Click here to listen to the interview. The first thing to know about Josh Alexander’s documentary on the Rev. Al Sharpton is that it was the Rev himself who picked the title. That came up early on in my conversation with Alexander on December 1, 2022. One thing I appreciated in Alexander’s insightful and incisive… Read More »
ELVIS
It’s the moment when Elvis (Austin Butler) first asserts his independence from the tentacled hold that his manager, Col. Tom Parker (Tom Hanks) has, and, alas, will always have on him. Elvis at this point in his nascent career has been labeled a threat to the American way of life in the conformist 1950s onto… Read More »
RBG – Julie Cohen and Betsy West Interview
Click here to listen to the interview. Considering how personally self-effacing Ruth Bader Ginsberg is, it’s remarkable that she participated in making a documentary about herself. It’s just one of the remarkable things about Julie Cohen and Betsy Ward, the intrepid and persistent filmmakers who persuaded the Supreme Court justice that is was the right… Read More »
HOWARD ZINN: YOU CAN’T BE NEUTRAL ON A MOVING TRAIN
HOWARD ZINN: YOU CAN’T BE NEUTRAL ON A MOVING TRAIN is a robust telling of the historian’s life and times that does the spirit of the man credit. First Run Feature has re-released the 2004 documentary with a plethora of bonus features, and were smart enough to realize that the only thing better than this… Read More »
STONEWALL
STONEWALL is a sudsy, underwritten, overwrought effort that is less than the intended tribute to the unsung heroes of the eponymous riots that accelerated the gay liberation movement into the social mainstream. Instead, it is a melodrama of truly epic proportions told with every cliché of gay life as lived in less enlightened times, and with… Read More »
Stephen Winter Re-discovers JASON AND SHIRLEY
Click here to listen to the interview. When Shirley Clarke made PORTRAIT OF JASON, she was doing more than exercising her creative impulse. The Oscar™-winning director had been all but shut out of Hollywood, and returned to New York to pursue a career as an indie filmmaker rather than deal with being marginalized by the… Read More »
DREAMGIRLS
If Jennifer Hudson never makes another movie, if she never sings another song, if she drops off the radar tomorrow, her place in cinematic history will nonetheless be cemented forever by her acting debut in DREAMGIRLS. It’s as though fate has conspired to keep the Broadway hit loosely based on the rise of Diana Ross… Read More »
Fenton Bailey & Randy Barbato Recount THE STRANGE HISTORY OF DON’T ASK DON’T TELL
I spoke with filmmakers Fenton Bailey (he’s the one with the British accent) and Randy Barbato on September 14, 2011 in the afternoon before their HBO documentary, THE STRANGE HISTORY OF DON’T ASK, DON’T TELL, screened at the fabled Castro Theater here in San Francisco. The pair were excited to see the film with an audience,… Read More »
Tom McCarthy Introduces THE VISITOR
Tom McCarthy is not a man to be rushed, hence the five years between his debut as a writer/director, THE STATION AGENT, and his second effort, THE VISITOR. In between he continued his flourishing career as a working actor until the right inspiration struck. When we spoke on April 7, 2008, the conversation ranged from… Read More »