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[Editors’s Note: Earlier today, producers and Plan B co-presidents Jeremy Kleiner and Dede Gardner were honored at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival’s Producers Lunch. Below is Kleiner’s keynote speech in its entirety.]

Dede Gardner and I want to thank Michelle Satter and Anne Lai. It is extremely humbling to have this opportunity and to follow in a tradition of producers we respect and admire, speaking to their peers in a spirit of solidarity – producers being the boundary-less, restless misfits who clearly do not fit into any other facet of civilized society.

Read More: How ‘Moonlight’ Beat the Odds to Reach Theaters In African-American Neighborhoods

We want to thank Sundance Institute. Standing on the precipice of mass conglomeration, the disruption of the theatrical distribution business, and peak television, all this uncertainty, it is very hard to overstate what Sundance Institute, and the Sundance Film Festival, have given all of us all of these years.

I remember January 1999 like it was yesterday. This is the height of the Clinton impeachment proceedings. I was working an assistant job fresh out of college. I was very passionate about film,...

Exclusive: Another fan favorite from a long-running CBS series is back at the network as star of a new project. CBS is developing Dr. Death, a drama series starring and executive produced The Good Wife standout Alan Cumming. It is based on the upcoming book of the same name by James Patterson who is executive producing with former Royal Pains executive producer/showrunner Michael Rauch and Alex Kurtzman. Written by Rauch, Mr. Death centers on a former CIA operative…...

Anyone who’s seen Errol Morris’ documentary “Mr. Death: The Rise and Fall of Fred A. Leuchter, Jr.” knows that the bizarre phenomenon of Holocaust denial can make for a strange, compelling movie. Mick Jackson’s “Denial” looks to be considerably more straightforward, but the prestige-picture-in-waiting does have the benefit of a standout cast: Rachel Weisz, Tom Wilkinson and Timothy Spall headline the drama arriving this fall. The first trailer is available now.

Read More: Interview: Rachel Weisz Talks ‘Youth,’ Assembling A Character, Derek Cianfrance’s ‘The Light Between Oceans’ & More

An adaptation of Deborah E. Lipstadt’s book “History on Trial: My Day in Court with a Holocaust Denier,” the film stars Weisz as the author herself, who was accused of libel by David Irving (Spall) for calling out his views on the Holocaust; what follows is a legal battle in the English court system, where the burden of proof is on Lipstadt rather than Irving.

Read More: Watch: New U.S. Trailer For Yorgos Lanthimos’ ‘The Lobster’ Starring Colin Farrell, Rachel Weisz, John C. Reilly, Léa Seydoux & Ben Whishaw

Hilary Swank was previously attached to star before Weisz stepped in. Bleecker Street will release “Denial” on September 30.

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Related storiesJoseph Gordon-Levitt Is Edward 'Snowden' In Full Length Trailer For Oliver Stone's FilmWatch: New U.S. Trailer For Yorgos Lanthimos' 'The Lobster' Starring Colin Farrell, Rachel Weisz, John C. Reilly, Léa Seydoux & Ben WhishawWatch The First Trailer For 'The Light Between Oceans' With Michael Fassbender & Alicia Vikander...

[previous: “Face the Raven”]

warning: spoilers!

Well, that was awesome, right? The Doctor runs around a castle that’s really a constantly shifting maze, pursed by a Mr. Death who’s come about the reaping, sometimes going to his mind palace that is the Tardis to mope about Clara. It’s like It Follows meets Cube on whatever planet Myst was supposed to be happening on.

That mind-blowing moment when the Doctor realizes that he’s done this all before! Many times. It’s like he’s playing a game and dying and rebooting and trying to get a little further each time. It’s like Edge of Tomorrow except without the remembering on each go-round.

And then it all falls apart. It starts falling apart the moment the Doctor says to “Clara,” “I can remember it all — every time.” It keeps falling apart as you poke at the notion a bit more.

Because...

