Watch The Fog of War - Eleven Lessons from the Life of Robert S. McNamara (2003) Online

The Fog of War - Eleven Lessons from the Life of Robert S. McNamara (2003)Former Secretary of Defense Robert S. McNamara is the sole focus of documentarian Errol Morris' The Fog of War, a film that not only analyzes McNamara's controversial decisions during the first half of the Vietnam War, but also his childhood upbringing, his education at Berkeley and Harvard, his involvement in World War II, and his later years as president of the World Bank. Culling footage from almost 20 hours of interviews with the Secretary, Morris details key moments from McNamara's career, including the 1945 bombing of Tokyo, the Cuban Missile Crisis, and President Kennedy's suggestions to the Secretary that the U.S.

remove itself from Vietnam. Throughout the film, the 85-year-old McNamara expounds his philosophies on international conflict, and shows regret and pride in equal measure for, respectively, his mistakes and accomplishments. ~ Michael Hastings, Rovi

PG-13, 1 hr. 35 min.
Documentary, Special Interest
Directed By: Errol Morris
In Theaters: Dec 19, 2003 Limited

8.3

The Fog of War - Eleven Lessons from the Life of Robert S. McNamara (2003)

Watch Rivers and Tides, (Fluß der Zeit) (2003) Online

Rivers and Tides, (Fluß der Zeit) (2003)portrait of Andy Goldsworthy, an artist whose specialty is ephemeral sculptures made from elements of nature.

Unrated, 1 hr. 30 min.
Musical & Performing Arts, Documentary
Directed By: Thomas Riedelsheimer
In Theaters: Mar 7, 2002 Wide

7.7

Rivers and Tides, (Fluß der Zeit) (2003))

Watch Howard Zinn - You Can't Be Neutral on a Moving Train (2004) Online

Howard Zinn - You Can't Be Neutral on a Moving Train (2004)Directed by Deb Ellis and Denis Mueller, Howard Zinn: You Can't Be Neutral on a Moving Train offers a retrospective on the life and times of Howard Zinn. Activist, best-selling author, and historian, Zinn is considered the catalyst for some of the most notable progressive movements of the past 60 years.

Noam Chomsky, who claims that Zinn "changed the consciousness of a generation," is featured in several interviews, along with Marian Wright Edelman, Alice Walker, Tom Hayden, Daniel Ellsberg, and Zinn himself. The documentary also features rare archival footage. ~ Tracie Cooper, Rovi

Unrated, 1 hr. 18 min.
Documentary, Special Interest
Directed By: Deb Ellis , Denis Mueller
In Theaters: Jul 23, 2004 Wide

7.4

Howard Zinn - You Can't Be Neutral on a Moving Train (2004)

Wantch The Untold Story of Emmett Louis Till (2004) Online

The Untold Story of Emmett Louis Till (2004)In 1955, Emmett Louis Till was a 14-year-old African-American from Chicago who traveled to Money, MS, to visit his relatives. Till came home several months later in a box; Till had supposedly whistled at a white woman, and 14 white men, angered by the young man's perceived arrogance, beat him senseless, shot him to death, and dumped his body in the Tallahatchie River, weighing it down with an engine from a cotton gin. Emmett's mother, Mamie Till, was a fearless woman determined to see that justice was done (she had an open casket at Emmett's funeral and allowed Jet magazine to publish a photo of his badly mutilated body so others could see the full extent of the crime), but convicting white men on charges of lynching a black teenager in the Deep South in the 1950s was all but impossible, and the two charged with Emmett's death, Roy Bryant and J.W. Milam, were found not guilty by a jury who deliberated for so short a period they stopped for a cold drink to stretch the wait to an hour. Only a few months later, Bryant and Milam admitted they had committed the crime to a reporter from Look magazine, knowing they were protected from further prosecution under double jeopardy statutes.

