Documentary
Hulu’s Tekashi 6ix9ine Struggle Documentary Is Low Quality Just Like His Bars
Source: PYMCA / Getty To many a Hip-Hop head, Tekashi 6ix9ine has always been considered a “struggle rapper” regardless of how many times he topped the Billboard charts or how much money he earned with his mediocre records. His lyrical content has always been linked to the struggle and now he has a documentary to match. According to Yahoo, Hulu quietly released their Tekashi 6ix9ine documentary, ’69: The Saga of Danny Hernandez is the kind of mess you’d expect from a rapper who’s seemingly been all over the place in his young and short career. Directed by Vikram Gandhi, the documentary delves deep into the somewhat public life of the 24-year-old Brooklyn rapper and though it seems to be informative, it also lacks the kind of inside information that would make ...
Bruce Springsteen’s Letter to You Documentary Sheds Light on What Drives The Boss: Review
The Pitch: It’s not every day that you record the 20th studio album of your half-century career in music. When that time does come, it’s worth memorializing. Such is the case with Bruce Springsteen’s Letter to You, the new making-of documentary now streaming on Apple TV+. Shot last November at Springsteen’s home studio in New Jersey during a four-day recording session with the E Street Band, the film does more than simply capture a veteran band making a hard job look easy. It also gives Springsteen a chance to expand upon and espouse the thoughts on legacy, time, and the creative process that animate the new record’s material. New Jersey in Winter: While it’s unlikely that Springsteen and his crew opted for a late fall recording date to maximize the potential for cinematic poignancy, that ...
Totally Under Control Is a COVID-19 Horror Movie for the History Books: Review
The Pitch: COVID-19. Sorry, but there really are no breaks from this fucker until we have actual, steady control over this present strain of novel coronavirus. When the culture is illness, you don’t hide under coats until the whole thing blows over. You deal head-on. And this review for this particular movie will treat the issue in that way. Despite President Trump’s assertions that COVID-19 is “totally under control,” no, it’s not. And that, in a dish served cold and fast, is the case of the new documentary Totally Under Control. With 210,000 dead in the United States and rising, millions infected, and a president unwilling to acknowledge the hubris of his actions while himself testing positive for the disease, we’re far away from anything remotely resembling “control” at this present mom...
Paul McCartney on Finally Reconciling with John Lennon: It Would Have Been a “Heartache” If We Hadn’t
In honor of what would have been John Lennon’s 80th birthday, BBC Radio 2 is set to air a new documentary dedicated to The Beatles legend. Dubbed simply John Lennon at 80, the special tribute is comprised of interviews Sean Lennon conducted with his father’s close friends, family, and colleagues, including Paul McCartney. One of the topics McCartney discussed is how he and John finally set aside their differences and reconciled before the “Imagine” songwriter’s tragic death. Discord between the two musicians was well known, especially after The Beatles broke up in 1970. As The Independent notes, in an interview the following year, John said he could never see himself working with Macca again. The bad blood continued later in 1971, when McCartney revealed that his song “Too Many People” fea...
John Belushi’s Legendary Career Chronicled in New Showtime Documentary: Watch Trailer
John Belushi’s lasting influence hasn’t faded even as we approach the 40th anniversary of his passing. This fall, his legacy will be further cemented and celebrated in R.J. Cutler’s new Showtime documentary, Belushi. The film’s first trailer presents a candid portrait of the comedian and actor via unheard audiotapes, career-spanning clips, and interviews with his friends and family. The doc covers Belushi’s early years growing up in Wheaton, Illinois through his continued impact on the comedy world long after his tragic 1982 death at the age of 33. To help recount Belushi’s life story, audio from the late star is interspersed with interviews from his wife, Judy Belushi; fellow Blues Brother Dan Aykroyd; actual brother Jim Belushi; and Saturday Night Live head Lorne Michaels. Other collabor...
US Republican senators confront Netflix over Chinese sci-fi show
Five Republican US senators have confronted Netflix over the streaming giant’s plan to adapt a Chinese sci-fi book trilogy, expressing concern over the original author’s comments about claims of forced labor in Xinjiang. Liu Cixin’s bestselling “The Three-Body Problem,” which tells the story of humanity’s first contact with aliens, is set to become a major Netflix series co-written by the creators of “Game of Thrones.” In a letter to content boss Ted Sarandos, the senators accused Liu of “parroting dangerous [Communist Party] propaganda” and suggested Netflix was “providing a platform to Mr Liu in producing this project.” They highlighted a New Yorker article from last year in which Liu is quoted defending mass internment in China’s northwestern Xinjiang region, where activists say more th...
