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124 Documentaries Move Forward in the Oscar Nomination Process

Amy Winehouse Documentary Poster

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced 124 documentary films have been submitted for consideration in the 2015 Oscar Best Documentary Feature category. In December, 15 of these documentaries will move forward and of those, the nominees will be selected. These films are also eligible for consideration in the Best Picture category if they meet all of the other requirements. The 88th Academy Awards nominees will be announced on January 14, 2016.

All of the films must screen in New York and LA in order to qualify, and some of the films on the list have yet to have their theatrical runs.

The 2015 Academy Awards will be hosted by Chris Rock and will air live on ABC on February 28, 2016. Nominees will be announced on January 14, 2016.

The list of submitted documentaries, in alphabetical order:


“Above and Beyond”
“All Things Must Pass”
“Amy”
“The Armor of Light”
“Ballet 422”
“Batkid Begins”
“Becoming Bulletproof”
“Being Evel”
“Beltracchi – The Art of Forgery”
“Best of Enemies”
“The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution”
“Bolshoi Babylon”
“Brand: A Second Coming”
“A Brave Heart: The Lizzie Velasquez Story”
“Call Me Lucky”
“Cartel Land”
“Censored Voices”
“Champs”
“CodeGirl”
“Coming Home”
“Dark Horse”
“Deli Man”
“Dior and I”
“The Diplomat”
“(Dis)Honesty – The Truth about Lies”
“Don’t Think I’ve Forgotten: Cambodia’s Lost Rock and Roll”
“Dreamcatcher”
“dream/killer”
“Drunk, Stoned, Brilliant, Dead: The Story of the National Lampoon”
“Eating Happiness”
“Every Last Child”
“Evidence of Harm”
“Farewell to Hollywood”
“Finders Keepers”
“The Forecaster”
“Frame by Frame”
“Gardeners of Eden”
“A Gay Girl in Damascus: The Amina Profile”
“Godspeed: The Story of Page Jones”
“Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief”
“He Named Me Malala”
“Heart of a Dog”
“Hitchcock/Truffaut”
“How to Change the World”
“Human”
“The Hunting Ground”
“I Am Chris Farley”
“In Jackson Heights”
“In My Father’s House”
“India’s Daughter”
“Ingrid Bergman – In Her Own Words”
“Iraqi Odyssey”
“Iris”
“Janis: Little Girl Blue”
“Karski & the Lords of Humanity”
“Killing Them Safely”
“Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck”
“Lambert & Stamp”
“A Lego Brickumentary”
“Listen to Me Marlon”
“Live from New York!”
“The Look of Silence”
“Meet the Patels”
“Meru”
“The Mind of Mark DeFriest”
“Misery Loves Comedy”
“Monkey Kingdom”
“A Murder in the Park”
“My Italian Secret”
“My Voice, My Life”
“1971”
“Of Men and War”
“One Cut, One Life”
“Only the Dead See the End of War”
“The Outrageous Sophie Tucker”
“Peace Officer”
“The Pearl Button”
“Pink & Blue: Colors of Hereditary Cancer”
“Poached”
“Polyfaces”
“The Prime Ministers: Soldiers and Peacemakers”
“Prophet’s Prey”
“Racing Extinction”
“The Resurrection of Jake the Snake”
“Ride the Thunder – A Vietnam War Story of Victory & Betrayal”
“Rosenwald”
“The Russian Woodpecker”
“Searching for Home: Coming Back from War”
“Seeds of Time”
“Sembene!”
“The Seven Five”
“Seymour: An Introduction”
“Sherpa”
“A Sinner in Mecca”
“Something Better to Come”
“Song from the Forest”
“Song of Lahore”
“Steve Jobs: The Man in the Machine”
“Steve McQueen: The Man & Le Mans”
“Stray Dog”
“Sunshine Superman”
“Sweet Micky for President”
“Tab Hunter Confidential”
“The Tainted Veil”
“Tap World”
“(T)error”
“Thao’s Library”
“Those Who Feel the Fire Burning”
“3 1/2 Minutes, Ten Bullets”
“The Touch of an Angel”
“TransFatty Lives”
“The True Cost”
“Twinsters”
“Very Semi-Serious: A Partially Thorough Portrait of New Yorker Cartoonists”
“The Wanted 18”
“We Are Many”
“We Come as Friends”
“We Were Not Just…Bicycle Thieves. Neorealism”
“Welcome to Leith”
“What Happened, Miss Simone?”
“What Our Fathers Did: A Nazi Legacy”
“Where to Invade Next”
“Winter on Fire: Ukraine’s Fight for Freedom”
“The Wolfpack”

