CJ Guest

Five Oscar Nominees for Best Documentary

Food Inc.

Are you hungry for change? This film lifts the veil on our nation's food industry, exposing the highly mechanized underbelly that has been hidden from the American consumer with the consent of our government's regulatory agencies, USDA and FDA.

The Cove

Directed by former National Geographic photographer Louie Psihoyos, it documents the annual killing of dolphins in a National Park at Taiji, Wakayama, in Japan. It just won a Writers Guild Award for Best Documentary Feature Screenplay.

Which Way Home

Several unaccompanied children journey through Mexico en route to the US, on a freight train called "The Beast."

The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsburg and the Pentagon Papers

Daniel Ellsberg, a top-level Vietnam War strategist, concludes the war is based on a decade of lies. He leaks 7,000 pages of top-secret documents to the The New York Times.

Burma VJ

Armed with small handycams undercover Video Journalists in Burma keep up the flow of news from their closed country despite risking torture and life in jail.

Which doc do you think will pickup the Oscar???

Indie Filmmakers and Web Series Producers Rejoice: RED Scarlet Coming This Spring

This camera will be huge for indie filmmakers and web series producers.  Here's the RED rep showing the Engadget peeps a prototype at CES.  The camera body will be $2750, with a complete camera for under $5000.

Jason Reitman's 3 month, 300 interview, press tour for Up In the Air... in under 3 minutes

Don't See: New York, I Love You

After watching, and liking, two of the world's four "global cities" set the stage for films of similar formula-- compilation of multiple shorts shot by different directors highlighting personal interaction within a large metropolis-- I thought this third, global city, film, with New York City as the backdrop, was going to as interesting.  I had high hopes since the story is told stateside in, arguably, the world's greatest city.  Unfortunately, it fell well short of expectations.

To me, the captivating aspect of the other two which were filmed in similar vein, Paris, je t'aime and Tokyo!, was in the direction.  Whether it's Coen, Van Sant, and Craven in Paris or Gondry and Carax in Tokyo, watching contrasting styles within the same film made those films much more interesting. I didn't get that feel from New York.  One of the shorts that could have added diversity and contrast to the overall production-- the directorial debut of  Scarlett Johansson, shot in black and white-- didn't make the final cut.  Not all aspects of this film were bad, though.  There were some very fine performances from Ethan Hawke, Robin Wright Penn, and Cloris Leachman.

If someone decides to produce this niche genre for the fourth global city, London, I hope that he or she will tap contrasting directors that will make the story interesting.  How about Kevin Smith, Sam Raimi, and Peter Jackson?  It could happen...

Go See: A Serious Man

As a long-time fan of the Coen Brothers, I have been looking forward to this latest release of theirs.  This dark comedy set in the late 60's, did not disappoint.  While some of the Coen-esque stylings became rather predictable throughout the film, there was more than enough substance and originality to offset it.  With all due respect for No Country for Old Men, I think this is their best work since Fargo.

It's out in limited release, with an increasing number of screens showing it, each week.  Definitely worth seeking out!

4 Movies I Can't Wait to See This Friday

It doesn't happen often, but there are four movies opening on the same day (this Friday) that I want to see.  Each one has either the right director, actor, or subject matter to draw me in.  In the cases of Zombieland and Capitalism, it has to with genre... I love zombie flicks and political documentaries.  Invention has the comedic genius of Ricky Gervais.  And of course, as a huge fan of the Coen Brothers, I can't possibly miss the opening weekend of A Serious Man.  I'm having evil thoughts about skipping out on Friday and spending all day in the theater. Muah-ahh-ahh-ahhhhh!

Watching The Informant

After hearing mixed reviews about this movie, I'm looking forward to checking it out.