August 1, 2025
As I navigate my list of topics and movies to cover in this little hobby of mine, sometimes I get a little worried if I have enough selections to write about in a blog post, despite the insane number of movies I continue to watch. You would likely feel nauseous if you saw the length of my watchlist. But when you are a film lover and you realize the endless options out there to explore, both to entertain and appreciate film history, it feels invigorating. At least to this movie nerd.
Anyway, this past month was just the opposite. There were a number of high-profile new releases that I covered last week here, but I had also written up reviews of some documentaries I’ve watched over the last month or two. When I saw just how big last week’s post was getting, even before seeing Eddington or The Fantastic Four: First Steps, I knew I needed to push the documentaries into a separate post. Plus, I needed to watch a new two-part (five hour!) documentary that was incredible, especially for a music fan of the MTV generation, so I could write about it in this post. More on that later.
I try to watch a lot of documentaries throughout the year and I tend to choose ones that meet one of two criteria. First, if it is about a topic that I am remotely interested in and can be educational, even if it wouldn’t be described as “entertaining.” These are usually films on the more serious side. I saw a few of those during the Sundance Film Festival that I recommend, but will save my thoughts on them when they are released (hopefully) later this year. The second type are documentaries that are designed to be more entertaining or a profile about someone who interests me. These can be a little tricky these days as most of the time the subject is involved in the making of the film so the angle might be biased, unless the director gets enough leeway to share the subject’s entire story, not just the happy stuff. So, I generally avoid a lot of the films that come across as “puff pieces,” when I read about them or see the trailer. Some of the movies in this week’s post might be considered puff pieces, but I still recommend them. We’re going to start with a look at the making of one of the best films of all-time.
Don’t Go in the Water
Ready to feel old? It’s been 50 years since Steven Spielberg brought us Jaws, the groundbreaking summer blockbuster that put him on the map, leading to one of the greatest filmmaking careers in Hollywood history. The best ever? Well, he’s in the conversation, which is something I am considering as I take on the arduous task of trying to rank the greatest directors of all-time. I was describing this project to some family members at a recent gathering and before I knew it, we spent well over an hour debating the best filmmakers of all-time. I had a blast, but I think my wife continues to think I’m crazy. More on that project at a later date.
Anyway, in conjunction with the anniversary of Jaws, a new documentary (Jaws @ 50: The Definitive Inside Story) about the making of the film was commissioned and it’s very good. There is a new interview with Spielberg as well as discussions (both new and archival footage) with members of the cast and crew. We also get some great behind-the-scenes insights on how the film was made, specifically the problems with the mechanical shark that led to delays and budget overruns, causing Spielberg to worry if he’d ever get another job in Hollywood.
Overall, this is a pretty good look at Jaws, but it’s too bad that there are no contemporary interviews with the three leading actors. Roy Shchieder and Robert Shaw are deceased, and Richard Dreyfuss has kind of gone off the deep end in recent years. If this documentary doesn’t satiate your need for the story of how this blockbuster was made, I’d also recommend The Making of Jaws, a 20th anniversary documentary made in 1995, which you can find on YouTube. More importantly, the original film will be back in theaters Labor Day weekend to celebrate its 50th anniversary. Sadly, I won’t be able to see it as I will be once again headed to the Gorge to satisfy my addiction to my favorite band. In the meantime, Jaws @ 50: The Definitive Inside Story is now streaming on Disney+.
Pioneering Women
This past month saw the premiere of two very good films about groundbreaking women in their industry. First up is Barbara Walters: Tell Me Everything, which covers the career and personal life of the iconic newswoman who spent more than sixty years in the news industry. From her early days as an aspiring reporter, up through her time as the most popular interviewer in television history, Walters left an incredible impact on the journalism industry. Sure, we remember the puff piece interviews with Hollywood celebrities, but she also cornered some of the biggest world leaders about the most important issues at the time. Two things stood out to me while watching this film – first, the list of people she interviewed over the years is staggering, and second, the impact she had on the next few generations of women journalists (depicted during her last episode of The View) was truly inspirational. Barbara Walters: Tell Me Everything is now streaming on Hulu.
