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When Timothée Chalamet gets out of the car in Manhattan at the start of A Complete Unknown, he’s already the iconic Bob Dylan—dressed from head to toe in corduroy that’s too big for him, a scarf that isn’t warm enough for the winter, and carrying little but a guitar case.

In a revealing anecdote after the first screening of his latest biopic A Complete Unknown, James Mangold relayed the question posed to him by Bob Dylan: “So what is this movie about?” It’s a fair inquiry, especially for a legendary figure whose profound resonance has been felt in cinema just as it has in music. In documentary form, his presence has been the focus of D.A. Pennebaker’s seminal direct-cinema film Dont Look Back, no fewer than two Martin Scorsese documentaries (No Direction Home and Rolling Thunder Revue), and his own Eat the Document. His fictional representations are also considerable: the highlight is likely Todd Haynes’s I’m Not There––which forms a definitive statement precisely because its mélange of faces and styles refuses to settle on one interpretation of the musician––though Dylan also put forth offbeat and personal efforts like Renaldo and Clara and Masked & Anonymous.

Bob Dylan is an artist with such a profound influence on the development of American culture throughout the 20th century that to pin down his entire existence with just one film would be impossible. Although many of Dylans songs are used regularly in recent films and television shows, hes a compelling screen presence in his own right, having appeared in such peculiar projects as Masked and Anonymous and Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid that have subsequently become cult classics. Although James Mangold and Timothee Chalemet are the latest to attempt a straightforward biopic with this falls A Complete Unknown, the best film about Dylans rise to prominence is the 1967 documentary Dont Look Back.

With the Joan Baez documentary opening to a wider release this weekend, the legendary folk singer was joined by self-proclaimed acolyte Lana Del Rey at a screening for I Am a Noise Friday at Los Angeles’ Nuart Theatre for a conversation about the film and Baez’ legacy.

“The emotion you portray when you were 18 and now throughout the film is so relatable that it’s just been massively acclaimed already,” Del Rey said to Baez — who she called “the toughest woman I have ever met” and a “lioness” — in her opening comments.

Moonage Daydream, a film about David Bowie, opens with “Hallo Spaceboy,” a deep cut from his 1995 album Outside. It’s clear from the use of this song that Brett Morgen isn’t making a traditional documentary about the Thin White Duke.

“I was completely trolling,” admits Morgen.

But the use of a relatively obscure industrial track from later in Bowie’s career illustrates what the director is trying to achieve. He’s looking to tell the story of Bowie’s work as an experience or a feeling, full of “chaos” and “fragmentation,” rather than a chronological, visual biography. This is something that many music documentaries don’t attempt.

Morgen says there are plenty of books and other documentaries about David Bowie that tell this version of the story.

“What can I offer that you can’t get in Wikipedia? It’s an experience. It’s something intangible. What’s great...

An accurate measure of great music would probably be connected to longevity. In other words the notion that an individual song or album will sound as rewarding after the 20th play as the first, or more relevantly for this documentary, as exciting 20 years after the more innocent days of 2002.

For the music and music scene on display in Meet Me in the Bathroom––a documentary chronicle of NYC’s turn-of-the-millennium indie-band boom directed by British duo Will Lovelace and Dylan Southern (who also made LCD Soundsystem study Shut Up and Play the Hits)––a vital attribute, as opposed to mere quality, is “cool.” And viewing this film conjures flicking leftwards, rather than rightwards, on your Facebook profile picture, cringing slightly at those low-resolution mementos from the mid-00s. If “good” is more arguable, the likes of the Strokes, Interpol, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, and LCD now seem conclusively uncool while the...

An array of the most acclaimed documentaries of the last 50 years bear the stamp of one singular talent: Joan Churchill, filmmaker and cinematographer.

Her first credit, in 1970, came as a camera operator on Gimme Shelter, the classic documentary about the Rolling Stones at Altamont directed by the Maysles Brothers and Charlotte Zwerin. She’s been shooting films ever since, including Jimi at Berkeley (1971); Chuck Berry: Hail! Hail! Rock ‘n’ Roll (1987); Kurt & Courtney (1998); Biggie & Tupac (2002); Shut Up & Sing, the 2006 doc about the Dixie Chicks, and the Oscar-nominated Last Days in Vietnam (2014).

She also co-directed a number of award-winning films with her former husband Nick Broomfield, including Soldier Girls (1981); Lily Tomlin (1986); Aileen: Life and Death of a Serial Killer (2003), and 2011’s Sarah Palin: You Betcha!

In honor of her career in cinema, Churchill is being recognized with the Lifetime Achievement Award at Doc NYC, the country’s largest all-documentary festival, which opens today.

