Reviews

Very refreshing to see a doc that doesn't involve a homicide or general destruction of something precious. If you open your mind before watching this film, you'll come away inspired.

It takes us into a nascent world that few in the mainstream would otherwise see and never once is the audience held above the subjects. They and this world they have helped create are treated with the utmost respect and we meet them entirely on their terms, which is another thing that separates this from most documentaries. There's also some real filmmaking muscle on display here, particularly in the establishing shots, general framing of shots and the subtle way exposition is handled.

I was completely fascinated and greatly moved in several parts. This film gave me hope for humanity that I hadn't felt in a minute.

I hate to call this movie prescient, because it apparently came from a very personal place of grief, but it is impossible not to watch it through the lens of the pandemic now. This film is not about monsters or zombies, it's about fear of death and especially sickness.

The desperation is palpable all throughout this film and the characters are all robbed of their hope, dignity and innocence as their own fears overtake them.

Living in the midst of a scary disease, especially in the early days where not much was known about it, makes every cough a threat and every stranger a potential carrier. If you've got people who depend on you, like kids or vulnerable adults, it only raises your guard that much more. How much are you willing to sacrifice to keep them safe? This movie looks hard at people who've made that decision and does not make it clear whether they are justified or if they've gone too far.

There are no easy answers here but plenty of terror and a ton to think about when it's over. Powerful stuff.

This picture definitely isn't for everyone but if you dig pitch-black humor and sci-fi that doesn't take itself too seriously, there's a lot of fun to be had here.

Watching little Don Johnson yell and gesticulate at the dog during their many heated conversations is priceless and I have to say that doggy actor blew me away. When he started limping across the desert after hurting his leg, I was ready to rate this a 10!

But seriously the characters are ALL a**holes, including the dog. Much of it feels half-baked in execution but the world building is actually solid, especially once you pop into the nightmarish Down Under in the last act.

Splitting up the dynamic duo during that bit was unfortunate but worked with Johnson's character growth and made the final scene's payoff so much better. I couldn't believe that final scene, and I mean that in the best way possible. Awesome, grim stuff. Vintage Harlan Ellison!

Another Round is somewhat fascinating because its script could've easily turned it into hackneyed sitcom material. Instead, there us real weight and unpredictability to this movie, which makes it a delight.

Anyone who has seen a Vinterberg movie knows he has a real gift for getting phenomenal performances and this one is no different. There is raw humanity all across this movie and it's really about passion and finding the way to reignite yourself long after life has become droll.

The way the four pals in this story do that is completely dangerous and selfish but the film avoids turning into a morality tale and doesn't for a moment preach ideals to its audience. This is where it diverts from what an American studio handling the same material would've done.

As for that ending dance scene, it's totally out of left field but also a complete delight. Now I need a vodka!

Martin Scorsese has always been a master of kinetic filmmaking but After Hours is really where he starts cranking up the energy even more. This movie is simply alive in a way that most movies aren't. Everyone in it has a story to tell and we're ready to hear them all.

From the cocktail waitress who seems stuck in the 1960s to the ice cream truck driver who wears a rape whistle to the stoic bouncer outside the punk bar and of course the sculptor who lives under the bar and has no scruples about using live subjects, there are so many weirdos in this film it's fantastic.

I've seen plenty of New York movie but I'm not sure I've ever seen any make the city feel so oppressively large. There's a great sense of space in this film and it genuinely feels hopeless for Paul to try to get home, which could sound like a dumb premise for a movie until you see it handled here. The journey is downright epic and Scorsese uses every visual technique he learned in school to keep the tempo cruising through this long trip.

I wasn't bored for a second at any point during After Hours and you won't be either. This film is alive and Thelma Schoonmaker does maybe the best work of her great career at an editing bay. She should've gotten an Oscar nomination. This film is simply a master class in pacing.

From the opening moments, you can tell this is going to be a fantastic film and it never lets up from there. The black and white cinematography was the perfect choice for a story where everything happens in a shade of grey, as Leamus's ending speech to Nan drills home. You want heroes? Look elsewhere.

The music sets the perfect, melancholic tone and never gets in the way, which is impressive for a film that's so subtle. You're thrust into a spy noir where petty revenge is often a better motivator than the idea of world peace. This whole picture is so nihilistic it's almost tough to watch at times but the performances and dialogue keep you glued to the screen.

