On November 24, 1971, D.B. Cooper jumped out of a plane with two hundred thousand dollars in ransom money and disappeared. Now, the phrase “living the dream” is thrown around a lot these days, but……
Documentaries
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In 2007, filmmaker Kirsten Johnson lost her mother, Catherine (nicknamed Katie Jo), to Alzheimer’s. Johnson was struck by how little footage she had shot of her mother, despite being a cinematographer for many years. That…
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DocumentaryReviews
‘Boys State’ is a Fascinating Look at a Very American Event
by Brian Connorby Brian Connor“The desire to be a politician should bar you for life from ever being one.” – Billy Connolly Since 1935, The American Legion has sponsored Boys State (and Girls State, which is somehow a separated…
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Movies have trained us not to trust AI. We’ll never forget seeing Hal 9000 lay waste to a group of astronauts; Skynet has threatened to destroy humanity so many times, it has become synonymous with…
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DocumentaryReviews
2020 Melbourne Documentary Film Festival: Virtual Edition Mini-Reviews – Part 4
by Nick Kushby Nick KushCheck out the rest of our coverage of the 2020 Melbourne Documentary Film Festival: Read Part 1 here. Read Part 2 here. Read Part 3 here. Paradise Without People Even though the Syrian refugee crisis…
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DocumentaryReviews
2020 Melbourne Documentary Film Festival: Virtual Edition Mini-Reviews – Part 2
by Sean Coatesby Sean CoatesRead part 1 of our 2020 Melbourne Documentary Film Festival coverage here. The Wheels of Wonder Play is a very important aspect of every child’s development. It gets them moving, stimulates their imagination, and helps…
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Reviews
2020 Sydney Film Festival: Virtual Edition Mini-Reviews – Part 2: Documentaries
by Sean Coatesby Sean CoatesThis is part 2 of my 2020 Sydney Film Festival Coverage. To read Part 1, click here. Part 1 covered the narrative features, and now we are here to focus on the documentaries screening online…
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Rankings
The Best Movies of August 2019: Two Actresses Lead the Way in Star Turns
by Nick Kushby Nick KushAfter Hobbs and Shaw — the cinematic equivalent of an eight-year-old boy smashing toxically buff action figures together for two hours — opened in theaters, the rest of August was full of intriguing projects, many…
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DocumentaryReviews
“Racism Stops With Me” – The Adam Goodes Story as Told by Two 2019 Documentaries
by Sean Coatesby Sean CoatesFootballer. Advocate. Champion. Hero. Inspiration. All of these words could be used to describe former Indigenous Australian Footballer, Adam Goodes. A remarkable man whose work both on and off the football field has been an…
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From its roots in the “pantomime dame” craze of the late 19th century to the modern-day antics of RuPaul’s Drag Race, drag has served as a way of subverting audiences’ expectations about gender. By performing…
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Sometimes not getting into the screening you desire at a film festival can be a blessing in disguise. After missing out on seeing The Farewell at Sundance earlier this year, I rushed to find another…
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Reviews
Melbourne International Film Festival (MIFF) 2019 Mini Reviews – Part 1
by Sean Coatesby Sean CoatesIf you are a film fan in the great city of Melbourne, August is the most wonderful time of the year. The Melbourne International Film Festival (MIFF) is in full swing and for the cinephiles…
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Another Bloody Movie PodcastPodcasts
Melbourne International Film Festival 2019 Preview (Another Bloody Movie Podcast)
by Sean Coatesby Sean CoatesThe Melbourne International Film Festival is just over 2 weeks away. Celebrating it’s 68th year, the program for MIFF 2019 was unveiled last week, announcing the largest line-up in the festival’s history. Over a massive…
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June was…rough. We saw a slew of high-profile blockbusters flop hard; most notably, Dark Phoenix will lose Fox (Disney) around $100 million. Other films like The Secret Life of Pets 2 and Shaft also cratered,…
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Retrospectives
Is ‘The Blair Witch Project’ Still Haunting Us After 20 Years?
by Cammy Maddenby Cammy Madden“In October of 1994, three student filmmakers disappeared in the woods near Burkittsville, Maryland while shooting a documentary. A year later their footage was found.” — The Blair Witch Project These are the words that mark…
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Streaming DocumentariesStreaming Reviews
Film Review – Life Overtakes Me (2019)
by Cammy Maddenby Cammy MaddenNetflix has been churning out documentary after documentary, and Life Overtakes Me is the latest. With a relatively short runtime of just 40 minutes, it follows several refugee families living in Sweden. Each of these…
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2019 marks the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 mission, or Stanley Kubrick’s finest work as a director depending on your proclivity to indulge in conspiracies. Nevertheless, with the help of some incredible, never-before-seen footage…
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When the Academy releases their nominations for the Oscars, two things normally happen. 1) everyone erupts in rage as the Academy continues to make the wrong choices time and time again. And 2) most people…
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Ah January, you stinky, obnoxious turd. We meet again! With the holiday season over, Oscar-hopeful films expanding into more theaters, and studios saving their marketing budgets for their bigger movies later in the year, Hollywood…
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DocumentaryReviews
Sundance Film Review – The Inventor: Out for Blood in Silicon Valley (2019)
by Nick Kushby Nick KushYou don’t need me to tell you that Silicon Valley in the “in” place for technological advancement in our current business marketplace. Investors are shelling out millions with the hopes of buying early on the…
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With the rise in streaming companies and boutique distributors, we’re in the middle of a little boom for independent film. It’s pretty satisfying to see such an influx of smaller projects. The shear amount of…
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Peter Jackson is at the helm of this documentary that takes 100-year old black and white, silent film footage and restores it, enhances it, and colorizes it. These technological transformations help bring the footage to…
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When I remember 2018 in film, I’ll remember a few things: this was a great year for documentaries; world cinema is having a bit of a resurgence; and non-big five studios are creating a majority…
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Streaming DocumentariesStreaming Reviews
Film Review – Out of Many, One (2018)
by Olaf Lesniakby Olaf LesniakThere are so many immigration documentaries out there that I questioned the need for another one. Yet today we also live in a more heated political climate than ever before. All Americans should know what…
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These short films will be playing at the Denver Film Festival from October 31st to November 11th. Head over to the DFF’s website to purchase your tickets! The MovieBabble staff was given the opportunity to screen some…
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Streaming DocumentariesStreaming Reviews
Netflix Review – Feminists: What Were They Thinking? (2018)
Feminists: What Were They Thinking? Inspires nostalgia as we look ahead anxiously at the future of women’s rights. Synopsis Directed By: Johanna Demetrakas Starring: Lily Tomlin, Gloria Steinem, Michelle Phillips, Jane Fonda, Cynthia MacAdams, Cheryl…
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Many Americans cringe when they hear abortion mentioned, because they know the discussion could get ugly. Even those with the same overall stance can disagree on certain aspects. Amazingly, Netflix’s new documentary, Reversing Roe, accomplishes…
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Netflix is definitely a top contender in the film industry today. They are widely becoming known for churning out quality programing. Indeed, this quality extends past their show and movie platform and feeds into the…