Singer-songwriter Billie Eilish is not even out of her teens and she has already won awards in the Grammys’ top four categories: Album of the Year, Record of the Year, Song of the Year, and Best New Artist.

She’s achieved something else rare for someone her age—having a documentary made about her by a major filmmaker. Emmy winner R.J. Cutler went behind the lens for Billie Eilish: The World’s A Little Blurry, the Apple TV+ film that’s now in contention for Emmy consideration.

It’s a portrait of the artist as a young woman, illuminating Eilish’s creative process, her close relationship with older brother Finneas O’Connell, with whom she makes music, and her parents. It also explores the way she has negotiated fame, and depressive tendencies that she doesn’t conceal.

“I feel the dark things,” Elish says at one point in the film. “I feel them very strongly.

After a hiatus as theaters in New York City and beyond closed their doors during the pandemic, we’re delighted to announce the return of NYC Weekend Watch, our weekly round-up of repertory offerings. While many theaters are still focused on a selection of new releases, there’s a handful of worthwhile repertory screenings taking place.

Paris Theater

A Bob Dylan retrospective is now underway through June 7, with Dont Look Back, No Direction Home, The Last Waltz, and more.

Film Forum

A new restoration of Ealing comedy classic The Ladykillers opens while the new restorations of Federico Fellini’s 8 1/2 and Jacques Deray’s La Piscine are playing daily.

Quad Cinema

A “Celebrate Pride” series is underway with Girls Will Be Girls, Straight-Jacket, and more.

Film at Lincoln Center

The new restoration of In the Mood for Love continues playing daily.

Museum of the Moving Image

2001: A Space Odyssey,...

Moby is an unconventional character.

He’s a punk rocker, a man who once, briefly fronted legendary band Flipper, but became a household name with his electronic music. He’s a man who has released two memoirs but still admires reclusive artists. He’s friends with David Lynch and was close to David Bowie.

He references Werner Herzog and Thomas Pynchon. He has seen a lot of music documentaries.

He has now made his own, Moby Doc, a film that is told in an unconventional way. There are no talking heads, other than Lynch, and sometimes Moby himself talking on the telephone or to his therapist.

Moby knows there are plenty of bad music documentaries out there, particularly now with the glut of PR promo-packets disguised as films that are flying around on streaming services.

As he tells Deadline below, he and director Rob Bralver, threw out the first cut of the film,...

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There’s really nothing like a good music documentary. Rivaled only by maybe true crime and movie documentaries, music-based films are great because they show the story behind the stories of our favorite artists, songs, bands, and record labels.

When you love documentaries the best place to find them all together is a streaming platform. Netflix reigns supreme, but there are a lot of other options out there at a cheaper price. From Hulu to Amazon Prime, HBO Max, Showtime, and Paramount+, you can enjoy tens of thousands of movies and TV series from your TV, phone, and other streaming devices for under $20 a month. Hulu is the most affordable option out of...

I’m excited to share the new trailer and poster for ‘Don’T Look Back’ — from the creator of ‘Final Destination’. Jeffrey Reddick’s ‘Don’T Book Back’ will be released this October 16th in theaters and on demand. The horror-thriller stars Kourtney Bell, Bryan Batt, Will Stout, Skyler Hart, Jeremy Holm, Jaqueline Fleming, Amanda Grace Benitez, Damon …

The post Trailer From the Creator of ‘Final Destination’ – ‘Don’T Look Back’ appeared first on Horror News | Hnn.

Genre festival to open with ‘Train To Busan Presents: Peninsula’.

South Korean zombie thriller Train To Busan Presents: Peninsula will open UK genre festival FrightFest on October 22 ahead of its UK release by Studiocanal on November 6.

The festival will host 34 features in central London from October 22-25 and has secured seven world premieres and two European premieres.

It will close with the world premiere of US horror Held, directed by Chris Lofing and Travis Cluff, the filmmaking duo behind The Gallows franchise.

Further world premieres include Will Jewell’s Concrete Plans; Leroy Kincaide’s The Last Rite; and Dune Drifter from Marc Price,...

"What if my actions are coming back to haunt me?" Gravitas Ventures has released an official trailer for an indie horror film called Don't Look Back, marking the feature directorial debut of a filmmaker named Jeffrey Reddick, who created the Final Destination franchise and wrote the scripts for all of the sequels, too. This time he toys with the "Good Samaritan" concept: when a young woman overcoming her traumatic past is among several witnesses who see a man fatally assaulted and don't intervene, they find themselves targeted by someone, or something, out for revenge. Or is there something more going on? Kourtney Bell stars as Caitlin, along with Bryan Batt, Will Stout, Skyler Hart, Jeremy Holm, Jaqueline Fleming, Amanda Grace Benitez, Damon Lipari, and Han Soto. At first glance, this seems like I Know What You Did Last Summer meets Final Destination, with a few extra intriguing supernatural twists. Take a look.

