Tag: documentary

Inside ‘Assassin’s Creed III’: Episode 1

by Shane O'Hare

The folks over at Ubisoft have released the first in a four part series of behind the scenes videos. So come with us looking at what goes into Assassin’s Creed III.

AC3 ships on October 30th for Xbox and PS3 and November 20th for PC

Geekscape Teams With Exhibit A Pictures And Red Letter Media For ‘Doc of the Dead’!

by Jonathan

If you’ve been listening to Geekscape, or even checking our Facebook or Twitter, you knew something was up. And now it’s official. Geekscape is teaming up with Red Letter Media and “The People VS George Lucas” team of Exhibit A Pictures to create THE definitive zombie culture documentary “The Doc of the Dead”. Geekscape and Red Letter Media’s roles in the film are as contributors and Mike of Red Letter Media and I are co-directors providing director Alexandre Philippe, who’s no stranger to Geekscapists, with plenty of segments throughout the film.

I could explain more but why not check out the press release for yourself:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE ‘THE PEOPLE VS GEORGE LUCAS’ TEAM ANNOUNCES DEFINITIVE ZOMBIE DOCUMENTARY

‘WALKING DEAD’ ARTIST CHARLIE ADLARD TO SIGN POSTER ART AT SAN DIEGO COMIC-CON

DENVER, CO (July 5, 2012) – The creators of the groundbreaking participatory documentary THE PEOPLE vs. GEORGE LUCAS are already hard at work on DOC OF THE DEAD—the definitive and most comprehensive tribute to zombie culture and fandom ever made. Shot and edited in a cinematically edgy, high-octane style, DOC OF THE DEAD will host a rich pop culture dialogue with zombie experts and celebrities, seek participation from YouTubers and indie filmmakers, and even investigate the possibility and ramifications of an actual zombie outbreak with sociologists, virologists, chemists, and members of the Zombie Research Society.

The Exhibit A Pictures triumvirate—Writer/Director Alexandre O. Philippe, Producer Kerry Deignan Roy, and Producer/DP Robert Muratore—teams up again with Editor Chad Herschberger and the multi award-winning post-production facility Milkhaus (Oscar winner SAVING FACE; Sundance winner CHASING ICE) to stamp their unique brand of entertainment and pop culture commentary on one of the most viral and enduring fan phenomena in recent history. This will also mark their first full-fledged collaboration with Geekscape’s own Jonathan London and Red Letter Media’s massively popular Mr. Plinkett—both of whom will contribute recurring, fictionalized segments to the film. In other words: expect plenty of fan service and gory surprises!

Artist Charlie Adlard (THE WALKING DEAD), who created a stunning original poster for the film, will autograph a number of San Diego Comic-Con exclusive limited edition prints at the Geekscape Booth #3919 on Friday, July 13, 2012 at 4:30pm.

Filming is already under way, and the Exhibit A team is currently focusing on key interviews with countless personalities, critics, scholars, writers, filmmakers, comedians, and notorious zombie culture enthusiasts. Notables (to date) include Simon Pegg (SHAUN OF THE DEAD), and Matt Mogk (ZOMBIE RESEARCH SOCIETY). Zombie icon George A. Romero has agreed to participate, and will be interviewed in Toronto in early August.

Principal photography for DOC OF THE DEAD will begin in the Fall of 2012, with key interviews/B-roll/fictionalized segments filmed by the Exhibit A crew, and additional segments concurrently produced by Geekscape and Red Letter Media. Post-production is anticipated to begin in the Spring of 2013, with a completed film ready for delivery by Fall 2013. Crowdsourcing will be ongoing during the production and post-production periods. DOC OF THE DEAD will premiere in 2014.

For future updates, please follow DOC OF THE DEAD at:

http://www.docofthedead.com
http://www.facebook.com/thedocofthedead

I’m pretty excited about the chance for Geekscape to be involved in support of their first feature film and am really happy to be working with Mike at Red Letter Media and our longtime friends at Exhibit A. This was part of the goal in establishing the brand back in 2006 and continues to be. I hope those of you at SDCC next week drop by the booth and check things out, and pick up a copy of Charlie’s signed poster. Proceeds from the sale of the limited numbered poster will go to charity.

And now here’s a photo of my beloved wife, done up for her first onscreen role, and Simon on the Doc of the Dead set (ie. our living room where I record Geekscape):

Any questions? Keep checking this space for updates as we move towards film screens in 2014!

Geekscape Movie Reviews: Bully

by MCDave

With all of the hoopla and controversy surrounding the release of Bully and the MPAA’s refusal to lower the documentary’s rating from R to PG-13, I had to see the film first hand. After countless public outcries by film mogul Harvey Weinstein complaining that the movie would never be seen by its most intended audience, it was less than a week ago that director Lee Hirsch and the MPAA finally reached an agreement. Forced to remove three expletives from the original cut of the film, Hirsch made the necessary changes and Bully ultimately received the PG-13 rating it desired. Now, Harvey Weinstein (a businessman first and activist second) can rest easy.

Bully focuses on 5 central stories of recent torment, all of which are performed by middle school and high school students throughout the United States. Attempting to bring the severity of bullying to the forefront, the documentary examines the lives of current victims and, even in two accounts, the family’s of suicide victims. Hoping to spark some sort of change in the methods used by parents to raise their children and schools to monitor their students, the film journeys deep into this problematic issue.

