On Demand Weekly

On Demand Weekly provides new movie reviews of hot movies on demand and from the POV of watching from the comfort of your home. Today’s review: CITIZEN GANGSTER (IFC Films).

CITIZEN GANGSTER
By Joe Charnitski

There’s good news and bad news about making a film that’s based on a true story. The bad news is that you are stuck with the events as they happened. Certainly artistic license can be used, but only to a degree. Ultimately, the story is what the story is.

Now, the good news is that, for the most part, you are free from worries about believability. Someone can’t say, “Aw, that would never happen” about a true story, truth being stranger than fiction and all that. It happened. It’s real. Deal with it.

CITIZEN GANGSTER, the debut feature film from Nathan Morlando, is based on the true story of Edwin Boyd, Toronto’s most famous post-World War II criminal (don’t ask me who their most famous pre-World War II criminal is). Boyd served his country in the war and came home to a menial job driving a bus. That job wasn’t going to be enough to feed his family, or, more importantly, Boyd’s insatiable desire for fame and adulation. Soon, he takes a bold move: he robs a bank. And off we go.

CITIZEN GANGSTER gets a lot of forgiveness because it’s based on a true story. For example, the film makes bank robbery appear to be the easiest profession in the world. You run into a bank, hop over the counter, smile at the girl who hands you a bag filled with money and you run, maybe after you deliver a one-liner. Also, Boyd (played by FELICITY alum Scott Speedman) sure takes to it very quickly. We don’t get the sense that he’s ever had anything resembling a criminal past, but he never has a doubt about robbing people for a living. But, I guess that how it happened, right?

Of course, the film is also stuck with the events as they occurred, and the way they decide to structure those events in the script doesn’t do the picture any favors. The repetition of heist, arrest, breakout, repeat doesn’t feel like a compelling commentary on the life of a crook. It doesn’t feel like much of anything really. Is Boyd’s wife really going to leave him? Will he reconcile with his father (Brian Cox as a retired cop)? Will Lorne Green offer him a part in his next tv show? All reasonable questions, I just didn’t care enough about the answers.

On Demand Weekly provides new movie reviews of hot movies on demand and from the POV of watching from the comfort of your home. Today’s review: BRAKE (IFC Films).

BRAKE
By Joe Charnitski

In Hollywood parlance the “high concept” movie is a film driven by one big idea, a bold concept, as opposed to propelled by character or even plot. For example, the high concept of THE TRUMAN SHOW is “one man’s entire life is a reality tv show, but he doesn’t know it.” “A weatherman is reliving Groundhogs Day over and over again,” is another example of a high concept driving a picture.

There are three requirements for a successful high concept movie: 1) obviously, a strong concept. You need the kind of conceit that elicits “oh, what a great idea for a movie” as a response; 2) the concept has to build, take fresh turns and keep an audience intrigued. Some big ideas are excellent in the first 10 minutes, but if you don’t know where to take the story, you’ve got a big “who cares” on your hands; 3) the payoff, the climax, the big reveal - it’s got to be good, surprising yet satisfying. The high concept poses a question, the end needs to provide an answer.

The claustrophobic action flick BRAKE certainly has a high concept: a secret service agent is trapped in a plastic box in the trunk of a car by terrorists intent on killing the President. He has information they want. They have his wife. What should he do? So, the first requirement is met. Unfortunately, it’s less successful with the other two.

Stephen Dorff (SOMEWHERE, PUBLIC ENEMIES) stars as secret service agent Jeremy Reins. He’s the guy stuck in the trunk. He wakes up in this predicament and assumes he’s been placed there because of gambling debts. Soon he discovers the much darker truth. Not only are terrorists trying to use him to assassinate the President. Not only are they threatening his wife. They’ve kidnapped another man, placed him in a separate trunk and kidnapped his family, too. Jeremy can save the lives of all of these people. He only needs to break the most solemn oath he’s taken: to protect the President.

On Demand Weekly provides new movie reviews of hot movies on demand and from the POV of watching from the comfort of your home. Today’s review: WE HAVE A POPE (IFC Films).

WE HAVE A POPE
Pope of No Where Village
By Sidney Falco

WE HAVE A POPE is a film that should be a lot more than what it is: mild entertainment at best – never more and, at times, less. It does have moments of charm and light-hearted touches in the direction, with performances to match, yet the picture never goes beyond the surface. It’s Hollywood-Lite storytelling (and I mean that in the worst way), only in Italian.

The plot: The Pope dies and the Cardinals gather together to pick a new Pope. Cardinal Melville (Michael Piccoli) is chosen against his wishes (never the front runner, according to the Press), and just as he is about to make it official and announce himself to the crowd in St. Peter’s square, he has a breakdown and refuses the job. Uncertain of himself, a Psychiatrist is brought in to find a solution for him, yet the Cardinal does not want to be Pope. Through a series of events, he decides to escape the Vatican and find himself.

With two of Italy’s foremost talents behind the camera, director Nanni Moretti and co-writer Francesco Piccolo, one would hope that they would use humor in the film to probe the psychology of Cardinal Melville (there are not 1, but 2 Psychiatrist characters!). Unfortunately, and this is where the picture really fails, the questions asked in the film by the writers about religion, Cardinal Melville’s role as a leader of a religion, along with the humanity that goes with that, never goes deep enough to get to any sort of genuine truth. There is a missed opportunity to make a profound comment about the duality of man, in conjunction with the role of religion in today’s society. All discussions about faith, man’s relation to that faith and oneself, seems to be handled with safety gloves

The territory which the filmmakers decided to explore in their story is a tricky one – there is very little humor in religion – it’s an (accepted) belief, no matter what your faith is, regardless of fact. So the question I asked myself when it was over was: what is the point? The film never offends or restores faith; it never scratches the bone. It falls in the middle of nothingness, relying on mild comedy to sustain the drama.

