More than just a concert film, this is a chronicle of both the music of a generation and the community that formed around it for a weekend in 1969.
Category: Documentary
‘Not Quite Hollywood’ – The Wild, Untold Story of Ozploitation on Amazon Prime
Mark Hartley’s survey of Australian exploitation cinema is one of the most entertaining and affectionate documentaries about cinema that you’ll ever see.
‘Best of Enemies’ – Buckley vs. Vidal on Amazon Prime
Best of Enemies (2015) carries the subtitle “Buckley vs. Vidal” and it is indeed a portrait of a rivalry, one that was presented on prime time network television at a time when there were three networks and TV news strived to be fair and balanced to a fault. In 1968, William F. Buckley was the […]
What to stream: ‘Pursuit of Love’ on Amazon, ‘Freaky’ on HBO Max, music docs on Apple + and Paramount+
Here’s what’s new and ready to stream now on Netflix, Amazon Prime, Hulu, HBO Max, Disney+, video-on-demand, and other streaming services … Lily James and Emily Beecham play cousins—one rebellious and vivacious, the other shy and careful—who take very different routes to love in the limited series “The Pursuit of Love“ (TV-PG). The handsomely-mounted […]
‘The Beatles: Eight Days a Week – The Touring Years’ on Hulu
Do we need another documentary on The Beatles? Yes, they are music legends, rock royalty, and a popular culture phenomenon, and they have been duly studied, appreciated, dissected, and celebrated practically from the moment they set foot on American soil. Is there anything left to say? Ron Howard’s The Beatles: Eight Days a Week – […]
’78/52: Hitchcock’s Shower Scene’ – exploring ‘Psycho’ on Hulu
The title of 78/52: Hitchcock’s Shower Scene (2017), a documentary on the legendary sequence in Alfred Hitchcock’s 1961 classic Psycho, refers to the 78 camera set-ups and 52 cuts in the three-minute scene, an astounding attention to detail to a brief sequence that shocked American audiences with transgressions suggested but not actually shown on screen. […]
‘Araya’ – a landmark of poetic nonfiction on Criterion Channel
Araya (Venezuela, 1959), Margot Benacerraf’s 1959 documentary of the hardscrabble lives on the peninsula of Araya, is non-fiction filmmaking as poetic realist portrait. Araya is a barren desert surround by ocean and salt marshes on the northern reaches of Caribbean Venezuela and was originally settled by the Spanish in 1500. The “daily ritual of salt” […]
What to stream: ‘Them’ on Amazon Prime, ‘Exterminate All the Brutes’ on HBO Max, ‘Thunder Force’ on Netflix
Here’s what’s new and ready to stream now on Netflix, Amazon Prime, Hulu, HBO Max, Disney+, video-on-demand, and other streaming services … A Black family is terrorized when they move into an all-white neighborhood in 1950s Los Angeles in “Them” (not rated). The first season of the anthology series plays out over ten days […]
‘Pumping Iron’ – Arnold Schwarzenegger begins on Amazon Prime
Anyone who believes that Arnold Schwarzenegger’s rise to Hollywood superstar was a fluke needs to see Pumping Iron (1977), George Butler’s documentary on bodybuilding culture of the 1970s which did more to popularize the sport in the culture at large than anything before or since. The film follows a handful of bodybuilders preparing for the […]
‘The Kids Are Alright’ – Long live rock on Amazon Prime Video
There isn’t another rock documentary in the world like The Kids Are Alright (1979). This is no familiar biographical narrative or historical overview talking about their generation, but a scrappy, vibrant musical portrait painted in the bold colors of rock itself: impassioned lyrics, power chords, crashing drums and smashing guitars. Die-hard fans of The Who […]