“You've made a mark on the world if you just get through it.”
This is literally everything I ire and adore about filmmaking. I loved how director Jennie Livingston really got out of the way of the individual stories highlighted here and just allowed them to unfold as naturally as possible. Some have complained that the documentary feels “scattered” as a result, but I couldn’t disagree more. The film does jump around often, but all of these interviews beautifully complement…
Moonage Daydream is an explosively engrossing, once-in-a-lifetime cinematic experience that resurrects the style, soul, and spirit of David Bowie for 2 1/2 hours, immersing us not only in a seemingly never-ending showcase for his most famous songs, but also in the entirety of his beautifully aberrant and brilliantly audacious artistic identity. It’s a miracle of a movie, plain and simple, and I’ve never seen anything like it.
(This one holds a special place in my heart too, because there are few…
This review may contain spoilers. I can handle the truth.
I can’t quite explain why I found this to be uncomfortable and off-putting more often than not.
Even though I ire Kirsten Johnson’s aspirations and ambitions, this absurdist approach just didn’t work for me at all, and I felt like the tone was all over the place.
I can’t say it’s a “bad” film by any means - it’s clearly competently made and infused with love - but it’s most definitely “not for me.” Sorry folks.
(And the multiple “fakeout” deaths at the end were... not “fun“ or “funny”!)
STILL: A Michael J. Fox Movie honors the life and work of Michael J. Fox with heartwarming honesty and structures its story with subversive style and inventive editing. It’s full of intimate insight and never shies away from the star’s struggles, but also never forgets to have fun.
Pretty Baby: Brooke Shields is insightful, inspiring, and infuriating simultaneously. An incisive analysis of not just the media’s sexualization of Brooke Shields, but of all young women, and how Shields reclaimed her agency and became the author of her life and an American icon.
“If you dismiss black complaints of mistreatment by police as being completely rooted in our modern context then you’re missing the point completely. There has never been a period in our history where the law and order branch of the state has not operated against the freedoms, the liberties, the options, and the choices that have been available to the black community, generally speaking.”
Recommended viewing for today and every day:
- 13th (dir. Ava DuVernay) - available on Netflix
-…
This review may contain spoilers. I can handle the truth.
Sr. is a lovingly crafted and life-affirming look at family, filmmaking, and finding enjoyment in everyday existence by making memories with what you have right in front of you. A celebration of Robert Downey Sr.‘s career and farewell between father and son that nevertheless still affects all audiences. One of the best documentaries of the year, and potentially even an Oscar frontrunner.
Little Richard: I Am Everything is sometimes too straightforward and standard of a documentary to truly capture the spirit of its central star, but it comes together in the end by offering a comprehensive - and most importantly, honest - look at its subject’s entire life and all its ups and downs, from the industry’s erasure of his work to his lifelong struggles with his sexuality.
Such a harrowing watch but one that is simultaneously full of so much heart and hope. Your appreciation may vary based on how much of a reverence you have for Kilmer himself (and as someone who watched Batman Forever on repeat growing up and had parents who believed Top Gun was the pinnacle of cinema, I hold him in pretty high regard), but I think anyone can be struck by the sentiment and soulfulness on display regardless. Kudos to all involved, and nothing but love for Val ❤️