by A.J. Focht
Strange things are happening over at Marvel Comics as a Doctor Strange movie is in motion. Marvel Studios already exploited their rights to most of the mainstream heroes, and, as they look toward the studio’s future, they’re going to have to start pulling from the lesser known source material. It looks like Doctor Strange is going to be the first of them, tentatively seeing a 2013 release date.
“I have a documentary spirit”
– Michael Apted
Film director Michael Apted is such an anomaly in Hollywood. He careens from big budget films such as The World Is Not Enough to smaller films like Enigma. But always, without fail, every seven years Apted puts together another UP film. In 1964 a group of seven year old children were interviewed about their lives and Apted was a researcher on that film. Since then Apted has taken on the directing reins and every seven years he gets together with as many of the original people as possible and interviews them again. Now 49 UP has just been released along with all the UP films in a big DVD box set.
Read our exclusive interview with Michael Apted on SuicideGirls.com.
“This is really a civil rights issue.”
– Kristin Canty
America devotes an inordinate amount of resources to its wars on controlled substances; namely its wars on drugs – and raw milk. Yep, you read that right. The prohibition of alcohol may have ended in the US in 1933 with the passage of the Twenty-First Amendment, but it’s still alive and kicking when it comes to unpasteurized milk.
The retail sale of raw milk for human consumption is illegal in the vast majority of states, and though some states do permit direct farm sales and/or herd shares, federal laws prohibit the sale and transport of raw milk across state lines. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration considers unpasteurized milk or cream –– and any uncooked products made from it, such as cheese, yogurt, and ice cream –– to be categorically unsafe. Their official line is that “raw milk can harbor dangerous microorganisms that can pose serious health risks to you and your family.”
However, by their own figures, a mere “800 people in the United States have gotten sick from drinking raw milk or eating cheese made from raw milk since 1998.” When you compare those numbers to the statistics on alcohol and cigarettes – which can be bought legally in all 50 states – the government’s position on the sale of raw milk appears to be inconsistent to say the very least. And the discrimination against raw dairy is even more profound when the health benefits are taken into consideration. But while the fight to decriminalize other controlled substances grabs headlines and galvanizes support, few are even aware of the prohibition against real milk. Kristin Canty, a small farm advocate from Massachusetts, hopes to change that with her compelling new documentary, Farmageddon: The Unseen War on American Family Farms.
Canty didn’t set out to make a film, merely to heal her son, who suffered from asthma and severe allergies. When traditional medicine failed to help, she embarked on a voyage of discovery that led her to raw milk. While fighting to heal her sick child, she also had to fight the seemingly unreasonable and intransigent attitude our government has towards healthy-minded boutique farmers who produce this hard to come by commodity in the face of much adversity. Frustrated and angered by reports of raids, and shocked at the increasing ferocity of the persecution of those who were doing nothing more than producing fresh food, Canty was compelled to expose the truth. For her, it wasn’t just about the disparity in treatment between big agriculture (whose factory methods have actually been responsible for the majority of serious food scares in recent years) and the mom & pop organic and sustainable operations, but an issue of a mother’s right to choose healthy food.
Read our exclusive interview with Kristin Canty on SuicideGirls.com.
**UPDATE**
Following the multi-agency armed raid on Venice Beach, CA fresh food collective Rawesome, which resulted in 3 arrests (see story), there will be a series of special screenings of Farmageddon at the Electric Lodge cinema on Saturday, August 20 (see details). Proceeds will go to the Rawesome Community Fund.
by A.J. Focht
It was the comic world that ruled geek news this last week as San Diego Comic Con was in full swing. Major players from all realms of nerdom gathered to share their latest updates. With such a huge event, I can’t possibly cover all the announcements, but here’s a full recap for your convenience.
Marvel Studios made a good call releasing Captain America: The First Avenger along with all the con hype. It took the box office this weekend making $65.1 million, but still shy of Thor’s $65.7 million opening weekend. And while Comic Con may have helped boost Captain America’s sales in America, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 continues to enchant the rest of the world.
Out of all the videos released at this year’s Comic Con, the trailer for The Last Airbender: Legend of Korra was one of the most anticipated (see above). The brand new video gives just over a minute’s look at the world of Avatar some 70 years after Aang.
by Fred Topel
“I think sadness is really interesting…”
– Miranda July
I understand Miranda July’s new movie The Future, completely. I don’t think I can explain it, except to say that each individual scene, even single lines of dialogue, can inspire an entire conversation.
Writer/director July crafts the story of Sophie (July) and Jason (Hamish Linklater), a couple planning on adopting a cat they rescued. In the time it will take for the shelter to heal Paw-Paw (voice of July and yes, the cat narrates), Sophie and Jason plan to make the most of their remaining time without commitment. Sophie cancels the internet, yet still plans to record dances that she’ll upload at Wi-Fi enabled cafes. Jason explores a career in environmentalism.
Yet those are not the themes I focused on. The unique voice of July is that she will give Jason the power to freeze time, or the characters will contemplate the end, as in the big end. The story of Jason and Sophie’s relationship progresses to a conclusion, but it’s the abstract steps along the way that evoke thought and feeling.
At the Los Angeles Film Festival, July met me in the lobby of the J.W. Marriot downtown while her film played at the Regal Cinemas. She would return to the theater for an audience Q&A, but while a new audience experienced The Future, July sat in an outdoor bar, magenta stockings shining in the sun, and analyzed her film with me.
Read our exclusive interview with Miranda July on SuicideGirls.com.
by Fred Topel
“I use The Weekly World News to teach my son how to read.”
– Errol Morris
For some reason I expected Errol Morris to be a really serious documentarian trying to blow the lid off a scandal. Instead he was happy and smiling and laughing. He even made a joke that my two digital records (one for backup) were brother and sister. Morris has explored topics like police corruption in The Thin Blue Line and Abu Ghraib in SOP. His latest film, Tabloid tells a story we may not know, with a theme that still resonates today.
Joyce McKinney caused a scandal in the ‘70s when she allegedly kidnapped Kirk Anderson from the Mormon Church. At the time, the London tabloids either glorified her as a beautiful heroine or slammed her as a sexual predator. Today it takes far simpler scandals to make someone a tabloid star. For the film, Morris conducted an interview with McKinney and some of the other men who knew her, helped her or tried to stop her. The story unfolds in their own words, with a few on screen images for emphasis.
I spoke with Morris about today’s media, tabloid or otherwise.
Read our exclusive interview with Errol Morris on SuicideGirls.com.
by Aaron Colter
The bulk of this blog post isn’t about San Diego Comic-Con, I’m just using it as an excuse to get you to click on the title. And it worked. Fooled you, motherfuckers! You might as well stick around though, I mean, you did already click on the title, and you are already reading this sentence. The next one’s pretty good, you should read it too.
Comic-Con can actually be a lot of fun, but it’s expensive as hell and crowded as five pounds of shit in a four pound bag. If conventions are your type of party, there are smaller conventions around the country that are legitimately well-attended, where you’ll have the opportunity to meet with other fans and actually speak to creators about their work. If, however, you’re looking to blow a few thousand dollars, and can get a decent group of your friends to do the same, plan a year in advance, and set aside hundreds in cash for stuff on the show floor, then yes, San Diego Comic-Con is fucking awesome. If attending, my top three picks for things to get at SDCC are Mr. Hipp Strikes!, Any Empire by Nate Powell, and the 2011 Color Ink Book.
But, if you’re like me, and don’t really want to deal with all of that noise this year, next, or ever, unless absolutely necessary, then here’s some cool stuff that you can do this weekend that will still be pretty fun.