The other 12 men involved in the crime were not charged. Almost 50 years later, filmmaker Keith Beauchamp traveled to Mississippi to investigate the surviving characters in this heinous crime, and The Untold Story of Emmett Louis Till combines newsreel footage shot during the investigation of the murder in 1955 with present-day interviews, including Till's cousins, who watched helplessly as he was dragged away by an angry mob; Till's uncle, who identified the guilty men in court; friends and co-workers of the men who committed the crimes (five of whom were still alive when the film was completed), and Mamie Till. In 2005, in part because of evidence uncovered by the filmmakers, the Emmett Till case was reopened in Mississippi. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

PG-13, 1 hr. 10 min.
Documentary, Special Interest
Directed By: Keith Beauchamp
In Theaters: Oct 14, 2005 Limited

7.1

The Untold Story of Emmett Louis Till (2004)

Watch Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room (2004) Online

Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room (2004)Alex Gibney, who wrote and produced Eugene Jarecki's The Trials of Henry Kissinger, examines the rise and fall of an infamous corporate juggernaut in Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room, which he wrote and directed. The film, based on the book by Fortune Magazine reporters Bethany McLean and Peter Elkind, opens with a reenactment of the suicide of Enron executive Cliff Baxter, then travels back in time, describing Enron chairman Kenneth Lay's humble beginnings as the son of a preacher, his ascent in the corporate world as an "apostle of deregulation," his fortuitous friendship with the Bush family, and the development of his business strategies in natural gas futures. The film points out that the culture of financial malfeasance at Enron was evident as far back as 1987, when Lay apparently encouraged the outrageous risk taking and profit skimming of two oil traders in Enron's Valhalla office because they were bringing a lot of money into the company. But it wasn't until eventual CEO Jeff Skilling arrived at Enron that the company's "aggressive accounting" philosophy truly took hold.

The Smartest Guys in the Room explores the lengths to which the company went in order to appear incredibly profitable. Their win-at-all-costs strategy included suborning financial analysts with huge contracts for their firms, hiding debts by essentially having the company loan money to itself, and using California's deregulation of the electricity market to manipulate the state's energy supply. Gibney's film reveals how Lay, Skilling, and other execs managed to keep their riches, while thousands of lower-level employees saw their loyalty repaid with the loss of their jobs and their retirement funds. The filmmaker posits the Enron scandal not as an anomaly, but as a natural outgrowth of free-market capitalism. ~ Josh Ralske, Rovi

R, 1 hr. 50 min.
Documentary, Special Interest
Directed By: Alex Gibney
Written By: Peter Elkind, Alex Gibney, Bethany McLean
In Theaters: Apr 29, 2005 Limited

7.7

Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room (2004)

Watch Twist of Faith (2004) Online

Twist of Faith (2004)A man must reconcile his religion with a need for justice and closure in this documentary. Tony Comes was a firefighter living in Toledo, OH, with his wife and children. While Comes was a solid family man and had the respect of his fellow firemen, he was hiding a secret that had been haunting him for almost 20 years -- when he was 14 years old, Comes was sexually abused by a Catholic priest, an event that left him with emotional scars that were slow to heal. In 2002, as stories of child sexual abuse at the hands of Catholic clergy were appearing in newspapers across the country, Comes decided it was time to take action. Comes met with the bishop in his parish and told him of the incident, but he soon discovered that he was not being told the truth about what was being done to prevent the priest from molesting other children. Seeing little alternative and concerned about the safety of others, Comes filed a lawsuit against the parish.

Twist of Faith is a documentary that follows Comes as he deals with his inner turmoil and the often uncharitable reactions of others as he attempts to bring his abuser to justice, while maintaining his sincere faith in God and his loyalty to the Catholic Church. Produced for the premium cable network HBO, Twist of Faith was nominated for Best Documentary Feature honors at the 2005 Academy Awards. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Unrated, 1 hr. 27 min.
Documentary, Faith & Spirituality, Special Interest
Directed By: Kirby Dick
In Theaters: Aug 20, 2004 Wide

7.3

Twist of Faith (2004)

Watch The Grace Lee Project (2005) Online

The Grace Lee Project Grace Lee is a filmmaker who, when she left her hometown of Columbia, MO, for New York City, and later for California, began to notice that her name was unusually common among Asian-American women -- someone described as the Asian-American equivalent of "Jane Smith." What troubled Lee most wasn't just that so many Asian women shared her name, but that it seemed to conjure up a very particular sort of person in the eyes of many -- a quiet, studious over-achiever who was cheerful, Christian, and never got into trouble. Lee didn't much care to be associated with a classic stereotype of an "ethnic American" desperate to assimilate with the larger culture, and she began to wonder -- is every Grace Lee like this? Lee set up a website to search out other Grace Lee's around the country, and followed up her research with a series of interviews that she fashioned into her film The Grace Lee Project.

