2024 in Review: Best Documentary Films of the Year
As I do every year, I separate documentaries into their own Best of the Year list, not because I feel they should be judged any differently than narrative films, but […]
Review: At Times Difficult to Watch, Sugarcane, Chronicling Systemic Abuse at Canada’s Residential Schools, Is Essential Viewing
Plenty of movies are meant to be an escape, a fleeting couple hours’ entertainment featuring superheroes or meet-cutes or triumphant protagonist’s journeys. In the world of documentaries, escapism is hard […]
Review: Biographical Documentary Frida Reminds Us of the Complex Woman Behind the Icon
Poor Frida Kahlo. Much like that other Latin American revolutionary icon, Ernesto Che Guevara, she never imagined that—to a paraphrase Puerto Rico rock group Fiel a La vega’s song “Canciones en la […]
Review: Howl Is a Tight Turn-Based Strategy With a Melancholy Atmosphere
2023 was packed full of great video games, so it makes sense if you missed a few. I know I did–I’m still playing catch-up. That means I missed some great […]
Review: Kleber Mendonça Filho Bravely Preserves a Piece of Moviegoing History in Pictures of Ghosts
The city of Santurce used to be, when I was growing up in the 1970s and early ’80s, the moviegoing mecca for those who called the San Juan Metropolitan Area […]
Review: In Imagining the Indian, Filmmakers Ask Americans to Challenge Tradition, Respect their Native Neighbors
Many times when critics review an issue-oriented documentary, the writer will focus more on the issue and less on the filmmaking, and judge the film on how well the filmmaker […]
Review: Oscar-Nominated Short Documentary Films Explore Issues of the Environment, Community, Family and Politics
In order to qualify for the Academy Awards for short films (in the live action, animation or documentary categories), a film must meet two main criteria: one, it must play […]
Review: Rock ‘n Roll Dreams Come True at Joyful, if Self-Indulgent, Rock Camp
There’s nothing particularly exceptional about the filmmaking on display in Rock Camp, a new film about the long-running Rock ‘n Roll Fantasy Camp that allows aspiring musicians, die-hard fans or anyone […]
Review: Some Kind of Heaven Peeks Behind the Glossy Façade of the Country’s Biggest Retirement Community
On a recent episode of the New York Times podcast “The Daily,” the show that focuses on one timely news story each morning, reporters descended on The Villages, the massive, […]
Review: Bibliophiles Will Get Lost In the Nostalgia, Promise of The Booksellers
As author Fran Lebowitz reminds us in the terrific new documentary The Booksellers, there was a time not so long ago when, if you had an hour to kill in […]
Review: Slay the Dragon Channels the Political Drama, Intrigue Around Gerrymandering
Quite often, documentaries built around political themes have a long list of grievances but not a lot when it comes to solutions to the multitude problems being presented. The compelling […]
Review: Oscar Nominated Short Documentaries Chronicle Life’s Hardest, Most Meaningful Moments
If you plan to see the Oscar Nominated Documentary Shorts Program, now playing at the Music Box Theatre, keep in mind that all five films are presented as a single […]