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Exclusive: Beanie Mania filmmaker Yemisi Brookes, documentarian-cinematographer Christopher Frierson (Dmx: Don’t Try to Understand), director-producer Lisa Cortés (All In: The Fight For Democracy), directors Morgan Pehme and Dan Dimauro (Get Me Roger Stone), Mark Laita’s YouTube channel Soft White Underbelly and The Speed Cubers filmmaker Sue Kim have signed with Black Box Management for representation.

As it announces its new signings, Black Box has two client projects at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival: the documentary TikTok, Boom from director Shalini Kantayya, which looks at the rise and cultural influence of the ubiquitous social media app, and John Patton Ford’s thriller Emily the Criminal, starring Aubrey Plaza.

“These new signs are part of the continued expansion of the Black Box family. From the start we have always been drawn to artists and creators who are disruptive and have something new to say,” said Black Box founders Mike Dill and Lowell Shapiro in a joint statement.

If you want to meet a Republican politician who’s the ultimate poster boy for shameless apple-polishing — the kind of eager conservative loyalist who would crawl across broken glass to shine Donald Trump’s shoes — you should watch “The Swamp,” the new HBO documentary, and get a load of Matt Gaetz, a congressman from Florida who got swept into the U.S. House of Representatives by the Trump tidal wave.

Gaetz is a real piece of work. At 38, he’s got the baby-faced, handsome-but-not-too-dashing, smile-by-committee looks and easy-talking facility of a jock bro who was popular in high school and is now a mid-level bank manager. If you had to describe what his job is, the most accurate thing to say might be that Gaetz is a congressman who plays a congressman on TV. With his Chris O’Donnell immaculateness, he’s a constant presence on Fox News and CNN, mouthing his talking points,...

Clearly, no one involved with “Dirty Money” knew precisely what environment Season 2 of the Netflix documentary series would be dropped into upon release. After first debuting in early 2018, the intervening 26 months have seen the number of significant financial developments dovetail, some brewing underneath the sociopolitical surface for the entire time and others with a much quicker and more recent onset.

The explicit purpose of this series, produced by prolific documentary filmmaker Alex Gibney, is to illuminate financial malpractice on various levels. In Season 2, different episodes detail international tales of money laundering, drug trafficking, environmental pollution, and elder abuse, all of which have figures at their centers absorbing a majority of the blame.

More from IndieWireEvery IndieWire TV Review from 2020, Ranked by Grade From Best to WorstEvery Animated Feature Coming Out in 2020

Through a more immediate lens, there’s another overriding takeaway, one that’s become more pronounced in an age...

When Special Prosecutor Robert Mueller indicted Paul Manafort, President Trump’s White House downplayed its significance: Representatives said Manafort had only been the President’s campaign manager for two months. When the Trump campaign’s foreign policy adviso, George Papadopoulos, was indicted, the President pretended like he was errand boy he had never met.

When it comes to the just-indicted Rger Stone, however, President Trump will have a harder time publicly distancing himself from the significance of his longtime friend and political advisor. Stone, who was arrested this morning for lying about his communication with Wikileaks, is also the subject of a 2017 Netflix documentary, “Get Me Roger Stone,” in which Trump lays out his special history with the advisor.

In the documentary directed by Daniel Dimauro, Dylan Bank, and Morgan Pehme, Trump traces his 40-year relationship with Stone to their shared mentor, Senator Joseph McCarthy’s henchman Roy Cohn, and...

The latest in an infinite parade of documentaries about how the hell we got here (others include “Get Me Roger Stone” and the forthcoming “Watergate: How to Stop an Out of Control President”), Alexis Bloom’s “Divide and Conquer: The Story of Roger Ailes” is a clean and straightforward account of how a hemophiliac from small town Ohio grew up to become the most powerful man in media, effectively destroy the country that he claimed to love, and harass a whole lot of women along the way.

Fleet, lucid, and very watchable, the film is as ruthlessly effective and goal-oriented as its namesake, as Bloom (“Bright Lights: Starring Carrie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds) unpacks a singular American life with plenty of color and little creativity. Her uncomplicated approach serves the purpose of a film like this: When the legend becomes fact, print the legend, but when the facts become legend,...

When it comes to social-issue documentaries, Netflix has the market cornered. In recent years, the streaming platform’s original documentaries and docuseries have tackled everything under the sun, from business and politics to drug abuse and public-health crises.

For Netflix’s newest installment, “Recovery Boys,” Academy Award–nominated director Elaine McMillion Sheldon (“Heroin(e)”) delivers a revealing look at the opioid epidemic through the lens of four young men struggling to move on after years of addiction. Available to stream now on Netflix, the film tracks the men, newly sober, as they undergo a traumatic recovery process at a farming-based rehabilitation center and the distressing years that follow.

