Watch Movies Online » Documentary

Waiting for “Superman”

admin — Sat, 24 Jul 2010 21:11:21 +0000

For a nation that proudly declared it would leave no child behind, America continues to do so at alarming rates. Despite increased spending and politicians’ promises, our buckling public-education system, once the best in the world, routinely forsakes the education of millions of children. Oscar®-winning filmmaker Davis Guggenheim (An Inconvenient Truth) reminds us that education “statistics” have names: Anthony, Francisco, Bianca, Daisy, and Emily, whose stories make up the engrossing foundation of Waiting for ‘Superman’. As he follows a handful of promising kids through a system that inhibits, rather than encourages, academic growth, Guggenheim undertakes an exhaustive review of public education, surveying “drop-out factories” and “academic sinkholes,” methodically dissecting the system and its seemingly intractable problems. However, embracing the belief that good teachers make good schools, Guggenheim offers hope by exploring innovative approaches taken by education reformers and charter schools that have — in reshaping the culture — refused to leave their students behind.

Catfish

admin — Sat, 17 Jul 2010 23:39:38 +0000

In late 2007, filmmakers Ariel Schulman and Henry Joost sensed a story unfolding as they began to film the life of Ariel’s brother, Nev. They had no idea that their project would lead to the most exhilarating and unsettling months of their lives. A reality thriller that is a shocking product of our times, Catfish is a riveting story of love, deception and grace within a labyrinth of online intrigue.

Who is Harry Nilsson (And Why is Everybody Talkin’ About Him?)

admin — Sat, 10 Jul 2010 23:25:47 +0000

The star-studded documentary features interviews with Micky Dolenz, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Al Kooper, Randy Newman, Yoko Ono, Van Dyke Parks, the Smothers Brothers, Jimmy Webb, Paul Williams, Robin Williams, Brian Wilson and many more as well as members of the Nilsson family. The result is a vibrant and definitive portrayal of an uncompromising artist.

Born into poverty in a humble section of Brooklyn and raised by his mother after his father abandoned the family, Harry Nilsson overcame many obstacles, achieving the peak of his commercial success in the early1970s, when the album Nilsson Schmilsson was nominated for multiple Grammy Awards. The film reveals how his personal life was as complex and contradictory as his music, as well as his spirited relationship with John Lennon and his close bond with Ringo Starr.

A brilliantly gifted songwriter, his work has been covered by a wide range of artists (The Monkees to Harry Belafonte, Blood Sweat & Tears to Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass, Three Dog Night to Ella Fitzgerald, Aimee Mann to Barbra Streisand). And yet, with an irony that was typical of his career, his greatest fame and success came as a singer of other people’s songs.

Blessed with a remarkable three and-a-half octave range, Nilsson was the recipient of 17 Gold Records (in addition to his two Grammy Awards for Everybody’s Talkin and Without You) and yet, never cut his music to fit mainstream fashion. He was also considered to be peer-less as a wild man, a legendary party animal who could drink John Lennon and Keith Moon under the table – while also being known as a devoted husband and father.

Intertwined throughout the doc are rare performances from two BBC specials, promo films, music videos, home movies, as well as excerpts from the Oscar-winning film, Midnight Cowboy and an unfinished documentary about the recording of the Harry’s 1972 album Son of Schmilsson.

I’m Still Here: The Lost Year of Joaquin Phoenix

admin — Sat, 10 Jul 2010 19:01:59 +0000

I’m Still Here is a striking portrayal of a tumultuous year in the life of internationally acclaimed actor Joaquin Phoenix. The film follows the Oscar-nominee as he announces his retirement from a successful film career in the fall of 2008 and sets off to reinvent himself as a hip hop musician. Sometimes funny, sometimes shocking, and always riveting, the film is a portrait of an artist at a crossroads. Defying expectations, it deftly explores notions of courage and creative reinvention, as well as the ramifications of a life spent in the public eye.

Last Train Home

admin — Sat, 03 Jul 2010 21:16:01 +0000

Each year in China more than 130 million migrant workers travel home for the New Year’s holiday — the one time they’ll reunite with family all year. The mass exodus constitutes the world’s largest human migration. Amid this chaos, director Lixin Fan focuses on one couple who embark upon a two-day journey to see their children.

