What is the role of the documentarian? Should they maintain a certain distance in their filmmaking or is it their duty to insert themselves in their art and take a stand? Should they let the facts speak for themselves or tell us what to make of the bits and pieces presented? Is documentary filmmaking a form of journalism or simply a glorified Op-ed?The documentary form has come into question as debates regarding the merits of what makes a successful film rage on. For years, the liberal firebrand ...
The movie theater subscription service MoviePass has been in the news quite a bit recently -- for all the wrong reasons. Amid mounting skepticism as a result of the myriad changes to its business model, CEO Mitch Lowe sent an email to subscribers saying, âMoviePass members will be able to see up to three standard movies a month for $9.95, and be given up to a $5.00 discount to any additional movie tickets purchased.â While still a great deal, this is a far cry from their previous too-good-to-be-true ...
âSupport the Girlsâ is a fun, earnest comedy that takes an honest look at a day-in-the-life of the staff of a small-time Texas âbreastaurantâ and its long-suffering general manager Lisa, played with attention-grabbing sincerity by Regina Hall (âGirls Trip,â the âScary Movieâ series). Over the course of one stressful day, Lisa tries to span the gap between the waitresses she has vowed to take care of and the demands of an unsympathetic business; all while dealing with her own personal ...
Directed by Lisa Immordino Vreeland, âLove, Cecilâ is a dive into famous British photographer and designer Cecil Beatonâs diaries. The diaries are incredibly personal, and reveal to us the artistâs suppressed emotions, reflections of his life, the mistakes heâs made, how his childhood formed him and his inspirations for the work that he did. But what makes this documentary more interesting is seeing Cecilâs constant attempts to become part of the elite, and rub shoulders with the most ...
âMission: Impossibleâ is not the first thing that comes to mind when considering Hollywood blockbuster franchises, but maybe it should be.Major film consumption has turned a new page in the past decade. Superheroes and âcinematic universesâ dominate the zeitgeist. Great action films and franchises still exist - see âJohn Wickâ - and still make an obscene amount of money - see âFast and Furious.â However, they are secondhand entertainment to most film fans. The âMission: Impossibleâ ...
We often correlate high school to uneasiness and anxiety. Bo Burnham relates it to the frightened thirteen-year-old in us all in âEighth Grade,â a film about the final week of eighth grade for Kayla Day (Elsie Fisher). She records YouTube videos speaking words of motivation and advice for her next-to-invisible audience but struggles with shyness in day-to-day life and worries about her impending high school social life. Kaylaâs father (Josh Hamilton) tries his best to make her feel okay about ...
âI immediately started crying.â
Elsie Fisher describes her first experience seeing âEighth Gradeâ in its entirety at The Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah. Fisher stars in the film as Kayla Day, a 13-year-old who spends her free time scrolling through Instagram and making YouTube videos preaching self-confidence. Unfortunately, Kayla doesnât take to her own advice and is struck by constant shyness and social anxiety.
âEighth Gradeâ is the feature debut for 27-year-old writer/director ...
The United Statesâ treatment of indigenous peoples is one of its paramount national sins. The release of âWoman Walks Ahead,â a film that attempts to grapple with this scar on American history, seems deftly placed two days after the countryâs symbolic birthday.What ensues however is a haphazardly executed film loosely based on true events that fails in gracing the viewers with any message deeper than âhow we treated the Natives was bad.âJessica Chastain plays artist Catherine Weldon, ...
The summer, while usually reserved for the blockbuster smashes of superhero action flicks, has found a darling in Boots Rileyâs first feature film, âSorry To Bother You.â The film centers on Cassius Green (Lakeith Stanfield) as he descends into the seedy underworld of telemarketing while discovering his âwhite voice.â The film is out now and has been a project of Rileyâs for some time: the original script was finished in 2012 and published as its own paperback in 2014. Starting his career ...