Where do I begin? Bully serves as a much needed perspective into the lives of our nation’s youth. Throughout the film, the audience forms a bond with bullied adolescents such as Alex Libby (a unique boy who barely survived his massively premature birth), Kelby Johnson (a 16 year old openly gay female teenager in Oklahoma), and Ja’Meya Jackson (a verbally abused student arrested for her extreme actions to end the torment). Opening our eyes to the cruel and harsh reality that is every day life for countless youth all across the country, Bully is an appropriate platform to address the topic. Director Lee Hirsch, who claims to have been a victim of similar circumstances himself as a child, does an admirable job of confronting the issue with dignity and class. His efforts clearly deserve to be recognized and commended.

On the other hand, Bully fails to ever look to the future. Primarily spending its entirety focusing on the unfathomable stories of the previously mentioned trio of victims as well as two families coping with the suicides of their sons, the film never tries to conjure up any sort of solution to the problem. Other than presenting the viewer with the obvious flaws in our school systems and most districts’ lack of attention to the issue, Bully ignores any other suggestions for resolution. The audience is successfully made aware of this delicate, yet deliberate, dilemma, however, the documentary seems to believe that knowledge of the problem is all that needs to be done in order to change this unruly behavior. I, on the contrary, disagree and would have preferred it if Bully expanded its purpose and provided some insight into other ways to correct this ordeal.

Lee Hirsch does an honorable job of tugging at the audience’s heartstrings and presenting a clearer picture into the world of the abused. Perhaps screening the documentary to middle and high school students around the country will help prevent bullying. As seen by the heartbreaking stories of 17 year old Tyler Long and 11 year old Ty Smalley, both of whom took their own lives as a result of the chronic harassment, Bully has the ability to change people. But as compassionate as humans can be, sometimes nothing is more difficult for a child to overcome than peer pressure. And until our country can conjure up a better solution to help put an end to bullying, this problem may never go away … no matter how much we know about it.

Stars: 2 stars out of 4

Grade: C+

When MCDave isn’t on Geekscape he’s probably acting a fool at Movie Reviews By Dave

Paul Williams Is Still Alive Documentary Trailer

by Saintmort

Paul Williams is someone who has probably written one of your favorite songs and you most likely don’t know who he is. In the 70’s Paul Williams was a singer/songwriter and while his originals where never huge hits when they were sung by The Carpenters, Three Dog Night or Kermit the Frog they went straight to number one.

This Sunday at SXSW Fest is the premiere of the documentary Paul Williams: Still Alive. The film unlike most documentaries seems more like an obsessive fan’s stalker tape based on the trailer (Think My Date With Drew meets Winnebago Man). When Stephen Kessler discovered his favorite deceased singer/songwriter and Tonight Show guest Paul Williams was actually alive and well, he made it his mission to find out what happened to this once adored renaissance man.

 

I’m bummed that I won’t be at SXSW to see this one so if you’re there, you should put this on your to do list.

American Teen – The Geekscape Review

by Brent Moore

Ah, High School. That largely insignificant four years that provide a lifetime of emotional abuse. It’s funny that the period of our lives that most of us would just as soon forget is so often revisited in film and literature. Why do we have an interest in watching something we all went through? Something we all survived?

And the answer is right there in the question. We all went through it. There are very few things as universally relatable as the High School experience. Very few subjects that provide such clear archetypes. We all know the Jock, the Nerd, the Outcast, the Popular Girl, the Heartthrob. Basically, we’ve all seen The Breakfast Club.

Well this very familiar story is presented to us again with American Teen, the documentary that made a huge splash at Sundance. I was lucky enough to attend an early screening of the film with a very entertaining Q&A with the main characters afterward.

So, is it worthy of the hype? Kind of.

The movie doesn’t tell you a story that you haven’t seen before. It doesn’t shed light on anything new. It doesn’t have the benefit of a great script. It’s just real kids making their way through their senior year. However, it’s that universal relatability that makes it work. Yes, you already know these characters. Yes, you already know this story. But damn it, you can empathize with these kids. You know exactly how they feel. You want to take them aside and assure them that yes, life does get better.

The movie has been compared to a real life Breakfast Club but that’s not a very good example. Sure they deal with high school and have representatives of high school cliques, but Breakfast Club is about the characters overcoming their prejudices and seeing each other as people. It’s about coming together. American Teen doesn’t do that. It’s concerned with each character’s personal story, there are very few instances of overlap between them. It’s not about people coming together, it’s about them growing up and moving on.

Luckily the chosen kids are all interesting and all have stories to tell. Everyone has some goal to accomplish, there are stakes in each of their lives. For Colin the Jock, it’s to get a basketball scholarship so he doesn’t have to join the military. For Megan the Popular Girl it’s to make it into Notre Dame to keep up the family tradition. For Hannah the Outcast, it’s to find the personal strength to make it on her own and move away. For Jake the Nerd it’s to find love. These dreams are all represented in great little animated sequences that are unique to each character.

The filmmaking is pretty solid with a few exceptions. Sometimes the transitions between stories are abrupt and awkward and there are times when we leave characters alone for entirely too long. There are also a few instances when it feels more like you are watching fiction than watching a movie. Like recreations of reality. I don’t know if that is just due to the kids being uncomfortable on camera, just a trick of editing stories to play out in the most entertaining way, or if they actually did recreate or set up some things.

It’s a problem with any documentary. How much can you trust? How much has the truth been manipulated?

Luckily I had the benefit of seeing the real people after the movie and it was enough that I can say that the movie is a very close approximation of the truth, if not the whole truth. But more importantly, it’s entertaining.

So if you want to take another walk down the halls you swore you would never return to, then this is a good way to do it.