Maestro (2023) - Movie Review

Bradley Cooper is one of my favourite people working in Hollywood right now. As an actor, he just got done completing the heartbreaking character arc of a talking raccoon and solidifying him as one of the greatest modern superheroes with Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 3. As a producer, he backed another whopper of a comic book flick with Joker, a film I still hold in rather high regard and am beyond curious to see what in the hell the sequel is going to shape into. And as a director, his debut with A Star Is Born was a monster hit when it came out, and one of my faves from that year. The man just keeps making power moves, and always with this unmistakable confidence that, no matter what direction he takes, it’s the right one for him.

It's the kind of quality that makes him helming a film like this (or, more specifically, why Steven Spielberg would emphatically insist that he helm it) make total sense, and something of a necessity in order to do it right. While I freely admit that I don’t know all that much about Leonard Bernstein, the legend around his name carries a lot of weight, and with the take that’s being attempted here, there’s a incredibly high degree of difficulty in making it work.

This Much I Know To Be True (2022) - Movie Review

Teaming up once again with director Andrew Dominik (and I mean in front of the camera, since he also contributed to Dominik’s… interesting Marilyn Monroe biopic), This Much I Know To Be True serves as a follow-up to the 2016 documentary One More Time With Feeling. Where that film captured Cave at his most outwardly melancholic, wrestling with his grief over the death of his son, this shows him in a much better place.

Moonage Daydream (2022) - Movie Review

Like with any other genre, documentaries tend to stick to a formula, especially biographical ones: Go through the subject’s life in chronological order, from childhood to the early days to their initial brush with fame to their eventual solidification as someone worth making a documentary about. Include interviews with people revolving around that person, whether they knew them personally or looked up to them as a fan, show some behind-the-scenes footage of the person hard at work in their field of choice, maybe throw in some historical context to bring out the real worth of their efforts in the larger scheme of things; chances are you’ve seen something just like that at least once before.

Moonage Daydream isn’t a typical documentary. Coming from Brett Morgen, the mastermind behind Kurt Cobain: Montage Of Heck, it’d be a shock if it were. In fact, when Morgen offers up is so atypical, I’d almost question if this really qualifies as a ‘documentary’ in the strictest definition. While it most certainly offers a look into the life and works of David Bowie, this is more focused on aesthetics than historical documents. Mood rather than facts. It bends the conventions of film around its subject, rather than cutting the latter up to conform to the former. And in the result of this Technicolor smog cloud, Morgen offers up something that offers a far better understanding of Bowie than a simpler documentary would ever be able to grasp at.

Summer Of Soul (...Or, When The Revolution Could Not Be Televised) (2021) - Movie Review

More people should know Questlove by name. As the co-bandleader of The Roots alongside Black Thought, who have spent several years as the house band for The Tonight Show, he’s arguably more visible now than he and his crew have ever been before. But beyond their reliability as a musical act, these guys deserve all the credit in the world for being the greatest hip-hop band (not group, band) of all time. And Questlove is a big part of that, as not only did his production work help define the group’s jam-jazz aesthetic, but his drum work makes for some of the hardest shit ever put on wax, even considering how percussion-focused a lot of hip-hop is. And with his feature-length debut here as director, he is also shining a light on a unfairly underrated aspect of Black music and culture, with a retrospective of 1969’s Harlem Cultural Festival.

The Sparks Brothers (2021) - Movie Review

I know next to nothing about the band Sparks. My mother played This Town Ain’t Big Enough For The Both Of Us once, and Weird Al Yankovic did a style parody of them with Virus Alert off of Straight Outta Lynwood (incidentally my favourite Weird Al album); that’s pretty much it. But knowing that director Edgar Wright has already got a winner this year in Last Night In Soho, and his ingrained fandom sensibilities certainly make him a good fit for this kind of documentary, I’m certainly interested in learning more. I mean, I’m basically the kind of filmgoer this was seemingly designed for: A casual observer who might have heard about the band before, but probably doesn’t realise just how much influence Ron and Russell Mael have had on the music landscape worldwide. And while it definitely does its job, that comes with a few caveats.

