This involves battling the icy snows of Alaska in mid winter, the school friends, family, and Republican colleagues that in previous days gave their heart, soul and belief, to the charismatic, charming, intoxicating ex hockey mum.
But it’s not all plain sailing. People are frightened to talk, Wasilla makes Twin Peaks look like a walk in the park. It’s a devout evangelical community – 76 churches with a population of only 6 thousand, and the Crystal meth capitol of Alaska.
Who are the flying monkeys, the enemies, the friends, and most importantly – are you with her or against her? Join the quest and for Christ’s sake buy some thermals!
An excellent biography of the Muppet master, this 85-minute film from the PBS show Great Performances mixes the history of Henson’s projects with plenty of sketches that any fan age 6 and older should enjoy. The film shows the incredible range of Henson’s creations, starting in 1955 with “Sam and Friends” then moving on to Sesame Street, The Muppet Show, Fraggle Rock, and beyond. It illustrates the breadth of his genius, from creating entirely new worlds in film (The Dark Crystal) to pithy ’60s TV commercials that achieved branding and a laugh in less than six seconds. There’s footage that most fans haven’t seen in years, or at all: a regular bit from The Jimmy Dean Show; tantalizing bits of his 1965 Oscar-nominated short, Time Piece; appearances on The Ed Sullivan Show and The Tonight Show; his explanation of Wall Street on Nightline; and Miss Piggy’s hilarious deconstruction of Morley Safer on 60 Minutes.
BEATS, RHYMES & LIFE: THE TRAVELS OF A TRIBE CALLED QUEST is a documentary film directed by Michael Rapaport about one of the most influential and groundbreaking musical groups in hip-hop history. Having released five gold and platinum selling albums within eight years, A Tribe Called Quest has been one of the most commercially successful and artistically significant musical groups in recent history, and regarded as iconic pioneers of hip hop. The band’s sudden break-up in 1998 shocked the industry and saddened the scores of fans, whose appetite for the group’s innovative musical stylings never seems to diminish.
A hard-core fan himself, Rapaport sets out on tour with A Tribe Called Quest in 2008, when they reunited to perform sold-out concerts across the country, almost ten years after the release of their last album, The Love Movement. As he travels with the band members (Q-Tip, Phife Dawg, Ali Shaheed Muhammad and Jarobi White), Rapaport captures the story of how tenuous their relationship has become; how their personal differences and unresolved conflicts continue to be a threat to their creative cohesion. When mounting tensions erupt backstage during a show in San Francisco, we get a behind-the-scenes look at their journey and contributions as a band and what currently is at stake for these long-time friends and collaborators.
Rarely heard stories from New York’s legendary DJ Red Alert, Native Tongues members like Monie Love, the Jungle Brothers, Busta Rhymes, and De La Soul bring an intimacy to the days when young artists discovered the freedom of artistic expression, while rejecting the confines of gangster rap and negative stereotypes. Chronicles of songs like “Scenario” and “Check the Rhime” paint a vivid picture of growing up in Queens, and how the band’s unique approach to hip hop helped transform and influence the genre for years to come.
A New York native, Rapaport’s lifelong love for hip hop helps achieve intimate, all-access interviews and cinéma vérité-style filmmaking, fostering a conversation for A Tribe Called Quest to determine if there is a possibility to mend the wounds from over the years. In addition to chronicling the past, present and uncertain future of the band, the film includes interviews from the Beastie Boys, Kanye West, Pharrell, Mos Def, Santigold, Monie Love, Pete Rock, Large Professor, De La Soul, The Jungle Brothers and Common, all of whom attribute some combination of love, respect, and inspiration drawn from the legacy of A Tribe Called Quest.
This is a nice look at three filmmakers and skateboarders as they make their way through Burma. As they travel from town to town they make friends with the locals and spread the gospel of skateboarding.
There are not a lot of athletes out there that I would be interested to see a documentary about. Steve Nash seems different than your average jock. The guy spends his off season living in Manhattan, has a love of skateboarding and soccer and seems to be a grounded guy.
HIGH TECH SOUL is the first documentary to tackle the deep roots of techno music alongside the cultural history of Detroit, its birthplace. From the race riots of 1967 to the underground party scene of the late 1980s, Detroit’s economic downturn didn’t stop the invention of a new kind of music that brought international attention to its producers and their hometown.
Featuring in-depth interviews with many of the world’s best exponents of the artform, High Tech Soul focuses on the creators of the genre — Juan Atkins, Derrick May, and Kevin Saunderson — and looks at the relationships and personal struggles behind the music. Artists like Richie Hawtin, Jeff Mills, Carl Craig, Eddie Fowlkes and a host of others explain why techno, with its abrasive tones and resonating basslines, could not have come from anywhere but Detroit.
Lambert traveled on a shoestring budget to document the complex social hierarchy of Russia’s prison system, where inmates use highly symbolic tattoo art as a mark of rank. Since its earliest documented cases in the 1920s, this practice has remained largely a taboo and is actually illegal in Russian prisons, yet some estimates suggest that in the last generation alone, more than 30 million of Russia’s inmates have been inked. The unique visual language of the tattoos encrypts everything you need to know about an inmate without ever asking, from the number of convictions an inmate has to his rank in the crime world.
Shortly before I met Conor Harrington—he was getting up on a wall in Venice Beach before the Euro Trash group show last summer at Lazarides’ Beverly Hills pop-up space—the Irish-born painter went out to broker some peace in the Middle East. In his case, he was armed with an oil brush and a can of spray paint. “I was originally supposed to go to Beirut to paint a wall there but my contact out there bailed on me three weeks beforehand so I was left with time-off booked, a cameraman, and nowhere to go,” says Harrington, who quickly rerouted himself to Tel Aviv, Bethlehem, and Palestine. “I pulled off the Israel/West Bank trip in a matter of days — amazing what you can do with a few contacts.” Now, he’s offering a glimpse at how amazing the impromptu trip was (along with a dope soundtrack) in the short film Crossing The Lines.“I’m interested in the region, areas of conflict, and thought it would be really interesting to go and paint there,” he says. Despite the current chaos in the region, Harrington definitely misses one thing: the warm weather. ”I’m in a freezing studio in london trying to finish off a couple of commissions before jumping into work for my solo at Laz later this year.” That’s this fall, so keep your calendars open.
