MOVIE
The World Is Watching: Making the Hunger Games
A feature length, eight part documentary that covers everything from pre-production to adapting the source novel to casting to shooting to post and marketing. This is an amazing in-depth piece and it's notable how many women were involved in this production, from several Lionsgate executives to novelist Suzanne Collins herself. Jennifer Lawrence talks about her "hypocrisy" in not wanting to do a big budget blockbuster after having devoted herself to indies (despite X-Men, which she seems to discount somewhat). There's also a nice sequence on the strength and weight training the actors went through and the stunts that are so notable in the film, as well as having to dance around the violence implicit in the story due to the planned PG-13 rating the filmmakers were aiming for.
TV
The Games
12 familiar faces have undergone weeks of intensive training ready to go head-to-head in a range of sporting challenges, across a week of live shows amidst fierce competition. All have been pulled out of their comfort zones to be coached as athletes, swimmers and cyclists, to compete in the hope of coming top of the medals table and being crowned the winner of the competition.
MOVIE
The Ballad of Buster Scruggs
Vignettes weaving together the stories of six individuals in the old West at the end of the Civil War. Following the tales of a sharp-shooting songster, a wannabe bank robber, two weary traveling performers, a lone gold prospector, a woman traveling the West to an uncertain future, and a motley crew of strangers undertaking a carriage ride.
MOVIE
The Ballad of Lefty Brown
Aging sidekick Lefty Brown has ridden with Eddie Johnson his entire life. But when a rustler kills Eddie, Lefty is forced from his partner’s shadow and must confront the ugly realities of frontier justice.
MOVIE
The Ballad of Big Al
A BBC documentary sequel to the acclaimed miniseries Walking with Dinosaurs, The Ballad of Big Al chronicles the life of one Allosaurus fragilis named Big Al.
MOVIE
The Ballad of Little Jo
After being thrown out of her home, a young woman decides to disguise herself as a man to survive the ruthless Wild West.
MOVIE
The Ballad of Reading Gaol
Oscar Wilde’s famous and eloquent defence of love – made while he was being cross-examined at the trial that led to his incarceration and death – is strikingly illustrated, word by word, with Mapplethorpe-like imagery.
MOVIE
The Ballad of Wallis Island
The film will chart the story of an eccentric lottery winner, Charles, who lives alone on a remote island but attempts to turn his dreams into reality by hiring his favourite musician, Herb McGwyer, to play an exclusive, private gig. Unbeknownst to Herb, Charles has also hired Herb’s ex-band mate and ex-girlfriend, Nell, with her new husband in tow, to perform the old favourites. As tempers flare and old tensions resurface, the stormy weather traps them all on the island and Charles desperately looks for a way to salvage his dream gig.