Every year the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (Nov 18-29) invites a key documentarian to make a list of non-fiction films to screen in the festival. In the past they've gone to the likes of Werner Herzog, Krzysztof Kieslowski, Ulrich Seidl, Heddy Honigmann and Rithy Panh. Morris’s Top 10 picks, below, include films by Herzog and Luis Bunuel. Morris will also conduct a Master Class moderated by doc maven Bill Nichols. And Idfa will also show six Morris films starting with his first, "Gates of Heaven" (1978), and running through "The Thin Blue Line," "Fast Cheap And Out Of Control," "Mr. Death: The Rise And Fall Of Fred A. Leuchter, Jr.," his Oscar-winning "The Fog Of War," the hilarious "Tabloid" and confounding "The Unknown Known." Morris's full list goes back in time and does not include all usual suspects; it leans toward the avant-garde. I share his love...

The festival will screen ten films picked by the Us filmmaker, who will also take part in a masterclass.

Errol Morris, the reverred documentary filmmaker, has revealed his top 10 programme for this year’s International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (Nov 18-29).

Each year, the festival invites an important figure in the world of documentary to compile a list of ten important works of factual film, all of which will be screened as part of the programme.

Morris’ selections include Werner Herzog’s surreal Fata Morgana, which is set in the Sahara Desert and features an exclusively Leonard Cohen soundtrack, and Dziga Vertov’s experimental early film Man With A Movie Camera.

Idfa will also show six of Morris’ films including his 1978 debut Gates of Heaven and his seminal investigative piece The Thin Blue Line.

Further screenings of his films will be: Fast Cheap And Out Of Control; Mr. Death: The Rise And Fall Of Fred A...

Caroline Kaplan has joined the Cinereach staff as the Head of Creative Initiatives. A well-known figure throughout the indie film community, Kaplan was a key architect of IFC Productions ("Monsoon Wedding," "Me and You and Everyone We Know") as well as the digital company InDigEnt ("Tadpole," "Pieces of April"). Her work as a producer has spanned Errol Morris' "Mr. Death" to the upcoming Richard Gere-starring "Time Out of Mind." In her new role, Kaplan will oversee filmmaker support and strategic partnerships. "Each film we support faces unique creative and financial challenges," said Cinereach Founder and Executive Director Philipp Engelhorn. "Our approach is to tailor our support to those challenges and Caroline's experience and perspective will greatly expand what we can offer in terms of resources for filmmakers. She will also be a major influence on how Cinereach responds to the evolving independent film...

As another autumn approaches, horror hounds look forward to the chill of pumpkin guts on their hands, the crunch of leaves under their shoes, and, for some, pulling their copy of October Dreams: A Celebration of Halloween off the bookshelf for another round of seasonal reading. Published in 2000, Cemetery Dance’s collection of Halloween stories, reflections, and essays now has a sequel on the way.

Featuring an abundance of short pieces by a wide range of authors, October Dreams II: A Celebration of Halloween doesn’t yet have an official release date, but it is expected to come out soon in a hardcover edition from Cemetery Dance. The tome of terror includes stories by Ray Bradbury, Dean Koontz, Robert Bloch, and many more. We have the official release details and cover art below. To learn more or pre-order a copy, visit:

http://www.cemeterydance.com/page/Cdp/Prod/chizmar18

“October...

This documentary interview with Bush-era insider Donald Rumsfeld is like a horror movie with a calm sociopath at its center. I’m “biast” (pro): big fan of Errol Morris…

I’m “biast” (con): …but not a fan of Donald Rumsfeld

(what is this about? see my critic’s minifesto)

As Iraq disintegrates before our eyes, it’s suddenly even more vital to listen to what Donald Rumsfeld, one of the architects of the mess in the Middle East, has to say for himself. It’s pretty ugly… not that Rumsfeld sees that, of course. This feature-length interview with documentary filmmaker Errol Morris (Mr. Death: The Rise and Fall of Fred A. Leuchter, Jr.) is horrifying for how it demonstrates Rumsfeld’s complete lack of awareness of the enormity of his own actions.

Or else — this is worse, and I suspect it’s closer to the truth — we...

