“Whether they intended to or not, the ‘Gimme Shelter’ filmmakers had tapped into and exposed a diabolical soul and a deep-seated hostility. The sun that had fleetingly shone so brightly was starting to set.”
“‘Yesterday’ didn’t need to be a dry, emotionless sci-fi story, but in taking such a basic approach to the concept, it really lessens the impact and results in a watered-down, forgettable experience.”
“Not everyone, and not even every Dylan fan, will go along with the tall tales, but amidst the japes are several of the most riveting live performances of Dylan’s career.”
“Despite entertaining directorial flourishes often accompanied by striking stock footage cutaways — from Carl Sagan to a history lesson on Black hair care products — Russo-Young can’t set her hooks into much beyond the postcard images of the Big Apple.”
“While Springsteen takes the American dream and helps everyone navigate through its dismantling, Chadha packs it all up with ‘Blinded by the Light” and makes it speak to an entirely different country and a whole new generation.”
“Attieh and Garcia have ironically made a movie that metatextually gives Sergio the respect he doesn’t deserve. If he were real, he’d be absolutely thrilled to be the star of a movie that’s so unique, and so genuinely cool.”
“‘Wild Rose’ has the makings of a movie deathly afraid of validating a ‘bad mother,’ even if it comes at the expense of the protagonist’s internal consistency.”
Pablo Staricco Cadenazzi Interviews ‘Heavy Trip’ Directors Juuso Laatio and Jukka Vidgren
“What is perhaps most remarkable about the rise of Nirvana — and the industry’s hastily assembled appellation “alternative rock” — is the belief by many at the time that it had come from nowhere…”
“Perry has written an anti-heroine who is wholly clued into her own mythology metaphor, referring to herself and the band’s circumstances using the self-aggrandizing language of conquests, lore and legacy.”
“Ioanna Gika has evolved from a promising artist to a fully-fledged talent to be reckoned with. Her uncommon, authentic voice has been sorely missed; it’s good to have her back.”
“The characters in ‘Ladies and Gentlemen, the Fabulous Stains,’ ‘Smithereens’ and ‘Suburbia’ find in punk rock a convenient shorthand for authenticity, a posture which presages its eventual absorption into the very mechanisms it sets out to oppose.”
“Whisenant emphasizes the ways in which Young’s quest have led him to meaningful interpersonal relationships and a sense of avocation that transcend his work as a writer of television comedy.”
“‘Director A.J. Eaton’s rock star biography ‘David Crosby: Remember My Name’ checks all the boxes of the lion-in-winter music documentary.”
“There’s no solace in the music of Boy Harsher, only a feeling that we are all facing the same fears and uncertainties. Yet, sometimes, that is solace enough.”
“Another stunning work of perfectly placed ellipses and calculated restraint, Pawel Pawlikowski’s ‘Cold War’ is a film filled with images as iconic and austere as its blunt title.”
Marshall Shaffer Interviews ‘Cold War’ Star Joanna Kulig
“In ‘Vox Lux,’ pop music is an emblem of pop culture and the distractions we use to soften the growing trauma of the nation. It also plays into the main question that Corbet raises: just how long can we cling onto pop culture before society gets so bad that nothing will help?”
“As in ‘Ida,’ Pawlikowski offers little exposition, which leaves the audience to gather any and all clues.”
“Street Sects is the kind of band that a lot of people would call ‘problematic,’ but they’re a much-needed smack in the face in a world that seems less compassionate with each passing day.”