Today, with all eyes on the opioid crisis, Sheldon’s documentary provides something rare and valuable: an intimate study of progress and pain that serves to humanize rather than alienate. Here are five more Netflix documentaries that take a deep dive into contemporary social issues,...

For over a year now progressives have wondered how Donald Trump managed to get himself elected president. The answer may be found in the documentary Get Me Roger Stone, directed by the trio of Morgan Pehme, Daniel Dimauro and Dylan Bank, a Netflix release that has qualified for Oscar consideration. It reveals how Stone—the gleefully Machiavellian Gop operative and master of the dirty trick—more than anyone else orchestrated Trump's political rise. "Roger first hatched…...

One hundred seventy features have been submitted for consideration in the Documentary Feature category for the 90th Academy Awards. That’s 25 more than 2016. Assuming they all book their qualifying runs in New York and Los Angeles, the members of the documentary branch have just a few more weeks to see as many films as possible and file their votes for the shortlist of 15 to be announced in December. They’re each supposed to watch an assigned list of about 20 films, plus as many more as they can.

Read More:2018 Oscar Predictions: Best Documentary Feature

It’s possible for documentaries to also vie for Best Picture, although it is rare. Among this year’s most lauded features are “City of Ghosts,” “Faces Places,” “Jane,” “Kedi” and “One of Us.”

The submitted features, listed in alphabetical order, are:

“Abacus: Small Enough to Jail”

“Aida’s Secrets”

“Al Di Qua”

“All the Rage...

One hundred seventy features have been submitted for consideration in the Documentary Feature category for the 90th Academy Awards. That’s 25 more than 2016. Assuming they all book their qualifying runs in New York and Los Angeles, the members of the documentary branch have just a few more weeks to see as many films as possible and file their votes for the shortlist of 15 to be announced in December. They’re each supposed to watch an assigned list of about 20 films, plus as many more as they can.

Read More:2018 Oscar Predictions: Best Documentary Feature

It’s possible for documentaries to also vie for Best Picture, although it is rare. Among this year’s most lauded features are “City of Ghosts,” “Faces Places,” “Jane,” “Kedi” and “One of Us.”

The submitted features, listed in alphabetical order, are:

“Abacus: Small Enough to Jail”

“Aida’s Secrets”

“Al Di Qua”

“All the Rage...

Alec Bojalad May 23, 2019

In its ongoing quest for streaming media dominance, Netflix has established an impressive roster of documentaries. Here are the best.

Editor's Note: This post is updated monthly. Bookmark this page and come back every month to see what other excellent documentaries join the Netflix roster.

Updated for June 2019.

You can see a complete list of new Netflix releases here.

At some point during this decade, it seems like all of Western culture came to an unprecedentedly unanimous decision all at once: Documentaries are dope.

Just scroll through IMDb or Rotten Tomatoes and see how long it takes before you find a documentary with bad reviews. They're relatively rare! Perhaps because documentarians invest so much time in their subjects that it's nearly impossible to turn out a bad product and perhaps just because real life really is that much stranger than fiction.

The point is, we now need...

The fantasy epic, directed by South Korean film-maker Bong Joon-ho, could be the streaming service’s first big splash in original cinema

If Netflix’s foray into original television content has been one of the great, industry-shaking developments of the past decade, the streaming service’s attempts at evergreen feature films have been decidedly less successful. Though the site has flourished with original documentaries (13th; What Happened, Miss Simone?; and Get Me Roger Stone are just three critically lauded examples), big-budget features such as David Michôd’s War Machine and Yuen Woo-Ping’s Crouching Tiger sequel have made less of a splash.

That might change with The Host director Bong Joon-Ho’s latest picture, a strange, sweeping cautionary tale of late-capitalist greed called Okja, available on Netflix worldwide.

Continue reading...

This week, the Cinemaholics spend some quality time reviewing Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales, the fifth installment of the blockbuster Disney franchise that began with The Curse of the Black Pearl back in 2003. Special guest Kayla Savage joins the discussion as well to help us determine what’s good and bad about both the franchise and Jack Sparrow as a character and much, much more.

Later in the show, we mini-review Baywatch, which stars Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and Zac Efron, along with Get Me Roger Stone, Casual season 3 and Hasan Minhaj: Homecoming King. For more, here are the links to what was discussed this week (your Cinemahomework):

Review of Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales Review of Baywatch Review of Casual Season 3

If you like what you hear, become a Cinemaholic! Subscribe to the podcast on YouTube via the Wgtc channel...

  Get Me Roger Stone Review Get Me Roger Stone (2017) Film Review, a movie directed by Dylan Bank, Daniel Dimaurio, and Morgan Pehme, and starring Roger Stone, Donald Trump, Paul Manafort, Jeffrey Toobin, Tucker Carlson, Jane Mayer, Wayne Barrett, Harry Siegel, Alex Jones, Matt Labash, Nydia Stone, Charlie Black, Michael Caputo, and Hillary Clinton. One of [...]

