John Carpenter’s 1981 film was conceived as a political parable in the mid-seventies (with Watergate as his inspiration) but the resulting movie dropped most of the social commentary and focused instead on tongue-in-cheek sci-fi thrills with a comically taciturn Kurt Russell (doing his best Clint Eastwood impression) as grizzled anti-hero Snake Plissken. Boosted by its rogue’s gallery of classic character actors like Lee Van Cleef, Ernest Borgnine and Donald Pleasance, Carpenter’s film was a good-sized hit, spawning a sequel, Escape from L.A., released in 1996.
The post Escape From New York appeared first on Trailers From Hell.
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- 9/24/2021
- by TFH Team
- Trailers from Hell
Exclusive: A biographical series about President Richard Nixon is in the works for television. Lightbridge Entertainment has teamed with Oscar-winning writer Ron Bass (Rain Man) to adapt Evan Thomas’ New York Times bestselling biography Being Nixon: A Man Divided as a six-hour narrative limited series. Bass will pen the adaptation and serve as an Executive Producer on the series alongside Lightbridge Entertainment founder and CEO Terry Botwick.
Voted and named one of the top 10 nonfiction books of 2015, Being Nixon covers Nixon’s entire life. It is described as a portrait of an incredibly fascinating and consequential man who remains one of America’s most studied presidents, a brilliant, relentless foreign policy strategist and political savant whose career in American politics spanned nearly five decades and whose legacy forever bears the stains of Watergate.
The project is particularly timely given the impeachment inquiry and current scandals surrounding President Donald Trump, who...
Voted and named one of the top 10 nonfiction books of 2015, Being Nixon covers Nixon’s entire life. It is described as a portrait of an incredibly fascinating and consequential man who remains one of America’s most studied presidents, a brilliant, relentless foreign policy strategist and political savant whose career in American politics spanned nearly five decades and whose legacy forever bears the stains of Watergate.
The project is particularly timely given the impeachment inquiry and current scandals surrounding President Donald Trump, who...
- 10/24/2019
- by Denise Petski
- Deadline Film + TV
With a single telephone call, Donald Trump betrayed the presidency in ways almost unimaginable until that moment. During the call, he attempted to pressure a foreign leader to help him smear and destroy both a chief political opponent and that opponent’s political party to benefit himself in a presidential election. This offense differs from all his other transgressions, venal corruptions, and daily degradations of the office. It is an attack on the foundations of our republic, turning diplomacy into a weapon of personal and partisan political power. The nation’s founders understood,...
- 10/11/2019
- by Sean Wilentz
- Rollingstone.com
Two months into his ill-begotten presidency, when Donald Trump flew into a temper tantrum over Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ insistence on recusing himself from overseeing the Russia investigation, he famously bawled, “Where’s my Roy Cohn?” Cohn, in case you haven’t seen the documentary that took its title from the president’s outburst, was the red-baiting witch-hunter from the 1950s who became New York City’s top mob lawyer and, fittingly enough, young Donald’s fixer, mentor, and role model. Cohn had all the charm and scruples of a...
- 10/9/2019
- by Bob Moser
- Rollingstone.com
It’s been a while since we had a good trailer set to Aerosmith’s “Dream On,” and, sadly, women have not yet landed on the moon. The new Apple TV+ series “For All Mankind” tackles both problems in one sweeping new spot.
The latest brainchild of former “Battlestar Galactica” and “Outlander” showrunner Ronald D. Moore and co-creators Matt Wolpert and Ben Nedivi, the new series takes place in an alternate timeline in which the Soviet Union reached the lunar surface before Apollo 11. The ripple effect from that one change leads to a different set of historical events that place astronauts even more in the public consciousness than in the version based in reality.
One other giant change: Nixon wants to one-up his space race opponents and be the first nation to send a woman to the moon. That resultant project brings in a group of astronauts looking to answer the call.
The latest brainchild of former “Battlestar Galactica” and “Outlander” showrunner Ronald D. Moore and co-creators Matt Wolpert and Ben Nedivi, the new series takes place in an alternate timeline in which the Soviet Union reached the lunar surface before Apollo 11. The ripple effect from that one change leads to a different set of historical events that place astronauts even more in the public consciousness than in the version based in reality.
One other giant change: Nixon wants to one-up his space race opponents and be the first nation to send a woman to the moon. That resultant project brings in a group of astronauts looking to answer the call.
- 9/26/2019
- by Steve Greene
- Indiewire
[Originally published in Rs 150, December 20th, 1973]
Richard Goodwin is perhaps best known as the brash special assistant to Senator, and then President, Kennedy. He was one of JFK’s two main speechwriters and also became the President’s specialist in Latin American Affairs (even once holding a midnight-to-dawn secret meeting with Che Guevara in 1961, from which he returned with a personally imported selection of embargoed Cuban cigars, promptly shared and smoked with President Kennedy).
At 29, Goodwin was the youngest member of the White House staff. He was characterized by Arthur Schlesinger as “the archetypal New Frontiersman.
Richard Goodwin is perhaps best known as the brash special assistant to Senator, and then President, Kennedy. He was one of JFK’s two main speechwriters and also became the President’s specialist in Latin American Affairs (even once holding a midnight-to-dawn secret meeting with Che Guevara in 1961, from which he returned with a personally imported selection of embargoed Cuban cigars, promptly shared and smoked with President Kennedy).
At 29, Goodwin was the youngest member of the White House staff. He was characterized by Arthur Schlesinger as “the archetypal New Frontiersman.
- 9/25/2019
- by Richard N. Goodwin
- Rollingstone.com
Will Smith has signed on to star in and produce Netflix’s upcoming film “The Council,” the fact-based story of of Nicky Barnes, who led a New York City crime syndicate that ruled Harlem in the ’70s and ’80s. While Barnes has been a secondary character in films before, the new film will be the first to focus squarely on the man and his criminal enterprise. The screenplay was written by journalist and veteran of the biopic genre Peter Landesman. He wrote and directed 2015’s “Concussion,” which stars Smith as a doctor who fights against the NFL over his research on traumatic brain injury, the 2013 post-Kennedy-assassination tale “Parkland,” and Watergate drama “Mark Felt: The Man Who Brought Down the White House.”
Per the film’s official synopsis, “‘The Council’ is the never-before told story of a crime syndicate consisting of seven African-American men who ruled Harlem in the 1970s and early 80s.
Per the film’s official synopsis, “‘The Council’ is the never-before told story of a crime syndicate consisting of seven African-American men who ruled Harlem in the 1970s and early 80s.
