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Next month’s Criterion Channel selection is here, and as 2021 winds down further cements their status as our single greatest streaming service. Off the top I took note of their eight-film Jia Zhangke retro as well as the streaming premieres of Center Stage and Malni. And, yes, Margaret has been on HBO Max for a while, but we can hope Criterion Channel’s addition—as part of the 63(!)-film “New York Stories”—opens doors to a more deserving home-video treatment.

Aki Kaurismäki’s Finland Trilogy, Bruno Dumont’s Joan of Arc duology, and Criterion’s editions of Irma Vep and Flowers of Shanghai also mark major inclusions—just a few years ago the thought of Hou’s masterpiece streaming in HD was absurd.

I could implore you not to sleep on The Hottest August and Point Blank and Variety and In the Cut or, look, so many Ernst Lubitsch movies,...

In 1968, Dan Rowan, one of the hosts of the variety series Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In, introduced a guest by describing him as “an act you’re just not gonna believe.” “This guy plays the bugle, plays the guitar, and sings — all at the same time. … This is a unique act, he’s the only one of his kind, and we’re lucky.” His co-host, Dick Martin, retorted, “I guess we are lucky … There could have been two.” Rowan brought Martin over to the guest, the Legendary Stardust Cowboy, who dressed in yellow pants,...

Daniel Johnston and Jad Fair’s 1989 collaboration It’s Spooky will be reissued for its 30th anniversary, out April 10th via Joyful Noise Recordings. The track “Ashes on the Ground” is out now.

Fair, vocalist and guitarist of the punk band Half Japanese, first began corresponding with Johnston in the late Eighties. They finally met in person in New York in 1989. “I was doing some recording with Mo Tucker [of the Velvet Underground],” Fair recalls. “Daniel was in town, staying with Steve Shelley of Sonic Youth. Daniel and I became friends and I invited...

Daniel Johnston’s enduring muse was Laurie Allen, a woman he met in an art class. One song he wrote about her, “Laurie,” found him singing, “Once I saw the most beautiful girl sitting next to me/I asked her what was her name, she said it was ‘Laurie,'” over a strummed acoustic guitar. Even after they fell out of touch, he still pined and wrote songs about her, and in a rare bonus scene from the documentary The Devil and Daniel Johnston, they reconnected more than 25 years later.

Daniel Johnston, who died Wednesday at 58, was one of a handful of artists whose work immediately seeps into the soul. Once you’ve heard one Daniel Johnston song, whether it’s one of his hauntingly plaintive unrequited love songs or one of his whimsical earworm bops, you will never be the same. An underground fixture for years, he practically invented Diy recording and the lo-fi aesthetic that dominates independent music and art today. Johnston reached a new level of stardom in 2005 with the release of Jeff Feuerzeig’s trailblazing documentary “The Devil and Daniel Johnston,” which IndieWire recently named the best music documentary of the 21st century.

As a longtime fan, Feuerzeig’s journey with Johnston predates his personal relationship with the late musician and artist. Feuerzeig sees in Johnston’s Diy and punk aesthetic direct parallels to the independent film boom of the 1980s, pioneered by Spike Lee, Jim Jarmusch,...

Daniel JohnstonDaniel Johnston, an eccentric singer-songwriter and advocate for mental health awareness who developed a strong following among other artists like Kurt Cobain and Tom Waits, is dead. He was 58.

Johnston died early Wednesday morning at his home outside Houston, Texas, according to Tom Gimbel, Johnston's manager of over 25 years, reports cnn.com.

Also Read:?Shawn Mendes, Camila Cabello share a passionate kiss

"He's just an inspiration. I think he was a true genius," said Gimbel.

Johnston's family and Gimbel said he died of natural causes.

"Daniel was a singer, songwriter, an artist, and a friend to all. Although he struggled with mental health issues for much of his adult life, Daniel triumphed over his illness through his prolific output of art and songs," a statement from Johnston's family read.

"He inspired countless fans, artists, and songwriters with his message that no matter how dark the day that 'the sun...

Kristen Stewart and Laura Dern star in an account of the notorious case of a supposedly reclusive author which pulls its punches

This movie returns us to the strangely unrewarding story of the “Jt LeRoy” literary hoax, recently discussed in Jeff Feuerzeig’s 2016 documentary Author: The Jt LeRoy Story.

“Jt LeRoy” was the pen name, or avatar, or bogus persona created by American author Laura Albert who wrote avowedly autobiographical fiction about a young boy’s experiences of homelessness and sexual abuse – but Albert compulsively posed as the supposedly reclusive and charismatic author on the phone to a growing number of journalists and celebrity fans.

Universal Pictures has released the trailer for “Jt LeRoy,” writer-director Justin Kelly’s take on one of the most infamous literary scandals of the last 20 years. Formerly known as “Jeremiah Terminator LeRoy,” it stars Laura Dern as the writer who made up the pseudonymous persona and Kristen Stewart as the sister-in-law who portrayed LeRoy in public — and if that sounds confusing, just imagine how everyone who bought the books felt. Avail yourself of the trailer below.