Don’T Look Back — from the creator of ‘Final Destination’. Jeffrey Reddick, will be released this October 16th in theaters and on demand. The horror-thriller stars Kourtney Bell, Bryan Batt, Will Stout, Skyler Hart, Jeremy Holm, Jaqueline Fleming, Amanda Grace Benitez, Damon Lipari, Han Soto, Dean J. West and Stephen Twardokus.

Here’s the trailer:

Caitlin Kramer, a woman overcoming a tragic past, is among several people who see a man being fatally assaulted. When the witnesses start dying mysteriously, she must unearth if they’re being targeted by a killer or something far more insidious.

The post Check Out the Trailer for Don’T Look Back – Coming October 16th From the Creator of Final Destination appeared first on We Are Movie Geeks.

Exclusive: Kamikaze Dogfight and Gravitas Ventures have co-acquired U.S. rights to Don’t Look Back, written and directed by Final Destination creator Jeffrey Reddick. The pic, which serves as Reddick’s directorial debut, will now bow October 16 in theaters and on demand.

Kourtney Bell stars as Caitlin Kramer, a woman overcoming a tragic past who is among several people who see a man being fatally assaulted. When the witnesses start dying mysteriously, she must unearth if they’re being targeted by a killer or something far more insidious. Bryan Batt, Will Stout, Skyler Hart, Jeremy Holm, Jaqueline Fleming, Amanda Grace Benitez, Damon Lipari, Han Soto, Dean J. West and Stephen Twardokus also star.

“As he did with Final Destination, Jeffrey has created a terrifying framework for his characters to meet a gruesome end, and in doing so issues a timely warning against standing idly by while others suffer,” said Tony Piantedosi,...

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By Hank Reineke

Director/co-writer Larry Charles acknowledges it was an employer - the curmudgeon-comedian Larry David, who unwittingly served as the midwife of the Masked and Anonymous project. David’s disinterest in popular music – and rock n’ roll music specifically - was no secret. Cornered and trapped in a one-sided conversation with the passionate and gregarious television writer and music fan Eddie Gorodetsky, the co-creator of Seinfeld and Curb Your Enthusiasm was anxious to escape the conversation. He suggested to Gorodetsky his interest in discussing the vagaries of Bob Dylan’s mercurial career - and the rock n’ roll world in general - would be better served by engaging in a chat with Curb writer-director Charles. Gorodetsky did just that. He soon discovered both he and Charles were huge Dylan fans, the two discussing the often mysterious singer-songwriter’s career at length.

Welcome back to Intermission, a spin-off podcast from The Film Stage Show. In a time when arthouse theaters are hurting more than ever and there are a plethora of streaming options at your fingertips, we wanted to introduce new conversations that put a specific focus on the films that are foundational or perhaps overlooked in cinephile culture. Led by yours truly, Michael Snydel, Intermission is a 1-on-1 supplementary discussion podcast that focuses on one arthouse, foreign, or experimental film per episode as picked by the guest.

For our eighth episode, I talked to film critic Kyle Turner, about D.A. Pennebaker’s 1970 documentary Original Cast Album: Company, which is exclusively available on The Criterion Channel. Originally conceived as a pilot, the film recounts parts of the laborious 16-hour recording process of the cast album for Sondheim’s musical Company. Of a piece with Pennebaker’s other cinematic explorations of larger-than-life...

Back in 1984, Rob Reiner teamed up with Christopher Guest, Michael McKean, and Harry Shearer to revolutionize film comedy with one of Hollywood's first mockumentaries, This is Spinal Tap. Satirically lampooning rockumentaries like Gimme Shelter and Don’t Look Back, which were very popular at the time, This is Spinal Tap captured the imaginations of fans of rock, fans of comedy, and especially fans of both rock and comedy.

Related: 10 Quotes From This Is Spinal Tap That Go Up To Eleven

The movie is the source of dozens of quotable lines and memorable gags, and it’s one of the comedy genre’s defining classics. Here are 10 interesting details from the making of This is Spinal Tap.

Coldplay’s Chris Martin performed an acoustic rendition of Bob Dylan’s “Shelter From the Storm” as musical guest on the first Saturday Night Live At Home episode.