If you follow the news about the space program, even at a cursory level, then you no doubt know the name Sally Ride, the first American female astronaut. Her life and career are explored in Sally, a new film that pulls back the curtain on a woman who accomplished a great deal in her career, but shared very little about her private life. The story is told primarily by Tam O’Shaughnessy, her life partner of 27 years, as well as other members of the space program during her tenure in the 1980s. This film is a wonderful intersection of the challenges Ride faced in an industry that was male-centric (including how she handled every idiotic question from a journalist with the utmost grace) and her conflicted feelings about her personal life. She felt her career would be ruined if she revealed that she was gay, a fact that was only known when it appeared in her obituary. As much as I was inspired by her accomplishments, it made me incredibly sad for Sally and Tam to have felt this way for so many years. Nonetheless, this is a very good story about an incredible woman. Sally is now streaming on Hulu and Disney+
Portraits of Two Actresses
I didn’t have this next film on my list of movies to cover, but after watching it a few weeks ago, I felt compelled to share my thoughts along with a strong recommendation. You may recognize the actress Mariska Hargitay from her role on Law & Order: SVU, which she has played for over 25 years. She decided to take a step behind the camera to make a film about her mother, Jayne Mansfield, the actress who died when Hargitay was only three years old. Now, I didn’t have any intentions of watching this film as I knew very little about Mansfield and figured this would be a run-of-the-mill puff piece. But I started hearing good things about the movie, as well as an interview Hargitay gave on Marc Maron’s podcast, WTF, which I also highly recommend.
My Mom Jayne is a touching look at Mansfield’s life and career, but it is so much more than that. She lived a complicated life and Hargitay knew very little about her before she began this project. She conducted interviews with her older siblings and others who knew her mother, and learned so much about aspects of her mother’s life that were new to her. This film is more about a family reckoning with their past, than a look at a celebrity’s life. A touching story that will resonate with any viewer. My Mom Jayne is now streaming on HBO Max.
I saw this next documentary way back during Sundance in January, and it finally got a limited release in theaters and will be available at home later this month. Marlee Matlin: Not Alone Anymore is a terrific look at the actress who became the youngest Best Actress winner at the age of 21 in 1986. She also became the only deaf actor to win an Oscar, a record that (unfortunately) stood until 2021, when her CODA co-star Troy Kotsur won for his performance in the Best Picture winner, which was my favorite film of that year.
In between those high-profile moments in the life of Marlee Matlin, she had a number of ups and downs in her career and personal life that are explored in an effective way by director Shoshanna Stern. The interviews with Matlin are conducted entirely using sign language by the director, which makes it more effective to see them engaging naturally, without the distraction of an interpreter speaking. The film covers Matlin’s friendship with Henry Winkler, who discovered her in a community theater production, as well as her tumultuous relationship with William Hurt, her co-star in her Oscar-winning performance in Children of a Lesser God. She was also an activist for deaf individuals’ rights, including requiring closed-captioning on all television programming. So next time you turn the captions on for a movie you are watching, you can thank Marlee. An inspiring documentary about an inspiring woman, Marlee Matlin: Not Alone Anymore is now playing in limited theaters and will be available to rent on demand on August 12th.
Portrait of a Complicated Musician
I would think that the list of celebrities who would warrant a two-part, five hour documentary about their life and career would be very short. Last year’s documentary about Paul Simon was 3 ½ hours and that included sequences about him making a new album. Five hours? Are you kidding me? Nope, I’m not. That’s the runtime for Billy Joel: And So It Goes, an exhaustive look at the Piano Man’s life and career that I thought was outstanding. If you are a fan of his music and grew up during the 70s and 80s, then this is right up your alley. Is it too long? Arguably, it could be trimmed a bit here and there. Am I biased because I don’t care how long a movie is, as long as it’s good? Well, after we watched part one, I said to my wife, “Oh boy, part two is also 2 ½ hours,” knowing that she is not a fan of long movies. “That’s ok,” she said, “because it’s REALLY good.” And she is right (as always).
There are a number of aspects of this film that make it so compelling. In contemporary interviews, we hear directly from Joel (and the people in his life) on every single topic that is discussed, even the most difficult parts of his life. He doesn’t shy away from it, and you will be left thinking that as much as we love his music, he wasn’t a very good partner or parent to the people in his life. Accompanying the interviews are terrific archival footage and photographs. The research that directors Susan Lacy and Jessica Levin did to bring this story to life must have taken an inordinate amount of time. Of course, one of my highlights was the clips from his HBO concert special for The Nylon Curtain tour that I watched over and over and over again in the early 1980s. My wife’s response to me pointing that out, “I’m not surprised at all.”
