The first wave of titles screening at the 2015 South by Southwest (SXSW) Film Festival were announced today, and the batch has us very excited indeed. First of all, the event will open with the latest documentary from Ondi Timoner, who directed the masterpieces Dig! and We Live in Public. This one is called Brand: A Second Coming, and it’s about comedian Russell Brand‘s rebirth as a “self-proclaimed revolutionary” following a bout with addiction and his rise to fame. Even if you don’t care for her subject, Timoner is the kind of filmmaker who can keep you intrigued anyway. Her past few films have also dealt with big, fascinating egos, from hot shit rocker Anton Newcombe to exhibitionist Internet pioneer Josh Harris to “skeptical environmentalist” Bjorn Lomborg. Timoner returns to SXSW following last year’s debut of her short Obey the Artist, on Shepard Fairey. Among the fiction selections is one of our most anticipated...
- 1/8/2015
- by Christopher Campbell
- FilmSchoolRejects.com
There are certain shows that I wish weren't on the air not because I have any informed opinions about them, but because their mere existence makes me aware of certain things I'd rather forget about. Like the "Only in America with Larry the Cable Guy" show. Not only am I forced to confront the existence of Larry the Cable Guy every time I write about it, but I am forced to also confront the man's baffling, nearly inexplicable continued success. Today I found myself wondering if he had ever even really worked as a cable guy and I wanted to punch my brain while yelling "Not The Point!!!" at it. I'd leave it off, but then one of you might turn on the History channel this evening hoping for some good rehashing of how killing Nazis is awesome and then you'd see that and be all "Why, Intern Rusty, why have you forsaken me?...
- 4/12/2011
- by Intern Rusty
Reviewer: James van Maanen
Rating (out of 5): ***½
I hadn't heard of Bjorn Lomborg before I sat down to view Ondi Timoner's new documentary about Lomborg and his unorthodox but seemingly more intelligent (and probably infinitely more useful) approach to climate change and global warming than what we've been served up until now. Cool It is a smart title on several counts. It's swift and even a bit cute, while telling us not to get so worked up and apocalyptic about global warming and its results upon our tired and increasingly put-upon Mother Earth.
...
Rating (out of 5): ***½
I hadn't heard of Bjorn Lomborg before I sat down to view Ondi Timoner's new documentary about Lomborg and his unorthodox but seemingly more intelligent (and probably infinitely more useful) approach to climate change and global warming than what we've been served up until now. Cool It is a smart title on several counts. It's swift and even a bit cute, while telling us not to get so worked up and apocalyptic about global warming and its results upon our tired and increasingly put-upon Mother Earth.
...
- 4/1/2011
- by underdog
- GreenCine
Chicago – Any film that adds to the climate debate by bringing in a fresh and intelligent voice is certainly worth one’s time. From that perspective, “Cool It” is a documentary of considerable value, though it’s less rewarding than one might hope. Though it aims to be the cinematic rebuttal to “An Inconvenient Truth,” it falls far short, in part because the film simply isn’t as well-crafted or effective as Davis Guggenheim’s 2006 Oscar-winner.
“Truth” served its purpose as a call to alarm, jettisoning the undeniable yet controversial issue of global warming into the public consciousness. As author of “The Skeptical Environmentalist,” Bjørn Lomborg is determined to debunk the scare-tactics and misinformation that he feels ran rampant throughout “Truth.” Yet with its reputation-cleansing montages and self-serving analysis, “Cool It” is every bit as much a manipulative work of propaganda as Guggenheim’s film, lionizing Lomborg in much the...
“Truth” served its purpose as a call to alarm, jettisoning the undeniable yet controversial issue of global warming into the public consciousness. As author of “The Skeptical Environmentalist,” Bjørn Lomborg is determined to debunk the scare-tactics and misinformation that he feels ran rampant throughout “Truth.” Yet with its reputation-cleansing montages and self-serving analysis, “Cool It” is every bit as much a manipulative work of propaganda as Guggenheim’s film, lionizing Lomborg in much the...
- 3/30/2011
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
This is one hell of a big release week for DVDs, quantitatively speaking, but there are only a handful of high profile titles among the flood of new-to-you releases. But what are these big titles you wonder? Well I could tell you, or I could make you click through to discover them for yourself. So how about this… if I can guess the answer to a math problem where You provide the numbers then you have to read through the entire column. Deal? Ok. Pick a three digit number where all three can’t be the same, reverse it, then subtract the smaller from the larger (ex. 997 <-> 799… 997-799=198). Now reverse the difference and add them (ex. 198<->891… 198+891=1089), and I bet I can guess your answer. It’s 1089 isn’t it? I’ve just blown your mind haven’t I? Now you’ll read the column, won’t you? Cool It This is what common sense looks like. The...
