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Tell Them Who You Are Movie Review: A Captivating Documentary about Cinematographer Haskell Wexler and His Son

By Gordon S. Miller | Dec 27, 2015

Tell Them Who You Are is a captivating documentary. It begins as a look at the life and career of ...

JACO DVD Review: Portrait of a Tortured Genius

By Kit O'Toole | Dec 16, 2015

In 1976, an album was released that would revolutionize not only how the jazz bass is played, but the very ...

Katy Perry: The Prismatic World Tour Live Blu-ray Review: Visually Impressive, Thematically Confusing

By Todd Karella | Nov 17, 2015

Capturing Katy Perry's 2014/2015 concert tour recorded in Sydney, Australia last December, the show features seven different acts, nine costume ...

Frank Zappa’s Roxy: The Movie DVD Review: A Necessary Purchase for Any Zappa Fan

By Jade Blackmore | Nov 11, 2015

The concert film Roxy: The Movie starring Frank Zappa and the Mothers, filmed in 1973 during a three-night engagement at ...

Ingrid Bergman: In Her Own Words Movie Review: Here’s Looking at You, Kid

By Adam Blair | Nov 9, 2015

One of the best moments in Ingrid Bergman: In Her Own Words is one of the quietest. It's just a ...

Ballet Boys DVD Review: Transitioning Into Early Manhood—In Tights

By Michelle Prather | Oct 22, 2015

Yet another wonderful dance documentary from First Run Features, Ballet Boys (2014) takes balletomanes to Norway, where we meet young ...

Van Morrison: Another Glorious Decade DVD Review: For Dedicated Fans Only

By Mat Brewster | Sep 11, 2015

In the summer of 1973 after a grueling tour and an emotionally devastating divorce, Van Morrison took a several-weeks vacation ...

TV Review: American Experience: Walt Disney: An Experience Not to Be Missed

By Cinema Sentries | Sep 8, 2015

Written by Kristen Lopez I'm a Disney nut. There, I said it. Too often I'm asked "Why do you love ...

Heaven Adores You Blu-ray Review: As Personal as Elliot Smith’s Music

By Darcy Staniforth | Aug 1, 2015

I wanted to watch and review Heaven Adores You, the new documentary about Elliot Smith, because I am a huge ...

I Am FEMEN DVD Review: Sex Sells Everything, Perhaps Even Revolutions

By Mark Buckingham | Jul 29, 2015

The first time I heard of the half-naked female activism group FEMEN back in 2013, it was largely by accident, ...

Can’t Stand Losing You: Surviving the Police DVD Review: An Inside Look at a Legendary Band

By Kit O'Toole | Jul 19, 2015

When the Police ceased recording in 1984, rumors swirled as to the cause. Sting, Andy Summers, and Stewart Copeland became ...

Do I Sound Gay? Movie Review: Not Your Typical LGBT Documentary

By Davy | Jul 9, 2015

There have been many documentaries about the depiction of the gay stereotype, such as The Celluoid Closet and Word Is ...

Spellbound (2002) Movie Review: C-A-P-T-I-V-A-T-I-N-G

By Gordon S. Miller | May 28, 2015

The filmmakers of this Academy Award-nominated documentary present us with the stories of eight contestants participating in the 1999 Scripps ...

Cops: Wildest Chases DVD Review: A Good Representation of the Series

By Gordon S. Miller | May 21, 2015

Cops, the long-running documentary series, debuted March 11, 1989 on FOX where it ran for 25 seasons. It was an ...

Dark Star: H.R. Giger’s World Movie Review: Engaging, Affecting, Poignant

By Mark Buckingham | May 11, 2015

The late Hans Rudolf "Ruedi" Giger. Creator of the eponymous alien from Alien. Master of biomechanical macabre artwork. He seemed ...

Tabloid Movie Review: The Legend May Be as Insane as the Truth

By Cinema Sentries | May 9, 2015

Written by Kristen Lopez Director Errol Morris has interviewed serious subjects like Robert S. MacNamara and delved deep into harsh ...

