From an early age, we’re trained from media osmosis to expect, and to celebrate, performers who lord their power, their status, and their entitlement over us. We celebrate, with a certain degree of self-loathing, these peoples’ transformations from regular Joes to the icons we’re raised by television, magazines, and movies to want to be.
Talking Heads, the quartet consisting of David Byrne, Tina Weymouth, Chris Frantz, and Jerry Harrison, have a more centered, settled sensibility, one that somehow still doesn’t compromise the energy we expect and want from a good rip-roaring concert. In Jonathan Demme’s Stop Making Sense, the group put on a show that revels in a smaller, more personal, self-actualization: It’s about rock stars learning to dominate themselves as opposed to others, to fit into a wider-reaching society that they accept as baffling, uncomfortable, and joyous.
Stop Making Sense doesn’t feel self-conscious and “good for you,...
Talking Heads, the quartet consisting of David Byrne, Tina Weymouth, Chris Frantz, and Jerry Harrison, have a more centered, settled sensibility, one that somehow still doesn’t compromise the energy we expect and want from a good rip-roaring concert. In Jonathan Demme’s Stop Making Sense, the group put on a show that revels in a smaller, more personal, self-actualization: It’s about rock stars learning to dominate themselves as opposed to others, to fit into a wider-reaching society that they accept as baffling, uncomfortable, and joyous.
Stop Making Sense doesn’t feel self-conscious and “good for you,...
- 5/20/2024
- by Chuck Bowen
- Slant Magazine
Prime Video got off to a fast start this summer with the release of The Boys season 3 on June 3. Now, as we enter the dog days, Prime Video is set to keep the warm weather good times rolling with a new twist on an old classic. That’s right, Amazon’s list of new releases for August 2022 is highlighted by some good old-fashioned baseball.
A League of Their Own, the TV adaptation of Penny Marshall’s 1992 movie, is set to premiere on Aug. 12. Like the movie before it, the series will dramatize the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League which saw women playing America’s pastime while the major leagues were on pause for World War II. Abbi Jacobson (Broad City) co-created the show and will star as catcher Carson Shaw.
Other Prime Video Originals of note this month include season 2 of British comedy The Outlaws on and the Ron Howard-directed Thirteen Lives,...
A League of Their Own, the TV adaptation of Penny Marshall’s 1992 movie, is set to premiere on Aug. 12. Like the movie before it, the series will dramatize the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League which saw women playing America’s pastime while the major leagues were on pause for World War II. Abbi Jacobson (Broad City) co-created the show and will star as catcher Carson Shaw.
Other Prime Video Originals of note this month include season 2 of British comedy The Outlaws on and the Ron Howard-directed Thirteen Lives,...
- 8/1/2022
- by Alec Bojalad
- Den of Geek
Prime Video will continue rolling out its summer slate in the month of August, releasing new original series, as well as a mix of suspenseful films, action movies and more.
Amazon’s series version of “A League of Their Own” will debut its eight-episode first season on Aug. 12, introducing new characters and stories set in the historical opening of the All American Girls Professional Baseball League (Aagpbl).
Ron Howard’s “Thirteen Lives” tells the real-life story of how a young boys’ soccer team was rescued from the Thai mountain cave where they got stuck for 10 days along with their coach.
Other new film arrivals include hits from earlier this summer, “The Lost City” starring Sandra Bullock, Daniel Radcliffe, Channing Tatum and Brad Pitt, as well as “Sonic the Hedgehog 2.” Academy Award-nominated film “Licorice Pizza” also arrives on Prime Video this month.
Freevee will also have new arrivals this month.
Amazon’s series version of “A League of Their Own” will debut its eight-episode first season on Aug. 12, introducing new characters and stories set in the historical opening of the All American Girls Professional Baseball League (Aagpbl).
Ron Howard’s “Thirteen Lives” tells the real-life story of how a young boys’ soccer team was rescued from the Thai mountain cave where they got stuck for 10 days along with their coach.
Other new film arrivals include hits from earlier this summer, “The Lost City” starring Sandra Bullock, Daniel Radcliffe, Channing Tatum and Brad Pitt, as well as “Sonic the Hedgehog 2.” Academy Award-nominated film “Licorice Pizza” also arrives on Prime Video this month.
Freevee will also have new arrivals this month.
- 7/30/2022
- by Dessi Gomez
- The Wrap
Rolling Stone interview series Unknown Legends features long-form conversations between senior writer Andy Greene and veteran musicians who have toured and recorded alongside icons for years, if not decades. All are renowned in the business, but some are less well known to the general public. Here, these artists tell their complete stories, giving an up-close look at life on music’s A list. This edition features drummer Karl Himmel.
On November 12th, 1977, Neil Young celebrated his 32nd birthday by playing an enormous outdoor festival in Miami, Florida, to raise funds for the National Hemophilia Foundation.
On November 12th, 1977, Neil Young celebrated his 32nd birthday by playing an enormous outdoor festival in Miami, Florida, to raise funds for the National Hemophilia Foundation.
- 3/31/2021
- by Andy Greene
- Rollingstone.com
Just five months before his death last week, Jonathan Demme was onstage at the Doc NYC annual Visionaries Tribute lunch in New York, where he delivered a gracious speech after receiving a lifetime achievement award for documentary filmmaking. In his speech, Demme mostly talked about other filmmakers and champions of documentary film that were also in the room.