Here’s the synopsis: “Laura Albert (Dern) writes tough, insightful fiction under a pseudonym, Jt LeRoy. Her Jt is not just a pen name but a whole persona, a teenage boy from West Virginia living a dangerous life as a truck stop sex worker. Laura was born in Brooklyn a generation earlier, and grew up in New York’s punk scene. Writing books such as ‘The Heart is Deceitful Above All Things’ as Jt...

Closing night in Toronto brought Justin Kelly’s low-budget indie labor of love, “Jeremiah Terminator LeRoy,” which lured two bankable actresses with its twisted but true tale of mistaken author/avatar identity. Dern flew to Toronto from filming “Little Women” and Stewart from the set of “Charlie’s Angels” to help Kelly sell the movie in Toronto. The filmmakers wanted to screen “Jeremiah Terminator LeRoy” to friendly Tiff fans in order to land some upbeat reactions. (Metascore: 63.)

“This is as independent as it can get,” said Dern on the phone from the Tiff press day. “If a distributor gives Justin the time and love he needs to shape it, it’s about being able to finesse a thing we made on a shoestring.”

Clearly, both actresses rolled up their sleeves on set. When extras didn’t arrive in late ’90s-early ’00s period clothing, Dern and Stewart threw T-shirts on them...

Closing night in Toronto brought Justin Kelly’s low-budget indie labor of love, “Jeremiah Terminator LeRoy,” which lured two bankable actresses with its twisted but true tale of mistaken author/avatar identity. Dern flew to Toronto from filming “Little Women” and Stewart from the set of “Charlie’s Angels” to help Kelly sell the movie in Toronto. The filmmakers wanted to screen “Jeremiah Terminator LeRoy” to friendly Tiff fans in order to land some upbeat reactions. (Metascore: 63.)

“This is as independent as it can get,” said Dern on the phone from the Tiff press day. “If a distributor gives Justin the time and love he needs to shape it, it’s about being able to finesse a thing we made on a shoestring.”

Clearly, both actresses rolled up their sleeves on set. When extras didn’t arrive in late ’90s-early ’00s period clothing, Dern and Stewart threw T-shirts on them...

The Jt Leroy saga is readymade for the movies, and two years ago it gave birth to Jeff Feuerzeig’s documentary “Author: The Jt Leroy Story.” That provided a fascinating overview of extensive scheme by Bay Area author Laura Albert, who wrote under the nom de plume of the fictional Leroy and gave him a backstory, hoodwinking fans all over the world by pretending that (s)he was a former teen prostitute with prodigal talent.

Albert pulled it off for years, pretending to be Leroy on the phone while sending her androgynous sister-in-law Savannah Knoop to play the character in public. But while “Author” explores the eccentric Albert’s identity crisis in her own words, it relegated Knoop to a supporting character. Writer-director Justin Kelly’s “Jeremiah Terminator LeRoy” puts her front and center, bringing an intriguing new angle on the bizarre literary con as we see Knoop being forced...

“Jeremiah Terminator LeRoy” is not the first movie to star indie darlings Kristen Stewart and Laura Dern, but it is the first one to feature them sharing the screen together. The two actresses appeared in different segments of Kelly Reichardt’s 2016 drama “Certain Women,” which became the filmmaker’s highest grossing movie to date thanks to their star power. Now Dern and Stewart have teamed up for “Jeremiah Terminator LeRoy,” world premiering at the Toronto International Film Festival next month.

“Jeremiah Terminator LeRoy” is the latest from writer-director Justin Kelly, the filmmaker behind “King Cobra” and “I Am Michael.” The film is a true story drama featuring Dern as Laura Albert, who became a literary sensation under the name Jt Leroy. Albert recruited her sister-in-law Savannah Knoop (Stewart) to play Leroy in public appearances.

The film is based on Knoop’s 2008 tell-all memoir “Girl Boy Girl: How I Became Jt Leroy.

It would be tough finding a harder working actor than Liev Schreiber who has successfully transitioned from supporting roles in movies to his very own TV show, playing fixer Ray Donovan on the Showtime series for five seasons. He’s received four Golden Globe nominations and two Emmy nominations playing that role.

In between seasons he’s found the time to make Chuck, a movie about the famed “Bayonne Brawler,” Chuck Wepner, whose career was documented in the Espn “30 for 30” doc, The Real Rocky. Besides being the New Jersey Heavyweight Champion in the ‘70s, Wepner famously went 15 rounds with Muhammad Ali, but his somewhat tragic story was also the inspiration for Sylvester Stallone to make Rocky.

The movie, directed by Philippe Falardeau (Monsieur Lazhar), recreates Chuck’s family life with his second wife Phyllis (Elisabeth Moss) and daughter. It then shows how his brush with fame led to drinking and...