But my favorite part of this film were the stories behind the making of the songs. Joel goes through each album in his career, talking about the inspiration for some of his biggest hits, how he worked through the music and lyrics, some of which were written ridiculously fast. I geek out on this “inside the studio” type of storytelling, mostly because I am always amazed at the creativity and talent of musicians. It’s one of the best parts of The Beatles: Get Back documentary series we saw in 2021. Billy Joel isn’t a perfect human being, but damn if his music still holds up all these years later, evidenced by his recent residency at Madison Square Garden, which lasted ten years. If you love the music, don’t be intimidated by the runtime. That’s what the pause button is for. Dive in and enjoy the ride. Billy Joel: And So It Goes is now streaming on HBO Max.
The Most Creative Documentary…..EVER?
I wouldn’t consider myself an expert on the works of William Shakespeare. Sure, I’ve heard of the most notable plays, have seen a number of film adaptations, but am not a connoisseur. In fact, when a modern movie features a story that is a spin on an old Shakespeare play, I never recognize it in the moment. I am also not a video game player, so I do not know the inner workings of Grand Theft Auto, other than recognizing the name and its popularity among the gaming community. At this point, you may be wondering about the curious juxtaposition of those two personal deficiencies I just shared. You may be asking yourself if watching too many movies might have fried my brain. Reasonable question. What on Earth do Shakespeare and Grand Theft Auto have in common? An even better question.
During the worst days of the pandemic in 2021, two gentlemen from England met online while playing a game of Grand Theft Auto. They were both dealing with different stressors in their lives, exacerbated by the pandemic, and used the game as an escape from their worries. We all found our own way of escaping during those crazy days in 2020 – 2021. For those non-gamers (like me), GTA is a role playing game where you play a character that wanders the streets of Southern California, looking to get into trouble and become a big-shot criminal. The online version allows players to jump in as their character and interact with others from around the world who are playing the game at the same time. While Sam and Mark were roaming around the streets of the GTA world one day, they stumbled upon an open amphitheater and had their characters jump on stage and pretend they were in a play. One of them started reciting lines from Hamlet and they made a joke about it. Then they had an idea – what if they could create a production of Hamlet set entirely inside the world of Grand Theft Auto? That’s the premise of Grand Theft Hamlet.
Throughout this incredibly creative documentary, we see Sam and Mark work through how to stage the different parts of the play inside the different locations of the game, recruit other players to take on character roles in Hamlet, and dodge others who just want to play the game. I literally laughed out loud during one scene where some random person came into their rehearsal and started shooting the group who were just trying to work out a scene. Either Sam or Mark was exclaiming, “Please sir, don’t shoot us – we’re just actors working on a play.” Bang! Game over, time to start again.
On the surface, this is a very silly idea and you may think, “Why should I waste my time watching people play a video game?” Actually, that’s what makes Grand Theft Hamlet so creative – the entire film is set inside the game. Every scene is footage from GTA, accompanied by audio of the characters as they navigate their mission – not to become a powerful criminal, but to stage a production of a legendary play. The film has some funny moments, but heartfelt ones too, especially as we hear certain players talk about how the pandemic is taking a toll on their lives, leading some to drop out of the project.
Bringing it all back, despite my lack of expertise in Shakespeare or GTA, I found myself rooting for these characters the entire time. In the grand scheme of things, creating a production of Hamlet in GTA is not going to change anything, but it brought joy into the lives of the people who desperately needed it during a very difficult time. As someone who used this blog as a means to do the same in the dark days of the pandemic, I could certainly relate. This is worth checking out, although finding it is a bit of a challenge. It is not available to rent on demand yet, but I expect it will be later this year. In the meantime, Grand Theft Hamlet is available to watch on MUBI, a streaming service that offers a free 7-day trial. P.S. – you can also watch The Substance on MUBI, if you are inclined to watch the batshit crazy Best Picture nominee from last year.
That’s all for this week. I hope you enjoyed this look at some new releases and found some movies to add to your watch list. I’ll be back next week for a project I have been working on for several months. It is a two-part look at the incredible career of Denzel Washington. He has a new movie coming in August, and it seems like a perfect time to revisit some of his best films and share why he is one of the most-talented actors we’ve seen in the last forty years. Thanks for reading and if you’d like to be notified of future posts, you can subscribe below.