Very important documentary debuts -- Brian Knappenberger's THE INTERNET'S OWN BOY

Two of the year's best documentaries have hit theaters in as many weeks. Following Code Black's foray into health care and emergency rooms, we now have upon us the story of how our government went after one of our most promising geniuses of modern technology, the Internet and the progressive movement -- a young fellow named Aaron Swartz, who, when threatened hard enough with prison and heavy monetary fines, and because he was, I believe a kind of genius with all the baggage, much of it heavy and difficult, that this state often entails, committed suicide rather than face an incarceration that probably would have sent him over the brink, if and when he found himself behind bars.

This is another shameful episode in our current administration's very checkered history, in which, as someone in the movie points out, the powers that be would rather go after whistle blowers attempting to right current wrongs (a good case can be made for Swartz's being exactly that) rather than doing the more difficult work of going after the criminal banks and Wall Street businesses that brought upon this country an economic crisis so vast and horrendous to the middle and lower economic classes that we may never surmount it.

THE INTERNET'S OWN BOY: The Story of Aaron Swartz, written and directed by Brian Knappenberger (shown above) tends, I suppose, toward hagiography because so many of the people involved here knew, loved and respected young Swartz so immensely. After you see this fine documentary, I suspect that you will, too.

I knew very little about this fellow, shown above and below, when I sat down to watch the documentary. In fact, though I had heard his name bandied about over the past few years, it was not until his suicide that I paid much attention. But I am so grateful to Knappenberger and his crew for allowing me to enter Swartz's world and better understand who he was and some of the amazing things he had accomplished by the time of his death (he was only 26).

Knappenberger gives us Aaron's history -- how he was reading well at three years old, and growing up with computer, programming, email and all the rest. Though we get a clear sense of how bright, quick and to-the-point the young man was, we don't really see much of his weak points or how difficult he probably could be at times. This may be unavoidable in a documentary that aims, as much as anything else, to be a memorial to the man. Often brilliantly done, it moves fast (even given its 105-minute running time) with almost no flab attached. Everything we see and hear merits our attention.

We're able to grow and learn along with Aaron, as he becomes the better known wunderkind of adolescence and young manhood. We meet his brothers and parents, and some of the famous folk who helped guide him, and even a couple of the young women to whom he grew attached. Early on, he dedicated himself and his skills to progressive politics, uncovering massive privacy violations in our court documents, so that the courts had to change their policy.

When he learned how difficult and costly it could be to obtain these legal documents that were supposedly available to people, he set about making these documents available free, first incurring the wrath of those who profited by charging for them, and then the government agencies like the FBI (which eventually dropped the case).

When he set up his own computer to download (or maybe it's upload: I'm not that tech-savvy) files from MIT, he was caught, and the government went after him again, this time more forcibly. Yet even under this kind of duress and stress, Swartz continued to rally around progressive causes, most particularly the fight to stop SOPA (the Stop Online Piracy Act, which, if pushed through as law, might have halted freedom of the Internet in a single swoop). Thought to be unstoppable, SOPA was something Aaron organized to fight. And he won.

As the evidence grows of how our government effectively bullied Swartz into suicide, the documentary will make you increasingly angry and sorrowful to see destroyed one of the most creative minds of the younger generation -- a mind and body bent on helping our country and its citizens. Overall, though, this is a wondrous, rich, often funny history of a very special person. What a character Aaron was, and how many brilliant ideas did he have! Mr. Knappenberger has indeed given "the Internet's own boy" a fitting memorial.

The movie -- from FilmBuff and Participant Media -- opens in theaters this Thursday, June 26, in Los Angeles at the Sundance Cinemas, West Hollywood. The following day, Friday, June 27, it will hit New York City (at the IFC Center) and another dozen locations, and will reach another seven cities in the weeks to come. You can see all currently scheduled cities and theaters by clicking here and scrolling down the page. On VOD, you can screen it from your couch starting Friday, June 27, via Vimeo On Demand, iTunes, Amazon Instant Video, Google Play, Movies On Demand, VUDU, X-Box Video and Sony Entertainment Network.

