If someone told you that The Cove was a really, really good– but really, really depressing– documentary about dolphins being slaughtered in Japan, you probably wouldn’t leap at the chance to see it (sic transit gloria, and all that).  But Louie Psihoyos’ The Cove is much, much more than that:  it plays out like a real-life cloak-and-dagger mission, one where the stakes are as high as they come (everyone involved put their life on the line to secure some of the footage seen here) and the methods are just as elaborate and clever as the ones that George Clooney put into play with his crew in Soderbergh’s Ocean’s Eleven series.  Besides that, though, The Cove is a film that everyone– yes, including you– needs to see at least once.  Read on to find out why after the jump, folks.

A few weeks ago, I had the opportunity to interview Bill Pullman while in Austin. Pullman has a decorated career while working in various genre films and standard fare, which includes Independence Day, Spaceballs, Casper, While You Were Sleeping, Newsies, and Lost Highway. Among the topics of discussion was a the famous speech in Independence Day, why his name was given as a thanks in The Cove, upcoming projects, what it meant to bring a few genre films to Austin for the Quote-A-Long series, and more. So hit the jump for the full video interview (which is time indexed):

At last night’s Writers Guild Awards, Jason Reitman (Up in the Air) and Mark Boal (The Hurt Locker) landed the top awards for Adapted Screenplay and Original Screenplay.  Generally, the winners of the  Writers Guild Awards go on to win Oscars, so I hope they’ve both prepared another speech.

Other winners last night were The Cove for Documentary Screenplay, Mad Men for drama series, 30 Rock for comedy series, Modern Family for new series, and Saturday Night Live and The Daily Show with Jon Stewart tied for comedy/variety series.

Hit the jump for the full list of winners:

Last night, the Directors Guild of America selected the best directorial work in film and television from 2009, most notably awarding Kathryn Bigelow with Outstanding Directorial Achievement for Feature Film for her work on The Hurt Locker, becoming the first female to ever win the award.  This is very good news for the Oscar prospects of the Hurt Locker, as well as very bad news for those of Avatar. The DGA feature film honoree has failed to line up with the Best Director Oscar winner a mere 6 times in the 61 year history of the awards, and has predicted the Best Picture Oscar winner 79% of the time.  Earlier in the month, The Hurt Locker upset Avatar to win kudos from the Producers Guild, perhaps the guild most likely to favor the big budget wonder of Avatar.  With both the producers and the directors on its side, The Hurt Locker just became the certain favorite for Best Picture come Oscar night.  James Cameron and Avatar may just have to settle for their Golden Globes . . . and billions upon billions of dollars.

On the non-fiction side, Louie Psihoyos won Outstanding Directorial Achievement for his work on The Cove.  Hit the jump for more on the night’s winners.

A documentary about the inhumane treatment of dolphins near Taiji, Japan, The Cove combines an exciting and illegal mission with an activist’s desire to expose an issue. The film juxtaposes a group of activists’ scheme to document the goings-on of a heavily guarded cove with footage that gives a history of dolphin captivity and explains what makes these animals relevant and unique. The film is directed by Louie Psihoyos, a photographer who founded the Oceanic Preservation Society (OPS). Ric O’Barry, a now activist who was once known for capturing and training the dolphins used on Flipper, is also a key figure in the film. More after the jump.

A rough year, you say? Maybe for your 401(k). Hollywood raked it in, enjoying record box office numbers, while the indie and foreign lineup (though spread between fewer companies perhaps) yielded an unprecedented number of treasures. To be honest, I can’t remember the last time I had such a hard time cutting my best-of list off at 10. Surveying my choices, I’m hard-pressed to find a common theme. In fact, if I didn’t know better, I might even wonder what kind of critic can love a G-rated Japanese-animated cartoon and Lars von Trier’s genital-mutilation opus in the same breath, or reconcile the esoteric with the popcorn populism of James Cameron’s Avatar. But there you have it. Of the 274 first-run and festival films I saw last year (that’s as many movies as qualified for Oscar consideration in 2009 – though not the same ones), the 10 best are listed after the jump:

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences today released their list of the 15 films in contention for this year’s Best Documentary Feature Award.  Of these fifteen films, only five will be nominated for the award.  While there are some deserved, if unsurprising, inclusions such as Food Inc. and The Cove, what’s more interesting are the films that didn’t make the cut.  I am bummed that Anvil! The Story of Anvil didn’t make it in but I think those guys have finally achieved the fame that always eluded them and while an Academy nod would’ve been nice, this movie got out there and did its thing.  I’m more upset about the We Live in Public, which won the Grand Jury Prize award in the U.S. documentary category at this year’s Sundance Film Festival.  I get to see these smaller, independent films around this time of year because of screeners sent to critics and now I have no idea get to see this.

But I am over the fucking moon about the snub of Capitalism: A Love Story.  The documentary branch screening committee saw right through Michael Moore’s “timely” documentary (timely if you haven’t turned on the news since September 2008) for the poorly manipulative, lazily research, condescending piece of crap that it was.  Now I don’t have to worry about that garbage taking up a slot that I hope goes to Every Little Step which is one of the best films I’ve seen this year.  Hit the jump to see all 15 documentaries on the short list.

It is time to save the whales. In Dolby Digital Surround Sound. Today, the development of a film treatment detailing the early years of the Greenpeace movement was announced. Jon Turteltaub (National Treasure) has been signed to direct the movie which will be produced by Jerry and Janet Zucker in conjunction with Aurelius Films. Perhaps taking a page from the critically-acclaimed The Cove (and its thrilling black-ops filmmaking) Janet Zucker envisions the film as a large-scale, elaborating, “Jon likes to make big adventure movies. And we’ve found that the best way to reach people’s hearts and minds is through entertainment. For details on the project, hit the jump.

I haven’t seen “The Cove” and so I’m forced to countdown to December 8^th when the film comes out on DVD so I can see the documentary everyone is raving about.  “The Cove” follows a group of activists infiltrating a Cove near Taijii, Japan to expose the brutal murder of dolphins by relentless fishermen.  Now “South Park” is taking its shot with this Wednesday’s episode entitled “Whale Whores”.  Hit the jump to learn how Trey Parker and Matt Stone plan to beat the shit out of this disgusting industry.

“Oceans” and “The Cove” took decidedly different paths on their way to being screened at the 2009 Tokyo International Film Festival (Here’s my first article on the Fest). “Oceans,” from French directors Jacques Perrin and Jacques Cluzaud, a film which is at turns a breathtaking nature documentary and an exhortation to protect the beauty and majesty of the sea, was a natural choice to open the world’s only environmentally minded film festival. “The Cove,” on the other hand, almost did not make the cut despite its previous festival successes, including the Audience Award at Sundance. The film, directed by famed National Geographic photographer Louie Psihoyos, also stresses ecological responsibility but does so by exposing the shady slaughter of dolphins by fisherman in the Japanese fishing town of Taiji. Hit the jump to explore the deep blue.