In anticipation of the kick-off of the first round of Oscars voting on December 12, the academy released the titles of the features that were deemed eligible to compete in three categories: animated, documentary and international.
This voting only runs for four days, with the shortlists in 10 categories released on Dec. 21. The nominations in these, and the other 13 categories, will be revealed on Jan. 24, 2023. The 95th Academy Awards are March 12, 2023.
Animated Feature (27 entries)
Voting on this award is restricted to academy members from any branch who volunteer to be on the screening committee and attest to having watched their assigned entries. Members rank their top five choices and a multi-step system of counting winnows the various contenders down to the final five nominees.
“Apollo 10 1/2: A Space Age Childhood”
“The Bad Guys”
“The Bob’s Burgers Movie”
“Charlotte”
“DC League of Super-Pets”
“Drifting Home”
“Eternal Spring”
“Goodbye, Don Glees!”
“Guillermo del Toro...
This voting only runs for four days, with the shortlists in 10 categories released on Dec. 21. The nominations in these, and the other 13 categories, will be revealed on Jan. 24, 2023. The 95th Academy Awards are March 12, 2023.
Animated Feature (27 entries)
Voting on this award is restricted to academy members from any branch who volunteer to be on the screening committee and attest to having watched their assigned entries. Members rank their top five choices and a multi-step system of counting winnows the various contenders down to the final five nominees.
“Apollo 10 1/2: A Space Age Childhood”
“The Bad Guys”
“The Bob’s Burgers Movie”
“Charlotte”
“DC League of Super-Pets”
“Drifting Home”
“Eternal Spring”
“Goodbye, Don Glees!”
“Guillermo del Toro...
- 12/6/2022
- by Paul Sheehan
- Gold Derby
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has named the Animated, Documentary and International Features eligible for consideration at the 95th Academy Awards.
27 animated features have been placed before voters, along with 144 documentary features and international features from 92 countries.
Shortlists for Documentary and International Feature will be announced on December 21st, with Oscar nominations to be unveiled on January 24th. This year’s ceremony will be broadcast from the Dolby Theatre at Ovation Hollywood on March 12. Check out the lists of titles continuing along their journey toward Oscar below.
Animated Feature Film
“Apollo 10 1/2: A Space Age Childhood”
“The Bad Guys”
“The Bob’s Burgers Movie”
“Charlotte”
“DC League of Super-Pets”
“Drifting Home”
“Eternal Spring”
“Goodbye, Don Glees!”
“Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio”
“Inu-Oh”
“Lamya’s Poem”
“Lightyear”
“Little Nicholas, Happy as Can Be”
“Luck”
“Mad God”
“Marcel the Shell with Shoes On”
“Minions: The Rise of Gru”
“My Father’s Dragon...
27 animated features have been placed before voters, along with 144 documentary features and international features from 92 countries.
Shortlists for Documentary and International Feature will be announced on December 21st, with Oscar nominations to be unveiled on January 24th. This year’s ceremony will be broadcast from the Dolby Theatre at Ovation Hollywood on March 12. Check out the lists of titles continuing along their journey toward Oscar below.
Animated Feature Film
“Apollo 10 1/2: A Space Age Childhood”
“The Bad Guys”
“The Bob’s Burgers Movie”
“Charlotte”
“DC League of Super-Pets”
“Drifting Home”
“Eternal Spring”
“Goodbye, Don Glees!”
“Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio”
“Inu-Oh”
“Lamya’s Poem”
“Lightyear”
“Little Nicholas, Happy as Can Be”
“Luck”
“Mad God”
“Marcel the Shell with Shoes On”
“Minions: The Rise of Gru”
“My Father’s Dragon...
- 12/6/2022
- by Matt Grobar
- Deadline Film + TV
A total of 144 feature documentaries are being made available to voters in the Documentary Branch of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, according to emails send to branch members by the Academy.
Almost all of the films have been put on the members-only streaming platform devoted to the category, with five final films listed as “coming shortly.” While the Academy’s official list of qualifying films in the category will likely not be released until December, a recent email to doc-branch members said that the 27 films added in November and the five due to be added shortly would be the “final release” of eligible documentaries.