- 9/24/2019
- by Chris Lindahl
- Indiewire
A little more than an hour after Elizabeth Warren wrapped up a speech in front of an estimated 20,000 people in Manhattan’s Washington Square Park on Monday night, it took me 276 long strides to reach the end of a line to get a photo taken with the senator from Massachusetts and presidential candidate. In front of an American flag hung vertically under the park’s illuminated arch, Warren had just electrified the crowd with a speech laying out a powerful anti-corruption agenda while solidifying what felt less like a presidential...
- 9/17/2019
- by Ryan Bort
- Rollingstone.com
Ask Norman Lear what the past couple of months have been like for him, and he responds with a joke. “It’s been 60 days of waking up,” he says. “I love that. I love waking up. And I love going to bed too.”
But what the legendary producer really relishes is going to work, and at age 97, Lear is enjoying yet another career renaissance. He won an Emmy on Sept. 14 (making him the oldest winner ever) for “Live in Front of a Studio Audience,” which ABC recently renewed for two more specials. His “One Day at a Time” remake, which had been canceled by Netflix, scored a fourth season at new home Pop TV and is back in production. And with partner Brent Miller, he’s got a number of projects in the pipeline — both original ideas and fresh takes on his classic library.
Lear and Miller have been so prolific that Sony,...
But what the legendary producer really relishes is going to work, and at age 97, Lear is enjoying yet another career renaissance. He won an Emmy on Sept. 14 (making him the oldest winner ever) for “Live in Front of a Studio Audience,” which ABC recently renewed for two more specials. His “One Day at a Time” remake, which had been canceled by Netflix, scored a fourth season at new home Pop TV and is back in production. And with partner Brent Miller, he’s got a number of projects in the pipeline — both original ideas and fresh takes on his classic library.
Lear and Miller have been so prolific that Sony,...
- 9/17/2019
- by Michael Schneider
- Variety Film + TV
Chris Pine is attached to star in a feature film pitch about Richard Nixon lawyer John Dean.
Amazon Studios acquired the pitch and is developing the project about the former White House counsel that served as a central figure in the Watergate scandal. Dean, who served as Nixon's counsel from 1970 to 1973, is known for helping orchestrate the attempted cover-up of Watergate, but later became a witness for the prosecution.
Bob Cooper and his Landscape Entertainment banner are behind the project, along with Billy Ray and his Home Run Productions. Dean will executive produce with his manager Rick ...
Amazon Studios acquired the pitch and is developing the project about the former White House counsel that served as a central figure in the Watergate scandal. Dean, who served as Nixon's counsel from 1970 to 1973, is known for helping orchestrate the attempted cover-up of Watergate, but later became a witness for the prosecution.
Bob Cooper and his Landscape Entertainment banner are behind the project, along with Billy Ray and his Home Run Productions. Dean will executive produce with his manager Rick ...
- 8/19/2019
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Chris Pine is attached to star in a feature film pitch about Richard Nixon lawyer John Dean.
Amazon Studios acquired the pitch and is developing the project about the former White House counsel that served as a central figure in the Watergate scandal. Dean, who served as Nixon's counsel from 1970 to 1973, is known for helping orchestrate the attempted cover-up of Watergate, but later became a witness for the prosecution.
Bob Cooper and his Landscape Entertainment banner are behind the project, along with Billy Ray and his Home Run Productions. Dean will executive produce with his manager Rick ...
Amazon Studios acquired the pitch and is developing the project about the former White House counsel that served as a central figure in the Watergate scandal. Dean, who served as Nixon's counsel from 1970 to 1973, is known for helping orchestrate the attempted cover-up of Watergate, but later became a witness for the prosecution.
Bob Cooper and his Landscape Entertainment banner are behind the project, along with Billy Ray and his Home Run Productions. Dean will executive produce with his manager Rick ...
- 8/19/2019
- The Hollywood Reporter - Film + TV
1976: Martin Scorsese’s Taxi Driver premieres to widespread acclaim, winning the year’s Palme d’Or and solidifying its director’s reputation as one of the foremost representatives of New Hollywood. Amidst rampant corruption in New York City, with crime rates skyrocketing and the city’s debt mounting to unsustainable levels, the movies of the moment seemed to actively reflect the realities at hand. As the conservative myths peddled in the immediate post-war years had come to a crushing end, first tarnished by Vietnam and then fully dispelled by Watergate, traditional Hollywood entertainment needed to keep up with the times—and if the epoch’s defining discontent was to be harnessed by an industry made increasingly precarious by the ever-growing influence of television, then new popular forms were needed. And Scorsese, along with the likes of Coppola, Friedkin, and Cimino, supplied exactly that, introducing modernism into the Hollywood studio system,...
- 5/13/2019
- MUBI
Even as Game of Thrones winds down, HBO has been ramping up another sprawling adaptation of a genre epic that defies almost every traditional expectation about episodic television. It’s Watchmen, based on the namesake comic book epic by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons and published by DC Comics in the 1980s. HBO released the teaser today, you can watch it by clicking on the image above.
Set in an alternate history where superheroes are viewed as outlaws, the new drama from executive producer Damon Lindelof is rooted in the same universe as the source material but strikes out in new directions with unfamiliar characters and a different story to tell. The cast includes: Regina King, Jeremy Irons, Don Johnson, Jean Smart, Tim Blake Nelson, Louis Gossett Jr., Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Hong Chau, Andrew Howard, Tom Mison, Frances Fisher, Jacob Ming-Trent, Sara Vickers, Dylan Schombing, and James Wolk.
Watchmen is...
Set in an alternate history where superheroes are viewed as outlaws, the new drama from executive producer Damon Lindelof is rooted in the same universe as the source material but strikes out in new directions with unfamiliar characters and a different story to tell. The cast includes: Regina King, Jeremy Irons, Don Johnson, Jean Smart, Tim Blake Nelson, Louis Gossett Jr., Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Hong Chau, Andrew Howard, Tom Mison, Frances Fisher, Jacob Ming-Trent, Sara Vickers, Dylan Schombing, and James Wolk.
Watchmen is...
- 5/8/2019
- by Geoff Boucher
- Deadline Film + TV
In a comprehensive report that seems to rival the Washington Post's landmark coverage of the Watergate scandal, writer Elizabeth Evitts Dickinson lays out the facts behind the amazing crime story associated with the theft of Dorothy's slippers from "The Wizard of Oz", which occurred at the Judy Garland Museum in Grand Rapids, Minnesota. Okay, we're being sarcastic about equating this lengthy article to coverage of Watergate, but it is a remarkable account of a bizarre crime. The case caused a frenzy among fans of the film for years and over that period, many police and FBI personnel were involved in solving the case. The rather remarkable tale will undoubtedly be the subject of a movie some day, but for now, sit back and enjoy Dickinson's in-depth report that will take you quite some time to get through. Click here to read.
