Woody Allen: A Documentary (2012), What She Said: The Art of Pauline Kael (2018), It's All True (1993), Los Angeles Plays Itself (2003), Stanley Kubrick: A Life in Pictures (2001), Charlie: The Life and Art of Charles Chaplin (2003), The Typewriter, the Rifle and the Movie Camera (1996), The Celluloid Closet (1996) ... Let's take a look at the ranked list of the best Film Criticism movies.
Storyline: Filmmaker Robert B. Weide chronicles the life of the actor, comedian and director and his creative processes.
Plot Keywords: biography, documentary, director, filmmaking, comedy, new york, film history ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: The life and work of the controversial film critic.
Plot Keywords: documentary, biography, film criticism, journalism, hollywood, film history, influence ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: In 1942, fresh off the success of "Citizen Kane," director Orson Welles journeys to Brazil to make a documentary. The unscripted look at bullfighting, the samba and three fisherman making a voyage of protest on the open sea stuns the studio with its daring storytelling and politics. The unfinished film is scuttled, and so is the director's career. The story of the debacle is told through interviews with Welles and others involved in the project, plus rarely viewed scenes from the documentary.
Plot Keywords: documentary, 1940s, film history, hollywood, independent film, biography, filmmaking ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: Of the cities in the world, few are depicted in and mythologized more in film and television than the city of Los Angeles. In this documentary, Thom Andersen examines in detail the ways the city has been depicted, both when it is meant to be anonymous and when itself is the focus. Along the way, he illustrates his concerns of how the real city and its people are misrepresented and distorted through the prism of popular film culture. Furthermore, he also chronicles the real stories of the city's modern history behind the notorious accounts of the great conspiracies that ravaged his city that reveal a more open and yet darker past than the casual viewer would suspect.—Kenneth Chisholm (kchishol@rogers.com)
Plot Keywords: documentary, film history, los angeles, film analysis, independent film, filmmaking, social commentary ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: Narrated by Tom Cruise, "Stanley Kubrick: A Life in Pictures" goes through each one of his movies and talks to various participants about their memories of working with Kubrick. For those who know very little about Kubrick, the documentary is an excellent career overview. Kubrick film clips include "Fear and Desire," "Killer's Kiss," "The Killing," "Paths of Glory," "Spartacus," "Lolita," "Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb," "2001: A Space Odyssey," "A Clockwork Orange," "Barry Lyndon," "The Shining," "Full Metal Jacket" and "Eyes Wide Shut." Those appearing include: Arthur C. Clarke, Keir Dullea, Shelley Duvall, James B. Harris, Richard Schickel, Michael Herr, Nicole Kidman, Anya Kubrick, Christiane Kubrick, Gert Kubrick, Katharina Kubrick, Paul Mazursky, Jack Nicholson, Malcolm McDowell, Steven Spielberg, Martin Scorsese, Woody Allen, Douglas Trumbull, Marie Windsor, Matthew Modine, Sydney Pollack and Peter Ustinov.—alfiehitchie
Plot Keywords: biography, documentary, director, filmmaking, film history, hollywood, behind the scenes ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: Narrated by Sydney Pollack, film critic Richard Schickel's dazzling two-hour plus documentary to one of the towering figures in film: Charles Chaplin. Hardcore Chaplin fans may not find much new material here, but more unfamiliar admirers will gain some valuable information about one of the most famous personalities of the 20th century. Schickel has constructed the documentary as a chronological survey of Chaplin's work, starting with his most significant shorts and covering all of his features. Schickel supports his narration with testimony from artists familiar with Chaplin's work and family members who offer personal insights into the comedian's life. The documentary plays down but doesn't ignore the controversies that swirled around Chaplin's private life. But the main focus is on the films. They include some of the best-loved movies of all time. Clips from "Kid Auto Races at Venice," the 1914 Keystone short in which Chaplin first used his Tramp costume, reveal a startlingly modern technique and sensibility, as if the filmmakers were predicting and mocking reality TV. Subsequent shorts show Chaplin refining his 'Little Tramp' character while absorbing the essentials of filmmaking. By the time he made "Easy Street," in 1917, Chaplin had perfected a combination of knockabout farce and Victorian sentiment that still proves irresistible. Chaplin's early features, including "The Kid," "The Gold Rush" and "City Lights," were such blockbuster hits that he could essentially ignore the coming of sound for almost a decade. Those making appearances on the program include Woody Allen, Richard Attenborough, Jeanine Basinger, Claire Bloom, Geraldine Chaplin. Sydney Chaplin, Johnny Depp, Robert Downey Jr., Milos Forman, Bill Irwin, Norman Lloyd, Marcel Marceau, David Raksin, David Robinson, Andrew Sarris, Martin Scorsese and Jeffrey Vance.—alfiehitchie
Plot Keywords: biography, documentary, film history, silent film, comedy, hollywood, filmmaking ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: In a documentary about Samuel Fuller, the spectator gets different impressions about the Hollywood director and his films. The film is divided into the three sections: The Typewriter, the Rifle and the Movie Camera. The first segment covers Fuller's past as a newsman where he began as a copy boy and ended as a reporter. Part two describes Fuller's experiences in World War II, in which he participated as a soldier. The last section focuses on Fuller as director. Tim Robbins interviews Samuel Fuller revealing the director's own memories and impressions. Beside the interview, Jim Jarmusch, Martin Scorsese and Quentin Tarantino accompany the documentary with their comments.—Gerhard Windecker <g.wind@mbox300.swipnet.se>
Plot Keywords: documentary, film history, independent film, director, filmmaking, biography, film criticism ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: This documentary highlights the historical contexts that gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgenders have occupied in cinema history, and shows the evolution of the entertainment industry's role in shaping perceptions of LGBT figures. The issues addressed include secrecy -- which initially defined homosexuality -- as well as the demonization of the homosexual community with the advent of AIDS, and finally the shift toward acceptance and positivity in the modern era.
