Doc Corner: Musical Chairs with Linda, Miles, Aretha and... Bros

By Glenn Dunks

It’s that time of the year where we play musical chairs and look at some of the music documentaries that have come along because there are just too many. Not all that much connects this batch of musicians – other than I am a fan of them to a degree, I suppose – but watching the films and there is a surprising spread of style and form. Surprising, also, because the artist that comes out on top is the most unexpected of them all.

The most informal, yet ultimately least satisfying of the batch is Linda Ronstadt: Sound of My Voice. It is somewhat disappointing that Oscar-winning filmmakers Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman (The Celluloid Closet) decided on such a rudimentary structure considering their subject was somebody who repeatedly coloured outside of the lines of the artform.

But any film about somebody as talented and interesting as Ronstadt, there is always going to be much enjoyment even if it is assembled rather blandly.

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You better link (link), link about what you're trying to do to me...

• NYT Aretha Franklin RIP. Wesley Morris on her power but did we "Respect" it?
• Variety Estonia has selected the single parent drama Take It Or Leave It for the Oscars
• TFE Our updated Oscar Foreign Submission charts 
• Boy Culture because Madonna is awesome she has released her 2018 Met Gala performance to her fans as a charity fundraiser for her orphans in Malawi. Each $25 will givea child food, schooling, and healthcare for a month

 

• Uproxx A little info on Mike Moh, who has been cast as Bruce Lee in Quentin Tarantino's Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (for those of you wondering why Bruce Lee is a character in the movie -- he worked with Sharon Tate prior to her murder)
• Playbill two time Oscar nominee Janet McTeer talks about playing legendary pre-cinema stage actress Sarah Bernhardt in a new play on Broadway called Bernhardt/Hamlet
• Vanity Fair Ruth Wilson requested to leave The Affair but she's not at liberty to say why for some reason
• Variety The Alienist has been renewed for a second season, meaning it's no longer a limited series but it gets to keep its limited series Emmy nomination
• Gr8er Days we forgot to note last week here at TFE that Charlotte Rae of The Facts of Life fame passed away

And did you see that the cast of Grease (1978) reunited at an Academy event to talk about the movie for its 40th anniversary? (Is this where we mention that the film only got one Oscar nomination, which it lost, for Best Original Song "Hopelessly Devoted to You")  Here's John Travolta and Olivia talking about her being cast in the movie...

Secret in Their Link

DListed - Ralph Fiennes breaks out the dance moves at the Venice premiere of A Bigger Splash
NYT Aretha Franklin suing to block festival showings of Amazing Grace, a recently finished documentary about the making of her album filmed in 1972.
Variety looks at the swift progress of new distributor Broad Green Pictures which surprised everyone with its acquisition of and good numbers for A Walk in the Woods. They also have Learning to Drive in theaters
The Globe and Mail an evening with Udo Kier (!)

 

AV Club in his continuing bid to not ever be remotely as cool / likeable as he once was Johnny Depp is joking about eating his dogs
WSJ Magazine "A day in the life of Danny Strong" a profile of the diminutive Emmy-winning ever busy actor/screenwriter of Buffy and Girls fame behind the scenes of Empire's second season
Yahoo Judy Carne (Laugh-In) dies at 76
MNPP Who Wore it Best: Luke Evans speedo edition 
Playbill Magic Mike ....the Musical may start its stage run in Las Vegas rather than on Broadway
Boy Culture Jean Darling of Our Gang silent serials has died at 93 
Comic Alliance on the "very serious" "no-jokes" "grimace" of Batman Vs. Superman: Dawn of Justice. Good conclusion
Variety Will Smith has replaced Hugh Jackman in Collateral Beauty and Rooney Mara has exited the project, too
The Broadway Blog looks back at The Pajama Gang which got a movie version in 1957
MNPP Jake Gyllenhaal gifs from Demolition. Sweet medicine. I'm seeing this Thursday night. woooo 

Oscar Season Cometh
Awards Daily on emergent Telluride Oscar contenders from Black Mass and a lot of praise for Spotlight
The Hollywood Reporter from Telluride: a lukewarm reaction to Carol (?), Black Mass's hilarious and haunting moments, great performances in Room, and not loving Suffragette

Image of the Day
How perfect is this photograph of Chiwetel Ejiofor from Interview by Sølve Sundsbø? Director Cary Fukunaga interviews him so it's double-handsomness).

FUKUNAGA: You have how many movies coming out this year?

EJIOFOR: Well, there's Secret and The Martian, and, next year, Triple 9. And then I'll be shooting the Doctor Strange movie.

FUKUNAGA: It's exciting. And I've done one thing that whole time. [Ejiofor laughs]