- 3/29/2011
- by Rob Hunter
- FilmSchoolRejects.com
"The Resident" (2011)
Directed by Antti Jokinen
Released by Image Entertainment
This actually isn't the first time Hilary Swank has seen one of her films go direct to DVD after the films "Red Dust" and "Birds of America" suffered the same fate, but surely there was more riding on this horror film from the resurgent Hammer Films about a recently separated doctor who learns her Brooklyn loft isn't quite as wonderful as she thought it would be. "Secretary" screenwriter Erin Cressida Wilson co-wrote this film, which co-stars Christopher Lee, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, and Lee Pace.
"The Mikado" (1939)
Directed by Victor Schertzinger
Released by Criterion Collection
"Topsy-Turvy" (1999)
Directed by Mike Leigh
Released by Criterion Collection
Sold separately, Criterion is making no secret of trying to appeal to Gilbert and Sullivan fanatics with special editions of "The Mikado," a straight-up adaptation of the musical duo's most famous opera, and Mike Leigh's "Topsy-Turvy,...
Directed by Antti Jokinen
Released by Image Entertainment
This actually isn't the first time Hilary Swank has seen one of her films go direct to DVD after the films "Red Dust" and "Birds of America" suffered the same fate, but surely there was more riding on this horror film from the resurgent Hammer Films about a recently separated doctor who learns her Brooklyn loft isn't quite as wonderful as she thought it would be. "Secretary" screenwriter Erin Cressida Wilson co-wrote this film, which co-stars Christopher Lee, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, and Lee Pace.
"The Mikado" (1939)
Directed by Victor Schertzinger
Released by Criterion Collection
"Topsy-Turvy" (1999)
Directed by Mike Leigh
Released by Criterion Collection
Sold separately, Criterion is making no secret of trying to appeal to Gilbert and Sullivan fanatics with special editions of "The Mikado," a straight-up adaptation of the musical duo's most famous opera, and Mike Leigh's "Topsy-Turvy,...
- 3/28/2011
- by Stephen Saito
- ifc.com
Before Idfa’s Green Screen Climate Debate began at the Escape Club in Rembrandtplein Monday afternoon, our host noted that none other than Al Gore was due to arrive at Schiphol airport at any moment (no doubt in one of his private environmentally-damaging jets). Though he was in Holland to receive an award, the Nobel laureate, unfortunately, had declined the festival’s offer to stop by to debate. Too bad because we were left with the star of Cool It, Bjorn Lomborg — the John Cameron Mitchell-resembling “skeptical environmentalist” whose book the film was based on — instead facing down Jan Rotman, an aptly named and pissed-off Rotterdam professor who had the former vice-president’s harrumphing condescension down pat. (He also looked a lot like Nicolas Cage, one audience member commented somewhat inexplicably.)
Rotman’s view is that climate scientist discontent all boils down to economists like Lomborg who worship cost-benefit analysis rather than…...
Rotman’s view is that climate scientist discontent all boils down to economists like Lomborg who worship cost-benefit analysis rather than…...
- 11/24/2010
- by Lauren Wissot
- Filmmaker Magazine - Blog
Let's be frank, "An Inconvenient Truth" hasn't exactly aged well. It's a glorified slide-show at best, and although it brought the issue of the environment to the front of everyone's mind, it did so by inducing fear. It's not that there's nothing to be afraid of, but the way they did it is very questionable and we only have to direct you to the trailer to prove our point. Four years later, documentary filmmaker Ondi Timoner ("Dig!," "We Live in Public") decided to retaliate with a movie following Bjorn Lomborg and his logic, which has made him an enemy of…...
- 11/13/2010
- The Playlist
As a ecology and conservation biology student at Ut, I had a rather idealistic view of environmentalism -- until I took a course that focused on conservation, economics and technology. Between those teachings and 10 years at an environmental regulatory agency, I've become aware of the need for a more balanced and feasible approach. And yet it wasn't until seeing the documentary Cool It this week that I've admitted my skepticism about the doomsayer films that serve to alarm through extreme viewpoints rather than address the important global environmental issues.
The 2006 film An Inconvenient Truth has been credited with revitalizing the environmental movement and creating a better awareness for the general public about global warming. However, An Inconvenient Truth has been criticized of being both an exaggeration and alarming in context. Cool It centers around controversial author and Danish economist Bjorn Lomborg, who asserts that the attention global warming receives is...