The United States Vs. Billie Holiday (2021) - Movie Review

I have a vivid memory of the first time I heard Strange Fruit. Well, first time I heard it in its entirety, as my first exposure to it at all was through Kanye West’s Yeezus… but let’s try and ignore that for the time being. I found myself curious about the sample choice from Blood On The Leaves, did some quick Googling, and found the Nina Simone version on YouTube. Specifically, this one, and the fact that I remember it being this one is down to how harrowing that experience was. The grotesque imagery in the lyrics, the pain and occasional sneer in Simone’s vocals, the photo montage of actual lynch victims; everyone else can argue about the phrase ‘white guilt’ all they damn well please, but I really have no other way to describe the rotting feeling in my stomach when all was sung and done.

I’m starting out with this because, upon first seeing the trailer for this film about the originator Billie Holiday, I felt tremors of that gut rot from years past. As such, the notion of a film about Holiday being targeted by the U.S. government over that song certainly grabbed my interest, and when Andra Day as Billie sings it herself, staring daggers directly at the camera… yeah, it’s still one of the most powerful pieces of music ever penned. Andra Day doing her own singing, with a solid resemblance to the real Billie’s jazzy affectations, adds to the effect, as does her acting chops in depicting the final decade in Billie’s storied life… kind of.

The Forty-Year-Old Version (2020) - Movie Review

Normally, this is the kind of title (not even the film itself, just the title) that would get on my nerves because, let’s be honest, trying to bank on the popularity of The 40-Year-Old Virgin is quite an odd choice, even in a year dominated by odd choices on both sides of the screen. And yet, I have no vitriol about this one as it’s quite fitting for the film it’s attached to. The whole point at the heart of the Judd Apatow film (and a lot of what he’d make afterwards) is that there’s no age limit on ‘growing up’ as we understand it; late-bloomer doesn’t just apply to people in their late-teens or even 20s. With the docu-drama vision writer/director/producer/star Radha Blank gives here, it’s certainly in that same spirit, and it shine because of it.

Ma Rainey's Black Bottom (2020) - Movie Review

After gaining some traction with August Wilson’s words with Fences, Denzel Washington continues down that road with his latest production credit. And honestly, after seeing how this turned out, I can only see him stepping out of the director’s chair to be a good move. Don’t get me wrong, Fences was a solid production, but as a theatre adaptation, it felt a little too close to its origins to make full use of what cinema could offer such a story. Now, George C. Wolfe, on the other hand, hits the ground running on this one, and he’s not the only one doing so.

Slim & I (2020) - Movie Review

I only have one concrete memory of Aussie music icon Slim Dusty, and as embarrassing as it may seem, I’m fairly certain I’m not the only one in my generation who remembers him for this. It was when he did a duet with the Wiggles on I Love To Have A Dance With Dorothy, a kid-friendly reworking of his drinking song Duncan. Wiggly Wiggly World was in pretty heavy rotation for me as a kid, and to this day, it’s one of the main things I remember from my childhood. Even listening to it today, it gets my toes tapping… and fills me with a slight melancholy, as the singer tragically passed away from cancer when I was only eight years old. And yet that one core recollection I have of him, singing about mates joining together in dance, oddly fits with the depiction of him given in this documentary about him and his wife Joy McKean.

Dirt Music (2020) - Movie Review

With how much attention I bring to the names attached to the films I review, I really shouldn’t be in a position where I’m covering the same creative twice in a year by accident, but it seems that the Mighty Oak/Cats & Dogs 3 synchronicity from last month was just a harbinger of what’s to come. Today, we’re looking at a film adapted from a piece of classic Aussie literature by British writer Jack Thorne, who wrote the latest version of The Secret Garden to hit cinemas and screens, and who also has two other feature-length adaptations this year alone. We’ll definitely get to those at some point before the year’s out, but for right now, we’re dealing with this… and honestly, it’s got a lot of the same issues as Secret Garden.

The High Note (2020) - Movie Review

Not even a full twelve months after landing on my Best Of 2019 list, director Nisha Ganatra has already delivered with another serving of industry comedy-drama, switching this time from world of professional comedy to a look at the music industry. While I could unfortunately argue that this isn’t as fiery, or even as funny, as Late Night (and of course, I will do exactly that in a bit), it’s still a solid feature that puts the ‘soul’ in ‘cinematic soul food’.

Amazing Grace (2019) - Movie Review

It’s not every day you go to church for a séance, but that’s what this film has set itself up to be. Released for audience consumption after the tragic death of its main subject, this documentary is the live recording of Aretha’s album of the same name, a work that remains the most commercially successful live gospel album of all time and a substantial part of the Aretha catalogue. Between its lightning-in-a-bottle framing, its backing by the likes of Spike Lee’s 40 Acres And A Mule Filmworks, and its direction by legendary filmmaker Sydney Pollack, this looks to be one hell of a concert flick. And that it is but, for reasons I’ll get to, I can’t shake the feeling that something is missing from all this.

