Jen's movie rants

In this post I will be talking about the documentary that came out in 2013 about the Riot Grrrl icon Kathleen Hanna. This documentary takes us through Kathleen's life from being a spoken word poet to her fronting two different bands (Bikini Kill and Le Tiggre)  and her solo work (under false name Julie Ruin). We get to see the big impact she made on the feminist Riot Grrrl scene. We also got to see lots of old footage of the bands performing and a few interviews which I thought was really cool. I feel like the 90’s girl power movement was so impactful due to so many artist/musicians but i don’t think any much as much as an impact that Kathleen Hanna did she did everything and anything she could even when getting pushed back by the media and her undiagnosed lyme disease she still kept going to try and make a safe space for girls to feel welcome and that i feel is truly beautiful. The documentary touches on how the media represented Bikini Kill and other bands like them and how they hated them and tried to make all the girl bands of that time turn against each other. For example Courtney Love and Kathleen Hanna had a spot in the news for a while after Courtney attacked Kathleen backstage but the media blew it way out of proportion acting as if they had had a massive fight. While reading some reviews I can see why some people don’t like this documentary as it does focus a lot on praising Kathleen and how amazing she was but it acts as if she was the first female band ever when she wasn’t. But in saying that she did make a very big impact so there is no denying that she did do what she set out to do. I do wish we could see the other band members a bit more and hear from them and their experiences in working with Kathleen I think that would’ve been really cool to see. Overall I did really enjoy this documentary and will recommend it to anyone who is interested in the 90s punk/grunge scene. 

In this post I will be talking about the Swedish biopic Ted: För kärlekens skull (also known as Ted: show me love) about singer Ted Gärdestad. The movie opens with a 14 year old Ted playing tennis with Bjorn Borg (who later became a famous tennis player)  but having a strong desire to make music. Adam Pålsson plays Ted and I personally think he did a really good job at it. He portrays Ted as a very loving, curious and musically talented person but still manages to later on show the darker side of Ted as he faces his mental struggles. In this Adam does all his own singing as Ted which i think was really good as it shows how dedicated to the role he was. Peter Viitanen plays Ted’s brother Kenneth and portrays him as an understanding big brother and a brilliant lyricist. I feel like they showed the brothers' relationship really well and how they came together to write some of the most beautiful songs about love,hope and life. If you know Ted you know how his life came to a tragic end in 1997 at age 41 when he took his own life by jumping in front of a train. I feel the movie did a brilliant way of showing his whole life. One thing I do wish they covered more was the music he did with ABBA as that was a really important part of his life. If you aren’t a Ted fan I think this movie could really change your mind. Even though most of his songs are in Swedish it doesn’t stop you from feeling the pure emotions he is putting into his work and how that can make you feel music is more than just words and Ted is a good example of this i could listen to his songs for hours and even though 9 times out of 10 i have no idea what he is saying i can still feel him pull at my heart strings or make me feel pure joy and i find that truly beautiful. This biopic is also all in Swedish so you will either have to have the subtitles in your language or try and find it dubbed i know that can be a make or break for some people but if you can get past that i think you will be in for an eye opening experience and discover a Swedish artist you may never heard of or maybe you already love him and had no idea he had a biopic. Either way I hope you enjoy this as much as I do. 

In this post I will be talking about the documentary that came out on April 24th this year. This is only half of his life as they are in the process of making another one explaining his life after the Jackson 5. In this biopic we see how he and his brothers become the Jackson 5 all the way up to him about to go onto stage on his Bad tour. This film did a good job at telling his story but there is one problem I have and that is that Janet Jackson said she wanted nothing to do with it which I feel like is a bit of a problem as she was there and knows everything that has happened. While researching I have found that a lot of what happened in this film is true, for example at the end of the movie where the Jackson 5 are performing Michael did announce that they won't tour again even after his father had told everyone that they would. He also did own a chimp called Bubbles who lived with him and sometimes went to do press and stuff in the public eye with him. I went to see this at the cinema and I truly believe that was the best choice. It is definitely one you should watch on the big screen if you get the chance. I think Jaafar Jackson was a perfect choice to play Michael. There were certain scenes where the camera was angled just right and if you’d told me that was really Michael I would have probably believed you. Obviously this movie has it’s faults not everything is perfect about it for example the CGI used for Bubbles wasn’t the greatest and was a little off putting at times and this movie did only cover his life up to the Bad tour in the UK 1988. After the movie I did have a look online and there is a possible sequel in the works to hopefully cover the rest of his life and maybe dive deeper into the allegations he faced. Overall I think this was a really good take on making a biopic about Michael Jackson and it can still be enjoyed even with its flaws.