How does one interview perhaps the greatest interviewer of our time? Errol Morris, a titan of documentary filmmaking, has elicited introspective confessions from both a former Us Secretary of Defense and a death-row inmate. He’s a man that can interview a self-avowed Holocaust denier (as he did with Fred Leuchter in Mr. Death) -- and somehow make you, the viewer, understand where this misguided man is coming from. In Morris’s latest, The Unknown Known, the great interviewer meets his match in the gobbledygook and aphorisms of two-time Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld. The film (a sequel of sorts to Morris’s Academy Award winning The Fog of War) is pretty much just two men in a room – one asking questions, the other finding ways to shy away from answering. But this isn’t a film necessarily about Iraq or Abu Ghraib or any other political lightening-rod; instead it...

The Following, Season 2, Episode 2

Written by Vincent Angell

Directed by Joshua Butler

Airs Mondays at 9pm (Et) on Fox

Here’s the thing- The Following is crazy. Like eye-rolling, “you have got to be kidding me, did that just happen?” crazy. But for all the craziness and terrible law enforcement techniques, The Following is really, really fun. Last week’s premiere, “Resurrection”, was a great reintroduction to the show and a way to meet the new characters, but far and away the best moment was Joe’s reappearance at the end of the episode. “For Joe”, the second episode, is even better.

“Resurrection” was slightly confusing, because there was so much ground to cover and so many people to introduce, but “For Joe” is more tightly constructed, exciting, and it manages to answer a few more questions, chief among them, where exactly Joe (James Purefoy) has been hiding out for the last year.

There have been eternal arguments surrounding the pros and cons of the death penalty in the American justice system, but apart from the fascinating documentary Mr. Death (about American execution-device designer and Holocaust denier Fred A. Leuchter Jr. — which is somewhat relevant, here), there have been few cinematic accounts of the people actually pulling the switch. Enter There Will Be No Stay — a film co-produced by our own Senior Editor Peter Hall and his Arcanum Pictures. Writer-director Patty Ann Dillon offers a look at the executioners (many of them speaking publicly for the first time) who are tasked with carrying out the death penalty, and the “unbearable toll the act of taking another’s life has on their own.” The Kickstarter trailer is...

Read More...

There have been eternal arguments surrounding the pros and cons of the death penalty in the American justice system, but apart from the fascinating documentary Mr. Death (about American execution-device designer and Holocaust denier Fred A. Leuchter Jr. — which is somewhat relevant, here), there have been few cinematic accounts of the people actually pulling the switch. Enter There Will Be No Stay — a film co-produced by our own Senior Editor Peter Hall and his Arcanum Pictures. Writer-director Patty Ann Dillon offers a look at the executioners (many of them speaking publicly for the first time) who are tasked with carrying out the death penalty, and the “unbearable toll the act of taking another’s life has on their own.” The Kickstarter...

Read More...

Gamers with superior intellect have always considered the Wii port of Resident Evil 4 to be the definitive version of Capcom’s classic game. Not only does it contain all of extras found in both GameCube and PS2 releases, but it also supports the Wii Remote’s Ir Pointer for quick and precise aiming/shooting. With Resident Evil: Revelations headed to the Wii U this May, some of these right-thinking individuals recently asked Capcom if the 3Ds port would also include an option to use the Wii Remote and Nunchuk combo. Sadly, it does not appear that the developer is planning to make the right call.

Capcom’s product marketing coordinator, Mike Lunn, broke the disappointing news on the Capcom-Unity forums, saying:

“Unfortunately Revs is only supported by the Wii-u gamepad at the moment. We’re doing what we can to get the new classic controller compatibility, but the game...

Not everyone thinks about it this way, but movies educate us about life better than any school or religion.

Why? Because our brains trick our bodies into thinking that we are the ones experiencing the events on the screen.

And this is scientifically verified fact. Your mouth waters when you watch Harold and Kumar go to White Castle. Your heart palpitates when Ethan Hunt makes impossible missions doable through technology, acrobatics and bombs. And your … well, let’s just say certain things happen to your body when James Bond and one of his lady friends start making out.

Although none of us will probably have such adventures, we’d sure like to.

The best part about movies is that they can teach us how not to live. Ancient tragedies like Oedipus Rex taught hard lessons to the Greeks about what not to do, and a sufficient number of those folks...