Continue reading: Film Review: Get Me Roger Stone (2017): Shedding Light On The Prince Of Darkness...

As specialized distributors head to Cannes, Eleanor Coppola’s French valentine “Paris Can Wait” (Sony Pictures Classics) scored with arthouse moviegoers. It’s only the fourth 2017 limited release to break the increasingly rare $20,000 per-theater-average mark.

These days, movies with older audience appeal are sustaining the market — and will likely form the core demo for similar available new films at Cannes. Eleanor Coppola (“Apocalypse Now” documentary “Heart of Darkness”) makes her narrative film debut at 81 with her semi-autobiographical first screenplay, starring Diane Lane as the wife of a self-involved film producer (Alec Baldwin).

New York also saw a handful of other small but still promising initial results, led by Cate Blanchett stunt-theater piece “Manifesto” (Film Rise), Israeli marriage story “The Wedding Plan” (Roadside Attractions) and “Stefan Zweig: Farewell to Europe” (First Run).

Netflix’s timely Tribeca documentary “Get Me Roger Stone,” an eye-opening portrait of Donald Trump’s flamboyant dark knight,...

Another one of our favorite shows is back this week, as the whole of Master of None’s Season 2 hits Netflix, and one of the most hopeful new series of the year, Amazon’s I Love Dick, makes its leap from pilot to full first season the same day. There’s also the end of the first season of Riverdale, more Fargo and Better Call Saul, a must-see installment of Saturday Night Live, reason to check out the new sitcom Great News, and why we’re paying attention to the MTV Movie Awards this year.

To help you keep track of the most important programs over the next seven days, here’s our guide to everything worth watching, whether it’s on broadcast, cable, or streaming for May 7–13 (all times Eastern):

SUNDAY2017 MTV Movie and TV Awards (MTV, 8pm)

Yeah, it’s MTV, and yes they still have awards like “Best Kiss,” but...

In her writing about the Nazis, Hannah Arendt famously introduced the phrase “the banality of evil” into the public lexicon. Republican political strategist Roger Stone is as evil as they come, but there is nothing even remotely banal about this man. With his slicked-back hair plugs, pinstriped suits and circular black sunglasses, he cuts a figure something like a live-action version of a cartoon super-villain. He harbors a fetishistic devotion to his weasel idol Richard Nixon (Stone’s staggering collection of memorabilia includes two rare bongs in the shape of Tricky Dick’s head), and gladly shows off his back tattoo of the former President’s face to anyone who asks.

Continue reading ‘Get Me Roger Stone’: The Malevolent ‘Forrest Gump’ Of Conservative Politics [Tribeca Review] at The Playlist.

Not to be outdone by yesterday’s news that Mike Myers will be hosting the “Gong Show” reboot in character as “Tommy Maitland,” Martin Short’s Jiminy Glick made his triumphant return last night. The occasion was, of course, Donald Trump’s first 100 days in office, and so the interviewer sat down with 45 for a rare one-off on “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.” Watch below and despair.

Read More: Mike Myers (Or Is It?) Transforms Into Another Naughty British Character to Host ‘Gong Show’ Reboot

Fallon played Trump for the bit, which saw the two performers attempting to outdo each other’s ridiculousness — a battle that Glick easily won. “Now your first hundred days,” he said in his trademark cadence, “would you say it’s a complete embarrassment or a total failure?” That was immediately after he said that Trump looked like “Dennis the Menace made a bunch of bad life choices,...

The Atx Television Festival has added two additional newsmaker panels to this year’s ever-expanding lineup.

One panel, “Television in a Trumped Up America,” promises a spirited discussion about how writers and TV shows are handling stories in a Donald Trump administration. Another, “The Revival of the Socially Conscious Sitcom,” will examine the recent growth of comedies aiming to recapture the progressive spirit of Norman Lear.

Liz Tigelaar (“Casual”), Monica Owusu-Breen (“Midnight, Texas”), Javier Grillo-Marxuach (“The Middleman”), and Michael Rauch (“Royal Pains”) are on board for the Trump panel, while Danielle Sanchez-Witzel (“The Carmichael Show”), Bob Daily (“Superior Donuts”), Justin Simien (“Dear White People”), and Mike Royce and Gloria Calderon-Kellett (“One Day at a Time”) are set to join the sitcom panel. (“One Day at a Time” is also executive produced by Lear, but he will not be attending.)

Read More: ‘Alias’ Reunion, ‘Parks and Recreation’ Screening Party Highlight New...

