In a new documentary, the defining funk artist’s ups and many downs are examined with a clear eye and a lack of sugar-coatingIn the jarring new music documentary, Bitchin: The Sound and Fury of Rick James, we see a star torn in half. On the one hand, t…
Sex, Succession and sci-fi nightmares: the must-see TV of autumn 2021
More teenage hookups in Sex Education, a killer Olivia Colman and the long-awaited return of the Roy family … here is all the unmissable TV coming soonAnnie Murphy moves straight from Schitt’s Creek to another swearily titled series, this time a bold m…
25 Playwrights and their Plays, 1700-1799
Mary Pix (1666-1709): Manchester Metropolitan University recently posted a complete performance (production credits) of Mary Pix’s comedy, The Beau Defeated (1700). The play was also adapted by the Royal Shakespeare Company under the title The Fantasti…
When Ruby Wax Met … review – excruciating outpourings from OJ Simpson, Donald Trump and more
From a menacing Trump to OJ Simpson trying to stab her with a banana, Wax looks back at her interview hits and misses – and it makes for jaw-dropping, fascinating TVWhen Ruby Wax Met … (BBC Two) gives us a double whammy of Wax, then and now, and proves…
Merrily We Roll Along
Stephen Sondheim was a hot property in 1981. Riding the momentum of Sweeney Todd, his next musical would be Merrily We Roll Along [Wikipedia], and that would be a gigantic flop, closing after over 50 previews, dozens of rewrites, and only 16 performanc…
Summer of Soul
In 1969 Harlem, a Music Festival Stuns [ungated link] – “Stevie Wonder, Mahalia Jackson, Mavis Staples and others shine in a documentary about the Harlem Cultural Festival from Questlove.” (via) [1,2,3; fanfare] Sometimes these archival-footage documen…
Untold review – gripping doc series delivers an irresistible sports fix
Missing the Olympics? Netflix’s thrilling new show will fill the gap with its deep dives into astonishing moments from sports history, starting with the ‘Malice at the Palace’ basketball brawlFrom Naomi Osaka and Simone Biles to Tyrone Mings, there has…
A Film On Possibility
British trancecore band Enter Shikari spent the last few days releasing a series of mini-documentaries, partially about the making of their 2020 album Nothing Is True & Everything Is Possible [YouTube playlist], but more interestingly about the sta…
28-3
Following up on their award winning documentary on the history of the Seattle Mariners, Jon Bois and his compatriots at Secret Base now turn their eyes to Atlanta to dissect the Dirty Birds themselves, the Falcons. (SLYT)
Blind Ambition review – a candid, charming take on sight and artistry
This stunt-filled documentary sees TV producer Jamie O’Leary and comic Jamie MacDonald consider how creatives with low vision and blindness both survive and thriveBlind Ambition (BBC Two) takes the tried and trusted format of putting two grumpy men tog…