After a trio of titles (92′s A Brief History of Time ,97′s Fast Cheap & Out of Control, 99′s Mr. Death: The Rise and Fall of Fred A. Leuchter, Jr.) Errol Morris hasn’t presented a docu at the fest in some time. A promo reel was shown in Cannes and at Tiff, RADiUS-twc picked up the rights and mention that a 2013 release is planned for The Unknown Known: The Life and Times of Donald Rumsfeld. Logically they might want to lock the helmer down before it conflicts with the production of Freezing People Is Easy – Morris’ feature debut.

Gist: Former United States Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld, discusses his career in Washington D.C. from his days as a congressman in the early 1960s to planning the invasion of Iraq in 2003.

Production Co./Producers: Errol Morris, History Films, Radius-twc and Participant Media

Prediction: U.S. Documentary Competition or Spotlight Documentary

U.

In such films as The Thin Blue Line, The Fog of War and Mr. Death, Oscar-winning documentary filmmaker Errol Morris has won acclaim for his attention to detail in challenging conventional wisdom on historical subjects. Then last year, Morris was sued by Joyce McKinney, the central figure in his documentary, Tabloid, for allegedly tricking her into appearing in the film. Photos: Top 10 Legal Disclaimers in Hollywood Since first being filed, the lawsuit has taken some twists and turns, with some parts being dismissed and others being allowed to continue. If the dispute gets to trial, the case could

read more...

Chicago – I’ll get right to it. Overall this is one of the best games of 2012. “Darksiders II” has already gotten some very good marks from reviewers and I can’t say I found much to challenge their observations. This is a hugely involving game that offers a massive geography, a whopping 20-hour completion cycle and another few dozen hours for those who want to chase all the side quests. The bottom line is that you will find yourself sinking into this world, involved with the story, and looking forward to the next quest.

Video Game Rating: 4.5/5.0

Taking place in the same timeframe as it’s predecessor, “Darksiders II” picks up as War has been convicted of kickstarting the apocalypse ahead of schedule and sent back to Earth as punishment. When the Charred Council tells his brothers Death, Strife, and Fury, Mr. Death becomes determined to prove War’s innocence.

Documentaries have come a long way in the past twenty years, especially in the past decade. Ten years ago, I would have been at a loss for words had you asked me to name ten “great” documentaries released in a single year. Documentary film has developed into a popular and visible form of entertainment, while having a bigger effect on society, usually addressing important issues with the goal of informing the public and pushing for social change.

The shortlist of documentary nominees for the 84th Annual Academy Awards were announced recently. As expected, many bloggers have commented on their disappointment with the number of misfires. I doubt that these same bloggers have seen the majority of the films listed, so it is a bit unfair that they presume these 15 titles aren’t worthy of consideration. With that said, I can say that two of the best films I’ve seen...

Chicago – Errol Morris is not just a great “documentary” filmmaker, he’s one of the most important living directors. His work is wildly entertaining but not often give deserved credit for being as influential as any filmmaker of his generation. His latest, “Tabloid,” recently released on DVD, is another gem about a unique personality — the director’s speciality. With a bizarre blend of stories that are too ridiculous to be true, Joyce McKinney almost seems to have been designed as a Morris creation. It’s a shame that no bonus material is available for the DVD-only release, but the movie itself is a gem.

DVD Rating: 4.0/5.0

One of the brilliant things about Morris’ work is his refusal to judge his subjects. “Fast, Cheap, & Out of Control,” “Sick,” “Mr. Death,” his TV series “First Person” — his films often feature what could politely be called “unique personalities” (and, impolitely, totally crazy). Joyce McKinney...

The baton returns to Twitch for our alternating coverage with Film School Rejects of the original "Twilight Zone" series, as we dive straight back to the first episode of 1962, with Robert Redford as a wounded policeman seeking help from an old lady who fears he is Mr. Death. The Twilight Zone, Episode #81: "Nothing in the Dark" (original air date January 5, 1962) The Plot: Wanda Dunn (Gladys Cooper), a little old lady, is sleeping in tiny apartment on a snowy night. Noises outside wake her up; she hears shots fired, and then there's a knock at the door. A man claiming to be a policeman (Robert Redford) asks for help, but she refuses to open up, believing him to be somebody else. Rod...