While Lee found plenty of women who lived up to the "Grace Lee" image, she also found many who didn't, including an elderly activist in Detroit's African-American community, a teenage goth kid who makes voodoo dolls for fun and profit, a fortysomething single parent who helped her best friend leave behind an abusive husband, a Hawaiian broadcast journalist, and a young troublemaker who attempted to burn down her high school. Incidentally, the Grace Lee who made The Grace Lee Project learned she wasn't the only Grace Lee who directs movies -- a Grace Lee living in Portland, OR, is also a filmmaker. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

G, 1 hr. 8 min.
Documentary, Musical & Performing Arts, Special Interest
Directed By: Bryant Wang , null
In Theaters: Dec 14, 2005 Wide

6.8

The Grace Lee Project (2005)

Watch 49 Up (2005) Online

49 Up (2005)Filmmaker Michael Apted returns to the director's chair to catch up with the subjects he has been following since the 1963 telefilm 7 Up with this sequel to 1999's 42 Up. In the seventh installment of the long-running documentary series, Apted continues to follow the lives of everyone from aspiring jockey and part-time actor Tony to teacher Bruce and barrister John -- who returns to the series following a self-imposed exile that preceded 42 Up.


While many of Apted's subjects seem to have settled into a comfortable existence, sharp-tongued Jackie and once-troubled Neil inject a bit of liveliness into the mix by recalling their colorful pasts and questioning the director's motivations with the Up series. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

Unrated, 2 hr. 15 min.
Documentary, Musical & Performing Arts, Special Interest
Directed By: Michael Apted
In Theaters: Oct 6, 2006 Limited

7.9

49 Up (2005)

Watch Wordplay (2005) Online

Wordplay Cinematographer-turned-documentary filmmaker Patrick Creadon takes a compelling look at the brainy world of crossword puzzles, the masterminds that conceive them, and the folks who struggle to solve them in a film that offers a close look at one of America's most popular pastimes. For 12 years, the name Will Shortz has been indelibly linked to the wildly popular New York Times crossword puzzle.


As filmmakers speak with Shortz and the puzzle constructors with whom he collaborates, viewers are treated to a rare look into the minds of the people whose intellect entertains a nation of puzzle-solvers on a weekly basis. Interviews with a variety of celebrity crossword-puzzle enthusiasts including Bob Dole, Ken Burns, and Jon Stewart are also included, and a trip to the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament -- an annual event founded by Shortz himself -- offers an entertaining look at a world where the brain power and colorful personalities of contestants combine to create a lively atmosphere of friendly competition. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

PG, 1 hr. 34 min.
Documentary, Musical & Performing Arts, Special Interest
Directed By: Patrick Creadon
Written By: Christine O'Malley
In Theaters: Jun 16, 2006 Limited

7.3

Wordplay (2005)

Watch 51 Birch Street (2005) Online

51 Birch Street When documentary filmmaker Doug Block's mother dies unexpectedly and his 83-year-old father reveals plans to move to Florida with his onetime secretary shortly thereafter, the confused son travels to his childhood time to seek out the secrets of his parent's presumably happy 55-year marriage in a film that explores just what happens when everything you think you knew about your family is suddenly thrown into question. As a child Block always assumed that his parents were content in their relationship, but as close as he was to his mother growing up, his father remained a constant mystery. Now the home he grew up in is suddenly on the market, and in order to seek out the secrets of his family history Block will travel to Long Island, camera in hand, to peel away decades of secrecy.