With SNOWPIERCER, Bong Joon-ho teaches Hollywood how to make a smart blockbuster

There are probably half a dozen ways to approach SNOWPIERCER, the first English-language feature from noted South Korean director Bong Joon-ho, shown below. You could certainly call it an action movie, which it is. The action is terrific and practically non-stop, save for one surprising expository speech from star Chris Evans (on poster, above, and two photos down) that is so out of nowhere and rather charming and tender that it stops the movie in its tracks for a couple of sweet minutes.

Or simply call the film a blockbuster, since it offers two full hours (plus credits) of enjoyment, a starry cast, explosions, near-non-stop thrills, and lots of gun play and violence -- all wrapped within an intelligent plot that gives us a hell of a lot more than mere special effects. Attention, Hollywood: This is how your blockbusters ought to be delivered -- with the usual hotshot trimmings surrounding some genuine content for a change.

But wait: Snowpiercer is also a sci-fi movie, taking off from the point at which our world has finally come to terms with global warming by shooting into the atmosphere some new derivative that overdoes things hugely, turning the world to ice. All surviving citizens have been herded aboard an enormously long train that has been designed to keep the inside temperature within a livable range.

Ah, yes, but this movie is also a nifty political parable about class in our society. The train, you see, is a microcosm of the world in which we already live. How this "new" world is organized turns out to be one of the delightful treats that Mr. Bong, as director and co-writer, has up his sleeve -- a sleeve, by the way, that is continually surprising and politically astute. This filmmaker has already gifted us with three very different, though equally successful, films: the police procedural, Memories of Murder; an unusual monster movie, The Host; and the character-study-cum-criminal-justice tale, Mother.

Snowpiercer is like nothing else Bong has done, and I think it's his best film yet, certainly his most accessible to western audiences. Oh, yes: And did I mention that this is also one of those newly popular contained-space thrillers, in which everything we see and experience, save a couple of minutes, takes place inside this speeding train. Bong has found a way to keep things moving so fast and so intensely that the pace never lags. One surprise after another awaits us as our set of beleaguered heroes -- think of them as the 99 per cent -- makes its way from train car to train car in its quest to reach, and wrest power from, the one per cent.

These train cars and what they hold are too much fun to spoil with any give-aways here (my personal favorite is the schoolroom, with a well-used Allison Pill, above, as the teacher). Instead let's talk about the crack international cast that Mr. Bong has assembled and that brings his movie to amazing life. Mr. Evans, always good, is light years away from his Captain America image (think of this performance as a cross between his super-hero work and his role in The Iceman).

Evans is well abetted by a fine and action-prone Jamie Bell, above, as his second-in-command. His "mentor" is played by the wonderful John Hurt (below, left with Luke Pasqualino), who brings his usual charm and precision to the proceedings, as well as a little more melancholy and hesitation that we're used to from this excellent actor.

A word must be said for Ed Harris, who does his typically commanding job, as well as for Octavia Spencer (below) who brings her enormous humanity and luminosity to the film, as a fighting mother.

The scene-stealer of them all, however, is Miss Tilda Swinton (below, center), who walks away with the acting/performing/knocking-your-socks-off award. She is unlike anything we've so far seen in her evidently vast repertoire, and she staggers us, while entertaining us royally, as always.

Mr. Bong is from South Korean, so it only seems fair that he include a couple of good Asian actors into his mix. He does, and Song Kang-ho (below, of Secret Sunshine and Thirst) comes through with flying colors. He is -- as character, actor, and action hero -- every bit the equal of Mr. Evans.

As the young woman who accompanies him, Ko Ah-sung proves delightful and daring in her own way. Ms Ko, below, right, gets a particularly suuculent moment in the film, as she and another species eye each other interestedly, warily.

Another of my critical compatriots noted, after the press screening, that he was concerned that director Bong might have made too many concessions to Hollywood's need for feel-good. But no: both of us agreed that the filmmaker has given us his usual dark vision, in which some of the very characters we care for most do not make it to the film's finale.

That finale is something, all right: different from anything else we've seen in this movie, both hopeful and frightening. Snowpiercer is one hell of a ride. Anyone interested in learning what a smart blockbuster looks, sounds and feels like should not miss it.