Chicago – What Errol Morris does so well is very, very difficult. He takes unusual interview subjects (“Fast, Cheap, & Out of Control,” “Mr. Death), sometimes even with a political background (“The Fog of War,” “Standard Operating Procedure”) and makes them completely riveting. Clearly inspired by the Morris filmography, Jeff Prosserman’s “Chasing Madoff” attempts that blend of personality and history but falls flat on its face. Rarely has a documentary taken a more interesting story and told it in a more annoying manner.

Rating: 1.5/5.0

Chronicling the men who smelled something foul in the Bernie Madoff portfolio years before anyone paid attention to what would eventually become one of the stinkiest situations in the economic downfall, “Chasing Madoff” has interesting interview subjects at its core. I’d love to actually be able to sit down and listen to what they did without all the over-dramatization of this movie. I’m not sure...

When your band's M.O. is raw, early '90s-style Swedish death metal, you might as well be up-front about it... and calling your band "Mr. Death" is a damn good start. Another nice touch is adopting the image of a group of blood-covered zombie businessmen, which is actually pretty unique for the genre. This fall, the band will be releasing the new full-length album Descending Through Ashes, the follow-up to their 2009 debut Detached From Life. We've got more details on the band and the new record posted below – including the cover art and complete tracklist – so go down for the lowdown! While their look might be more suited to horror-tinged alternative rock than death metal, Mr. Death are returning...

With Final Destination 5 on release, let’s look at the top movies about Death. Too morbid? Oh, don’t be such a stuffed shirt. Sure, a real-life visit from the Grim Reaper might be a cause for woe and woe alone, but Mr. Death can be as much a figure of fun as one of tragedy.

Here are his most striking appearances as a character -

10. Embodiment of Evil (2008)

Let’s kick this list off with something of an obscurity, in the gnarled and knobbly shape of Embodiment of Evil, the third in the official chronology of Zé do Caixão, aka Coffin Joe (kind of the Brazilian answer to Freddy Kruger).

Having finally exited prison after the crimes depicted in his first two screen outings, the colourfully-titled pair of At Midnight I’ll Take Your Soul and Tonight I Will Possess Your Corpse, Joe is soon back to his murdering ways.

Joyce McKinney, the focal point of Errol Morris' lens in Tabloid.

Errol Morris Digs The Dirt With Tabloid

By Alex Simon

When Errol Morris’ documentary The Thin Blue Line hit movie screens in 1988, it helped jump-start the rather tired genre back to life again. After a renaissance of the documentary film in the 1960s through the early ‘70s from the likes of The Maysles Brothers (Gimme Shelter, Grey Gardens), D.A. Pennebaker (Don’t Look Back), and Robert Drew (Crisis, Primary), the documentary film seemed relegated to late night spots on local PBS affiliates, narrated by boozy British actors in the downslide of their careers. Morris’ tale of Randall Adams, a man not only wrongly jailed for murdering a Dallas cop in the late ‘70s, but convicted due to the testimony of the man who actually did it, was an intoxicating blend of first-person realism, film noir detective story, and very real moral outrage.

Errol Morris's documentaries have always appealed to me via his legitimate interest in the carnivalesque. He relishes in exposing the social paradoxes of American culture and yet his works often transcend satire and lampoon journalism into thought provoking and elusive philosophical explorations. His debut film, Gates of Heaven (1978), explores a pet cemetery and the people who both envisioned it and buried their pets there. Yet, the film does more than investigate the bizarre concept of a pet cemetery and the wounded souls who entomb their pets there. Morris pushes the investigation through the looking glass to look at the concepts of death and the afterlife, as these deeply personal philosophies are the driving force behind both the conceptualization and utilization of the cemetery.

Morris's Mr. Death: The Rise and Fall of Fred A. Leuchter Jr. (1999) follows a similar progression. He begins by introducing us to Fred A. Leuchter Jr.,...