The 2006 film An Inconvenient Truth has been credited with revitalizing the environmental movement and creating a better awareness for the general public about global warming. However, An Inconvenient Truth has been criticized of being both an exaggeration and alarming in context. Cool It centers around controversial author and Danish economist Bjorn Lomborg, who asserts that the attention global warming receives is...
- 11/13/2010
- by Debbie Cerda
- Slackerwood
Chicago – The subject of global warming is not going away, both from an environmental standpoint and as a debate. The argument that crystallized with Al Gore’s “An Inconvenient Truth” has effected politics, science and the thoughts of all world citizens. Academic Bjorn Lomborg contributes his point of view in the new documentary, “Cool It.”
Lomborg is a controversial figure in this debate. His book, “The Skeptical Environmentalist,” was a screed that contended that while global warming and climate change are a threat, it is neither the sky-is-falling rationalization on the Al Gore side, nor deserves the blithe dismissal of climate change deniers. Lomborg wants to approach the problem through a different lens, one he asserts is more centrist.
Surveyor: Bjorn Lomborg in ‘Cool It’
Photo Credit: 1019 Entertainment
Given this approach, Lomborg has received more than his fair share of detractors. He makes this film to reach more people regarding his assertions,...
Lomborg is a controversial figure in this debate. His book, “The Skeptical Environmentalist,” was a screed that contended that while global warming and climate change are a threat, it is neither the sky-is-falling rationalization on the Al Gore side, nor deserves the blithe dismissal of climate change deniers. Lomborg wants to approach the problem through a different lens, one he asserts is more centrist.
Surveyor: Bjorn Lomborg in ‘Cool It’
Photo Credit: 1019 Entertainment
Given this approach, Lomborg has received more than his fair share of detractors. He makes this film to reach more people regarding his assertions,...
- 11/13/2010
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
For those coming to Ondi Timoner's "Cool It" with a considerable amount of skepticism, the first half-hour will do little to sway you as Timoner strains to make you like Bjorn Lomborg, the controversial advocate of alternative energy strategies nicknamed for the title of his most famous book as "The Skeptical Environmentalist." After a montage gingerly demonstrates how his views on global warming have clashed with the majority of the world's scientists, Lomborg is shown caring for his mother with Alzheimer's, feeding schoolchildren in Nairobi and gazing longingly over riverbanks and outside train windows.
Occasionally someone like Stanford environmental studies professor Stephen Schneider comes on screen to wag his finger in disagreement, but when the realization sets in that Timoner is burnishing Lomborg's image only for the Greenpeace refugee to give a point-by-point repudiation of "An Inconvenient Truth" using Al Gore's favorite weapon, the slideshow, against him, there's good...
Occasionally someone like Stanford environmental studies professor Stephen Schneider comes on screen to wag his finger in disagreement, but when the realization sets in that Timoner is burnishing Lomborg's image only for the Greenpeace refugee to give a point-by-point repudiation of "An Inconvenient Truth" using Al Gore's favorite weapon, the slideshow, against him, there's good...
- 11/12/2010
- by Stephen Saito
- ifc.com
Director: Ondi Timoner Writers: Bjørn Lomborg (book), Terry Botwick, Sarah Gibson, Ondi Timoner Starring: Bjørn Lomborg Ondi Timoner's documentary Cool It follows Danish author and scholar Bjørn Lomborg (The Environmental Skeptic; Cool It: The Skeptical Environmentalist’s Guide To Global Warming), a gadfly to many environmentalists, who contends that though global warming does exist, our environmental situation is far less grave than the fear propaganda of "alarmists" such as Al Gore lead us to believe. Lomborg refutes four of the scariest “facts” presented by Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth while also criticizing the all-talk and no-action of international conferences (such as the 1997 Kyoto Protocol and the 2009 Copenhagen Summit) which proposed outlandish actions (such as Cap and Trade and Carbon Taxing) that would cost billions and have very little positive change. Cool It ponders whether the current budgets allocated towards climate change, global poverty, clean drinking water, education and...
- 11/12/2010
- by Don Simpson
- SmellsLikeScreenSpirit
Danish academic Bjørn Lomborg created some waves with his 2001 book The Environmental Skeptic and its follow-up, 2007’s Cool It: The Skeptical Environmentalist’s Guide To Global Warming, both of which poked holes in long-held assumptions about the effects of climate change and the inefficient ways the world was addressing them. It should be said upfront that he doesn’t deny climate change, but those who want to slow (or stop) any efforts to address the problem have nonetheless eagerly embraced his contrarian arguments. For his affront to conventional wisdom—meaning the findings of a vast swath of ...