Read More: Jonathan Demme and Performance: 10 Videos That Capture His Musical Genius
“There’s a lot of heroes here,” Demme said. “Stanley Nelson, Alex Gibney, Michael Moore. This is just like a deluge of great documentary filmmakers.” Nelson also received a lifetime achievement award at the ceremony.
Demme also made a point to thank the executives, producers and distributors he’s known and worked with over the years, including Molly Thompson, the founder and head of A&E IndieFilms, longtime producer and distributor Ira Deutchman, and Doc NYC’s executive director Rapheala...
Read More: Jonathan Demme and Performance: 10 Videos That Capture His Musical Genius
“There’s a lot of heroes here,” Demme said. “Stanley Nelson, Alex Gibney, Michael Moore. This is just like a deluge of great documentary filmmakers.” Nelson also received a lifetime achievement award at the ceremony.
Demme also made a point to thank the executives, producers and distributors he’s known and worked with over the years, including Molly Thompson, the founder and head of A&E IndieFilms, longtime producer and distributor Ira Deutchman, and Doc NYC’s executive director Rapheala...
- 5/2/2017
- by Graham Winfrey
- Indiewire
Jonathan Demme's death at the age of 73 prompted an outpouring of online memorials from film lovers who remembered the Oscar-winning director for his varied career: everything from the chilling, intelligent thriller The Silence of the Lambs to the brittle 2008 indie drama Rachel Getting Married. But for music fans, those highlights don't even scratch the surface of what cemented his legacy.
It's not hyperbole to say that Demme was arguably the greatest concert filmmaker ever – look at the number of them that he made, the range of artists he chronicled...
It's not hyperbole to say that Demme was arguably the greatest concert filmmaker ever – look at the number of them that he made, the range of artists he chronicled...
- 4/26/2017
- Rollingstone.com
When Justin Timberlake and the Tennessee Kids swung by Las Vegas to bring the curtain down on their barnstoming 20/20 Experience world tour, director Jonathan Demme was present, camera in hand, and ready to capture the event in all of its spectacular glory.
Filmed in 2015, it was only recently that Netflix snapped up distribution rights to Demme’s feature, and we now arrive at the reveal trailer for Justin Timberlake and the Tennessee Kids. As the final date in their worldwide tour, there was a tremendous amount of anticipation swirling around the music group as they entertained those in attendance at the MGM Grand Garden Arena and, as you can gather from the video up above, they didn’t disappoint.
As far as Netflix Originals go, Demme’s picture isn’t likely to occupy headlines left, right and center in the vein of, say, Luke Cage, but it does present a...
Filmed in 2015, it was only recently that Netflix snapped up distribution rights to Demme’s feature, and we now arrive at the reveal trailer for Justin Timberlake and the Tennessee Kids. As the final date in their worldwide tour, there was a tremendous amount of anticipation swirling around the music group as they entertained those in attendance at the MGM Grand Garden Arena and, as you can gather from the video up above, they didn’t disappoint.
As far as Netflix Originals go, Demme’s picture isn’t likely to occupy headlines left, right and center in the vein of, say, Luke Cage, but it does present a...
- 9/27/2016
- by Michael Briers
- We Got This Covered
After he returned to the world of music for a narrative drama with last year’s (overlooked) Ricki and the Flash, director Jonathan Demme is back on the stage in Stop Making Sense mode with Justin Timberlake + The Tennessee Kids. Capturing the pop star’s The 20/20 Experience tour during their Las Vegas stop, Netflix picked up the film for a release in just a few weeks and now the full trailer has arrived, which previews what looks to be as an immersive experience as one could expect from the director.
We said in our review, “Timberlake still does what he does, and the show seems easily amongst the upper echelon of touring pop-stars, so it’s not like the experience doesn’t go down easy, even if it feels like somewhat of a missed opportunity to genuinely enter the mind of this sort of stardom. (Not that we necessarily needed...
We said in our review, “Timberlake still does what he does, and the show seems easily amongst the upper echelon of touring pop-stars, so it’s not like the experience doesn’t go down easy, even if it feels like somewhat of a missed opportunity to genuinely enter the mind of this sort of stardom. (Not that we necessarily needed...
- 9/27/2016
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
Esteemed director Jonathan Demme is no stranger to the concert documentary — or, as he would call it, the performance film. Aside from being the force behind cinema classics like “Silence of the Lambs,” Demme has made some unscripted and thoroughly revealing music-based films like the Talking Heads’ “Stop Making Sense” and “Neil Young: Heart of Gold.” However, global pop superstar Justin Timberlake still seemed incredulous that Demme would bless him by directing “Justin Timberlake + The Tennessee Kids,” which saw it’s world premiere Wednesday at the Toronto Film Festival. Also Read: Mark Wahlberg Now 'Regrets' Pardon Request for Teenage Assault...
- 9/14/2016
- by Matt Donnelly
- The Wrap
Though Justin Timberlake has made a splash on film with scene-stealing performances in David Fincher’s “The Social Network” and the Coen Brother’s “Inside Llewyn Davis,” the man is still primarily a pop star. His last worldwide tour in support of his two-part album “The 20/20 Experience” grossed over $230 million and lasted over a year. Director Jonathan Demme captured Timberlake’s final two shows on the tour at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas and turned them into the concert film “Justin Timberlake + The Tennessee Kids.” Watch a trailer for the film below.
Read More: Justin Timberlake and Anna Kendrick Sing Cyndi Lauper’s ‘True Colors’ at Cannes Film Festival
Demme is no stranger to capturing live performance or working with musical artists. One of Demme’s most universally acclaimed films is “Stop Making Sense,” the 1984 Talking Heads concert film that has remained in the public imagination for decades. Demme...