Some people’s lives are best told truthfully, others more loosely.

In one corner, we have Rocky, the iconic Best Picture-winning boxing movie starring Sylvester Stallone as the made-up Rocky Balboa. In the other corner, we have Chuck, an upcoming biopic starring Liev Schreiber as real-life boxer Chuck Wepner. The latter primarily depicts the 1975 bout between Wepner and Muhammad Ali, which inspired Stallone to write the script for Rocky. He’s since tried to downplay the connection, especially after being sued by Wepner, but it’s close enough to being a film a clef as any.

Chuck received mostly positive reviews when it played the big film festivals last fall, but it’s unlikely to become the phenomenon, let alone Oscar darling, that Rocky was. Its legacy surely won’t be as lasting, in part because true biopics don’t tend to get sequels. There are a lot of benefits to fictionalized accounts of real events and...

IFC has released the first trailer for its upcoming biopic Chuck, which is set to hit theaters on May 5. While many fans may not know Chuck Wepner by name, the New Jersey boxer served as the inspiration for Sylvester Stallone's iconic character Rocky Balboa. Liev Schreiber stars as Wepner, whose extraordinary true story is told for the first time on the big screen.

Chuck Wepner was a liquor salesman from New Jersey who went 15 rounds with the greatest boxer of all time, Muhammad Ali. In his ten years in the ring, Wepner endured two knockouts, eight broken noses, and 313 stitches. But his toughest fights were outside the ring: an epic life of drugs, booze, wild women, incredible highs and extraordinary lows in IFC's biopic.

Liev Schreiber is joined by an all-star cast that also includes Naomi Watts, Elisabeth Moss, Ron Perlman, Jim Gaffigan, Michael Rapaport and Pooch Hall, with...

“Sometimes Life Is Like A Movie. Sometimes It’S Better”

Watch the trailer for the upcoming movie Chuck – we can’t wait for this one! In theaters May 5th.

Directed by Philippe Falardeau, Chuck stars Naomi Watts, Ron Perlman, Elisabeth Moss, Liev Schreiber, Jim Gaffigan, and Morgan Spector.

He was the pride of Bayonne, New Jersey, a man who went fifteen rounds in the ring with Muhammad Ali, and the real life inspiration for Rocky Balboa. But before all that, Chuck Wepner (Liev Schreiber) was a liquor salesman and father with a modest prizefighting career whose life changed overnight when, in 1975, he was chosen to take on The Greatest in a highly publicized title match.

It’s the beginning of a wild ride through the exhilarating highs and humbling lows of sudden fame—but what happens when your fifteen minutes in the spotlight are up?

Driven by a committed performance from Liev Schreiber,...

Yesterday evening, the Writers Guild of America handed out their awards, marking one of the season’s final precursor stops and last guild ceremony. As with many of the guilds this year, a slight curveball was tossed our way, namely in that one potential frontrunner is nominated in a different category at Oscar. You’ll see what I mean shortly, along with a few other precursors that went down over the weekend. Ballots for the Academy Awards are due by tomorrow, so voters are making their final decisions literally as you read this. It’s very much the moment of truth, with the results of it all less than a week away now… Below you will see not just the WGA winners, but also the Cinema Audio Society, which basically predict Best Sound Mixing at the Oscars, as well as the victors from the Makeup Artists and Hair Stylists guild.

Live from New York! And also Los Angeles! It’s the 2017 Writers Guild Awards, honoring the best in writing for television, film and new media. This year’s big winners included some of the season’s most lauded productions — including “Moonlight,” “Arrival,” “Atlanta” and “The Americans.”

While “Moonlight” and “Arrival” will compete against each other in the Adapted Screenplay category at the Oscars, they were entered in the WGA Awards in different categories, allowing both to make off with an award. “The Americans” pulled out a win for Drama Series, while “Atlanta” snapped up both Comedy Series and New Series. Other winners included “Command and Control,” “Saturday Night Live,” “BoJack Horseman” and “This Is Us.”

Read More: The IndieWire 2016-17 Awards Season Winners Guide

Check out our full list of winners — noted in bold — all updated live as the awards were announced at concurrent ceremonies in New York and Los Angeles this evening.

With a seemingly endless amount of streaming options — not only the titles at our disposal, but services themselves — we’ve taken it upon ourselves to highlight the titles that have recently hit platforms. Every week, one will be able to see the cream of the crop (or perhaps some simply interesting picks) of streaming titles (new and old) across platforms such as Netflix, iTunes, Amazon, and more (note: U.S. only). Check out our rundown for this week’s selections below.

Allied (Robert Zemeckis)

That thing we can’t take for granted: a film whose many parts – period piece, war picture, blood-spattered actioner, deception-fueled espionage thriller, sexy romance, and, at certain turns, comedy – can gracefully move in conjunction and separate from each other, just as its labyrinthine-but-not-quite plot jumps from one setpiece to the next with little trouble in maintaining a consistency of overall pleasure. Another late-career triumph for Robert Zemeckis,...