Since he claims to thrive on the hatred of those who think democracy is best served by honesty and decency in political campaigns, let's all shout this together: Roger Stone is a swell guy. Loves his mama. Snappy dresser. Has helped sell Americans on some of their finest statesmen, from Richard M. Nixon to Donald J. Trump. We love ya, Rog. Here's hoping our admiration doesn't shrivel your weirdly pumped-up, expensively clothed physique.

Readers who don't know who we're talking about will be well served by Dylan Bank, Daniel Dimauro and Morgan Pehme's Get Me Roger Stone, a solid backgrounder...

Roger Stone wasn’t part of the Q&A following the world premiere of the new documentary “Get Me Roger Stone” at the Tribeca Film Festival on Sunday, but the infamous political consultant did sneak into the screening shortly after it began and took one question from his seat after it was over.

Read More: Alejandro González Iñárritu Tells Marina Abramovic Why He Loves Virtual Reality — Tribeca 2017

Asked if he still advises president Donald Trump, Stone replied that he talks to Trump “from time to time,” adding, “I certainly wouldn’t divulge the content of those conversations or they would end. The president needs to be able to get advice and not have it end up on the front page of The New York Times.”

A Netflix original documentary directed by Dylan Bank, Daniel Dimauro and Morgan Pehme, “Get Me Roger Stone” was produced over the course of more that...

You may not know Roger Stone’s name, but I absolutely guarantee that you’re familiar with his work. A self-described “agent provocateur” who’s dedicated his entire life to becoming (and remaining) the Machiavellian puppet-master of American politics, Stone is the closest thing that Washington D.C. has ever had to a genuine supervillain. Transformed by a chance encounter with a radioactive Barry Goldwater book when he was just a kid, Stone immediately began fashioning himself into a destructive force of nature. It would take a while before the body-building dandy started dressing like the Riddler, but in first grade he was already feeding his classmates disinformation about how a certain presidential candidate was in favor of school on Saturdays, and at 19 he became the youngest person named in the Watergate scandal (and he was proud of it).

In the ’80s, he practically invented the SuperPAC, supported dictators, and...

Last night, Hulu’s adaptation of Margaret Atwood’s “The Handmaid’s Tale” premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival. A frightening and incredibly gripping piece of visual storytelling from cinematographer-turned-director Reed Morano, it stands as a remarkable piece of art that speaks to atrocities committed against women around the world and throughout history.

While writer and executive producer Bruce Miller began developing the 33-year-old novel before the rise of Donald Trump, the story of women who have been stripped of all agency to exist solely as breeding vessels for the patriarchy seems all too prescient in a 2017 when immigrants are being separated from their children, facts are “alternative,” and women are losing access to healthcare at the hands of a president who’s admitted sexual assault on audiotape.

As IndieWire’s Liz Shannon Miller noted in her grade-a review:

“Could ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ really happen?” isn’t the question anymore.

Roger Stone hasn’t yet watched Get Me Roger Stone. The titular subject of Morgan Pehme, Daniel Dimauro and Dylan Bank’s new Netflix documentary will screen the film when it makes its world premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival on April 23.

Never mind Steve Bannon or Kellyanne Conway. When it comes to assigning credit (or blame) for Donald Trump’s improbable ascent to the presidency, look no further than Stone, a longtime political operative known for engineering scandals and embracing dirty tricks. A political prodigy, Stone dropped out of college to become a confidante of President Richard Nixon and was the...

Now in its sixteenth year, New York City’s own Tribeca Film Festival kicks off every spring with a wide variety of programming on offer, from an ever-expanding Vr installation to an enviable television lineup, but the bread and butter of the annual festival is still in its film slate. This year’s festival offers up plenty of returning favorites with new projects, alongside fresh faces itching to break out. From insightful documentaries to fanciful features, with a heavy dose of Gotham-centric films (hey, it is Tribeca after all), there’s plenty to dive into here, so we’ve culled the schedule for a few surefire hits.

This year’s Tribeca Film Festival takes place April 20 – 30. Check out some of our must-see picks below.

Read More: Why ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ Is the Most Anticipated Screening of the Tribeca Film Festival

“A Gray State”

It might be the craziest story...

Ivan Radford Jun 13, 2017

More recommendations have been added to our list of Netflix UK movies you might want to try...

Ask some Netflix users and they'll tell you that Netflix UK pales in comparison to Netflix Us, that America has all the new, good stuff, while British streamers are left with the bargain bin rejects from old Blockbuster stores.

See related No Metroid Prime sequel for Wii U says series producer

Take a closer look, though, and there's a whole heap of quality there just waiting to be discovered. Whether they're unfairly maligned, or just criminally under-seen, here are 25 under-appreciated films on Netflix UK.

(We'll keep this list updated as things arrive or leave the service to make sure you don't run of new things to try. Last update: June 2017)

What We Do In The Shadows

Jemaine Clement and Taika Waititi’s horror mockumentary, which follows a group of vampire flatmates in Wellington,...