With “Entrance to Trains” written on poster boards behind him — a nod to SNL’s Grand Central Station-themed studio stage — Martin delivered an abridged version of the Blood on the Tracks classic, an apropos song choice given the social distancing, self quarantining and “stay home” orders in the aftermath of the Covid-19 outbreak. The black-and-white video was also reminiscent of the Dylan documentary Dont Look Back.

Over two years after a Rihanna-approved documentary was first announced, director Peter Berg revealed that the film could arrive within months.

In April 2016, Berg – whose action film Mile 22 arrived Friday – said he was at work on a Rihanna film modeled after D.A. Pennebaker’s legendary Bob Dylan documentary Don’t Look Back.

While the documentary, which reportedly captured Rihanna at work on her 2016 album Anti, was expected to arrive in 2017, Berg told Slash Film that the movie should be out within two months.

“I think she’s an...

Looking back on this still-young century makes clear that 2007 was a major time for cinematic happenings — and, on the basis of this retrospective, one we’re not quite through with ten years on. One’s mind might quickly flash to a few big titles that will be represented, but it is the plurality of both festival and theatrical premieres that truly surprises: late works from old masters, debuts from filmmakers who’ve since become some of our most-respected artists, and mid-career turning points that didn’t necessarily announce themselves as such at the time. Join us as an assembled team, many of whom were coming of age that year, takes on their favorites.

A kaleidoscopic portrait / exploration / celebration / etc. of Bob Dylan’s many contradictions and personas, I’m Not There isn’t the first pseudo-biopic from director Todd Haynes. His debut film, Superstar, unravels the life of singer Karen Carpenter and her eventual,...

The music documentary has become a bedrock of the nonfiction form, producing some of its most memorable films: 1967’s Dont Look Back, about Bob Dylan, 1970's Gimme Shelter about the Rolling Stones, and in just the past few years a couple of Oscar winners—20 Feet from Stardom, and Amy, Asif Kapadia's documentary on the late Amy Winehouse. This year, no fewer than 14 music-themed documentaries have qualified for Oscar consideration, including ones on Lady Gaga, Whitney…...

It’s safe to say that this Music On Screen podcast wouldn't exist if not for Da Pennebaker. I’m not even sure if music documentaries or the “rockumentary”, at least as we know the genre today, would exist if not for Da’s towering yet understated influence. Thankfully it does, and even all these years after its creation, films like Dont Look Back and Monterey Pop, both of which have recently turned 50 years old, remain at the very top of the heap. There are countless rockumentaries of superb quality, of course, all cherishable for a variety of reasons - the compellingness of subject, the approach to filming that subject, etc. - but I can honestly say I haven’t seen any of them as many times as...

[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...

Bob Dylan turns 76 today and we’re ranking Dylan’s 10 best film performances, dating back half a century to 1967. The key word is “performances,” which encompass acting work, concert films, and documentaries. It’s often hard to know when Dylan is acting and when he’s being himself (whoever that is), but whenever the iconic singer-songwriter appears on film, one thing’s for certain: you’re watching a performance.

Bob Dylan’s ‘Don’t Look Back’ Gets Deluxe Treatment With New Blu-ray Set

For this reason, we’re lumping everything together, ranking the films based on the depth and richness of performance. It was hard not to include the televised 1965 press conference in San Francisco, which sees Dylan effortlessly (and hilariously) shoot down reporters’ attempts to have him label himself, but we limited this list to feature-length films. Don’t look for Todd Haynes’ “I’m Not There” or any...

Keep up with the glitzy awards world with our weekly Awards Roundup column.

– Robert De Niro will receive the Chaplin Award at the Film Society of Lincoln Center’s 44th Chaplin Award Gala on May 8, 2017. The event will celebrate De Niro’s more than 40-year career in cinema and his championing of independent film through the Tribeca Film Festival and Tribeca Film Institute.

Read More: Awards Roundup: Annette Bening to Receive AFI Tribute, Shirley MacLaine Honored With Lafca Award and More

“De Niro has long been such a legendary presence that one can overlook the remarkably fine-tuned craft and quality he has brought to his roles over his multi-decade career,” Lesli Klainberg, Executive Director of the Film Society of Lincoln Center, said in a statement. “If you watch his performances, from ‘Mean Streets’ and ‘The Godfather Part II’ to ‘Raging Bull’ and ‘Awakenings’ and on to his more recent work...

Mark, Aaron and Keith Enright give a look at D.A. Pennabaker’s documentary portrait of Bob Dylan in Dont Look Back (the no apostrophe is intentional). This was a pivotal period in the artist’s career, and both the film and the music were influential. We dig deep as to what type of persona Dylan revealed, the cinéma vérité filmmaking style that captured him in his element, and also his attitude towards the press and others who wanted to label him.

