By Jamie Lynn As someone that has lived in Nashville since 2002 this film moved me to my core! The changes have been bitter/sweet! Change is inevitable where ever we go. You have to take the good with the bad! With that being said it is heartbreaking to see big cooperations come in annihilate these smaller businesses! In 1950 Nashville, Tennessee was dubbed “Music City … Continue reading Emotional, Educational, Entertaining and Experimental
“Sound of Hope: The Story Of Possum Trot” Rating: 8/10 Director: Joshua Weigel Writers: Joshua and Rebekah Weigel Style: Biopic/ Drama Trailer: youtube.com/watch?v=-nyh9tcGFcI Time: 2 hour, 18 minutes Review by Mike Szymanski Inspired by true events, this is one those stories that sneaks up on you and you wonder, “Why didn’t know I know that happened?” “Sound of Hope: The Story Of Possum Trot” is … Continue reading Changing the Foster Care System with ‘Sound of Hope: The Story Of Possum Trot’
Escape from Extinction Rating: 9/10 Director: Matthew R. Brady Writers: Alex Vincent Blumberg and Peter Meadows Style: Documentary Time: 1 hour and 29 minutes Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q-TOSKUZwhU Review by Mike Szymanski Some of my earliest animal activism memories include saving money to send to save Keiko the Killer Whale who was the subject of the movie “Free Willy.” The plan was to release the confined creature into … Continue reading This Devastating Documentary Shows There’s No ‘Escape from Extinction’
Attack of the Doc! Rating: 9/10 Director and Writer: Chris Gore Style: Documentary Time: 87 minutes Review by Mike Szymanski There’s a show in television history that was groundbreaking, hysterical edgy and pushed major boundaries. It’s a show you’ve never hear of, and it’s a show you wish were on today. But it can never be. G4TV and “Attack of the Show!” were at a … Continue reading Groundbreaking G4TV Created a Home for Geeks and Gets a Spotlight in ‘Attack of the Doc!’
One for All: The DJ Chris Villa Story Rating: 9/10 Director: Jeremy A. Lopez Style: Documentary Time: 110 minutes Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jkNlfTSmjRc Review by Mike Szymanski You can figure out how most documentaries will end. There may be facts that surprise and motivate you, but you generally know the slant of the doc and how it’s all going to end up. This is a documentary that … Continue reading Put Your Hands in the Air for ‘One for All: The DJ Chris Villa Story’
Love Charlie, The Rise and Fall of Chef Charlie Trotter Rating: 6/10 Director and Writer: Rebecca Halpern Style: Documentary Time: 96 minutes Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p2gVkngEg2M You may never have ever heard of Charlie Trotter (I know I didn’t) but that doesn’t mean he isn’t a fascinating documentary subject. He created a great deal of masterful culinary pieces of art that other great chefs rave about, but he … Continue reading Take a Big Bite Out of ‘Love Charlie, The Rise and Fall of Chef Charlie Trotter’
Raymond Lewis: L.A. Legend Rating: 7/10 Directors and Writers: Ryan Polomski and Dean Prator Style: Documentary Time: 82 minutes Trailer: www.youtube.com/watch?v=6NzNpikx070 Review by Mike Szymanski Los Angeles is definitely a city of secrets and after more than three decades here, I’m constantly finding out more about the people and potential stars that came from the city, but never made it as a household name. For example, … Continue reading ‘Raymond Lewis: L.A. Legend’ is the Greatest Basketball Player You’ve Never Seen
An American Ballet Story Rating: 7/10 Director and Writer: Leslie Streit Style: Documentary Time: 94 minutes Trailer: vimeo.com/672952777 Review by Mike Szymanski Even if you are a dance aficionado you may not have heard of Harkness Ballet. Even if you are — or were — a professional dancer (and I know more than just a few) you probably never heard of Rebekah Harkness, who founded that … Continue reading Dramatic Steps to Tell ‘An American Ballet Story’ No One Knows
The International Documentary Association (IDA) announced today that Getting Real ‘22, its biennial convening for documentary practitioners, will be held both in-person in Los Angeles and with a virtual audience from all around the world next month from September 27-29. The Getting Real ’22 conference will approach documentary’s foundational quandaries from a new thematic perspective: Flipping the Frame. Traditional power dynamics — between funder and filmmaker, documentarian and … Continue reading Getting Real ‘22: Flipping the Frame Conference Program Announced
Movie Money CONFIDENTIAL Rating: 10/10 Director and Writer: Rick Pamplin. Style: Documentary Time: 101 minutes by Mike Szymanski This is a subject I know a lot about. Not only have I taken a lot of classes about the film industry, and have two bookcases full of dusty books about breaking into the business, but I’ve watched the plethora of how-to documentaries that parse out secrets … Continue reading If You Dream of Getting into The Industry, This is a Must-See: ‘Movie Money CONFIDENTIAL
