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What's on your HDTV: 'Citizenfour', 'House of Cards' and 'Big Hero 6'
It's almost time. This week the third season of House of Cards will come to Netflix streaming, and based on the early peek we got courtesy of a glitch, it's pretty good. As usual you can expect it at about 3AM ET on Friday morning, along with a new stand-up comedy special from Ralphie May. Until then however, there's plenty of other choices, like the award-winning Edward Snowden documentary Citizenfour, which premieres tonight on HBO at 9PM. On Blu-ray Big Hero 6, Beyond the Lights and Whiplash bring excellent options with Oscars credibility, while on TV we have the series finale of Parks & Recreation. Look after the break to check out each day's highlights, including trailers and let us know what you think (or what we missed).
NSA-Snowden documentary 'Citizenfour' wins an Oscar
A documentary that outlined how Edward Snowden revealed the NSA's data surveillance program to the world has just won an Oscar. Citizenfour director Laura Poitras has a track record of serious documentaries, including My Country, My Country and The Oath, but the PRISM documentary marks her first Oscar win. Following the award, host Neil Patrick-Harris made a quick lil' treason joke at Snowden's expense, possibly missing the gravitas of a story that dominated the news agenda for over a year. In response to the award, Snowden said: "My hope is that this award will encourage more people to see the film and be inspired by its message that ordinary citizens, working together, can change the world." We've added the full statement after the fold. (Can you guess who 'Citizenfour' actually was in the end? Hint: It's not Patrick-Harris)
'Citizenfour' offers a fascinating, narrow view of Edward Snowden's NSA leaks
The camera pulls into focus; an audible wave of laughter ripples through the audience. In front of the camera is Edward Snowden, the man behind last year's NSA leaks. The reason for the laughter? The on-screen imagery belongs to the same interview that was beamed around the world, accompanying every TV spot and article mentioning his name for weeks after the leaks first hit. Anyone closely following last year's events, as many who packed into the sold-out screening at London's Institute of Contemporary Arts last Friday clearly had, was in on the joke -- this was the iconic image of Snowden. To those not intimately familiar with the story, however, the laughter could easily have been confusing. This anecdote serves as the perfect summary of everything good and bad about Citizenfour, Laura Poitras' new documentary about how a journalist, a filmmaker and an NSA contractor worked together to expose this century's biggest political scandal to date.
Edward Snowden documentary reveals more about the new leak source (update: New Yorker interview)
The US government insisted that there was a second source leaking intelligence data besides Edward Snowden, and we now have some extra evidence to support this claim. Laura Poitras' just-launched documentary covering the Snowden leaks, Citizenfour, reveals that this mysterious tipster is both higher in the intelligence ranks and, at least at the time the movie was shot, still serving. In other words, the leaker theoretically has access to up-to-the-minute info about the US' surveillance activities. When Snowden sees this information (provided by reporter Glenn Greenwald) in the documentary, he's visibly startled -- even he wasn't aware of another insider.