Sundance 2016 will always be remembered for the record-breaking $17.5 million sale of Nate Parker’s “The Birth of a Nation” to Fox Searchlight, on the heels of the #oscarsowhite backlash — and for the massive marketing fallout that followed in light of Parker’s rape-trial acquittal. With a domestic gross under $16 million, it led to one of the bigger failures among Sundance sales relative to expense.

Netflix outbid Searchlight for “The Birth of a Nation,” but the producers favored the theatrical route (including that company’s proven awards expertise and commercial success) and accepted less money. One wonders if it had been a high-profile Netflix film if the post-Sundance controversy about Nate Parker’s college days would have had the same impact or effect. It will be curious to see if any producer this year is as quick to turn down a high offer from Netflix or similar non-theatrical buyer.

Those memories could temper bidding wars,...

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Leave it to the Merc With a Mouth to muscle his way into Hollywood’s annual awards season, surprising just about everyone in one fell swoop. As the nominations begin to pour in, Tim Miller’s irreverent Deadpool has received nods from the Golden Globes, all the while being shortlisted in both the Best VFX and Makeup and Hairstyling departments ahead of the 89th Academy Awards.

That’s quite the feat for any feature film, let alone an R-rated superhero movie based on one of the lesser-known characters from the Marvel vault. No wonder Ryan Reynolds is so optimistic about the mercenary’s cinematic future.

Now, we can add another nomination to Deadpool’s collection – and it’s a doozy, for Tim Miller’s no-holds-barred actioner has scooped up a nomination for a Writer’s Guild Award, joining Arrival, Fences,...

With a cluster of frontrunners and a wide-open field of potential Oscar entrants, the 2017 Writers Guild nominations provide more intelligence about where the Oscars could be heading.

The trio at the head of the pack continue to be “La La Land,” “Manchester by the Sea,” and “Moonlight.” Getting a much-needed late-inning boost are modern western “Hell or High Water” and biracial romance “Loving.” Both are critics’ faves that opened earlier in the year.

However, the WGA and the Academy differ on their categories this year. The WGA says “Moonlight” and “Loving” are original screenplays; for the Oscars, they would compete as adapted. That means that Noah Oppenheim’s “Jackie,” and scripts by writer-director Mike Mills (“20th Century Women”) and two non-signatory films that aren’t WGA-eligible, “The Lobster” and “Toni Erdmann,” might have a shot at landing an Oscar nod.

Conversely, that means some of the WGA’s Adapted Screenplay...

With a cluster of frontrunners and a wide-open field of potential Oscar entrants, the 2017 Writers Guild nominations provide more intelligence about where the Oscars could be heading.

The trio at the head of the pack continue to be “La La Land,” “Manchester by the Sea,” and “Moonlight.” Getting a much-needed late-inning boost are modern western “Hell or High Water” and biracial romance “Loving.” Both are critics’ faves that opened earlier in the year.

However, the WGA and the Academy differ on their categories this year. The WGA says “Moonlight” and “Loving” are original screenplays; for the Oscars, they would compete as adapted. That means that Noah Oppenheim’s “Jackie,” and scripts by writer-director Mike Mills (“20th Century Women”) and two non-signatory films that aren’t WGA-eligible, “The Lobster” and “Toni Erdmann,” might have a shot at landing an Oscar nod.

Conversely, that means some of the WGA’s Adapted Screenplay...

Writers of Hell or High Water, La La Land, Arrival and Deadpool are among the nominees for this year’s Writers Guild Awards.

Writers of Hell or High Water (pictured), La La Land, Arrival and Deadpool are among the nominees for this year’s Writers Guild Awards, set to be presented at ceremonies hosted by the West and East branches of the Writers Guild of America (WGA) on Feb 19.

Also nominated in the WGA’s original screenplay category are the writers of Loving, Manchester By The Sea and Moonlight. Fences, Hidden Figures and Nocturnal Animals produced the other nominations in the adapted screenplay category.

Documentary nominations went to Author: The Jt Leroy Story, Command And Control and Zero Days, while dramatic TV series getting nods were The Americans, Better Call Saul, Game Of Thrones, Stranger Things and Westworld.

Full list of feature nominees and selected TV nominees:

Original Screenplay

Hell or High Water Taylor Sheridan

La La Land [link...

Writers of Hell or High Water, La La Land, Arrival and Deadpool are among the nominees for this year’s Writers Guild Awards.

Writers of Hell or High Water (pictured), La La Land, Arrival and Deadpool are among the nominees for this year’s Writers Guild Awards, set to be presented at ceremonies hosted by the West and East brances of the Writers Guild of America (WGA) on Feb 19.

Also nominated in the WGA’s original screenplay category are the writers of Loving, Manchester by the Sea and Moonlight. Fences, Hidden Figures and Nocturnal Animalsproduced the other nominations in the adapted screenplay category.

