Sinead O’Connor was an explosive presence to anyone who was young in the 1980’s. Androgynous, furious and mysterious, she seemed to descend upon popular music like the wailing banshee from the folklore of her native country. Continue reading SIFF 2022 Review: Nothing Compares
Year: 2022 Runtime: 94 minutes Directors: Frank Marshall, Ryan Suffern By Joan Amenn As Wordsworth wrote, “The world is too much with us…” and he didn’t even know about social media. With the heaviness of these days, it is a comfort to turn to music. “Jazz Fest: A New Orleans Story” (2022) brings us a respite in its depiction of the fifty-year history of this … Continue reading SXSW 2022 Review: Jazz Fest: A New Orleans Story
Year: 2021 Runtime: 24 minutes per episode Director/Writer: Nida Manzoor Actors: Anjana Vasan, Sarah Kameela, Impey, Faith Omole, Lucie Shorthouse, Aiysha Hart, Zaqi Ismail, Demmy Ladipo By Joan Amenn As a relatively new streaming service, Peacock TV (a subsidiary of NBC and named after its logo) has a few outstanding series that sadly, may get overlooked amongst the bigger budgeted, more recognized shows from the … Continue reading Review: We Are Lady Parts, Season 1
“Framing Britney Spears” aims to delve into the conservatorship that placed Spears’s father in control of her estate after her public breakdown and involuntary hospitalization in 2008. (Since filming wrapped, a Los Angeles Superior Court judge earlier this year denied her father’s objections to share monetary control with a financial institution, Bessemer Trust.) Continue reading Review: “The New York Times Presents … Framing Britney Spears”
You know Chuck Berry. Even if you haven’t consciously sought out and listened to his records, you’ve heard him in films (eg Johnny B. Goode in “Back To The Future” and You Never Can Tell in “Pulp Fiction”), and heard the musicians he’s influenced (basically any guitarist post-1960). To be blunt, Chuck Berry is not only a legend: he may be the most influential musician to ever live, and new documentary “Chuck Berry” goes forth with that 100% in mind, to both its benefit and detriment. Continue reading Greenpoint Film Festival Review: Chuck Berry
Anna (Zoe Lister-Jones) and Ben (Adam Pally) are well past the honeymoon phase of their marriage. All they do is fight. So, in a last-ditch effort, the pair create a band – roping in their neighbor Dave (Fred Armisen) – so that they can fight through song. Watching the couple navigate their struggles and hurt through song starts off fun. Their band, The Dirty DIshes, is named after a particular area of contention in their house. Continue reading Retrospective Review: “Band Aid”
“Sisters With Transistors” is the debut feature from French American director Lisa Rovner. The film was part of the official selection at this year’s Sheffield Documentary Film Festival as well as being part of the official selection at the SXSW Film Festival. The documentary tells the untold story of electronic music’s female pioneers, remarkable composers who embraced machines and their liberating technologies to utterly transform how we produce and listen to music today. Continue reading Exclusive Interview with Lisa Rovner, Director of “Sisters With Transistors”
Remember MySpace? Yeah, it barely registers on what it was anymore – yet that is where the world found Kate Nash or more to the point – where she found the world back in 2008. From this she essentially became what is commonly referred to as a ‘one-hit’ wonder – and all of it because of a broken leg suffered while working at Nando’s, a fantastically delicious chicken restaurant chain not known in the States. Continue reading Review: Kate Nash: Underestimate The Girl
It’s been ten years since we saw “Twilight” (2008) cast-mates Kristen Stewart and Dakota Fanning graze the screen in the music biopic “The Runaways.” While the Floria Sigismondi written/directed film has its fair share of follies, by the end it’s worthy of a collective fist to the air, celebrating – at the very least- the spotlight on these talented women and the impact they had on the rock and roll world.
At a time when bands entirely made up of women weren’t a prevalent nor seemingly lucrative notion, The Runaways was formed, primarily because of the persistent ambition of Joan Jett (Stewart) and her collaboration with Kim Fowley (played with an on-spot eccentricity here by Michael Shannon). Soon they bring in Cherie Currie (Fanning) to be the lead singer, along with Sandy West (Stella Maeve), Lita Ford (Scout Taylor-Compton) and Robin (Alia Shawkat). Then we’ve got the pop-punk legendary group: The Runaways. Continue reading Retrospective Review: The Runaways
NBC’s new television series “Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist” is more than just a musical comedy. Zoey (Jane Levy) works at a tech company. Her boss, Joan (Lauren Graham) has given her a job promotion which puts her more directly in contact with Joan but also having to oversee an entirely male team. At work, she has two confidants, Simon (John Clarence Stewart) and Max (Skylar Astin), but tends to have to handle situations on her own. Outside of work, Zoey’s father, Mitch (Peter Gallagher), is sick and her mother, Maggie (Mary Steenburgen) is his main caregiver.
If that situation wasn’t enough, Zoey, afraid she is developing the same condition as her father, goes to have an MRI; during the MRI, an earthquake strikes, and once she comes out, she begins hearing everyone’s thoughts in song. Continue reading Review: Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist
In Their Own League 