June 1st, 2021
by Greg Carlson
03 June 2021
Theo Anthony’s thought-provoking Sundance Special Jury Award prizewinner “All Light, Everywhere” ponders a great many questions joining past and present, perception and reality, and beholder and beheld. Among its fascinating explorations is the link between the development of photographic processes and their application in the arenas of warfare and policing. Anthony contemplates the ways in which the design of the camera and the gun…
May 24th, 2021
By Greg Carlson
27 May 2021
The supremely talented Melissa Maerz’s official author biography notes that she “has worked as an editor at ‘Spin’ and ‘Rolling Stone,’ a staff writer for ‘Entertainment Weekly’ and ‘The Los Angeles Times,’ and a supervising producer on HBO’s ‘Vice News Tonight.’ She was a founding editor at ‘New York’ magazine’s ‘Vulture’ website.”
Her fantastic book “Alright, Alright, Alright: The Oral History of…
May 17th, 2021
by Greg Carlson
gregcarlson1@gmail.com
16 May 2021
Another movie long-delayed by the pandemic, “Saint Maud” can finally be viewed on Amazon Prime and several other online outlets (the world premiere took place a lifetime ago at the 2019 Toronto International Film Festival).
Writer-director Rose Glass makes a convincing feature debut with an unsettling study of a personal carer who obsessively ministers -- in every sense of the word -- to a professional dancer ravaged by cancer. The…
May 10th, 2021
By Greg Carlson
07 May 2021
Hard to say whether non-cinephiles will be interested enough to watch a feature-length documentary about a movie critic, but Rob Garver’s “What She Said: The Art of Pauline Kael” is a worthwhile biography of a fascinating life led with purpose and conviction. Of course, the film-obsessed won’t need to be told twice -- Kael’s passionate, singular voice inspired moviemakers and movie viewers for decades. If Roger Ebert is the…
May 3rd, 2021
By Greg Carlson
29 April 2021
As tantalizing subject matter goes, the topic of Marilyn Agrelo’s “Street Gang: How We Got to Sesame Street” is as much a slam dunk as Morgan Neville’s “Won’t You Be My Neighbor?” Even though the 107-minute documentary sticks mainly to the contents of Michael Davis’s excellent 2008 book, which was published in anticipation of the show’s 40th anniversary in 2009, fans will not fault Agrelo’s tough editorial choices.…
April 25th, 2021
Fantasy and Reality in Ben Hozie's 'PVT Chat'
By Greg Carlson
gregcarlson1@gmail.com
23 April 2021
Talented hyphenate Ben Hozie breaks through with “PVT Chat,” an audacious and exciting low-budget, NYC indie sure to generate equal measures of interest and controversy for its onscreen depictions of graphic masturbation. Hozie, the guitarist and vocalist of Bodega, serves as the movie’s director, writer, cinematographer, and editor. Sparking with “going-nowhere-fast” energy that…
April 19th, 2021
By Greg Carlson
gregcarlson1@gmail.com
18 April 2021
Validated and legitimized by a kind of inflated imprimatur as an episode in “The New York Times Presents” series, filmmaker Samantha Stark’s “Framing Britney Spears” is a frustrating piece of lopsided speculation that never quite does enough to investigate and interrogate the horrifying treatment experienced by its subject as a young woman in the spotlight. In other words, the nonfiction celebrity exposé risks becoming the…
April 12th, 2021
The Master’s Voice: Monro’s 'Kubrick by Kubrick'
By Greg Carlson
09 April 2021
Joining the group of nonfiction portraits that includes “Stanley Kubrick: A Life in Pictures,” “Stanley Kubrick’s Boxes,” “Room 237,” “S Is for Stanley,” and “Filmworker,” Gregory Monro’s “Kubrick by Kubrick” is a worthy addition to the growing collection of documentary films exploring various aspects of the life and career of the legendary auteur. The most devoted fans might…
April 6th, 2021
By Greg Carlson
02 April 2021
Kring’s 'End of the Line' Part of North Dakota Environmental Rights Film Festival
One of several powerful films included in the upcoming 2021 North Dakota Environmental Rights Film Festival -- screening virtually from April 11 through April 25 -- director Shannon Kring’s “End of the Line: The Women of Standing Rock” looks at recent history through the eyes of several committed and passionate indigenous water protectors. Following its recent world…
March 29th, 2021
Collecting Movies with Toby Jones (2021)
By Greg Carlson
28 March 2021
Toby Jones is an Emmy-nominated writer, director and cartoonist from Fargo, North Dakota currently living in Los Angeles. He has worked as a writer and storyboard director on “Regular Show,” an executive producer on “OK K.O.!: Let's Be Heroes,” and is the creator of “AJ's Infinite…
By Josette Ciceronunapologeticallyanxiousme@gmail.com What does it mean to truly live in a community —or should I say, among community? It’s a question I have been wrestling with since I moved to Fargo-Moorhead in February 2022.…