By Sherletta Germain “Royalty Free” is a story of Kevin McCloud and his ability to make the world a better place through his composition of music. I really enjoyed the film because it didn’t just show one layer of who Kevin is. The film showed the ups and downs; the good versus the bad . Kevin’s career was interesting in how he kind of accidentally … Continue reading “Royalty Free” Tells of Making The World A better Place Through Music And A Dream
Top Jury Prizes Go To Nanny (U.S. Dramatic), The Exiles (U.S. Documentary), All That Breathes (World Cinema Documentary) and Utama (World Cinema Dramatic) Navalny (U.S. Documentary) and Cha Cha Real Smooth (U.S. Dramatic)Win Audience Awards Presented by Acura Navalny Wins Festival Favorite Award After nine days, 84 feature films and 59 short films, the juries have deliberated and the audience has voted, and Friday night the 2022 Sundance Film Festival’s Awards were announced. The award-winning films will screen … Continue reading 2022 SUNDANCE FILM FESTIVAL AWARDS ANNOUNCED
TO HOSTS SPECIAL FREE WEEKEND NOON SCREENINGS OF “THE QUEEN OF BASKETBALL” THROUGHOUT LOS ANGELES AT THE LAEMMLE THEATRES THIS SATURDAY AND SUNDAY JAN 29 AND 30 LUSIA “LUCY” HARRIS – THE QUEEN OF BASKETBALL – courtesy of New York Times Op-Docs/Breakwater Films NBA Superstar and now Executive Producer Shaquille O’Neal announced special free matinee screenings this weekend only in Los Angeles of his short … Continue reading NBA SUPERSTAR/EXECUTIVE PRODUCER SHAQUILLE O’NEAL
By: Vernon Nickerson At Lowell High School, the top-ranked public high school in San Francisco,the seniors are stressed out and I can can relate. “Try Harder” shows the unbelievable pressure students are under to achieve their dream, but sometimes it’s not their dream but their parents. There is a parallel of what these students went through and what I went through in my earlier academic … Continue reading Try Harder Film Review
By Vernon Nickerson Fans of Game of Thrones and or cosplay enthusiasts will be enthralled by the behind-the-scenes documentary “Steel Song” by Director Adrian Cicerone. Be advised, the film resembles a medieval jostling contest where the combatants attemp. It beat the snot out of each other. The objective: to be th. Last person (male or female) standing. To the filmmakers’credit, the story is apologetic an … Continue reading At Long Last, STEEL SONG
Sher Films announced today that director Vinay Giridhar’s feature documentary debut Emergence: Out of the Shadows, a film that started its international festival run this September in the US, will be heading home to BC for its Canadian premiere at KDocsFF and to the Reelworld Film Festival for it’s Ontario debut. The hometown launch of Emergence: Out of the Shadows begins at Metro Vancouver’s Premier Social … Continue reading SHER FILMS ANNOUNCES BC & ONTARIO PREMIERES FOR LGBTQ+ DOCUMENTARY FEATURE EMERGENCE: OUT OF THE SHADOWS
Community Power series spotlights local stories of clean transportation, jobs, and justice. The Redford Center, in collaboration with the League of Conservation Voters (LCV) and Chispa, announced the launch of a new series of short films showcasing community power in a collective call for civic engagement around clean transportation to build a safer, more just future. About Power the Vote: Community PowerAs part of The … Continue reading LCV, Chispa, and The Redford Center Partner to Build Community Power Through New Short Film Series
By Vernon Nickerson Sometimes the best independent films are life-transforming. Other times watching and listening to an exceptionally well-told story makes the heart sing. From the collaborative team of Rob Herring (Writer-Director) and Ryan Wirick (Director), The Need to Grow is that film. The subtitle, “Save the SOIL, Save the WORLD,” summarizes an intimate journey of a mother and Girl Scout Troup leader (Ms. Monica … Continue reading The Need to Grow A Life Transforming Film
By Vernon Nickerson Film animator chronicles a 40- year journey to make a movie with his teen idol Ike Eisenmann (of Walt Disney’s Escape to Witch Mountain’ fame). Just when I had given up expecting anything that gave me a warm fuzzy trip down memory lane to suddenly appear in the middle of 2021 and COVID-19 Delta Variant, a funny valentine comes along. Professional animator … Continue reading 2021 Dances With Films Review of “Dear Ike: Lost Letters to a Teen Idol”
By Mike Szymanski Luxury, had I known of them in the 1990s, would have become a favorite band of mine in my youth had I known about them. Their influences were the same as mine that I loved as a young teen, when the parents of the up-and-coming band members were giving their children albums from KISS, and Queen, and the Beatles. What may have … Continue reading Why Haven’t You Had The Luxury Of Discovering This Cool Band? This Doc Tells It All
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