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Because 2016 cares not for subtlety, this month marks the 40th anniversary of “Network.” Since its release in November 1976 to wide praise and an eventual heap of Oscars, director Sidney Lumet and writer Paddy Chayefsky’s excoriation of the exponentially money-driven, bottom-feeding tendencies of television news has only grown in renown, as each angry pundit updates the film’s library of prophecies about The State of Television Today.

With the ascent of an actual reality TV star to the U.S. Presidency following a broadcast news cycle that worked for everything but a dedication to public interest, it would seem that this depressing political season has reached the logical end of the film’s apocalyptic forecast, landing on a reality too absurd for even “Network” to dramatize: Howard Beale as President. However, as we reflect on what’s gone wrong with contemporary news media and political culture, it’s important to...

In order to cover every big story, the big 24 hour cable news networks need to find experts to debate and discuss this bit of information. This is most often presented in the now standard split screen format with opposing takes to the story, now viewable side by side (sometimes the host or anchor will take up a third portion of the screen). Split screens are almost always used when another report or study is released that concerns climate change or global warming. On one side a researcher or scientist (former staple of kids’ programming Bill Nye “the Science Guy” has now become a news staple) explains the findings while a representative from some organization (“Citizens for…”, “The …Foundation, etc.) dismisses it with the popular mantra “not all the studies are in…”. But, just who are these naysayers, and what are these groups they speak for? Science historians Naomi Oreskes and Erik M.

Read More: The 2015 Indiewire SXSW Bible: Every Review, Interview and News Item Posted During Run of Festival Documentary filmmakers Ironbound Films ("Evocateur: The Morton Downey, Jr. Movie," "The Linguists") have teamed up with technology company Cisco Systems on their new short documentary "Detected." "Detected" follows the invention of the iTBra. The film's synopsis reads: "Breast cancer kills half-a-million women each year worldwide. In the U.S., one of eight women will develop the disease in her lifetime. Too often, current screening technology does not catch the disease until it's too late. 'Detected' is a documentary short that tells the story of Rob Royea, a technology entrepreneur determined to solve the problem with a miraculous new innovation: a bra that instantaneously communicates signs of cancer. Sensors in the bra pick up temperature readings consistent with cancer cells. Data is then wirelessly transmitted to the...

Troma's Return to Nuke 'Em High: Vol. 1 is enjoying tremendous success, and the legendary Mr. Troma himself, Lloyd Kaufman, sat down with Dread Central along with stars Asta Paredes, Katie Corcoran and Clay von Carlowitz to discuss the making of the film.

It must be noted that interviewing Mr. Kaufman and the cast members of Return to Nuke 'Em High: Vol. 1 all together on Skype is almost like participating in a sitcom as you watch it unfold in front of you.

Beginning with a virtual tour of the Troma offices (complete with video proof that Michael Herz does exist, or was that Joe Fleishaker?) that consisted of Kaufman carrying his laptop around and pointing it at whatever he wanted to show, it was clear early on that this was not going to be a typical interview. The group was candid and loved chiming in on each other's answers. We'll try...

Anthology horror series have been a constant presence on television from the 1950s to today. With television’s inherent limitations on gore and adult content, writers have throughout the years come up with many creative ways to creep viewers out and perched firmly on the edge of their seat.

Today, we look at Creepy Tales Told on Television That Will Get You in The Halloween Mood…

5. Tales From The Crypt – Television Terror

Before Paranormal Activity and before The Blair Witch Project, HBO’s Tales From The Crypt was a trailblazer in faux reality horror with season 2′s “Television Terror.” Starring real life talkshow host Morton Downey Jr, whose show was a weird mix between Jerry Springer and Rush Limbaugh and featured some of the first on camera fistfights between guests. This tale is a pretty faithful adaption of The Haunt of Fear #17′s Television Terror originally published in the 1950′s...

Before there was Glenn Beck, Sean Hannity, or Jerry Springer, there was Morton Downey Jr, the man who originated sleazy television talk shows. He wasn’t shy about beating his guests down with a verbal assault or even hip-checking them backwards to fall into their seat. He cultivated the persona of an aggressive jingoistic nutjob and his audience loved him for it, they became devoted to him. He wasn’t always like that however, and the documentary Évocateur: The Morton Downey Jr. Movie examines his transformation from outspoken liberal activist to conservative television personality and how the act consumed and overtook him. For the first two-thirds of the film, Évocateur is spellbinding in its portrayal of Downey Jr. as a man conflicted between his beliefs and his quest for notoriety, but as it gets bogged down in specific scandals it loses its way.

