Recently in Press Category

Scott Hamrah has a great piece about Iraq War films in the new issue of N+1. Scott's piece, titled "Jessica Biel's Hand: The Cinematic Quagmire," is an amazing work of gonzo film criticism and worth a look. After screening nearly every film about the war released theatrically between 2002 and 2008, Scott says of FBR:

This beautifully composed documentary provides the most human
and balanced view in any of these films. It's a hopeful, even utopian
film that takes place far away from the Green Zone and Abu Ghraib,
strangely touching and sad.

The BBC's Tom Brook, host of Talking Movies on BBC World News, has filed a report on Full Battle Rattle. Tom was at the Film Forum last week to report the piece.

The Pentagon Enters the Matrix. Read today's Wall Street Journal article on Full Battle Rattle. Richard Woodward says he doesn't know whether to laugh or cry. Both I'd say.

Breaking news: AO Scott of The New York Times reviews FBR, calling it:

"A remarkably thorough and detailed account of the difficult conditions facing American soldiers in Iraq."

David Edelstein reviews FBR in this week's New York Magazine, calling the film "an indelible vision of modern war" and "Altmanesque tragicomedy."

Stuart Klawans - esteemed critic at The Nation - has a great FBR review up. He writes:

Tony Gerber and Jesse Moss have assembled one of the most complete pictures yet to emerge of how an Iraqi town fragments into civil war...

Anthony Kaufman, who's written so perceptively on Iraq cinema in the Village Voice, reviews FBR in the summer issue of UTNE Reader.

"More Catch 22 than No End in Sight. Full Battle Rattle proves not only that truth is stranger than fiction, but that the two are also impossible to tell apart."

"The wry, provocative documentary... reveals just as much about America's mislaid plans as any on-the-ground report from Baghdad."

FBR has a brand new Facebook page. Come visit. And be sure to check out the new trailer.

Anthony Kaufman's got a piece up on Indiewire pegged to the release of Erroll Morris's SOP - about new Iraq docs - including FBR - that "share a uniqueness of approach and specific subject matter that could help them break out of the "Iraq-doc" box." Anthony credits the films for its "sharply ironic gaze." Also, blogger and doc filmmaker AJ Schnack reviews FBR out of Hot Docs for his blog, saying FBR is "an entertaining, sometimes funny, sometimes tense film, with top-notch cinematography and editing and graphic design that never trumps the central action. ...it's really fine filmmaking."

FBR is screening in Toronto this week, as part of the Hot Docs Festival. Showcase has a good piece up the film which you can read here. Also, Chuck Tryon of the Chutry Experiment, reviewed the film out of Full Frame, calling it one of the most fascinating films at the festival, "one that looks at our investment in the war in Iraq from an entirely new perspective."