Documentary nominations went to Author: The Jt Leroy Story, Command and Control and Zero Days, while dramatic TV series getting nods were The Americans, Better Call Saul, Game of Thrones, Stranger Things and Westworld.

Full list of feature nominees and selected TV nominees:

Original Screenplay

Hell or High Water Taylor Sheridan

La La Land [link...

The Writers Guild of America announced the nominees for the 2017 WGA Awards this morning, with “Manchester by the Sea” and “Moonlight” both landing nods for Best Original Screenplay and “Arrival” and “Nocturnal Animals” among the contenders for Best Adapted Screenplay. Patton Oswalt is hosting this year’s ceremony, which takes place at the Beverly Hilton Hotel on Sunday, February 19. Full list of nominees below.

Read More: Casey Affleck Bashes Himself and 5 Other Surprises From the New York Film Critics Circle Awards

Original Screenplay

“Hell or High Water,” written by Taylor Sheridan; CBS Films

“La La Land,” written by Damien Chazelle; Lionsgate

“Loving,” written by Jeff Nichols; Focus Features

“Manchester by the Sea,” written by Kenneth Lonergan; Amazon Studios/Roadside Attractions

“Moonlight,” written by Barry Jenkins, Story by Tarell McCraney; A24

Read More: 2017 Independent Spirit Awards: Nick Kroll and John Mulaney to Co-Host Ceremony

Adapted Screenplay

“Arrival,” screenplay by Eric Heisserer...

Every year, IndieWire looks beyond the countless top 10 lists written by critics to widen the field. We turn to friends and colleagues in the independent film community — programmers, distributors, publicists and others — to give them the opportunity to share their favorite films and other media from the past 12 months. We also invited them to share their resolutions and anticipated events for 2017.

The Best of 2016: IndieWire’s Year in Review Bible

Cameron Bailey, Artistic Director, Toronto International Film Festival

I’m limiting my list to films that had Us and Canadian theatrical releases in 2016. I saw far more than 10 this year that I liked, but if I have to be brutal, I’ll limit it to the films that lifted me.

1. “Moonlight”

2. “Julieta”

3. “Toni Erdmann”

4. “Cemetery of Splendor”

5. “Arrival”

6. “Fences”

7. “13th”

8. “American Honey”

9. “Things to Come”

10. “Moana”

Michael Barker, Co-President, Sony Pictures Classics

“Now is the winter of our discontent.

The struggle for racial equality in America, the careers of cinematographers, directors, and photographers, the immigration crisis, music as celebration and grief, and strange conspiracies — these were just a few of the places and stories that this year’s documentary offerings brought us. With 2016 wrapping up, we’ve selected 20 features in the field that most impressed, so check out our list below and, in the comments, let us know your favorites.

13th (Ava DuVernay)

Following the stunning Selma, which conveyed a present-tense urgency sorely lacking in many biopics and radically distributed screen-time away from Dr. King to communicate the collectivity inherent to any reform movement, Ava DuVernay has shifted her rhetorical approach, but her anger remains. Whereas Selma was emotive and explosive, 13th is lucid and level-headed, gradually and methodically making a case that black incarceration is actually just a reconfigured and rebranded form of slavery. Sticking to conventional but...

BAMcinematek is losing its director Gabriele Caroti, who will be leaving the organization early next year to start his own consulting business. Caroti’s new venture will focus on theatrical exhibition and distribution, specifically the integration of marketing, publicity and programming. His primary clients will be exhibitors.

Read More: 12 Must-See Films at BAMCinemaFest 2016

Caroti plans to announce more details about his next venture, including a company name, in the first quarter of 2017. He will continue to be based in New York for the foreseeable future. “That could change,” he told IndieWire. “I’m building off of everything I’ve learned over the years in New York and taking it nationally and beyond.”

BAMcinematek declined to comment on its future plans for the position.

Caroti has served as director of BAMcinematek since 2013, having joined the organization as a publicity manager in 2009. He was previously the assistant director of public relations at...

With a seemingly endless amount of streaming options — not only the titles at our disposal, but services themselves — we’ve taken it upon ourselves to highlight the titles that have recently hit platforms. Every week, one will be able to see the cream of the crop (or perhaps some simply interesting picks) of streaming titles (new and old) across platforms such as Netflix, iTunes, Amazon, and more (note: U.S. only). Check out our rundown for this week’s selections below.

Author: The Jt Leroy Story (Jeff Feuerzeig)

Author: The Jt LeRoy Story relives the literary hoax of the early aughts, the truly weird and out of control tale of Jt LeRoy. An allegedly gender-fluid HIV positive son of a West Virginia truck stop hooker, he rose to the heights of indie stardom befriending the likes of Courtney Love, Shirley Manson, Lou Reed, Michael Pitt, Billy Corgan and filmmakers Gus Van...