Read More: Justin Timberlake and Anna Kendrick Sing Cyndi Lauper’s ‘True Colors’ at Cannes Film Festival
Demme is no stranger to capturing live performance or working with musical artists. One of Demme’s most universally acclaimed films is “Stop Making Sense,” the 1984 Talking Heads concert film that has remained in the public imagination for decades. Demme...
- 9/9/2016
- by Vikram Murthi
- Indiewire
Netflix has acquired global rights to Justin Timberlake + The Tennessee Kids, the performance concert film directed by Jonathan Demme that is world premiering next week at the Toronto Film Festival. The movie will be available to stream October 12. Demme (Neil Young: Heart Of Gold) focused his lens on final date of Timberlake and his 25 band members’ 20/20 Experience World Tour at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas — the last stop on a tour that featured 134 shows…...
- 9/9/2016
- Deadline
Was it Godard or was it Truffaut who said “critics make the best directors”?
A film critic by trade and a poet in his heart, Brian D. Johnson began his film “Al Purdy Was Here” as a fundraising tool to save the A-frame cabin in the woods built by Canadian poet Al Purdy and his wife Eurithe. As making the film progressed, Johnson began to see much more in the film than merely a vehicle [piece] to raise money. “Al Purdy Was Here” soon evolved into something much greater, something deeply poetic by a writer who himself treasures poetry even as he critiques films….
Brian says, “It is about art and life and the fact that they are often in conflict as we try to make our lives. Poetry is my aim…finding poetry in cinema. But music was the reason I made the film.”
Canada's leading musicians and artists come together to tell the tale of Al Purdy.
The documentary features archival materials and first-hand accounts, including interviews with his publisher Howard White, editor Sam Solecki, widow Eurithe Purdy, poets Dennis Lee, Steven Heighton and George Bowering—and Bowering's wife Jean Baird, the powerhouse behind the campaign to save and restore Purdy's A-Frame cabin.
Read Indiewire for more about the movie here.
Gordon Pinsent (“Away from Her”), Michael Ondaatje (“The English Patient”), Leonard Cohen (“Natural Born Killers”), Margaret Atwood (“The Handmaid’s Tale”) all pay tribute to him along with other well known writers, actors, directors and singers who adapt his poetry.
This film premiered, naturally enough, at Tiff 2015 but I only caught up with it at Iff Panama this year because Brian – whom I met one year in Havana and loaned him $100 to pay his hotel bill -- was at Iff Panama where his film was screening. With him was our friend-in-common, Latinaphile, Helga Stephenson, so I tagged along as a friend to see a film about a person I had never heard of before. And I was entranced by what I saw.
Al Purdy was known to be a raucous, barroom brawling Canadian poet, something on a par with Charles Bukowski. In fact they were friends and corresponded extensively, but there is some question as to whether Purdy’s character as a barroom brawler was put on as his persona to help popularize his poetry. Was he actually such a rough person? His wife, Eurithe Purdy, who survived him and is featured in the movie said that at home he was quite a peaceable man (when he was not boozing it up with his pals). He was also a philosophical soul, enraptured by nature—Canada's Walt Whitman as well as its Bukowski.
Sl: How did you get these musicians?
I went to the pantheon of famous Canadian singer-songwriters and asked them to compose and record music inspired by Purdy's work. We paid engineers and musicians. But the artists licensed their songs to us for free, and in return they got to own the rights to the songs.
I got in touch with Neil Young through his brother. I loved Neil's music, and interviewed him for one of his films. Remember Neil Young: Heart of Gold directed by Jonathan Demme?
I sent Neil a Purdy poem called "My 48 Pontiac", written from the Pov of a car in a junk yard—knowing Neil loves old cars. He never did get around to recording an original number for us, but he loved the poem, and the project. So when we wanted to use "Journey Through the Past" (from Neil's 1971 Massey Hall concert album) on the soundtrack, he gave us the rights at no cost.
We selected half a dozen songs for the movie but commissioned and recorded six more, and we're assembling all of them on an album called "The Al Purdy Songbook".
Meanwhile, the film's score was composed by my son, Casey Johnson, who recorded it all with purely analog technology—in the spirit of Purdy's rough and raw esthetic.
The music played at a 2013 benefit concert to save Purdy's cabin in the woods become the impetus for me to make the movie. I remember leaving the show and telling the organizers, "The next thing you should do is an Al Purdy Songbook.") I didn't know I'd end up doing it myself. And as it turned out, it was the music that made the film possible. Musicians are more famous than poets. They have an audience. And this is a movie about a dead poet. How do you make a movie about a dead poet?
The music brings it to life . . . I suppose I could have made a zombie movie instead.
Sl: How did you cast the movie?
You get the most famous people lined up and then the rest follow. I’m friends with Michael Ondaatje. I know Margaret Atwood. I know Leonard Cohen. So I started there.
Sl: How did you finance the film?
The CBC Documentary Channel gave us 25% of the budget and that triggered the rest of the financing. The Rogers Documentary Fund and the Rogers Cable Fund became the other principal contributors.
But Ron Mann, who exec produced, got the ball rolling, and his company, Films We Like, came onboard as the Canadian distributor. We're still looking for international distribution.
The movie felt like a barn-raising, with everyone pitching in to help make it work.