If all 144 films meet the requirements, the field will be six films larger than last year’s 138 qualifying films. The record was set in 2020, when the Covid- era relaxation of eligibility requirements led to 238 films qualifying in the doc-feature category.
Also Read:
‘Good Night Oppy...
Almost all of the films have been put on the members-only streaming platform devoted to the category, with five final films listed as “coming shortly.” While the Academy’s official list of qualifying films in the category will likely not be released until December, a recent email to doc-branch members said that the 27 films added in November and the five due to be added shortly would be the “final release” of eligible documentaries.
If all 144 films meet the requirements, the field will be six films larger than last year’s 138 qualifying films. The record was set in 2020, when the Covid- era relaxation of eligibility requirements led to 238 films qualifying in the doc-feature category.
Also Read:
‘Good Night Oppy...
- 11/14/2022
- by Steve Pond
- The Wrap
“Good Night Oppy” lived up to its name. The space doc about rovers on Mars took the top honors at the 7th Annual Critics Choice Awards in midtown Manhattan. The move from Brooklyn (where the show had been produced for the last six years) was an upgrade. “Take a look around the Edison Ballroom,” ‘Oppy’ filmmaker Ryan White said. “It was a theater for over 60 years and did ‘Oh Calcutta’ for 13 years. Totally nude with sex-related sketches written by Sam Shepard, Samuel Beckett, Jules Feiffer and John Lennon.” Okay, yes, this place in the Edison Hotel is cooler.
Comic Wyatt Cenac hosted. “Keep making good stuff,” he told the audience. “So next year we don’t have to turn this thing into an awards show for TikTok explainer videos.” The star power was amped up for the new digs. Paul Shaeffer gave “The Beatles: Get Back” its Best Musical Doc award.
Comic Wyatt Cenac hosted. “Keep making good stuff,” he told the audience. “So next year we don’t have to turn this thing into an awards show for TikTok explainer videos.” The star power was amped up for the new digs. Paul Shaeffer gave “The Beatles: Get Back” its Best Musical Doc award.
- 11/14/2022
- by Bill McCuddy
- Gold Derby
Good Night Oppy, the moving story of the Mars rover that outlasted all expectations, was named Best Documentary Feature at the 2022 Critics Choice Documentary Awards. The film also earned Best Director (Ryan White), Best Score (Blake Neely), Best Narration, and Best Science/Nature Documentary awards.
The Seventh Annual Critics Choice Documentary Awards selected David Siev’s Bad Axe as the Best First Documentary Feature and The Beatles: Get Back scored the Best Music Documentary award.
The CCDAs, hosted by Wyatt Cenac, took place on November 13, 2022 in New York City. This year marked the first time documentary fans were able to view the awards show live via the official Critics Choice Association’s website.
“Tonight was a whole new Doc Awards – hosting the ceremony in a new, bigger venue in Manhattan and streaming it live for the first time. We are thrilled to continue the celebration of so many groundbreaking and...
The Seventh Annual Critics Choice Documentary Awards selected David Siev’s Bad Axe as the Best First Documentary Feature and The Beatles: Get Back scored the Best Music Documentary award.
The CCDAs, hosted by Wyatt Cenac, took place on November 13, 2022 in New York City. This year marked the first time documentary fans were able to view the awards show live via the official Critics Choice Association’s website.
“Tonight was a whole new Doc Awards – hosting the ceremony in a new, bigger venue in Manhattan and streaming it live for the first time. We are thrilled to continue the celebration of so many groundbreaking and...
- 11/14/2022
- by Rebecca Murray
- Showbiz Junkies
Click here to read the full article.
Amazon Studios and Amblin Entertainment’s Good Night Oppy was named best documentary feature at the seventh annual Critics Choice Documentary Awards, which were handed out Sunday night at the Edison Ballroom in Manhattan.
Overall, Good Night Oppy won a total of five awards during the night, including best director for Ryan White.
For the first time, the Critics Choice Association also chose to recognize the top three documentaries in the documentary feature category. While Good Night Oppy was the gold prize winner, the silver prize went to Fire of Love, while the bronze prize went to Navalny.
