Ebert Thoughts ‘15—Moving Midway (2007) ****

UR, 95 min.

Director/Writer: Godfrey Cheshire

Featuring: Charles Silver, Robert Hinton, Godfrey Cheshire, Dena Silver, Abraham Hinton

“Moving Midway” is exactly the type of movie that makes Ebertfest the unique cinematic experience that it is. Sure, Ebertfest screens movies with big name stars. They program incredible auteur works. But you’ll also find these little surprises here. “Moving Midway” is one of those rare masterpieces that becomes so through heart and passion that shines through without the flash and flare of budgets and known commodities. These cinematic treasures often come in the form of a documentary. This year, it is “Moving Midway” that wows and moves me with its simple premise that informs one of the most compelling and ambitious films of this year’s festival.

Penny Thoughts ‘15—And the Oscar Goes To… (2014) ***

TV-MA, 95 min.

Directors: Rob Epstein, Jeffrey Friedman

Writers: Rob Epstein, Jeffrey Friedman, Sharron Wood

Featuring: Ben Burtt, Annette Benning, Ellen Burstyn, Cher, George Clooney, Billy Crystal, Benicio del Toro, Jane Fonda, Whoopi Goldberg, Tom Hanks, Jennifer Hudson, Cheryl Boone Isaacs, Janusz Kaminski, Kathleen Kennedy, Ben Kingsley, Liza Minnelli, Helen Mirren, Ve Neill, Robert Osborne, Jason Reitman, Phil Alden Robinson, Steven Spielberg, Bruce Vilanch, Jon Voight

Narrator: Anjelica Huston

Oscar fever is starting to catch for me. I feel like I’m a dying breed, however, as more and more of my peers seem to have grown bitter and critical of the Oscars. And yet, somehow each of them will find themselves tweeting their snide comments live during the Oscar ceremony this Sunday night.

Penny Thoughts ‘14—Chelsea Peretti: One of the Greats (2014) ***

NR, 74 min.

Director: Lance Bangs

Writer/Performer: Chelsea Peretti

I had never heard of Chelsea Peretti before seeing “Brooklyn Nine Nine”, the Andy Samberg police comedy show in which she plays the precinct secretary. Of a cast of oddballs, her character is by far the strangest of the bunch. She’s a too cool for school playa who probably sat by herself talking mostly to herself during lunch period.

Penny Thoughts ‘14—The Final Member (2014) ***

R, 75 min.

Directors: Johan Bekhor, Zach Math

Featuring: Sigur∂ur Hjartarson, Tom Mitchell, Páll Arason

“The Final Member” is not a documentary for those with weak stomachs. It really doesn’t try to be gory or gratuitous, but frankly I didn’t ever want to see the body part of its subject in the way we see it here.

“The Final Member” is a documentary about the world’s only penis museum. Sigur∂ur Hjartarson founded the Icelandic Phallological Museum from his own personal collection of penises. It features an amazing variety of penises, from some of the largest phalluses in the world to some of the smallest, but until recently the one species he couldn’t seem to obtain a specimen from was a human. This movie documents his efforts to obtain one.

ZAM Review—Birth of the Living Dead (2013) ***

This review was original written for and published by Zombie Apocalypse Monthly.

NR, 76 min.

Director: Rob Kuhns

Featuring: George A. Romero, Larry Fessenden, Mark Harris, S. William Hinzman, Gale Anne Hurd, Elvis Mitchell, Jason Zinoman, Samuel D. Pollard, Chiz Schultz

Film critic Gene Siskel had an idiom about the success of a film that stated that the best measure of a film was to imagine if a documentary with the same actors having lunch would be more entertaining. Of course, when it comes to zombie films, that is what you’re watching—the zombies having lunch. The man responsible for realizing this vision was George A. Romero, who rewrote the rules of zombies into our modern notion of what a zombie is—a dead person who has been reanimated and desires only to dine on brains (and the rest of your flesh) while the only way to stop one is by destroying their brain. This is basically what Romero came up with in his first film, 1968’s “Night of the Living Dead”—originally titled “Night of the Flesh Eaters”. Watching this documentary, which includes a great deal of footage of Romero just talking by himself, you’ll find he’s as entertaining as his movie.

