POSTER: Michael Stephenson's Destroy

Joshua Ligairi » 06.29.11 »

Michael Paul Stephenson is from my same geographic area and religious background. He's also a documentary filmmaker and we share a lot of common friends both in and out of the entertainment business. Zack Carlson was in Mike's first film, (the hit documentary) Best Worst Movie, of which I am a big fan. Zack also penned a favorite book of mine, Destroy All Movies!!!, which through an odd turn of events, I will be directing a documentary adaptation of.

Those random connections notwithstanding, I'm really looking forward to seeing Destroy, a new film which Mike will direct from Zack's script, as a rabid genre film fan.

The set up is amazing. According to The Hollywood Reporter: "In Destroy, vampires don't exist, but that doesn't stop a well-intentioned would-be vampire hunter from leaving a trail of blood-splattered wooden stakes across Bavaria. While he thinks he's saving the world, he is mistakenly murdering innocent old men." Genius. Add it to the list of films I wish I'd thought of. Report's THR, "Destroy will shoot in Eastern Europe and is in the early stages of casting."

Anyway, this is all old news, but I recently stumbled across this (AMAZING) early artwork for the film online and I got excited about the project all over again. Thought I'd share the poster and my anticipation here. I'm super excited for Mike to be able to make this transition into fictional filmmaking so easily. I'm also excited for Zack to go from film programmer to filmmaker. There is also the chance that this will help out my collaboration with Zack on the Destroy All Movies!!! documentary. If you are at all interested based on the concept of poster, you should also read this nice little interview with Mike and Zack by the great Devin Faraci over at at Badass Digest: http://bit.ly/i1bPFP

LIST: Top 10 Docs of 2010

Joshua Ligairi » 12.31.10 »

Those of you who read my annual best of lists know that I don't typically rate films numerically, but when Documentary Blog editor, Jay Cheel (who I host a podcast with), asked if I would be interested in submitting a Top 10 for his site, I could hardly resist. Of course, being out of practice, I ended up blowing it right away by forgetting to list one of my favorite films of the year, Sweetgrass. I hate to knock any other films out because I enjoyed them all, but suffice it to say that Sweetgrass would have ranked very high on the list.

Read the full write-up and see lists from Jay and the rest of the Documentary Blog staff here. Check out my section of the article and the closest I could come to a Top 10 below:

Release dates for independent make end-of-year lists tricky, so rules always play a big part in how I form my lists. For this one, I’m discounting festivals altogether and sticking to films that either played theatrically, on television, or went straight to DVD in 2010. That is especially good this year because I had a film of my own that premiered at the end of 2009 and played the festival circuit in 2010, but since we aren’t getting our theatrical release until 2011, I can hold off a while longer on the awkward and unethical recommendation of my own film. I should also mention that I have not seen all of the year’s supposed best documentaries. Among the notable omissions are Armadillo, Client 9, Happy People, Nostalgia for the Light, Genius Within, Inside Job, The Kids Grow Up, La Danse, Precious Life, Presumed Guilty, The Thorn in the Heart, and Waste Land. Disclaimers out of the way, here are my top ten documentaries of 2010:

1. Alamar

2. Marwencol

3. Exit Through the Gift Shop

4. A Film Unfinished

5. Best Worst Movie

6. Last Train Home

7. The Oath

8. 45365

9. Sweethearts of the Prison Rodeo

10. 12th & Delaware

Honorable Mentions: American Radical, Czech Peace, The Elephant In the Living Room, Gasland, Google Baby, Restrepo, Smile ‘Til It Hurts, The Tillman Story, The Wild and Wonderful Whites of West Virginia, and Winnebago Man.

For the very best in non-fiction news, reviews, lists, and commentary visit TheDocumentaryBlog.com. Read the original post and find 2010 lists from Jay, Charlotte, and Sean here. Listen to Jay and I interviewing some of the best documentary filmmakers of our day on the site's new podcast.

LIST: The Films of 2009

Joshua Ligairi» 01.05.09 »

It was an interesting year for movies. The industry was turned upside down by the financial crisis, not because business was actually affected by the economy, but because Hollywood money-men were afraid it would be, and so over-corrected us into preemptive recession mode. The plus side is that gigantic blockbusters like Star Trek, Transformers, Wolverine, New Moon, Alvin and the Chipmunks, Terminator, and Avatar made this one of the highest grossing years in Hollywood history.

