The Beatles: Eight Days a Week – The Touring Years documentary review: yeah yeah yeah
There’s not a lot new here, but the vintage footage is fab, as is the much-needed reminder that the supposedly innocent past was hardly innocent at all.
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Starving the Beast documentary review: the deliberate dumbing down of the American university
Lays out with calm, terrifying clarity how US public universities are being turned into profit-making ventures at the expense of students and education.
Floyd Norman: An Animated Life documentary review: meet the “wise old man” of Disney
He’s a charming character, a fascinating player in cinema history. Absolutely essential viewing for Disney fans and those interested in animated filmmaking.
Miss Sharon Jones! documentary review: get up, get on back up
Cheer-worthy portrait of a singer for whom overcoming adversity has been a mainstay, and a testament to the power of music and family to keep a gal going.
Love Between the Covers documentary review: respect for romance
Delightful. A sharp, affectionate peek inside the cozy, supportive community of writers and readers that drives multibillion-dollar romance book publishing.
Weiner documentary review: the unchecked narcissism of politics
Hugely watchable cautionary tale of Shakespearean proportions about 21st-century politics. Beautifully, nastily perfect in its ironies and twists.
Raiders!: The Story of the Greatest Fan Film Ever Made documentary review: it belongs in a cinema!
Thoroughly hilarious, surprisingly poignant portrait of fandom, friendship, and the filmmaking odyssey that consumed the teenage years of three movie lovers.
Time to Choose documentary review: yes, it’s another movie about global warming
Quickly dispels oh-no-not-more-doom-and-gloom climate-change trepidation with the optimism embodied in the title. There is hope for us, but we must act now.
Requiem for the American Dream and The Divide documentaries review: economic inequality for all
Two powerful documentaries look at the ever-growing wealth gap, and introduce us to some of those struggling through the resultant financial insecurity.
The Syndrome documentary review: baby with the bathwater
A smartly dispassionate and skeptical look at “shaken baby syndrome,” and an accidental portrait about how science fails us when it solidifies into dogma.