Richard Burton was in top form, embodying Leamus so perfectly that you forget you're watching a major star. The story of his thankless life is on his face and in the way he throws back every drink that comes within three feet of him. But Claire Bloom is nobody's second fiddle and brings a weight to Nan that you don't expect when you first see her floating around the library. Her confidence and presence in this role makes it believable when she expounds on her serious belief system during a night at her apartment with Leamus, revealing hidden depth that takes her character from token love interest to fully rounded human being.

I'm a big fan of the novel and I was continuously blown away by this script. I'd call it easily one of the best adaptations I've ever seen, keeping all the best bits and losing little, all while making for an experience that is cinematic and entertaining. I loved this film and it shows that if you have great characters with brains and depth who are put under immense pressure, you don't need explosions and fire fights to have devastating results.

William Friedkin is a great filmmaker who handles his projects with great dramatic weight and he was arguably at the top of his form when he made "Cruising." His direction is spot-on here, with authenticity oozing from every scene and the mood he creates is tense, mysterious and heavy. However, the film itself stops short of greatness for two major reasons.

The biggest flaw is in its writing of the lead character, who is a young cop who goes undercover in the leather bars of the gay community in NYC. The character just isn't explored in nearly enough detail to give the film that extra layer of a character study that I think it was hoping for. We get no revelations into his mindset or his struggles with his own sexual identity, other than a few shots of him looking pained. I wish we could've gotten to know this guy a lot better and understood the turmoil that comes with drastic undercover work like this, especially for a first timer.

The second major failing is from Al Pacino. I don't often say this about him but Pacino was totally wrong for this part. He just seems to be "cruising" through the entire performance and not channeling anything profound. I get that his character should start out naive and uncomfortable but he shouldn't still appear that way at the end, which Pacino does. The fact that we never even see him kiss another man, let alone have a real sexual encounter makes this a pretty meek performance and makes it seem like Pacino was the one who didn't want to take it there, since Friedkin is a director who routinely goes all the way. I was just very disappointed and bored by Pacino's performance.

But there are some great performances in what is a stellar cast. Look no further than Paul Sorvino, who is fantastic in every frame. His sad eyes reveal a man who's had the life beaten out of him by a job that can be brutal and unethical on a daily basis. He's the kind of character you just want to share a beer with and give a firm hug to while he lets out a long sigh of relief. He stole every scene from Pacino.

This review is going to get downvoted like crazy by the people on here, judging by the legion of delusional 10-star reviews, but stick with me.

I consider myself a huge fan of the Floyd and consider Dave Gilmour to be among the best lead guitar players in history but Pulse was such a massive disappointment after I'd seen all the stellar grades from fellow fans. The first DVD is almost entirely skippable because of the laughable songs chosen for the set list. Who needed 35 minutes+ of consecutive tracks from the band's generic post-Waters releases? These songs are dull as hell on the records and nothing is added in a live performance except some synchronized laser lights, which they also use during much better songs like "Shine On..."

Also, who put this band together? The bass player is a complete dork who looks like he was born after "Animals" came out. As soon as I saw him playing that headstock-less bass I knew it was going to be bad and then he's doing slap bass playing like he's the white Victor Wooten during "Another Brick." WHAT WERE THEY THINKING? And don't even get me started on the other lead guitar player who tries to show up Gilmour and thinks he's Steve Vai with the finger-tapping crap. Did they get this guy at one of those Guitar Center battle of the bands competitions?

Then there's the ridiculous percussionist who is jumping around like he's in an aerobics class while he's drowning out Nick Mason. Why was that necessary at all?

Also, Gilmour looks disinterested half the time and his aloofness keeps the audience at arm's length most of the time. You know it's a weak concert film when the entire crowd is sitting down the ENTIRE TIME. Contrast this with Roger Waters' 2013 concert film of him doing "The Wall" in its entirety, where you've got everyone on their feet, screaming the lyrics and even crying at several points. That's what Pulse was sorely lacking: the human touch and natural chemistry that Waters brought to the band in its best days. Of the three core members on stage during Pulse, only Mason looks like he's having fun most of the time.

What I will give this film credit for is the sound quality and the faithfulness to the studio recordings that they achieved, but doesn't that kind of defeat the whole point of a live album? Everything is safe and as expected here and that's not what I want when I sit down with the Floyd.

One more thing: get that annoying-ass circular screen out of the way. If I wanted to see a bunch of dopey, half-baked visuals over Pink Floyd music without actually getting to see the band members, I'd watch "The Wall" movie!

The Oscar category of best documentary feature has been maddening in its inclusions and exclusions over the decades. How can a film like this forever be called a nominee when breathtaking works of art like "Shoah" and "The Thin Blue Line" were never even invited to the party?

