67 Best Releases From the Genre Music (Page 3)
A Late Quartet
Before he passed away at the age of 46, Philip Seymour Hoffman starred in 52 feature films. Starring roles, character pieces, chameleon work—he left a legacy nearly unmatched in both quality and quantity. Now, with P.S.H. I Love You, Jonah Koslofsky wafts through the cornucopia of the man’s offerings. Continue Reading →
劇場版 美少女戦士セーラームーンCosmos 前編
SimilarNausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (1984), Paris Can Wait (2016), Princess Mononoke (1997),
StarringAyane Sakura, Hisako Kanemoto, Junko Minagawa, Kotono Mitsuishi, Marina Inoue, Mariya Ise, Megumi Hayashibara, Sayaka Ohara, Shizuka Itoh, Shoko Nakagawa,
StudioKing Records, Studio Deen, Toei Animation, Toei Company,
Film Comment used to run a semi-regular feature entitled “Guilty Pleasures” in which they would invite someone to write a piece about films that have often been ignored or reviled by critics and the public but for which they still maintain a deep love for any number of reasons. These articles were always fun to read but I must confess that the notion of a so-called “guilty pleasure” is one to which I have never quite subscribed. My feeling is that if a movie gives you some form of pleasure—either because it is genuinely good or because of its camp value—you should be able to celebrate it without feeling any guilt over whether or not it conforms to general standards of artistic acceptability. Continue Reading →
Carmen: A Hip Hopera
SimilarA History of Violence (2005), Match Point (2005), Shooter (2007), West Side Story (2021),
The best way to enjoy MTV’s Carmen: A Hip Hopera is with the subtitles on. That way you can catch every outrageous word of Sekani Williams’ singular lyrics. 20 years after its release in 2001, Carmen: A Hip Hopera remains unique, in a genre all its own. Continue Reading →
Fanny: The Right to Rock
Bobbi Jo Hart's energetic documentary shines a light on one of the greatest, most forgotten all-female rock bands in music history.
(This review is part of our coverage of the 2021 Hot Docs Festival.)
“He was hard as a rock / But I was ready to roll / What a shock to find out / I was in control,” sang Fanny on their 1974 single, “Butter Boy”. The innuendo-laden and not overly flattering song, which peaked at #29 on the Billboard Hot 100, had been written by guitarist Jean Millington about her ex, David Bowie. Continue Reading →
Josie and the Pussycats
By the time Josie and the Pussycats premiered in theaters in April 2001, the pop culture universe of the early aughts was already in full swing. Dissenting and raging against the machine was out, and corporate partnerships and glossy production values were in. Total Request Live was the hottest television show on the air, and it had only been eleven months after Britney Spears released Oops! I Did it Again and became the official celebrity endorser for Got Milk, Clairol, and Polaroid. The Spice Girls had just gone on hiatus, and it was the height of the Backstreet Boys vs. N*SYNC fan wars. Post Y2K and only a few months before 9/11, the Dot-com bubble was imploding and consumerism was already at an all time high. Continue Reading →
Charli XCX: Alone Together
Bradley Bell and Pablo Jones-Soler assemble a freewheeling look at the artistic process from soup to nuts.
(This review is part of our coverage of the 2021 SXSW Film Festival.)
A good number of the films on display at this year’s SXSW festival are works that are inextricably tied to the COVID-19 pandemic, either by using at as a part of the plot or because of the limitations to the production process instilled by quarantine procedures. Alone Together, which had its world premiere at the festival, takes those approaches one step further by serving as a documentary watching an artist—in this case, avant-pop queen Charli XCX—as she goes about her work under the new restrictions brought on by the current reality. Continue Reading →
Tom Petty, Somewhere You Feel Free
Mary Wharton's assemblage of lost footage from the artist's Wildflowers recording sessions celebrates his life and works, but the lack of conflict makes it hard to latch onto.
(This review is part of our coverage of the 2021 SXSW Film Festival.)
Released in 1994, Tom Petty’s Wildflowers, the second solo project that he recorded away from his longtime band The Heartbreakers, has gone on to assume a place of prominence in the discography of the late rocker with many—Petty among them—regarding it as the finest work of his career. And yet, for as laid back and relaxed as the final product sounded, it was recorded during an especially tumultuous period in his personal and professional lives, one that included the dissolution of his first marriage, his parting of the ways with original Heartbreakers drummer Stan Lynch and his departure from longtime label MCA in order to sign with Warner Brothers. Continue Reading →
I'VE BEEN HERE BEFORE
Tales of poverty, paranoia, and adolescences framed by tragedy cap off SXSW's Narrative Feature Competition.
