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By its very composition, the amalgam word hacktivism houses a peculiar dichotomy. On one hand, it alludes to promoting justice through necessary online disobedience. On the other, the ethics of whatever those rule-breaking actions or their consequences might be remain open to debate. Such ambiguity lies at the core of “Enemies of the State,” Sonia Kennebeck’s mind-boggling, often challenging spy-thriller in documentary form, about a freaky and disturbing yarn of (possible) cyber-crime activities investigated by insatiable journalistic curiosity, though not always with a lucid destination in sight.

That lack of a clear target is frequently inherent in nonfiction storytelling: Documentary filmmakers discover, consider and reconsider the shape and facts of their story along the way and package them accordingly. And Kennebeck is already familiar with the complexities of delving into convoluted episodes of whistle-blowing and government pressure — topics that also concern “Enemies of the State” — thanks to her taut 2016 film “National Bird.

“Enemies of the State” burrows so deep into the perspectives of its unreliable narrators that it often becomes one. Director Sonia Kennebeck’s documentary tracks the bizarre saga of Anonymous hacktivist Matt DeHart, who was convicted of child pornography charges that he and his family denied. At the age of 25, the former Air National Guard serviceman claimed he had uncovered government secrets so damning the FBI invented other crimes to take him down. Kennebeck’s haunting, enigmatic approach to revisiting these claims borrows executive producer Errol Morris’ labyrinthine style to play up the peculiar nature of DeHart’s odyssey, only to find convincing evidence that he’s probably full of it. The movie walks a jagged line between conflicting sources, and overplays some of the more outrageous claims to the detriment of the trenchant investigation at its core. However, Kennebeck still musters

At first blush, the charges against DeHart are straightforward enough.

A clunky home PC appears, unassumingly, through the doorway on the clip from the home video, in the midst of a guided tour through the typical suburban home. “That’s the computer that Matthew plays on all the time,” his mom explains. “Spends most of the day on this thing here.” That “thing” would give Matt DeHart his identity, as an activist for Anonymous and the operator of a dead drop server connected to Wikileaks.

Continue reading ‘Enemies Of The State’ Is A Complex, But Gripping Cyber-Doc [TIFF Review] at The Playlist.

Stars: Steven Seagal, Sasha Jackson, Richard Tyson, Johnny Messner, Vernon Wells, Lance E. Nichols, Kimberly Battista, Emilien De Falco | Written by Titus Paar, Alex Brenner, Jesse Cilio, Ulysses Oliver | Directed by Titus Paar

When you see a DVD cover like the one pictured above, for Steven Seagal’s latest opus, you expect yet another derivative action movie in which Seagal will, probably, lumber around the screen, trying to act like his old bad-ass self and failing miserably. What you Don’T expect, and what you get here with The Perfect Weapon, is a cyberpunk, Blade Runner-esque sci-fi action thriller in which Seagal plays The Bad Guy and our hero is an unstoppable assassin played by Johnny Messner, in total hard-ass, take no prisoners, mode!

The Perfect Weapon is set in a not too distant future, where a totalitarian state secret government organization controls all aspects of life. All “Enemies of the State...

Ian Collie on the Doctor Doctor set.

The second episode of Essential Media.s Doctor Doctor, broadcast on Wednesday night, avoided the second ep dip, growing the show.s week-on-week to an average audience of.821,000.viewers.and a peak of.1.024 million.across the 5 City Metro, according to Nine.

The show.s producer, Essential Media.s Ian Collie, initially thought the series would bow next year, closer to the start of the ratings season, but the scheduling move made perfect sense once Nine explained it, he told If.

"They love it, which is the main thing. They know their audience and their schedule. Programs like My Kitchen Rules, which is on four or five nights a week from February onwards, tend to dominate the schedule..

If spoke to Collie about the project.s inception, bringing Claudia Karvan on board, and what else is on Essential Media.s slate.

Was Doctor Doctor...

Petr Jakl has come a long way from his roots in Prague, Czechoslovakia. He started out with roles in foreign films in the late 1990s and early 2000s and quickly found a spot in Hollywood playing supporting characters in movies like xXx and Avp: Alien vs. Predator. Not content to stay in front of the camera, Jakl has now written and directed two of his own projects. The latest one, Ghoul, is hitting select theaters on March 20th.

I had the opportunity to interview Mr. Jakl while he was busy promoting the film. We talked about the rich history, superstitions, the supernatural leanings of the Ukrainian people, and more about the background of the movie “Ghoul.” Read on to climb inside the head of this up and coming director, writer, producer, and actor.

How did you get involved in Ghoul?

My first movie was a thriller called Kajinek, inspired by...