Brian D. Johnson is former film critic for Maclean's, Canada's weekly newsmagazine, is the current president of the Toronto Film Critics Association. Over the years, he also worked as a musician and published poetry, a novel, and several works of non-fiction, including a 25th-anniversary history of Tiff, "Brave Films, Wild Nights, 25 Years of Festival Fever. "Al Purdy was Here” (2015) is his first feature documentary. Once again he'll be writing about film for Maclean's in May at the 2016 Cannes Film Festival.
A film critic by trade and a poet in his heart, Brian D. Johnson began his film “Al Purdy Was Here” as a fundraising tool to save the A-frame cabin in the woods built by Canadian poet Al Purdy and his wife Eurithe. As making the film progressed, Johnson began to see much more in the film than merely a vehicle [piece] to raise money. “Al Purdy Was Here” soon evolved into something much greater, something deeply poetic by a writer who himself treasures poetry even as he critiques films….
Brian says, “It is about art and life and the fact that they are often in conflict as we try to make our lives. Poetry is my aim…finding poetry in cinema. But music was the reason I made the film.”
Canada's leading musicians and artists come together to tell the tale of Al Purdy.
The documentary features archival materials and first-hand accounts, including interviews with his publisher Howard White, editor Sam Solecki, widow Eurithe Purdy, poets Dennis Lee, Steven Heighton and George Bowering—and Bowering's wife Jean Baird, the powerhouse behind the campaign to save and restore Purdy's A-Frame cabin.
Read Indiewire for more about the movie here.
Gordon Pinsent (“Away from Her”), Michael Ondaatje (“The English Patient”), Leonard Cohen (“Natural Born Killers”), Margaret Atwood (“The Handmaid’s Tale”) all pay tribute to him along with other well known writers, actors, directors and singers who adapt his poetry.
This film premiered, naturally enough, at Tiff 2015 but I only caught up with it at Iff Panama this year because Brian – whom I met one year in Havana and loaned him $100 to pay his hotel bill -- was at Iff Panama where his film was screening. With him was our friend-in-common, Latinaphile, Helga Stephenson, so I tagged along as a friend to see a film about a person I had never heard of before. And I was entranced by what I saw.
Al Purdy was known to be a raucous, barroom brawling Canadian poet, something on a par with Charles Bukowski. In fact they were friends and corresponded extensively, but there is some question as to whether Purdy’s character as a barroom brawler was put on as his persona to help popularize his poetry. Was he actually such a rough person? His wife, Eurithe Purdy, who survived him and is featured in the movie said that at home he was quite a peaceable man (when he was not boozing it up with his pals). He was also a philosophical soul, enraptured by nature—Canada's Walt Whitman as well as its Bukowski.
Sl: How did you get these musicians?
I went to the pantheon of famous Canadian singer-songwriters and asked them to compose and record music inspired by Purdy's work. We paid engineers and musicians. But the artists licensed their songs to us for free, and in return they got to own the rights to the songs.
I got in touch with Neil Young through his brother. I loved Neil's music, and interviewed him for one of his films. Remember Neil Young: Heart of Gold directed by Jonathan Demme?
I sent Neil a Purdy poem called "My 48 Pontiac", written from the Pov of a car in a junk yard—knowing Neil loves old cars. He never did get around to recording an original number for us, but he loved the poem, and the project. So when we wanted to use "Journey Through the Past" (from Neil's 1971 Massey Hall concert album) on the soundtrack, he gave us the rights at no cost.
We selected half a dozen songs for the movie but commissioned and recorded six more, and we're assembling all of them on an album called "The Al Purdy Songbook".
Meanwhile, the film's score was composed by my son, Casey Johnson, who recorded it all with purely analog technology—in the spirit of Purdy's rough and raw esthetic.
The music played at a 2013 benefit concert to save Purdy's cabin in the woods become the impetus for me to make the movie. I remember leaving the show and telling the organizers, "The next thing you should do is an Al Purdy Songbook.") I didn't know I'd end up doing it myself. And as it turned out, it was the music that made the film possible. Musicians are more famous than poets. They have an audience. And this is a movie about a dead poet. How do you make a movie about a dead poet?
The music brings it to life . . . I suppose I could have made a zombie movie instead.
Sl: How did you cast the movie?
You get the most famous people lined up and then the rest follow. I’m friends with Michael Ondaatje. I know Margaret Atwood. I know Leonard Cohen. So I started there.
Sl: How did you finance the film?
The CBC Documentary Channel gave us 25% of the budget and that triggered the rest of the financing. The Rogers Documentary Fund and the Rogers Cable Fund became the other principal contributors.
But Ron Mann, who exec produced, got the ball rolling, and his company, Films We Like, came onboard as the Canadian distributor. We're still looking for international distribution.
The movie felt like a barn-raising, with everyone pitching in to help make it work.
Brian D. Johnson is former film critic for Maclean's, Canada's weekly newsmagazine, is the current president of the Toronto Film Critics Association. Over the years, he also worked as a musician and published poetry, a novel, and several works of non-fiction, including a 25th-anniversary history of Tiff, "Brave Films, Wild Nights, 25 Years of Festival Fever. "Al Purdy was Here” (2015) is his first feature documentary. Once again he'll be writing about film for Maclean's in May at the 2016 Cannes Film Festival.
- 4/26/2016
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
Director Jonathan Demme And Oscar Winner Meryl Streep Bringing Ricki And The Flash To The Big Screen
TriStar Productions today announced an all-star band of film talent will collaborate on Ricki And The Flash.
Produced by Marc Platt and Mason Novick, the film unites Oscar winners Diablo Cody, who wrote the original screenplay, director Jonathan Demme, and Meryl Streep, who will star in the title role.
