The Tillman Story

CHICAGO – When the Oscar nominations were announced last week, one of the most egregious snubs took place in the category of Best Documentary, where Amir Bar-Lev’s spectacular “The Tillman Story” missed out on not just the award it should have WON but even a nomination. This is not just a snub, it’s shameful, although this has long been a category in need of a massive overhaul. See for yourself when “The Tillman Story” hits DVD and Blu-ray tomorrow, Feb. 1, 2011.

CHICAGO – There just wasn’t enough room at this year’s Oscar party for several of the most-deserving candidates. There never is. Like every year, most of the key categories had at least one (and often more) deserving nominee not getting the happy call on Tuesday morning. Who should have? Who should have been left out instead? Here are the big ten.

CHICAGO – When we look back on this past year in cinema, what will we remember? Ironically, a year after “Avatar” was supposed to change the movie paradigm forever, it’s the human faces that I most vividly remember from 2010.

CHICAGO – Every year, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences reveals their short list for the Oscar for Best Documentary and every year there’s a notable snub or two that makes one question the process. Last year, “Anvil: The Story of Anvil,” one of the most-beloved films of the year, didn’t make the cut. This year, “Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work” failed to make the cut, continuing a pattern in which films not deemed “serious enough” by Academy members can’t get past the first round.

Rating: 5.0/5.0

CHICAGO – You are unlikely to see a documentary this year more powerful than “The Tillman Story.” This film will shake your concept of heroism, the marketing machine of government, the military complex, and the state of journalism in the new millennium. It is a remarkable film that sent me out of the theater as angry as the people who refused to let Pat Tillman become the exact opposite of what he wanted to be. Don’t miss it.

CHICAGO – In our latest war documentary edition of HollywoodChicago.com Hookup: Film, we have 25 admit-two passes up for grabs to the advance Chicago screening of the new film “The Tillman Story”!