(This dispatch is part of our coverage of the 2021 SXSW Film Festival.)
The links between family and trauma are clearly on the brain with the second half of SXSW's Narrative Feature Competition; children experience violence, trauma or poverty; parents struggle with the pain of loss or caring for the children they have; siblings clash over the confusion of their childhoods and strive to reconcile. And they do so in genres ranging from psychological thriller to indie dramedies to dark interpersonal dramas. Let's take a look. Continue Reading →
TINA
Watch afterAvatar: The Way of Water (2022),
StudioHBO Documentary Films,
The first feature-length documentary dedicated to Tina Turner leaves out too much to be truly engaging.
“This film, and the musical, are a kind of closure” says executive producer Erwin Bach, who's also partner to Tina Turner for over three decades. The music icon has, in many ways, been asked to tell the same story over and over again. Even when Turner attempted to silence the nagging questions by “journalists” about the abuse in her past by writing a biography (the now infamous I, Tina), the story of her life remained outside of her control.
Directors Daniel Lindsay and T.J Martin attempt to bring an end to the unceasing cycle of questions with their new documentary, Tina. Featuring new private interviews with Turner and those closest to her, along with a stunning array of archival footage, this is the definitive documentary on the pop and soul legend. Most of her, anyway. Continue Reading →
Moxie
SimilarA Real Young Girl (1976), Copying Beethoven (2006),
Primal Fear (1996) The Holiday (2006), What's Eating Gilbert Grape (1993),
There’s a story from Tina Fey’s Bossypants where Fey recalls a moment between Saturday Night Live castmates Amy Poehler and Jimmy Fallon. Poehler was cracking jokes, and Fallon feigned mock horror and commented “It’s not cute. I don’t like it.” Poehler reacted with “I don’t fucking care if you like it.” Poehler brings that “riot girl” attitude to her new film Moxie, a film adaptation of the 2017 book by Jennifer Mathieu. Moxie is a fun revolutionary take on the high school movie, even if it takes a while to find its footing. Continue Reading →
Billie Eilish: The World's a Little Blurry
When Billie Eilish met with director R.J. Cutler to discuss her documentary Billie Eilish: The World’s a Little Blurry, she had an odd request: “I want it to be like The Office.” Eilish, known to be a stan of the NBC comedy (she sampled dialogue from the show in her song “my strange addiction”), wanted to drop the audience into the world of her and her family as she rises from a 13-year-old viral video sensation to a 18-year-old Grammy winner. Billie Eilish: The World’s a Little Blurry is an epic journey of the on and offstage life of the musical prodigy. Continue Reading →
The United States vs. Billie Holiday
SimilarFreedom Writers (2007), La Vie en Rose (2007), Raging Bull (1980), The Pursuit of Happyness (2006),
An icon of the 20th-century jazz scene, Billie Holiday was an icon of Black culture, haunted by abuse and addiction. Her song “Strange Fruit”, based on a poem that describes a lynching, propelled her to fame – but also got the attention of the federal government, taking dramatic steps to stop her from singing the song in an effort to racialize the War on Drugs. In The United States vs. Billie Holiday, Lee Daniels tracks Holiday as the Federal Department of Narcotics begins to pursue her toward that end, in a film that ends up being a waste of potential. Continue Reading →
Trolls Band Together
SimilarBring It On (2000), Chicago (2002), Hellboy (2004), La Vie en Rose (2007), Night at the Museum (2006),
Watch afterFive Nights at Freddy's (2023), Saw X (2023), Thanksgiving (2023),
Studiodentsu,
Ed Helms and Patti Harrison charm in Nikole Beckwith's refreshing, pleasurable dramedy.
(This review is part of our coverage of the 2021 Sundance Film Festival.)
Nikole Beckwith’s Together Together doesn’t break any new ground. But it doesn’t have to -- the film’s greatest pleasure lies simply in watching every part of the story fall into place the way we predict and expect it to. The dramedy is only Beckwith's second feature, but despite its familiarity, it's a pleasurable and refreshing experience. It’s light and witty, often packed with laughs and touching moments, with two stellar lead performances at its heart. Continue Reading →
Music
Watch afterJurassic World Dominion (2022),
Before its release, Sia’s Music has generated controversy regarding the handling of its titular autistic character, including the decision to cast neurotypical actor Maddie Zeigler in the role. Sia’s responses to these critiques have only enflamed the hubbub, but tragically, those concerns are immaterial. Not because Music does a good job of handling the perspective of an autistic person, but rather quite the opposite. Continue Reading →
Summer of Soul (...Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised)
Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson's documentary about the Harlem Cultural Festival is insightful and loving.