Ricki And The Flash is the funny and touching story of a rock n’ roll-loving woman who chased her tattered dream at the price of her family, but gets a last chance to, perhaps, make things right.
Streep, the most Oscar-nominated actor in history, is well known for her singing prowess on stage and screen (Mamma Mia, Into the Woods), but Ricki is a new gig even for the musically gifted star: a guitar-wielding, hard rockin’ mamma by night and grocery store checkout lady by day.
Mamma Mia
TriStar Productions, which won the rights in a competitive situation, made a production...
Produced by Marc Platt and Mason Novick, the film unites Oscar winners Diablo Cody, who wrote the original screenplay, director Jonathan Demme, and Meryl Streep, who will star in the title role.
Ricki And The Flash is the funny and touching story of a rock n’ roll-loving woman who chased her tattered dream at the price of her family, but gets a last chance to, perhaps, make things right.
Streep, the most Oscar-nominated actor in history, is well known for her singing prowess on stage and screen (Mamma Mia, Into the Woods), but Ricki is a new gig even for the musically gifted star: a guitar-wielding, hard rockin’ mamma by night and grocery store checkout lady by day.
Mamma Mia
TriStar Productions, which won the rights in a competitive situation, made a production...
- 4/1/2014
- by Michelle McCue
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
"See the lonely boy, out on the weekend. Trying to make it pay." – Neil Young
Greetings from the apocalypse, and welcome to the new weekly feature where our lone warrior gives you the play-by-play for how your filmgoing weekend can unfold, Friday-to-Sunday, morning-to-night.
No, the Mayan doomsday didn't actually come to pass, but we are in the moviegoing wasteland known as January. Get out your grandfather's Geiger counter buried under the porno mags in his fallout shelter, because the risk of contamination is high from the radioactive lineup of post-Christmas studio dumps. As our nation does a "Thelma & Louise" over the fiscal cliff, we're diving head-first into the cinematic 'pockyclypse that is 2013, and with my help you just might survive the long nuclear winter.
Friday, January 4
Nothing says "dog days of January" like a sequel to a remake to a warmed-over horror franchise from the studly '70s. "Texas Chainsaw 3D...
Greetings from the apocalypse, and welcome to the new weekly feature where our lone warrior gives you the play-by-play for how your filmgoing weekend can unfold, Friday-to-Sunday, morning-to-night.
No, the Mayan doomsday didn't actually come to pass, but we are in the moviegoing wasteland known as January. Get out your grandfather's Geiger counter buried under the porno mags in his fallout shelter, because the risk of contamination is high from the radioactive lineup of post-Christmas studio dumps. As our nation does a "Thelma & Louise" over the fiscal cliff, we're diving head-first into the cinematic 'pockyclypse that is 2013, and with my help you just might survive the long nuclear winter.
Friday, January 4
Nothing says "dog days of January" like a sequel to a remake to a warmed-over horror franchise from the studly '70s. "Texas Chainsaw 3D...
- 1/4/2013
- by Max Evry
- NextMovie
Blu-ray & DVD Release Date: Oct. 16, 2012
Price: DVD $30.99, Blu-ray $35.99
Studio: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
Renowned musician Neil Young goes home in the documentary movie Neil Young Journeys, the third Neil Young doc to be directed by Jonathan Demme (Something Wild) following Neil Young: Trunk Show (2009) and Neil Young: Heart of Gold (2006).
Originally from Canada’s Toronto, 65-year-old Young’s film features his 2011 solo tour to Toronto’s iconic Massey Hall. In between performances of “Ohio,” “I Believe in You” and previously unreleased songs “Leia” and “You Never Call,” the film follows Young on a road trip through Ontario.
Fan and filmmaker Demme joined Young in his 1956 Ford Crown Victoria, visiting the rural town of Omemee where Young spent much of his formative years. With Demme’s camera rolling, Young reminisces about his former neighbors and embraces his memories of the past.
Rated PG, Neil Young Journeys was released in only a handfull of theaters,...
Price: DVD $30.99, Blu-ray $35.99
Studio: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
Renowned musician Neil Young goes home in the documentary movie Neil Young Journeys, the third Neil Young doc to be directed by Jonathan Demme (Something Wild) following Neil Young: Trunk Show (2009) and Neil Young: Heart of Gold (2006).
Originally from Canada’s Toronto, 65-year-old Young’s film features his 2011 solo tour to Toronto’s iconic Massey Hall. In between performances of “Ohio,” “I Believe in You” and previously unreleased songs “Leia” and “You Never Call,” the film follows Young on a road trip through Ontario.
Fan and filmmaker Demme joined Young in his 1956 Ford Crown Victoria, visiting the rural town of Omemee where Young spent much of his formative years. With Demme’s camera rolling, Young reminisces about his former neighbors and embraces his memories of the past.
Rated PG, Neil Young Journeys was released in only a handfull of theaters,...
- 9/14/2012
- by Sam
- Disc Dish
After almost 40 years as a filmmaker, Jonathan Demme has made his mark not only with his feature films but also as a documentarian. Demme's Stop Making Sense (1984) featuring The Talking Heads and his movie version of Spalding Gray's Swimming to Cambodia (1987) effectively portrayed the eclectic nature of his documentary subjects. Demme thrives on providing an intimate view of iconic characters, most notably his collaboration with the rock legend Neil Young.