- 4/30/2019
- by nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro)
- Cinemaretro.com
President Donald Trump called into Hannity on Thursday night. As is usually the case whenever the president and his favorite Fox News personality convene on the air, the “interview” was extremely long — about 45 minutes this time — and incredibly terrifying.
Goaded by Hannity, Trump railed against Special Counsel Mueller’s investigation, which he described as a “coup” to “overthrow the United States government.” He also claimed the “top people” at the FBI were corrupt, and that Hillary Clinton “destroyed the lives” of people working on Trump’s campaign. (Several Trump campaign...
Goaded by Hannity, Trump railed against Special Counsel Mueller’s investigation, which he described as a “coup” to “overthrow the United States government.” He also claimed the “top people” at the FBI were corrupt, and that Hillary Clinton “destroyed the lives” of people working on Trump’s campaign. (Several Trump campaign...
- 4/26/2019
- by Ryan Bort
- Rollingstone.com
Not since Watergate has the media been more relevant — or more reviled by the leader of the free world. And it’s all been good for business: CNN raked in $2.5 billion in revenue in 2018 (the most ever for the network) and Fox News is projected to notch $3 billion in operating revenue by 2020. Meanwhile, The New York Times added more than 265,000 digital subscriptions at the end of 2018 for a total of 3.4 million, its biggest gain since the months immediately after the 2016 election, while The Wall Street Journal’s subs are ...
- 4/11/2019
- The Hollywood Reporter - Film + TV
If the Avengers: Endgame rumors are true and Chris Evans’ Steve Rogers/Captain America doesn’t make it to the credits, it’s going to be a very emotional moment for the McU. Not only is Evans excellent as a character who to many was considered a joke prior to the franchise (I remember skeptically wondering how on Earth they were going to market Captain America to international territories), but he’s also not afraid to stand up for his beliefs.
Evans has a track record on Twitter of criticizing President Donald Trump, a political stance that he recognizes might turn part of the audience against him. And in a recent interview with THR, he opened up a bit about his political beliefs, saying:
“You don’t want to alienate half your audience. But I’d be disappointed in myself if I didn’t speak up. Especially for fear of...
Evans has a track record on Twitter of criticizing President Donald Trump, a political stance that he recognizes might turn part of the audience against him. And in a recent interview with THR, he opened up a bit about his political beliefs, saying:
“You don’t want to alienate half your audience. But I’d be disappointed in myself if I didn’t speak up. Especially for fear of...
- 3/27/2019
- by David James
- We Got This Covered
In the wake of last week’s damning Congressional testimony by Michael Cohen, the president’s former lawyer-fixer, it’s a smart time to search for precedent. Picture a White House mired in scandal and ever-widening investigations. The administration digs in and fights back. An executive wages war on the investigators by dismissing the whole affair as a “witch hunt!” This person also attacks the press as the enemy of the people and the “elites” of the country as traitors. Until suddenly, the case was neatly wrapped up in a...
- 3/6/2019
- by Sean Woods
- Rollingstone.com
Epix is set to launch Slow Burn, a six-episode docuseries based on a hit podcast by the same name, the premium television network announced today at TCA.
From Nixon and Watergate to Clinton’s impeachment, the podcast features host Leon Neyfakh delving into the strange subplots and forgotten characters involved in presidential scandals — flashing back to politically tumultuous times not so far removed from today.
Slate-produced Slow Burn, was named best podcast last month at the first iHeartRadio Podcast Awards.
Season one of the docuseries will mirror that of the podcast by looking back on the Watergate crisis and exploring its parallels with the present.
It is produced in partnership with Left/Right, a Red Arrow Studios company and Slate; with Neyfakh, Ken Druckerman and Banks Tarver for Left/Right and Dan Check, Julia Turner and Gabriel Roth for Slate serving as executive producers.
“With ‘Slow Burn,’ Leon Neyfakh took...
From Nixon and Watergate to Clinton’s impeachment, the podcast features host Leon Neyfakh delving into the strange subplots and forgotten characters involved in presidential scandals — flashing back to politically tumultuous times not so far removed from today.
Slate-produced Slow Burn, was named best podcast last month at the first iHeartRadio Podcast Awards.
Season one of the docuseries will mirror that of the podcast by looking back on the Watergate crisis and exploring its parallels with the present.
It is produced in partnership with Left/Right, a Red Arrow Studios company and Slate; with Neyfakh, Ken Druckerman and Banks Tarver for Left/Right and Dan Check, Julia Turner and Gabriel Roth for Slate serving as executive producers.
“With ‘Slow Burn,’ Leon Neyfakh took...
- 2/10/2019
- by Anita Bennett
- Deadline Film + TV
After decades of countless lies, deeply stupid acts of grandstanding, and ferocious loyalty to criminals and losers, Roger Stone finally is getting credit “for sh*t he actually did,” Samantha Bee celebrated on Full Frontal.
Roger Stone was arrested in a pre-dawn raid on his Florida home last week, and indicted by a grand jury on charges brought by Special Counsel Robert Mueller.
The FBI had to do their raid early in the morning “because that’s when Roger Stone gets back into his coffin for the day” Bee gleefully cheap-shotted.
Bee told her viewers they may know Stone from his work as a Republican, his Bond villain outfits or the tattoo of Richard Nixon he has on his back.
He was arrested for lying to Congress about the fact he communicated with Wikileaks at the request of someone in the Trump campaign; also on a witness tampering charge for...
Roger Stone was arrested in a pre-dawn raid on his Florida home last week, and indicted by a grand jury on charges brought by Special Counsel Robert Mueller.
The FBI had to do their raid early in the morning “because that’s when Roger Stone gets back into his coffin for the day” Bee gleefully cheap-shotted.
Bee told her viewers they may know Stone from his work as a Republican, his Bond villain outfits or the tattoo of Richard Nixon he has on his back.
He was arrested for lying to Congress about the fact he communicated with Wikileaks at the request of someone in the Trump campaign; also on a witness tampering charge for...
- 1/31/2019
- by Lisa de Moraes
- Deadline Film + TV
By Todd Garbarini
The 1970’s were a time of much spookiness and speculation in this country. Unidentified Flying Objects (UFO’s), a publicity-shy Plesiosaur called Nessie steaking out the Scottish Highlands, Sasquatch “sightings”, ghosts, satanic cults, witchcraft, and the threat of nuclear catastrophe highlighted the newspapers when Vietnam, Richard Nixon and Watergate weren’t. Between 1977 and 1982, Leonard Nimoy’s narration provided the basis for nearly 150 speculative and generally outright creepy episodes of In Search Of…Similarly-themed television specials were even categorized by TV Guide as “speculation” in their genre listings. I even recall a scenario in 1979 that was reported in a local newspaper concerning the discovery of ribcages and bowls of blood at a nearby campground. Yikes!