The movie, from Radius-TWC, opens this Friday, June 27, here in New York at the film centers Angelika and Elinor Bunin Munroe, as well as making its NYC debut as part of BAMcinemaFest 2014 the The BAM Cinemateque in Brooklyn tomorrow, Wednesday, June 25. (This BAM screening will feature a Q&A with director Bong Joon Ho and actor John Hurt, moderated by Scott Foundas, chief film critic for Variety.) Where is the film playing elsewhere across the country? Well, try clicking here, and then entering your info under TICKETS AND SHOWTIMES and see what happens....

This year's biggest waste of time so far: the Lespert/Niney/Gallienne YVES SAINT LAURENT

For anyone who found the 2010 documentary L'amour fou -- about Yves Saint Laurent and his business partner/lover Pierre Bergér -- lovely to look at if a little weak in the characterization department, hold on to your hat. The new and much-marketed narrative movie about the pair, titled simply YVES SAINT LAURENT, offers even less. In every department. You might imagine that, within the 106-minute running time, some revealing specifics regarding character might surface. Sure, YSL was a notoriously private person, but the whole point of a narrative version, one would imagine, is to delve more deeply and then show us the man beneath the glamour and gowns. Good luck. Not only is the movie tiresome and repetitive, but the people are mostly boring.

I am particularly unmoored by how truly awful this movie is because one of the two lead actors and the film's director are favorites of mine, from whom I expect a lot. And while Pierre Niney, shown below, who plays YSL, does as much as he can with the far-too-constrained script, the film's director and co-writer Jalil Lespert, at right, whom I have long admired as an actor, has not gone one inch beyond the expected and the clichéd as a filmmaker. What in the world were they thinking?

Let's start with the really lousy fake nose they've given poor M. Niney. It's so noticeable, particularly because it does not move like a real nose. Then let's tackle how the filmmakers decided to show his character: by making it clear that YSL was a workhorse who cared most about his dresses -- and repeating this fact over and over again.

YSL's relationship with his family is likewise made one-note, mostly a mom issue (played by Marianne Basler, above), sans any relevant details. The fact that the man is socially somewhat retarded and is finally brought out into the world via drugs and sex (which make it easier for him to relax and relate) is also handed to us on a platter -- which we're fed from once too often.

About M. Bergér (played by Guillaume Gallienne, above, left, who was so much more interesting in his awarding-winning Me, Myself and Mum) we learn next to nothing, other than he was evidently bi-sexual. We see little of the amazing possessions the two managed to collect over their lives together (see the doc version for that). There's a smattering of business talk now and then, but none of it exactly entices.

The fashions, such as they are, roll by us with regularity and not much else. You'll learn much more about these from the documentary version, as well. In any case, there's more drama in the pleat of an YSL skirt than in the entire movie, the height of which arrives when one character slaps another in the face. Wow!

Perhaps the filmmaking team wanted only to stick with the facts as known -- generally a mistake where a narrative film is concerned because part of the point of this format is the opportunity to extrapolate and invent. (YSL's leading model/muse -- for awhile, at least -- is played by the glamorous Charlotte Le Bon, shown above and below).

As the movie drags on, you can't quite bring yourself to believe that this is all there is. Surely there will be something more? Then -- poof! -- it's over and the end credits are rolling. And we're rolling our eyes.

So unendingly tiresome and boring are these people and their "scene" that one is almost tempted to suggest that M. Lespert has given us something utterly subversive here: Showing up the fashion world -- together with its kings, queens and clothes -- for the empty, worthless shell game that it is.

Yves Saint Laurent, from The Weinstein Company, opens at Film Forum (a rather strange venue for a stinker like this) on Wednesday, June 25, for a two-week run. Elsewhere? Surely, yes. But don't expect much help from the TWC's current web page on the film....

DVDebut -- Freida Lee Mock's inspiring doc, ANITA: SPEAKING TRUTH TO POWER

For many of us, the 1991 Senate hearings regarding Anita Hill and her accusations of sexual harassment against the then Supreme Court nominee (and now sitting Justice) Clarence Thomas still touch a raw nerve. Although Ms Hill has faded somewhat into history (and into her own quietly successful career and personal life), surfacing now and again -- as when Thomas' wife made the ridiculous phone call (that immediately became public knowledge) asking Hill to recant her original, sworn testimony -- Thomas himself is unfortunately always with us. To my mind, he is the least intelligent and least worthy person to sit on the Supreme Court (in my lifetime, certainly, and maybe ever), and also the most do-nothing justice we've had to put up with.