(This review is part of our coverage of the 2021 Sundance Film Festival.)
The word “Woodstock” enters consciousness at a young age. It has become synonymous with classic rock, with music festivals, and with a decade of counterculture. With an estimated 400,000, Woodstock cemented itself as a part of popular culture, an ironic shift in its original meaning and its now-reformed image. Continue Reading →
CODA
Watch afterThe Power of the Dog (2021), West Side Story (2021),
Sian Heder directs a touching & funny story of having to choose between dreams & obligation.
The reason why so many movies about teenagers don’t work is because they often feature too-old actors playing characters who talk like jaded 35 year-olds (or rather, like the people who wrote them). Every once in a while, however, you find a real gem, like Sian Heder’s Coda, a low-key, moving story about a teenage girl who finds herself caught between doing the thing she loves, and having to help keep her family’s business afloat.
17 year-old Ruby, played by Emilia Jones (in what will hopefully be a star-making performance) is the only hearing member of her Massachusetts fishing family. On top of trying to get through school, she must also work on the family fishing boat, serving as the ears and voice of her father, Frank (Troy Kotsur), and older brother Leo (Daniel Durant), as they try to avoid (with mixed success) getting ripped off by the local fish buyer. It’s quietly expected that Ruby, who has no real plans for college, will simply stick around as long as Leo, Frank, and her mother Jackie (Marlee Matlin) need her. Continue Reading →
The Ultimate Playlist of Noise
Hulu's latest release is a heartfelt coming-of-age drama with ambition, setting out to explore a multitude of themes, including loss, acceptance, deafness, and mental illness. The Ultimate Playlist of Noise strives to tackle each subject matter in the space of a hundred minutes, but the absence of pacing and depth makes for a deflating albeit sincere film, which should have had so much more to say. Continue Reading →
ariana grande: excuse me, i love you
It feels like a lifetime ago that I saw Ariana Grande perform at Toronto’s Sound Academy, a now-defunct venue that held just a few thousand people. The fact that it was actually as recent as 2013 makes excuse me, i love you, a new Netflix film anchored by one of her 2019 shows at London’s O2 Arena, particularly awe-inspiring. Continue Reading →
Ma Rainey's Black Bottom
Awards season is upon us, which means all the studios and streaming services are breaking out their big guns. Luckily, one of the best films of the year comes to Netflix this weekend. Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, based on the play by August Wilson and starring Viola Davis and Chadwick Boseman in his final role. A fictionalized snapshot in the life of the Mother of the Blues, Ma Rainey, George C. Wolfe's film imagines her in a sweaty, muggy Chicago recording studio in the 1920s, trying to record her most popular singles for white Northern audiences, far from her comfortable Black Southern crowds. Of course, tensions rise over everything from artistic freedom, racial animus, and Coca-Cola. Continue Reading →
I Still Believe
The Erwin Brothers' Christian romance aims for crossover appeal, but can't quite rock its way into the free world.
How does one deal with grief? For many, the loss of a loved one can be devastating and lead them into depression and feelings of hopelessness. For others, the pain of loss can be used to create something beautiful and give others hope. Directing duo Jon and Andrew Erwin (I Can Only Imagine) use the story of popular Christian artist Jeremy Camp and the loss of his first wife, Melissa, as a way to inspire others who are dealing with grief in I Still Believe. The result is a movie that is often touching, but won’t do much for those outside of its target audience.
Unlike most musician biopics, which tend to showcase the artist’s entire life, I Still Believe focuses entirely on Jeremy’s relationship with Melissa. While there are multiple scenes of concerts and radio interviews, Jeremy’s musical career only features in the movie insofar as to facilitate the love story. Indeed, to call this a biopic is almost inaccurate. Although the film is biographical it’s more of an examination of love and faith than the story of Jeremy’s life.
Indeed, the first act of the film feels like your typical romantic drama. A wide-eyed Jeremy Camp (KJ Apa, Riverdale) manages to talk his way backstage for musician Jean-Luc (Nathan Parsons, Roswell: New Mexico). While there, he spots Melissa (Britt Robertson, A Dog’s Purpose) in the crowd; it’s love at first sight. Continue Reading →