In this post i will be talking about the biopic about Johnny Cash called ‘Walk the line’. This biopic follows the story of Johnny Cash and June Carter. This biopic starts with him from an early age and shows us the death of his younger brother which had a heavy impact on him. We are also shown where he got his interest in music from and all the events that followed afterwards. The movie did have its faults, for example with Cash's first wife she is shown as quite unsupportive whereas in reality she was ‘much nicer’ than shown. The same sort of thing was done towards Cash’s father as they made it out that he wasn’t present for Cash’s success but in reality he was there and yes they did have arguments and fall out but Hollywood upped the drama perusal. I feel that the romance between Johnny and June was executed perfectly and felt pure but they did mess up slightly with the fact that they said June was the reason Johnny and his first wife split but it was genuinely just due to the amount of drugs he was taking. There are plenty of things that have been overdramatised in this biopic so don’t take everything as 100% fact while watching this. But saying that there is still lots you can learn from it. I think Joaquin Phoenix was a really good option to play Johnny Cash. I felt he embodied him really well. He also did all the vocals for Johnny in the film which helped it feel more real. I think if you are a fan of Johnny Cash or love that type of music/that era you should definitely give this a watch. But like any film or documentary, don't take everything as the truth. 

In this post I will be talking about the biopic made in 1986 called ‘Sid and Nancy’. In the beginning of this movie it opens with the police in Sid's room asking if he had called the police while Nancy’s body gets taken away in a bag. If you are familiar with Sid and Nancy you know what has already happened. The thing I do love about this film is that it doesn’t answer the question everyone is burning to know ‘Did Sid really kill Nancy?’ it leaves it open for interpretation as there are many theories to what truly happened. I had put this movie off for so long because a part of me felt like it would be too disrespectful to watch as this was somebody's life. It isn't just actors playing out a fictional story; this is something two people genuinely went through. This movie doesn’t shy away from being truly saddening at times as Sid and Nancy scrounge around for money to afford their drugs but putting aside the drugs this movie can be seen as a love story in a way as in the end all they had was each other until their death. I do see many people comparing this story to Romeo and Juliet and although yes I can see some resemblance I don't think I would call this a romance story due to everything that happened from fights to drugs to their overall destructive life. I hear many mixed reviews about this movie from it being the worst biopic they have seen and it is disrespectful to the punk community to it being the most gripping and harrowing film they have ever watched and they loved every second of it. I personally think that Alex Cox (the director) did a really good job at making this movie come to life and retelling the story of Sid and Nancy, from what i have heard the majority of this movie is true to the facts so in a way you can watch this to learn about them but i would also research further in order to make sure things are correct because you can’t just believe things without looking for yourself first and maybe you decide there is no definite answer and we may never know or you maybe adamant that Sid or somebody else killed Nancy. Either way i do feel like this is a gritty and moving story set in 70s London in the punk movement about two destructive lovers and if you are a fan of the sex pistols it is a must watch. 

In this post I will be talking about the documentary that came out alongside the album with the same title called J-hope in the box. In this documentary we follow J-hope (Jung Hoseok) on his journey of preparing himself for Lollapalooza. The first half of this documentary is focused on his recording and preparing his new album where we see him in his own studio recording vocals for his songs. The main goal of this album was for him to step out of his comfort zone and make something completely new. I feel like we should have gotten a bit more of the production side of the album shown to us as I feel like it passes really quickly. J-hope is very hands on with every part of this album and the events he put on. After he had finished the album he hosted a listening party which is something not very common in Korea but he wanted a night to celebrate music with others as in his words “Music is supposed to connect everyone and be used as a means to communicate”. The second half of this documentary is based on him getting ready for Lollapalooza. You see the struggles he faces while trying to understand how to perform without the six other members he's used to. At one point BTS member Jimin comes down to support J-hope with this and the shift in his mood is obvious he seems so much more relaxed with a familiar face with him. I feel like these documentaries the BTS members release are always so touching and raw they truly put their all into what they do and they are so grateful and the fame never seems to go to their head. I think fan or not you will be able to get something out of this documentary be that inspiration or you learn something you didn’t know before. I highly recommend this documentary.

In this post I will be talking about the documentary that came out in 2025 along with the album ‘idols’ Yungblud: Are you ready boy. This documentary takes us on the journey of how Yungblud made this album and the things he faced while making it. This documentary is separated into different parts: performance and interview. In the performance parts you can really feel how much he cares about his music as he puts his all into it and when he fails he gets upset and keeps trying and trying till he gets it with no compromise. In this documentary you see how artists have to juggle music and life at the same time which can become difficult and take a strain on them emotionally. Between each track that is performed he tells us how this song came to be and what it is about but it isn't done in a way of a normal interview. We see him having dinner with friends, smoking a cigarette in bed and having a drink in a coffee shop. We are welcomed into his life in a way seeing a new era of Yungblud blossom. Hate him or love him you will have a lot of respect for him at the end of it.

