Category: documentary

Making of Montgomery Clift: A Timely and Worthy Mission

With a busy life, I was able to score two Sarasota Film Fest Tickets. My first film was a new documentary by Rob Clift, Montgomery Clift’s nephew, Making of Montgomery Clift . First and foremost, bless Rob Clift for caring enough about his Uncle’s reputation (and indirectly his Dad who ripped Clift’s biographer for warping… Continue reading Making of Montgomery Clift: A Timely and Worthy Mission

The Invisibles: Better Title, A New Term Perhaps: Tenacitators

Tenacitators might be a strange term, but something about the title The Invisibles makes this film sound like a new Marvel movie or animated deal. And when I think of the four principle characters, real humans who survived hiding during Hitler’s last desperate days, invisible is the furthest word from my mind, rather they are… Continue reading The Invisibles: Better Title, A New Term Perhaps: Tenacitators

Maria “Solo Me So” Callous (Pun intended) vs. Freddie Mercury

It’s all in the ear of the beholder of course, but one of the reasons I cared so much about Bohemian Rhapsody (thank you Golden Globes by getting that right!) was the purity (and full length songs) of original Queen music. The benefit that Bohemian Rhapsody had besides my halcyon high school and college memories… Continue reading Maria “Solo Me So” Callous (Pun intended) vs. Freddie Mercury

What Gilda Radner and Anthony Bourdain suddenly have in common

I recently saw Love, Gilda with a new funny friend, so I was grateful that the cancer and death piece of the new doc Love Gilda (directed by Lisa Dapolito) was as brief as it could possibly be. Yet the doc was also too safe, not wanting to hurt Gilda’s mom perhaps if she’s still… Continue reading What Gilda Radner and Anthony Bourdain suddenly have in common

Three of Me-Oh: Yikes! Three Identical Strangers

After getting hit up for conversation with two chatty women at the pool this morning before I’ve even had coffee (both lovely ladies), I suddenly thought, ‘if I found out I was one of a set of triplets, I might not like it!’. Lord! But as a documentary, Three Identical Strangers was a 9 and… Continue reading Three of Me-Oh: Yikes! Three Identical Strangers

Mr. Rogers was a Wonder, But If We Take It Down a Notch We Can All Be Him

Won’t You Be My Neighbor is just what you would expect it to be, which is great for the collective us who all need optimism and love at this point in history. And Won’t You Be My Neighbor the documentary is also a worthy film in that it holds a few surprising insider tidbits. Director… Continue reading Mr. Rogers was a Wonder, But If We Take It Down a Notch We Can All Be Him

Let This Be a Lesson: RBG

Wow, was I ignorant about Ruth Bader-Ginsburg! Here I’ve been working at BookStoreOne in Sarasota, and in my defense, with a constant stream of books going by me on a daily basis…here was The Notorious RBG book, the RBG workout book (my interior though being, ‘does this get shelved in Humor or Health and Fitness?,… Continue reading Let This Be a Lesson: RBG

Ode to Grandma and Photographer Sebastiano Salgado

Today is my Grandmother’s 95th birthday. It’s also the day I finished Wim Wenders 2014 Oscar nominated documentary and free Selby Library loaner “The Salt of the Earth”. What could these two things possibly have in common? First, my grandmother, Florence Baker, has endured countless deaths and tragedies. From her parents passing, to four siblings,… Continue reading Ode to Grandma and Photographer Sebastiano Salgado

Once, Twice, Three Times a Billy (Bob Thornton)

Forgive the old Commodores song title “Once Twice Three Times a Lady” (by the way was that a secret fat shaming title? an overly p.c. world joke…) But summertime always reminds me of middle-high school when I’d hear the sweet sounds of the Commodores at some carnival or outdoor event. This is actually a review… Continue reading Once, Twice, Three Times a Billy (Bob Thornton)