Man On Wire Archives - The Playlist

The Sundance Film Festival’s 20 Biggest Oscar Success Stories

Jessica Kiang — Mon, 23 Jan 2017 19:08:03 +0000

It’s a big week, gang. The Sundance Film Festival is still going strong, with more hotly-tipped movies set to premiere, while tomorrow sees one of the biggest events of the film year, with the announcement of this year’s Oscar nods, where Kenneth Lonergan’s “Manchester By The Sea,” one of the biggest hits of last year’s Sundance, is expected to be one of the most nominated films.

Continue reading The Sundance Film Festival’s 20 Biggest Oscar Success Stories at The Playlist.

The Playlist’s Best Documentaries Of The Decade

Rodrigo Perez — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 20:33:00 +0000

Reading our Best of the Decade film lists, you’ve been asking us, “uhh, where in the hell are all the documentaries?”

Well, we didn’t want to ghettoize them in a lesser category, but we did want to give them their full due, so therefore here we are. This list is slightly different than our best of Decade list and tends to favor our favorite documentaries, rather than the ones we think are definitively the best, though we endorse every single doc here as well (perhaps a few in our last spots could be switched out for some of our honorable mention if we really thought about it; “To Be And To Have,” “49 Up” and “Lake Of Fire” being three docs we really admire).

Continue reading The Playlist’s Best Documentaries Of The Decade at The Playlist.

JJ Abrams Leaving Genre Behind For ‘Let The Great World Spin’

Oliver Lyttelton — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 16:19:00 +0000

Even though he kicked off his career with the scripts for dramas “Regarding Henry” and “Forever Young,” and for the college-set TV series “Felicity,” writer-director-producer J.J. Abrams has become best known for his genre work – from sci-fi tinged spy stories like “Alias” and “Mission Impossible 3” to reinventing well-worn sci-fi tropes in “Cloverfield” and “Star Trek.” But he may be returning to the real world for an adaptation of the National Book Award-winning novel “Let The Great World Spin.”

The novel, from Irish-born writer Colum McCann, follows a series of ensemble character, including an Irish monk in the Bronx, a grandmother, and a group of mothers grieving their sons, who died in Vietnam, against the background of Philippe Petit’s wire-walk between the towers of the World Trade Center (as immortalized in last year’s amazing documentary “Man on Wire.”).

Continue reading JJ Abrams Leaving Genre Behind For ‘Let The Great World Spin’ at The Playlist.

Fave Oscar Moment #1 – Philippe Petit And ‘Man On Wire’s Win For Best Documentary

Rodrigo Perez — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 15:45:00 +0000

“The shortest speech in Oscar history, yes! But I always break my own rules,” said the irrepressible “Man on Wire” subject Philippe Petit, when James Marsh won the Oscar for Best Documentary. Petit balanced an Oscar on his nose, gave a shout out to Werner Herzog and did a magic trick. That crazy bastard is the best.

Continue reading Fave Oscar Moment #1 – Philippe Petit And ‘Man On Wire’s Win For Best Documentary at The Playlist.

No Shocker: ‘Slumdog’ Cleans Up At BAFTAs; Snaps Up 7 Awards; Mickey Rourke Takes Best Actor

Rodrigo Perez — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 04:14:00 +0000

England just announced the winners for their version of the Academy Awards, the BAFTAS, and surprise, surprise, “Slumdog Millionaire” was once again the film that couldn’t be beat! In fact, it would’ve swept the entire show, raking in 7 wins, if it hadn’t been for ‘Benjamin Button’ snatching 3 technical awards. We wonder, could this be the outcome for the Oscars in a few weeks? Quite possibly, as the Baftas have become more and more a predictor for the Oscars over the years.

Continue reading No Shocker: ‘Slumdog’ Cleans Up At BAFTAs; Snaps Up 7 Awards; Mickey Rourke Takes Best Actor at The Playlist.

Team Playlist’s Top 10 Films Of 2008

Rodrigo Perez — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 18:45:00 +0000

Ok, now that it’s almost February and The Playlist team has had a chance to catch-up on all or most of the movies of the year (sort of), we belatedly present you with the overall Playlist group’s top 10. Note: this only includes pals and contributors from 2008, sorry to our valued very new gang, you’ll have your say soon enough.

Some picks have been listed individually. Mine, Mickey Pagels, and Nick Plowman of Fataculture, but now that the math is done, our group Playlist Top 10 goes like this.

Continue reading Team Playlist’s Top 10 Films Of 2008 at The Playlist.

‘Slumdog Millionaire’ Wins Produces Guild Award – Is This Your Oscar Best Picture?

Rodrigo Perez — Sun, 25 Jan 2009 18:46:00 +0000

Things seem to be boding well for Danny Boyle’s little ‘Slumdog’ flic, as if you haven’t noticed. The film already won the Golden Globe and has now picked up the coveted Producers Guild (PGA) award for Best Film of the Year – the most accurate bellwether for Oscar.

One might think that winning both awards could only help substantiate an Oscar victory, but the statistics don’t support it. Only two films in the past eight years (“Gladiator” and “LOTR:Return of The King”) won both the Globe and the PGA, and then went on to win the Oscar.

Continue reading ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ Wins Produces Guild Award – Is This Your Oscar Best Picture? at The Playlist.

The Playlist’s Top 20 Films Of 2008

Rodrigo Perez — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 00:14:00 +0000

It’s that time of year again. Remember the tried and true formula: experience + resonance= fantastic film. As we all know art is not made within the confines of a calendar year and release dates are arbitrary, or at least monetarily driven, but that said, here’s what we have for the last 12 months of the year that was 2008.