Horror Thoughts ‘14—Cropsey (2009) ***½

NR, 84 min.

Directors: Barbara Brancaccio, Joshua Zeman

Writer: Joshua Zeman

Featuring: Joshua Zeman, Barbara Brancaccio, Dr. Bill Ellis, Dorothy D’Elletto, Karen Schweiger, Donna Cutugno, Ralph Aquino, Bobby Jenson, Andre Rand, Jim Callahan, Theresa Doyle

So we open Horrorfest this year with a documentary about a real life horror tale of an urban legend that turned out to be true, however the truth of it all is impossible to determine. Growing up on Staten Island, the filmmakers remember stories of Cropsey, an insane killer that would snatch kids if they were out too late in places they didn’t belong. Only once they were adults did they learn that these were not merely stories designed to make sure kids were home and safe when their parents wanted them home.

Penny Thoughts ‘14—Tiny: A Story About Living Small (2013) ***

NR, 66 min.

Directors: Merete Miller, Christopher Smith

Writer: Merete Miller

Featuring: Christopher Miller, Merete Miller, Daryl Gibson, Jay Shafer, Logan Smith, Paul Smith, William Smith, Tammy Strobel, Dee Williams

I hate, hate, hate home improvement shows. My wife loves them and invariably I will walk into the living room on a Saturday afternoon and one of the cursed things will be on my TV. However, there is one home designing phenomenon that I have to admit is a guilty pleasure of mine—tiny houses. I will click on any Facebook link that has anything to do with tiny houses. I love the ultra-simplification philosophy that goes into them. I like the lower environmental footprint they promote. But mostly, I just love to see how their designers find different ways to fit all the basics of living and even one or two luxuries into less than 200 square feet.

Penny Thoughts ‘14—Cane Toads: The Conquest (2011) ****

PG, 82 min.

Director/Writer: Mark Lewis

Featuring: Henry Richards, Neil Young (not that one)

“Nature finds a way.”

                                                —Dr. Ian Malcolm, “Jurassic Park”.

It’s amazing the amount of wisdom you can find about nature in the movie “Jurassic Park”. I would like to suggest to the residents of Northern Australia that they should heed Ian Malcolm’s words in their quest to squelch their problem of the advancement of the population of cane toads in the region. My guess is that the people featured in the movie “Cane Toads: The Conquest” are probably extreme cases and the reason their government hasn’t heeded their cries for control is because the problem isn’t quite as devastating as they’re making it out to be. I would also guess that the gifted documentarian Mark Lewis is aware of this fact, however he just can’t help but indulge them. It’s so much fun.

Penny Thoughts ‘14—Jodorowsky’s Dune (2014) ***

PG-13, 90 min.

Director: Frank Pavich

Featuring: Alejandro Jodorowsky, Michel Seydoux, H.R. Giger, Diane O’Bannon, Jean-Paul Gibon, Nicolas Winding Refn, Brontis Jodorowsky, Gary Kurtz, Chris Foss, Amanda Lear

I always felt that David Lynch was a very strange choice to direct the 1984 sci-fi epic “Dune”, an adaptation of the lauded novel by Frank Herbert. Now, I’ve never read the book, but it would seem that anyone attempting to capitalize on the success of “Star Wars” would place Lynch’s name on the bottom of the list. Well, maybe not the bottom. I would think his name would be placed only above Alejandro Jodorowsky’s.

Penny Thoughts ‘14—Leviathan (2013) ***½

NR, 87 min.

Directors: Lucien Castaing-Taylor, Verena Paravel

Featuring: Captain Brian Jannelle

I have no idea how they filmed “Leviathan”. It is a documentary about a fishing vessel. There is no dialogue, no commentary, no explanations. That’s not to say there is no narrative. There are long passages of film when it is impossible to tell just what you’re looking at, including the opening sequence.

Penny Thoughts ‘14—The Unknown Known (2014) ***½

PG-13, 103 min.

