He was all of 19 when Darryl Hunt was first questioned about Deborah Sykes' murder in Winston-Salem, N.C. in August 1984. He would be nearing 40 when he finally walked out of prison for the last time, finally a free man after paying for a crime he did not commit.

 

In between lay one of the most incendiary stories of injustice in recent American history. It's that history that filmmakers Ricki Stern and Anne Sundberg document in the Oscar-nominated The Trials of Darryl Hunt, recently released on DVD.

 

Deborah Sykes, a 24-year-old copy editor at the Winston-Salem Journal, was brutally raped and murdered on her way into work on the morning of August 10, 1984. From the outset, police had little to go on; no witnesses were forthcoming, and the crime scene evidence was scant.

 

Most films seeking the title "blockbuster" cater to the broadest possible demographic. This pursuit generally requires them to target a group: 18-34 year olds, sci-fi enthusiasts, African-Americans, etc. What these single-category films miss is a larger, more inclusive demographic.

Among recent blockbusters, the most successful were the kind that cut across boundaries and categories, regardless of genre. Films have greater impact when they speak to the world as a whole, and target the one category we all fall into, the one thing everyone has experienced -- being a child.

Enchanted is one recent film that took advantage of this common denominator, and now holds a solid second-place record for all-time Thanksgiving opening (Toy Story 2 has first place). There are two big reasons why the movie is successful, aside from an enthusiastic cast, and engaging score and story: 1) There's nothing to compare it to; it is completely original. 2) It manages, without an excessive use of crude humor, to entertain kids and adults alike.

Director Michael Davis and his team at Uptone Pictures have put together a special film perfect for Christmas viewing: Christmas Memories, a compilation of vignettes narrated over actual home movies of family Christmas celebrations that Davis and his wife turned up over the past few years.

 

Featuring top-notch voice talent (including CCM artist Jill Parr) and stories written by David and screenwriter Denise Patton, Christmas Memories is a journey through the lives and memories of people you have never met, but may seem very familiar to you, all the same. We talked to Michael about this unique project, which is the first of more to come from Uptone's new project, Nostalgia Pictures.

 

Interested in seeing for yourself? A 30-minute special, also titled Christmas Memories, will broadcast throughout December on Sky Angel 2 TV, the CW Network, TLN, and I Life. Check here for a complete list, and check your local listings for dates and times in your area.

 

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"The world is an evil place, Charlie. Some people make money from it, some people get destroyed by it." So says a midtown-Manhattan jewelry broker to a stunned Charlie Hanson (Albert Finney) in Sidney Lumet's Before the Devil Knows You're Dead.

Yes, I was a little eager to see the latest from the man who has helmed more than his share of truly great films since the late 1950s: Network, Serpico, Dog Day Afternoon, The Pawnbroker, Fail-Safe, The Hill, and of course, Twelve Angry Men. At 83, the man can still get it done.

Brothers Andy (Philip Seymour Hoffman) and Hank (Ethan Hawke) are in desperate need of cash, each for his own reasons. Andy's false confidence in front of his brother succeeds in winning him to Andy's idea: an "easy" strip-mall jewelry store heist where no one will get hurt. Sure, you know where this is heading, generally speaking; it's the journey, not the destination, that makes this film an interesting ride.

Last summer, Hollywood set out to create "The Summer of Threes," with Shrek the Third billed as a solid contender. With two successful installments under his belt, the cranky ogre had the bar set pretty high by default this time out. So, in what the filmmakers may have deemed to be true to character ... that bar was cast aside. The result is a light, chuckle-inducing 90-minute ride that recalls, though fails to reproduce, the big laughs its predecessors delivered.  

While King Harold the frog suffers illness, Shrek and Fiona (voiced by Mike Myers and Cameron Diaz) assume the day-to-day pageantry of the kingdom of Far Far Way. Just before his death, the king appoints Shrek successor to the throne, but names an heir - Arthur Pendragon (Justin Timberlake). Estranged from the swamp and reluctant to pursue royalty, Shrek sets out to find this wayward heir, but not before learning Fiona is - gulp - pregnant. Meanwhile, Prince Charming (Rupert Everett), still smarting from his clean defeat in the last film, strikes an alliance with a small assortment of fairy tale villains to overthrow the kingdom and lay claim to the crown.  