CBS Gives ‘Limitless’ a Full Season One Order

Jennifer Carpenter, Jake McDorman Limitless Photo
Jennifer Carpenter as Agent Rebecca Harris and Jake McDorman as Brian Finch in ‘Limitless’ (Photo: David M. Russell © 2015 CBS Broadcasting, Inc)

Fans of CBS’ new dramatic series Limitless can breathe a little easier as the network’s definitely sticking with the show for a full season one. The action drama is inspired by the hit movie and features Jake McDorman, Jennifer Carpenter, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, and Hill Harper in the lead roles. Bradley Cooper, the star of the 2011 feature film, not only executive producers but also appears in occasional episodes as a pivotal character. Craig Sweeny, Alex Kurtzman, Roberto Orci, Heather Kadin, Marc Webb, Todd Phillips, Ryan Kavanaugh, Tucker Tooley and Tom Forman also executive produce Limitless.


Limitless‘ season one order is now a full 22 hour-long episodes. The series is currently the #2 most watched new series. Limitless airs Tuesdays at 10pm ET/PT and has brought in 11.43 million viewers.

“We’re excited how Limitless continues to evolve creatively each week and stand out with its unique style of storytelling,” stated Glenn Geller, President, CBS Entertainment. “It’s off to a strong start in a highly competitive environment.”

The Plot:

Limitless is about Brian Finch (McDorman) who discovers the brain-boosting power of the mysterious drug NZT and is coerced by the FBI into using his extraordinary cognitive abilities to solve complex cases for them. Working closely with Brian in the major case squad in New York City is Agent Rebecca Harris, a formidable investigator with a dark past, and Agent Boyle, a former military officer and Rebecca’s confidante. They report to Special Agent in Charge Nasreen “Naz” Pouran, a canny manipulator of the reins of power. Unbeknownst to the FBI, Brian also has a clandestine relationship with Senator Edward Morra (Academy Award nominee Bradley Cooper, recurring), a presidential hopeful and regular user of NZT who has plans of his own for his new protégé. Fueled now with a steady supply of NZT that enables him to use 100% of his brain capacity, Brian is more effective than all of the FBI agents combined, making him a criminal’s worst nightmare and the greatest asset the Bureau has ever possessed.

More on Limitless: Jake McDorman and Hill Harper Interview

‘Marvel’s Jessica Jones’ First Trailer: Jessica Jones vs Purple Man

Krysten Ritter, Rachael Taylor Jessica Jones Photo
Krysten Ritter and Rachael Taylor star in ‘Jessica Jones’ (Photo Credit: Netflix)

Hot on the heels of the release of the poster, today Netflix has unveiled the official full trailer for Marvel’s Jessica Jones. The comic book inspired series will premiere on November 20, 2015 at 12:01am PT with all 13 one-hour episodes immediately available at that time for binge-watching. The cast is led by Krysten Ritter in the title role and includes David Tennant (Dr. Zebediah Kilgrave / Purple Man), Mike Colter (Luke Cage), Rachael Taylor (Trish Walker), Carrie-Anne Moss, Eka Darville, Erin Moriarty, and Wil Traval.


Melissa Rosenberg (the Twilight films screenwriter, Dexter) is the series’ showrunner and executive produces along with Liz Friedman (Elementary) and Marvel’s Head of Television Jeph Loeb.

Other series included in Netflix’s deal with Marvel include Marvel’s Daredevil, Marvel’s Luke Cage, and Marvel’s Iron Fist.

