"I believe Shadyac had a meaningful epiphany. I’m not sure it’s that meaningful for the rest of us."

It sounded like a bad idea: ill-fated at best, pandering at worst. Artist Vik Muniz traveled to his native Brazil to lead an art project using materials pulled from the world’s largest landfill. After meeting the destitute people there who scavenge for recyclable items, he decided to incorporate them into the project both as portrait

A lot has been made of the opening shots of Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work, which capture the cosmetically enhanced comedian having makeup applied to her bare face. The suggestion is that the documentary, from directors Ricki Stern and Anne Sundberg, will be giving us the unvarnished truth. But notice that the sequence consists

“…an enthralling documentary about loneliness, deception and that place where the two often meet: Facebook.

“Valuable … but misses a golden opportunity to intersect access and art.

A brisk and enlightening overview of the crippling problems facing public education in the United States circa 2010. The documentary follows a handful of families — mostly urban, mostly minority — who have been failed by their neighborhood schools and are hoping to land a coveted spot in one of the better-performing charter schools in

From the creepy thermal-camera footage of its opening credits to the covert missions under the cover of darkness, this activist documentary plays like a spy thriller more than anything else. Centered around Ric O’Barry, dolphin trainer to Flipper who has since become a champion for dolphin rights around the world, The Cove visits Taijii, Japan,

"…a jarring and devastating animated documentary that explores the psychological trauma inflicted by warfare as well as any live-action war epic I’ve seen."