For over 30 years, director Errol Morris has been making provocative documentaries about people ranging from the iconic (The Fog of War, A Brief History of Time) to the eccentric (Gates of Heaven, Mr. Death, Fast, Cheap and Out of Control). With his film The Thin Blue Line, he even rescued an innocent man (Randall Adams) from Death Row in Texas, which likely inspired the various 'innocence projects' that have sprung up in the 20 years since. So while his movies are hard to pigeonhole, one thing's for sure: anytime an Errol Morris movie hits theaters, it's an automatic must-see for serious fans of documentary. With his latest film, Morris - a former private investigator - U-turns from his recent serious fare (Standard Operating Procedure, Tff 2008) back to the absurd, and there's only one way to describe the result: Tabloid is a hoot. The story centers on the decades-old escapades of one Joyce McKinney,...

Each week within this column we strive to pair the latest in theatrical releases to the worthwhile titles currently available on Netflix Instant Watch.

It’s a thrilling week in movies! Hordes of Potterheads will mob theaters at midnight to see the much-anticipated Battle of Hogwarts, while a silly old bear tumbles back with a new tale from the Hundred Acre Wood, and a master documentarian brings a twisted true tale to light. To take the excitement home, screen this selection of streaming features from the comfort of your couch.

—

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2

In the final film of the world-thrilling film series, The Boy Who Lived (Daniel Radcliffe) prepares for the final showdown with He Who Must Not Be Named (Ralph Fiennes). But come on, you knew that! Emma Watson, Rupert Grint and Alan Rickman co-star.

For more tales of magic and mayhem, try this...

For a guy who has spent the last three decades mapping the contours of human frailty and folly, director Errol Morris is awfully upbeat about the future. Of course, his is not just any map: It illustrates redoubts of genius (A Brief History of Time, Mr. Death) and islands of quirk (Gates of Heaven, Vernon, Florida) in vast seas of systemic failure (The Thin Blue Line, the Oscar-winning The Fog of War, Standard Operating Procedure). Its moral compass points mysteriously inward, challenging viewers to orient themselves accordingly. His latest film, Tabloid, exists as its own sort of hemisphere in this schema, marking milestones of crime, gossip, sex, religion, love, science and indiscretion in the jaw-dropping story of Joyce McKinney.

Academy Award-winning documentarian Errol Morris is known for fearlessly tackling controversy in his films, from Mr. Death: The Rise and Fall of Fred A. Leuchter, Jr. which famously chronicles the Forrest Gump-like story of a befuddled but well-meaning Holocaust denier, to Standard Operating Procedure which gives a voice to arguably the world’s most notorious Ugly American, Us Army reservist Lynndie England. With his latest doc, Tabloid, Morris gleefully indulges in frivolity, digging beneath the headlines of a sex-soaked scandal starring an American beauty queen that rocked the United Kingdom in the 1970s…and the results are shocking.

This demented doc centers on Joyce McKinney, a self-proclaimed “incurable romantic” and former Miss Wyoming who became a media sensation after her former lover, Mormon missionary Kirk Anderson, publicly accused her of chloroforming him, kidnapping him, and chaining him to a bed to rape him repeatedly in an ill-conceived attempt...

Beauty Day

Directed by Jay Cheel

2011, Canada

Most of the best documentary films are about outsiders, about people and events that exist within our society but reside in a fringe culture that most of us are unaware of or uneducated about. Whether examined for shock value, comedy, or in hopes of garnering some larger insight, outsiders have always been a staple, perhaps even a requirement, of engaging documentary film. From Errol Morris’ Mr. Death to Seth Gordon’s King of Kong, the best narrative documentaries revolve around subjects we can recognize as familiar enough to relate to in some way, but foreign enough to be novel and interesting. In Beauty Day, director Jay Cheel is fortunate enough to have found a perfect example of exactly that kind of compelling outsider and talented enough to craft more than just a voyeuristic look at his subject.

Beauty Day follows Ralph Zavadil, an...

Along with an adaptation of Steve Niles' Wake the Dead, former Guns N' Roses guitarist Slash has announced three more films that have a great chance of falling under his Slasher Films banner. Dig it!