- 11/11/2010
- avclub.com
In a new column I wrote over at Cinematical/Moviefone, I look at the concept of response documentaries--films made to rebuke or contribute to the content of other docs on the same topic--with specific focus on Ondi Timoner's latest, "Cool It." If you're at all interested in the global warming issue and debate, or if you've at least seen Davis Guggenheim's (and to some extent Al Gore's) "An Inconvenient Truth," you should see this new film which spotlight's the controversial ideas of Bjorn Lomborg. And in addition to watching Timoner and Lomborg interviewed at indieWIRE, you should check out some of…...
- 11/11/2010
- Spout
Filed under: Documentaries, Columns, Cinematical
Despite its subject matter, 'Cool It,' the latest must-see work by award-winning filmmaker Ondi Timoner (director of two of the best docs of the 2000s, 'We Live in Public' and 'Dig!'), is not just another global warming documentary. In part it's actually an answer to them, especially Davis Guggenheim's Oscar-winning 'An Inconvenient Truth.' Literally, 'Cool It' features clips of Al Gore's Power Point presentation and offers itemized responses to specific claims, including those regarding sea level change, hurricanes, malaria and polar bear extinction. Some of these answers come off as obvious as "the right way to stop polar bears from dying is to stop shooting them."
That's a solution made not by Timoner but Bjorn Lomborg, whose controversial books 'The Skeptical Environmentalist: Measuring the State of the World' and 'Cool It: The Skeptical Environmentalist's Guide to...
Despite its subject matter, 'Cool It,' the latest must-see work by award-winning filmmaker Ondi Timoner (director of two of the best docs of the 2000s, 'We Live in Public' and 'Dig!'), is not just another global warming documentary. In part it's actually an answer to them, especially Davis Guggenheim's Oscar-winning 'An Inconvenient Truth.' Literally, 'Cool It' features clips of Al Gore's Power Point presentation and offers itemized responses to specific claims, including those regarding sea level change, hurricanes, malaria and polar bear extinction. Some of these answers come off as obvious as "the right way to stop polar bears from dying is to stop shooting them."
That's a solution made not by Timoner but Bjorn Lomborg, whose controversial books 'The Skeptical Environmentalist: Measuring the State of the World' and 'Cool It: The Skeptical Environmentalist's Guide to...
- 11/10/2010
- by Christopher Campbell
- Moviefone
Filed under: Documentaries, Columns, Cinematical
Despite its subject matter, 'Cool It,' the latest must-see work by award-winning filmmaker Ondi Timoner (director of two of the best docs of the 2000s, 'We Live in Public' and 'Dig!'), is not just another global warming documentary. In part it's actually an answer to them, especially Davis Guggenheim's Oscar-winning 'An Inconvenient Truth.' Literally, 'Cool It' features clips of Al Gore's Power Point presentation and offers itemized responses to specific claims, including those regarding sea level change, hurricanes, malaria and polar bear extinction. Some of these answers come off as obvious as "the right way to stop polar bears from dying is to stop shooting them."
That's a solution made not by Timoner but Bjorn Lomborg, whose controversial books 'The Skeptical Environmentalist: Measuring the State of the World' and 'Cool It: The Skeptical Environmentalist's Guide to...
Despite its subject matter, 'Cool It,' the latest must-see work by award-winning filmmaker Ondi Timoner (director of two of the best docs of the 2000s, 'We Live in Public' and 'Dig!'), is not just another global warming documentary. In part it's actually an answer to them, especially Davis Guggenheim's Oscar-winning 'An Inconvenient Truth.' Literally, 'Cool It' features clips of Al Gore's Power Point presentation and offers itemized responses to specific claims, including those regarding sea level change, hurricanes, malaria and polar bear extinction. Some of these answers come off as obvious as "the right way to stop polar bears from dying is to stop shooting them."
That's a solution made not by Timoner but Bjorn Lomborg, whose controversial books 'The Skeptical Environmentalist: Measuring the State of the World' and 'Cool It: The Skeptical Environmentalist's Guide to...
