Documentary filmmaker Alex Holmes brings to the screen the true adventure of the first all-female crew to enter the Whitbread Round the World race. To achieve their goal to enter and be respected in the race, Tracy Edwards and her all-woman crew stood up to the sexism in the 1989 sailing world which was equally as harsh as their 33,000-mile ocean journey. The main focus of “Maiden” is on Edwards, and rightfully so.
Danny Boyle’s “Yesterday” is a delight almost to the end. How can it not be? First of all, perfect pitch by both Himesh Patel (Jack) and the too-lovely-for-words Lily James (Ellie). Patel is Jack Malik, a store employee who, through a blackout on earth and being hit by a bus, wakes up in an alternate world where he is the one and only person who knows the Beatles. A third-rate musician who kind of strums a guitar to accompany
In 1969 when a surge of protests against discrimination, the Vietnam War (at its most intensive then) and outdated political and social mindsets was taking place, in came a low-budget, counterculture, film that would speak for a generation and give filmmakers new artistic freedom. The film’s success would cause a seismic shift in the Hollywood system and see studios wrest power back from the producers and hand it
“The pieces I am, she gather them and give them back to me in all the right order. It’s good, you know, when you got a woman who is a friend of your mind.” This is the striking quote that begins this wonderful documentary that looks at the legacy and life of this consummate author and scholar.
“Toni Morrison: The Pieces I Am” is a straightforward documentary that works due to the power
Ari Aster has not only proven himself to be a great director of horror (as he did so expertly in his 2018 feature debut “Hereditary”) but a great filmmaker as he takes his new film, “Midsommar” to the level of Art. According to Aster, a very bad breakup led to the creation of this spine-chilling nightmare, one made even more frightening due to the fact that it all takes place under the bright light of the sun. Our director gives us nowhere
“...when your woman becomes her own content, and you become her content, that’s love.”
“Marianne & Leonard: Words of Love” is a soulful documentary examining the relationship between a pure artist and his often-ignored partner, who became the most important person in his life. For many, the relationship between an artist and their work is more important than
In "Europe '51" Irene (Ingrid Bergman) is a society woman who searches for life’s meaning after the accidental death of her son. She’s a worldly and superficial woman, but her son’s death will push her to seek others and help those in need in a bid to achieve a kind of holy state. The first scene of the film is told in perfect cadence and Stendhalian efficiency: Irene, lady of the house, is holding a dinner party. The guests arrive, they’re plied
At the heart of Ava DuVernay’s “When They See Us" is the fate of Antron McCray (Caleel Harris, Jovan Adepo), Kevin Richardson (Asante Blackk, Justin Cunningham), Yusef Salaam (Ethan Herisse, Chris Chalk), Raymond Santana ( Marquis Rodriguez, Freddy Miyares) and Korey Wise (Jharrel Jerome). The five black men from Harlem were wrong arrested and convicted for the supposed rape of
In this wonderful series (based on his own 1986 film) Spike Lee’s “She’s Gotta Have It” is a natural yet cinematically exhilarating look at Nola Darling, a modern black woman who makes no apologies as she navigates through her life and relationships on her own terms.
Unambiguously set in 2016 (and 2018 for season two) this vibrant series has pure delight in every episode.
The concert film “Woodstock,” made in 1970 by director Michael Wadleigh, captured the August 1969 “three days of peace and love” music festival in Bethel, New York, the touchstone for a generation and the height of the anti-Vietnam War movement. Joe Cocker, Joan Baez, The Who, Santana and Jimi Hendrix were among the notables who took to that muddy, rainy stage, which Wadleigh’s cameramen and editors, including a young Martin Scorsese, weaved together into a