About the film:

Bob Dylan is captured on-screen as he never would be again in this groundbreaking film from D. A. Pennebaker. The legendary documentarian finds Dylan in England during his 1965 tour, which would be his last as an acoustic artist. In this wildly entertaining vision of one of the twentieth century’s greatest artists, Dylan is surrounded by teen fans, gets into heated philosophical jousts with journalists, and...

Unlike some other media outlets who are blasphemously drawing up “most anticipated” Sundance lists that come across as a simple rehash of the entire feature film line-up, over here, Nicholas Bell and I pare down this shared enthusiasm in what are individual must see top five lists. The catch: select five films from five sections. In the decade I’ve been coming down here, the U.S Dramatic Comp section was the sure-fire bet for treasures, the Premieres section offered heavyweights and misfires while you had to look elsewhere for the gems. Last year’s Next was where all the riches were at. James White, Entertainment, Tangerine , Nasty Baby, and the upcoming Take Me to the River reminded me why the Next section has become a robust category in itself but surprisingly it might be the Premieres program (half a dozen offerings I could easily see in Cannes) is poised to get the major attention.

Illustrator extraordinaire Caitlin Kuhwald joins us to talk about her artwork and the Criterion Collection. She is a professional artist and has worked extensively with The Criterion Collection, illustrating covers for Amarcord, To Be or Not to Be, The Organizer, and many others. She talks about her film tastes including unveiling a new Criterion Top Ten, talks about how Criterion champions illustration, and weighs in on recent covers.

Episode Links & Notes

Special Guest: Caitlin Kuhwald from Caitlin Kuhwald Illustration. You can find her on Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest.

Caitlin Kuhwald’s Criterion Top 10 Erik Skillman blog about Amarcord

Episode Credits Mark Hurne: Twitter | Letterboxd Aaron West: Twitter | Blog | Letterboxd Criterion Close-Up: Facebook | Twitter | Email

Next time on the podcast: Dont Look Back, D.A. Pennebaker...

In this special episode of Off The Shelf, Ryan and Brian take a look at the best DVD and Blu-ray 2015.

Subscribe in iTunes or RSS.

Follow-Up Ryan buys the Ernest and Celestine Blu-ray from Plain Archive Ultra HD Blu-ray Pre-orders Live, March 1st release: Fox, Sony, WB, Shout! and now Lionsgate Curzon Tarkovsky Ryan’s Top 10 List of 2015 Classics from the Van Beuren Studio (Thunderbean Animation) Thunderbirds: The Complete Series (Timeless Media Group / Shout! Factory) The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension (Arrow UK) Twice Upon A Time (Warner Archive Collection) Journey to the Center of the Earth (Twilight Time) Watership Down (The Criterion Collection) Walt Disney Animation Studios: Short Films Collection (Disney) 3-D Rarities (Flicker Alley) Spartacus: Restored Edition (Universal) The Apu Trilogy (The Criterion Collection)

Honorable mentions:

Arrow Video: Kiju Yoshida: Love + Anarchism, The Train, The Criterion Collection: The Fisher King, Moonrise Kingdom...

How would you program this year's newest, most interesting films into double features with movies of the past you saw in 2015?Looking back over the year at what films moved and impressed us, it is clear that watching old films is a crucial part of making new films meaningful. Thus, the annual tradition of our end of year poll, which calls upon our writers to pick both a new and an old film: they were challenged to choose a new film they saw in 2015—in theatres or at a festival—and creatively pair it with an old film they also saw in 2015 to create a unique double feature.All the contributors were given the option to write some text explaining their 2015 fantasy double feature. What's more, each writer was given the option to list more pairings, with or without explanation, as further imaginative film programming we'd be lucky to catch...

Every week we dive into the cream of the crop when it comes to home releases, including Blu-ray and DVDs, as well as recommended deals of the week. Check out our rundown below and return every Tuesday for the best (or most interesting) films one can take home. Note that if you’re looking to support the site, every purchase you make through the links below helps us and is greatly appreciated.

Bone Tomahawk (S. Craig Zahler)

Of all the cinematic genres, it is the western that has the most malleability and is somehow paradoxically seen as the most staid. When a person thinks of a western they think of men in hats riding horses in the sunlight and handling six-shooters, all things which seem, at their core, to make a story old-fashioned. But we’ve had period westerns, modern westerns, space westerns, and everything in-between, so it should be...