Monkey Warriors DVD Review: A Fascinating Look at How Monkeys Have Adapted to City Life

By generaljabbo | Apr 20, 2015

In Jodhpur, India, there's a gang war going on. These aren't gangs in the traditional sense, however. Hanuman Langur monkeys, ...

Mr. Death: The Rise and Fall of Fred A. Leuchter, Jr. Movie Review: Visually Captivating

By Darcy Staniforth | Apr 16, 2015

What happens when a simple man asks simple questions that require complex answers that he cannot understand? This is what ...

Fast, Cheap & Out of Control Movie Review: Skewed Look at Human Behavior

By Kent Conrad | Apr 10, 2015

The title might throw a viewer off - 'Out of Control'. A documentary about things being out of control sounds ...

A Brief History of Time Criterion Collection Review: A Quirky, Idiosyncratic Tribute

By Davy | Apr 9, 2015

Everyone knows the story of Stephen Hawking, the iconic physicist, cosmologist, author, and director of research. They also know that ...

The Thin Blue Line Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: A Paradigm Shift

By Shawn Bourdo | Apr 3, 2015

Rarely do you watch a film and actually pinpoint where a genre actually changes. You watch Clerks or Pulp Fiction ...

Gates of Heaven / Vernon, Florida Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: Loving the Absurd

By Greg Barbrick | Apr 2, 2015

“I love the absurd,” says Errol Morris in one of the extras on the new Criterion Collection Blu-ray edition of ...

Come Together: A Beatles Tribute Documentary Review: Meet the Faux Beatles!

By Kit O'Toole | Mar 8, 2015

At this very moment, a Beatles tribute band is likely playing a concert somewhere throughout the world. Over 8,000 groups ...

Rye Coalition: The Story of the Hard Luck 5 DVD Review: A Band of Brothers Bound Together

By Cinema Sentries | Jan 3, 2015

Written by S. Edward Sousa There's an old essay by Sarah Vowell, “These Little Town Blues,” it's in the Take ...

Matt Shepard Is a Friend of Mine Movie Review: A Deserving, Wonderful Tribute

By Davy | Dec 29, 2014

Matthew Shepard was an innocent human being. A human being who was taken from this world all too suddenly. A ...

The Rolling Stones: From the Vault – L.A. Forum (Live in 1975) DVD Review: It’s Only a Concert Video, but I Like It

By Mat Brewster | Nov 24, 2014

In a thousand years, at universities all over the world, in classes titled "Rock 'N' Roll 101," professors will lay ...

Touch the Wall Movie Review: A Tale of Two Swimmers

By Cinema Sentries | Nov 19, 2014

Written by Todd Ford Near the end of Touch the Wall, an engaging new sports documentary—and a rare one about ...

James Cameron’s Deepsea Challenge 3D Blu-ray Review: What Goes Down Goes Waaay Down

By Mark Buckingham | Nov 19, 2014

I watched Deepsea Challenge 3D a few nights ago (though decidedly in 2D as I lack the necessary equipment for ...

Life Itself (2014) Movie Review: A Fascinating Person Attached to That Thumb

By Adam Blair | Nov 17, 2014

Do you think you know Roger Ebert? Believe me, whatever you know, you know only part of the story. Just ...

Style Wars Blu-ray Review: Capturing Street Art in Its Infancy

By Cinema Sentries | Nov 5, 2014

Written by S. Edward Sousa “Is that an art form? I don't know I'm not an art critic, but I ...

Hugh Hefner DVD Review: He’s Just Doing What He Loves

By Mark Buckingham | Nov 2, 2014

Tony Palmer's 1973 Film About Hugh Hefner, the Founder and Editor of Playboy -- henceforth known as Hugh Hefner -- ...

No No: A Dockumentary Movie Review: Covers All the Bases

By Jade Blackmore | Sep 5, 2014

No No: A Dockumentary traces the colorful and complex career of MLB pitcher Dock Ellis, who pitched a no-hitter (or ...

Alive Inside Movie Review: Where There Is Music, There Is Life

By Mark Buckingham | Jul 27, 2014

"They're very musical people, aren't they?" quips Randolph in 1983's Trading Places. While he intended it as a racial and/or ...

