By John H. Foote (****) They are ghosts to us, living in the jittery black and white footage shot 100 years ago. Yet they did not exist in black and white, their world was colour. The green grass was turned into a roiling sea of mud and blood on the battlefields, new technologies tore their…
By John H. Foote The autobiography of Bruce Springsteen was akin to sharing an open wound with the writer, his anguish and pain written on the page in blood, his life laid bare for the reader. Who knew the Boss was wracked with depression, sometimes unable to function? Who knew of debilitating self doubt that…
By John H. Foote Arguably the year’s finest documentary, this film is a warm, affectionate look into the career of the great Hal Ashby, one of the seventies finest filmmakers, yet sadly, among the least known to today’s audiences. Unlike Coppola, Spielberg, Scorsese, De Palma and Lucas, Hal Ashby did not move into the eighties…
By Melissa Houghton Everyone has a story. A life lived with a beginning, middle and end. Like fingerprints, a person’s story is uniquely their own, yet their life’s purpose may influence the lives of millions of others. Some people living their middle rise to great heights and become iconic figures identifiable by their initials: MLK,…
By John H. Foote (****) Jane Fonda did not just break down doors for actresses and activists, she kicked them off the hinges and burst through. One of the most exciting interviews of my career was speaking with Fonda. Whip-smart, hyper-alert, one of the smartest people I had ever encountered, it was a genuine pleasure.…
By Nick Maylor (***1/2) Official Film Synopsis: ANTHROPOCENE: The Human Epoch is the third collaboration between award-winning photographer Edward Burtynsky and acclaimed filmmakers Jennifer Baichwal and Nicholas de Pencier following Manufactured Landscapes and Watermark. In breathtaking tableaus, their latest documentary continues their exploration of industrialization and extraction in astonishing scale and perspective. I walked into the upper…