Last week saw the release of a beautiful new Criterion edition of D.A. Pennebaker’s seminal documentary Dont Look Back, about Bob Dylan’s 1965 concert tour of England. At the time, the film was like nothing anybody had seen before: less a concert movie than a mesmerizing portrait of rising young folk poet Dylan – right before he went electric – at work and at play, as he made his way through testy press tours, freewheeling hotel-room conversations, and the concert stage. Pennebaker had already helped pioneer the concepts of “direct cinema” and cinéma vérité – even building some of the very first 16mm sync-sound handheld cameras that allowed this kind of filmmaking to happen in the first place – but Dont Look Back’s success marked a turning point in his career. In 1967, he would film the equally seismic Monterey Pop, about the music festival, which resulted in some of...

Considered amongst the very greatest documentaries ever made and selected by the Library of Congress as being “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant,” D.A. Pennebaker‘s veritable direct cinema portrait of Bob Dylan on his 1965 tour of England is an undisputed masterpiece. Yet, after Pennebaker completed the film, he almost gave up hope of finding a distributor. In the end, the film opened at the Presidio Theater in San Francisco, then known mostly for showing porn, to rave reviews and flocks of crowds hungry to meet Bob Dylan, or a version of Dylan, riding a wave of creative energy so quick that he’s bored and already reaching for the next thing. Its no wonder why Pennebaker named the film Dont Look Back, after a quote by Satchel Paige – “Don’t look back. Something might be gaining on you.”

Still rocking the solo song man, guitar, harmonica and a pair of...

Dailies is a round-up of essential film writing, news bits, videos, and other highlights from across the Internet. If you’d like to submit a piece for consideration, get in touch with us in the comments below or on Twitter at @TheFilmStage.

A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night director Ana Lily Amirpour reveals her top 10 Criterions, topped by Mulholland Drive:

I was in film school when I first saw this film. I didn’t understand it. Or, more specifically, I watched it and then couldn’t grasp what had happened in any linear sense. I had conversations with film school friends about it, but I just couldn’t really remember anything except a girl-on-girl love scene and an audition. I watched it twenty-two times this way, not really remembering. Then one night, on an Mdma comedown, I couldn’t sleep and it was 8:00 a.m. and the movie was coming on.

The day after Sight & Sound posted its best-of-2015 list, Cahiers du Cinéma's top ten began making the rounds. The top three, in order: Nanni Moretti's Mia Madre, Apichatpong Weerasethakul's Cemetery of Splendour and Philippe Garrel's In the Shadow of Women. Nominated for France's prestigious Louis Delluc Prize this year are: Antoine Barraud’s Portrait of an Artist, Stephane Brizé's The Measure of a Man, Arnaud Desplechin's My Golden Days, Philippe Faucon’s Fatima, Xavier Giannoli’s Marguerite and Rithy Panh’s L’Image manquante. Also in today's roundup: Restoring D.A. Pennebaker's Dont Look Back, a profile of Adam Goldberg and more. » - David Hudson...

The day after Sight & Sound posted its best-of-2015 list, Cahiers du Cinéma's top ten began making the rounds. The top three, in order: Nanni Moretti's Mia Madre, Apichatpong Weerasethakul's Cemetery of Splendour and Philippe Garrel's In the Shadow of Women. Nominated for France's prestigious Louis Delluc Prize this year are: Antoine Barraud’s Portrait of an Artist, Stephane Brizé's The Measure of a Man, Arnaud Desplechin's My Golden Days, Philippe Faucon’s Fatima, Xavier Giannoli’s Marguerite and Rithy Panh’s L’Image manquante. Also in today's roundup: Restoring D.A. Pennebaker's Dont Look Back, a profile of Adam Goldberg and more. » - David Hudson...

This week on Off The Shelf, Ryan is joined by Brian Saur present their 2015 gift guide suggestions for the home media enthusiasts in your life, and chat about some follow-up and home video news.

Subscribe in iTunes or RSS.

Episode Links & Notes In the Greatest Casting of All Time, Felicia Day May Be MST3K’s Next Mad Scientist Disc Deals For The Week: Black Friday 2015 Rupert Pupkin Speaks: Blu-ray Deals – Black Friday Week – Monday November 23rd! Rupert Pupkin Speaks: Rupert’s 2015 Film Geek Holiday Gift Guide! (Discs!) Rupert Pupkin Speaks: Film Geek Holiday Gift Guide Part Two: Books, Toys, Clothes! Original Christmas Classics Gift Set 2015 Watership Down The Black Stallion Dont Look Back The Fisher King The Apu Trilogy Special Effects Collection Horror Classics, Volume One Collection 3-D Rarities Masterworks of American Avant-garde Experimental Film 1920–1970 Classics from the Van Beuren Studio Army Of Darkness Mad Max: Fury Road The...