The bad news is this year's "surprise" success will only encourage Hollywood to follow this business model of relying on mega-budget proven entities and staying away from those risky original visions. What does this have to do with me? Well, let's just say that it was not the best year to bring an independent documentary to the table with hopes of distribution. If this was 2004, I'd be a rich man. But enough about the business (and me). Let's talk about the movies themselves.

Each year I make a list of my favorite films. I don't give the films numbered rankings, but I do rate them in some way. My goal is to highlight every film that I feel is above-average and worth a watch, while also giving some insight into my personal taste. That's what blogging is all about, right? Getting personal? These are the movies that caught my attention this year.

This first set of films were, as Hans Landa might say, the crème de la crème. There weren't a lot that knocked me off my feet, but I found each of these films extraordinary in some way. Anvil! The Story of Anvil is the most conventional of my choices, but this documentary about aging rockers is amongst the most touching films I saw this year. It is a fascinating portrait of the lengths artists go to for their art, and the endurance it takes to survive crushing disappointment. That Anvil! didn't even make the Academy short list is shocking.

The rest of the films in this category all feel slightly ahead of their time. They are brave, inventive, and imaginative films that showed me something I'd never quite seen before, or at least not in this way. One of those films, Inglourious Basterds, is indeed the masterpiece that its creator, Quentin Tarantino, pronounces it to be in the final shot of the movie. Were it not so, that final shot may be infuriating, but Tarantino earns it by showing us something new and daring...and good. Basterds is the Nazi film to end all Nazi films and it is not only the best theater-going experience that I had all year but, as mentioned in my post "Inglourious Catharsis," one of the best theater-going experiences I have had in my entire life.

Excellent (2009) These were my favorite films of the year.

Anvil! . The Brothers Bloom . The Hurt Locker . The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus . Inglourious Basterds . Of Time and the City . A Serious Man . Where the Wild Things Are . The White Ribbon

This next set of films were also quite good. The documentaries were each extremely revelatory about human nature and the fictional films were all buoyed by strong performances. Each displayed a mastery of craft in its own way, perfectly striking an appropriate tone for the subject matter, while not falling into stale convention. Like the films in the previous category, each of these pictures brought something new to the table, expanding their given genres, and thinking about visual storytelling in new ways.

Very Good (2009) These films were also extremely enjoyable.

500 Days of Summer . 45365 . Bad Lieutenant . The Beaches of Agnes . Best Worst Movie . Bright Star . Broken Embraces . Coraline . The Cove . District 9 . The Dungeon Masters . Everlasting Moments . The Fantastic Mr Fox . Food Inc . Goodbye Solo . Humpday . Humble Pie . Me and Orsen Welles . Moon . The Most Dangerous Man in America . Must Read After My Death . Paper Hearts . Pontypool . The Road . Sherlock Holmes . Sugar . Trouble the Water . Up . Up In the Air . Winnebago Man . World's Greatest Dad . You the Living . Zombie Girl

It would be incorrect to classify these films as the "leftovers." While not my absolute favorite of the year, the films were by and large better than the majority of this year's cinematic offerings. Each of these is a great film on its own terms.

Above Average (2009) These were solid movies and better than most of the crap out there.

Adventureland . An Education . Art and Copy . Brothers . Burma VJ . By the People . Collapse . Crazy Heart . Crude . Delightful Water Universe . Drag Me to Hell . Duplicity . Every Little Step . Extract . Facing Ali . Funny People . Garbage Dreams . Good Hair . Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince . Hi, My Name Is Ryan . The House of the Devil . In the Loop . The Informant! . It Might Get Loud . Killshot . Limits of Control . Lymelife . Men Who Stare at Goats . More Than a Game . Nine . No Impact Man . Objectified . One Good Man . Paris 36 . Peace Mission . Pirate Radio . Police Adjective . Ponyo . The Reckoning . Resolved . Rip! . Sin Nombre . A Single Man . Soundtrack for a Revolution . Sunshine Cleaning . Tales from the Script . Thirst . Trucker . Tyson . The Vicious Kind . Watchmen Director's Cut . Waterlife . We Live in Public . What's the Matter with Kansas? . Which Way Home? . White On Rice . The Young Victoria

While I am confident that I could defend all of these choices, I'm not going to. These are those movies that I know are arguably bad in a conventional sense, but that for me really struck a nerve. Whether it was the nostalgia, the ambition, or the sheer audacity, each of these films had something that I really latched onto.