Neil Young Journeys is Demme's latest and third film project with Young, preceded by Neil Young: Heart of Gold in 2006 and Neil Young Trunk Show in 2009. Like Heart of Gold, Journeys was filmed over the course of two nights of musical performances. The comparison ends there as Heart of Gold dealt more with Young's personal tragedy and health issues, but Journeys is less dramatic and more a drive down memory lane with Young in a 1956 Ford Crown Victoria.
As Young...
Neil Young Journeys is Demme's latest and third film project with Young, preceded by Neil Young: Heart of Gold in 2006 and Neil Young Trunk Show in 2009. Like Heart of Gold, Journeys was filmed over the course of two nights of musical performances. The comparison ends there as Heart of Gold dealt more with Young's personal tragedy and health issues, but Journeys is less dramatic and more a drive down memory lane with Young in a 1956 Ford Crown Victoria.
As Young...
- 9/6/2012
- by Debbie Cerda
- Slackerwood
Neil Young Journeys is director Jonathan Demme’s documentary of the last two nights of Young’s solo world tour performing at Toronto’s Massey Hall. The uncut performances, almost entirely from his 2010 album Le Noise, are interspersed with footage of Young driving around his hometown of Omemee, Ontario, in a 1956 Crown Victoria. In the car, he tells stories about his childhood, showing Demme the places where he grew up, almost all of which have been completely destroyed. This is the third documentary Demme has made with Young, the first being Neil Young: Heart of Gold, where Young performed in Nashville...
- 7/1/2012
- Pastemagazine.com
Throughout most of his career, Jonathan Demme has been effortlessly bouncing between narrative and documentary filmmaking, the latter of which often revolves around music, starting with 1984’s groundbreaking concert film for Talking Heads, “Stop Making Sense.” Combining his filmmaking talents with his love for music, Demme sought not just to document concerts on film, but to create a cinematic experience around the music.
“I arrived at a couple of things that have been boiler plate for me,” Demme tells The Playlist. “I don’t think we want to see the audience. I don’t think we want to be reminded that this film was performed for anyone other than us. I like finding a great shot and then just staying with it for a long time, not trying to pump things up with some kind of artificial energy by cutting. What interested me was, how can we make this concert...
“I arrived at a couple of things that have been boiler plate for me,” Demme tells The Playlist. “I don’t think we want to see the audience. I don’t think we want to be reminded that this film was performed for anyone other than us. I like finding a great shot and then just staying with it for a long time, not trying to pump things up with some kind of artificial energy by cutting. What interested me was, how can we make this concert...
- 6/26/2012
- by Jeff Otto
- The Playlist
A host of trailers have arrived in the last 24 hours, and it being the start of Cannes and one of the busier days of the year, we've done a little round-up of them for you below. First up, Bradley Cooper is sporting some sweet dreadlocks in the new trailer of the Dax Shepard-written action comedy, “Hit And Run,” which is co-directed by Shepard and David Palmer. The actor, currently part of the ensemble in NBC’s “Parenthood,” is no stranger to being behind the camera: he was previously behind 2010’s “Brother’s Justice,” again with Palmer as a co-director.
Shepard will lead an eclectic cast that includes Cooper, Kristen Bell, Tom Arnold, Michael Rosenbaum (“Smallville”), and David Koechner (“Anchorman”). “Hit And Run” will follow Charlie Bronson (Shepard), a getaway driver who jeopardizes his Witness Protection Plan identity in order to get his girlfriend (Bell) to Los Angeles, and is...
Shepard will lead an eclectic cast that includes Cooper, Kristen Bell, Tom Arnold, Michael Rosenbaum (“Smallville”), and David Koechner (“Anchorman”). “Hit And Run” will follow Charlie Bronson (Shepard), a getaway driver who jeopardizes his Witness Protection Plan identity in order to get his girlfriend (Bell) to Los Angeles, and is...
- 5/16/2012
- by Cain Rodriguez
- The Playlist
Jazz and fusion musician Enzo Avitabile gets his due via Jonathan Demme documentary. Jonathan Demme is set to helm the docu which set in Naples, focusing on the musician of whom he's he is a big fan, reports Variety. Demme's experienced in music documentary work, having taking the helm for Neil Young: Heart of Gold, Neil Young Trunk Show and Neil Young Journeys, as well as work with The Talking Heads, and directing the Bruce Springsteen: The Complete Video Anthology 1978-2000 video documentary. Of course, Demme's most popular work was at the helm of The Silence of the Lambs, Philadelphia and The Manchurian Candidate. Avitabile is a sax player and songwriter who has toured internationally with the likes of James Brown and Tina Turner among others, known for ...
- 11/28/2011
- Upcoming-Movies.com
Jazz and fusion musician Enzo Avitabile gets his due via Jonathan Demme documentary. Jonathan Demme is set to helm the docu which set in Naples, focusing on the musician of whom he's he is a big fan, reports Variety. Demme's experienced in music documentary work, having taking the helm for Neil Young: Heart of Gold, Neil Young Trunk Show and Neil Young Journeys, as well as work with The Talking Heads, and directing the Bruce Springsteen: The Complete Video Anthology 1978-2000 video documentary. Of course, Demme's most popular work was at the helm of The Silence of the Lambs, Philadelphia and The Manchurian Candidate. Avitabile is a sax player and songwriter who has toured internationally with the likes of James Brown and Tina Turner among others, known for ...