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Title: Evocateur: The Morton Downey, Jr. Movie Directors: Seth Kramer, Daniel A. Miller and Jeremy Newberger Before reality television became a genre unto itself, before dubiously achieved demi-celebrity became an actual career goal for many, and before blowhard media personalities took as their pet lemmings a significant portion of the American electorate, there was Morton Downey, Jr., a foul-mouthed talk show host who, as the anti-Phil Donahue, blew cigarette smoke in guests’ faces and generally ranted and raved in a manner that now seems both like some overblown caricature of populist agitation and the cornerstone for a cable news empire of ever more emphatically delivered deceitful scare-mongering. In the late [ Read More ]

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Seth Kramer, Daniel A. Miller and Jeremy Newberger's film opens in theaters and on VOD from June 7th via Magnolia Pictures and we have both the red band and green band versions of the movie's trailer up below. The film is produced by Seth Kramer, Newberg and Miller. Before entire networks were built on populist personalities; before reality morphed into a TV genre; the masses fixated on a single, sociopathic star: controversial talk-show host Morton Downey, Jr. In the late ‘80s, Downey tore apart the traditional talk format by turning debate of current issues into a gladiator pit. His blow-smoke-in-your-face style drew a rabid cult following, but also the title “Father of Trash Television.” Was his show a platform for the working man or an incubator for Snooki and The Situation? Ironbound Films’ Évocateur: The Morton Downey Jr. Movie dissects the mind and motivation of television’s most notorious agitator.

Sneak Peek a trailer from the new Magnolia Pictures documentary "Evocateur: The Morton Downey Jr. Movie", focusing on the career of the controversial 1980’s talk show host Morton Downey Jr., directed by Seth Kramer, Daniel A. Miller, and Jeremy Newburger :

"...before entire networks were built on populist personalities and before reality morphed into a TV genre, the masses fixated on a single, sociopathic star: controversial talk-show host Morton Downey, Jr. In the late ‘80s, Downey tore apart the traditional talk format by turning debate of current issues into a gladiator pit. His blow-smoke-in-your-face style drew a rabid cult following..."

Click the images to enlarge and Sneak Peek "Evocateur: The Morton Downey Jr. Movie"...

Catch the first poster Évocateur: The Morton Downey Jr. Movie, produced and directed by Seth Kramer, Daniel A. Miller and Jeremy Newberger. The film will be available on iTunes/On-Demand as well as in theaters from June 7th, 2013 via Magnolia Pictures, and stars Morton Downey Jr. The film is rated R. The film will be available on iTunes/On-Demand as well as in theaters from June 7th, 2013, and stars Morton Downey Jr. The film is rated R. Before entire networks were built on populist personalities; before reality morphed into a TV genre; the masses fixated on a single, sociopathic star: controversial talk-show host Morton Downey, Jr. In the late ‘80s, Downey tore apart the traditional talk format by turning debate of current issues into a gladiator pit. His blow-smoke-in-your-face style drew a rabid cult following, but also the title “Father of Trash Television.” Was his show a platform for the...

Catch the first poster Évocateur: The Morton Downey Jr. Movie, produced and directed by Seth Kramer, Daniel A. Miller and Jeremy Newberger. The film will be available on iTunes/On-Demand as well as in theaters from June 7th, 2013 via Magnolia Pictures, and stars Morton Downey Jr. The film is rated R. The film will be available on iTunes/On-Demand as well as in theaters from June 7th, 2013, and stars Morton Downey Jr. The film is rated R. Before entire networks were built on populist personalities; before reality morphed into a TV genre; the masses fixated on a single, sociopathic star: controversial talk-show host Morton Downey, Jr. In the late ‘80s, Downey tore apart the traditional talk format by turning debate of current issues into a gladiator pit. His blow-smoke-in-your-face style drew a rabid cult following, but also the title “Father of Trash Television.” Was his show a platform for the...

While it may have failed to live up to the legacy of its predecessor, Predator 2 is still one of those flicks that if I'm jumping around channels on cable and it happens to be on, I'm tuning in regardless.

Sure, it may not exactly be the crowd-pleaser that John McTiernan's Predator was in 1987, but Predator 2 was still a moderate box office success during its release in 1990 and managed to fare pretty well (in this writer's humble opinion at least) as an effective slice of a sleazeball action-packed fun with Lethal Weapon's Danny Glover taking on the alien warrior in the gritty, drug-ridden streets of Los Angeles.

Plus, Predator 2 has Gary Busey and Morton Downey, Jr., so how could you possibly go wrong?

