If only I’d had more time. It’s a common refrain I tell myself whenever a top-drawer festival such as DOC NYC comes along. I didn’t get to nearly as many films this year as I would have liked (it’s always that way), but what I did see was a firm reminder that truth is not only stranger than fiction, it’s often braver. Here’s a look back at some stellar documentaries, which you should watch, ... more >
ARCHIVES
The Falwells’s fall from grace gets the documentary treatment in ‘God Forbid’ and we talked with director Billy Corben about it | NEW ON HULU
Corben previously directed "Cocaine Cowboys" and "Limelight"
In the worst tradition of hypocrites everywhere, Jerry Falwell Jr. admonished his flock to abstain from alcohol, premarital (and certainly extramarital) sexual activity, and no dancing. But as we now know, the president of Virginia’s Liberty University was not only fond of a stiff drink, he and his wife Becki were involved in a multiyear throuple with a twentysomething pool boy they met at Miami’s ... more >
“We are each other’s business at the end of the day”; “TILL” comes out today and we spoke to director Chinonye Chukwu about it
Starring Danielle Deadwyler, Jalyn Hall and Jamie Renell
Directed by Chinonye Chukwu
On March 29th, after passing overwhelmingly in both houses of Congress, President Joe Biden signed into law the Emmett Till Antilynching Act—sixty-seven years after the Black teenager was brutally murdered in Mississippi in 1955 by two white men angry over Till’s supposed whistling at one of their wives. He was just fourteen at the time of his murder. An all-White Mississippi jury exonerated ... more >
“BREAKING” writers and director discuss the importance of ‘being heard’ | INTERVIEW
Starring John Boyega, Nicole Beharie and Selenis Leyva
Directed by Abi Damaris Corbin
On July 3rd, 2017, desperate for help and with seemingly no one taking his complaints of pain seriously, retired Marine Brian Easley walked into an Atlanta-area bank, gently informing a clerk that he had a bomb. He didn’t want to rob the bank, he insisted; he simply wanted the money he felt the VA had denied him for his own care. He also wanted to be heard. Easley phoned both 911 and a local ... more >
Reviewed in brief: “IMAGE OF VICTORY,” “CLAYDREAM,” “LET ME BE ME,” “SIMCHAS AND SORROWS”
You’ve already seen “Top Gun: Maverick” and “Jurassic World: Dominion,” so while you wait with baited breath for “Bullet Train” and “Avatar: The Way of Water,” you should seek out these four intriguing films, which, unlike the slam-boom-bang of the big-screen summer tentpoles (not that we don’t love them because we do!), might actually give you something to contemplate after the credits ... more >
The life and times of the former Congresswoman from Arizona; “GABBY GIFFORDS WON’T BACK DOWN” | REVIEW
Beating the odds (and the odds, they were bad)
Directed by Julie Cohen and Betsy West
What an amazing human is the former congresswoman from Arizona, who was shot in the head in 2011 and not only survived but has continued to serve the public. Though Gabby Giffords retired from the House after her near-fatal shooting by an angry and mentally unstable constituent, she somehow still maintains her smile, her poise, her good humor even when it would be more than understandable for her ... more >
The man behind the record books, Nolan Ryan front and center in “FACING NOLAN” | FILM REVIEW
New documentary about baseball great is a love note to its subject
Robert Goldman and Nolan Ryan
Directed by Bradley Jackson
The debates about the greatest pitcher of all time inevitably bring up names including Sandy Koufax, Randy Johnson and Roger Clemens. The latter two appear in “Facing Nolan” to talk about Nolan Ryan, the man who idolized Koufax–and then shattered all of his records. Ryan, now 75 and still sporting that understated grin, sits for writer-director Bradley Jackson’s enthralling new documentary, a ... more >