Actor and stand-up comedian Wyatt Cenac (The Daily Show With Jon Stewart) served as host of the event, where documentarian Barbara Kopple (Harlan County USA, the forthcoming Gumbo Coalition) received the Pennebaker Award (formerly known as the Critics Choice Lifetime Achievement Award) and Dawn Porter (John Lewis: Good Trouble,...
Amazon Studios and Amblin Entertainment’s Good Night Oppy was named best documentary feature at the seventh annual Critics Choice Documentary Awards, which were handed out Sunday night at the Edison Ballroom in Manhattan.
Overall, Good Night Oppy won a total of five awards during the night, including best director for Ryan White.
For the first time, the Critics Choice Association also chose to recognize the top three documentaries in the documentary feature category. While Good Night Oppy was the gold prize winner, the silver prize went to Fire of Love, while the bronze prize went to Navalny.
Actor and stand-up comedian Wyatt Cenac (The Daily Show With Jon Stewart) served as host of the event, where documentarian Barbara Kopple (Harlan County USA, the forthcoming Gumbo Coalition) received the Pennebaker Award (formerly known as the Critics Choice Lifetime Achievement Award) and Dawn Porter (John Lewis: Good Trouble,...
- 11/14/2022
- by Kimberly Nordyke
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
All eyes were on nonfiction films tonight when the Critics Choice Documentary Awards took place in New York City. The ceremony highlights the best feature, short, and television documentaries, pitting blockbusters like “The Beatles: Get Back” and “Moonage Daydream” against smaller Oscar contenders like “Descendant” and “Fire of Love.” The ceremony serves as an early battleground in the Best Documentary Feature race, so it’s a can’t-miss event for Oscar watchers.
One clear winner emerged throughout the night: “Good Night Oppy.” Ryan White’s documentary about NASA’s groundbreaking Opportunity rover won five of the top prizes: Best Documentary Feature, Best Director, Best Score, Best Science/Nature Documentary, and Best Narration. Given that the Amazon-backed documentary was competing against the likes of Judd Apatow and Brett Morgen, the sweep made a bold statement as the Oscar race heats up.
On the episodic side, “The Beatles: Get Back” won Best...
One clear winner emerged throughout the night: “Good Night Oppy.” Ryan White’s documentary about NASA’s groundbreaking Opportunity rover won five of the top prizes: Best Documentary Feature, Best Director, Best Score, Best Science/Nature Documentary, and Best Narration. Given that the Amazon-backed documentary was competing against the likes of Judd Apatow and Brett Morgen, the sweep made a bold statement as the Oscar race heats up.
On the episodic side, “The Beatles: Get Back” won Best...
- 11/14/2022
- by Christian Zilko
- Indiewire
Perhaps it's my age revealing itself, but growing up, the idea of opening a window and getting freshly prepared, hot food seemed like something out of science fiction. No person to ask for help, just see what you want, open a transparent door, and it's yours. Now, I'm not *that* old, and such as place existed in the USA decades before I was born. While it only existed in two cities, its near span of the 20th century marked it as an indelible part of US food history, and a reflection on the changing times. Lisa Hurwitz's charming documentary The Automat takes a loving look at this Philadelphia and New York institution, beloved for generations, that rose and fell with the...
[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...
[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...
- 4/14/2022
- Screen Anarchy
Chicago – Patrick McDonald of HollywoodChicago.com audio film review on “Father Stu,” featuring Mark Wahlberg traveling down an unusual life path, portraying a character journey from unsuccessful boxer and actor to the priesthood. In theaters on Wednesday, April 13th, just in time for redemption on Easter weekend.
Rating: 3.5/5.0
Wahlberg takes on one of his more challenging roles as Stuart Long, a ne’er do well who tries boxing and acting, which perplexes his Mother (Jackie Weaver) and is ignored by his angry Dad (Mel Gibson). While schlepping in Hollywood, he comes across a comely young lady (Teresa Ruiz) through her Catholic Church – and tries to woo her – but unexpectedly then feels a calling to be a priest. His most unlikely journey, which include physical problems, is next up in his life as Father Stu.