The Plot:

Jessica Jones is a suspenseful, edgy look into the life of Jessica Jones, one of the most popular new Marvel characters of the last decade, as she faces demons from within and without.

After a tragic ending to her short-lived Super Hero stint, Jessica Jones is rebuilding her personal life and career as a detective who gets pulled into cases in New York City.

Watch the trailer:

‘Rock the Kasbah’ Movie Review

Rock the Kasbah Bill Murray
Bill Murray in a scene from ‘Rock the Kasbah.’

“Last night I heard a girl singing. This has got to be fate,” says Richie Lanz (Bill Murray), a down-on-his-luck music manager stuck in Afghanistan after his client, Ronnie (Zooey Deschanel), leaves him high and dry with no passport or money in the comedy movie, Rock the Kasbah.

Upon arriving in Afghanistan where his client will be the opening act of a USO tour, Lanz finds himself dealing with an emotionally stressed-out Ronnie who can’t handle being in a country in the middle of a war and who ends up stealing all his money and his passport, leaving him no way to get back to the States. With no immediate help in sight, Lanz meets two Americans, Jake (Scott Caan) and Nick (Danny McBride), who help supply things such as weapons and ammo to different tribes for a price. Fortunately for Lanz, they are friendly, hard-partying guys who offer to help him out.

In exchange for the money to get home, Lanz is charged with making a delivery for Jake and Nick. They ask him to take ammunition to a tribe in the middle of the desert, and Lanz actually impresses the tribe’s chief and gets invited back to the village to have dinner and spend the night. Later that night Lanz can’t sleep and takes off for a walk in the desert to take in the night air. He hears the most beautiful female singing voice and traces it to a cave. The voice belongs to the lovely Salima (Leem Lubany), the chief’s daughter who it turns out sneaks out at night to watch the country’s equivalent to American Idol: Afghan Star. After being discovered by Lanz, Salima runs back to her tribe’s village so as not to get caught out alone at night by her father. Convinced that all the terrible events that have happened to him since he got to Afghanistan have occurred so he could discover Salima’s exceptional voice, Lanz now sets out to try to persuade Salima’s father to allow her to go to Kabul to perform and compete on Afghan Star. The problem: her religion and culture forbid women to sing in public.


Directed by Barry Levinson (Good Morning, Vietnam, Rain Man), Rock the Kasbah is an uneven, disjointed mess of a film with few laughs. The performances, if you really want to call them that, are uninspired. And in the case of one particular actor, the lack of effort is glaringly obvious.

Bill Murray is well cast as the schlock music manager still looking to find a way into representing big time talent while making a quick buck at some unsuspecting, untalented poor soul’s expense. (He charges “up and coming talent” to represent them while never really doing anything for them.) Still, the dialogue and monologues Murray delivers are weak and have little comedic value. For an actor who has delivered so many great comedic performances in hilarious films such as Ghostbusters, Groundhog Day, Stripes, and Caddyshack, this is without a doubt one of the most forgettable and unfunny performances Murray has given in his career.

Kate Hudson is horribly miscast as Merci, the stunning prostitute who is also at times Lanz’ muse and business partner. She has zero chemistry with Murray and just seems completely out of place in the film. Bruce Willis as Bombay Brian, a gun-running mercenary for hire, seems to be trying to get ready for a glare-off showdown with Clint Eastwood. All he does in the film is stand around and glare at Murray, the camera, and off into space. He does deliver one of the few funny lines in the film that managed to generate a few chuckles, but other than that one line of dialogue it’s a huge waste of a truly talented actor.

The only redeeming part of the film is in the first 25 minutes when Murray and Deschanel, who have solid chemistry together, are traveling to, landing in, and trying to get settled in Afghanistan. The scene on the plane with Murray trying to calm down Ronnie by telling her an old story of his managing a rock star back in the day while she keeps crying and vomiting into her air sickness bag is one of the few funny scenes in the film that actually works.

With the waste of a talented cast, an uneven script, and almost no laughs, Rock the Kasbah is sure to be the big comedy disappointment of the year. Here’s hoping moviegoers miss it all together.

