(courtesy First Showing) SNAPSHOTIn the city that never sleeps, five families hustle each winter to turn sidewalks into holiday outposts. The Merchants of Joy follows these Christmas die-hards as they source, sell, and safeguard a family tradition at risk. It’s a warm, grounded portrait of pride, grit, and the joy Continue Reading
Documentaries
A whole new world: Thoughts on Prehistoric Planet: Ice Age
(courtesy AppleTV) Losing yourself in a documentary is one of life’s great, often unsung, pleasures. If they’re done well, and many are, they are gateways to magical places of knowledge and experience, a chance to find yourself somewhere you’ve never been or to get lost in the rapture and wonder Continue Reading
Movie review: Ocean with David Attenborough #AndyAt60
(courtesy Oceanfilm.net) To be honest, this reviewer put off watching Ocean With David Attenborough for quite a few months because life was, and is, super stressful and who needs to find out more about how supremely comprehensively humanity is trashing our oceans on top of the litany of other environmental Continue Reading
“This is as full a life as any human can live.” The life of a great comedian is explored in John Candy: I Like Me
(courtesy IMDb) SNAPSHOTFrom director Colin Hanks and lifelong John Candy fan Ryan Reynolds comes John Candy: I Like Me, an exploration of the life of the Canadian comedic icon. This comprehensive John Candy film documents his on- and off-camera existence, featuring never-before-seen home videos, intimate access to his family, and Continue Reading
Want to borrow some nostalgia? Head on over to Video Heaven
(courtesy First Showing) SNAPSHOTFor some thirty years, from the 1980s until their decline in the 2010s, video shops were crucial arenas for film culture – and both highbrow and lowbrow American cinema has documented their rise, fall and changing meanings. Alex Ross Perry’s Videoheaven, a labour of love ten years Continue Reading
Strap yourself with a full-on ride with The Wild Ones
(courtesy First Showing (c) AppleTV+) SNAPSHOTExplore hidden corners of the Earth with a trio of experts as they try to save six endangered species from extinction. With crafty camerawork & survival skills, the team race to find, record, protect these elusive creatures before it’s too late. Battling the North Atlantic, Continue Reading
Wi-fi is not the only connection that matters: Thoughts on Backyard Wilderness
There is always something inherently restorative about watching a nature documentary that takes you quietly and with real fascination through the seasonal cycles of one specific location. You feel, almost immediately, as if you are immersed in this world, a feeling heightened to a wholly rewarding degree in Backyard Wilderness, Continue Reading
Thoughts on the Secret World of Sound with David Attenborough
(courtesy IMDB) If you’ve seen as many nature documentaries as this reviewer – they have always been and will likely remain one of my prime happy places – you could well wonder if there’s anything new under the sun, any new way of approaching the genre that feels fresh or Continue Reading
Not the people you thought you knew: Thoughts on Secrets of the Neanderthals
(courtesy IMDb (c) Netflix) Growing up, I remember being fascinated by the idea that there were other human species alive on the Earth, not just well before Homo Sapiens but crossing over with us. At the present time, there are a number of species that have been discovered to have Continue Reading
Discover the secret that connects us all with Our Living World
(courtesy & (c) Netflix) SNAPSHOTAt first glance, the grazing patterns of reindeer in the Arctic may not appear to have much to do with the day-to-day lives of hippos in Africa. Despite the physical distance between these herds, however, their survival is bound together in a vast and intricately linked Continue Reading