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THE ACT OF KILLING Follow-up THE LOOK OF SILENCE Trailer

Drafthouse Films has released a trailer for Joshua Oppenheimer’s The Look of Silence, his follow-up to the Oscar nominated documentary The Act of Killing, which looks at the Indonesian genocide which left over a million people dead at the hands of kill

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OUT OF PRINT (2014) Review

Think back on the last movie you watched. Where and how did you watch it? On your laptop? On your phone? On Blu-ray or DVD? In a movie theatre? Regardless of how films are ultimately distributed they are always meant to be seen on the big screen with an audience. Good or bad, ultra-low or sky-high budgeted, recent release or over a century old, movies were meant for movie theaters. When films are out of circulation that is where the repertoire theaters come in. Revival theaters, as they are also referred to as, screen films that are no longer in circulation. Often these theaters will screen a film in whatever format is available to them, on film, via Digital Cinema Package (DCP) or even off a blu-ray if necessary. Nearly all the films screened are readily available on some home format. So this begs the question, why would you want to see something in a theatre when you can just watch it in the comfort of your own home? Julia Marchese’s entertaining documentary looks to answer that question and more as she examines the revival cinema culture, film preservation and the palpable impact of recent developments in film exhibition.

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SUPERMENSCH: THE LEGEND OF SHEP GORDON Blu-ray Review

Before first reading about the Mike Myers-directed documentary Supermensch, I was previously unfamiliar with Shep Gordon. After seeing the film, I’m very thankful to now know this incredible story about one of the most influential and well-liked managers to possibly ever exist. From kickstarting the career of Alice Cooper to single-handedly creating the concept of the celebrity chef, Gordon’s career is only half as fascinating as the man himself.

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Kickstart Sunday: SHOOT THE MOON

This week’s Kickstart Sunday pick comes to us form director Benjamin Ahr Harrison with his upcoming documentary Shoot the Moon. The film takes a look at a group of dedicated individuals planning to create the tallest structure known to man-

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Kickstart Sunday: ANDREJ(A)

This week’s Kickstart Sunday pick is the upcoming documentary Andrej(a), which follows the journey of trans model Andreja Pejic’s journey from a refugee camp to the runway. This feature length doc is directed by Michael Hirschorn and is already

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Kickstart Sunday: LOST IN AMERICA

This week’s Kickstart Sunday pick is the upcoming documentary Lost in America, directed by Rotimi Rainwater. The film profiles America’s homeless youth by interviewing kids across the country who are forced to live on the streets.  Although this looks like

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WE COULD BE KING Review

Stories about cross-town rivals are nothing new.  We’ve all read about them or seen TV shows or movies about them.   The same can be said about the profound impact of city financial budget cuts that affect thousands of teachers’ jobs and the education of countless children and teenagers.   You only need to look at your nightly local news to see a story about a violent flair up between rivals or how yet another school had its doors closed due to budget cuts.   It’s an unfortunate sign of the times that always seems to paint such a negative picture but when it’s turned into an unexpected positive that is something to take notice of.   Such is the case of the teachers and students at Martin Luther King High School in Philadelphia, PA and they are the subject of Judd Ehrlich’s documentary We Could Be King. 

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BEARS Blu-ray Review

I was already sold on Disneynature's Bears when the trailer featuring Phillip Phillips' song "Home" offered up a heartwarming overlay to the captivating shots of grizzly bears frolicking in the wild.

But from the moment I popped in the Blu-ray and hit 'play,' I was immediately reminded how impressive these studio documentaries truly are. Every scene was so perfectly framed; one could easily do a screen grab at any time, hit print, and produce a beautiful still image suitable for hanging on a wall.

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Kickstart Sunday: THE POWER OF GLOVE

As a child, as soon as I saw the amazingly bad Nintendo commercial that was stretched into a feature-length movie, The Wizard, I wanted a Power Glove so bad.  Although Santa never placed one under our tree during the holidays, I did have

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THE DOG Review

In 1975 director Sidney Lumet released an unconventional heist film by the name of Dog Day Afternoon, which starred Al Pacino as an unlikely bank robber trying to snag some money to pay for a sex change for his transgendered girlfriend. The story seemed outlandish and far ahead of its time, but as the old saying goes, truth is stranger than fiction.

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THE BEAUTY STRIP Review

According to its synopsis, director Ginnetta Correli’s documentary The Beauty Strip is a film about individual erotic perception, however, in execution, it seems that perception is focused on the viewer rather than the subjects of the film itself. This short journey into nude modeling is comprised of experimental vignettes, shot using various filters set to bombastic dubstep and electronic music. While the film looks quite good in certain areas, the overall message of the film becomes blurred behind what can be viewed as just a series of softcore porn clips.

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ATARI: GAME OVER Trailer

During the video game crash of the early ’80s, Atari famously buried a truckload of E.T. Atari 2600 cartridges out in a New Mexico landfill.  For some reason, a team of filmmakers recently excavated this location and made a documentary about it