Raise Hell: The Life & Times Of Molly Ivins
A Review in 100 words
Now here’s a documentary to see, indeed. Molly Ivins started her life of raising hell by resisting her rich authoritarian father. ‘I remember my dad and his friends sitting around fixing the price of oil.’ Later she said, “My teenage rebellion lasted 35 years.” Six feet tall and a devoted intellectual, her young years reading in her bedroom well prepared her to be a rebellious journalist who splintered glass ceilings and spoke truth to power. Her hilarious wit – unfortunately fueled by heavy drinking – and the confidence privileged kids inherit, combined to make her a sterling, popular syndicated journalist and author.
Toni Morrison: The Pieces I Am
Review in exactly 100 words
Combine Toni Morrison’s fascinating life and fulsome talent with an elegant documentarian, Timothy Greenfield-Sanders, and you get that rare film that is both comely and edifying. Add in talking heads who love Morrison – from Angela Davis to Oprah to Walter Mosley to Fran Lebowitz – and you have a wondrous film. The racism and sexism she faced in her eventual journey to the Nobel Prize were countered by the 48 black writers who signed a statement deploring the lack of establishment recognition for her. Greenfield-Sanders showcases not only Morrison’s personal beauty, but also the soothing Hudson River view from her home.
Do you want to take a break? Do you want music that lifts you up, talent that brings tears, and comfort all around.
Go see the movie of Aretha Franklin: Amazing Grace, made in 1972 when she was already a massive star. I fell in love with her brilliant, warm mentor James Cleveland and was moved by his Southern California Community Choir. Most of all, I was transfixed by Aretha Franklin's transcendent voice, which is a crucial part of the soundtrack of my life – and that of several generations.
The film was shot during the making of "Amazing Grace, which was both Aretha’s biggest selling album and – to this day – the best-selling live gospel album ever. Sydney Pollack, who was directing for Warner Brothers, made a terrible technical error, which left the audio out of sync. Producer Alan Elliott devoted decades to saving the film, but faced a lot of resistance, including from Aretha herself. A new technical fix and Aretha’s death allowed him to bring it to us now.
It is raw and real and sweaty and full of bloopers, such as the film crew stepping in front of the camera by accident or turning up behind Aretha messing with wires. Interesting guests dot the audience – from her father (oddly invited last minute) to Mick Jagger, hanging out in the back of the room. The vast majority of the audience is members of a Los Angeles Baptist church where they filmed over two nights.
It's simply wonderful. “Don’t bother with tissues. Bring a towel,” said The New York Times.
Well god-damn: Melissa McCarthy’s acting chops are something to behold in Can You Ever Forgive Me? For writers and readers, this film will charm the pants off of you. Based on the memoir of Lee Israel, a biographer of celebrities, we meet the exasperated agent (played by Jane Curtin, once of SNL fame), the publishing world that thrives on showy white men, and Lee’s one human friend, Jack Hock (Richard E. Grant at his best), an aging gay man who joins her in her desperation. Add two facts: one, she is a lesbian whose ex (played by Anna Deavere Smith of West Wing, The Practice, and Nurse Jackie fame) is sick and tired of her bullshit, and two, her best friend is the obligatory ill cat. Lee turns to crime and booze when her literary career is as moribund as the job she is fired from when she tells her boss to fuck off. Follow her life of forgery and fall in love.
The trailer:
The Favourite
A parody period piece in which two women court attendants (Emma Stone & Rachel Weisz) vie for the sexual and political favor of Queen Anne (Olivia Colman). Lots of giggles. Lots of girl-on-girl rumpy pumpy, but a very bewildering ending.
Bohemian Rhapsody
Those who didn’t know Freddy Mercury and the music of Queen may find this illuminating. I totally “get” the criticisms of the gay press on how nastily the gay male party days are portrayed. I couldn’t stand the teeth prosthesis they used; Rami Malek seemed so slight, unlike Freddy. The only part that moved me was the Live Aid concert at the end – very powerful.
Roma
A slow-moving, intriguing film that gives insight –on the visual and narrative levels – into Mexican life of both the bourgeois and the poor. The lives of women of different classes intersect in this Black & White nominee for Best Foreign Film. Gorgeous cinematography and strong acting.
