On Demand and Digital for the First Time Ever on October 19th, “Smoke and Mirrors” is one of the many documentaries exploring the life and work of Tom Savini. For those unaware, Savini is a legendary make up artist that’s contributed to some of the most iconic horror movies of all time. Behind the man and his make up is the story of a man who has spent most of his life second guessing himself and considering himself the black sheep among his talented group of siblings.
Tag Archives: Biography
Lansky (2021)
Meyer Lanksy hires a writer to tell his story, but with conditions such as he cannot published until allowed. While he tells his life story, the Feds investigate him one last time in the hope of finding his stash of money.
Enfant Terrible (2020)
German filmmaker Rainer Werner Fassbinder was a major figure in New Wave Cinema, this film explores his life, his work, and his way of being.
Kid 90 (2021)
With the advent of technology and the destruction of the concept of celebrity, there are many movies like “Kid 90” coming to theaters and VOD. It’s an important trend of movies that discuss the pitfalls, perils, and hazards of being a child movie or TV star in any decade. Soleil Moon Frye allows a somewhat unfiltered look in to her not so happy childhood that involved a lot of pressure, a business that seemingly abandoned her, and being sexualized at the age of thirteen.
Workhorse Queen (2020) [Slamdance Film Festival 2021]
It’s been a long, rough journey for drag queens to become accepted among modern society. After decades of being pushed in to the underground to celebrate their art form, now we’re at a rare moment in time where the drag profession is now being celebrated. After RuPaul’s efforts to inject the drag queen lifestyle in to the world with her hit series “Drag Race,” drag queens went from being pushed in to darkness, to now taking pictures with awe struck children, and hosting concerts with families and children.
And yet, after all of it, there’s still so much more to be done.
The Go-Go’s (2020)
It’s shocking how punk the background of The Go-Go’s is and ended up being. For a band that is known as one of the biggest pop acts of the 1980’s, their roots are deeply embedded in punk rock and heavy metal. Whether or not you think it was homogenized is up to you, but The Go-Gos have a great story, even if you were more of a Bangles or Banana Rama fan.
Girls Rock! (2008)
While “Rock School” was one of my favorite documentaries of 2005, it was a missed opportunity. Arne Johnson and Shane King’s “Girls Rock!” almost get the love of music and rock and roll it right. Almost. What the directing duo of Johnson and King explore is this collective ability of these different women to create music in the confines of this limited space and show how they can sometimes fall apart at the seams due to typically creative conflicts and arguments about band names.