GRADE: D

MPAA Rating: R for language including sexual references, some drug use and brief violence

Release Date: October 23, 2015

Running Time: 100 minutes

Watch the trailer:

‘Pride and Prejudice and Zombies’ Trailer – Jane Austen with a Walking Dead Twist

Ellie Bamber Bella Heathcote Lily James Pride and Prejudice and Zombies
Ellie Bamber (Lydia), Bella Heathcote (Jane), Lily James (Elizabeth), Millie Brady (Mary) and Suki Waterhouse (Kitty) in Screen Gems’ ‘Pride and Prejudice and Zombies’ (Photo © 2015 CTMG, Inc)

Sony Pictures just debuted a new trailer for Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, the action horror film that combines Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice with the world of zombies. The film is based on Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith’s novel and was adapted for the screen and directed by Burr Steers. Heading to theaters on February 5, 2016, the cast of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies includes Lily James, Sam Riley, Bella Heathcote, Douglas Booth, Lena Headey, Matt Smith, Jack Huston, and Charles Dance.


The Plot:

A zombie outbreak has fallen upon the land in this reimagining of Jane Austen’s classic tale of the tangled relationships between lovers from different social classes in 19th century England. Feisty heroine Elizabeth Bennet (Lily James) is a master of martial arts and weaponry and the handsome Mr. Darcy (Sam Riley) is a fierce zombie killer, yet the epitome of upper class prejudice. As the zombie outbreak intensifies, they must swallow their pride and join forces on the blood-soaked battlefield in order to conquer the undead once and for all.

More on Pride and Prejudice and Zombies: Douglas Booth & Bella Heathcote Interview / Lily James & Sam Riley Interview

Watch the trailer:

Elton John’s ‘Wonderful Crazy Night’ Album Coming in February 2016

Elton John Wonderful Crazy Night Cover

Music superstar Elton John has set a February 5, 2016 release date for Wonderful Crazy Night on Island Records. The upcoming album will be Sir Elton John’s 33rd studio release and was produced by Elton and T-Bone Burnett. The first single is “Looking Up,” described as upbeat and infectious.

Elton previously collaborated with Burnett on 2010’s The Union and 2013’s The Diving Board, and 10 of the tracks on the upcoming album were co-written by Elton and his longtime songwriting partner, Bernie Taupin. Wonderful Crazy Night also features drummer Nigel Olsson (they began working together in the ’60s) and guitarist Davey Johnstone, marking the first time they’ve worked on an album together since 2006’s The Captain & the Kid. Also contributing to the tracks on Elton’s 33rd studio album are percussionist Ray Cooper, bassist Matt Bissonette, keyboard player Kim Bullard, and percussionist John Mahon.

Wonderful Crazy Night Track List:

Standard and Deluxe
1. Wonderful Crazy Night
2. In The Name Of You
3. Claw Hammer
4. Blue Wonderful
5. I’ve Got 2 Wings
6. A Good Heart
7. Looking Up
8. Guilty Pleasure
9. Tambourine
10. The Open Chord
11. Free And Easy *DELUXE VERSION ONLY
12. England And America *DELUXE VERSION ONLY

‘Shameless’ Season Six Poster and Teaser Trailer Arrive

Showtime’s Shameless is set to return for season six on Sundays beginning January 10, 2016 at 9pm ET/PT, a week earlier than originally announced. The network’s just released a poster for the half-hour comedy along with the first teaser trailer for the critically acclaimed adult series starring William H Macy and Emmy Rossum. The cast also includes Cameron Monaghan, Jeremy Allen White, Ethan Cutkosky, Shanola Hampton, Steve Howey, and Emma Kenney. John Wells, Andrew Stearn, Christopher Chulack, Davey Holmes, Nancy M. Pimental and Krista Vernoff executive produce.

The Plot:

Shameless season six picks up a few months after last year’s finale, as the Gallaghers prepare for yet another long Chicago winter. This season will see more than just the arctic Lake Michigan winds whipping through the Southside. Change is hard and the Gallaghers are as surprised as anyone at how life is turning out for them. But the question remains, as they come into their own and find out who they are, is it really possible that the Gallaghers could grow apart for good?