At the time of her testimony, Ms Hill made it clear that she was not trying to sue or bring charges against this man for sexual harassment but simply wanted to place before the U.S. citizens and elected officials what kind of man had been nominated for this enormously important -- and lifetime -- place on the Supreme Court. Tellingly, Hill was not the only woman who had leveled these charges against Thomas. There were others, yet none of them were allowed to testify along with Hill. This "oversight" from a highly sexist Senate committee made the entire Hill/Thomas charade seem like a mere she-said/he-said contretemps, and Thomas was eventually confirmed as a Justice (though by a very small majority of votes).

The excellent documentary, ANITA: SPEAKING TRUTH TO POWER, made by Award-winning filmmaker Freida Lee Mock (shown above), serves two purposes. It takes us (together with younger folk who were unable to appreciate what was going on 23 years ago) back to that time and shows us what happened and why. Ms Hill makes one of the best and most believable witnesses I've ever seen -- thoughtful, intelligent, quiet, kind and brave. (With her testimony backed up, it must be said, by a number of other fine people.) Then the film takes us behind the scenes to give a brief history of Miss Hill, shown above and below at the time of the hearings, her family, and what has happened to her since then.

If you've never seen nor heard any of the hearings, the movie should open your eyes wide and sharp. Either way, it proves the last half of the film, in which we learn more than most of us have know about this unusually courageous and decent woman that makes the movie so genuinely inspirational. A lot has happened since the early 1990s regarding sexual harassment and how it is perceived, and it would seem that Ms Hill's real gift, in addition to speaking truth to power, lies in what she now stands for in the minds and hearts of so many woman (men, too). She is a living symbol of the difference that taking a stand can make.

Leaning about her family (she's one of 13 siblings) and how it lived first in North Carolina until threat of a lynching made the entire group move to Oklahoma, her studies prior to employment (under Mr. Thomas), and especially her career at Brandeis University in Massachusetts, where she clearly has blossomed once more. She loves teaching and seems to be very good at it, too.

We also learn something of her personal life from the man who has been her significant other for a number of years now. And finally we see the results of what her name, her deed and her continuing work has achieved via the many young women, men and groups across the country dedicated to putting sexual harassment in its place. (We even learn how that blue dress she wore at the hearings became rather iconic.)

All told, this is an inspiring, triumphant documentary that makes a hero out of someone who did not ask for this but has clearly become one worth touting. You can rent or purchase the DVD of Anita: Speaking Truth to Power, running 77 minutes, beginning Tuesday, June 24. And, as is the case with many of the films from First Run Features, you should be able to stream it via Netflix fairly soon.

Streaming fun -- an old-fashioned British boy's adventure and a starry cast highlight THE ADVENTURER: THE CURSE OF THE MIDAS BOX

It's been awhile since TrustMovies had a dose of old-fashioned boy's adventure, British-style, featuring missing parents, kidnapped kids, secret passages, underground caverns, first love, and, of course, last-minute escapes. If this sort of thing appeals to you, or should you want to introduce same to your children or grandkids, then by all means, try the new-to-streaming THE ADVENTURER: THE CURSE OF THE MIDAS BOX. This film was originally to be titled (as you can see from the poster image I've used, rather than the somewhat drab version that the marketing team finally chose), Mariah Mundi and the Midas Box. Maybe those marketers were frightened off by the moniker Mariah, which sounds feminine but is actually the given name of our hero, nicely played by the new British hottie, Aneurin Barnard (shown above and two photos below).

As directed efficiently (but no better than) by Jonathan Newman (shown at left), from a pretty good screenplay by Christian Taylor (of the unforgettable Showboy!) and Lindy Heymann, adapted from the novel by G.P. Taylor, the movie is a throwback in most ways. But it's one that I thoroughly enjoyed, mostly because -- in this age of nonstop special effects coupled to little content -- the experience proved rather like watching a old-fashioned classic come to surprising new life. Set in 1860s London, the tale is fun, silly, enjoyably predictable, and easy-as-pie to sit through.