"Grace" is the theme of the new ninth issue of cléo, featuring an interview with Geraldine Chaplin, articles on Tilda Swinton, Catherine Deneuve in Tony Scott's The Hunger, David Lean's Brief Encounter, Roberto Rossellini's Rome Open City, Michael Cristofer’s Gia, Anna Faris in Gregg Araki’s Smiley Face and more. Also in today's roundup: a 1973 interview with Jacques Rivette, cinematographer Robby Müller in America, the New Yorker on Frank Sinatra, Robert Polito on Bob Dylan in D.A. Pennebaker's Dont Look Back, interviews with Miranda July and Jonas Carpignano, a discussion about Danny Boyle's debut feature, Shallow Grave—and more. » - David Hudson...

"Grace" is the theme of the new ninth issue of cléo, featuring an interview with Geraldine Chaplin, articles on Tilda Swinton, Catherine Deneuve in Tony Scott's The Hunger, David Lean's Brief Encounter, Roberto Rossellini's Rome Open City, Michael Cristofer’s Gia, Anna Faris in Gregg Araki’s Smiley Face and more. Also in today's roundup: a 1973 interview with Jacques Rivette, cinematographer Robby Müller in America, the New Yorker on Frank Sinatra, Robert Polito on Bob Dylan in D.A. Pennebaker's Dont Look Back, interviews with Miranda July and Jonas Carpignano, a discussion about Danny Boyle's debut feature, Shallow Grave—and more. » - David Hudson...

Every week we dive into the cream of the crop when it comes to home releases, including Blu-ray and DVDs, as well as recommended deals of the week. Check out our rundown below and return every Tuesday for the best (or most interesting) films one can take home. Note that if you’re looking to support the site, every purchase you make through the links below helps us and is greatly appreciated.

Note: With Black Friday approaching and many deals already underway, this week’s column will be dedicated to the event as we highlight some of our favorite deals (see all of them here). Check out our rundown below, with updates as they arrive, and if you’re looking for new Blu-ray releases, there are four definite essential releases this week: Akira Kurosawa‘s Ikiru, D.A. Pennebaker‘s Dont Look Back, the excellent animation Shaun the Sheep, and The Quay Brothers: Collection.

D.A. Pennebaker puts cinema verité on the map with his terrific up-close docu portrait of Bob Dylan as he runs from concert appearances to hotels, cutting up with his friends, practicing with Joan Baez and giving reporters grief. Criterion's extras give us the best look yet at Pennebaker's innovative approach: don't direct, observe. Dont Look Back Blu-ray The Criterion Collection 786 1967 / B&W / 1:33 flat full frame / 96 min. / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date November 24, 2015 / 39.95 Starring Bob Dylan, Donovan, Joan Baez, Alan Price, Albert Grossman Cinematography Howard Alk, Jones Alk, D.A. Pennebaker Production Designer James D. Bissell Music performed by Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, Donovan, Alan Price Produced by John Court and Albert Grossman Written, Edited and Directed by D.A. Pennebaker    

Reviewed by Glenn Erickson

"I am not a folk singer. Do not call me a folk singer." The man who turned pop music on to socially conscious poetry is...

By Hank Reineke

In a relatively infamous review, a film critic from the Atlanta Journal dismissively sniffed that Dont Look Back (that’s not a typo, there is, mysteriously, no apostrophe in the title) was little more than “the neighborhood’s biggest brat blowing his nose for ninety minutes.” This harsh sentiment was echoed by a critic from the Cleveland Plains Dealer who added the film was “certainly not for moviegoers who bathe and/or shave.” Time, of course, has proven such histrionic appraisals of this very significant film to be entirely wide of the mark. Most film scholars now regard Donn Allen (D.A.) Pennebaker’s gritty and grainy opus as the first true masterwork of rock music documentary filmmaking.

Though some of the earliest reviews were clearly nonplussed with Pennebaker’s maverick “direct cinema” style of filmmaking, most of the critical scorn was reserved for the movie’s principal figure,...

This month on the Newsstand, Ryan is joined by Scott Nye to discuss the November 2015 Criterion Collection line-up, as well as the latest in Criterion rumors, news, packaging, and more.

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Shownotes Topics The November 2015 Criterion Collection line-up The Dressed To Kill debacle Janus Films’ tour of Wim Wenders’ films Wacky Newsletter Drawing For Don’t Look Back

Pre-order the November Criterion Collection line-up on Amazon:

The Apu Trilogy Code Unknown Dont Look Back Ikiru In Cold Blood Eclipse Series 44: Julien Duvivier in the Thirties Episode Links The November 2015 Criterion Collection Line-Up … // CriterionCast Eclipse Series 44: Julien Duvivier in the Thirties – The Criterion Collection Julien Duvivier’s Wikipedia article Julien Duvivier films on Hulu (Anna Karenina, Lydia, Pepe Le Moko) Code Unknown (2000) – The Criterion Collection The latest wacky newsletter drawing from the… // CriterionCast The Apu Trilogy...