”Father Stu” is in theaters beginning April 13th. Featuring Mark Wahlberg, Mel Gibson, Jackie Weaver, Malcolm McDowell and Teresa Ruiz.
Rating: 3.5/5.0
Wahlberg takes on one of his more challenging roles as Stuart Long, a ne’er do well who tries boxing and acting, which perplexes his Mother (Jackie Weaver) and is ignored by his angry Dad (Mel Gibson). While schlepping in Hollywood, he comes across a comely young lady (Teresa Ruiz) through her Catholic Church – and tries to woo her – but unexpectedly then feels a calling to be a priest. His most unlikely journey, which include physical problems, is next up in his life as Father Stu.
”Father Stu” is in theaters beginning April 13th. Featuring Mark Wahlberg, Mel Gibson, Jackie Weaver, Malcolm McDowell and Teresa Ruiz.
- 4/13/2022
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
Chicago – Patrick McDonald of HollywoodChicago.com audio film review on “The Automat,” a nostalgic look at a long-gone New York City/Philadelphia restaurant institution, a directorial debut by Lisa Hurwitz featuring interviews with Mel Brooks, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and others. In select theaters now.
Rating: 4.0/5.0
Two business partners, Joseph Horn and Frank Hardart, combined engineering and food service to open the automat concept in the early 1900s, which featured individual windows with meal items and desserts inside, accessible for nickels that were put in a coin slot. They especially were all over New York City, so that arts community … represented in the documentary by Mel Brooks, Elliott Gould and the late Carl Reiner … used it both as a cheap place to eat and a subject of film and song.
”The Automat” is in select theaters. See local listings. Featuring Mel Brooks, Carl Reiner, Elliott Gould, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Colin Powell.
Rating: 4.0/5.0
Two business partners, Joseph Horn and Frank Hardart, combined engineering and food service to open the automat concept in the early 1900s, which featured individual windows with meal items and desserts inside, accessible for nickels that were put in a coin slot. They especially were all over New York City, so that arts community … represented in the documentary by Mel Brooks, Elliott Gould and the late Carl Reiner … used it both as a cheap place to eat and a subject of film and song.
”The Automat” is in select theaters. See local listings. Featuring Mel Brooks, Carl Reiner, Elliott Gould, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Colin Powell.
- 4/10/2022
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
AUTOMAT_film_Mel Brooks drinking coffee photographed by Carl Reiner while the two were writers for Your Show of Shows, c. 1950-1954 in The Automat. Photo courtesy of A Slice of Pie Productions
Mel Brooks, Ruth Bader Ginsberg, Colin Powell, Carl Reiner and Elliot Gould were all fans of the Automat, the iconic automated cafeterias that dominated New York and Philadelphia in the first half of the 20th century. The Automat, Lisa Hurwitz’s delightful, enlightening documentary, serves up pure charm, and Mel Brooks, in this look back at the Horn and Hardart Automat, a now-vanished beloved, and unique, American institution.
The Automat is available to stream as part of the virtual St. Louis Jewish Film Festival through Mar. 13. For tickets and more information, visit their website https://jccstl.com/arts-ideas/st-louis-jewish-film-festival.
The Automat delivers a dazzling array of memories from those who ate there, alongside the history of the...
Mel Brooks, Ruth Bader Ginsberg, Colin Powell, Carl Reiner and Elliot Gould were all fans of the Automat, the iconic automated cafeterias that dominated New York and Philadelphia in the first half of the 20th century. The Automat, Lisa Hurwitz’s delightful, enlightening documentary, serves up pure charm, and Mel Brooks, in this look back at the Horn and Hardart Automat, a now-vanished beloved, and unique, American institution.
The Automat is available to stream as part of the virtual St. Louis Jewish Film Festival through Mar. 13. For tickets and more information, visit their website https://jccstl.com/arts-ideas/st-louis-jewish-film-festival.
The Automat delivers a dazzling array of memories from those who ate there, alongside the history of the...
