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Music Box: Jason Isbell: Running With Our Eyes Closed (2023)
Intimate and honest portrait of one of THE voices in Alt-Country Music
I'm a bit biased. I've been a fan of Jason ever since he tore my heart in two with his rendition of his song "Elephant" on a Wtf Pod. I had never heard such a raw and gutting portrayal of cancer in popular music and all that hurt and passion were in the vocals and the unflinching words. This doc was made by Sam Jones, who's also credited for the great Wilco documentary I Am Trying to Break Your Heart. And like that doc, the focus is half on honest and raw personal looks inwards from the artists and the strain wrestling with their muses puts on their relationships. And half about being in the studio where something is born out of thin air.
Beats, Rhymes & Life: The Travels of A Tribe Called Quest (2011)
Exciting looks at the birth of hip hop as a creative force of nature
I love ATCQ and we do get very exciting looks at the birth of hip hop as a creative force of nature. And the iconoclasts, in their attitude, how they dressed, the topics they addressed in their lyrics. We also have the painful moments of the more toxic by the day band dynamics that lead to the breakup until they get back together to release a brilliant swan song album in 2016.
I don't think the rift between the two band members is completely made clear in the documentary except it's about one of them feeling disrespected and egos and I think there was more there to unearth by a more skilled film maker. But Rapaport made this film with love.
Tony Hawk: Until the Wheels Fall Off (2022)
surprisingly melancholy and heartbreaking
This was surprisingly melancholy and heartbreaking. I had expected some fun skater music and vintage footage and there was certainly that, thankfully, but here we get a look at someone skating hours every day because he doesn't know how to be in a family and you get several hearstopping accidents where his skating obsession almost kills him with his fellow skaters and bystanders pleading him to stop.
I've liked Sam Jones music documentaries so far too: the Wilco and Jason Isbell documentaries are as intimate as you want a look at a creative person to be. Sam Jones seems to have a way of getting the documentary subject to trust him and let him in behind the shield.
Still (2023)
the spark is still there.
A Michael J. Fox Movie (2023): It's really hard to put into words what this movie made me feel. I think if you're even a bit interested, you won't regret giving it a shot. It's not a depressing movie, it's not fakely inspirational either. It's real. You get the joy of early Fox's career and a genuine comic genius that was the biggest star in the world at one point, against all odds, despite his diminuitve stature, just his boyish charm and wit and timing. And we get Parkinson's too of course and his current struggles to walk without falling down and hitting the furniture and he still finds joy in his family and he's still joking and the spark is still there.
How to Blow Up a Pipeline (2022)
A taut, tense socially conscious thriller
A taut, tense socially conscious thriller with naturalistic acting with all fresh faces cast so you get the impression it's more of a documentary than fiction. Around 90 minutes which is a major bonus these days. It's also quite daring and punk rock in terms of premise. It's basically a twist on a heist movie but more high octane tense than silly like heist movies sometimes tend to be. Reminded me of Jeremy Saulnier's movies (Blue Ruin, Green Room) in terms of being unrelenting, gripping your heart with both hands and squeezing it and not letting go until the credits roll.
Easily the best movie of the year so far.