Rihanna will be the subject of a new feature-length documentary by filmmaker Peter Berg.

The Bajan star's rise to fame and her current status as one of the most recognised women on the planet will be documented in a theatrical release by the director's new production company Film 45.

The film hopes to be a contemporary take on the 1967 Bob Dylan rock documentary Dont Look Back, according to Deadline.

It has been described as an "unfiltered look into Rihanna's life and how she's ascended to become a global icon".

Berg added that he liked the idea of examining "a young artist at the top of her professional field", and that the documentary will be "much more a character study than a music film".

Rihanna and Berg previously worked together on theatrical release Battleship, which was released back in 2012.

It marked Rihanna's first foray into acting, with the star's follow-up...

The time has once again come for the Academy Awards, with tonight’s show hosted by Family Guy creator and Ted director Seth MacFarlane. I am not particularly excited in seeing MacFarlane on hosting duties, nor in this year’s awards, as they all seem fairly predictable as we head into the evening. But 2012 brought with it a very strong crop of nominees, and here’s hoping some good films are honored as the show goes along.

I will be live-blogging the entire event from start to finish – minus all the red carpet stuff, as there is only so much I can make myself interested in – starting tonight at 8:30 Et/7:30 Ct/5:30 Pt. I am in Denver, Colorado, on Mountain Time, and the show will begin at 6:30 here. For the sake of simplicity, I will be using my own local time codes, so do not get confused...

An amalgamation of post-apocalyptic science-fiction and primal survival story, with a touch of romance, it is no surprise that The Hunger Games is being presented as the next big event film. With a tagline that couldn’t be more appropriate (“the world will be watching”), Gary Ross adapts the Suzanne Collins best-seller into an entertaining fantasy adventure, skillfully accentuating the emotional beats and character-focused storytelling.

Beginning in the outcast-filled District 12, a territory on the outskirts of this dystopian nation known as Panem, 11 more Districts lead up to the haven known as The Capitol, occupied by the vibrantly dressed 1%. As a punishing reminder of the rebellion by the now-destroyed District 13, each year a boy and a girl, known as “tributes,” are selected via random lottery and the chosen 24 battle to the death for spectacle of the elite.

During this selection, or “reaping,” Ross employs a suppressed stillness in the audible landscape,...

"Super Size Me," Morgan Spurlock's 2004 examination of the fast-food industry, is one of the more notable documentaries in recent years. Whether it makes Current TV's countdown of the "50 Documentaries to See Before You Die," a five-part series beginning August 1, is anyone's guess -- although Spurlock might have a say in matters. The 40-year-old filmmaker will host the five-part special, which will feature interviews with other heavy hitters in the genre, such as Chris Hegedus ("The War Room"), Errol Morris ("The Thin Blue Line"), D.A. Pennebaker ("Dont Look Back") and...

True Grit surprisingly stands as the Coen brother’s biggest box-office success to date. The film opened wider than any Coen brothers film, across 3,047 venues, and yet earned a robust $8,402 per-theater average—a validation of the film’s strength in the marketplace. The film’s success could be attributed to several facts: The simple case of the right film released at the right time. Of course one can also argue that the Coen brother’s fan base has grown since winning the Academy award for No Country For Old Me;, or perhaps audiences were desperately in need of a new “old style” western. Whatever the case, the film performed above expectations, which leaves everyone wondering what their next project might be?

There is still the possibility of adapting To the White Sea, a project they have had their eye on for quite some time but have not attempted to take a stab at it,...

It’s Viva Las Vegas time in this trip down memory lane with the one and only Miss Nancy Sinatra and her co-conspirator Lee Hazlewood. And yes, the above embedded short documentary by Suki Hawley and Michael Galinsky includes archive footage of her singing “These Boots Are Made for Walkin’” live on stage. (Personally, I prefer the Crispin Glover cover version, but this will do.) And that stage is at The Riviera, one of the last of the old school Vegas casinos still in business to this day, having opened back in 1955.

The occasion for this short doc about Lee Hazlewood was a re-release screening of the 1973 documentary Nancy & Lee in Las Vegas at the Anthology Film Archives sometime in the late ’90s. Hazlewood, who helped edit the ’73 film, and the film’s director, Torbjörn Axelman, were at the Archives’ screening where Hawley and Galinsky sat them down to discuss the making of it.