For the sequel Kevin Peter Hall reprised his role as the titular antagonist, but the look of the creature went through a bit...

That's it. It's a wrap. The Tribeca Film Festival is over for another 12 months. And while it was an improvement from years past, despite a promising line-up the festival proved to be somewhat disappointing: most of the best regarded films ("2 Days In New York," "Take This Waltz," Searching For Sugar Man" being three prime examples) had premiered elsewhere, while the more high-profile, star-laden of their world or North American exclusives landed with a thud.

However, even while the festival still grapples with its own identity, there were some real gems in the line-up: there are a few films that justify whatever else we had to sit through in the course of the last few weeks. And let's not forget the festival did secure "The Avengers" and "The Five-Year Engagement," two films we loved (though try and ask any civillian who got into either and you'll hear a lot of crickets). Below,...

At 85, Tony Bennett looks and sounds great. In The Zen of Bennett, which premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival and will soon appear on Netflix, Bennett relies on a single word, repeated over and over throughout the documentary, to describe his life philosophy. That word is “quality.” For the clothes he wears, for the songs he sings, for the people who are his friends, for everything, quality is his guiding principle. Conversely, the elderly singer with the smoothest pipes in the business, disparages cheap songs, crude and outlandish behavior, and anger. “Everything you do should be done with love, not with anger.”

Going from Tony Bennett in The Zen of Bennett to Morton Downey, Jr. in Évocateur: The Morton Downey Jr. Movie is like going from a soothing, relaxed discussion in a cinematic sauna to being manhandled out of that sauna and confronted by a raving maniac aiming a flamethrower at your cojones.

Getty Images Atmosphere during the 2012 Tribeca Film Festival at the 92Y Tribeca on April 18, 2012 in New York City.

The Tribeca Film Festival may have its fair share of Hollywood glitz. Witness this year’s closing night film, the would-be summer blockbuster “The Avengers.” But New York moviegoers are advised to look closely at the festival’s smaller, often more satisfying nonfiction movies. Past Tribeca festivals have hosted such documentary award-winners as “Street Fight” (2005), “Jesus Camp” (2006), “Taxi to the Dark Side...

Tribeca: Tell us about Évocateur: The Morton Downey Jr. Movie. How do you describe Morton Downey Jr. to people not familiar with him? Seth Kramer, Daniel A. Miller, Jeremy Newberger: Morton Downey, Jr., was argumentative, divisive, violent - arguably the most controversial talk-show host in the history of television. Think Fox News meets the Saw franchise. Évocateur: The Morton Downey Jr. Movie examines Mort's mind, motivation, and legacy. Tribeca: What inspired you to tell this story? It clearly seems like a labor of love and passion. Were you fans from way back? Kramer/Miller/Newberger: The three directors of Évocateur - Seth Kramer, Daniel A. Miller, and Jeremy Newberger of Ironbound Films - came of age in the suburbs of New Jersey and Long Island. Watching, discussing, and attending The Morton Downey Jr. Show was our Facebook. Jeremy even played Morton Downey Jr. Show dress-up with his high school friends.

Celebrities will invade Los Angeles this weekend for the 84th Academy Awards ceremony. Searchlights will blaze and flashbulbs will pop as Hollywood stars will descend from the heavens -- or maybe just the Malibu hills -- to touch the ground that regular Angelenos walk on each day. They'll smile and snarl our traffic. They'll toss their hair and forget to thank their husbands. They'll praise each other for their bravery, while collecting $75,000 gift bags. L.A. is accustomed to such strange invasions, of course. If you're a movie fan, you already know that L.A. has been invaded over the years by everything from giant atomic ants (Them), to buff cyborgs (The Terminator), to rampaging 3D zombies (Resident Evil: Afterlife). So Angelenos take invasions from movie stars in stride. But this weekend marks an anniversary of an invasion you might not know about: L.A.'s first alien invasion. This...

Here's your daily dose of an indie film in progress; at the end of the week, you'll have the chance to vote for your favorite. In the meantime: Is this a movie you’d want to see? Tell us in the comments. "Évocateur" Tweetable Logline: Before Beck and Limbaugh, another populist reigned supreme. World, re-meet Morton Downey, Jr.: the original f**king loudmouth. Elevator Pitch: Before entire networks were built on populist ...

Meet the most dangerous man in America. Way before the Yes Men, Alan Abel was duping the media with all kinds of outrageous hoaxes. From trying to clothe animals to running a school for beggars to protesting against breast feeding, nobody, but nobody, could pull the wool over the public’s eyes like Abel. And, entering into his sunset years — he’s still at it! Calling radio stations, writing fake editorials, handing out outrageous flyers, Alan Abel couldn’t stop pulling hoaxes if he tried. His life and wacko career is intimately profiled in the documentary Abel Raises Cain by someone who knows his tricks and scams all too well: His daughter Jenny Abel.

