The Cove Archives - The Playlist

Oscar Winning ‘The Cove’ Director Will Tackle Mass Extinction In 3-D

Christopher Bell — Fri, 06 Aug 2010 19:30:00 +0000

Documentary Oscar winner Louie Psihoyos (“The Cove”) isn’t stretching out on the couch, snuggling with his Academy Award (or signing on to a teen-pop star biopic for a day) – apparently, according to Momentum, via /Film, he’s already shooting his next documentary, tentatively titled “The Singing Planet.”

The director’s sophomore film (which will be in exciting 3-D!) will focus on the extinction of wild life thanks to humanity’s various exploits. “I think it’s the biggest story out there right now,” he told Momentum.

Continue reading Oscar Winning ‘The Cove’ Director Will Tackle Mass Extinction In 3-D at The Playlist.

New ‘Life During Wartime’ Poster Is Unremarkable; ‘Kids Are All Right’ Featurette Illustrates Why Film Is A Winner

Edward Davis — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 19:45:00 +0000

A new poster for Todd Solondz’s “Life During Wartime” has arrived and it’s basically a more illustrated version of the already released U.K. one, and frankly we liked the English version better (and surely that will sell the picture better too). The film is a quasi sequel to Solondz’s “Happiness” and stars Allison Janney, Ciarán Hinds, Paul Reubens (aka “Pee Wee Herman”) and Ally Sheedy among many others. The boy in the poster is the actor Dylan Riley Snyder.[Vulture]

Vertigo Films is making its second 3D live-action pic based on Novel Entertainment’s children’s property “Horrid Henry.” The first was the $30 million box-office hit “Street Dance 3D.” The character is the second most successful children’s character in the U.K.

Continue reading New ‘Life During Wartime’ Poster Is Unremarkable; ‘Kids Are All Right’ Featurette Illustrates Why Film Is A Winner at The Playlist.

Filmmaker Hirokuza Kore-eda & Other Japanese Public Figures Condemn Intimdation Tatics Employed To Pull ‘The Cove’ In Tokyo

Edward Davis — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 22:15:00 +0000

By now, you’ve probably heard that three Tokyo theaters have pulled Louie Psihoyos’ excellent Oscar-winning documentary, “The Cove” from theaters as it makes the Japanese whaling industry look pretty terrible. The reason? The fear of protests outside the venue, according to distributors Unplugged, after receiving harassing phone calls and warnings that right-wing protesters would picket. Thankfully, artisans in Japan aren’t having it.

Noted filmmaker Hirokuza Kore-eda (Playlist favorite and Criterion approved, “Still Walking”) was among the fifty-plus public figures that included journalists, academics and filmmakers who signed protest letter condemning the intimidation and said they were alarmed by the tactics employed to pressure theaters into canceling the planned screenings.

Continue reading Filmmaker Hirokuza Kore-eda & Other Japanese Public Figures Condemn Intimdation Tatics Employed To Pull ‘The Cove’ In Tokyo at The Playlist.

‘The Hurt Locker’ Win Best Picture & Tops The 2010 Academy Awards With 6 Awards

Rodrigo Perez — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 05:06:00 +0000

And bullseye. Goliath goes down. In your face 3D, “The Hurt Locker” won the 2010 Academy Award for Best Picture.

The intense action-based Iraq War film took six awards in total, including one for its director Kathryn Bigelow, who went down in the history books as the female director to ever win a Best Directing Academy Award prize.

Some argued the David vs. Goliath story over the blockbuster vs. the longtail award or the spectacle vs.

Continue reading ‘The Hurt Locker’ Win Best Picture & Tops The 2010 Academy Awards With 6 Awards at The Playlist.

The Playlist’s 2010 Oscar Liveblog

Katie Walsh — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 23:48:00 +0000

It’s the most wonderful night of the year — The 82nd Annual Academy Awards! The population at large has had a bad case of Oscar fever, and the only cure is little gold naked men statues. Can you blame us for being in the grip of Oscarmania? The awards show this year is bigger and badder than ever. Double your Oscar hosts, double your fun! Alec Baldwin teams up with Oscar vet Steve Martin for what could possibly be the best pair of co-hosts ever.

