Stieg Larsson – The Man Who Played With Fire profiles of the Millennium trilogy author and spends time exploring the Swedish political culture. Stieg Larsson is the Swedish author who wrote The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, The Girl Who Played With Fire, and The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet’s Nest. Unfortunately, Larsson’s passing meant never seeing the finished products. This year will mark the 15th anniversary of his passing. In some ways, this documentary is…
"Sundance 2019: Stieg Larsson – The Man Who Played With Fire"Category: Film Festival
The Professional: A Stevie Blatz Story profiles a jack-of-all-trades entertainer living in Pennsylvania during what may very well a very rough patch. Some people have to do whatever is needed in order to stay afloat. For Stevie Blatz, this means taking as many jobs as possible. There are risks that come with this line of work. His debt is piling up, which is likely the last thing that Stevie wants. Meanwhile, all it takes is…
"Slamdance 2019: The Professional: A Stevie Blatz Story"
Anthropocene – The Human Epoch follows the Anthropocene Working Group in their mission to add this epoch to the Geological Time Scale. The phrase was initially coined by Paul J. Crutzen and Eugene Stoermer in 2000 in their proposal for the current epoch. In 2009, the Subcommission on Quaternary Stratigraphy ordered the AWG–a collective–to look into whether or not this epoch is real. These people are experts in their field, be it climate and polar science, oceanography, ecology, archaeology,…
"Sundance 2019: Anthropocene – The Human Epoch"
Dollhouse: The Eradication of Female Subjectivity from American Popular Culture is blatantly transphobic in its efforts to take a satirical look at misogyny. Writer-director Nicole Brending examines the life of fictional child star Junie Spoons by way of Behind the Tinsel. It’s clearly a satirical take of Behind the Music or similar series. While this format works, it only does so to an extent. Brending does not even allow the film’s subject to tell her…
"Slamdance 2019: Dollhouse"
Todd Douglas Miller’s Apollo 11 takes us back to the moon in an impressive way that is enhanced by the film’s music and sound mixing/design. When a documentary gets released so close to the biopic, one can’t help but compare the films. For instance, Matt Morton’s electronic score is composed entirely of instruments that existed in 1969. Let it be stated that we need not compare his work to that of Justin Hurwitz’ brilliant score…
"Sundance 2019: Apollo 11"
After The Wedding features a breakout performance from actress Abby Quinn while exploring how a family reacts following a bombshell announcement. We first meet Isabel (Michelle Williams) where she runs the Home of Living Care orphanage in Calcutta. She’s hesitant to leave these children but the only way to get funding means having to travel to New York. It’s been well over twenty years since Isabel last stepped foot in New York City. While she…
"Sundance 2019: After The Wedding"
Led by an impressive cast, All These Small Moments is a coming-of-age story that marks the directorial debut of Melissa Miller Costanzo. Howie Sheffield (Brendan Meyer) doesn’t have the best family life at the moment. His parents, Tom (Brian d’Arcy James) and Carla (Molly Ringwald), are either headed towards a separation or divorce if they can’t get it together. The fighting is so bad that Tom has been relegated to sleeping on the couch. As…
"All These Small Moments: A Coming-Of-Age Story"
The Show’s The Thing: The Legendary Promoters of Rock pays tribute to the great concert promoters who helped pave the way for new territory in rock and roll music. What we know today as the rock concert is not what it was during the 1950s and 1960s. Things more or less started to change in the 1960s. This was when Bill Graham and Frank Barsalona entered the picture. Frank Barsalona, who later started Premiere Talent Agency…
"DOC NYC 2018: The Show’s The Thing"
The Orange Years: The Nickelodeon Story is a documentary that takes us back in time to the glory years of the Nickelodeon network. It’s no surprise to see Adam F. Goldberg attached to the documentary as an executive producer. If his ABC series, The Goldbergs, is any indication, the man has a serious love for everything pop culture. But enough about Adam, this film isn’t about him. No, it’s about the slime–I mean, Nickelodeon. Nick…
"DOC NYC 2018: The Orange Years"
While Darrell Hammond grew his fame from appearing on Saturday Night Live, Cracked Up shows a darker side of the comedian. Darrell Hammond grew up with some sense of being surrounded by evil. He was a victim of child abuse. No child should go through what Hammond experienced. By opening up in the documentary, maybe Hammond will inspire others with similar experience to do the same. To those who decide to watch the documentary thinking…
"Cracked Up: The Darker Side of Darrell Hammond"