"Ayn Rand: A Sense of Life" is a bizarre film in that it carries itself as an examination of a person whose artistic talents and works themselves are apparently beyond criticism. If this documentary is to be believed, Ayn Rand is the foremost thinker, novelist, screenwriter, philosopher and person of all time. The film consists of archival footage and photographs intercut with original interviews with people who are either identified as her friends or who have photographs of Rand displayed around them. You'll be about 30 minutes into this thing before you realize that they are all worshippers of her and the narrator is in on it, too. The whole thing feels like a cult initiation that acts as if her work and lifeview had no flaws whatsoever and anyone who criticized her in her time simply didn't get it.

I'm amazed a film this straightforward in style and completely unentertaining would be nominated for what carries weight as the top documentary prize in the movie business. Thankfully, it didn't win but the fact it was up shows how deep Rand's message that the wealthy and successful have somehow been victimized and underappreciated in American society resonated at the top of The Academy's membership.

This is the type of film that would be fine as an afternoon filler on the A&E channel back in the day but as a serious piece of journalistic, documentary filmmaking? No way.

The only positive things I can say about it are that the archival elements are comprehensive as biographical tools and the new interviews are cinematically shot. But all the subjects are so glowing in their appreciation for Rand that it renders them wholly uninteresting as subjects.

It's all a shame, too, because a serious, critical look into Rand's life and work could make for an interesting film. After all, here was an immigrant who acted completely against most expected notions of femininity of her era and found a way to be successful and reach an audience that continues to grow decades later. A more objective documentary that had more respect for its audience's brain would've been a much more lively piece of cinema than a 2.5-hour commercial.

A good farm film should be as grimy as the main characters' fingernails after a day in the field and that's exactly what "Country" is. I was impressed by the tenderness of the acting and the unvarnished nature of the writing. This is one of those kitchen-sink dramas where voices are hardly raised and tears fall silently, without a scene being made by the character who is letting them go.

Jessica Lange and Sam Shepard are two of the finest actors of their generation and they prove it further here. Lange produces some moments of genuine strength that will inspire you and real vulnerability that will move you, all without ever taking it over the top. The whole feeling of this film is even and sure handed, even though it deals with some heavy subject matter like toxic pride and unethical lending practices.

Wilford Brimley also turns in one hell of a performance here as Lange's father. His mannerisms are so real and his powerful eyes just make his presence magnetic in every scene he's in.

"Country" is a must see for fans of movies that tell a great story without flare or easy answers.

There are two things nobody can deny after watching this movie: it's a beautiful piece of filmmaking and Daniel Johnston is a lot to take.

The artist at the center of this movie has a soul that swings from gentle to aggressive on a dime but the former seems to be the case much more often. His music is unique and truthful and touching, with the segments where we hear his songs being real highlights. I also found the glimpses into his recording style, such as when we see a weight bench that's been turned into a ramshackle studio, to be inspiring for anyone who wants to express themself but doesn't have access to expensive equipment. Johnston proves over and over that where there's a will, there's a way.

The film itself is absolutely gorgeous, with the camera finding ways to make everything from a carnival ride to a dish of corndogs to a stack of cassette tapes look like stunning imagery. There was some real skill and vision that went into the making of this film, which elevates it above other music docs.

This is much more a movie about mental health and the dangers of an artistic temperament than about Johnston's process and performance style but there are plenty of great glimpses into his career for fans who are just discovering his overwhelming catalog.

Check this one out. Just don't expect an easy watch or even one that will have you tapping your feet along with a story of great triumph.

I'm a big fan of the Decline series and Spheeris has always had a great grip on the lifestyle and passion behind rock and roll as the focal point of the trilogy. While Decline III is undoubtedly the most depressing of the series, it is probably also the best.

While the other two movies were mostly about musicians and aspiring musicians, Decline III is more about the followers of musicians and their devotion to the lifestyle of the punk movement. This film is much more about homelessness than music and attempts to show why some young people are drawn to the nomadic life of a punk. The people Spheeris interviews all seem lost but they share a deep bond with each other as well as a pessimistic life view brought on by traumas of their childhoods that include abuse and degradation.

What Spheeris does successfully is showing how beautiful the souls of these people are. In many ways, you can see the punks in this film as anti-heroes who stand for positive values like inclusion, equality, free thought and non-violence, despite society's desire to paint them as violent troublemakers. She gets down into the muck with them, spending a lot of time asking real questions and showing their daily way of life, all the time showing how the punk lifestyle is less about music than philosophy.