As 60 years and three generations of carefully guarded secrets finally come into focus with the discovery of his mother's detailed diary, Block's fundamental assumptions about the lives of his parents gradually give way to a poignant meditation on the themes of fidelity, love, and marriage while revealing that the relationship shared between his mother and father was much more complicated than he ever imagined. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

Unrated, 1 hr. 28 min.
Documentary, Special Interest
Directed By: Doug Block
Written By: Doug Block, Amy Seplin
In Theaters: Oct 18, 2006 Limited

7.2

51 Birch Street (2005)

Watch Murderball (2005) Online

MurderballBetter known as Wheelchair Rugby, Murderball is a game created by quadriplegic athletes that is every bit as aggressive as the name would lead one to expect; played with bone-breaking intensity, a typical game of Wheelchair Rugby involves plenty of trash-talking, a few head-on collisions, and the occasional player being thrown from his modified wheelchair. The game has become an official event at the Paralympics, a worldwide competition for handicapped athletes, and the United States and Canada have become fierce rivals in the event. When Joe Soares was dropped from the top-seated American team, he angrily retaliated by signing on as coach for the Canadian team, which he led to an upset victory for Team Canada in the games.

In 2004, filmmaker Henry Alex Rubin and journalist Dana Adam Shapiro followed both teams as they traveled to Athens, Greece, for the 2004 Paralympics, documenting the fierce competition between the two teams (especially the Americans, bitterly stung by what they saw as Soares' betrayal). Murderball offers an up-close look at the 2004 Wheelchair Rugby tournament, as well as the personal stories of the athletes who are passionate, driven, and determined to win -- as one of them says, "I'm not here for a hug, I'm here for a medal." Murderball earned an enthusiastic reception in its premier screenings at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

R, 1 hr. 25 min.
Documentary, Sports & Fitness, Special Interest
Directed By: Henry-Alex Rubin , Dana Adam Shapiro
Written By: Dana Adam Shapiro
In Theaters: Jul 22, 2005 Limited

7.7

Murderball (2005)

Watch Street Fight (2005) Online

Street FightA hotly contested political race generates a wealth of drama in this documentary from filmmaker Marshall Curry. Sharpe James is a veteran politician who has been mayor of Newark, NJ, since 1986; by the admission of his own spokespeople, James is a "machine" politician who uses muscle and influence to get things done, and while he's enjoyed the fruits of his success, his administration has been accused of having a long history of corruption. In 2002, Cory Booker, a lawyer who was a member of the Newark City Council, announced he was running for mayor, and it didn't take long for the contest to get ugly. Booker was a graduate of Yale Law School, a Rhodes Scholar, and an advocate of more open and honest government, and James and his staff wasted no time in attacking his qualifications and personality in public.

While both candidates were African-American, James chose to play the race card, questioning if Booker was "black" enough and suggesting the church-going Baptist was actually a Jew. James' campaign staff didn't stop at verbal attacks, and as Marshall Curry began covering the James and Booker campaigns, he found himself frequently attacked by James' supporters (with his camera running and in full view of other reporters), and a number of local businessmen stated for the record that they were supporting James for fear of reprisals later on. The film that resulted from Curry's efforts, Street Fight, received a 2005 Academy Award nomination for Best Documentary Feature. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Unrated, 1 hr. 26 min.
Documentary, Special Interest
Directed By: Marshall Curry
In Theaters: Jan 1, 2005 Limited

7.7

Street Fight (2005)

Watch Deep Water (2006) Online

Deep WaterCo-directors Louise Osmond and Jerry Rothwell's historical documentary Deep Water chronicles one of the most infamous nautical tragedies of the past several decades. In autumn 1968, Britisher Donald Crowhurst, the proprietor of a down-and-out manufacturing business for marine electrical components, avowed to enter the first Golden Globe sailing competition -- a nonstop, one-man circumnavigational race against eight other competitors. In financing the boat via a deal with English entrepreneur Stanley Best, Crowhurst used his house as collateral. Relinquishing the voyage, or failing to complete it, would thus have instantly rendered Crowhurst homeless and driven his family into Chapter 11. But the voyage was doomed from the start: Crowhurst failed to finish building the craft prior to his October 31st departure, but set sail just the same, and thus sealed his own grim fate. Indeed, two weeks after Crowhurst sailed out of Devon, the boat began to leak substantially; recognizing that a trip into the Southern Ocean could spell disaster, a desperate Crowhurst radioed home with indications of phony distances and falsified his logbook; he then made an illegal pit stop in Argentina to repair the boat, and joined up with the rest of the competitors on the opposite side of Cape Horn, in the Atlantic.

