Currently available on Blu-ray and DVD is the critically acclaimed documentary Buck from director Cindy Meehl. The film centers on the life of Buck Brannaman, the actual horse trainer that loosely inspired Robert Redford's The Horse Whisperer, of which Brannaman was the lead equine consultant.

IAR's Managing Editor Jami Philbrick recently had a chance to sit down with the film's lead subject Buck Brannaman to talk about Buck and his life's work. Brannaman discussed the film, his difficult upbringing, meeting Oscar-winner Robert Redford, working on The Horse Whisperer, his life on the road, and his love and understanding of horses.

Opening in theaters on December 16th is a new documentary based on the life of legendary producer/director Roger Corman (The Wild Angels, Death Race 2000) called Corman's World: Exploits of a Hollywood Rebel. In addition to making over four-hundred movies as a producer and/or director, Corman is also responsible for introducing the world to some of the most influential actors and filmmakers of all-time. 

The documentary is directed by Alex Stapleton and features interviews with Academy Award-winners Robert De Niro (Raging Bull), Martin Scorsese (The Departed), Ron Howard (A Beautiful Mind), Jonathan Demme (The Silence of the Lambs), and Quentin Tarantino (Pulp Fiction), as well as William Shatner (Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan), Peter Fonda (Easy Rider), Bruce Dern (Black Sunday), Pam Grier (Jackie Brown), Joe Dante (Gremlins), Peter Bogdanovich (Paper Moon), the late Irvin Kershner (Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back), the late George Hickenlooper (Heart of Darkness: A Filmmaker's Apocalypse), the late David Carradine (Kill Bill: Vol. 2), and three-time Oscar-winner Jack Nicholson (One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Terms of Endearment, As Good as it Gets). 

IAR's managing editor Jami Philbrick recently had an opportunity to sit down with Hollywood legend Roger Corman, as well as documentary filmmaker Alex Stapleton to discuss the making of Corman's World: Exploits of a Hollywood Rebel. The two filmmakers talked about the process of making the documentary, Corman's impressive career and the people he has influenced, how Stapleton obtained interviews with the A-list talent that appears in the film, Jack Nicholson's emotional breakdown, how filmmaking has changed since Corman began; and the secret to his amazing longevity. 

Opening in theaters on November 11th is a new documentary from acclaimed filmmaker Werner Herzog (Grizzly Man, Rescue Dawn, Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans) called Into the Abyss. The film centers around two men convicted of a triple homicide that occurred in Texas, Michael Perry who received a death sentence for the crime, and Jason Burkett who received a life sentence. Herzog's documentary focuses on the two convicts and the various people affected by the crime. 

IAR's managing editor Jami Philbrick recently had the pleasure of sitting down and speaking with director Werner Herzog about his new documentary Into the Abyss. The iconic filmmaker spoke candidly about his new film, its compelling subject matter, the people he interviewed, living on death row, and his views on our nation's death penalty. 

Currently playing in theaters in New York and Los Angeles is a new documentary from Emmy Award-winning filmmaker Carl Colby called The Man Nobody Knew. The film tells the story of Colby's father, CIA spymaster and former CIA head William Colby, and it provides a son's powerful look at his mysterious father, whose life was straight out of a spy thriller. The film offers a probing history of the CIA, a personal memoir of a family living in a highly secretive world, and a fascinating look at the costs of a nation's most clandestine actions. The documentary forges a fascinating mix of rare archival footage, never-before-seen photos, and an extensive array of interview with the "who's who" of American intelligence, including former National Security Advisers Brent Scowcroft and Zbigniew Brzezinski, former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, former Secretary of Defense and CIA Director James Schlesinger, as well as Pulitzer Prize-winning journalists Bob Woodward, Seymour Hersh, and Tim Weiner.

IAR's managing editor Jami Philbrick recently had a chance to sit down and talk with filmmaker Carl Colby about The Man Nobody Knew. The director spoke candidly about the new film, his childhood memories of his father, the effect his dad's work had on the rest of his family, his father's role in Vietnam, the art of spying, William Colby's legacy; and the lasting effect that it has had on our country's foreign policies.

We often tend to think of history, of the ongoing tide of human affairs that brought us to this point, as an inevitable march of progress.  Viewed from our current perspective, everything that has occurred can seem to fit a convenient narrative leading up to this point, when Americans can enjoy indoor plumbing and the miracle of streaming video.  This historical perspective is, however, reductive, dismissing the momentous effort and capricious circumstances involved in actual history. 

The new documentary Back Door Channels: The Price of Peace, explores the complicated, often unofficial diplomatic efforts involved in the herculean task of creating and ratifying the 1979 Egypt-Israel Peace Treaty, a seemingly impossible landmark agreement.  The film chronicles the always-unseen work required to bring together three figures like Jimmy Carter, Menachem Begin, and Anwar El-Sadat, and shows just just how events we now take for granted were once completely improbable.

Opening in New York and Los Angeles on July 15th is the latest film from Oscar winning documentary filmmaker Errol Morris (The Fog of War) entitled Tabloid. The film tells the story of former Miss Wyoming, Joyce McKinney, whose quest for one true love led her across the globe and onto the pages of tabloid newspapers. IAR's managing editor Jami Philbrick recently had a chance to sit down with director Errol Morris to discuss his new film, the twisted life of Joyce McKinney, his own opinion of what really happened, and how he chooses subjects for his documentaries.

In no less than two films this summer, groups of ambitious humans raise chimpanzees in decidedly un-chimplike environments.  In the quasi-prequel Rise of the Apes due in August, the chimp is Caesar, a fictitious ape created via motion capture and raised by Jame Franco in San Francisco.  In the documentary Project Nim, the chimp is Nim, a real-life chimp raised as a human in a New York-based experiment designed to imbue an ape with greater communicative skills.  The first six minutes of Project Nim are freely available online and the taste provided will almost surely pique your interest, while indicating why the film was so praised at Sundance this year.

Opening in theaters on July 8th is a new documentary about the influential hip hop group A Tribe Called Quest entitled Beats, Rhymes & Life: The Travels Of A Tribe Called Quest. The film is directed by actor Michael Rapaport (Prison Break) and features interviews with Kanye West, Pharrell, Mos Def, and the Beastie Boys, as well as group members Q-Tip, Phife Dawg, Ali Shaheed Muhammad, and Jarobi White. IAR's managing editor Jami Philbrick recently had a chance to sit down and speak with director Michael Rapaport, and musician Phife Dawg about the new film, the process of making it, the group's musical legacy, and their tenuous relationship.

Currently in theaters now is the new underwater documentary Turtle: The Incredible Journey. The film was directed by filmmaker Nick Stringer and features Academy Award nominated actress Miranda Richardson (Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire) as the narrator. IAR's managing editor Jami Philbrick recently had a chance to sit down and speak with Miranda Richardson about the new film, the way in which the footage was captured, her role as narrator, and the amazing journey of the loggerhead turtle.

To the average consumer, the initial release of Apple's iPad was thrilling principally for the stylish, intuitive, and convenient pornography browsing that the technological marvel no doubt provides, but for newsmen and newswomen in the ink-stained realm of traditional publication, it represented something entirely different.  The new documentary Page One: Inside the New York Times chronicles, with unprecedented access, a year inside the venerable paper's newsroom as declining circulations and economic realities increased anxieties about the still-unclear future of journalism in the digital age.  A new clip from the film reflects this uncertainty, with reporter and singular character David Carr reacting to hoopla around the iPad's launch and even taking the tablet for a spin.