May 1970 saw the release of Hal Lindsey and Carole C. Carlson’s book The Late Great Planet Earth, a grimly-titled caveat in eschatological terms detailing the end of the world and destruction to...
The 1970’s were a time of much spookiness and speculation in this country. Unidentified Flying Objects (UFO’s), a publicity-shy Plesiosaur called Nessie steaking out the Scottish Highlands, Sasquatch “sightings”, ghosts, satanic cults, witchcraft, and the threat of nuclear catastrophe highlighted the newspapers when Vietnam, Richard Nixon and Watergate weren’t. Between 1977 and 1982, Leonard Nimoy’s narration provided the basis for nearly 150 speculative and generally outright creepy episodes of In Search Of…Similarly-themed television specials were even categorized by TV Guide as “speculation” in their genre listings. I even recall a scenario in 1979 that was reported in a local newspaper concerning the discovery of ribcages and bowls of blood at a nearby campground. Yikes!
May 1970 saw the release of Hal Lindsey and Carole C. Carlson’s book The Late Great Planet Earth, a grimly-titled caveat in eschatological terms detailing the end of the world and destruction to...
- 1/28/2019
- by nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro)
- Cinemaretro.com
“From the 1970s on, the United States would seem less and less united with each passing decade” goes the thesis of Fault Lines, the new history from Kevin M. Kruse and Julian E. Zelizer. Based on the authors’ class at Princeton, Fault Lines: A History of the United States Since 1974 reiterates that premise a lot over its 400 pages, but its deep detail and taut-as-a-thriller pacing make up for the repetition.
Beginning with Watergate, the authors detail how the Democratic and — especially — Republican parties moved the country from post-New Deal...
Beginning with Watergate, the authors detail how the Democratic and — especially — Republican parties moved the country from post-New Deal...
- 1/27/2019
- by Michaelangelo Matos
- Rollingstone.com
Charles Ferguson, Werner Herzog titles added to Dogwoof’s Efm slate.
Charles Ferguson’s Watergate and Werner Herzog and Andre Singer’s Meeting Gorbachev have both been picked up by London-based sales agent Dogwoof ahead of next month’s European Film Market in Berlin.
Watergate will make its European premiere in Berlin in the Berlinale Special strand. Following Ferguson’s Oscar-winning Inside Job, about the 2008 financial crisis, Watergate is a 260-minute feature about the political scandal that brought down the presidency of Richard Nixon. Dogwoof will also release the film in the UK in addition to handling international sales rights.
Charles Ferguson’s Watergate and Werner Herzog and Andre Singer’s Meeting Gorbachev have both been picked up by London-based sales agent Dogwoof ahead of next month’s European Film Market in Berlin.
Watergate will make its European premiere in Berlin in the Berlinale Special strand. Following Ferguson’s Oscar-winning Inside Job, about the 2008 financial crisis, Watergate is a 260-minute feature about the political scandal that brought down the presidency of Richard Nixon. Dogwoof will also release the film in the UK in addition to handling international sales rights.
- 1/18/2019
- by Tom Grater
- ScreenDaily
With the 91st Academy Awards upon us, the time feels right to recognize the crucial role that movies have played in our lives, particularly in troubled times.
The first decade of the Oscars brought both the Great Depression and the so-called Golden Age of Hollywood. This was no coincidence. During that bleak period in America, millions would skip a meal and spend their last dime to sit in the dark and be transported to a saner, safer, happier place.
Movies have served as an escape and a refuge ever since. The best of them can also inspire and motivate us. And we desperately could use some inspiration right now.
As this New Year began, a headline in The New Yorker posed the stark question: “Is Optimism Dead in the Trump Era?” The piece went on to note that a combination of factors is undermining that “clean slate” feeling we usually...
The first decade of the Oscars brought both the Great Depression and the so-called Golden Age of Hollywood. This was no coincidence. During that bleak period in America, millions would skip a meal and spend their last dime to sit in the dark and be transported to a saner, safer, happier place.
Movies have served as an escape and a refuge ever since. The best of them can also inspire and motivate us. And we desperately could use some inspiration right now.
As this New Year began, a headline in The New Yorker posed the stark question: “Is Optimism Dead in the Trump Era?” The piece went on to note that a combination of factors is undermining that “clean slate” feeling we usually...
- 1/15/2019
- by John Farr
- The Wrap
Eight-hundred-thousand federal workers weren’t paid on Friday because President Trump says he needs a wall to protect us. His case for continuing the partial government shutdown, repeated once more in his Oval Office fundraising speech last week, is that migrants from Mexico and Central America are poisoning our country with their terrorism, drugs and propensity for rape. It is actually a more anodyne version of the argument that Pat Buchanan made in a syndicated column Sunday, one that Trump celebrated on Twitter for its citation of phony White House statistics about immigrant crime.
- 1/14/2019
- by Jamil Smith
- Rollingstone.com
Susan Zirinsky is a veteran hand at CBS News, having worked there since the days of Watergate. But the actions she takes over the next few months will have more to do with the future of one of the nation’s best-known news outlets, not its past.
CBS on Jan. 6 said Zirinsky would become president and senior executive producer of CBS News, a title that comes with challenges as well as the usual glory. She will assume duties in March, replacing David Rhodes and becoming the first woman to run the storied division. But she takes command of CBS News after more than a year’s worth of turmoil related to fallout from the departure of former anchor Charlie Rose and former CBS CEO Leslie Moonves, both ousted after sexual misconduct allegations that both have denied.
During that time, some of CBS News’ top properties — “CBS This Morning,” “Face the...
CBS on Jan. 6 said Zirinsky would become president and senior executive producer of CBS News, a title that comes with challenges as well as the usual glory. She will assume duties in March, replacing David Rhodes and becoming the first woman to run the storied division. But she takes command of CBS News after more than a year’s worth of turmoil related to fallout from the departure of former anchor Charlie Rose and former CBS CEO Leslie Moonves, both ousted after sexual misconduct allegations that both have denied.
During that time, some of CBS News’ top properties — “CBS This Morning,” “Face the...
