Doc Corner: The First Female Film Director in 'Be Natural: The Untold Story of Alice Guy-Blaché'

By Glenn Dunks

For a film about a little-known name of early silent cinema, Be Natural: The Untold Story of Alice Guy-Blaché sure does come out of the gates swinging. Swinging and sweeping and swooping and spinning and kicking and ecstatically careening through the streets of Paris. The opening passages of Pamela B. Green’s revelatory documentary are so frenetically paced that it’s almost exhausting. When I posited that none other than Baz Luhrmann’s Moulin Rouge! was an inspiration, the film’s own Twitter feed confirmed it. Indeed.

And it’s not just the opening, too. The entirety of this film is surprisingly fast-paced, often editing its collage of film clips, archival video, contemporary exploration and talking heads into a dizzying soup of cinematic nostalgia...

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Watch at Home: The insane "Serenity" and "Extremely Wicked" Zac Efron

Nathaniel R giving you the heads up on what's available to you now to screen at home.

Newish on DVD/Blu-Ray
• Serenity - Must be seen to be believed. We can't wait for it to hit streaming and watch the masses catch on to this new camp classic.
• Tickled - Unsure why this famous doc about fetish videos and the shady man who produced them took 3 years to end up on DVD.
• The Gospel According to André - well-reviewed fashion doc.

Also new: Taraji P Henson hears What Men Want, Gina Rodriguez gets kidnapped in the remake of Miss Bala, Mads Mikkelsen freezes in Arctic, and Everybody Knows something or other about Penelope Cruz and Javier Bardem. Great iTunes deals and new to streaming after the jump... 

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Tribeca 2019: "You Don't Nomi"

Team Experience reporting from Tribeca Film Festival which wraps up tomorrow. Here's Nathaniel R

Of all the titles that I most looked forward to at Tribeca's 2019 edition, You Don't Nomi was at the top of the list. The debut documentary from Jeffrey McHale examines the cult fandom and critical rehabilitation (of sorts) surrounding Paul Verhoeven's trash-masterpiece Showgirls (1995). And readers, I was not dissapointed so much as seething with envy while watching it...

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Doc Corner: 'The River and the Wall'

By Glenn Dunks

The effects of the current administration on the psyche and the soul of American life have been well-documented in cinema. Documentaries about how Donald Trump has torn at the fabric of the country are almost a dime a dozen. Many have been great, and there will be many more until the day filmed entertainments cease to exist. It is a part of our cinematic lives now.

Less common as a subject is the effect the current administration is having on the land itself. That's surprising considering Trump and his cabinet are doing everything within their power to not just continue environmental genocide but speed it up. The soil and the water and the earth that surrounds us are at the heart of the evocative new documentary The River and the Wall...

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Tribeca 2019: "Ask Dr. Ruth"

Team Experience reporting from Tribeca Film Festival. Here's Jason

A personality-based crowd-pleaser similar to what we saw last year with Won't You Be My Neighbor and RBG, only with heaps more clitoral commentary, director Ryan White's Ask Dr. Ruth doesn't break any documentary molds. It's content to merely bring us the life story and work of itty bitty sexologist Dr. Ruth Westheimer. And Dr. Ruth's too warm-hearted (not to mention itty bitty) to go about straight-forwardly smashing molds anyway. The iconic personality is more content to sneak in, make you comfy, offer you a cookie or two, and ease all of your deepest secrets out first...

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