Plot Keywords: documentary, lgbtq+, film history, hollywood, film industry, historical, adaptation ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: At the Harry DeJour Playhouse in New York in the mid-2000s, John Waters emerges from a confessional onto a stage littered with trash. He tells stories. After a few about his childhood and early influences, he roughly follows the chronology of his career as a film director, relating anecdotes about the making of each film and letting those stories lead him to riffs on other topics. Gay references and wry observations about people's foibles and limits are constants. Waters' looks, too, are the butt of his jokes.—<jhailey@hotmail.com>
Plot Keywords: comedy, stand-up comedy, documentary, humor, satire, independent film, director ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: Cameramen and women discuss the craft and art of cinematography and of the "DP" (the director of photography), illustrating their points with clips from 100 films, from Birth of a Nation to Do the Right Thing. Themes: the DP tells people where to look; changes in movies (the arrival of sound, color, and wide screens) required creative responses from DPs; and, these artisans constantly invent new equipment and try new things, with wonderful results. The narration takes us through the identifiable studio styles of the 30s, the emergence of noir, the New York look, and the impact of Europeans. Citizen Kane, The Conformist, and Gordon Willis get special attention.—<jhailey@hotmail.com>
Plot Keywords: documentary, cinematography, art, film history, hollywood, visual art, interviews ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: The life and times of Baltimore film maker and midnight movie pioneer, John Waters. Intercut with a 1972 interview of Waters are clips from his first films and recent interviews with his parents, his brother, Divine's mom, actors and crew, other directors, film critics, a film curator, psychologists, and Maryland's last censor, who shudders at the memory of Waters's pictures. Also included is footage of Waters making his early movies, culminating in an up-close and in-depth look at Pink Flamingos: the script, the set, the filming conditions, its editing, its distribution, and its impact. In sweet ways, this documentary is also a celebration of Divine (1945-1988).—<jhailey@hotmail.com>
Plot Keywords: documentary, film industry, independent film, cult film, filmmaking, avant-garde, low budget ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: The story of "Ozploitation" movies - a time when Australian cinema showed an explosion of sex, violence, horror and action. Includes anecdotes, lessons in maverick filmmaking and a genuine love of Australian movies. It moves through Aussie genre cinema of the 70s and early 80s - claiming it's an unjustly forgotten cinematic era of boobs, pubes, tubes... and even a little kung fu.—Anonymous
Plot Keywords: documentary, film history, behind the scenes, independent film, filmmaking, violence, sexuality ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: Between the death of the old Hollywood studio system and the rise of the counterculture, the late 1960s and early '70s were a near-revolutionary time in American filmmaking, as detailed in this documentary by Ted Demme and Richard LaGravanese. Equally influenced by the foreign films of art-house cinemas and the cheap B-movies of late-night TV, eager young filmmakers and actors rewrote Hollywood's rules. This film includes interviews with most of the era's leading figures.
Plot Keywords: documentary, film history, hollywood, 1970s, directors, producers, actors ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: Directed and co-produced by Stephen La Riviere and hosted by Lady Penelope and Parker themselves, 'Filmed in Supermarionation' is a screen adaptation of his book of the same name and features a wealth of previously unseen archive footage, brand new interviews with the surviving casts and crews and clips from the shows themselves. A highlight of the film are ingenious and accurate recreations of the pioneering techniques used in the productions.—Anonymous
Plot Keywords: documentary, special effects, puppetry, nostalgia, science fiction, film technology, behind the scenes ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: Filmmaker Helena Coan examines the remarkable life and career of actress, fashion icon and humanitarian Audrey Hepburn.
Plot Keywords: biography, documentary, audrey hepburn, hollywood, classic cinema, humanitarianism, acting career ...
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