- 1/9/2019
- by Brian Steinberg
- Variety Film + TV
Ghost Town AnthologyThe titles for the 69th Berlin International Film Festival are being announced in anticipation of the event running February 7-17, 2019. We will update the program as new films are revealed.COMPETITIONThe Ground Beneath My FeetThe Golden Glove (Faith Akin, Germany/France)By the Grace of GodThe Kindness of StrangersI Was at Home, but A Tale of Three SistersGhost Town Anthology (Denis Côté, Canada)Berlinale SPECIALGully Boy (Zoya Akhtar, India)BrechtWatergate (Charles Ferguson, USA)Panorama 201937 Seconds (Hikari (Mitsuyo Miyazaki), Japan)Dafne (Federico Bondi, Italy)The Day After I'm Gone (Nimrod Eldar, Israel)A Dog Called Money (Seamus Murphy, Ireland/UK)Waiting for the CarnivalChainedFlatland (Jenna Bass, South Africa/Germany/Luxembourg)Greta (Armando Praça, Brazil)Hellhole (Bas Devos, Belgium/Netherlands)Jessica Forever (Caroline Poggi, Jonathan Vinel, France)AcidMid90s (Jonah Hill, USA) Family MembersMonos (Alejandro Landes, Columbia/Argentina/Netherlands/Germany/Denmark/Sweden/Uruguay) O Beautiful Night (Xaver Böhm,...
- 1/2/2019
- MUBI
Nearly every organization President Trump has led in the past decade is under investigation — his administration, campaign, transition, private business and inaugural celebration. They are all either under federal or state scrutiny, subject to a lawsuit, or are being exposed by the press in ways that may put him in future jeopardy. On Tuesday, Trump closed down his personal charity, the Donald J. Trump Foundation, amid allegations from New York’s attorney general, whose investigation found “a shocking pattern of illegality” at the foundation.
The way things are progressing, Trump...
The way things are progressing, Trump...
- 12/19/2018
- by Jamil Smith
- Rollingstone.com
If there’s one thing writer-director Adam McKay’s “Vice” does well, it’s highlight how white mediocrity has thrived in American politics and pop culture. But McKay also does this by way of making a mediocre movie about mediocre politician Dick Cheney played by a surprisingly mediocre Christian Bale. At some point, and at some level, you wish the white mediocrity could be reined in, but it never is.
The first problem with “Vice” is that it assumes its audience is in on its joke, which couldn’t be further from the truth. The film is even prefaced by text across the screen reading that the former vice president was “one of the most secretive leaders in history,” so telling this quasi-true story was more than a little difficult. But, “we f—ing tried.”
Hold on: They’re making a comedy about one of the most polarizing, if not downright vilified,...
The first problem with “Vice” is that it assumes its audience is in on its joke, which couldn’t be further from the truth. The film is even prefaced by text across the screen reading that the former vice president was “one of the most secretive leaders in history,” so telling this quasi-true story was more than a little difficult. But, “we f—ing tried.”
Hold on: They’re making a comedy about one of the most polarizing, if not downright vilified,...
- 12/17/2018
- by Candice Frederick
- The Wrap
Five years ago when Oscar-nominated documentarian Charles Ferguson (“Inside Job”) started deeply researching the 1972 Watergate break-in, he was chasing a documentary thriller that would be fun to watch. A & E and History were on board. But as the political climate dramatically transformed, he wound up with a more sober narrative, which debuted at the fall festivals ahead of an October theatrical run of the four-hour version. On television, the series airs in six one-hour episodes playing over three nights, starting November 2 as part of “History 100,” a History Channel documentary series comprised of 100 films focused on compelling historical events of the last 100 years.
When A&E commissioned “Watergate,” everyone expected Hillary Clinton was going to be president. “We had no idea how timely it would be,” said A&E chief Molly Thompson. “That’s the way things played out. Watching a cut of the film feels like watching the nightly news.
When A&E commissioned “Watergate,” everyone expected Hillary Clinton was going to be president. “We had no idea how timely it would be,” said A&E chief Molly Thompson. “That’s the way things played out. Watching a cut of the film feels like watching the nightly news.
- 11/3/2018
- by Anne Thompson
- Thompson on Hollywood
Five years ago when Oscar-nominated documentarian Charles Ferguson (“Inside Job”) started deeply researching the 1972 Watergate break-in, he was chasing a documentary thriller that would be fun to watch. A & E and History were on board. But as the political climate dramatically transformed, he wound up with a more sober narrative, which debuted at the fall festivals ahead of an October theatrical run of the four-hour version. On television, the series airs in six one-hour episodes playing over three nights, starting November 2 as part of “History 100,” a History Channel documentary series comprised of 100 films focused on compelling historical events of the last 100 years.
When A&E commissioned “Watergate,” everyone expected Hillary Clinton was going to be president. “We had no idea how timely it would be,” said A&E chief Molly Thompson. “That’s the way things played out. Watching a cut of the film feels like watching the nightly news.
When A&E commissioned “Watergate,” everyone expected Hillary Clinton was going to be president. “We had no idea how timely it would be,” said A&E chief Molly Thompson. “That’s the way things played out. Watching a cut of the film feels like watching the nightly news.
- 11/3/2018
- by Anne Thompson
- Indiewire
One of the best things about Beastie Boys Book, the massive memoir being released this week, is how wildly overstuffed it is with jokes, insights and unexpected voices. It’s mostly made up of incredible first-person memories from Adam Horovitz and Michael Diamond, but there are also interjections from friends like Wes Anderson, Luc Sante and Amy Poehler; a recipe section from chef Roy Choi; a photo scrapbook from Spike Jonze; a short graphic-novel chapter; and lots more. “We wanted to have it be different, with little chapters about different things,...
- 10/30/2018
- by Simon Vozick-Levinson
- Rollingstone.com
Here’s how it’s always worked, the traditional go-to method for diving down the barrel of the smoking gun: You film a close-up of reel-to-reel tapes, the rotating wheels moving the magnetic strips through the player’s gates. Maybe you focus on the spindles in the middle of the cassette, turning and turning, as well. You play the grainy, tinny voices of men over the soundtrack, as they discuss payments, political cover-ups, the media and, courtesy of one particularly gruff-sounding gentleman, “the goddamned Jews.” This is how the notorious...
- 10/12/2018
- by David Fear
- Rollingstone.com
The 70s brought forth some well-remembered TV horror movies, that shocked impressionable kids back in the days of Watergate and Sonny & Cher. Karen Black top lines Dan Curtis’s trio of malevolent tales, all from original stories by Richard Matheson.
Trilogy of Terror
Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1975 / Color / 1:37 flat television / 72 min. / Street Date October 16, 2018 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95
Starring: Karen Black, Robert Burton, John Karlen, George Gaynes, Jim Storm, Gregory Harrison, Kathryn Reynolds, Tracy Curtis.