When Robin Knox-Johnston won the overall competition, Crowhurst and Nigel Tetley went head-to-head to win 5,000 pounds for the fastest voyage; Crowhurst recognized that a victory would yield scrutiny of his logbooks and unveil his deceptions to the world; he thus intended to preserve his reputation by coming in second. He didn't count, however, on Tetley's boat capsizing -- which led to Crowhurst's own victory. Foreseeing disaster, Crowhurst decided to end his life by drowning himself. In telling Crowhurst's sad story, Osmond and Rothwell intercut narration from Crowhurst's journals, archival film, and interviews with the sailor's family, friends, and colleagues. What emerges is a portrait of a man sinking rapidly into a pit of despair as he comes face to face with his own darkest nightmares of personal failure. ~ Nathan Southern, Rovi

PG, 1 hr. 33 min.
Documentary, Special Interest
Directed By: Jerry Rothwell , Louise Osmond
In Theaters: Sep 3, 2006 Wide

7.7

Deep Water (2006)

Watch When the Levees Broke (2006) Oline

When the Levees Broke Academy Award-nominated director Spike Lee (the guiding force behind the critically acclaimed documentary 4 Little Girls) turns to nonfiction filmmaking once again with the heart-wrenching marathon work When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts, produced by Lee's Forty Acres and a Mule Filmworks and originally screened on HBO. In four "acts" of approximately one hour each, Lee examines the devastation wrought by Hurricane Katrina in the late summer of 2005 and the incorrigible response to the catastrophe from U.S. government agencies. The filmmaker then evaluates the overwhelming measures that must be taken for the area to rebound and recover fully, demonstrating time and again that this seems an unlikely prospect in the immediate future. Act One covers the events that immediately preceded Katrina's onslaught of horror, with an in-depth exploration of the Bush administration and FEMA's joint failures to understand the potential calamity at hand.

Lee picks up this subtopic again and makes it the central focus of Act Two, which expands into a dissection of the government agencies' failure to respond to the crisis with adequate measures; time and again, the director fills his frame, in this segment, with images and indications of naked human indifference. Act Three plunges headfirst into the toll taken by the hurricane on the lives of Louisiana residents, with protracted glimpses of the destruction wrought. And finally, the film wraps with Act Four, where Lee conducts more recent interviews with experts who question the soundness of the New Orleans levee system in the face of future catastrophes. A number of celebrities and public figures also appear on camera to provide commentary throughout the work, including New Orleans mayor Roy Nagin, actor, singer and social activist Harry Belafonte, and actor Sean Penn. ~ Nathan Southern, Rovi

Unrated, 4 hr. 15 min.
Documentary, Television, Special Interest
Directed By: Spike Lee
In Theaters: Aug 16, 2006 Wide

8.1

When the Levees Broke (2006)

Watch The War Tapes (2006) Online

The War Tapes
Three soldiers offer viewers a close-up and deeply personal view of the war in Iraq in this documentary. Filmmaker Deborah Scranton gave digital video cameras to three National Guard volunteers who were called up for duty in Iraq and asked them to keep a visual diary of what they saw and how they felt about it. The three men who took Scranton up on her offer were Sgt. Zack Bazzi, Spc. Mike Moriarty, and Sgt. Steve Pink. Bazzi is a Lebanese immigrant who previously fought in Bosnia and Kosovo and loves the thrill of battle, though he has serious reservations about the nature of the American occupation and feels most of his fellow soldiers are dangerously unaware of the habits and customs of the Iraqis.
Moriarty is a husband and father who volunteered for service after the terrorist attacks of September 11; he's a proud warrior and loyal to his fellow soldiers, though he's come to hate the sting of battle. And Pink is a carpenter and would-be writer who joined the Guard to help raise money for college; his dark sense of humor often rises to the surface as he confronts the uglier aspects of the conflict. Scranton took the footage shot by the soldiers (sometimes uploaded by Internet just hours after a battle) and fashioned it into a story of three different men united by a single cause who are fiercely loyal to their fellow fighting men and women, even as they become increasingly cynical about the causes and motivations behind the war. The War Tapes was screened in competition at the 2006 Tribeca Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Unrated, 1 hr. 36 min.
Documentary, Special Interest
Directed By: Deborah Scranton
In Theaters: Jun 2, 2006 Limited
On DVD: Apr 24, 2007