- 11/28/2011
- Upcoming-Movies.com
Jazz and fusion musician Enzo Avitabile gets his due via Jonathan Demme documentary. Jonathan Demme is set to helm the docu which set in Naples, focusing on the musician of whom he's he is a big fan, reports Variety. Demme's experienced in music documentary work, having taking the helm for Neil Young: Heart of Gold, Neil Young Trunk Show and Neil Young Journeys, as well as work with The Talking Heads, and directing the Bruce Springsteen: The Complete Video Anthology 1978-2000 video documentary. Of course, Demme's most popular work was at the helm of The Silence of the Lambs, Philadelphia and The Manchurian Candidate. Avitabile is a sax player and songwriter who has toured internationally with the likes of James Brown and Tina Turner among others, known for ...
- 11/28/2011
- Upcoming-Movies.com
Sony Pictures has acquired the rights to Jonathan Demme’s documentary Neil Young Journeys. According to a rep from Spc, “With their latest collaboration, Neil Young and Jonathan Demme are a match made in movie heaven.” For Journeys, Demme followed Young as he traveled from his Ontario hometown to Toronto for the final two nights of his solo world tour. Produced by Demme and Elliot Rabinowitz, Journeys premiered at last month’s Toronto International Film festival, and Spc will distribute it around the world, excluding Latin America. This is Demme and Young’s third performance-based collaboration after Neil Young: Heart of Gold...
- 10/11/2011
- by Lanford Beard
- EW - Inside Movies
By Sean O’Connell
Hollywoodnews.com: We’ve been telling you for years that the Toronto International Film Festival rocks, but this year it will be louder than ever.
After revealing that the 36th annual Tiff would open with the world premiere of David Guggenheim’s U2 documentary “From the Sky Down” and also screen Cameron Crowe’s Peal Jam doc “Pearl Jam Twenty,” THR reports that Tiff programmers are poised to announce the addition of Jonathan Demme’s latest Neil Young documentary to its musical lineup.
The trade said this concert video will complete Demme’s trilogy, which also includes “Neil Young: Heart of Gold” and “Neil Young Trunk Show.”
As the trade states, Demme’s concert film “was shot last May over two nights at Massey Hall in Toronto, and captured Young’s Le Noise solo tour produced by Daniel Lanois.”
This builds on the classic-rock icons Tiff...
Hollywoodnews.com: We’ve been telling you for years that the Toronto International Film Festival rocks, but this year it will be louder than ever.
After revealing that the 36th annual Tiff would open with the world premiere of David Guggenheim’s U2 documentary “From the Sky Down” and also screen Cameron Crowe’s Peal Jam doc “Pearl Jam Twenty,” THR reports that Tiff programmers are poised to announce the addition of Jonathan Demme’s latest Neil Young documentary to its musical lineup.
The trade said this concert video will complete Demme’s trilogy, which also includes “Neil Young: Heart of Gold” and “Neil Young Trunk Show.”
As the trade states, Demme’s concert film “was shot last May over two nights at Massey Hall in Toronto, and captured Young’s Le Noise solo tour produced by Daniel Lanois.”
This builds on the classic-rock icons Tiff...
- 8/22/2011
- by Sean O'Connell
- Hollywoodnews.com
Stephen King's next novel 11/22/63 won't hit store shelves until November 8th, but it appears that the movie rights have already been snagged by director Jonathan Demme of all people. The book is a bit of a departure for King as it is a science-fiction drama that revolves around time travel. When 35-year-old English teacher Jake Epping learns that his friend Al's storeroom is a portal to 1958, they take it upon themselves to try to prevent the assassination of John F. Kennedy. With Ron Howard's adaptation of The Dark Tower recently dropped by Universal, it's nice to know that King fans still have more adaptations to look forward to. Reports indicate that David Yates is also close to signing on to direct The Stand. According to Variety, Demme will write, direct and produce 11/22/63 himself through his Clinica Estetico banner, while Stephen King will executive produce. Demme is aiming to...
- 8/12/2011
- by Sean
- FilmJunk
Ellen Pittleman is a veteran studio executive based in Los Angeles. While at Paramount Pictures, she was Svp, International Co-Productions and Worldwide Acquisitions for Paramount Pictures. Along with acquiring for both U.S. and international territories, she created the International Co-Production business for the studio which was responsible for local language production. She also launched the DVD Premiere group there, with films including Jonathan Demme’s Neil Young: Heart of Gold and the sequel to the $100Mm+ Save the Last Dance. Now as president and founder of Hybrid Entertainment, she consults on strategic planning, deal negotiation, acquisitions, film library valuation and feature…...
- 7/28/2011
- Sydney's Buzz
Sidney Lumet directs Al Pacino in 1973's Serpico.
The great American filmmaker Sidney Lumet died Saturday morning, April 10, of lymphoma at his home in New City. He was 86.
Sidney Lumet made movies for grown-ups — strongly written, well-acted stories about grown-ups that he brought to the screen with a straight-forwardness that allowed the material and performers to breath but didn’t sacrifice the naturalism and subtle artistry that was his trademark. Firm but unobtrusive, his direction of such modern classics as Network, Dog Day Afternoon and Serpico, among his more than 50 films, is masterful in its naturalistic presentation and confidence. We’re talking the top, here. Simply the best.
Okay, now for my Sidney Lumet story: I attended the New York premiere of the concert film Neil Young: Heart of Gold directed by Jonathan Demme on a snowy night at Lincoln Center back in 2006. It was a relatively low-key premiere, but...
The great American filmmaker Sidney Lumet died Saturday morning, April 10, of lymphoma at his home in New City. He was 86.