Cinematography: Paul Lohmann
Film Editor: Les Green
Original Music: Bob Cobert
Written by Richard Matheson, William F. Nolan
Produced and Directed by Dan Curtis
As a celebrated horror phenomenon Dan Curtis pretty much passed me by. I know that TV’s Dark Shadows entranced a generation of horror-starved TV fans, but little that I’ve seen from the producer-director made a dent with me, including his feature films and his TV movies of horror classics.
Trilogy of Terror
Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1975 / Color / 1:37 flat television / 72 min. / Street Date October 16, 2018 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95
Starring: Karen Black, Robert Burton, John Karlen, George Gaynes, Jim Storm, Gregory Harrison, Kathryn Reynolds, Tracy Curtis.
Cinematography: Paul Lohmann
Film Editor: Les Green
Original Music: Bob Cobert
Written by Richard Matheson, William F. Nolan
Produced and Directed by Dan Curtis
As a celebrated horror phenomenon Dan Curtis pretty much passed me by. I know that TV’s Dark Shadows entranced a generation of horror-starved TV fans, but little that I’ve seen from the producer-director made a dent with me, including his feature films and his TV movies of horror classics.
- 10/9/2018
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Other titles include Bad Times At El Royale and Park Chan-Wook series The Little Drummer Girl;
The 13th Rome Film Fest (18-28 October) has unveiled its line-up. It will feature in its non-competitive official selection 38 films, including the world premieres of Fede Alvarez’s The Girl In The Spider’s Web with Claire Foy and Gilles De Maistre’s Mia Et Le Lion Blanc, featuring Melanie Laurent.
Scroll down for the full line-up
Opening with Drew Goddard’s Bad Times At El Royale, Antonio Monda’s fourth edition confirms itself as a “fest” and not a “festival” as the director specifies.
The 13th Rome Film Fest (18-28 October) has unveiled its line-up. It will feature in its non-competitive official selection 38 films, including the world premieres of Fede Alvarez’s The Girl In The Spider’s Web with Claire Foy and Gilles De Maistre’s Mia Et Le Lion Blanc, featuring Melanie Laurent.
Scroll down for the full line-up
Opening with Drew Goddard’s Bad Times At El Royale, Antonio Monda’s fourth edition confirms itself as a “fest” and not a “festival” as the director specifies.
- 10/5/2018
- by Gabriele Niola
- ScreenDaily
Daniel Patrick Moynihan was one of those supreme American figures who made looking like a creature of contradiction seem the quintessential way to be. His contradictions were luminous, larger-than-life, and he wore them with a tall, puckishly smiling Irish pride. He carried himself like a patrician — the bow tie, the mop of gray hair falling into his eyes, the preternaturally precise diction — but, in fact, Moynihan grew up in Hell’s Kitchen during the Depression. (He devoted much of his public service to eradicating poverty because he’d known the sting of it.) He was a wonkishly effusive Ivy League academic, but he relished the hurly-burly of combat politics. He was a liberal Democrat who, in 1969, went to work for Richard Nixon (against the furious protests of his wife and many others). If he could have surveyed the perilous divisions that define American politics today, he would have said something like,...
- 10/3/2018
- by Owen Gleiberman
- Variety Film + TV
Garry Trudeau marked Donald Trump as a con man early on. The Pulitzer Prize winning writer and illustrator of Doonesbury has mocked Trump relentlessly since the 1980s, homing in on the then real-estate mogul’s insatiable appetite for attention and penchant for lying, a body of work that was anthologized in Trudeau’s 2016 bestseller, Yuge!: 30 Years of Doonesbury on Trump. This month, Trudeau is out with a sequel, #Sad!: Doonesbury in the Time of Trump, a tragic comedy collection about the first 500 days of Trump’s presidency.
Trump...
Trump...
- 9/25/2018
- by Sean Woods
- Rollingstone.com
The “Slow Burn” podcast, which has covered Watergate and the Clinton-Lewinsky scandal, seems like a natural candidate to transition into a television show — and host Leon Neyfakh says it could happen.
On our latest “Shoot This Now” podcast, he tells us what episode of “Slow Burn” seems like the easiest to adapt to the screen. You can listen on Apple or right here:
“We’ve had some conversations with people, mostly on the TV side,” Neyfakh said. “Nothing to report yet, but I’ve always felt that there were… a bunch of different movies that could be picked out of these episodes.
Also Read: 'Better Call Saul' Boss Peter Gould Wrote a Clinton-Lewinsky Movie - With Shadow Puppets (Podcast)
He said one episode in particular, from Season 1, is “”the biggest no-brainer to me.” It involves a fascinating woman who could provide a complete different viewpoint into the Watergate...
On our latest “Shoot This Now” podcast, he tells us what episode of “Slow Burn” seems like the easiest to adapt to the screen. You can listen on Apple or right here:
“We’ve had some conversations with people, mostly on the TV side,” Neyfakh said. “Nothing to report yet, but I’ve always felt that there were… a bunch of different movies that could be picked out of these episodes.
Also Read: 'Better Call Saul' Boss Peter Gould Wrote a Clinton-Lewinsky Movie - With Shadow Puppets (Podcast)
He said one episode in particular, from Season 1, is “”the biggest no-brainer to me.” It involves a fascinating woman who could provide a complete different viewpoint into the Watergate...
- 9/20/2018
- by Tim Molloy
- The Wrap
Legendary reporter Bob Woodward spoke about cultivating sources within President Donald Trump’s administration for his new book, Fear, during an interview with Stephen Colbert on The Late Show Monday.
Over the course of his career, Woodward has covered multiple presidents and written 19 books that often contain explosive information about the inner-workings of the White House. After several decades of stunning scoops, Woodward said he’s still able to convince top officials to speak to him using a mixture of patience, flattery and tenacity.
“I remember going to one general...
Over the course of his career, Woodward has covered multiple presidents and written 19 books that often contain explosive information about the inner-workings of the White House. After several decades of stunning scoops, Woodward said he’s still able to convince top officials to speak to him using a mixture of patience, flattery and tenacity.
“I remember going to one general...
- 9/11/2018
- by Jon Blistein
- Rollingstone.com
Washington — Can a judge issue a subpoena for a sitting president in a criminal investigation? Can a president be indicted by a grand jury? Can a commander-in-chief pardon himself?
These questions speak to the issue of executive power, and they’re more important than ever given the legal troubles and disregard for the rule of law exhibited by Donald Trump. As you’d expect, they’ve loomed large over Judge Brett Kavanaugh’s Supreme Court confirmation hearings this week. Yet Kavanaugh has done his best to duck these questions and...