7.2

The War Tapes (2006)

Watch Deliver Us From Evil (2006) Online

Deliver Us From Evil
Filmmaker Amy Berg recounts a harrowing story of child abuse and how a serial child molester went free for the better part of two decades in this documentary. Oliver O'Grady was a Catholic priest who served in a number of parishes in Southern California during the 1970s and '80s. O'Grady was also a habitual child molester who abused dozens of youngsters who were entrusted to his care, and while his superiors in the church were aware of O'Grady's crimes as early as 1973, they opted to simply move him from one congregation to another rather than turn him in to authorities or strip him of his ordination.
In Deliver Us From Evil, a number of O'Grady's victims and their families discuss his crimes and the repercussions they feel to this day. O'Grady himself also appears in the film, speaking candidly about his career as a sexual predator and recounting his misdeeds in detail. (After finally being convicted of child sexual abuse, O'Grady served time in prison and now lives in Ireland, where he is still looked after by Catholic clergy.) Berg also offers a look into the history of the Catholic Church and how its leadership has often protected those within the hierarchy at the expense of their worshipers. Deliver Us From Evil was named Best Documentary Feature at the 2006 Los Angeles Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Unrated, 1 hr. 41 min.
Documentary
Directed By: Amy Berg
In Theaters: Oct 13, 2006 Wide
On DVD: May 8, 2007

8.0

Deliver Us From Evil (2006)

Watch Surfwise (2007) Online

Surfwise
As far as raw eccentricity is concerned, few American families could top the Paskowitzes. The patriarch, Dorian "Doc" Paskowitz, began life on a commendable, even enviable course, with an M.D. under his arm, rippling sandy-haired good looks, and experience almost single-handedly teaching the country of Israel how to surf. But in the years to follow, bitterness and inveterate disappointment ensued as Dr. Paskowitz tried to settle into a conventional existence. Two broken marriages and a medical career that Dorian would later describe as "miserable" left him clawing his way out, desperate for an "alternative" lifestyle. He soon met, courted, and married his third wife, a ravishing, sexy young woman named Juliette; these two free spirits jointly decided that they would live life, budding family in-tow, on the open road, in a series of low-budget trailers.
As one child after another cropped up over the course of a decade, the family toured the country winning one surfing competition after another, and Dr. Paskowitz accepted low-rent medical jobs for the poor that reeled in little to no income. In theory, this all seemed idealistic, even utopian; in reality, Dorian Paskowitz was reportedly a severe disciplinarian who denied his children the benefits of school and financial security, forced everyone to stick to an almost unbearable diet of a gruel-like substance, and -- even more alarmingly -- felt comfortable having open and noisy sex with his wife, with the children only a few feet away. In time, as one child after another grew up, left the clan, and attempted to survive, they found it difficult, if not impossible to function in the day-to-day world without the education, social skills, and monetary know-how that so many young adults take for granted. With his documentary Surfwise, filmmaker Doug Pray tells the Paskowitzes' strange, bewildering, and ultimately heartbreaking story via incisive interviews with family members, still photographs, and telling archival footage. ~ Nathan Southern, Rovi

R, 1 hr. 33 min.
Documentary, Sports & Fitness, Special Interest
Directed By: Doug Pray
In Theaters: Sep 1, 2007 Wide
On DVD: Jul 29, 2008
US Box Office:$0.2M

7.2

Surfwise (2007)