Guilty Pleasures (2009) I'm embarrassed by how much I liked these movies.

Crank 2 . Deadgirl . Observe and Report . Knowing . New World Order . This Is It . Whip It . Zombieland

Each year there is a group of movies that I want to see because I like the director or the trailer looked interesting or someone has told me is worth seeing, but I just can't seem to bring myself to shelling out the cash to see in the theater. These are those movies.

I’ll Catch It On DVD (2009) Kinda wanted to see it, but not that bad.

9 . Big Fan . The Box . Bruno . Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs . The Goods . The Hangover . The International . Invictus . The Lovely Bones . Monsters vs Aliens . A Perfect Getaway . State of Play . Terminator Salvation . Two Lovers

I'm most disappointed this year with four guys that I think are comedic geniuses but somehow turned out really sub-par tripe in place of the life-altering films one could expect from their resumes. These geniuses are named Woody Allen, Larry David, Ricky Gervais, and Harold Ramis. Their films were so bad they made me question myself. Was I the one in the wrong? Suddenly, up was down, black was white--but that's not to say I won't buy their films on DVD (with the exception of Ramis'). Please, guys, redeem yourselves with your next films. And please, Hollywood, allow them to make next films. Now, a little advice for the makers of the other films on my shit list: Don't ever compare your movie to Brick. It seems not even Rian Johnson's films can stand that comparison, so don't even try. Also, don't take a beloved property from my childhood and then bastardize it. Each action figure sold is reserving a plot of land in hell. Finally, don't make a really great first film and then follow it up with much, much worse films. Simple.
Biggest Disappointments (2009) I really tried to like these movies but didn't.

Angels and Demons . Assassination of a High School President . Gentlemen Broncos . GI Joe . Halloween 2 . The Invention of Lying . Jennifer's Body . Nights and Weekends . Public Enemies . Whatever Works . Wolverine . The Year One

Save the hate mail for my upcoming blog post, "Dances with Fern Gully: Or, My Problems With Avatar." I do not hate these movie--I enjoyed some of them--but none of these movies are as good as people are saying they are and, frankly, a couple of them outright suck.

Most Overrated (2009) I didn't like these as much as you did.

Avatar . Away We Go . Blind Side . Bronson . I Love You, Man . Julie and Julia . Paranormal Activity . Star Trek . Transformers 2 . Trick r Treat

Sometimes films don't come to your area, sometimes you don't hear about a film until it is too late to catch it theatrically, and sometimes you just run out of time. There are only so many hours in a day, days in a week, and weeks in a year.

Didn't See It (2009) But I wanted to.

35 Shots of Rum . After School . Antichrist . Coco Before Chanel . Departures . Disgrace . The Headless Woman . Il Divo . Incendiary . The Informers . Julia . The Last Station . Living In Emergency . The Messenger . Mugabe the White African . Precious . Seraphine . Sergio . Silent Light . Skin . Summer Hours . Taking Woodstock . Tokyo Sonata . Treeless Mountain . Under Our Skin . Valentino The Last Emperor

Most Anticipated (2010) Looking forward to next year.

Alice in Wonderland . The Art of the Steal . Bear Nation . Cemetery Junction . Cleanflix . Colony . The Cross . Date Night . The Deep Blue Goodbye . The Expendables . The Fighter . Four Lions . Get Him to the Greek . Google Baby . Greenburg . Green Zone . Hesher . Howl . The Human Factor . I Love You Phillip Morris . I'm Here . Inception . Jack Goes Boating . Kick Ass . Last Play at Shea . Looper . Master of Space and Time . Mystery Team . Nailed . Ness . Paul . The Prince of Providence . Restrepo . Robin Hood . The Rum Diary . Schmatta . Scott Pilgram vs the World . Shutter Island . Silence . Snowblind . Submarino . Suburbicon . Sympathy for Delicious . The Thorn In the Heart . Tron Legacy . Under Great White Northern Lights . You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger . Your Highness . Waiting For Armageddon . A Walk in the Woods . The Wolf Man . Wonderful World . Youth In Revolt