Sidney Lumet made movies for grown-ups — strongly written, well-acted stories about grown-ups that he brought to the screen with a straight-forwardness that allowed the material and performers to breath but didn’t sacrifice the naturalism and subtle artistry that was his trademark. Firm but unobtrusive, his direction of such modern classics as Network, Dog Day Afternoon and Serpico, among his more than 50 films, is masterful in its naturalistic presentation and confidence. We’re talking the top, here. Simply the best.
Okay, now for my Sidney Lumet story: I attended the New York premiere of the concert film Neil Young: Heart of Gold directed by Jonathan Demme on a snowy night at Lincoln Center back in 2006. It was a relatively low-key premiere, but...
- 4/10/2011
- by Laurence
- Disc Dish
If you're looking for a little more from a concert film than Justin Bieber: Never Say Never gave you, then Glen has ten suggestions you might want to try...
With Bieber fever gripping the nation’s (and probably the world’s) multiplexes, as Never Say Never leads hordes of adoring fans to don 3D specs and bask in his glory, I thought I’d run through some of my favourite concert films. So here we go:
The Cramps: Live At Napa State Mental Hospital
Forget 3D. By staging a private show for the residents of a Californian mental institution, psychobilly punk band The Cramps came up with the ultimate concert film gimmick. The set is incredibly short, clocking in at around 30 minutes, is shot in grainy black and white, and its audio quality isn’t great, but Live At Napa State Mental Hospital remains a thoroughly engaging performance by the band’s strongest line-up.
With Bieber fever gripping the nation’s (and probably the world’s) multiplexes, as Never Say Never leads hordes of adoring fans to don 3D specs and bask in his glory, I thought I’d run through some of my favourite concert films. So here we go:
The Cramps: Live At Napa State Mental Hospital
Forget 3D. By staging a private show for the residents of a Californian mental institution, psychobilly punk band The Cramps came up with the ultimate concert film gimmick. The set is incredibly short, clocking in at around 30 minutes, is shot in grainy black and white, and its audio quality isn’t great, but Live At Napa State Mental Hospital remains a thoroughly engaging performance by the band’s strongest line-up.
- 3/21/2011
- Den of Geek
Jonathan Demme’s 2006 concert film Neil Young: Heart Of Gold captured the venerable musician on the heels of a brush with death. Young had just survived a brain aneurysm and released the quiet, contemplative album Prairie Wind, and the film surrounded him with family, friends, and longtime collaborators, all shot in pastoral tones in the intimate environment of Nashville’s historic Ryman Auditorium. It’s a quiet, respectful, beautiful-looking film, shot by Demme with great care, as if trying to preserve a delicate treasure. If Demme’s follow-up, Neil Young Trunk Show, has a mission statement, it’s “Fuck ...
- 3/18/2010
- avclub.com
Rating: 6.5/10
Director: Jonathan Demme
The Neil Young Trunk Show could almost be considered a “sequel” to the previous film by Jonathan Demme (Neil Young: Heart Of Gold). Young and Demme are back at it, this time giving us raw concert footage from Young’s 2007 Chrome Dreams II tour performances at the Tower Theater in Upper Darby, Pa. Word is Young and Demme are looking to make this series into a trilogy and a third film will soon follow.
Read more on AFI Fest Review: Neil Young Trunk Show…...
Director: Jonathan Demme
The Neil Young Trunk Show could almost be considered a “sequel” to the previous film by Jonathan Demme (Neil Young: Heart Of Gold). Young and Demme are back at it, this time giving us raw concert footage from Young’s 2007 Chrome Dreams II tour performances at the Tower Theater in Upper Darby, Pa. Word is Young and Demme are looking to make this series into a trilogy and a third film will soon follow.
Read more on AFI Fest Review: Neil Young Trunk Show…...
- 11/6/2009
- by Allison Loring
- GordonandtheWhale
MADRID -- Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu's Babel, the documentary Neil Young: Heart of Gold and Paris, je t'aime are among the nine films selected for the San Sebastian International Film Festival's Zabaltegi section, organizers said Tuesday. One of the most popular sections at San Sebastian, Zabaltegi is designed to give festivalgoers a chance to catch up on films they may have missed at previous festivals. Other titles this year include Sundance favorite Little Miss Sunshine, Berlin title Vitus and Cannes entries The Court from Abderrahmane Sissako and Buenos Aires, 1977 from Israel Adrian Caetano. Manoel de Oliveira's Belle toujours, an homage to Luis Bunuel and Jean-Claude Carriere, and Alfonso Cuaron's Children of Men will screen in Venice prior to San Sebastian, qualifying them for the category as well.
- 8/22/2006
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
- I don’t wanna come off as some kinda necrophiliac, but let me start by saying this; Emmylou Harris is smoking. She’s always been a gorgeous woman, and I don’t know if she’s ever had any work done, but even so, time has been very good to her (whereas Neil’s back-up singers teeter on the “creepy” side unfortunately). Emmylou falls in that category alongside Michelle Phillips (The Mamas and the Papas) and Deborah Harry (Blondie) of good-looking women old enough to be my grandmother’s bridge partner. Oh, if only I were rich, famous, and 40 years older. Honestly, Emmylou is the most attractive thing to look at in Heart of Gold, the doc-concert about Canada’s own Neil Young, chronicling his first show that kicked of his Prairie Wind 2005 Tour at the Ryman Auditorium, the Mother Church of Country Music that used to host the world-famous Grand Ole Opry,
- 2/16/2006
- IONCINEMA.com
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