These questions speak to the issue of executive power, and they’re more important than ever given the legal troubles and disregard for the rule of law exhibited by Donald Trump. As you’d expect, they’ve loomed large over Judge Brett Kavanaugh’s Supreme Court confirmation hearings this week. Yet Kavanaugh has done his best to duck these questions and...
- 9/5/2018
- by Andy Kroll
- Rollingstone.com
There’s a bit of a shock when the late John McCain shows up as an interview subject toward the end of Charles Ferguson’s “Watergate,” a comprehensive but frustratingly inessential retelling of how a crime blossomed into a constitutional crisis (you might have read about it). The senator isn’t on screen for long, but it only takes him a few seconds to summarize a profound truth at the heart of this epic documentary: “One thing we politicians are very good at,” he says with a smile, “is kidding ourselves about how well-liked we are.” McCain is talking about Richard Nixon, but — after four hours of watching this film painstakingly connect the dots between then and now — it’s obvious that he’s not only talking about Richard Nixon. Nobody is.
No matter how deep into the weeds Ferguson gets, there isn’t a minute of this movie that...
No matter how deep into the weeds Ferguson gets, there isn’t a minute of this movie that...
- 8/31/2018
- by David Ehrlich
- Indiewire
John Dean knows what it’s like for a scandal with the power to destroy a president to stalk the White House. Dean served as White House Counsel under President Nixon and can testify to the enormous toll that lying, deflecting, hiding and obstructing took on him and his colleagues following the 1972 Watergate break-in. A few months after Nixon fired him, in 1973, Dean testified before the Senate and became the first member of the Nixon administration to directly implicate the president in the cover-up. After serving four months for conspiracy to obstruct justice,...
- 7/18/2018
- by Seth Hettena
- Rollingstone.com
John Dean knows what it’s like for a scandal with the power to destroy a president to stalk the White House. Dean served as White House Counsel under President Nixon and can testify to the enormous toll that lying, deflecting, hiding and obstructing took on him and his colleagues following the 1972 Watergate break-in. A few months after Nixon fired him, in 1973, Dean testified before the Senate and became the first member of the Nixon administration to directly implicate the president in the coverup. After serving four months for conspiracy to obstruct justice,...
- 7/18/2018
- by Seth Hettena
- Rollingstone.com
When it comes to social-issue documentaries, Netflix has the market cornered. In recent years, the streaming platform’s original documentaries and docuseries have tackled everything under the sun, from business and politics to drug abuse and public-health crises.
For Netflix’s newest installment, “Recovery Boys,” Academy Award–nominated director Elaine McMillion Sheldon (“Heroin(e)”) delivers a revealing look at the opioid epidemic through the lens of four young men struggling to move on after years of addiction. Available to stream now on Netflix, the film tracks the men, newly sober, as they undergo a traumatic recovery process at a farming-based rehabilitation center and the distressing years that follow.
Today, with all eyes on the opioid crisis, Sheldon’s documentary provides something rare and valuable: an intimate study of progress and pain that serves to humanize rather than alienate. Here are five more Netflix documentaries that take a deep dive into contemporary social issues,...
For Netflix’s newest installment, “Recovery Boys,” Academy Award–nominated director Elaine McMillion Sheldon (“Heroin(e)”) delivers a revealing look at the opioid epidemic through the lens of four young men struggling to move on after years of addiction. Available to stream now on Netflix, the film tracks the men, newly sober, as they undergo a traumatic recovery process at a farming-based rehabilitation center and the distressing years that follow.
Today, with all eyes on the opioid crisis, Sheldon’s documentary provides something rare and valuable: an intimate study of progress and pain that serves to humanize rather than alienate. Here are five more Netflix documentaries that take a deep dive into contemporary social issues,...
- 7/6/2018
- by Indiewire Staff
- Indiewire
If you’re looking to take a break from high temps or stay home and cocoon with your fireworks-fearing pup, you can celebrate the nation’s independence, be entertained, and maybe even learn something at the same time. Check out these 10 movies and shows streaming now that will have you mastering U.S. history in no time.
Founding Fathers: “Drunk History”
Season 2, Episode 8: Thomas Jefferson and John Adams Had Beef
The premise behind “Drunk History” is simple: What if your history teacher preached the most interesting aspects of history, but did it after finishing off too many IPAs before class started? By far one of the best segments happens during the second episode of Season 2, where Patrick Walsh struggles and slurs his way through the story of how lifelong friends and founding fathers Thomas Jefferson and John Adams became bitter enemies over the course of the 1800 presidential election. In...
Founding Fathers: “Drunk History”
Season 2, Episode 8: Thomas Jefferson and John Adams Had Beef
The premise behind “Drunk History” is simple: What if your history teacher preached the most interesting aspects of history, but did it after finishing off too many IPAs before class started? By far one of the best segments happens during the second episode of Season 2, where Patrick Walsh struggles and slurs his way through the story of how lifelong friends and founding fathers Thomas Jefferson and John Adams became bitter enemies over the course of the 1800 presidential election. In...
- 7/3/2018
- by Ellis Clopton
- Variety Film + TV
Donald Trump was “up off the rails bright and early this morning, peddling his latest paranoid conspiracy theory,” Jimmy Kimmel told Jimmy Kimmel Live viewers.
Trump tweeted about the FBI putting a spy in his campaign multiple times, including random quotes from random Fox News contributors, and unveiled a new nickname for his imaginary controversy: Spygate!
Trump tweeted that Spygate could be one of the biggest political scandals in history,” Kimmel marveled. Which Trump followed with the classic: “Witch Hunt!”
“He always does the greatest hits,” Kimmel explained, adding, “Donald Trump tweets like The Hulk speaks.”
Kimmel believes Trump “appears to have the world’s most suggestible brain.”
“He watches Fox & Friends blather on about a negative New Yorker article and then, eight minutes later, we get a tweet saying Congress should burn all the magazines. He’s like a largemouth bass – he doesn’t think, he just strikes when he’s annoyed.
Trump tweeted about the FBI putting a spy in his campaign multiple times, including random quotes from random Fox News contributors, and unveiled a new nickname for his imaginary controversy: Spygate!
Trump tweeted that Spygate could be one of the biggest political scandals in history,” Kimmel marveled. Which Trump followed with the classic: “Witch Hunt!”
“He always does the greatest hits,” Kimmel explained, adding, “Donald Trump tweets like The Hulk speaks.”
Kimmel believes Trump “appears to have the world’s most suggestible brain.”
“He watches Fox & Friends blather on about a negative New Yorker article and then, eight minutes later, we get a tweet saying Congress should burn all the magazines. He’s like a largemouth bass – he doesn’t think, he just strikes when he’s annoyed.
