Tribeca Review: “1-800-ON-HER-OWN”

It’s difficult to condense a whole life into one feature-length film. Dana Flor’s 1-800-ON-HER-OWN, a documentary centering on 90s folk music icon Ani DiFranco, wisely chooses to focus primarily on just one segment of her subject’s very full life and career. The issue, however, is that Flor concentrates on arguably the most banal period of […]

Tribeca Review: “New Wave”

When Elizabeth Ai set out to make her documentary New Wave, it was to strictly be a film about the music phenomenon that originated in Orange County, California in the 1980s. The city’s Little Saigon area saw a large influx of Vietnamese immigrants relocating due to the Vietnam War, and the trend capitalized on that […]

Tribeca Review: “Linda Perry: Let It Die Here”

Most people likely know Linda Perry as the lead singer and songwriter of 4 Non Blondes, the San Francisco-based rock band who had a smash hit single with the song “What’s Up?” from 1992’s “Bigger, Better, Faster, More!”— their first and only album. But Perry’s career has been anything but a one-hit wonder. After 4 […]

Review: “The High Note”

In “The High Note,” comparisons between Tracee Ellis Ross (who plays fictional pop diva Grace Davis) and her mother (real life pop icon Diana Ross) are inevitable. But Ross dominates in the role and makes it her own in a standout performance that makes “The High Note”—a pleasant if not particularly original comedy/drama about the […]

Review: “Blinded by the Light”

3.5 out of 5 stars. Being a fan of something goes beyond merely enjoying the work of a person, or liking a certain movie, musician, book, TV show, or sports team. It can move you in ways that are indescribable, and have a profound impact on your life. This impact is explored in “Blinded by […]

Review: “Yesterday”

2.5 out of 5 stars. It’s difficult to imagine a world without the Beatles. Their music has been an integral part of pop culture around the world for decades, their impact and influence on others seemingly never-ending. But a world without the Beatles is exactly what the movie “Yesterday” tries to imagine, only the premise […]

Review: “Bohemian Rhapsody”

3 out of 5 stars. You don’t need to know much about the band Queen to know that their music defied convention; one listen to “Bohemian Rhapsody” will tell you that. It’s curious and rather disappointing then that the biopic of the band and its lead singer, Freddie Mercury, is the definition of conventional. It’s […]

Review: “A Star is Born” (2018)

4 out of 5 stars. Hollywood loves to talk about itself. Maybe that’s why the story of the rise and fall of celebrity in “A Star is Born” is one of the most remade films in Hollywood history. The first version, from 1937 (which was in turn inspired by the 1932 film “What Price Hollywood?”), […]

Review: “Pitch Perfect 3”

2.5 out of 5 stars. “Pitch Perfect” really didn’t need to turn into a trilogy. And chances are, it was probably never meant to be one. The 2012 comedy about an all-girls a capella group was a surprise hit, a super quirky, edgier version of “Glee” that both teens and adults could enjoy. It is, […]