Shameless Self Expression

  1972 concert in the L.A. Coliseum, organised by Memphis’ Stax Records to commemorate (and raise funds for) the seventh anniversary of the Watts riots in Los Angeles (the original 1965 riots where 34 people died, not the Rodney King stuff in the 90s), and headlined by soul legend Isaac Hayes (at perhaps the pinnacle of his career and symbolically wearing gold chains!), as well as other Stax artists for a 100,000+ crowd. Interspersed between the music are interviews with members of the African-American community talking about the unique black experience in America (some of which is snoozer material, but a lot of it is fascinating). Amusingly one such member is a pre-Isaac the Bartender, Ted Lange!   Regarded by many as the African-American “Woodstock” , this 1973 Mel Stuart documentary with occasionally brilliant but somewhat uneven music featuring artists on the Stax label both excellent and, um...yeah not excellent. Despite a background in documentaries, I’m not sure ...

60s-loving student Thomasin McKenzie gets into a London fashion school, allowing her to move into the Soho area. Renting a room from grim-faced, no-nonsense Dame Diana Rigg, McKenzie starts to experience unusually vivid dreams set in 60s Soho. The dreams centre around an aspiring young singer named Sandie (played by Anya Taylor-Joy), and before long McKenzie is starting to take influence from her. But then the dreams start to get darker and more disturbing…   Director Edgar Wright ( “Shaun of the Dead” , “Scott Pilgrim vs. The World” ) and his co-writer Krysty Wilson-Cairns ( “1917” ) clearly have an affinity for the Swinging 60s and genre cinema. Unfortunately, that does not result in this 2021 film being any good . The problem I think is that Wright and Wilson-Cairns have created this world ripe for horror, but haven’t placed the right story into it. They’ve thrown too many genre influences into the mix, complicating something that would’ve been so much better if simplified. ...