- 3/13/2022
- by Cate Marquis
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
The annual St. Louis Jewish Film Festival has returned, again in a virtual format, March 6 -13 but shifted to a new spring season instead of its previous summer slot. Being virtual means all the exciting lineup of films, including documentaries on an array of subjects plus comedy and drama narrative films, are available to view anytime during the festival, through March 13, from the comfort of your own home. For tickets and more information, visit their website https://jccstl.com/arts-ideas/st-louis-jewish-film-festival.
The 27th annual festival, which is virtual like the last two, has an array of 13 international and U.S. films with Jewish themes, with five outstanding documentaries on varied topics, and eight engrossing narrative features including dramas, comedies, historical films and thrillers, plus a trio of enticing discussions and a pre-festival bonus short film, “Touch the Sky,” which is available to stream starting Jan. 17.
Countries represented include Israel, France,...
The 27th annual festival, which is virtual like the last two, has an array of 13 international and U.S. films with Jewish themes, with five outstanding documentaries on varied topics, and eight engrossing narrative features including dramas, comedies, historical films and thrillers, plus a trio of enticing discussions and a pre-festival bonus short film, “Touch the Sky,” which is available to stream starting Jan. 17.
Countries represented include Israel, France,...
- 3/12/2022
- by Cate Marquis
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
Next week and not a minute too soon, Warner Bros. will open “The Batman.” With no new major titles, grosses this weekend totaled $63 million.
In 2020, when business operated as usual through February, only two weekends grossed under $100 million. The worst was Super Bowl weekend at $80 million. This year has had no weekend over $100 million, but that will change next week. “The Batman” opening will be the year’s first major breakout with $125 million or more. It isn’t likely to reach the heights of “Spider-Man: No Way Home,” but it is critically important that it exhibit serious heft to restore much-needed momentum for theaters’ recovery.
The weekend represented 65 percent of the same weekend in 2020, but even that represents an improvement over much of 2022. Our rolling four-week comparison to 2020 rose to 63 percent.
Sony’s “Uncharted” dropped 47 percent and United Artists’ “Dog” dropped 32 percent, holding the top two slots. This is a...
In 2020, when business operated as usual through February, only two weekends grossed under $100 million. The worst was Super Bowl weekend at $80 million. This year has had no weekend over $100 million, but that will change next week. “The Batman” opening will be the year’s first major breakout with $125 million or more. It isn’t likely to reach the heights of “Spider-Man: No Way Home,” but it is critically important that it exhibit serious heft to restore much-needed momentum for theaters’ recovery.
The weekend represented 65 percent of the same weekend in 2020, but even that represents an improvement over much of 2022. Our rolling four-week comparison to 2020 rose to 63 percent.
Sony’s “Uncharted” dropped 47 percent and United Artists’ “Dog” dropped 32 percent, holding the top two slots. This is a...
- 2/27/2022
- by Tom Brueggemann
- Indiewire
The cast of luminaries that first-time filmmaker Lisa Hurwitz assembles in documentary The Automat have one thing in common – extreme adoration for the famed Horn & Hardart eateries, whose soaring ceilings, famed coffee and wholesome vending-machine meals for a nickel dominated the food scene in Philadelphia and NYC through much of last century.
Mel Brooks, Carl Reiner, Elliot Gould, Colin Powell, Starbucks founder Howard Shultz and the late Ruth Bader Ginsburg get kind of emotional recalling the thrill of putting a coin in a slot, opening a glass window and pulling out Salisbury steak, macaroni and cheese, creamed spinach. And dessert. Brooks and Reiner looked downright hungry recalling the coconut cream and chocolate pudding pie. Brooks was such a fan that he wrote and performed a song, “At the Automat,” with a 26-piece orchestra.
The Automat phenomenon started in 1902 on Chestnut Street in Philly. Ten years later, its its first NYC location opened in Times Square. It expanded fast, fueled by immigration and women joining the workforce. It was cheap and democratic, all were welcome and everyone came, from fur-clad matrons to construction workers. Tables were communal. Bader Ginsberg recalled happily doing homework there before weekly piano lessons.
Then came a slow decline, hastened by inflation, fast food rivals, a flight to the suburbs, the decline of inner cities, and some bad business decisions by a new crop of executives. The last location, on 42nd and Third Ave., closed in 1991.