When I saw charming, smart Amandla Stenberg interviewed on a talk show, I knew I wanted to see her moving, powerful film, The Hate U Give. Stenberg plays Starr Carter, a teenager who lives a life of code-switching. Home is an impoverished Black community suffering the violence of the police and the violence of the drug dealers. School is in a posh white neighborhood where, to counteract her isolation, she must adapt her speech, behavior, and most of all her reactions.
Her lifelong friend Khalil (Algee Smith) is murdered by a white cop for no reason at all during a traffic stop, and she is the only witness. One male authority figure after another – her powerful, devoted, ex-prisoner father (Russell Hornsby); her loving uncle, a cop (Common); the local drug lord – tells her what to do about testifying or not at the upcoming grand jury. The advice from the two adult women – her mother (Regina Hall) and the community organizer (Issa Rae) – is given less emotional weight, although in the end, it is the community activist who most impacts Starr’s direction.
The cast is simply sterling – one fabulous performance after another. The action and the emotional punches are non-stop. I cried many times. Apparently meant as a Young Adult film, I recommend it to everyone.
This is the trailer:
I pretty much hated “A Star is Born,” although I agree that the acting was strong, not the least Lady Gaga. I could not stand the privileged, condescending, petulant dickhead that Bradley Cooper played. His surprise introduction of her to his audience was aggressive if not abusive. His role in life was to disrupt her upward career trajectory (as his fell) with drunken sloppiness, public scenes, and excessive pouting. Kinda reminded me of Kavanaugh. Meanwhile, she enabled, excused, and absorbed his bad behavior. Mostly I wanted him to take a shower, scrub his sweaty face, and wash his slimy hair.
(Scroll down for the next review)
The trailer:
The fundamental flaw in “Tea with the Dames” was that it was directed by a man, Roger Michell. He raised the (wrong) questions and topics. This documentary shows four of Britain’s most delectable old actors – Dames Eileen Atkins, Judi Dench, Joan Plowright, and Maggie Smith – in conversation over cups of tea, apparently shot in a single exhausting day. Michell never asked what it was like to try to find meaty roles for women over the decades, nor did he ask about harassment or pay discrimination. Rather, he was most interested in their relationships with their (often famous) husbands. Missed opportunity.
The trailer:
Short summary: “Gilda” is strangely lacking any emotional impact – I got neither big laughs nor tears. So much was missing (some important voices, an engaging narrative arc) – but most of all her work was missing (except very short snippets out of context.)
I remember the first year of Saturday Night Live. Endearing Gilda Radner had been the very first staff member hired for the show – and for me and many other fans she was at the heart of show, even as she was fighting writer-room sexism to get herself into the skits. She was a total riot!
I remember watching as she got thinner and thinner, although we didn’t know the words for bulimia and anorexia at the time.
I remember when she got cancer, when she came back in remission, and when she got ill again.
I remember when she died. It was shocking. It was painful.
You’ll find very little of the magic of Gilda in this documentary. It’s stitched together in jerky bits and pieces, with many of the talking heads being current SNL comedians who never worked with her or even knew her. I appreciated the childhood photos and commentary – that part of her life was new to me. Unfortunately the tone of the film is distant, dispassionate, more like a resume than the gushy love letter Gilda deserves.
Trailer
With just three days left on a year’s probation, after serving time for a felony, Collin (Daveed Diggs) is doing everything he can to follow the rules and make it out of these last days without trouble. However, his best buddy since they were 11, Miles (Rafael Casal), is pretty cavalier about the situation and is raising all sorts of hell. Collin is black; Miles is white. They are both in turmoil over the gentrification of their city Oakland, California.
Trigger alert: There is male-on-male violence, fueled by fear, anger, injustice, and testosterone – although no woman is a target in this film. Made by these two real-life friends and strongly directed by first time director Carlos Lopez Estrada, this film examines with brutal honesty the volatility of the intersection of race and class and masculinity.
The oppressive ever-hovering threat of the police is palpable. The desperation of the women trying to protect their sons is tangible. Patter, slang, and the spoken word weave a verbal tapestry of their pain. And nothing is simple or straight-forward – just like our real lives. The acting is superb. Blindspotting is funny, scary, and humane. It will leave you with a lot to talk about. I very highly recommend it.
The trailer:
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