Even as we spoke on the phone last week, filmmaker Errol Morris said he was still putting the finishing touches on his new documentary, a version of which I had seen not long before the Oscar-winning director of “The Fog of War” and “Gates of Heaven” chatted with me from his home in Massachusetts. Until recently, he was still color correcting and filling in the musical score. Letting go of the ... more >
Archives for November 2020
ARCHIVES
INTERVIEW: “Ultimately, it’s the deepest quest of all,” Errol Morris speaks with us about his new film “My psychedelic love story,” it airs tonight
Fourth Floor Productions; Moxie Pictures
Zappa, baby, Zappa
“We were loud. We were coarse. We were strange. And if anyone in the audience ever gave us any problems, we would tell them to fuck off” (Frank Zappa)
Frank Zappa, Steve Vai and Pamela Des Barres
Directed by Alex Winter
Anyone who loves or is knowledgeable about music knows what the name and the ever-so-unique man defines. Alex Winter’s fantastic documentary, “Zappa,” was made possible by being one of the most successful Kickstarter campaigns since crowdfunding became a thing. In only one month’s time the campaign achieved over a million dollars. Frank Zappa’s legacy is strong. Winter was granted ... more >
Six Feet Under’s Alan Ball dazzles with his new film “Uncle Frank” and here’s some thoughts on it
New from Amazon Studios
Paul Bettany, Sophia Lillis and Peter Macdissi
Directed by Alan Ball
Alan Ball continues to amaze with his explorations of the human condition, not just for gay Americans but for anyone who has ever had a secret, felt at war with himself or seeks to better his or her situation. The writer of “American Beauty” and creator of the HBO series “Six Feet Under” has written and directed a new film, “Uncle Frank,” that explores many of the themes common to all of Ball’s ... more >
PHOTOGRAPH: Alessandro Michele and Gus Van Sant
In this photo Gucci's artistic director Alessandro Michele stands with "My Own Private Idaho" director Gus Van Sant. Together they created "Ouverture of something that never ended," an online film festival that was shot in twenty days and that's made up of seven episodes of about twenty minutes, each. "Ouverture" launched November 16th and ends today on Gucci's YouTube channel and the GucciFest ... more >
Without making compromises knockout Romanian documentary “Collective,” a great big, and much-needed, boost for journalism, casts the spotlight on a nation’s corruption-ridden healthcare system while
One of the best documentaries of the year
Directed by Alexander Nanau
If living in this world has taught us nothing else, it is that we have long learned that when those in power lie and manipulate facts, a serpent of deceit is born and slithers through our societies devouring what is true and fair. “Collective” is a Romanian film that examines cutting through bullshit fed to the public by corrupt people in power in order to get to the facts and achieve ... more >
Guy Pearce as dyed-in-the-wool forger in “The Last Vermeer” (OUR REVIEW)
This film was adapted from the book “The Man Who Made Vermeers: Unvarnishing the Legend of Master Forger Han van Meegeren” by Jonathan Lopez
Guy Pearce, Claes Bang and Vicky Krieps
Directed by Dan Friedkin
Han Van Meegeren was such a cunning, apt artist that he convinced the world his own paintings were actually painted centuries earlier by Dutch master Johannes Vermeer. In fact, such a believer in his own talent was Van Meegeren that during World War II, he sold one of his phony Vermeers to Hermann Göring himself. The postwar aftermath of this incredibly unlikely but true tale forms the core of ... more >
A film of many sinners and few saints, “The Devil All the Time” | REVIEW
"Some people were born just so they could be buried"
Bill Skarsgård, Donald Ray Pollock, Tom Holland and Riley Keough
“The Devil All the Time” is the excellent adaptation of the deliciously nasty and viciously grim novel from Donald Ray Pollock, who also narrates the film. This is the kind of southern pulp that grabs its audience by the hair and places them among the violent nature of its characters, all the while weaving a down-home gothic tale soaking in religiosity. But this is far from the wistful “come to ... more >