Nearly 200 cinemas around the U.S. will celebrate the inaugural Art House Theater Day on Saturday, September 24 by showing first run and repertory screenings of movies from a variety of genres. The one-day, nationwide event is being organized by Art House Convergence, an international consortium of independent, community movie theaters.

Read More: Art House Convergence Releases Open Letter Opposing Proposed ‘Screening Room’ Platform

Participating theaters will screen at least one of four films, including the theatrical premiere of the Magnolia Pictures documentary “Danny Says,” about punk rock pioneer Danny Fields. The three other movies include a 2k restored version of Terry Gilliam’s 1981 adventure-fantasy “Time Bandits,” director Don Coscarelli’s 1979 cult sci-fi horror classic “Phantasm: Remastered,” and a one-time only presentation of “A Town Called Panic: The Specials” a collection of stop-motion animated short films featuring two new shorts.

Select theaters will also live-stream a Q&A from Austin,...

★★★☆☆ "A created thing is never invented and it is never true; it is always and ever itself." This quote by Federico Fellini kicks off Jeff Feuerzeig's stranger-than-fiction yarn Author: The Jt LeRoy Story - and it's the perfect way to do so. Not only does it address the elusive nature of a creation, but it equally prepares the audience for a work steeped in the ambiguity, opacity and unreliable narration of the masterful Italian auteur. However, it distinctly lacks the same kind of transcendent clarity of vision, proving to be as fractured and nebulous as its subject matter - hardly surprising given that this the story is told by its protagonist.

The Bayonne Bleeder – Jersey’s own Chuck Wepner – might be a Garden State boxing legend, yet Philippe Falardeau’s The Bleeder lacks his face-splitting determination. This is a boxing dramedy less worried about the actual matches, and more focused on telling the zany story of Wepner’s egotistical squanderings (from booze to hard drugs to loose women). Falardeau’s coke-fueled vision is never a dull one, it’s just a rags-to-pretend-riches story that struggles to differentiate itself from a billion other biopics of the same self-destructive nature. Wepner slugs, swills and sins his way to iconic mediocrity, leaving a trail of white, powdery dust in his wake – but the party-dramatics feel all-too familiar, because we’ve seen them time and time again.

Liev Schreiber stars as Chuck Wepner, Bayonne, New Jersey’s own thick-headed boxer celebrity. After a string of victories, Wepner finds himself slated to face-off against a young Muhammed Ali,...

In fictional storytelling, truth is something to strive for. Sure, few attempt to separate themselves from reality, but ultimately, only some succeed in the pursuit thereof. “Author: The Jt Leroy Story”, a documentary from Jeff Feuerzeig, is as truthful as it gets. Yet its content is so wildly absurd, that it plays like a work […]

The post Documentary ‘Author: The Story of Jt Leroy’ Is A Fascinating Look At A Fabulist [Review] appeared first on The Playlist.

This week sees the theatrical release of Author: The Jt LeRoy Story, a documentary by Jeff Feuerzeig about the famous troubled young writer, who, as it turned out, was a fictional character devised by writer Laura Albert and actress Savannah Knoop. The story is interesting, as is the film, as Feuerzeig doesn't shy away from the controversies surrounding the character's creators and the celebrities who endorsed "him". One of those celebrities was Winona Ryder, and she is the subject of this week's quiz. The endorsement itself wasn't too surprising at the time, as for decades, Winona Ryder seemed to flit effortlessly through the worlds of underground, indie counter-culture, and glamorous Hollywood. Her resumee has an impressive selection of quirky and daring roles on it, switching...

[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...

James + Semaj is a column where James Franco talks to his reverse self, Semaj, about new films. Rather than a conventional review, it is place where James and Semaj can muse about ideas that the films provoke. James loves going to the movies and talking about them. But a one-sided take on a movie, in print, might be misconstrued as a review. As someone in the industry it could be detrimental to James’s career if he were to review his peers, because unlike the book industry—where writers review other writer’s books—the film industry is highly collaborative, and a bad review of a peer could create problems. So, assume that James (and Semaj) love all these films. What they’re interested in talking about is all the ways the films inspire them, and make them think. James is me, and Semaj is the other side of me.

To some, it was a major con, the kind of hoax that hurts. After all, author Jeremiah "Terminator" LeRoy hit the literary world hard with his novel Sarah (2000) and his short story collection The Heart Is Deceitful Above All Things (2001). There were copious raves for these raw tales of child abuse, drugs, truck-stop sex and other bumps in the road for this HIV-positive, transgender male. Then, late in 2005, came the revelation that Jt Leroy was the invented male persona of Brooklyn-born Laura Albert, a former phone-sex operator turned San Francisco housewife and mother.

Few film festivals in the world double as an acquisitions marketplace quite like the Toronto International Film Festival, which will screen more than 300 movies between September 8 and September 18. Most of these films have yet to land a U.S. distributor, and only a select group of titles will secure a distribution deal before the end of the fest.