Watch For the Bible Tells Me So (2007) Online

For the Bible Tells Me So
The place of gay and lesbian congregation and clergy within various Christian denominations has become an increasingly controversial issue in recent decades, and many conservative Christian leaders have justified church polices which limit the participation of homosexuals in the church (as well as support of legislation against gay marriage or civil rights for gays) by citing certain passages of the Holy Bible.
But what do these passages really mean? How accurate is their translation from the original holy texts? And have they been used outside of proper context to justify a political agenda that runs counter to Christian ideals of acceptance and forgiveness? For The Bible Tells Me So is a documentary which looks at the ongoing battle of gays and lesbians to celebrate their faith without denying their sexual preferences. The film includes interviews with a number of conservative Christian families as well as V. Gene Robinson, who became the first officially ordained Anglican bishop; political activist and spiritual leader Bishop Desmond Tutu; and Chrissy Gephardt, the openly lesbian daughter of Congressman Dick Gephardt. For The Bible Tells Me So was directed by Daniel Karslake, longtime producer of the PBS news and public affairs series In The Life. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Unrated, 1 hr. 41 min.
Documentary, Faith & Spirituality, Special Interest
Directed By: Daniel G. Karslake
Written By: Daniel Karslake
In Theaters: Oct 5, 2007 Wide
On DVD: Feb 19, 2008

7.7

For the Bible Tells Me So (2007)

Watch The Devil Came on Horseback (2007) Online

The Devil Came on Horseback
In late 2006, former U.S. Marine captain Brian Steidle traveled to Darfur, Sudan, with the African Union peacekeeping force -- and found his life and perspective on the world forever changed. Devastated and racked with horror by the Janjaweed-driven genocide in the western region of the country (which has claimed 400,000 lives), Steidle set out to work against these atrocities -- atrocities systematically denied and publicly buried by the corrupt Sudanese government.
Despite his initial hesitancies, Steidle ultimately agreed to plunge headfirst into the conflict -- and to work toward achieving social change not through violence but through peaceful, humanitarian efforts. His efforts carried him to a myriad of countries and multiple continents; throughout, Steidle took over 1,000 photographs to document the horrors, thus spreading awareness of this crisis to the remainder of the world and roundly defeating Sudanese governmental denials of the genocide. In their nonfiction work The Devil Came on Horseback, documentarians Ricki Stern and Annie Sundberg bring viewers along with Steidle on his intensely moving personal journey, and shed light on a region of the world rapidly plunging into its own inescapable hell. ~ Nathan Southern, Rovi

Unrated, 1 hr. 25 min.
Documentary, Special Interest
Directed By: Ricki Stern , Anne Sundberg
In Theaters: Jul 25, 2007 Wide
On DVD: Oct 30, 2007

7.6

The Devil Came on Horseback (2007)

Watch Anvil! The Story of Anvil (2007) Online

Anvil! The Story of Anvil
In 1981, Canadian heavy metal band Anvil released their first album, Hard 'n' Heavy, which earned them a potent reputation among discerning headbangers and established them as one of the pioneering acts of the speed metal movement. Anvil had a loyal following in their native Canada and they shared stages with some of the biggest names in heavy rock, but the lucky break that would have elevated them to real stardom never came, and legal troubles helped to derail the group's career in the mid-'80s.
Years later, the likes of Metallica and Slayer would cite Anvil as a key influence, but lead vocalist Steve "Lips" Kudlow and drummer Robb Reiner struggled to keep the band alive, recording new material for tiny independent labels and trying to organize club tours as they juggled day jobs, families, and adult responsibilities. Documentary filmmaker Sacha Gervasi follows Kudlow and Reiner as they struggle to keep their ambitions alive despite 35 years of missing the brass ring in Anvil! The True Story of Anvil, which paints a sympathetic but warts-and-all portrait of the unexpected consequences of the rock & roll dream. Anvil! received its American premiere at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Unrated, 1 hr. 30 min.
Documentary, Drama, Musical & Performing Arts
Directed By: Sacha Gervasi
In Theaters: Apr 10, 2009 Wide
On DVD: Oct 6, 2009
US Box Office:$0.5M

7.9

Anvil! The Story of Anvil (2007)