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Spotlight on Fall Films

As the summer blockbuster season comes to end, serious film fare is making its way to theaters again. This September, look for the Coen Brothers' Burn After Reading, French films, Keira Knightley in The Duchess and more.

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Jurgen & Marcy's Independent Film Blog

New Online Movies: Docs, Freaks, Trolls, and One Sad Monkey

Friday August 29, 2008

"Do you want to know what it is?" Find out in the hilarious and revealing The Explanation, one of two great new shorts by House Next Door editor emeritus Matt Zoller Seitz. My Funny Valentine documents the surprisingly heartfelt meeting between Chet Baker and King Kong.

"To reveal the facts about the Bush Administration's invasion and occupation of Iraq to voters concerned with the issues of national security and the adverse economic impact of the war,"  Charles Ferguson's No End in Sight (pictured) will be available for free in its entirety at the doc's YouTube channel, starting September 1. Via Movie City Indie.

IFC's Alison Willmore points to three great movies now available for online viewing: S.R. Bindler's documentary Hands on a Hard Body, Charles Laughton's Night of the Hunter, and Todd Browning's 1933 Freaks. And if that's still not enough to satisfy your craving for streaming classics, Matt Dentler found "one of the best-worst movies of all time:" Troll 2.

More online movies, recommended and downloadable online films.

The Coen Brothers Open 65th Venice Film Festival

Wednesday August 27, 2008
Frances McDormand, George Clooney, Tilda Swinton and Brad Pitt at the Venice Film Festival - (c) Franco Origlia/ Getty Images
Frances McDormand, George Clooney, Tilda Swinton and Brad Pitt at the Venice Film Festival - © Franco Origlia/ Getty Images

Burn After Reading, the Coen Brothers' follow-up to No Country for Old Men, opened the 2008 Venice Film Festival tonight. The Guardian has video and GreenCine Daily rounds up early reviews.

Other highlights of the festival, which runs through September 6, include new films by Hayao Miyazaki, Takeshi Kitano, Abbas Kiarostami, Manoel de Oliveira, Christian Petzold, and Darren Aronofsky. More on Venice from Variety and the New York Times, and the complete lineup.

Related: Lust, Caution wins 2007 Venice Film Festival

Review: Trouble the Water

Friday August 22, 2008
Trouble the Water - Hurrican Katrina documentary review

Unlike Spike Lee's near-epic When The Levees Broke, the new Hurricane Katrina documentary Trouble the Water narrows its focus to a single Ninth Ward couple with a camcorder, breaking down incomprehensible suffering and making it intensely real.

Trouble the Water received the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival, among many other deserved awards. The film opens today in New York and Los Angeles before expanding nationwide. It will also be screening at both the Democratic and Republican National Conventions. Read Marcy's review.

Toronto Film Festival Announces Lineup

Wednesday August 20, 2008
Burn This - Coen Brothers George Clooney Frances McDormand

The lineup for the 33rd Toronto International Film Festival is out. From September 4 - 13, 2008, the enormous fest will be screening 249 feature films from 64 countries. Among the highlights are the new Coen Brothers film Burn This, with a star studded cast including George Clooney, Frances McDormand, John Malkovich, Tilda Swinton and Brad Pitt, and the still-in-progress New York, I Love You,  a group project with segments directed by Fatih Akin, Yvan Attal, Scarlett Johannson, Shekhar Kapur, Joshua Martson, Mira Nair, and Natalie Portman. indieWIRE has the complete lineup and Girish Shambu plans his schedule.

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