Which movies are likely to be swarmed by buyers at Tiff 2016? Here are nine hot titles from the lineup that could be prime targets for acquisition execs.

“The Bad Batch”

Writer-director Ana Lily Amirpour’s follow-up to her hit debut “A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night” is billed as a “dystopian love story in a Texas wasteland.” The film follows a young girl named Samantha (Suki Waterhouse) who’s been banished from civilized society and ends up escaping from a community of cannibals. Produced by Megan Ellison’s Annapurna Pictures, the film stars Keanu Reeves,...

Welcome back to the Weekend Warrior, your weekly look at the new movies hitting theaters this weekend, as well as other cool events and things to check out.

This Past Weekend:

As expected, Labor Day weekend wasn’t good for the two new wide releases at all, although the romantic drama The Light Between Oceans (DreamWorks), starring Michael Fassbender and Alicia Vikander, ended up doing far better of the two. Also as expected, Fede Alvarez’s Don’t Breathe (Screen Gems) won the weekend with a four-day total of $19.7 million, a little less than I predicted. The Light Between Oceans ended up with slightly over $6 million, roughly the same as my original prediction but 20th Century Fox’s thriller Morgan, starring Kate Mara, bomb-bomb-bombed with a ridiculously bad four-day opening of just $2.5 million in its first four days. The Mexican comedy No Manches Frida (Lionsgate/Pantelion) ended up faring better in just 362 theaters,...

The full truth behind the existence of literary wonder Jt LeRoy is finally being brought to the public’s attention. ‘Author: The Jt Leroy Story,’ the new documentary about the celebrated writer who turned out to just be an invention of another scribe’s imagination, opens this Friday in select theaters. Amazon Studios and Magnolia Pictures will distribute the film, which was written and directed by Jeff Feuerzeig, into Landmark Sunshine Cinema and Lincoln Center’s Elinor Bunin Munroe Theatre in New York City. ‘Author: The Jt Leroy Story’s theatrical release comes after it premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January. The documentary’ then screened at such other festivals as the San [ Read More ]

The post Uncover the Truth of Author: The Jt Leroy Story in Documentary’s Theatrical Release appeared first on Shockya.com.

The Bleeder looks a bit familiar. A film of browns and greens; disco music and ‘70s rock tunes; big haircuts and even bigger lapels. Indeed, in a way reminiscent of recent period efforts such as Black Mass and David O. Russell’s last two outings, The Bleeder is drenched in that particular decade’s elaborate trappings. It also owes a lot to the school of Scorsese, complete with wise-guy narration, east-coast working-class lilts, and a sense of “You gotta be shitting me! Is this really my life?” But it’s a sports film at heart and a rather good one at that, all plucky underdog right hooks and tragic, humiliating falls. In a way, it’s also a film about movies, too. Coming from decorated Québécois filmmaker Philippe Falardeau, it is the true life story of Chuck “The Bayonne Bleeder” Wepner, the man who fought Muhammed Ali after the champ...

Now that the summer is cooling down, we’re entering perhaps the best time of year for cinephiles, with a variety of festivals — some of which will hold premieres of our most-anticipated 2016 features — gearing up. As we do each year, after highlighting the best films offered thus far, we’ve set out to provide a comprehensive preview of the fall titles that should be on your radar, and we’ll first take a look at selections whose quality we can attest to. Ranging from acclaimed debuts at Sundance, Cannes, and more, we’ve rounded up 25 titles that will arrive from September to December (in the U.S.) and are all well worth seeking out.

As a note, these didn’t make the cut, but you can see our reviews at the links: White Girl (9/2), Other People (9/9), London Road (9/9), Goat (9/23), Sand Storm (9/28), Do Not Resist (9/30), The Birth of a Nation (10/7), Desierto...

All this week, IndieWire will be rolling out our annual Fall Preview, including offerings that span genres, a close examination of some of the year’s biggest breakouts, all the awards contenders you need to know about now and special attention to all the new movies you need to get through a jam-packed fall movie-going season. Check back every day for a new look at the best the season has to offer, and clear your schedule, because we’re going to fill it right up.

“The Light Between Oceans,” September 2

Derek Cianfrance’s sweet spot is relationship dramas that don’t balk at showing just how damn hard it can be to love someone and to sustain that love (hi, “Blue Valentine”), and with his big screen adaptation of the bestselling novel of the same name, he takes those interests and skills right to a post-World War I landscape tailormade for a sweeping,...

Many authors use a pseudonym to mask their real identity or to place distance between the text and themselves, but no one creates an entirely new identity with different experiences and actually send them out into the world. Well, that’s exactly what Laura Albert did. The 40-year-old San Francisco former phone-sex operator turned housewife created a literary persona named Jt Leroy, who took the world by storm with his “exploits” about his sordid childhood mired by prostitution, drug addiction, and vagrancy. The new documentary “Author: The Jt LeRoy Story” chronicles Albert’s creation from the height of LeRoy’s fame at fashion events and rock shows to the New York Times pulling the rug out from under the story. Watch an exclusive clip from the film below.

