Playing a CIA vet in Body of Lies, Russell Crowe spent a lot of time in a robe and slippers while his character directed secret ops in Iraq over the phone.

Everything changed for All Together Now director when his cameras started spending increasing amounts of time with some of the legendary names behind The Beatles.

Film and TV are helping Native cultures and languages survive with new forms of storytelling and passing on knowledge of ancient history.

The Whistler Film Festival and Hot Docs have partnered up to bring monthly Toronto documentary series Doc Soup to Vancouver from October to March, kicking things off with a screening of the conspiracy film next Thursday.

It’s the second consecutive year that a number of Asian directors have been denied visas to attend the Vancouver International Film Festival. The denial of their admittance by Canada customs and immigration remains a mystery.

The role of humble sardines in one of the last great natural ocean phenomena helps make this one of the most fulfilling giant-screen flicks in years.

Coach Carter star Rob Brown plays the role of football legend Ernie Davis in this film about one of the greatest divides in America, the gulf between blacks and whites, and how the awesome athletic feats of one man built one of the bridges across that gap.

If All Together Now were simply a backstage look at the Cirque du Soleil’s long-running show Love, it would still be an entertaining marriage of dance, high-tech illusion, and music by the Beatles. This smartly assembled feature, directed by veteran documentary maker Adrian Wills, is much more than that, however.

Despite an authentic script and compelling performances by Leonardo DiCaprio and Russell Crowe, director Ridley Scott fails in his loftiest ambition attempting to deliver a dazzling thriller that rings absolutely true on a deeper political level. Unlike last year’s American Gangster, he doesn’t quite get there.

If you ever needed proof that right-wing America has no sense of humour, director David Zucker’s lame “comedy” is it. Unless, of course, you find suicide bombing a laugh and a half.