Continue reading The Playlist’s 2010 Oscar Liveblog at The Playlist.

‘The Hurt Locker’ & ‘Up In The Air’ Top The WGA Awards

Rodrigo Perez — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 02:59:00 +0000

Are you buying the surging meme? Are you one of those believing the Harvey Weinstein self-made hype — bought hook line and sinker by the media — that “Inglourious Basterds” is going to win Best Picture, because Weinstein believes that if you repeat the sentiment often enough people will listen? And hell, he’s right, people are listening. Or at least the media has in the last few weeks because, well, lemmings will do that some times.

Continue reading ‘The Hurt Locker’ & ‘Up In The Air’ Top The WGA Awards at The Playlist.

Louie Psihoyos’ ‘The Cove’ Set For Release In Japan

Simon Dang — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 14:22:00 +0000

Louie Psihoyos’ Oscar nominated dolphin-documentary “The Cove” has been picked up by a Japanese distributor and is now set for release in the country despite the controversy it has already stirred up.

Fishermen in the town of Taiji, Japan — who are the subject of the documentary — took legal action against its potential screening at the Tokyo Film Festival last year, however, their efforts were to no avail. The film was eventually a hit; selling out within hours and forcing a second screening to be organized.

Continue reading Louie Psihoyos’ ‘The Cove’ Set For Release In Japan at The Playlist.

Kathryn Bigelow Takes The DGA Award

Rodrigo Perez — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 07:54:00 +0000

Hell yes. Kathryn Bigelow, director of “The Hurt Locker” bested her ex-husband James Cameron (“Avatar”) in the DGA (Director’s Guild Award) winners race tonight making her the frontrunner in the 2009 Oscar race.

God, could she and the Iraq war film actually take the Oscar Best Picture and Best Director? We’d love it more than life itself, but are still skeptical. Here’s hoping. But as Roger Ebert noted last night, only six times in sixty years has the DGA winner not won the Oscar for Best Picture which bodes very well for her and her film.

Continue reading Kathryn Bigelow Takes The DGA Award at The Playlist.

‘The Hurt Locker’ Bests ‘Avatar’ In The 2009 PGA Awards

Rodrigo Perez — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 03:32:00 +0000

Fuck a duck and holy shit, just when you thought that Awards season might be over and set in stone comes a major game changer, “The Hurt Locker” just beat “Avatar” in the PGA (Producer’s Guild Awards). For the layman out there, if the Director’s Guild, or SAG is the 9 out of 10 (or close enough) bellwether of what happens at the Oscars, well the PGAs are the Guild equivalent of Oscar at the Oscars.

Continue reading ‘The Hurt Locker’ Bests ‘Avatar’ In The 2009 PGA Awards at The Playlist.

The Playlist’s Best Films Of 2009 (*Editor’s Picks Only)

Rodrigo Perez — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 17:45:00 +0000

Getting a definitive top 10 out of the Playlist team is hard.

There’s a lot of differing opinions and some writers, due to their locations (we’ve got people in the U.K., Australia, Canada and U.S. places other than NY/LA), don’t get to see most of the year’s films until January 2010. And yes, we’re deep in January now, but some are still making their way through everything (example, “The Lovely Bones” just hit wide this past weekend).

Continue reading The Playlist’s Best Films Of 2009 (*Editor’s Picks Only) at The Playlist.

Oscar Doc Shortlist Released; ‘Anvil,’ ‘Capitalism’ & ‘Tyson’ Doc Snubbed

Kevin Jagernauth — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 14:42:00 +0000

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences have released their 15-strong Oscar documentary shortlist and as usual there are surprises about which titles have made it and which didn’t. Culled from 89 official submissions the films vying for a final five slot are:

