MANSOME- 2012. Synopsis by Netflix. “From director Morgan Spurlock and producers Will Arnett and Jason Bateman comes a raucous but thoughtful documentary examining what defines masculinity in our modern culture of male grooming products, suave celebrities and avant-garde facial hair.”
5/18/12- Bad reviews all around including today’s NY Times. TRDB.
Add comment May 19th, 2012
NEVER STAND STILL: DANCING AT JACOB’S PILLOW- 2012. Synopsis by Netflix. “Legendary dancers and choreographers Merce Cunningham, Paul Taylor, Suzanne Farrell, Mark Morris, Judith Jamison and Bill Irwin appear alongside new innovators to reveal the passion, discipline and daring of the world of dance.”
5/18/12- Today’s NY Times thought it was OK but too pedantic. They liked the dancing. TRDB.
Add comment May 18th, 2012
TALES FROM DELL CITY TEXAS- 2012. Synopsis by Netflix. “In this documentary, filmmaker Josh Carter travels to Dell City, Texas — population 569 — and helps the residents make their own shorts about the town, producing a charming look at their community and their lives in this remote rural area.”
5/18/12- Good review in today’s NY Times. TRDB.
Add comment May 18th, 2012
LOST BOHEMIA- 2011. Synopsis by Rotten Tomatoes. “For over 100 years, the most significant 20th century artists and performers have lived and worked in the 165 landmark Studios atop Carnegie Hall, including Marilyn Monroe, Isadora Duncan, Barnett Newman, Norman Mailer, Marlon Brando and George Balanchine. In 2001, the Carnegie Hall Corporation began to systematically evict the artists (some in residence for over forty years), destroy the Studios and convert the spaces into offices. Alarmed by the situation, photographer Josef Astor, a resident of the Carnegie Hall Studios for over twenty years, began to film his neighboring artists, the ballet school, drama classes, dancers, singing teachers, sculptors, painters and writers. Over a period of eight years, first-time director Astor filmed several hundred hours of the remaining artist tenants as they fought to preserve the Studios for future generations. LOST BOHEMIA is Astor’s intimate, affectionate portrait of these extraordinary people and chronicles the pleasures and struggles of working artists in New York City. LOST BOHEMIA is the only film documentation of the Carnegie Studios, the artists and the Studio’s significant history. Vintage film, photographs, television footage, materials from the artist’s private collections and music complete the documentary’s story.” Excellent reviews. TRDB.
Add comment May 11th, 2012
THIS IS NOT A FILM- 2011. Synopsis by Netflix. “When the Iranian government banned director Jafar Panahi from making a film for 20 years, he titled his next project This Is Not a Film. The resulting documentary covers a day in Panahi’s life as he reflects on his unhappy situation.” Excellent reviews. TRDB.
3/12/13- You have to admire the film maker who smuggled this film out of the country while he was facing charges against the state. However, I can’t say that I enjoyed this bland movie. TRDB.
Add comment May 11th, 2012
PORTRAIT OF WALLY- 2012. Synopsis by Netflix. “This fascinating documentary examines the historic court battle over Egon Schiele’s Portrait of Wally, a Nazi-looted painting that was stolen from a Jewish art dealer fleeing Vienna and wound up in New York’s Museum of Modern Art.” Very good early reviews. TRDB.
5/11/12- NY Times review today was non specific. I could not even guess if the reviewer liked it or not. TRDB.
Add comment May 6th, 2012
NEVER STAND STILL- 2011. Synopsis by Netflix. “Legendary dancers and choreographers Merce Cunningham, Paul Taylor, Suzanne Farrell, Mark Morris, Judith Jamison and Bill Irwin appear alongside new innovators to reveal the passion, discipline and daring of the world of dance.” Weak early reviews. TRDB.
Add comment May 5th, 2012
CHRONICLING A CRISIS- 2012. Synopsis by Rotten Tomatoes. “Award-winning Director Amos Kollek takes a penetrating look in the mirror, at the addiction that is filmmaking, after the failure of his film Happy End. He chronicles his family from 2004 to the present, especially his conflicted relationship with his father, the mythical mayor of Jerusalem. Intertwined with Amos’s story is the story of Robin, a NY prostitute who Amos meets on his quest to fund his next film. Both struggle with their highs and lows trying to find some harmony to help them proceed to the future.”
5/4/12- An OK review in today’s NY Times but other reviews are not as good. TRDB.
Add comment May 5th, 2012
JOFFREY: MAVERICKS OF AMERICAN DANCE- 2012. Synopsis by Rotten Tomatoes. “Joffrey: Mavericks of American Dance tells the story of this groundbreaking cultural treasure, known as the first truly American dance company. Narrated by Tony and Emmy Award winner Mandy Patinkin and directed by Bob Hercules (Bill T. Jones-A Good Man), the film documents how The Joffrey Ballet revolutionized American ballet by daringly combining modern dance with traditional ballet technique, combining art with social statement and setting ballets to pop and rock music scores.”
4/27/12- This movie had received only fair professional reviews but audiences have liked it. TRDB.
Add comment April 27th, 2012
DOLPHIN BOY- 2012. Synopsis by Rotten Tomatoes. “Morad – a teenager from an Arab village in the north of Israel disconnects himself from humans following a violent attack that he experienced. As a last resort before hospitalization in a Mental Institution, he is taken by his devoted father to be treated with Dolphins in Eilat. Morad starts speaking again after months of silence, but he erases his past and refuses to go home to his awaiting mother. This documentary about the devastating havoc that human violence can wreak upon the human soul, and about the healing powers of nature and of love, was filmed over the course of the past four years.”
4/27/12- Good review in today’s NY Times. TRDB.
Add comment April 27th, 2012