It’s not all bad. There is some appeal in a few scenes in the film, most notably, every scene with the Psychiatrist brought into the Vatican to question the Pop, who just so happens to be played by Moretti. His character brings life into the story, at least for a little while, before the narrative takes over to Cardinal Melville’s journey through the streets of Rome

Lionsgate Digital Distribution announced the Pre DVD sneak of three-time Academy Awards® nominated ALBERT NOBBS on demand. The film stars Oscar® nominees Glenn Close and Janet McTeer. The sneak peek is available now, a month ahead of the film’s debut on Blu-ray Disc, DVD and Digital Download on May 15th.

On Demand Weekly discussed this VOD strategy for ALBERT NOBBS and past Lionsgate films (including RED STATE, EVERYTHING MUST GO and MARGIN CALL) with Thomas Hughes, SVP, Worldwide Digital Worldwide Television & Digital Distribution.


On Demand Weekly (ODW): Why did Lionsgate sneak peek ALBERT NOBBS on demand?

Thomas Hughes (TH): ALBERT NOBBS is a great movie that in limited release theatrically (in just 75 markets) got notoriety from award nominations. This got the attention of our cable / satellite partners. Because of the early window, our partners are willing to promote it in unique ways and give it premium placement.

Thomas Hughes, SVP, Worldwide Digital Worldwide Television & Digital Distribution

ODW: Has Lionsgate sneaked movies on demand before?
TH: We did with ABDUCTION with Taylor Lautner early on December 22, 2011, before the holidays, in a limited release window until January 4, 2012. The DVD did not come out until January 17, 2012.

ABDUCTION (courtesy of Lionsgate)

It was a huge success. We saw an incremental lift over a similar genre movie.

Movies Lionsgate has sneaked before a particular window:
RED STATE: Kevin Smith (Pre Theatrical)                                 
MARGIN CALL: Kevin Spacey, Zacahary Quinto (Day & Date)  
EVERYTHING MUST GO: Will Ferrell (Pre DVD)                     
TRESPASS: Nicholas Cage, Nicole Kidman (Day & Date)       
ABDUCTION: Taylor Lautner (Pre DVD)                                      
ALBERT NOBBS: Glenn Close (Pre DVD)                                  

MARGIN CALL (courtesy of Lionsgate)

ODW: How does Lionsgate decide what movies will do well on demand?
TH: It's a little bit of the Wild Wild West. We are willing to experiment. Lionsgate's entrepreneurial spirit allows us to experiment where others may not be able to.

ODW: Does Lionsgate make extras and behind the scenes available on demand as they do on DVD?
TH: In some cases we do. It's not always ready when we go out early and if the platform can take. Not every platform can. The digital partners seem to be well positioned. Everybody is familiar with iTunes extras.

I think you are going to see a movement

where everybody will want to be positioned to offer extras.

ODW: When is the release strategy of a movie determined, before or after production?

Jonathan Sehring, President of Sundance Selects, announced today that Sundance Selects' digital sister, SundanceNOW, a new online destination for independent film, has launched "Doc Club," an innovative SVOD (Subscriber Video-on-Demand) program for documentary films. The company has turned to Thom Powers, one of the world's leading authorities on documentary films, to create a slate of curated titles each month for film enthusiasts.

Powers and the SundanceNOW team have spent the past year looking through the film libraries of several of the world's great documentary distributors, IFC, Zeitgeist, Icarus and Docurama, finding both many well-known titles as well as a number of hidden and hard-to-find gems. Subscribers may access "Doc Club's" monthly themed selections via streaming or downloading and can also retrieve the entire archive of previous months, as well as Powers' commentaries created just for "Doc Club" plus additional special materials.

Notes Powers: "I am very proud of the work I do in New York with 'Stranger Than Fiction' as well as the documentary programming I assemble for the Toronto International Film Festival and DOC NYC. I hope that the establishment of 'Doc Club' means that audiences across the country who are hungrier than ever for documentary films can now share my passion for these great films."

"This past year has been an incredible one for Sundance Selects especially with our documentary films. Audiences across the country and beyond have proven that documentaries are alive and well," said Jonathan Sehring, president of Sundance Selects. "This new 'Doc Club' via SundanceNOW will cater directly to online fans of documentaries. I feel strongly that any way a person can discover a documentary film is a great thing. With Thom's curated selections of beloved titles and hard-to-find gems, and his fascinating commentaries, lovers of documentaries will have a terrific new destination to explore."

SundanceNOW's "Doc Club" kicks off with an Errol Morris Spotlight. Films include THE THIN BLUE LINE, GATES OF HEAVEN and VERNON, FLORIDA as well as the hard to find entire FIRST PERSON series. The cost is $3.99 a month for access to 6-10 titles or $19.99 a year.

Films to be showcased over the coming months include some of the best of recent documentary filmmaking including BILL CUNNINGHAM, ART OF THE STEAL, MY WINNIPEG, BLACK POWER MIXTAPE, TOUCHING THE VOID and LAST TRAIN HOME; classics like WORDPLAY, ATOMIC CAFÉ and BROTHERS KEEPER plus some of Thom's favorite lesser-known titles that he hopes will discover new audiences via DocClub. These include Agnes Varda's THE GLEANERS AND I, the long unavailable CUL DE SAC, CAT DANCERS and DISCO & ATOMIC WAR.


About Thom Powers