- 11/10/2010
- by Christopher Campbell
- Cinematical
Acclaimed documentarian Ondi Timoner has a knack for picking wildly unpredictable subjects and then going all in, detailing the drama of self-destruction from an insider’s vantage point. Both Anton Newcombe, the fiery frontman of cult-rock mainstays The Brian Jonestown Massacre and Josh Harris, dotcom entrepreneur and Internet stunt artist, were brilliant, fascinating personalities dancing along the edge of personal and professional annihilation in Timoner’s previous Sundance Grand Jury Prize–winning films, Dig! (2004) and We Live in Public (2009). So one imagines the intrepid documentarian hunting around for another larger-than-life character to hitch her cameras to, a mad scientist, perhaps, who’s also a personal catastrophe-waiting-to-happen. Instead, in best-selling Danish author Bjørn Lomborg (The Skeptical Environmentalist), Timoner found a paragon of pragmatism whose controversial ideas about climate change belie the fact that he’s got a solid head on his shoulders.
In Cool It, which she unveiled at the 2010 Toronto…...
In Cool It, which she unveiled at the 2010 Toronto…...
- 11/10/2010
- by Damon Smith
- Filmmaker Magazine - Blog
This profile of controversial environmentalist Bjørn Lomborg tries to encompass the myriad controversies and solutions in the global-warming debate. As author of “The Skeptical Environmentalist,” Lomborg has consistently asserted that the attention global warming receives in popular culture and the academia is wildly out of proportion to the problem itself. Moreover, he argues that the billions dedicated to lowering carbon emissions will yield correspondingly miniscule results and that there are far more pressing problems — poverty, education, malaria — that instead demand our focus.
As head of the Copenhagen Consensus Center, a think tank devoted to prioritizing and finding sustainable solutions to global problems, Lomborg continues to argue for a rational, realistic attitude to global warming. By consulting economists and environmental experts, the Center seeks to find smart, creative solutions that depend more on grassroots ingenuity and less on corporate strategies (cap and trade, carbon tax, etc.), which — as “Cool It” points...
As head of the Copenhagen Consensus Center, a think tank devoted to prioritizing and finding sustainable solutions to global problems, Lomborg continues to argue for a rational, realistic attitude to global warming. By consulting economists and environmental experts, the Center seeks to find smart, creative solutions that depend more on grassroots ingenuity and less on corporate strategies (cap and trade, carbon tax, etc.), which — as “Cool It” points...
- 11/9/2010
- Moving Pictures Magazine
While An Inconvenient Truth (2006) undeniably drove popular activism and awareness of global warming, like any pop-culture object that succeeds at zeitgeisty relevance, the merits and memories of the film itself have been muddied by the subsequent trends and media non-events that have followed. Al Gore and Davis Guggenheim's film now seems inseparable from the recent wave of 'green chic,' including the optimistic and opportunistic Live Earth (7/7/07) benefit concert, and the ManBearPig parody on South Park. Amidst the increased demand for eco-friendly consumer items ranging from the Toyota Prius to energy-efficient light bulbs, academic and environmental writer Bjorn Lomborg (The Skeptical Environmentalist) proposes that the current proposals (including the Kyoto Accords) carry a financial cost that far outweighs their ability to reduce carbon emissions. Ondi Timoner's new documentary Cool It serves as a platform for Lomborg's proposed solutions on how to alleviate the effects of global warming. Appealing...
- 11/9/2010
- TribecaFilm.com
Bjørn Lomborg, author of The Skeptical Environmentalist, has a new film out. Leo Hickman takes an alternative look at the trailer
Cinema-goers now have less than a month to wait until they get the chance to see Cool It, the new documentary made by Bjørn Lomborg, author of The Skeptical Environmentalist. Cool It promises to be the antidote to Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth, with Lomborg "exploring the real facts and true science of global warming and its impact". But, as all keen Lomborg watchers know, the Danish economist has been repeatedly challenged about his own use of the "real facts". So one awaits Cool It's interpretation of the global warming debate with some interest, if not a little trepidation.
In the meantime (the film is released in the Us and Canada on 12 November), we must make do with the recently released trailer, above. Condensing a feature-length documentary into...
Cinema-goers now have less than a month to wait until they get the chance to see Cool It, the new documentary made by Bjørn Lomborg, author of The Skeptical Environmentalist. Cool It promises to be the antidote to Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth, with Lomborg "exploring the real facts and true science of global warming and its impact". But, as all keen Lomborg watchers know, the Danish economist has been repeatedly challenged about his own use of the "real facts". So one awaits Cool It's interpretation of the global warming debate with some interest, if not a little trepidation.
In the meantime (the film is released in the Us and Canada on 12 November), we must make do with the recently released trailer, above. Condensing a feature-length documentary into...
- 10/21/2010
- by Leo Hickman
- The Guardian - Film News
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