Hurwitz, who grew up in LA, said she became interested in the concept and history of cafeterias as a student at Evergreen State College in Olympia, Wash. She heard of Horn & Hardart (Automat founders Joe Harn and Frank Hardart) and turned her research into a short film project senior year. She had a series of arts-related jobs before moving to New York to work with Italian PR firm Barabino & Partners, keeping the film back-burnered but going. Her Kickstarter campaign got the attention of (Jaws) screenwriter Carl Gottleib, whom she’d once met organizing a film festival. He introduced her to Brooks.
As for Ginsberg and Powell, “I just wrote the two of them letters in the mail. A letter to the U.S. Supreme Court. I did a lot of these. Anyone that I thought would be a good interview that was of the right generation. I didn’t know for a fact that they were customers,” she told Deadline.
The film premiered in Telluride and the Film Forum offered a screen, where it opened last weekend to a hefty $18, 645. It’s added two more locations in LA for a weekend gross $13,665, $4,555 PSA, for a cume of $38,837. Hurwitz’ A Slice Of Pie Productions is self-distributing with the help of Gary Rubin/Grc. “It’s just what made the most sense based on the offers we were receiving to hold onto the film and to maximize it.”
Specialty grosses:
Uar’s Cyrano debuted in 797 locations to $1.4M for a PTA of $1,757.
Paramount’s The Godfather 50th Anniversary earned $900k in 156 locations for a PTA of $5,769.
Shorts TV and Magnolia Pictures opened 2022 Oscar Nominated Short Films on 355 screens for a weekend total of $402,200 and a PSA of $1,133.
Blue Fox Entertainment opened Butter on 308 screens for a debut weekend of $78,450 and a PTA of $255.
Mel Brooks, Carl Reiner, Elliot Gould, Colin Powell, Starbucks founder Howard Shultz and the late Ruth Bader Ginsburg get kind of emotional recalling the thrill of putting a coin in a slot, opening a glass window and pulling out Salisbury steak, macaroni and cheese, creamed spinach. And dessert. Brooks and Reiner looked downright hungry recalling the coconut cream and chocolate pudding pie. Brooks was such a fan that he wrote and performed a song, “At the Automat,” with a 26-piece orchestra.
The Automat phenomenon started in 1902 on Chestnut Street in Philly. Ten years later, its its first NYC location opened in Times Square. It expanded fast, fueled by immigration and women joining the workforce. It was cheap and democratic, all were welcome and everyone came, from fur-clad matrons to construction workers. Tables were communal. Bader Ginsberg recalled happily doing homework there before weekly piano lessons.
Then came a slow decline, hastened by inflation, fast food rivals, a flight to the suburbs, the decline of inner cities, and some bad business decisions by a new crop of executives. The last location, on 42nd and Third Ave., closed in 1991.
Hurwitz, who grew up in LA, said she became interested in the concept and history of cafeterias as a student at Evergreen State College in Olympia, Wash. She heard of Horn & Hardart (Automat founders Joe Harn and Frank Hardart) and turned her research into a short film project senior year. She had a series of arts-related jobs before moving to New York to work with Italian PR firm Barabino & Partners, keeping the film back-burnered but going. Her Kickstarter campaign got the attention of (Jaws) screenwriter Carl Gottleib, whom she’d once met organizing a film festival. He introduced her to Brooks.
As for Ginsberg and Powell, “I just wrote the two of them letters in the mail. A letter to the U.S. Supreme Court. I did a lot of these. Anyone that I thought would be a good interview that was of the right generation. I didn’t know for a fact that they were customers,” she told Deadline.
The film premiered in Telluride and the Film Forum offered a screen, where it opened last weekend to a hefty $18, 645. It’s added two more locations in LA for a weekend gross $13,665, $4,555 PSA, for a cume of $38,837. Hurwitz’ A Slice Of Pie Productions is self-distributing with the help of Gary Rubin/Grc. “It’s just what made the most sense based on the offers we were receiving to hold onto the film and to maximize it.”
Specialty grosses:
Uar’s Cyrano debuted in 797 locations to $1.4M for a PTA of $1,757.
