David Carr has an article in The New York Times this week on the “glut of cinema” in theaters at the moment.

Just the other day I was trying to figure out if Great World of Sound had already been released in NYC and was horrified to find out that it had come and gone without me noticing! There are so many movies out at the moment that I hadn’t even noticed the release of a film I really loved and wanted to tell all my friends to see. In the article Bingham Ray, now with Sidney Kimmel Entertainment, says “I very much doubt this environment would have given people a chance to see ‘My Dinner With Andre.’” Is this true? How are small indie films going to have a fighting chance? Is it just that everybody is misguidedly trying to get everything released at this time of year or are there just too many damn movies being made? Does the cream rise to the top? I think a lot of the cream gets pushed out of the cinema before it gets a chance to do much of anything.

King Corn opens today at Cinema Village in NYC. This is a really important documentary about the American food system, raising provocative questions about the way our food is produced, from the subsidized genetically-modified corn that plays such a large, and unhealthy role, in the American diet, to the cows that are fattened up on corn, a food they do not normally eat, in vast feed lots. This film made me really start thinking about what I put into my mouth, ahem, and also about the fact that food in this country may be too cheap, not reflecting the financial realities of food production. But if this all sounds too dry, it’s not. The story is told through college buddies Ian Cheney and Curt Ellis attempting to grow an acre of corn in Iowa and then follow it through the food system – it’s an entertaining journey that will also put you off drinking soda (high-fructose corn syrup is NEVER a good idea) for life!

Check out the website for more information about where you can see the film and how you can get involved:
www.kingcorn.net

There are so many great documentaries out in NYC this week: AJ Schnack’s Kurt Cobain About a Son, Amir Bar-Lev’s My Kid Could Paint That and Tony Kaye’s Lake of Fire. I haven’t seen Lake of Fire yet but I’ve heard that it is very powerful and thought provoking on the highly-charged subject of abortion and I am looking forward to catching it at Film Forum this week. Kaye funded the film himself and worked on it for 17 years! My Kid Could Paint That, about child art prodigy Marla Olmstead, is a fascinating study of truth and hype and the role of the filmmaker and is a great film to go see with a bunch of friends and then spend hours arguing about it afterwards over frosty beverages. I fell in love with About a Son and can’t recommend it highly enough. Go with no rock bio expectations and just let it pull you in.

Here are some pics from the About a Son party last night. It was so much fun – I felt like I was at a high-school disco.

Sarie Horowitz looking foxy with filmmaker/editor extraordinaire Jeff Israel

Mike Tully and Holly Herick

Me with my lovely friend Lotta Boman and Jeff Israel

David Nugent looking awfully tanned and outdoorsy after his time in the Hamptons and the top of Holly’s head (it was very hard to see in the bar!)

IndieWIRE’s James Israel won the Fender geetar. Lucky bugger!