bend”, the elements of water, earth, fire, or air. Only one person, the “Avatar”, can bend all four elements, and is responsible for maintaining balance in the world. The series follows Avatar Korra, the successor of Aang from the previous series, as she faces political and spiritual unrest in a modernizing world.
The series, whose style is strongly influenced by Japanese animation, has been a critical and commercial success. It obtained the highest audience total for an animated series in the United States in 2012. The series was praised by reviewers for its high production values and for addressing difficult sociopolitical issues such as social unrest and terrorism. It was initially conceived as a miniseries of 12 episodes, but it is now set to run for 52 episodes separated into four seasons, each of which tells a separate story.
Academy Award winners Gary Cooper and Ray Milland star along with Robert Preston in the epic adventure Beau Geste. When three brothers join the Foreign Legion to escape a troubled past, they find themselves trapped under the command of a sadistic sergeant deep in the scorching Sahara. Now the brothers must fight for their lives as they plot mutiny against tyranny and defend a desert fortress against a brutal enemy. Nominated for 2 Academy Awards, Beau Geste has been universally acclaimed by generations of critics and audiences alike as a true motion picture classic.
Kid Galahad is a 1962 musical film starring Elvis Presley as a boxer. The movie was filmed on location in Idyllwild, California and is noted for having a strong supporting cast. Most critics rate it as one of Presley’s best performances. The film is a remake of the 1937 original version starring Edward G. Robinson, Bette Davis, and Humphrey Bogart.