Mystify: Michael Hutchence (2019) - Movie Review

In terms of the archetypal rock star, the one that women want, men want to be, and everyone else starts learning their tastes quickly in response to, I can’t think of a better example of Australia’s own crop in that regard than one Michael Hutchence, AKA the lead singer of INXS. And in this tell-all documentary directed and co-edited by Richard Lowenstein, who put together the group’s best-remembered music videos, the narrative of Michael’s life is wrapped around that image.

Working Class Boy (2018) - Movie Review

The plot (such as it is): Born in Glasgow, Scotland, James Dixon Swan grew up surrounded by a hostile environment and a highly volatile family unit. However, when his mother moves the family from Scotland to Adelaide, Western Australia, the young James began the path that lead him to becoming an artist that would captivate audiences all over the world: Jimmy Barnes.

I Can Only Imagine (2018) - Movie Review

The plot: Christian band MercyMe, lead by singer Bart Millard (J. Michael Finley), have scored a #1 hit with their song I Can Only Imagine. As Bart is interviewed and asked what went into writing the song, he recollects his troubled childhood under his aggressively abusive father (Dennis Quaid), his connection to his faith, and how the latter ended up helping him reconcile with the former.

The Polka King (2018) - Movie Review

The plot: Polish-born Jan Lewan (Jack Black) is a polka bandleader with quite the following in his home of Pennsylvania. In fact, his fans believe in him so much that they are willing to invest thousands of dollars into his numerous business, not the least of which being his music. However, it seems that his business dealings aren’t entirely on the up-and-up, as he soon finds himself under investigation for financial fraud. Will Jan have to face his actions or will he go on to take the stage once again?

Song To Song (2017) - Movie Review

This… was a mistake. As I’ve said in reviews past, I don’t particularly like Terrence Malick. Like, not even a little bit. I think he’s undeniably talented and I’m not setting out to ruin his works for the people who do connect with them, but I was never one of them. I started with The Tree Of Life, a film I have seen crop up a lot in Internet and even general critical circles as one of the greatest films ever made. I watched it and I couldn’t even begin to see what those people saw in it. Even after having watched analyses of the film since watching it, I still don’t get how people could like something this absolutely dull. I mentioned in my review for Vacation as one of the worst films I’ve sat through, and even considering its visual chops, I stand by that. I then checked out To The Wonder, which I don’t have nearly as much against but still consider to be a weak feature. When a film contains dialogue like “What is this love that loves us?” or “Where are we when we’re there?”, it’s not just difficult to take seriously; it’s impossible.

So, why is looking at his latest feature today a mistake? Because having sat through it, I am struggling to put how this film affects me into words. Mainly because it didn’t really affect me that much overall, but also because I feel like I’ve already watched this movie twice before. I seriously doubt that I will be able to come up with anything worth reading to say about it, but ‘tis the season to make the effort so I’m going to try anyway. Wish me luck.

Meri Pyaari Bindu (2017) - Movie Review

For as much as I’ve railed against certain conventions of the genre, I can’t say I have any real issue with romance films as a whole. The genre exists for the same reason any other does, in that it’s a type of story that people want to see, and when done right, it can make for some truly powerful cinema. Whether today’s film fits that mould, I’ll get into in due time, but suffice to say, we’re in for a treat this time around.

Meta Month: Catch-Up Part 3: Diamanda Hagan and the Rap Critic (2017)

Diamanda Hagan is honestly the person I have to thank for me doing this whole catch-up thing in the first place. Back in November, Hagan sent me this tweet:

Hey @SentinelM have any eps done since this list been good enough to be on the list? https://t.co/Rx3UyWDDc8 (wondering if Iv got worse:P)

— Diamanda Hagan (@Diamandahagan) 21 November 2016

Marguerite (2016) - Movie Review

As I mentioned earlier this month, if an incredibly niche idea is worth making into a movie, might as well make it two. After sitting through Florence Foster Jenkins, and genuinely being quite impressed with the thing, discovering another film based on the same extraordinary person was rather intriguing. Rather than sticking to the real-life events of the tuneless songbird, this French outing instead touts to be inspired by those events and going in its own narrative direction. So, without automatically seeing fault in diverting from actual events (or it very well could be accurate and I wouldn’t be able to tell the difference), how does this altered take on the idea turn out?