According to Bloody Disgusting "Slash has partnered with Michael Williams and Rob Eric of Scout Productions (Transsiberian, Session 9, The Fog of War, Mr. Death) and is in negotiations to acquire three new feature film packages under the shingle that will produce edgy, contemporary horror films.

The first film to be produced under the new moniker will be Nothing To Fear, a horror/thriller revolving around two young sisters and their family, who accidentally discover one of the seven gateways of Hell in a small town in rural Kansas. Several directors are currently circling the project, which is scheduled to shoot in Louisiana this summer.

Slasher Films is also negotiating to produce Vincenzo Natali's Theorem.

Being a publicist can be a thankless gig. You have to wrangle sometimes difficult talent and manage sometimes difficult members of the press (like your writer), you can easily get blamed if a movie doesn't do well, but if it does succeed, chances are you're not going to be one of the main people getting credit.

Reid Rosefelt, who's worked as a publicist and unit publicist for three decades on films from "Desperately Seeking Susan" to "Mr. Death: The Rise and Fall of Fred A. Leuchter, Jr." to "Precious," offers some very entertaining insights into his profession at My Life As A Blog. On Sunday he posted an amazing anecdote about what it's like working on a film that you and everyone involved knows is a stinker, based on a comedy he worked on early in his career. I can't point you to it, though, because today he took it down.

Filed under: Cinematical

Fall is here, and with it comes the hope for some great fourth-quarter movies. This time of year I always think back to when I was a rookie reviewer in the amazing fall of 1999. In a few short months' time we were treated to the likes of American Beauty, Three Kings, The Limey, Fight Club, The Straight Story, Bringing Out the Dead, Being John Malkovich, The Insider, American Movie, All About My Mother, Dogma, Sleepy Hollow, Sweet and Lowdown, The Green Mile, The War Zone, Magnolia, Topsy-Turvy, Mr. Death, Flowers of Shanghai, and more. It felt like some kind of pre-millennial renaissance.

That was a combined experience, one that I realized over time, but singular experiences in this job are much more rare. We go to work in the screening room almost every day, hoping that this next thing will be the one, the movie that will quietly change our lives.

Filed under: Cinematical

Fall is here, and with it comes the hope for some great fourth-quarter movies. This time of year I always think back to when I was a rookie reviewer in the amazing fall of 1999. In a few short months' time we were treated to the likes of American Beauty, Three Kings, The Limey, Fight Club, The Straight Story, Bringing Out the Dead, Being John Malkovich, The Insider, American Movie, All About My Mother, Dogma, Sleepy Hollow, Sweet and Lowdown, The Green Mile, The War Zone, Magnolia, Topsy-Turvy, Mr. Death, Flowers of Shanghai, and more. It felt like some kind of pre-millennial renaissance.

That was a combined experience, one that I realized over time, but singular experiences in this job are much more rare. We go to work in the screening room almost every day, hoping that this next thing will be the one, the movie that will quietly change our lives.

Robert here, back with another entry in my series on great contemporary directors.

Maestro: Errol Morris

Known For: Documentaries about politicial, social and strange topics.

Influences: More film noir and French New Wave than classic docs.

Masterpieces: The Thin Blue Line, The Fog of War and Mr. Death.

Disasters:Well his one narrative feature The Dark Wind sorta qualifies.

Better than you remember: History seems to recall all of his docs with fondness, as it should be.

Box Office: Just over 4 mil for The Fog of War

The alarming intimacy of the Interrotron, the impact of wildly composed visual asides, the clang of a Philip Glass (or similar) score... few documentarians bring a specific personal style to their films like Errol Morris. Yet his films could never be dismissed with that most common of eye-rolling declarations "style over substance." Morris's films are rooted in the revelations of his interview, utilizing his stylization as punctuation or underlining,...

Tony Stark has lots of enemies — not only because he’s a wealthy, international industrialist, but also because he’s the armored Avenger known as Iron Man. He’s clashed with amoral businessman Justin Hammer, espionage experts like The Ghost and Spymaster, and even the warlord known as The Mandarin.

But not every villain that’s attacked ol’ Shellhead has been all that threatening. With that in mind, the arrival of "Iron Man 2" in theaters this week had us thinking about some of Iron Man’s lamest enemies.

