Inspiration for Your Own Flick
If you’re a movie buff, the summer is the time to indulge in your geeky interests, what with all that popcorn and cool, dark rooms. And there is no better film out there for the obsessed than Angela Ismailos’ Great Directors. The documentary features interviews with notables like Bernardo Bertolucci, David Lynch, Stephen Frears, Agnes Varda, Todd Haynes, Catherine Breillat, and Richard Linklater, all about the craft and the challenge of making great work. It is a must-see for any creative type, not just filmmakers—these directors have a lot to say when it comes to the making and perfecting of an art. As Ronnie Scheib of Variety writes of Ismailos, “Her eclectic pantheon weighs in with entertaining anecdotes and illuminating comments, illustrated with well-chosen samplings of the artists' work.” So watch, listen, absorb—and then go out and make your own film.
Shooting for Good
The Getty Museum in Los Angeles is playing host to a radical show this summer— Engaged Observers: Documentary Photography Since the Sixties, which opened Tuesday, features the work of photographers who have prompted change and revolution with their work. From Susan Meiselas’ devastating shots of the Nicaraguan insurrection to Lauren Greenfield’s haunting images of anorexic girls in the 1990s, the show runs the gamut from political subject matter to the most personal. Go see some art for a change.
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Vaulting Into Your Living Room
Let’s be honest, this is summer. You’re not going to get around to reading Faulkner or appreciating the great Antonioni flicks that you have been meaning to Netflix. You want beaches, beers, and a lot of mindless television blared at you with the AC on. ABC Family is really bringing a solid summer slate of easy breezy TV, and at the head of the pack is Make It or Break It, a deliciously addictive drama about nationally ranked gymnasts and their road to the Olympics, airing Mondays at 10 p.m. It may seem like a teen show at first, but this is one program in which the parents and adult characters are as strong as those in leotards, and the issues are more universal than just boyfriends and proms. Professional gymnastics is serious business; these are high achievers, trying to navigate youth, love, failure, injury, prejudice, betrayal, and stamina—all on uneven bars.
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