“The Beaches of Agnes” directed by Agnes Varda
“The Cove” directed by Louie Psihoyos
“Every Little Step” directed by James Stern and Adam Del Deo
“Food, Inc.” directed by Robert Kenner
“Valentino: The Last Emperor” directed by Matt Tyrnauer
“Burma VJ” directed by Anders Ostergaard
“Facing Ali” directed by Pete McCormack
“Garbage Dreams” directed by Mai Iskander
“Living in Emergency: Stories of Doctors Without Borders” directed by Mark Hopkins
“The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers” directed by Judith Ehrlich and Rick Goldsmith
“Mugabe and the White African” directed by Andrew Thompson and Lucy Bailey
“Sergio” directed by Greg Barker
“Soundtrack for a Revolution” directed by Bill Guttentag and Dan Sturman
“Under Our Skin” directed by Andy Abrahams Wilson
“Which Way Home” directed by Rebecca Cammisa

As usual, the Academy voters are not in sync with audience or critical response as two of the year’s most celebrated docs, James Toback’s moving and insightful “Tyson” and Sacha Gervasi’s incredible rock ‘n roll dream “Anvil!

Continue reading Oscar Doc Shortlist Released; ‘Anvil,’ ‘Capitalism’ & ‘Tyson’ Doc Snubbed at The Playlist.

LOL: Japanese Fisherman May Sue ‘The Cove’ Filmmakers Over Documentary’s “Possible Factual Errors,” Maybe, Sorta, Not Really…

Rodrigo Perez — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 03:12:00 +0000

Hilarious. Vulture points us to this AFP piece that says Japanese dolphin hunters are pretty sure that the documentary “The Cove” — about illegal dolphin fisheries in Japan — possibly says some untrue things about them so they may sue the filmmakers who used clandestine tactics to document the horrifying brutalities.

“We’ve heard that the film includes factual errors, and so we may take some sort of action, including legal steps, if we watch it and find problems,” said the an unnamed official of the the Taiji fisheries cooperative.

Continue reading LOL: Japanese Fisherman May Sue ‘The Cove’ Filmmakers Over Documentary’s “Possible Factual Errors,” Maybe, Sorta, Not Really… at The Playlist.

New Photo From ‘Nine,’ HBO Greenlights Martin Scorsese’s ‘Boardwalk Empire,’ ‘The Cove’ Successfully Curbs Dolphin Killing

Simon Dang — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 05:19:00 +0000

– We’ve been pimping this thing every chance we get so, once again, here’s another look at Nicole Kidman and Daniel Day-Lewis in Rob Marshall’s “Nine.” We’re heavily anticipating this film like no other this fall. Seriously, what’s going to be better?

– HBO has greenlit Martin Scorsese’s 1920’s set “Boardwalk Empire.” Scorsese helmed the pilot and may look at directing more of the 11 ordered episodes in his collaboration with producer Mark Wahlberg (“Entourage”) and writer Terence Winter (“The Sopranos”).

Continue reading New Photo From ‘Nine,’ HBO Greenlights Martin Scorsese’s ‘Boardwalk Empire,’ ‘The Cove’ Successfully Curbs Dolphin Killing at The Playlist.

Weekend Box Office- ‘Funny People’ At The Top, But Not Many LOL’s

Gabe Toro — Sun, 02 Aug 2009 15:58:00 +0000

Because bad buzz surrounds any studio that doesn’t hit a home run these days, Universal has been getting negative press about an inadequate summer, even though from the outset, they weren’t planning on hitting many home runs in the first place, going under the radar with a number of medium-to-low profile projects. Their summer winner “Public Enemies” will slide in at $200 million worldwide, while “Bruno” remained a major profit earner despite falling off after that first weekend.

Continue reading Weekend Box Office- ‘Funny People’ At The Top, But Not Many LOL’s at The Playlist.

In Theaters: ‘ ‘Funny People,’ ‘Aliens in the Attic,’ ‘Collector’

Rodrigo Perez — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 12:12:00 +0000

Welcome to another installment of ‘The Fridays of Summer,’ 2009 edition, where the weather is hot but most reviews are decidedly lukewarm. This weekend’s mainstream lineup is oddly similar to the previous one, including an animated comedy-adventure for kids (last week there was “G-Force”) , a horror flick ( “Orphan”), and a rom-com nobody cares about (“The Ugly Truth”). Okay, scratch that last one; actually, “Funny People” is a probable standout for both box-office bang and bang-for-your-buck enjoyment.

Continue reading In Theaters: ‘ ‘Funny People,’ ‘Aliens in the Attic,’ ‘Collector’ at The Playlist.

