Thompson on Hollywood

"The Revolutionary Optimists" Avoids Perils of "Indian Poverty Porn"

Features

Ever since the success of Oscar-winning films "Born into Brothels" and "Slumdog Millionaire," India's slums and impoverished children have been a popular topic for Western filmmakers. Accusations of "poverty porn" are inevitable, however, and, when it comes to this former British colony, there's always a question of whether these films perpetuate age-old stereotypes of some backward "Orientalist" land, plagued with dirt, poverty and illness, all wrapped in exotic colors and bouncing music.

By Anthony Kaufman
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March 28, 2013 1:09 PM
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Immersed in Movies: Exclusive Early Peek at Blue Sky's Star-Studded 'Epic' -- 'Avatar' Meets 'Gladiator'

Features

Blue Sky founder and director Chris Wedge recently gave a sneak peek of his latest animated feature, "Epic" (May 24), at Fox (you can view the new trailer below). It's certainly no "FernGully," and it's a far cry from "Ice Age" and everything else Blue Sky has ever made. It's more like "Avatar" meets "Gladiator," if you had to pin it down.

By Bill Desowitz
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March 22, 2013 4:03 PM
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HBO's Accidental Feminism, From Lena Dunham's Hannah Horvath to Laura Dern's Amy Jellicoe

Features

With the recent finale of the second season of “Girls,” and the “Enlightened” season finale still resonating in my mind, I’ve been thinking more and more about the characters from both shows. The upcoming new season of “Veep” is only a few weeks away, too, and, even though it’s a more stylized comedy half-hour, it’s another example of what I’ve come to think of as HBO’s inadvertent nod to feminist sensibilities; these three shows have female protagonists who are far from lovable -- but we love them. What’s going on here?

By Julia Chasman
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March 21, 2013 11:37 AM
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'Dirty Wars': Glimpse Into Shadow World of U.S. Counterterrorism Via Tenacious Reporter

Features

"Dirty Wars," the riveting new documentary by journalist Jeremy Scahill and director Rick Rowley that probes the shadowy world of U.S. paramilitary operations, almost didn't get made. Or rather, it almost didn't become the film that premiered at Sundance in January to critical plaudits and was picked up two days later by IFC Sundance Selects for a late-summer release.

By Jacob Combs
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March 20, 2013 12:25 PM
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Right-Wing Unveils More Poorly Made Agit-Docs: Watch Out for D'Souza's 'America'

Features

At CPAC, the Conservative Political Action Conference, NPR reports that there were more than 20 new right-wing documentaries on display, from "Hating Breitbart" to "FrackNation," as well as a trailer for author Dinesh D’Souza's follow-up to his right-wing agit-doc “2016: Obama’s America," simply called "America," which reportedly extols the virtues of American exceptionalism.

By Anthony Kaufman
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March 18, 2013 4:00 PM
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Immersed in Movies: DreamWorks Has a 'Crood' Awakening

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You couldn't find a more apt movie to sum up DreamWorks Animation at the moment than "The Croods" (March 22), the prehistoric road trip adventure about embracing change as a survival strategy when the world turns terribly hostile. After last year's box office misfire with "Rise of the Guardians," which resulted in a $165 million write-off, layoffs, and schedule reshuffle, DreamWorks is definitely in transition.

By Bill Desowitz
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March 15, 2013 3:04 PM
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Agnes Varda, Still Making Waves

Features

Agnes Varda, irrepressible octogenarian -- “say I’ll be 85 in May” -- and filmmaker whose 1954 feature debut, "La Pointe-Courte," precipitated New Wave cinema, is artist-in-residence at the University of Pennsylvania this week, dispensing wisdom, teaching master classes and sharing some of her 33 films, including her 2009 cine-memoir, "The Beaches of Agnes."

By Carrie Rickey
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March 15, 2013 12:20 PM
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Celebrating Ford and Wayne's Classic Western 'The Searchers'

Features

This week marks the 57th birthday of John Ford's seminal western "The Searchers" (1956). In recognition, director Martin Scorsese reviews the classic film in THR:

By Ryan Lattanzio
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March 14, 2013 4:23 PM
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Now and Then: What Can We Demand of the Documentary--Subjects, Aesthetics, Goals and Business Models?

Features

This year, if you held your ear to the Oscar keyhole and listened hard enough, you might have discerned a slight disquiet. "Very strong category," people were saying about the nominees for Best Documentary Feature. "I loved all of them," they usually added. "But..." The "but" concerned the eventual winner, director Malik Bendjelloul's "Searching for Sugar Man." A soulful mystery about the American musician Rodriguez, who rose to prominence in South Africa and Australia a generation ago before being relegated to obscurity, "Sugar Man" was never discussed as anything less than deserving. In certain quarters, though, "Sugar Man" could be seen as insubstantial when placed against the other nominees, all weighing heavy political subjects: the Israeli/Palestinian conflict ("The Gatekeepers," "5 Broken Cameras"), military sexual assault ("The Invisible War"), and the AIDS crisis ("How to Survive a Plague").

By Matt Brennan
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March 12, 2013 3:22 PM
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Seeing VFX Is Believing, From Original 'Star Wars' and 'Superman' Franchises to Woody Allen's 'Zelig'

Features

“You’ll believe a man can fly.” That was the promise made to potential ticket-buyers during the fall and winter of 1978, when Richard Donner’s take on the Superman legend was being readied to soar across Christmastime movie screens all over America. We certainly never believed (nor were we asked to believe) that George Reeves, the Superman known to viewers of the popular TV series which ran from 1952 until 1958, could really fly.