Here are five enemies we're pretty sure won't be facing off against Tony Stark's armored alter ego on the big screen any time soon.

The Chessmen: Obadiah Stane was a sinister, manipulative villain who stole Tony Stark’s company and later attempted to steal the secrets of Iron Man by creating his own “Iron Monger” armor (as seen in the first...

I didn't know documentary film editor Karen Schmeer, but I certainly knew her work. Her first credited feature, Errol Morris's Fast, Cheap and Out of Control, is one of my all-time favorite documentaries and a Filmmaker magazine cover story. Brilliantly constructed, it weaves portraits of four oddball individualists and dreamers into a single meditative essay on creativity, self-worth and man's desire for legacy. The film would be an incredible feat for even the most seasoned of editors; that she cut it early in her career is astounding to me. She also edited The Fog of War and Mr. Death (again, both excellent), and she won the Documentary Editing Award last year at Sundance for her work on Greg Barker's Sergio. As many of you know,...

Emails are pouring in about the "untimely, senseless, and tragic" passing of Karen Schmeer, a respected member of the American Cinema Editors, at age 39. She was a gifted editor of documentaries who, according to news reports, was run down by robbers during their getaway as she was crossing a street in New York City. Best known for helping craft Errol Morris’ later films (The Fog Of War, Mr. Death, Fast, Cheap & Out Of Control, and Standard Operating Procedure) she won last year’s Sundance award for editing Greg Barker’s documentary, Sergio. "I had the honor to moderate a panel on [...]...

Karen Schmeer, winner of the Sundance Film Festival’s editing award last year for “Sergio,” and a longtime editor with Errol Morris, died last night in New York City. She was hit by a car that was fleeing the scene of a burglary on Manhattan’s Upper West Side. In addition to her work on Errol Morris’ “Standard Operating Procedure” (co-editor), “The Fog of War,” “Mr. Death” and “Fast Cheap and Out of …...

Filmmaker Errol Morris

Errol Morris: Come Along On My Death Trip

by Jon Zelazny

The acclaimed documentary filmmaker Errol Morris once devoted an episode of his cable TV series First Person to a criminal behaviorist named Michael Stone, a pleasant, slightly nebbish intellectual of about sixty who analyzes and classifies “evil” behavior, from the mildly exasperating to the most disturbing outer reaches of violent insanity. Morris seems to take an odd delight in having this gentle man run through a true-crime litany of torture, murder, and unthinkable depravity, then at the end of the program, asks Stone how he developed an interest in such gruesome activities. Stone seems puzzled by the question. He thinks for a moment, and describes how he endured some bullying as a schoolboy: nothing too terrible; he was just picked on and pushed around a bit. Morris then asks something like, “Do you think there’s something mysterious inside you,...

David Ellis returns to the director's chair with The Final Destination, fourth in the franchise and the first to be shot in Digital 3-D. Having viewed about 10 minutes of the film in 3-D (along with an afternoon on set), I can honestly say that the flick looks pretty cool, but then again, I'm a fan of the series to begin with. We've got the first official trailer below the jump, which offers a bit 'o insight into the premonition that sets Mr. Death's plans in motion along with a few potential kills. I'm onboard, what do you think? See it in theaters August 2009.

"It's a mixture of curiosity and apprehension," said the quixotic documentary auteur Errol Morris of what will be his first-ever trip to the Oscars next month for his and Sony Pictures Classics' The Fog of War. "It hasn't yet grown into out-and-out fear." In 1988, Morris' groundbreaking documentary The Thin Blue Line was named best documentary of the year by the National Board of Review, the National Society of Film Critics and the New York Film Critics Circle. But the film failed to win an Academy Award nomination, an oversight that angered many of its champions. Now, 16 years after that big Oscar diss -- Morris docus that have also been overlooked include the critical darlings Mr. Death: The Rise and Fall of Fred A. Leuchter, Jr. and Fast, Cheap and Out of Control -- Morris has finally been welcomed into the Academy fold. Fog is a portrait of former Secretary of State Robert McNamara, one of the architects of the Vietnam War.