This is a very loving documentary. Jenny is obviously very close to her father and her mother, so the documentary doesn’t really explore any negative aspects to Abel’s stunts, if there are any. Although...

Our critics choose between Predators, The Kids Are All Right, and Despicable Me. Predators Scott: Doesn't it seem as though Predators should have been made about twenty years ago? After all, the Alien franchise had already shown how it's done: simply add an "s" to the end of the title and you're free to increase the number of slimy critters from outer space at will. Instead, the original 1987 Predator was followed by the unimaginatively named Predator 2, which not only lacked original star Arnold Schwarzenegger, but featured loudmouth talk-show host and '80s relic Morton Downey, Jr. in a supporting role. Not exactly a movie designed to stand the test of time, but now — following two crossovers with the aforementioned Alien series — a new (and mercifully 3D-free) Predator movie has arrived in theaters. The premise is a sort of cross between The Dirty Dozen and The [...]...

TV legend Morton Downey Jr. died Monday of lung cancer and other respiratory problems at the age of 67. Born Sean Morton Downey Jr., the talk show host attended military school and earning a marketing degree and a law degree. He says that America saw him "a loudmouth who gets in trouble just like they do, who's had problems just like they had, someone that they can identify with a lot more than someone who's squeaky clean." A chain smoker for years until losing a lung to cancer, Downey was known for deliberately blowing smoke into the faces of guests who annoyed him when he was host of one of the most popular talk shows on American television in the 1980s. After his cancer surgery in 1996, he became an anti-smoking crusader. Downey, who was the son of popular singer Morton Downey and his dancer-wife, Barbara Bennett, pursued a number of professions including businessman, author, radio host, singer and songwriter, composing such hit surf-rock songs as Pipeline and Wipeout in the 1960s.

A low-octane ''Get Smart'' in a rusty ''L.A. Story'' frame, ''Driving Me Crazy'' is a dummkopf comedy starring German talk-show personality Thomas Gottschalk. While it's tough to knock a production that features the motion picture debut of Los Angeles Lakers center Vlade Divac, this one is a low-laugh emission that will sputter straight to the video shelf.

In this post-Berlin Wall yokker, Gottschalk stars as Gunther Schmitt, a small-town German inventor whose barn-built, Rube Goldberg-ish car defies the terms of ''German engineering.'' While it has the bulky build of the standard Eastern bloc brute, this contraption runs on vegetables, and when shifted into uberdrivecan peel out at 200 mph.

In short, it's just the car for Los Angeles, Gunther reasons. So, the intrepid inventor heads off for a big-time auto show to peddle his car for, hopefully, $50 million or so. While a veggie-propelled vehicle is just what the land of smog and nuts indeed needs, green Gunther soon runs into Southern California social reality -- namely, car theft. His grand invention is purloined by a Bel-Air lout (Dom DeLuise) who holds the car up for auction to the big-time carmakers.

There's no denying that this goofy assemblage has its charms -- dumb jokes, sight gags and plenty of turnips -- but, for the most part, it wipes out with an exhaustive trail of variety show-level bits and tired jabs at Southern California.

The melanges de genres cast -- Billy Dee Williams, Michelle Johnson, DeLuise, Morton Downey Jr. and George Christy -- is sporadically amusing but is generally waylaid by the screenwriters' (R.M. London, David Tausik, Jon Turtletaub) sludgy humor. In addition, director Turtletaub never seems to get out of first gear visually.

Tech contributions add some needed combustion, particularly Wolfgang Heinz' appropriately dopey production design and Michelle Kurpaska's fittingly garish costumes.

DRIVING ME CRAZY

Motion Picture Corporation of America

Producers Brad Krevoy, Steve Stabler

Director Jon Turtletaub

Screenwriters R.M. London, David Tausik, Jon Turtletaub

Directors of photographyJeff Porter, Chris Faloona, Flavio Labiano

Editors Armen Minassian, Nancy Richardson

Costume designer Michelle Kurpaska

Production designer Wolfgang Heinz

Color/Ctereo

Gunther Thomas Gottschalk

Max Billy Dee Williams

Ricki Michelle Johnson

Mr. B. Dom DeLuise

Yugo representative Vlade Divac

Hotel clerk Milton Berle

Bystander George Christy

Running time -- 87 minutes

MPAA Rating: PG

(c) The Hollywood Reporter...