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Around the World in 50 Concerts

August 14, 2015Addison Wylie0 Comments

By: Addison Wylie There’s nothing inherently wrong with Around the World in 50 Concerts, but there’s not a whole lot to it either. Heddy Honigmann’s documentary ought to be a hit with anyone who ever partook in band practice.  As a former student whom attended extracurricular concerts, I was most interested in the doc when Honigmann showed how the Dutch Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra traveled, which includes the process behind transporting these delicate instruments.  I also enjoyed…

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Reviews

The Last Gigolos

August 13, 2015Addison Wylie0 Comments

By: Addison Wylie Cruise ships can be vulnerable places, and the audience witnesses that in Stephan Bergmann’s dawdling doc The Last Gigolos.  The viewer boards a ship occupied by an elderly crowd – most are single, all are eager to set sail.  As the cruise moves from one destination to the next, the passengers find chemistry with each other as they discuss ways to stay energetic as well as their sombreness when grieving lost loved ones….

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Reviews

How to Change the World

August 5, 2015Addison Wylie0 Comments

By: Addison Wylie Ecology activists finally have their own Muscle Shoals.  Just as Muscle Shoals made audiences feel as if they were living through incredible years of music, Jerry Rothwell’s How to Change the World takes the viewer through a vivid recollection of the conception of Greenpeace. Paul Watson, Patrick Moore among others (including Robert Hunter, who co-founded the movement which promotes anti-war and eco-friendliness) are interviewed about various expeditions that were eye-openers to the public…

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Reviews

Best of Enemies

July 30, 2015Addison Wylie0 Comments

By: Mark Barber In 1968, an ailing ABC network hired progressive author Gore Vidal and conservative intellectual William F. Buckley to shed some light on the 1968 Democratic and Republican Party Conventions.  This dialectical meeting of minds changed the way politics is mediated through television.  It overemphasized opinion and discussion, bringing about the birth of punditry. Best of Enemies tells the riveting story behind this “political odd couple.”  Despite their toxically unamicable relationship, Buckley and…

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Reviews

The Look of Silence

July 23, 2015Addison Wylie0 Comments

By: Trevor Jeffery There are so many documentaries covering atrocities.  It’s easy, or necessary, to forget that sometimes;  there is so much horror that to consider it all – all the time – isn’t healthy.  The Look of Silence isn’t so much about the importance of its subject, or about squeezing emotions from an increasingly apathetic audience.  It’s about humanity and acts of evil, and how people will twist their perspective to retain the last…

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Reviews

All the Time in the World

July 16, 2015Addison Wylie2 Comments

By: Addison Wylie As an experiment and as an escape, Suzanne Crocker and her family packed up  necessities (including a video camera) and took to Canada’s Yukon Territory for nine months. Suzanne and her husband Gerard Parsons wanted their children to experience the great outdoors and witness the change of the seasons;  illustrating that technology and a fixed schedule doesn’t always capture what’s really going on in the world.  The trip, however, was equally refreshing…

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Reviews

Cartel Land

July 11, 2015Addison Wylie0 Comments

By: Shannon Page There is a saying that maintains that there are two sides to every story.  At its most basic, surface level, Cartel Land is an examination of the homegrown militia movements that have sprung up on both sides of the U.S.A./Mexico border in response to the presence of organized crime and drug cartel-related violence.  In Arizona, an American veteran leads a paramilitary group called Arizona Border Recon that aims to stop the violence…

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Reviews

The Yes Men Are Revolting

July 10, 2015Addison Wylie0 Comments

By: Trevor Jeffery The Yes Men Are Revolting is something like reality prank drama meets comedic character documentary, with social justice slathered through out. Back for their third documentary, cultural activist conmen Andy Bichlbaum and Mike Bonanno (stage names for Jacques Servin and Igor Vamos, respectively) stick it to the man by pretending to be the man and raising awareness through fake press conferences and publicity stunts.  The Yes Men hit climate change hard, and…

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One-on-Ones

Wylie Writes’ One-On-One with Alex Winter

July 4, 2015Addison Wylie2 Comments

  By: Addison Wylie Movie goers will recognize Alex Winter as Bill S. Preston, Esq. from the time traveling cult classic Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure and its sequel Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey.  I was one of  those people, but then I was exposed to Winter’s directorial efforts.  Now, I’m someone who instantly recognizes the actor-turn-filmmaker as one of the best documentarians working today. Downloaded, Winter’s chronicling of the rise and fall of Napster, was sensational.  It…

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