There are also some great, high-energy musical performances that rival the ones shown in the other Decline films in terms of power. Spheeris found a lost generation of kids who were deemed disposable by their parents and society and showed us how smart and gentle they are under a tough exterior.

I've watched a lot of nature docs and this is easily right there with the absolute best of them. Colin is a wonderful presenter who is so knowledgeable, compassionate and natural that he could easily take over duties for Sir Attenborough. The shots are stunning and the variety of wildlife shown in a relatively small area is another testament to how incredible our planet is. This movie inspired me so much to go see what lies in my own backyard and nearby wooded areas. I was moved to tears several times by this film's gentleness, which is an uncommon trait among nature docs. Thank you PBS for this wonderful movie.

The only thing tighter than the band Zappa had on stage for this concert doc is its runtime. This is a guy that was known for his epic, exhausting live shows -- he even tells the crowd in this one that it will be a long one so they should get comfortable -- yet we get less than an hour of music here! This thing could've easily been 3 hours and I would've been thrilled because that's how fun, energetic and incredible this particular band is. If you've seen "Roxy" you saw a totally different type of Zappa band because this one is much more of a rock outfit that can zip through entire medleys at top tempo, never once missing a note and with each member displaying a ton of personality. In fact, I'd say Frank actually has the most boring stage presence of anyone in this film, and that's saying something! I found the interview segments to be distracting and they made Zappa even less endearing. The audio mix isn't as clear for every instrument as "Roxy" is (some of the drum parts get lost) but the guitars sound incredible and are way in your face. If this one had been a little more focused on the music and documenting an entire show it would easily be a 10/10 but it's still a must watch for any Zappa fan as it is.

I don't understand the low ratings for this one because it basically laid the blueprint for all urban cop dramas that would follow for decades. You can see so much of "Hill Street Blues," "NYPD Blue" and even "The Wire" here just in a little rougher form. We spend more time getting to know the main cops off the job as seeing them on the job and we also see the anguish that can go into being a police officer, especially in an area as rough as the Bronx was in the late 70s. The whole cast is terrific, especially Paul Newman who is as effortless as ever. It's the little things that make this movie a joy to watch: the short, playful interactions between the characters in passing moments between action or the bits of peace they get from being in the arms of who they love. There's not really a big case here that the officers are trying to crack and nobody who does anything heinous is shown getting arrested so it's very different than the "good guys always win" kind of cop stuff that had been in movies and TV for 50 years beforehand. But it feels very fresh today. ...except for the music; man, that score sounds so dated for 1981.

TINA...BRING ME THE AXE!! Is it "Citizen Kane"? Obviously not. But "Mommie Dearest" is one hell of an entertaining movie -- which is something even some of the most acclaimed films can't claim. I've rarely had more fun watching a movie by myself than I did with this one. The timeline is insane because it jumps forward with zero warning and little to no indication to the viewer but that leaves you with a "greatest hits" compilation of the over-the-top moments with little downtime. There's absolutely no plot, so it's more like a character study of Joan Crawford but there's so little work done to develop her character that I'm not sure what to label this movie as, other than A RIDE. Faye Dunaway gives it all she can and, evidently, nobody told her to slow down at all, resulting in a performance that's so massive it makes Al Pacino in "Godfather III" look like Al Pacino in "Godfather I." Turn it on, pour a drink and take the ride.

Broderick Crawford turns in a fantastic lead performance but I was ultimately disappointed by "All the King's Men," especially given the hype and weight that follow it. If you read the book first, you'll be turned off by how much the script deviates from it in major, obvious ways. But taken on its own, the movie doesn't hold up well for modern audiences largely because it feels too black & white and because of some of the choices made by the performers and the score. The music is terribly overwritten, as is the case with many movies of this era that haven't aged well. Most of the characters are played with some depth, including Willie and Jack, even if the latter is made into too much of a boy scout in this version. But Anne is played as a nitwit with all kinds of dramatic head twisting while that aforementioned score cranks up and makes her scenes feel like the end of the world has come. This movie is terribly sad and its story is a classic meditation on the corruption of power. But of you really think about it, Willie isn't all bad. Even at his worst, he was still building great infrastructure, good schools and a beautiful hospital that would treat people for free. And clearly the people continue to love him. Throwing in the salacious storyline about his boys murdering man just for standing up to him was pointless Hollywood sensationalism. The scenes featuring Willie's speeches and the montages of clips during the time passages are brilliant and still intense but much of the movie sadly feels dated and overdone. After seeing stuff like "House of Cards," this feels pretty safe.