Johnny Cash in Psycho-Heist Thriller ‘Door-to-Door Maniac’
What a difference a script makes. Johnny Cash and Cay Forrester goose up the histrionics of Door-to-Door Maniac.
music
‘The Beach Boys’ Documentary Brings the Sun and Surf to the New Kids
The Beach Boys documentary appeals to Gen Z and Gen Alpha via Disney Plus with a breezy, linear, appreciation of the band’s sunny legacy.
The Complicated Life of Moby Grape’s Skip Spence
This bio about Moby Grape’s Skip Spence dissects and casts a glowing light on his work as a composer of some of the most influential music of San Francisco’s psychedelic scene.
Unlike Her Music ‘I Am: Céline Dion’ Is Not a Mournful Drama
Unlike how her subject’s music can be, Irene Taylor’s biography I Am: Céline Dion is not a mournful drama. That doesn’t mean it’s easy.
‘Robot Dreams’ Quietly Encourages You Not to Be Afraid
Pablo Berger’s animated Robot Dreams is a near-perfect marvel of silent cinema nearly a century after talkies ended the silent era.
“Woman Whitewashing” in Sofia Coppola’s ‘Priscilla’
Director Sofia Coppola places herself in the crosshairs with her troubling and provocative adaptation of Priscilla Presley’s memoirs.
Biopic of Argentine Musician Fito Páez Immerses Viewers
Biopic Fito Páez: El Amor Después Del Amor (Love After Music) is, among other things, a gateway into Argentina’s most celebrated rock star’s songbook.
The Evolving Archetype of the Crooner
Art critic Alex Coles demonstrates in his convention-challenging Crooner: Singing from the Heart From Sinatra to Nas that crooning is a vocal style and image encompassing theatrical exaggeration and heartfelt reality.
In Music Doc ‘Born in Chicago’ Chicago Blues Cross Color Line
Music documentary Born in Chicago captures the white musicians who bristled at 1950s American conformity and turned to Chicago blues for a whole new world.
‘Mamamoo: My Con the Movie’ Gives Fans the Over-the-Top They Want
While following the customary format of K-pop documentaries, My Con the Movie shows the candid, magnetic sides of each member of K-pop sensation Mamamoo.
‘Dreams in Double Time’: When Bebop Counter-Punched Racist Violence
In this excerpt from Jonathan Leal’s study of Black American jazz, Dreams in Double Time, bebop gives the music a “new accent” and the outsider citizenry a “new language” for counter-punching rebellion.
Director Ana Sofia Fonseca on Her Tribute to Cape Verdean Singer Cesária Évora
Singing the Cape Verde blues known as “morna”, the world-renowned Cesária Évora sang in local Creole to a slow tempo reflecting a melancholy state of mind. Her gentle, lulling timbre recounts some of the darkest moments of the volcanic island.