Paramount’s The Godfather 50th Anniversary earned $900k in 156 locations for a PTA of $5,769.
Shorts TV and Magnolia Pictures opened 2022 Oscar Nominated Short Films on 355 screens for a weekend total of $402,200 and a PSA of $1,133.
Blue Fox Entertainment opened Butter on 308 screens for a debut weekend of $78,450 and a PTA of $255.
- 2/27/2022
- by Jill Goldsmith
- Deadline Film + TV
Long ago, in a distant and far away America, independent films could make their mark at the megaplex, and some of them could be documentaries. Remember the glory days of “Rgb” (total domestic gross: $14 million), “Won’t You Be My Neighbor?” ($22.8 million), “Three Identical Strangers” ($12 million), “They Shall Not Grow Old” ($18 million), and “Apollo 11” ($9 million)?
I’m not saying that Lisa Hurwitz’s “The Automat,” had it been released in those now possibly vanquished days, could have joined the commercial company of those films (though maybe it could have). But when I caught this marvelous documentary at Film Forum in New York, the audience for it was ecstatic. It was not an audience of young people; it was the kind of older folks who, statistically speaking, haven’t been going to the movies. But they turned out for this one, and when I left at the end, a bunch of...
I’m not saying that Lisa Hurwitz’s “The Automat,” had it been released in those now possibly vanquished days, could have joined the commercial company of those films (though maybe it could have). But when I caught this marvelous documentary at Film Forum in New York, the audience for it was ecstatic. It was not an audience of young people; it was the kind of older folks who, statistically speaking, haven’t been going to the movies. But they turned out for this one, and when I left at the end, a bunch of...
- 2/25/2022
- by Owen Gleiberman
- Variety Film + TV
“The Batman” will open in two weeks to $150 million or more, but this weekend may be even more important to box-office recovery: “Uncharted” (Sony) and “Dog” (United Artists) both opened to over $15 million. For the last two years, there have been just six weekends in which two new releases grossed even $10 million. What makes this even more extraordinary is both are original, non-franchise titles.
Studios and producers need signs that the public can respond to standalone titles that show some degree of originality. That is what happened here and it’s a big deal.
“Uncharted,” based on a well-known video game and starring Tom Holland, while his most recent “Spider-Man” is still #3, will gross and estimated $44 million for the three-day weekend; $51 million, with Presidents Day added. That’s as much as 50 percent above conservative estimates and a third better than the more realistic ones.
It is the best result for...
Studios and producers need signs that the public can respond to standalone titles that show some degree of originality. That is what happened here and it’s a big deal.
“Uncharted,” based on a well-known video game and starring Tom Holland, while his most recent “Spider-Man” is still #3, will gross and estimated $44 million for the three-day weekend; $51 million, with Presidents Day added. That’s as much as 50 percent above conservative estimates and a third better than the more realistic ones.
It is the best result for...
- 2/20/2022
- by Tom Brueggemann
- Indiewire
Lisa Hurwitz with Anne-Katrin Titze on Mel Brooks’s original song with composer Hummie Mann for The Automat: “He composed Mel’s films Robin Hood: Men in Tights and Dracula: Dead and Loving it, and so it was all kind of perfect.”
In the second instalment with The Automat director Lisa Hurwitz we discuss her work with writer and editor Michael Levine, the interview with Colin Powell, Mel Brooks and composer Hummie Mann’s collaborations, the well-chosen clips in her film, including Sylvia Sidney and Peter Lawford, Jean Simmons and Victor Mature, a Jack Benny party, Tweety Bird and The Flintstones at the Automat, an Edward Hopper painting, and 99 Records founder Ed Bahlman’s childhood fondness for the baked beans at the Automat.
Lisa will participate in three in-person post-screening Q&As this weekend for the theatrical opening at Film Forum in New York of The Automat.
Mel Brooks recording...
In the second instalment with The Automat director Lisa Hurwitz we discuss her work with writer and editor Michael Levine, the interview with Colin Powell, Mel Brooks and composer Hummie Mann’s collaborations, the well-chosen clips in her film, including Sylvia Sidney and Peter Lawford, Jean Simmons and Victor Mature, a Jack Benny party, Tweety Bird and The Flintstones at the Automat, an Edward Hopper painting, and 99 Records founder Ed Bahlman’s childhood fondness for the baked beans at the Automat.
