Growing up in the 70s and 80s, I inherently knew who Julia Child was. “I’m Julia Child!” I could warble in my best imitation, just knowing her as the jovial host of cooking shows on PBS. She was right up there with (“Walkies!”) dog trainer Barbara Woodhouse or gentle painter Bob Ross, pre-internet pop culture …
The Alpinist introduces us to Marc-André Leclerc, a goofy young man in his 20s who seemingly came out of nowhere to wow the climbing world with his solo ascents of some of the Americas’ most challenging peaks. The filmmakers want to pin the guy down for a straightforward documentary, but Leclerc isn’t a man who …
When Anthony Bourdain died a couple years ago by suicide, I was one of the few people I knew that didn’t have a visceral reaction to the news. I knew who he was, of course, in sort of a pop culture way, but had never seen any of his travel shows nor had read his …
My knowledge of the band Sparks started with the new wave hits “Angst in My Pants” and “Eaten by the Monster of Love” (featured in the 1982 film Valley Girl), and ended with the pop confection “Cool Places” (a charming hit with the Go Go’s Jane Wiedlin). To get an idea of how surprisingly (to …
Rita Moreno: Just a Girl Who Decided to Go for It spans the multi-talented actress/singer/dancer’s illustrious and still thriving career as an EGOT icon, from the well-known public persona to the shockingly personal. Rita, with her infectious personality and refreshing frankness does not hold back. Every shining moment is countered with something raw and personal. …
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SYNOPSIS: With Some Kind of Heaven, first-time feature director Lance Oppenheim cracks the manicured facade of The Villages, America’s largest retirement community – a massive, self-contained utopia located in Central Florida. Behind the gates of this palm tree-lined fantasyland, Some Kind of Heaven invests in the dreams and desires of a small group of Villages …
Once upon a time, a group of extraordinarily talented young musicians married traditional Irish music with a punk rock attitude helping to revitalize a wounded Ireland’s international popularity in the process. The Pogues recorded a handful of brilliant albums, and toured the world several times over. At the height of their success, an overwhelmed lead …
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It is not very often that I have felt a full-body shudder of horror from watching something on screen. But early in the documentary Collective, about the investigation and cover up following the deaths of dozens of people in a rock club fire, there is video footage from one of the club-goers. A metal band …
The cinematic portrayal of an antiquarian bookseller is usually of a gray-haired old guy in a tweed jacket who grumbles whenever he is disturbed by a customer. The bookstore is musty and dim, and you can see dust fly out of a book when it slammed shut. The Booksellers doesn’t necessarily dispel this stereotype (like …
When “gay cancer” started spreading in the early 1980s, so little was known about it, that it was not only terrifying to the gay community that it seemed to be exclusively targeting, but it was terrifying to hospitals and care givers as well. Those on the front lines of care were swaddled in “space suits” …