Author: Chris Burlingame

Reviews

Steven Spielberg’s West Side Story is spectacular

by Chris Burlingame

With his last two films being the perfectly adequate Ready Player One and the wholly unnecessary The Post, I had forgotten how remarkable of a filmmaker Steven Spielberg can be when he’s working on the right project. Remaking a movie musical from fifty years ago that is as close to perfect as a non-Bob Fosse musical can be might seem daunting in a lesser filmmaker’s hands, but nearly everything in West Side Story felt like it hit exactly as it should. Spielberg’s version of this legendary film doesn’t so much surpass the original, a near impossibility, but runs parallel and that pays tribute to and complements its source marvelously.

Reviews

Julia brings the amazing life of TV’s first celebrity chef into view

by Chris Burlingame

Julia Child might have been one of the most unlikely TV stars. At 6’3”, she would have been tall enough to play center in the WNBA (the tallest player on the Atlanta Dream in 2021 was 6’4”), she began her TV career at 51 and she wasn’t exactly the most telegenic presence. But she was a TV star and she was the world’s first TV food personality, and she was amazing. She’s also the subject of a great new documentary called Julia. 

Reviews

Mayor Pete: Portrait of the politician as an ambitious man

by Chris Burlingame

Watching Buttigieg seek the presidency in 2020 felt like watching someone molded from a young age to achieve greatness reaching the upper limits of their ambition. I do not mean this as a compliment. He went to Harvard and Oxford, joined the military, and became a consultant for McKinsey before entering public service and serving two terms as mayor, running for president and settling on becoming Secretary of Transportation. And at the time I’m writing this, he’s still two months away from his fortieth birthday. And he’s openly gay.

Reviews

Eternals falls under the weight of its own ambition in the MCU’s biggest misfire

by Chris Burlingame

It was just two months ago, almost to the day, that I was, uhh, marveling at how Marvel Films’ blockbusters were mostly entertaining in the same ways. Watch enough of the movies, and they have a formula down for delivering a satisfying film experience. All that gets turned on its head with Eternals, the latest addition to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The movie is filled with lush, gorgeous cinematography, and a rich and diverse cast. You shouldn’t expect less when dealing with the reigning Best Director, Chloe Zhao. It’s also weirdly somehow both too long and not long enough. Altogether, though, the movie is messy, unfocused, and a massive disappointment. 

Festivals Reviews

SIFF DocFest 2021: Storm Lake

by Chris Burlingame

Most people haven’t heard of the Storm Lake Times newspaper for the same reason they likely haven’t heard of the Nome (Alaska) Nugget or, say, the Daily World from my hometown of Aberdeen, WA. But the Storm Lakes Times fills an important role in informing the citizens of Buena Vista County, Iowa. Despite having a circulation not much over 3,000 for a bi-weekly, small-community newspaper, it won a Pulitzer Prize in 2017 for editorial writing and exposing corruption in the agriculture industry. 

Festivals Reviews

SIFF DocFest 2021: a-ha: The Movie

by Chris Burlingame

At the beginning of a-ha: The Movie, the three primary and constant members of the legendary Norwegian, synth-pop band tell their likelihood of recording another album. Pål Waaktaar-Savoy says he already has the next a-ha album written; Magne Furuholmen says he’s open to going back in the studio; and Morten Harket says that he sees no point in a-ha putting out another album. It’s a telling story that shows the disparate points of view for this band that’s told through this film. And, for the record, a-ha does have a new album scheduled for release in 2022.

Reviews

Candyman can scare the bejesus out of you, if you want it to

by Chris Burlingame

Set in the fast-gentrifying Chicago arts scene, this updated-for-2021 slasher/thriller wants you to know that it’s politics are righteous. If it provides a few thrillers, even better. Overall, I liked it, even if there were often times when the politics felt heavy-handed and took away from the scarier aspects of the thriller, even when I agree passionately with the points the filmmaker is making. Still, there was plenty of horror that came through clearly.

Reviews

For Madmen Only pays tribute to the comedy legend that probably mentored your favorite comedians

by Chris Burlingame

I had never heard of Del Close before learning of this illuminating documentary about his life. Close was a comedic actor and writer, but he’s most known as one of the major authorities on improvisational comedy whose list of proteges is impressive and unparalleled. Clips of Amy Poehler, Tina Fey, Robin Williams, among many of their peers, are shown praising Del Close. Bob Odenkirk, Tim Meadows, and Adam McKay are interviewed for the movie and they all have stories about the impact Close had on their lives. He’s probably responsible, at least indirectly, for a supermajority of times I’ve laughed in my life.