The Tillman Story

admin — Sun, 20 Jun 2010 20:05:02 +0000

When Pat Tillman gave up his professional football career to join the Army Rangers in 2002, he became an instant symbol of patriotic fervor and unflinching duty. But the truth about Pat Tillman is far more complex, and ultimately far more heroic, than the caricature. And when the government tried to turn his death into propaganda, they took on the wrong family. From her home in Northern California, Pat’s mother, Dannie Tillman, led the family’s crusade to reveal the truth beneath the mythology of their son’s life and death. The Tillman Story resounds with emotion and insight, and goes beyond an indictment of the government to touch on themes as timeless as the notion of heroism itself.

Mesrine: Killer Instinct

admin — Sun, 13 Jun 2010 18:16:28 +0000

Mesrine: Killer Instinct – the first of two parts – charts the outlaw odyssey of Jacques Mesrine (Vincent Cassel), the legendary French gangster of the 1960s and 1970s who came to be known as French Public Enemy No. 1 and The Man of a Thousand Faces. Infamous for his bravado and outrageously daring prison escapes, Mesrine carried out numerous robberies, kidnappings and murders in a criminal career that spanned continents until he was shot dead in 1979 by France’s notorious anti-gang unit. Thirty years after his death, his infamy lives on.

Mesrine was helped along the way by beautiful and equally reckless Jeanne Schneider (Cécile de France), a Bonnie to match his Clyde. Mesrine made up his own epic, between romanticism and cruelty, flamboyance and tragedy. Both a thriller and a biopic, Killer Instinct explores the man behind the icon.

Hugh Hefner: Playboy, Activist and Rebel

admin — Mon, 31 May 2010 02:06:19 +0000

Berman had unprecedented access to the outspoken founder of the Playboy empire. Through interviews and Hefner’s own voluminous archives, the Oscar-winning Berman contrasts Hef’s controversial lifestyle with his battles over racial equality, First Amendment rights, abortion rights, sexual freedom, censorship and social justice.

“What fascinates me about Hef is that, while many know him only as a hedonistic, sensual playboy and a legendary lover of countless beautiful women, there is a whole other and far more interesting, far sexier side to him as well,” Berman said.

Doc also includes interviews with George Lucas, Tony Bennett, Joan Baez, Jim Brown, James Caan and Jesse Jackson.

Who Killed Nancy?

admin — Sun, 30 May 2010 18:41:21 +0000

Who Killed Nancy is a new documentary by Alan G. Parker looking into the demise of Nancy Spungen – was it her boyfriend, punk icon Sid Vicious; was it Nancy herself; or was it one of the unsavory junkie/dealers in and out of their room that night of October 12, 1978, at the Chelsea Hotel!

On October 12th, 1978, Nancy Spungen, an ex-prostitute, sometimes stripper and heroin addict, was found dead in a bathroom at the ChelseaHotel in New York. She also happened to be the girlfriend of the Sex Pistols’ bassist Sid Vicious, who was quickly accused of her murder. Less than 6 months later, he died of a heroin overdose and the case was closed.

The death of Sid and Nancy has passed into rock legend and has only added to the controversial and notorious image of the Sex Pistols and punk music.

At the request of Sid’s mother, who committed suicide in 1996, Alan Parker has devoted himself to discovering who killed nancy, by interviewing 182 people – from former sex pistol Glen Matlock to Howie Pyro, a ‘face’ on the NYC punk scene who was present on Sid’s last night alive – and re-examining NYPD evidence, he investigates what really happened that night in room 100.

Responding to the question, “Do we finally find out just ‘who killed Nancy’ in room 100 at the Chelsea Hotel, Parker responds: “I think we get as close as any human being is likely to! We didn’t leave any stones unturned, and we discovered more new information than I personally thought we were going to.”

Based on rock author and punk expert Alan G. Parker’s best-selling book Sid Vicious: No One Is Innocent.

What’s the Matter with Kansas?

admin — Sun, 30 May 2010 18:33:06 +0000

Before the Tea Party movement had a name, author Thomas Frank’s controversial New York Times bestselling book What’s the Matter with Kansas? How Conservatives Won the Heart of America explored the rise of conservatism in his home state of Kansas and exposed the contradictions of the movement. Based on Frank’s book, director Joe Winston’s critically acclaimed feature length documentary What’s the Matter with Kansas? similarly deals with the ascendancy of conservatism and how conservative political strategists won the hearts and minds of Americans, a movement now more visible and very much in effect all across America today. The film adaptation, with its vivid characters and their unforgettable stories, sheds light on the national debate over who the conservatives are, where they come from, and why they continue to wield influence.