Larry Silverstein In this HBO Documentary film, filmmaker James Toback (The Gambler, Bugsy, Tyson) and actor Alec Baldwin trek to the Cannes Film Festival, in May of 2012, to try and raise money for their proposed movie. Although, this film may be more geared to film buffs, a moniker I can unabashedly admit to, I thought it offered lots and lots of wit and humor, as well as wonderful insider stories from those in the movie industry.They meet with distributors, billionaires, heads of movie studios, and film stars such as Ryan Gosling, Jessica Chastain, Berenice Bejo, Diane Kruger, and James Caan. They also talk to some of the real greats in filmmaking, such as Coppola, Polanski, Scorcese, and Bertolucci. I thought almost all these meetings and interviews were remarkably candid and enjoyable.I might mention one story told by Francis Ford Coppola. After winning 6 Oscars from the "Godfather" movies, he couldn't get financing for his next movie, so in frustration he threw his Oscars out the window and they smashed into smithereens. However, his mother came along, picked up the shattered pieces and took them to the Academy to get replacements, telling them the maid accidentally broke them.We get to see how the movie industry has changed over the past decades, and it can be quite the sad portrait. Now, it seems unless you're trying to finance a high budget franchise film, your chances of receiving funding for a mid-range movie, even with known stars, is extremely difficult. A lot of the distributors and investors admit that they don't even care about the quality of the script, just in the profit projections from their money people.Just to mention as the interviews are progressing, photos or film clips of the subjects or persons they're discussing appear briefly on a split screen. My biggest objection to this style was that the clips were not left on screen long enough so I had to use my pause button quite a bit. Also, there are some scenes where strong sexual connotations or language are explicitly used, for those sensitive to that.All in all, as mentioned this documentary may appeal mostly to film aficionados, I found it quite humorous and interesting from start to finish.

ab-23-447707 *** This review may contain spoilers ***While watching this I couldn't help but wonder if it was all just a bit of an elaborate expense claim scam being perpetrated on the viewer. Alec & James go on holidays to the Cannes film festival stay in nice hotels and have a bunch of lunches and smoke cigars with industry luminaries, interspersed with a few strange segments where they pitch a vague artistic movie premise to some rather confused looking film distribution and finance types only (despite both having been in the industry for decades) to be strangely disappointed when they discover nobody wants to put up a few million to fund their rather loose artistic movie endeavor. However, not all was lost they had a great vacation while getting you to pay it. Although, this documentary itself is a laughable contradiction of the very premise it tries to argue.

robin-benson A ninety minute HBO documentary about two film folk who want to raise finance for their movie, though whether there was a movie or maybe the proposal was created just to make this documentary isn't clear. Toback and Baldwin go to Cannes for advice from stars, directors and the money men. I thought it was mildly interesting but too long, it should all have been wrapped up in sixty minutes.The directors offer some interesting points about the industry and movies they've made, the stars are just the stars: take away a script and they have no more insight into things than you or I. Still, if you like to see your fave folk relaxing round a table in Cannes give it a look. Plenty of short clips are included too but it's essentially a lot of talking heads.

brianbarajas -Spoiler alert- Not sure how exactly to feel about this one. There is no script for these investors to read and they expect them to hand over millions of dollars for a remake of a classic movie that I felt doesn't need to be remade. I have to admit I enjoyed Marty and Gosling's look on Hollywood. I felt Coppola had a lot to get off his chest. Felt like he had more movie making in him, but couldn't find the funds. It makes one wonder how the hell Lucas found money to fund Star Wars. The bottom line of the documentary is that the passion of acting and directing are compromised by investors that just want a return for their investment. I would recommend anyone who is a fan of cinema to check this out. Alec Baldwin and James Toback work good together. Great last scene! Cheers!