Much of that ease and fun comes from a surprisingly starry British cast that, by virtue of its utter professionalism, gives an extra goose to everything from the dialog and banter to the pacing and plot. As the villain supreme we have a cold-blooded, highly intelligent performance by Sam Neill (below, left), and as his right-hand-dame (and maybe paramour, though this guy seems incapable of much amour), there's Lena Headey (below, right), at her bitchiest and coolest.

Mariah has a cute younger brother, Felix (Xavier Atkins, below), whom he must protect but is constantly fumbling that job -- never more so than when Felix gets up to his ears (eyes and nose) in a watery tomb.

Above everyone, however, stands the real star of the film, Michael Sheen, below, who plays a fellow named Charity -- who turns out to be the kids' real protector and a kind of jack-of-all-trades (and disguises). Sheen, as always, adds immeasurably to the fun here.

As Mariah and Felix's parents, we have two Brit stalwarts Ioan Gruffudd (below, left) and Keeley Hawes (below, right), who disappear toward the beginning and only appear again -- very oddly indeed -- at film's end (stay for the final credits, please) with a major surprise in store -- which simply demands a sequel.

I am not certain we'll ever see that sequel, though, as this first film, I believe, didn't do so well in recouping its cost. Still, we can hope -- for Mariah, his family, friends and foes make for charming viewing, at least for those of us still into the old-fashioned type of "boy's adventure" genre.

In addition to that good cast, the movie offers some delicious sets and a fine production design. There are times here when you just might imagine that you've stumbled into another, less bizarre and twee version of The Grand Budapest Hotel (a movie -- twee or not -- that I dearly loved, by the way).

You can stream The Adventurer: The Curse of the Midas Box now via Netflix and probably elsewhere.

Streaming possibility: Steph Green's "get well soon" family dramedy, RUN AND JUMP

My friend and occasional co-writer here, Lee Liberman, refers to certain films as "Hallmark cards" -- as in, "That was a little too Hallmark for me." I get what she means. Even in some of the films I've enjoyed -- often genre movies such as the GLBT-themed What Happens Next? and The Perfect Wedding -- I must admit that these do have their Hallmark aspect. This past week we streamed a movie I'd call the thinking person's Hallmark: RUN & JUMP, the first full-length film from Steph Green.

Ms Green -- shown at right, who earlier gave us the very charming and on-point short New Boy -- both directed and co-wrote (with Ailbhe Keogan) the movie, which tells of a period in which the father of the family (Edward MacLiam, below, center right) is recovering from a stroke he had at a very early age and is now coming home to stay with his wife (Maxine Peake, below, left, of the Brit mini-series Silk), son (Brendan Morris, below, center, left), daughter (Ciara Gallagher), at far right, being held) and a research doctor (Will Forte, below, right, doing the holding) whose grant money allows him to stay with the family (and provide them some much-needed financial aid) even as he daily videos dad's progress -- or lack of it.

Clearly, this is a fraught situation full of possibilities for drama, comedy, extra-curricular romance and much else. Ms Green generally makes the most of this without going overboard into farce or melodrama. What we think may happen often does -- but in a manner a bit different from what we initially imagine.

This is both the strength and weakness of the movie, for if the film does not go in for the heavy hand, it still makes everything a little too easy, as all falls too neatly, and finally, expectedly, into place. "All" would include the physical and mental attraction between wife and doctor, hubby's progress stroke-wise, and even the son's coming to terms with his being gay (and everyone else coming to terms with this, too).

Run & Jump is indeed a feel-good film and well-acted by all, especially Mr. Liam's dad (whose post-stroke feelings are now right on the surface) and Ms Peake's mum, a dervish of energy and appeal. Mr. Forte does a more than credible job as the doctor in the middle of it all, and the filmmaker manages to keep everything rolling for the slightly-longer-than-necessary 106 minutes.

Though not as easy a landing for all these characters as it might have been (imagine what would happen had Hollywood gotten hold of this story), it's still a bit easier than it is believable. It's Hallmark, all right, but for those who need a little edge to their "get well soon" and "ain't families grand" sentiment.

Run & Jump can be streamed now via Netlfix and elsewhere and is also available on DVD.