New Jimi Hendrix Documentary Explores Infamous Rainbow Bridge Film and 1970 Concert in Maui
Some performances are as legendary as the story surrounding it, and Jimi Hendrix’s live show in Maui, Hawaii is one of them. The famous 1970 concert took place at the foot of the Haleakala volcano, filmed as part of the rock icon’s hilariously incoherent Rainbow Bridge movie. Now, a new documentary called Music, Money, Madness… Jimi Hendrix In Maui will take fans behind the scenes of that ill-fated film and the unusual circumstances leading up to Hendrix’s performance. An accompanying live album has also been announced. The idea for Rainbow Bridge came shortly after Hendrix’s momentous delivery of the “Star-Spangled Banner” at Woodstock the previous year. Seeking to capitalize on Hendrix’s rock stardom, his manager, Michael Jeffrey, planned out a semi-fictional movie that would captur...
Spike Lee Captures a Celebration and Calls for Action With David Byrne’s American Utopia: TIFF Review
This review is part of our coverage of the 2020 Toronto International Film Festival . The Pitch: With American Utopia, director Spike Lee brings his eye to David Byrne’s critically-acclaimed Broadway show. Part concert documentary, part contemporary dance performance, and part social commentary, Lee’s latest feature is a call to action about embracing human connections, social responsibilities, and change across the world. Uniform-ity: Unlike conventional concert documentaries — and not too dissimilar from Jonathan Demme’s iconic Talking Heads feature Stop Making Sense — the stage of the Hudson Theatre is kept almost completely bare. Byrne remains under the spotlights for nearly the whole runtime, decked out in a visually bland grey suit and bare feet. Over the course of the first few song...
Flying V Guitar Documentary Features Members of Metallica, Judas Priest, Megadeth, Slayer, and More
The Flying V guitar is one of the most iconic instruments in heavy metal history. It’s silhouette alone is enough to warm the blood of headbangers. The guitar will be the subject of a new documentary, Flying V, out on DVD on September 11th. The 67-minute film was directed by Peter Hansen and features interviews with most of the major metal acts that popularized the Flying V over the years, including members of Metallica, Judas Priest, Slayer, Megadeth, and many more. As the cast of the documentary indicates, the guitar, introduced by Gibson in 1958, became a staple of ’80s thrash metal. Slayer’s Kerry King was never without one; it remains the choice axe of Megadeth’s Dave Mustaine; and Metallica’s James Hetfield is appropriately front-and-center on the movie poster, having wielded th...
Dan Deacon Releases Original Score for HBO’s Well Groomed: Stream
This past January saw Dan Deacon drop his first album in four years, Mystic Familiar. The Baltimore-based musician is back now with his second project of 2020: his original score for HBO’s Well Groomed. Well Groomed is a documentary about the colorful and wonderfully absurd subculture of competitive dog grooming. The film premiered on HBO in late 2019, but today marks the official release of Deacon’s accompanying soundtrack. Much like the doc, the music is playful and fun in nature. Its 14 arrangements also find the electronic music producer Deacon expanding his sound palette by dabbling with more earthy and organic instrumentation. Previous collaborators like pianist M.C. Schmidt of Matmos, vibraphonist Rich O’Meara, and guitarist Steve Strohmeier assisted Deacon in creating the soni...
Biography: The Nine Lives of Ozzy Osbourne to Premiere on A&E in September
A&E has set a September 7th premiere for Biography: The Nine Lives of Ozzy Osbourne, a new documentary chronicling the metal icon’s life and career. The documentary, which was first announced in January, was slated to premiere at SXSW in March prior to the festival being canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The 86-minute feature combines archival footage with new interviews, including sit-downs with Ozzy and his family (Sharon, Jack, and Kelly), Marilyn Manson, Rick Rubin, Post Malone, Rob Zombie, Jonathan Davis, Ice-T, and more. As a press release states, “Biography: The Nine Lives of Ozzy Osbourne traces Ozzy’s life from his childhood in poverty and time in prison, to fronting the iconic Black Sabbath and a successful solo career, to one of rock’s elder statesman and a lovable 21st...
Boat From Jaws Being Rebuilt to Study Sharks
We’re gonna need another boat! The original creators behind the iconic Orca from Steven Spielberg’s Jaws are rebuilding the boat from scratch. What’s more, it’s all being captured in a new documentary that’s aptly titled, Return of the Orca. Along for the ride is Academy Award nominee and Jaws production designer Joe Alves, Martha’s Vineyard local Chris Crawford who worked on the OG Orca, and Jaws author Peter Benchley’s widow/Beneath the Waves director Wendy. According to the project’s press release: “Rather than hunting the great white shark, as in the film, part of the Orca’s new mission will be researching marine life and helping people better understand the varieties of shark species in the area around Martha’s Vineyard including great white sharks.” Editors’ Picks It’s a projec...