Crystal Lake Memories: The Complete History of Friday the 13th DVD Review: Jason, Jason, and More Jason

By Mat Brewster | Jul 16, 2014

Looking to cash in on the success of John Carpenter's Halloween, Paramount Pictures hired Sean S. Cunningham to produce and ...

Underwater Dreams Movie Review: Good in Spite of Its Marketing

By Mark Buckingham | Jul 13, 2014

The synopses for the documentary Underwater Dreams talk about undocumented Mexican high school students building an underwater robot for a ...

Bronies vs. A Brony Tale: A “Tail” of Two Brony Documentaries

By Darcy Staniforth | Jul 8, 2014

When I get a movie to review, I really try not to compare it with other films that cover the ...

Document of the Dead DVD Review: An Absolutely Wonderful Labor of Zombie Love

By Davy | Jul 6, 2014

There have been many documentaries about the making of movies, especially about the horror genre, but Roy Frumkes' 32 year-old ...

The Unknown Known Movie Review: Rumsfeld’s Snowflakes

By Critical curmudgeon | Jun 30, 2014

Filmmaker Errol Morris has said of his interview with former U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld that it was one ...

I Am Big Bird: The Caroll Spinney Story Movie Review: A Portrait of an Artist as a Yellow Bird

By Cinema Sentries | Jun 24, 2014

Written by Amanda Salazar I Am Big Bird: The Caroll Spinney Story is exactly that, a portrait of the man ...

The Pleasures of Being / Out of Step Movie Review: Jazz Critic Nat Hentoff Gets the Soft-bop Treatment

By Cinema Sentries | May 18, 2014

Written by S. Edward Sousa “Mingus tries harder than anyone I know to walk naked.” - Nat Hentoff in the ...

By Greg Barbrick | Apr 23, 2014

They call themselves “Featfans,” and are to Little Feat what the Deadheads are to the Grateful Dead. Recently the Featfans ...

Eric Clapton: The 1970s Review DVD Review: Between Cream and 461 Ocean Boulevard

By Greg Barbrick | Mar 11, 2014

The video company Sexy Intellectual specialize in unauthorized biographies, such as From Straight to Bizarre: Zappa, Beefheart, Alice Cooper and ...

Pride and Perseverance: The Story of the Negro Leagues DVD Review: Best Told by the Players Who Lived It

By generaljabbo | Feb 7, 2014

When Jackie Robinson took the field for the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947, he broke an unwritten color rule in Major ...

Penguins: Spy In The Huddle DVD Review: A Look at a Penguin’s Life from the Inside

By generaljabbo | Jan 25, 2014

Penguins are remarkable creatures. Able to endure some of the most extreme climates on earth, they are also some of ...

Never Sleep Again: The Elm Street Legacy Blu-ray Review: A Must-Own for Any Nightmare Fan

By Mark Buckingham | Jan 21, 2014

Never Sleep Again: The Elm Street Legacy was originally released on DVD back in 2010. It's received a proper HD ...

Maidentrip Movie Review: A Journey of Both Personal and Historical Significance

By Mark Buckingham | Jan 15, 2014

Maidentrip is director Jillian Schlesinger's documentary/compilation of the story of Laura Dekker, the teenage adventurer who sought to become the ...

Birth of the Living Dead DVD Review: An Entertaining Documentary

By Jade Blackmore | Jan 9, 2014

The Walking Dead , zombie conventions, Shaun of the Dead, and innumerable zombie novels all owe their existence to the ...

Tim’s Vermeer Movie Review: Art Isn’t Easy

By Adam Blair | Dec 14, 2013

We're well into the age of instant images; anyone with a smartphone is, or can be, a photographer and/or videographer. ...

Bryan Ferry: Live in Lyon DVD Review: Smooth, Professional Concert Crooning

By Kent Conrad | Dec 13, 2013

After a certain age, all British rock musicians seem to funnel into one style of music. It begins gradually (and ...

Grey Gardens (1976) Criterion Collection Blu-ray Review: An S-T-A-U-N-C-H Classic

By Dusty Somers | Dec 11, 2013

The Film A landmark in documentary filmmaking and possibly the most well known work from the school of direct cinema, ...