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Polanski Re-Premieres: Trade Roughage 05/01/08

The New York Observer’s Culture blog notes that “Marina Zenovich’s Roman Polanski documentary will open in New York on July 11, two days after it airs on HBO.” No mention of the fact that it has already premiered here and, as AJ Schnack points out, will not be feted by a second or repeat review [...]

Enron. Torture. Eliot Spitzer.

The New York Observer reports that Oscar winning filmmaker Alex Gibney is working on a documentary about Eliot Spitzer, the New York governor who was forced to resign after his predilection for semi-pricey hookers was revealed last month. Gibney is collaborating with Peter Elkind, who wrote the book that inspired Gibney’s Enron doc The Smartest [...]

The Burger and the King. Clip of the Day.

James Marsh takes time out of his MAN ON WIRE victory lap to bring his culinary biography of Elvis to NYC.

“Madonna, You Are A Piece of Trash.”

Today in Film Theory From The Darndest Places: an internet boy millionaire and a FOX News gossip columnist call out Madonna’s documentary ethics.

Tribeca 2008: Standard Operating Procedure & Conversation with Errol Morris

The night before Sony Pictures Classics planned to open Errol Morris’ Abu Ghraib doc Standard Operating Procedure in two theaters the Tribeca Film Festival hosted a screening of the film, followed by a conversation between Morris and Jarhead author Anthony Swofford.
Beat to the festival circuit by over a year by Rory Kennedy’s Ghosts of Abu [...]

Expelled: People Don’t Like It!

The vast left wing conspiracy against Expelled has kicked into high gear! Behold the arguments from heretics, like Scientific American! And, um, Fox News!

The Onion’s Amelie Gillette mocks Ben Stein for equating intelligent design to punk-rock rebellion. You know, just like we did two whole months ago. Flattering!
Scientific American has put together a list of [...]

Titicut Follies. Clip of the Day.

Today in Miracles of Google Video: Frederick Wiseman’s 1967 prison metal hospital verite.

Sarasota 2008: Spine Tingler: The William Castle Story

It’s probably going too far to suggest, as I’m tempted to, that Spine Tingler: The William Castle Story should be considered a foundational document for anyone interested in the film marketing revolution that began with the fall of the studio system and which still shapes the way most Americans learn about and consume movies today. [...]

Sarasota 2008: Throw Down Your Heart

A review of the documentary, featuring Bela Fleck, from the Sarasota Film Festival.

Sarasota 2008: The Restorative Powers of Sunshine

Photo via zizzybaloobah @ Flickr.
I landed in Sarasota around 2:00 yesterday afternoon, and by the time I was standing in line for my first film an hour later, the sore throat I’d been carrying around for three weeks in New York since returning from SXSW had miraculously disappeared. It would be hard to overstate how [...]