Lisa will participate in three in-person post-screening Q&As this weekend for the theatrical opening at Film Forum in New York of The Automat.
Mel Brooks recording...
- 2/18/2022
- by Anne-Katrin Titze
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
Isabella Rossellini has a connection to two Hamptons Doc Fest selections: Roger Sherman’s The Soul Of A Farmer and Stina Gardell’s Movie Man: “She is Stig Björkman’s very good friend over many many years.” Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze
In the second instalment with Artistic Director Karen Arikian we discussed Lisa Hurwitz’s The Automat; Lifetime Achievement Award honouree at the 12th edition of Doc NYC Joan Churchill and her short Shoot From The Heart with Haskell Wexler, Chris Hegedus, and Da Pennebaker; Asaf Galay’s The Adventures Of Saul Bellow; Tasha Van Zandt’s After Antarctica (recipient of the Andrew Sabin Family Foundation Environmental Award); Dom Aprile’s Farming Long Island; Roger Sherman’s The Soul Of A Farmer with a connection to Isabella Rossellini, who is in Stina Gardell’s Movie Man, starring Stig Björkman, director of the Opening Night film Joyce Carol Oates: A Body In...
In the second instalment with Artistic Director Karen Arikian we discussed Lisa Hurwitz’s The Automat; Lifetime Achievement Award honouree at the 12th edition of Doc NYC Joan Churchill and her short Shoot From The Heart with Haskell Wexler, Chris Hegedus, and Da Pennebaker; Asaf Galay’s The Adventures Of Saul Bellow; Tasha Van Zandt’s After Antarctica (recipient of the Andrew Sabin Family Foundation Environmental Award); Dom Aprile’s Farming Long Island; Roger Sherman’s The Soul Of A Farmer with a connection to Isabella Rossellini, who is in Stina Gardell’s Movie Man, starring Stig Björkman, director of the Opening Night film Joyce Carol Oates: A Body In...
- 12/4/2021
- by Anne-Katrin Titze
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
Celebrating its 48th edition, the Telluride Film Festival announced its official programming selections, which include world premieres of Kenneth Branagh’s “Belfast,” Mike Mills’ “C’mon C’mon,” Joe Wright’s “Cyrano,” Reinaldo Marcus Green’s “King Richard” and Céline Sciamma’s “Petite Maman.”
Also on the docket are Jane Campion’s “The Power of the Dog,” Maggie Gyllenhaal’s “The Lost Daughter,” Paolo Sorrentino’s “The Hand of God” and Pablo Larraín’s “Spencer.” Larraín’s film is opening the Venice Film Festival, where several of the films are screening before debuting Stateside in Colorado.
From the documentary side, festivalgoers will get a smorgasbord of subjects from acclaimed filmmakers such Todd Haynes (“The Velvet Underground”), Lisa Hurwitz (“The Automat”), Liz Garbus (“Becoming Cousteau”) and Sam Pollard and Rex Miller (“Citizen Ashe”).
From the international circuit, selections include the Sundance hit “Flee” from Jonas Poher Rasmussen, an international animated documentary...
Also on the docket are Jane Campion’s “The Power of the Dog,” Maggie Gyllenhaal’s “The Lost Daughter,” Paolo Sorrentino’s “The Hand of God” and Pablo Larraín’s “Spencer.” Larraín’s film is opening the Venice Film Festival, where several of the films are screening before debuting Stateside in Colorado.
From the documentary side, festivalgoers will get a smorgasbord of subjects from acclaimed filmmakers such Todd Haynes (“The Velvet Underground”), Lisa Hurwitz (“The Automat”), Liz Garbus (“Becoming Cousteau”) and Sam Pollard and Rex Miller (“Citizen Ashe”).
From the international circuit, selections include the Sundance hit “Flee” from Jonas Poher Rasmussen, an international animated documentary...
- 9/1/2021
- by Clayton Davis
- Variety Film + TV
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