Documentary Rated R
"The performance footage is less engaging than your average standup act on Comedy Central, while the backstage interviews about the comedic craft are pointless."
Documentary Rated NR
No End in Sight came as something of an antidote to the hysterical documentary hijinks of Michael Moore (who released Sicko the same year). Instead of stunts, gags or ironic use of pop music, writer-director Charles Ferguson uses incisive interviews with key players to coolly and systematically catalog the astonishing parade of arrogant ignorance that
Documentary Rated PG
A bit fawning, but at least you can’t argue with the person being fawned over. As The Power of Song traces the activist career of folk legend Pete Seeger – an astonishingly humble singer-songwriter who has made lasting contributions to the peace, Civil Rights and environmental movements of the past 50-some years – you wonder
"The film’s eagerness to embrace alarmist speculation undermines the basic truths it tells."
Documentary Rated PG-13
The perception exists that women’s sports still have a purity to them, an emphasis on teamwork and fundamentals that is lacking from the individualistic, highlight reel-driven world of men’s competition. The Heart of the Game, a documentary that follows a Seattle-area girl’s high school basketball program, punctures a hole in that myth. Selfishness, trash-talking, clashing
Documentary Rated G
Dippy and dull, this look at the evolution of life on earth feels as if the New Agey art teacher took over science class. Actually, the movie isn’t even that interesting. Some fascinating close-up footage of bugs and such reveal Genesis to be the work of the filmmakers behind 1996’s Microcosmos, but beyond that we
“Herzog’s subject is too engrossing to be completely nullified by the filmmaker’s intrusions.”
The magic of March of the Penguins was the way the movie drew its narrative from the actual, odd patterns of nature itself. Arctic Tale, another frigid feature from National Geographic Films, forces our human sense of story on the animals we see, namely a walrus calf and a pair of polar bear cubs negotiating
“It’s too bad you can’t trust Michael Moore.
An unabashed act of nostalgia, this film-buff documentary celebrates the movies of the 1970s as the pinnacle of American cinema. Co-directors Richard LaGravenese and Ted Demme bring a fan’s passion to the subject, along with a fan’s narrow perspective. The ’70s have long been cited as a turning point for American movies, a time of