Shameless Season 6 Poster

‘The Wannabe’ Trailer – A ’90s Bonnie and Clyde Story

Vincent Piazza and Patricia Arquette The Wannabe
Vincent Piazza and Patricia Arquette star in ‘The Wannabe’

A new trailer’s arrived for the Momentum/Orion Pictures dramatic crime thriller The Wannabe executive produced by Martin Scorsese and Dean Devlin. Based on a true story, the film stars Oscar winner Patricia Arquette (Boyhood) and Vincent Piazza (Boardwalk Empire) as a real life Bonnie and Clyde-type couple. Written and directed by Nick Sandow, the cast also includes Michael Imperioli, Domenick Lombardozzi, and David Zayas.


The Wannabe opens in theaters and on VOD on December 4, 2015.

The Plot:

The Wannabe is a story about Thomas (Piazza), a man obsessed with Mafia culture during the 1990s in New York City. When Thomas’s failed attempts to fix the trial of infamous mobster John Gotti gets him rejected by the people he idolizes most, he sets off on a drug infused crime spree with his girlfriend and long time mob groupie, Rose (Arquette), by brazenly robbing the local Mafia hangouts.

Watch the trailer:

Nikki M. James is Cast in CBS’ ‘Braindead’

BrainDead TV series script

Nikki M. James is the newest addition to the cast of CBS’ Braindead from The Good Wife creators Robert and Michelle King. Tony Award-winner James will be starring alongside previously announced cast members Mary Elizabeth Winstead and Aaron Tveit in the comic-thriller set in Washington, D.C. CBS will debut the new series next summer.

“We fell in love with Nikki the first time we saw her in The Book of Mormon,” said executive producers Robert and Michelle King. “Her work on The Good Wife has only increased our admiration, and we couldn’t be more excited that she’s joining the cast of BrainDead.”

James’ other credits include Les Misérables, The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby, Lucky Stiff, All is Bright, Caesar and Cleopatra, and The Good Wife.

The Plot:

Mary Elizabeth Winstead will star as Laurel, a young, fresh-faced Hill staffer whose first job in Washington, D.C. leads her to discover two things: The government has stopped working, and alien spawn have come to earth and eaten the brains of a growing number of Congressmen and Hill staffers. Aaron Tveit will star as Gareth, the Legislative Director to a top Republican senator, who is smart, hard-working, and ultimately responsible for helping to save the world.

Nikki M. James will play Rochelle, a medical resident whose father died as the result of a mysterious infection. She and Laurel team up to learn what happened to her father, and protect others from the same fate.

Mario Lopez Joins the ‘Grease: Live’ Cast

Mario Lopez
Mario Lopez (Photo Credit: Kwaku Alston / Copyright: FOX)

Extra host Mario Lopez has signed on to Fox’s Grease: Live starring Julianne Hough as Sandy and Aaron Tveit as Danny. Lopez will be playing Vince Fontaine, the popular teen dance show host who emcees the dance competition at Rydell High School. The cast also includes Vanessa Hudgens as Rizzo, Carlos PenaVega as Kenickie, Keke Palmer as Marty, Carly Rae Jepsen as Frenchy, Kether Donohue as Jan, and David Del Rio as Putzie. Jessie J is on board to perform a new version of “Grease (Is the Word)” to kick off the show.


Fox is set to air Grease: Live on January 31, 2016 at 7pm ET/PT. The special musical event will air live on the East Coast and will air tape delayed on the West Coast.

The Details:

Grease: Live will reintroduce and reimagine some of the show’s most memorable moments, great music and timeless love story to an entirely new generation. In this live television adaptation of the musical classic, the beginning of senior year means the end of Danny and Sandy’s summer romance – until Sandy unexpectedly transfers to Danny’s high school. With their friends pulling them in different directions, it’s up to Danny and Sandy to stay hopelessly devoted as they make their way from Rydell High to a new frontier.

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