Director/Writer: Errol Morris

Featuring: Donald Rumsfeld

Voice: Errol Morris

In his first feature, “Gates of Heaven”, documentarian Errol Morris interviews an old woman who just lets loose on his camera with a five minute monologue that goes from one end of the spectrum to the other in a way that sees her contradicting her own point by the time she reaches the end. “The Unknown Known” is a feature-length version of that same monologue, this time with former two-time U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld as the interviewee.

Penny Thoughts ‘14—Sound City (2013) ****

NR, 108 min.

Director: Dave Grohl

Writers: Mark Monroe, Dave Grohl

Featuring: Vinny Appice, Joe Barresi, Brian Bell, Frank Black, James Brown, Lindsey Buckingham, Mike Campbell, Tim Commerford, Kevin Cronin, Rivers Cuomo, Warren Demartini, Mick Fleetwood, John Fogerty, Neil Giraldo, Christopher Allen Goss, Jessy Greene, David Grohl, Omar Hakim, Taylor Hawkins, Peter Hayes, Joshua Homme, Rami Jaffee, Alain Johannes, Jim Keltner, Barry Manilow, Paul McCartney, Nate Mendel, Rupert Neve, Stevie Nicks, Rick Nielson, Krist Novoselic, Shivaun O’Brien, Keith Olsen, Stephen Pearcy, Tom Petty, Nick Raskulinecz, Trent Reznor, Ross Robinson, Rick Rubin, Paula Salvatore, Jim Scott, Chris Shiflett, Sandy Skeeter, Tom Skeeter, Pat Smear, Rick Springfield, Corey Taylor, Benmont Tench, Robert Levon Been, Lars Ulrich, Butch Vig, Lee Ving, Brad Wilk, Pat Wilson, Neil Young

There is so much good music in “Sound City”, Dave Grohl’s documentary about the famed Sound City music recording studio, I can barely stand it. Much is made about the Neve soundboard that drew so many acts to recording in the rather glamourless studio, and I’m sold. Every classic album mentioned in the film has a very distinctive sound to them that is recaptured in the album Grohl made with many of the artists behind those albums after purchasing the soundboard from the studio when it closed its doors.

Penny Thoughts ‘14—Superheroes: A Never-Ending Battle (2013) ***½

TV-PG, 180 min.

Director: Michael Kantor

Writers: Michael Kantor, Laurence Maslon

Featuring: Grant Morrison, Joe Quesada, Mark Waid, Len Wein, Geoff Johns, Jack Kirby, Trina Robbins, Carmine Infantino, Todd McFarlane, Adam West, Zack Snyder, Denny O’Neill, Neal Adams, Stan Lee, Jim Steranko, Jerry Robinson, Joe Simon, Lynda Carter, Michael Chabon, Jeanette Kahn, Paul Dini, Alan Moore, Jim Lee

Voices: Edward Hermann, Marc Damon Johnson, Adriane Lennox, Adam West, Tim Daly

Host: Liev Schreiber

I began reading comic books at the heart of their modern popularity. By “modern” I mean the age when following comic books meant an investment in them. They were probably more popular in the wartime era, when they cost 10 cents. In the late 80s and early 90s it required an income to follow comics. That’s when I got in, just when I was gaining an income.

Life Itself / **** (R)

A documentary featuring: Roger Ebert, Chaz Ebert, Marlene Iglitzen, A.O. Scott, Richard Corliss, Gene Siskel, Ramin Bahrani, Errol Morris, Werner Herzog, Martin Scorsese, Avy DuVernay

The voice of Roger Ebert: Stephen Stanton

Magnolia Pictures and CNN Films present a film by Steve James. Based on the memoir “Life Itself” by Roger Ebert. Running time: 115 min. Rated R (for brief sexual images/nudity and language).

I didn’t know I was a writer. I went to school to be an actor. I’d watched “Siskel & Ebert & the Movies” on Saturday mornings as a kid. To me Roger Ebert was just a guy on TV who talked about movies, which I thought was pretty cool, but that was the end of it. Then when I was in college, an acting friend of mine turned me on to Roger’s written word. Suddenly I realized that not only was there more to movies than I’d ever imagined, but there was more to criticism.