Review: ‘The Cove’: The Most Vital Documentary Of The Year So Far

Rodrigo Perez — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 16:00:00 +0000

Not unlike last year’s Academy Award winning doc “Man on Wire,” Louie Psihoyos’ “The Cove” utilizes familiar narrative genre tropes to tell its against-all-odds nonfiction story. Despite this somewhat convoluted device, “The Cove” rarely falters, succeeding as a clear-eyed indictment of marine mammal hunting, and exposing the injustice of secretive annual dolphin slaughtering in Taiji, Japan. Richard O’Barry, dolphin trainer for the 1960s “Flipper” TV show, obsesses over repenting for his role in perpetuating dolphin exhibition, now a multi-million dollar enterprise.

Continue reading Review: ‘The Cove’: The Most Vital Documentary Of The Year So Far at The Playlist.

The Playlist’s July Summer Preview

Jared Weiss — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 14:47:00 +0000

You know the drill here. We here at The Playlist did a summer preview of the films arriving in May and June, so here’s July. There’s a lot of interesting pictures dropping this month. Take a look.

JULY 3
“The Girl from Monaco”
This is the first of writer-director Anne Fontaine’s two films to hit the U.S. this year (the other is “Coco Before Chanel,” starring Audrey Tatou), the movie will likely appeal to anyone excited by the phrase “French sex comedy.” It appears to have a relatively standard romcom love triangle: a lawyer, a bodyguard, and a bimbo of a girl with a history.

Continue reading The Playlist’s July Summer Preview at The Playlist.

Must-See Trailer: The Riveting Dolphin Drama Of ‘The Cove’ Documentary

Rodrigo Perez — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 16:51:00 +0000

You’ve probably heard a little buzz about this documentary, “The Cove,” as it won the audience award at Sundance earlier this year and also took big awards at Toronto’s Hot Docs and the Newport Film Festival. But man, you have to watch this trailer, it’s amazing. It’s basically tells the story of about an illegal fishing area and Japan where dolphins and whales are mercilessly killed and a team of filmmakers that try and infiltrate it Jason Bourne style and expose it to the mass media and the world.

Continue reading Must-See Trailer: The Riveting Dolphin Drama Of ‘The Cove’ Documentary at The Playlist.

Terry Gilliam’s ‘The Imaginarium Of Doctor Parnassus’ To Debut In Munich Later This Month; Hits Germany December 3

Rodrigo Perez — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 21:43:00 +0000

Terry Gilliam’s “The Imaginarium Of Doctor Parnassus,” will open up the 27th Munich International Film Festival that runs June 26-July 4. The film features the last onscreen appearance of Heath Ledger and still has not been bought by any U.S. distributors. The film comes out in Germany, December 3. We believe this is the first hard and fast release date we’ve seen for ‘Parnassus’ so far. Does this mean the rest of the world could follow suit that late in the year?

Continue reading Terry Gilliam’s ‘The Imaginarium Of Doctor Parnassus’ To Debut In Munich Later This Month; Hits Germany December 3 at The Playlist.

First Look: ‘Alice In Wonderland’ In 3D, Katie Holmes Joins Del Toro ‘Don’t Be Afraid Of The Dark?’, New Poster For Alejandro Amenbar’s ‘Agora’

Simon Dang — Thu, 07 May 2009 10:42:00 +0000

Here is your first, albeit 3D-inhibited, look at Tim Burton’s “Alice In Wonderland.” The film is due out March 5th 2010 and stars Mia Wasikowska in the title role. Maybe if you have 3D glasses lying around it’ll look all groovy. [MarketSaw]

Katie Holmes will star in the Guillermo Del Toro co-scripted and produced “Don’t Be Afraid Of The Dark.” The film is based on a 1973 ABC telepic about a young girl who moves in with her father and his girlfriend and discovers they are sharing the house with devilish creatures.

Continue reading First Look: ‘Alice In Wonderland’ In 3D, Katie Holmes Joins Del Toro ‘Don’t Be Afraid Of The Dark?’, New Poster For Alejandro Amenbar’s ‘Agora’ at The Playlist.