Jake Gyllenhaal has agreed to play Joe Namath in a Universal Pictures biopic to be made about the flashy quarterback, Variety reports.

Gyllenhaal accepted the role after the project received the go-ahead from Namath and his company. David Hollander will pen the script (pending conclusion of the current WGA strike).

For those of you too young to remember, Namath was a star AFL quarterback for the New York Jets who famously predicted the Jets' stunning upset victory in Super Bowl III over the heavily favored Baltimore Colts. Namath's love of the party life made him a fixture in New York City's celebrity gossip pages, and he is often considered the first "rock star" NFL player to emerge during the 1960s.

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Todd Haynes' fascinating experiment with Bob Dylan's biography, I'm Not There, was among the leaders with four nods as Film Independent announced its 2008 Spirit Award nominations Wednesday.

Haynes' film -- which uses a large cast of male and female actors to portray Dylan at different stages of his career -- was announced as the inaugural recipient of the Robert Altman Award, which recognized Haynes, casting director Laura Rosenthal, and the ensemble cast for its conspicuous achievement.

Among the other nominees for best feature are The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, Julian Schnabel's film told from the point of view of a stroke victim; Juno, a dark comedy about an unplanned teen pregnancy; Paranoid Park, a terse drama abut an accidental killing; and A Mighty Heart, Michael Winterbottom's film about murdered Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl.

In addition to Haynes, Jason Reitman (Juno), Julian Schnabel (The Diving Bell and the Butterfly), Gus Van Sant (Paranoid Park) and Tamara Jenkins (The Savages) were nominated for best director.

A complete list of nominations has been posted here.

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Bolt, Disney Feature Animation's next Holiday Season release, will feature digital 3-D technology when it debuts Nov. 26, 2008, Disney has confirmed. Bolt will feature the voices of John Travolta and Susie Essman. Chris Williams will direct.

Disney, a pioneer in the technology, has already released Chicken Little, Meet the Robinsons, and Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas in the format. Burton has also signed on with Disney to direct digital 3-D versions of Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland and Burton's own short, Frankenweenie.

Disney will release Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Concert Tour in digital 3-D, as well, in theaters in early February 2008.

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In your collection of DVDs, you no doubt have at least a few that offer, among their extras, a "making of" featurette. This short documentary shows the film being made, providing quick interview clips with the director, principal actors, cinematographer, and other members of the crew interspersed with shots of the production at work. This format also provides a good deal of filler for premium cable channels, usually anticipating coming attractions to which that network has the exclusive preliminary broadcast rights.

If you loved the film, you'll probably enjoy knowing a little more of the back-story. If you didn't, it's one more thing to skip. Truth is, most of these featurettes are mildly interesting, at best.

"Making of" documentaries date back to Hollywood's Golden Age and were meant entirely to promote the studio, its films, and its stars. That's still the case, by and large. But there are notable exceptions -- and at their best, these make for compelling viewing in their own right.

Paramount has just released one such film on DVD for the first time: Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker's Apocalypse (1991), the Emmy-winning documentary by writer-directors Fax Behr and George Hickenlooper. For fans of Apocalypse Now!, the 1979 film whose storied production this documentary recounts, it's essential viewing (and a welcome arrival, at long last, on DVD). For anyone interested in what it can take to create a feature film, it's every bit as fascinating.

When circumstances conspire to steal a person's bright future, how does he cope? When a bad decision leads to a profoundly difficult one, what will she do?

 

Shot for a paltry $3.3 million, Bella is about a very important day in the lives of three people at a New York City restaurant. That day begins badly enough for waitress Nina (Tammy Blanchard) shows up late for her shift one time too many. Her boss, Manny (Manny Perez), fires her, unaware that morning sickness is the reason for her recent tardiness and erratic behavior on the job. When Manny's brother and head chef, Jose (Eduardo Verástegui), chases Nina to the subway out of compassion for her plight, he learns the truth -- and decides on the spot that the fired waitress and he have something more important to do than handle the lunch rush.

 

What follows is a day trip to the family home, where Jose confronts a painful moment in his past, Nina considers her own, and both are blessed by the warmth and love of Jose's family, particularly as they face up to their failings and find redemption in a surprising way.