Penny Thoughts ‘14—Harry Dean Stanton: Partly Fiction (2013) ***

NR, 77 min.

Director: Sophie Huber

Featuring: Harry Dean Stanton, David Lynch, Sam Shepard, Kris Kristofferson, Wim Wenders, Deborah Harry

Yesterday I reviewed “Repo Man”, the movie probably most responsible for my awareness of character actor Harry Dean Stanton. I had most likely seen him in many movies before I saw “Repo Man”, certainly in Ridley Scott’s “Alien”; but it was “Repo Man” that let me know that this was an actor to whom I must pay attention.

Penny Thoughts ‘14—From One Second to the Next (2013) ****

NR, 34 min.

Director: Werner Herzog

I’m not going to say much about this one because the movie should speak for itself. I must, however, mention that fact that renowned filmmaker Werner Herzog has directed this short documentary about texting and driving. It’s remarkable how a master craftsman and artist can draw power into what is essentially a public service or educational movie. Every driver should be required to watch this movie.

Ebert Thoughts ‘14—Life Itself (2014)

NR, 114 min.

Director: Steve James

Featuring: Roger Ebert, Martin Scorsese, Werner Herzog, Errol Morris, Ramin Bahrani, Chaz Ebert, Ava Duvernay, Stephen Stanton (voice), A.O. Scott, Marlene Iglitzen

When I wrote my review for the 15^th Annual Roger Ebert Film Festival, the first without the man for whom it is named, a documentary filmmaker contacted me on my blogsite. Her name is Karen Gehres and had been invited to the film festival in 2009 to screen her incredible documentary “Begging Naked”. She just wanted to express to me how much she wished to experience another Ebertfest. We challenged each other to make it to this year’s festival. I hope she was more successful in her plans than I was.

Penny Thoughts ‘14—The Clash: The Last Gang in Town (2013) ***½

NR, 7 min.

Director/Writer: Fred Armisen

Starring: Fred Armisen, Paul Simonon, Mick Jones

Last week I reviewed a new short mockumentary featuring Fred Armisen reprising his fake punk rocker Ian Rubbish from Saturday Night Live. The film, titled “The Sexiest Elbows in Rock”, featured the frontman from the band Split as the owner of the titular body parts. It’s a fun send up of the rockumentary format with many real rockers participating for authenticity. “The Clash: The Last Gang in Town” is another fake rock documentary by Armisen in which his Ian Rubbish interviews two of the members of the iconic punk band The Clash. It’s been nominated for a Webby Award.

Penny Thoughts ‘14—The Lady in Number 6: Music Saved My Life (2013) ***½

NR, 38 min.

Director: Malcolm Clarke

Writers: Malcolm Clarke, Carl Freed

Featuring: Aliza Sommer-Herz

The Best Documentary Short Oscar-winner for 2014 saved me from going 0-3 in the short categories of the Oscar pool this year. That movie was “The Lady in Number 6: Music Saved My Life”. I don’t really know why I picked it. Perhaps I connected with its subtitle. Perhaps I just thought the Oscar voters couldn’t resist giving an award to a movie about a sweet elderly woman. I didn’t even know if she was sweet. I just assumed because—like all the films of the shorts categories—I hadn’t seen it; nor had most people who didn’t meet the strict voting criterion of the Academy rules on such films.

Penny Thoughts ‘14—Deceptive Practice: The Mysteries and Mentors of Ricky Jay (2013) ***½

NR, 88 min.

Director: Molly Bernstein

Narrator: Dick Cavett

Featuring: Ricky Jay

I haven’t really been fascinated by magic since I was a kid. I remember being extremely fascinated as a child, however. It seems anytime there was a magic special on TV, I was sitting in front of it. That was when the networks used to put things like magic specials on TV. I’m not sure just what it was that disinterested me in magic. I think it was the discovery that it truly was a trick. I think I wanted magic to be real. Once I knew it wasn’t, I looked for magic in different places.