On Demand Weekly

Magnolia Pictures On Demand's FREAKONOMICS will be available On Demand September 3, 2010 (before theaters!). Made by what looks like is the Super Friends of documentary filmmakers:

Academy Award® winner Alex Gibney (Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room),
Academy Award® nominees Rachel Grady and Heidi Ewing (Jesus Camp),
Academy Award® nominee Morgan Spurlock (Super Size Me),
Eugene Jarecki (Why We Fight),
Seth Gordon (The King of Kong).

The Movies On Demand (MOD) August Preview of The Indies has arrived. Highlights of the new release schedule for August, 2011 include some great documentaries such as Morgan Spurlock’s POM WONDERFUL PRESENTS: THE GREATEST MOVIE EVER SOLD premiering August 23 and EXPORTING RAYMOND premiering August 2. Along with some highly anticipated titles such as MEEK’S CUTOFF starring Michelle Williams premiering August 17, THE CALLER starring TRUE BLOOD’S Stephen Moyer premiering August 26 and SKATELAND featuring TWILIGHT’S Ashley Green premiering August 30.

Almost every indie new release listed comes to Movies On Demand either before or the same day as DVD.

Enjoy On Demanding this month!


Indie Titles:


EXPORTING RAYMOND – Premieres August 2
Philip Rosenthal
PG, Documentary

Same Day as DVD


BURKE & HARE – Premieres August 5
Simon Pegg, Andy Serkis, Isla Fisher, Tom Wilkinson
TV-MA, Comedy/Thriller

Before Theatrical Release


THE BEAVER – Premieres August 5
Mel Gibson, Jodie Foster, Jennifer Lawrence
PG-13, Drama

Weeks Before DVD, Weeks Before Netflix and Redbox


THE GRACE CARD – Premieres August 16
Michael Joiner, Michael Higgenbottom, Louis Gossett Jr.
PG-13, Drama

Same Day as DVD


MEET MONICA VELOUR – Premieres August 16
Kim Cattrall, Dustin Ingram, Brian Dennehy.
R, Comedy/Drama

Same Day as DVD


QUEEN TO PLAY – Premieres August 16
Sandrine Bonnaire, Kevin Kline, Valérie Lagrange
TV-14, Drama

Same Day as DVD, Weeks Before Netflix and Redbox


MEEK’S CUTOFF – Premieres August 17
Michelle Williams, Bruce Greenwood, Paul Dano, Zoe Kazan, Shirley Henderson
PG, Western

Weeks Before DVD, Weeks Before Netflix and Redbox


35 & TICKING – Premieres August 22
Tamala Jones, Nicole Ari Parker, Keith Robinson, Darius McCrary, Meagan Good, Kevin Hart
R, Romance/Comedy

Before DVD

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: THE OTHER F WORD (Oscilloscope Labs).

THE OTHER F WORD

By Chris Claro

Punk rock has always been about rebellion: sticking it to the man, telling society to go to hell, making sure that people just don’t understand, man! At its core, punk is anti-authoritarian, anti-government, anti-establishment, not the environs for such bourgeois pursuits as parenthood – “Father knows best? Father knows nothing!”

But even punks grow up, despite their attempts to the contrary. And no matter how hard they may have moshed or how badly they courted attention with choices in hair, ink, and accessories, punks age just as the rest of us do, and with age often comes the desire for something more fulfilling, something more than where to go eat after a gig. That something, as many of us squares know, is fatherhood.

THE OTHER F WORD, produced by Morgan Spurlock and directed by Andrea Blaugrund Nevins, is a rollicking doc about what happens when punks become parents. Though it sounds like the idea for a bad pilot starring Michael Rappaport and Jason Lee, THE OTHER F WORD is funny, insightful, and even touching, as it plays up the ironic dichotomy of post-40 punkers who need to maintain their bad-ass stage cred even though most of them are toast-making homebodies who find it increasingly difficult to go on tour.

Blaugrund traces the rise of punk in southern California, through the recollections of everyone from Flea to Art Alexakis to Mark Hoppus.

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: COMIC-CON EPISODE FOUR: A FAN’S HOPE (Gravitas) .

COMIC-CON EPISODE FOUR: A FAN’S HOPE

By Chris Claro

It’s a bird! It’s a plane! It’s a new doc from stuntumentarian Morgan Spurlock. After taking on fast food in SUPERSIZE ME, terrorism in WHERE IN THE WORLD IS OSAMA BIN LADEN, and the business of product placement in POM WONDERFUL PRESENTS THE GREATEST STORY EVER TOLD, Spurlock’s new film faces the final frontier, the San Diego Comic-Con. With his cameras floating amidst over 130,000 fanboys, geeks, and sci-fi mavens, Spurlock tells the buoyantly enjoyable story of the people who make an annual pilgrimage to the shrine devoted to all things comic, sci-fi, and fantasy-related.

And one of the best things to say about the film: Spurlock isn’t in it.

Don’t get me wrong, I think Spurlock has made some of the most entertaining docs of the last ten years, but as it with Michael Moore’s oeuvre, Spurlock’s subject matter is often secondary to the carnival barking of its filmmaker. No matter what he is tackling, Spurlock undercuts his subject by making himself the center of attention and often comes off as tiresomely indulgent. No such problem plagues COMIC-CON EPISODE FOUR: A FAN’S HOPE and the film is better for it. Just as Spike Lee showed his faculty for a genre piece with INSIDE MAN, Spurlock proves that by remaining behind the camera, he can tell a fuller, more character-centric story.

Actually, Spurlock tells multiple stories, spotlighting a cross-section of Con attendees who represent a variety of races, ages, and genders. His through-lines are diverse and compelling, focusing on two aspiring comic artists, a costume fabricator who creates replicas of videogame characters, a Denver-based comics dealer seeking a big sale, and even a self-proclaimed “geek couple” for whom the Con will be a life-changing event.

Heartfelt, goofy, and never condescending, COMIC-CON EPISODE FOUR: A FAN’S HOPE is a buoyant look at an event where, no matter what your denomination, Trek or Galactica, you’re welcome. Spurlock highlights that camaraderie that permeates the event, which is populated by a huge cross section of ages and races. Throughout the film, Spurlock offers Joss Whedon, Kevin Smith, Stan Lee, and others to wax rhapsodic about the annual gathering as “a big reward for being passionate about something that doesn’t exist.”