- 5/24/2018
- by Lisa de Moraes
- Deadline Film + TV
Don Lemon has drawn a thin blue line when it comes to covering the Trump administration: He’s unfollowed the president on Twitter.
The longtime CNN anchor disclosed during a keynote address Friday at Variety‘s Ent and Tech summit in New York that he took the step of dropping President Donald Trump from his Twitter feed as part of an effort to ease up his focus on Twitter in general.
“Why do I need that?” Lemon said of following Trump, noting that he has no shortage of sources that provide him news bulletins of the President’s social media missives. Lemon said he’s found Twitter is becoming “such an echo chamber” of outrage for all manner of political perspectives.
.@DonLemon: "Twitter is a toxic waste zone, it's an echo chamber" | #VarietyEntTech https://t.co/p7sI8g8IRa pic.twitter.com/4e4CmwoNja
— Variety (@Variety) May 4, 2018
“If Twitter...
The longtime CNN anchor disclosed during a keynote address Friday at Variety‘s Ent and Tech summit in New York that he took the step of dropping President Donald Trump from his Twitter feed as part of an effort to ease up his focus on Twitter in general.
“Why do I need that?” Lemon said of following Trump, noting that he has no shortage of sources that provide him news bulletins of the President’s social media missives. Lemon said he’s found Twitter is becoming “such an echo chamber” of outrage for all manner of political perspectives.
.@DonLemon: "Twitter is a toxic waste zone, it's an echo chamber" | #VarietyEntTech https://t.co/p7sI8g8IRa pic.twitter.com/4e4CmwoNja
— Variety (@Variety) May 4, 2018
“If Twitter...
- 5/4/2018
- by Cynthia Littleton
- Variety Film + TV
Steven Spielberg’s excellent Pentagon Papers exposé thriller comes straight from the facts. If the project wasn’t begun in 2014 we’d think it was a direct response to today’s attacks on the news media. We’ll take it as that anyway. It’s a fine performing showcase for Meryl Streep and Tom Hanks, and the direction creates exciting drama without a single car chase, assassination attempt or superhero.
The Post
Blu-ray + DVD + Digital
20th Fox
2017 / Color /1:85 widescreen / 116 min. / Street Date April 17, 2018 / 34.99
Starring: Meryl Streep, Tom Hanks, Sarah Paulson, Bob Odenkirk, Tracy Letts, Bradley Whitford, Bruce Greenwood, Matthew Rhys, Alison Brie, Carrie Coon, Jesse Plemons, Michael Stuhlbarg.
Cinematography: Janusz Kaminsky
Film Editors: Michael Kahn, Sarah Broshar
Original Music: John Williams
Written by Liz Hannah, Josh Singer
Produced by Kristie Macosko Krieger, Amy Pascal, Steven Spielberg
Directed by Steven Spielberg
Imagine that — a new movie with almost no characters under thirty years of age.
The Post
Blu-ray + DVD + Digital
20th Fox
2017 / Color /1:85 widescreen / 116 min. / Street Date April 17, 2018 / 34.99
Starring: Meryl Streep, Tom Hanks, Sarah Paulson, Bob Odenkirk, Tracy Letts, Bradley Whitford, Bruce Greenwood, Matthew Rhys, Alison Brie, Carrie Coon, Jesse Plemons, Michael Stuhlbarg.
Cinematography: Janusz Kaminsky
Film Editors: Michael Kahn, Sarah Broshar
Original Music: John Williams
Written by Liz Hannah, Josh Singer
Produced by Kristie Macosko Krieger, Amy Pascal, Steven Spielberg
Directed by Steven Spielberg
Imagine that — a new movie with almost no characters under thirty years of age.
- 5/3/2018
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Watching Jack Bryan’s explosive documentary “Active Measures,” about Russia’s espionage program and the effect it had on the 2016 U.S. presidential election, could be likened to watching a 21st century version of Watergate.
The film, debuting at Hot Docs film festival in Toronto Monday features archival footage and a bevy of interviews with key Washington figures including former CIA director James Woolsey, former United States Ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul, former F.B.I. special agent Clint Watts, Hillary Clinton and John McCain. Via these interviews “Active Measures” constructs a powerful argument as to how Soviet modern warfare tactics – “active measures” — shifted the 2016 U.S. presidential elections and weakened Western democracy. The film also meticulously documents Trump’s problematic financial relationship with the Russian oligarchy that began decades ago.
“Russians have a particular type of mark who they go after,” explains one of the film’s interview subjects, senator Sheldon Whitehouse.
The film, debuting at Hot Docs film festival in Toronto Monday features archival footage and a bevy of interviews with key Washington figures including former CIA director James Woolsey, former United States Ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul, former F.B.I. special agent Clint Watts, Hillary Clinton and John McCain. Via these interviews “Active Measures” constructs a powerful argument as to how Soviet modern warfare tactics – “active measures” — shifted the 2016 U.S. presidential elections and weakened Western democracy. The film also meticulously documents Trump’s problematic financial relationship with the Russian oligarchy that began decades ago.
“Russians have a particular type of mark who they go after,” explains one of the film’s interview subjects, senator Sheldon Whitehouse.
- 4/30/2018
- by Addie Morfoot
- Variety Film + TV
Washington — William Friedkin returned to Washington last week to talk about his latest project — “The Devil and Father Amorth,” a documentary project that explores real-life exorcisms.
In it, Friedkin witnesses and films an exorcism in Italy in 2016, of a young Italian woman named Christina who believed that she was possessed. The experience was different from what was portrayed in Friedkin’s 1973 classic, “The Exorcist,” but he says that it was still very chilling.
“I had to consider whether or not I wanted to show this, but I ultimately felt that I had seen it and people should see it,” Friedkin tells Variety‘s “PopPolitics” on SiriusXM.
Several years ago, Friedkin was in Italy and met with Father Gabriele Amorth, then regarded as the foremost Catholic authority on exorcisms, and Amorth agreed to let him witness one and to shoot it, on the condition that it only be with a small camera and no lighting.
In it, Friedkin witnesses and films an exorcism in Italy in 2016, of a young Italian woman named Christina who believed that she was possessed. The experience was different from what was portrayed in Friedkin’s 1973 classic, “The Exorcist,” but he says that it was still very chilling.
“I had to consider whether or not I wanted to show this, but I ultimately felt that I had seen it and people should see it,” Friedkin tells Variety‘s “PopPolitics” on SiriusXM.
Several years ago, Friedkin was in Italy and met with Father Gabriele Amorth, then regarded as the foremost Catholic authority on exorcisms, and Amorth agreed to let him witness one and to shoot it, on the condition that it only be with a small camera and no lighting.
- 4/23/2018
- by Ted Johnson
- Variety Film + TV
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