Read More: Sundance Review: ‘Author: The Jt LeRoy Story’ Casts a Major Literary Scandal in New Light

The film is directed by Jeff Feuerzeig,...

Feuerzeig on Laura Albert: 'If I had a choice, there would be no other voices in this film' Photo: Courtesy of Dogwoof Author: The Jt LeRoy Story takes a first-person look at the woman behind what could either be considered an elaborate literary hoax or one of the most convincing pieces of performance art and character creation of the past 30 years. Director Jeff Feuerzeig makes extensive use of Laura Albert's archive and first-person interviews with her to reveal how this Brooklyn mum created the character of a truck stop prostitute's HIV positive son as a pseudonym and watched him become a critical sensation and an international celebrity. I spoke to Feuerzeig about his documentary before screened at Sundance London.

Amber Wilkinson: What attracted you to the story?

Jeff Feuerzeig I'm always looking for great, true stories and I love non-fiction. A friend of mine who is a journalist...

A decade on from his extraordinary film The Devil and Daniel Johnston, Director Jeff Feuerzeig returns with another documentary about a troubled artist, this time charting the bizarre tale of cult writer Jeremiah “Terminator” LeRoy. LeRoy’s stranger-than-fiction rise to fame, from an “AIDS suffering, sex-change son of a truck-stop prostitute” to cult literary sensation, rattled […]

The post Author: The Jt LeRoy Story Review appeared first on HeyUGuys.

Before Kristen Stewart, James Franco, Helena Bonham Carter, and writer-director Justin Kelly turn it into a narrative drama, this fall the documentary Author: The Jt LeRoy Story will arrive. Acclaimed since its Sundance premiere, Jeff Feuerzeig’s documentary follows a writer and actor who fooled the world with a man who identifies as transgender, tricking the rich and famous in Hollywood, the fashion world and elite literary circles. Ahead of a September release, the first trailer has now arrived.

We said in our review, “Author: The Jt LeRoy Story relives the literary hoax of the early aughts, the truly weird and out of control tale of Jt LeRoy. An allegedly gender-fluid HIV positive son of a West Virginia truck stop hooker, he rose to the heights of indie stardom befriending the likes of Courtney Love, Shirley Manson, Lou Reed, Michael Pitt, Billy Corgan and filmmakers Gus Van Saint and Asia Argento...

"The biggest literary hoax of our time!" Amazon Studios and Magnolia Pictures have debuted the official trailer for a documentary called Author: The Jt LeRoy Story, which first premiered at the Sundance Film Festival earlier this year. I heard many great things about this film from lots of my colleagues, as it's apparently one of those remarkable I-can't-believe-this-is-real stories told in a very innovative way. Author: The Jt LeRoy Story is about author Jt LeRoy, who is actually a completely fabricated persona made up by writer Laura Albert. Spoiler! But that's what the doc is really about - how she pulled this off and why, and what it all means. If you're not sold by the end of this trailer, well, then maybe documentaries aren't for you. But seriously, this looks fascinating and incredibly entertaining, a deep dive into a crazy true story. Enjoy. Here's the official trailer for Jeff Feuerzeig...

Jt (short for Jeremiah Terminator) LeRoy emerged as a literary sensation in the mid ’90s, which made it something of a surprise when it was revealed 10 years later that he didn’t actually exist. Jeff Feuerzeig’s documentary “Author: The Jt LeRoy Story,” which tells of what’s been described as “the biggest literary hoax of our time,” just premiered its first trailer exclusively on Apple.

Read More: Sundance Review: ‘Author: The Jt LeRoy Story’ Casts a Major Literary Scandal in New Light

Actually the pen name of Laura Albert, LeRoy made headlines for his novels and memoirs, capturing the popular imagination to such an extent that Albert eventually had to call upon a female friend to dress up and make public appearances as her authorial alter ego. Terry Gross, Laura Albert, Winona Ryder, Courtney Love, Madeleine Brand and others appear in “Author,” either as fans or interviewers of the...

For almost 45 minutes, Yeon Sang-ho’s “Train to Busan” is on pace to become the best, most urgent zombie movie since “28 Days Later.” And then — at once both figuratively and literally — this broad Korean blockbuster derails in slow-motion, sliding off the tracks and bursting into a hot mess of generic moments and digital fire.

But oh, those first 45 minutes: they’re genre heaven (or the undead equivalent). Equal parts “Snowpiercer” and “World War Z,” the film introduces itself as the rare pastiche with enough personality to feel like something new. A sequel of sorts to Yeon’s “Seoul Station,” which received limited festival play and never received U.S. distribution, “Train to Busan” unwraps its premise so elegantly that no prior knowledge is required to get swept along by its opening act.

Something is wrong in the verdant hills of Jinyang. A truck driver rattles his vehicle up to a military checkpoint,...