A terrible year for movies? For American mainstream films, mostly, it was sub par overall.

Continue reading The Playlist’s Top 20 Films Of 2008 at The Playlist.

Why You’re Not Seeing Michael Nyman’s Music For ‘Man On Wire’ During Award Season, Why You Should Still Listen To It…

Rodrigo Perez — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 23:54:00 +0000

A good six months after the fact, we finally saw the documentary, “Man On Wire,” by James Marsh. Why so late? Well, The Playlist contributor Alex Sherman saw it when it was first released and loved it, so we thought, “cool, we’ve got that covered.” But reviews were so damn soaring we kept thinking, “damn, we need to see this.” Well, now that it’s on DVD, we finally did and let us tell you, despite all the crazy expectations created by the buzz, the documentary completely lived up to the hype, which you know can be a crazy, difficult thing to do these days.

Continue reading Why You’re Not Seeing Michael Nyman’s Music For ‘Man On Wire’ During Award Season, Why You Should Still Listen To It… at The Playlist.

Short Cuts, British Edition; ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ Scores At BIFA, ‘Hunger’ Tops At Sight And Sound

Rodrigo Perez — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 18:42:00 +0000

Man, after almost five days off due to Thanksgiving, there are 10,000 little bits of news to get to. Here’s a few from across the pond (cause if we didn’t break them up like this they’d be incredibly long).

Danny Boyle’s “Slumdog Millionaire” was the big winner of the British Independent Film Awards (BIFA) taking Best Director, Best Picture and Most Promising Newcomer (Dev Patel). Other big winners included, “Hunger,” and “Happy Go Lucky.” “Man on Wire” won the Best British documentary award and “Waltz With Bashir” won the Best Foreign one.

Continue reading Short Cuts, British Edition; ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ Scores At BIFA, ‘Hunger’ Tops At Sight And Sound at The Playlist.

‘Man on Wire,’ ‘Standard Operating Procedure’ Make The Oscar Doc Shortlist; 15 Films Announced; Bill Maher Snubbed

Rodrigo Perez — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 14:14:00 +0000

The AMPAS have released yet another shortlist, this time for the category of Best Documentary feature, always a pretty unpredictable category in my books, but much like the Animated Feature shortlist released a while back, there is yet again a film that I think will have no problem taking home the gold regardless of its competition; “Man on Wire.” Having not seen it yet myself, although I will be in early December, I am going on the major critical consensus as well as the opinions of my fellow bloggers who have all expressed their high regard for it.

Continue reading ‘Man on Wire,’ ‘Standard Operating Procedure’ Make The Oscar Doc Shortlist; 15 Films Announced; Bill Maher Snubbed at The Playlist.

‘Man on Wire’ Among The Five IDA Documentary Finalists

Rodrigo Perez — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 15:38:00 +0000

The IDA documentary finalists were announced yesterday as well, making it two for two in one day for James Marsh’s apparently amazing documentary “Man on Wire,” about Philippe Petit who walked between the Twin Towers back in the 70’s with nothing but his strength of spirit and a tightrope keeping him from falling. Gonzalo Arijon’s beguiling “Stranded,” which only got a U.S. release last week, which documents the incidents before, during and after the 1972 Andes plan crash as reiterated by the survivors, “Young@Heart,” about a chorus of golden oldies performing pop hits on the daily to take their mind of stuff like their future which is not eligible for the Best Doc award at the Oscars, “Waltz with Bashir,” Ari Folman’s animated doc chronicling his wartime memories of the Israel/Lebanon conflict of 1982 which isn’t eligible for the Oscar either, and finally “Kassim the Dream,” which tells the story of a Ugandan child soldier who defied the odds and became a world champion boxer, all received spots on the IDA finalist list.

Continue reading ‘Man on Wire’ Among The Five IDA Documentary Finalists at The Playlist.

‘In Bruges’ and ‘Hunger’ Lead The British Independent Film Award Pack

Rodrigo Perez — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 15:32:00 +0000

Whenever awards bodies such as the British Independent Film Awards release their nominations, I have no choice but to question where ‘independent’ factor comes into play. Nevertheless, their thoughtful championing of the underdog(s) year in and year out is reason enough to let such thoughts slip. This year, Mike Leigh’s disarming “Happy-Go-Lucky” received a paltry 3 nominations, same as James Marsh’s highly regarded doc “Man on Wire” and Mark Herman’s so-so “The Boy in Striped Pyjamas” (in which I found Vera Farmiga excellent, and she received a Best Actress nom here too), while “Son of Rambow,” “Somers Town” and “The Duchess” snatched 4 apiece, which is laughable if only because Leigh’s film is so obviously a shutout.

Continue reading ‘In Bruges’ and ‘Hunger’ Lead The British Independent Film Award Pack at The Playlist.

The Twin Tower Walk Of ‘Man On Wire’ Takes Us Back To A Place Of Awe And Wonder

Rodrigo Perez — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 15:22:00 +0000

“Man On Wire,” the new documentary about the great French funambulist Philippe Petit, tells the story of Petit’s passion for wire-walking, and focuses on his landmark achievement: illegally walking between the tops of the World Trade Center Twin Towers. As interesting as it is schizophrenic, the film depicts his experiences through present-day on-camera interviews – recreations that look like they could have been outtakes from the Beastie Boys’ “Sabotage” video – with men in campy fake moustaches and sideburns; archival film footage of his preparation for the event in the 70s; and still photographs, as there were no movie cameras there to capture his most famous crossing.

Continue reading The Twin Tower Walk Of ‘Man On Wire’ Takes Us Back To A Place Of Awe And Wonder at The Playlist.