In this post i will be talking about the biopic made about 50s artist Ritchie Valens called ‘La Bamba’ which is also the name of his most famous song. In this biopic we follow Ritchie Valens on his journey to a short lived fame. If you are a fan you know how this film is going to end with the plane crash. Although we don’t see this happen we do see everyone's reactions to hearing what happened and i feel like that is more powerful then actually showing the crash so i am glad they did that. While researching this i found there are little to no mistakes with the accuracy most of what happens in this happened in his life for real. I think what makes this biopic so different to the others is that Ritchie didn’t ruin his life with drugs and alcohol or hate his family like so many of these other musicians do he is just a teen boy who wants to make music to help support his family and i feel like that’s a really a breath of fresh air because it isn’t the same story being told again. The way his career ended wasn’t his fault and the way it happened is sad because you can’t help but think what would have been if he had survived being only 17 when he was at the peak of his fame before it all ended suddenly with his plane crash. I think this biopic is overall a brilliant film that shows you a heartwarming story even with its somewhat cheesy dialog in places it still finds a way to tug at your heart strings when you see everything he did for it to end so quickly.

In this post I will be talking about the biopic called ‘The Runaways’ made about the 70’s band The Runaways. This biopic is based on the biography written by lead singer Cherie Currie, it mostly focuses on the relationship between Cherie Currie and Joan Jett before Cherie leaves the band. As a stand alone movie forgetting the facts it has a very ‘girl power’ feel to it being The Runaways was one of the first female rock bands but most of this film is a lie the reality was not as fun and glamorous as this movie paints it. Some of the most crucial things to their story is missed for example Cherie Currie had an abortion mid-tour, the physical and verbal abuse the girls faced and Jackie Fox’s suicide attempt. In reality being a teen girl rock band in the 70’s was not fun. Their producer told them and their parents the girls would be cared for but that wasn’t the case they were denied food among other things this wasn’t addressed in the film i feel like it should’ve been. We only get half the story. There are so many other levels to this and after some research ive seen that others agree that the documentary made called ‘Edgeplay:A film about The Runaways’ is so much better as it was made by the members about what really happened. I feel like if you are watching this to learn about the band you just shouldn't bother. Yes it is an enjoyable experience if you are watching it without thinking of it as a biopic but other than that it isn’t really worth it.

In this post I will be talking about the biopic made about Aretha Franklin called ‘Respect’. This biopic opens with a young Aretha standing at the front of the church singing, showing us she has been singing all throughout her life. This biopic doesn’t do the ‘rags to riches’ story like we are used to in this situation as Aretha came from a family who didn’t necessarily experience poverty. Even though they weren’t a poor family they did still face a lot of problems for example C. L. Franklin (Aretha’s father) in the movie is depicted as a serial womanizer. Although this is true it doesn’t go fully into the problem as in real life he was much worse, he would prey onto young girls in the church congregations he went to and i feel like this wasn’t made aware of properly in the movie and in a way this can be shown as a big part of Aretha's life as this caused her and her family to move all over the country in order to escape the allegations of her father. I feel like this biopic has done its job at staying accurate although yes there are things from her life that have been cut out, for example in 1980 and 1998 she played a part in The Blues Brothers as a wife of the guitarist. I feel like this should’ve been in the film showing that she did take an interest in doing movies/musicals although her part in these movies isn’t big i think it would’ve been a nice touch to add it in. One problem I have with this biopic is that it tells us that Aretha has a ‘demon’ lurking inside her which is why she acts the way she does sometimes. I feel like this is almost disrespectful in a way especially with everything she went through with having her first child at 12 years old and the things her father did, the death of her mother, her abusive husband etc. I have never spoken to Aretha nor will ever know what she thinks of this biopic and the way she depicted her life as she sadly passed away a year before filming began so for all I know she might agree that she had a demon inside her. Overall I think this is a really good depiction of her life and the things she experienced. I feel like fan or not this biopic can be enjoyed and respected.

In this post I will be talking about the biopic made about Motley Crue called ‘The Dirt’. This biopic opens with Nikki Sixx narrating who everyone in the band is. I feel the film focuses on each member fairly although I feel we could’ve had more screen time for Mick Mars. We find out about Nikki’s life more than anyone else as we see what his life was like as a child and how he joined the band etc. if you aren’t a fan or don’t care about how inaccurate things are then this will be extremely enjoyable for you but for the die hard fans there will probably be some things that they can pick out that are wrong with this. For example in the movie Nikki and Tommy meet at a Denny’s after Nikki’s band London had just performed and broken up. Whereas in reality Tommy was originally from a band called Suite 19 and Nikki had seen them play and was impressed with Tommy’s drumming. The movie also moves things around in the timeline a lot, for example during a scene at the beginning of the ‘Theatre of pain tour’ it shows Vince being visited by his wife and daughter but in real life Vince wasn’t even married yet. I did think they could’ve addressed the fact they did have a singer before Vince joined and that there was a point that Tommy left the band at one stage. Even due to all of these inaccuracies I enjoyed the film. I thought it showed how Motley Crue lived and how even though they went through everything they did like drug addiction and alcoholism they still became a famous rock band that even teens today know of. You can’t let it slide that they did do some not so amazing things but there is no denying they did what they intended to do from day 1 and that was to make music and become a big name band.   

In this post I will be talking about the biopic made in 1991 called ‘The Doors’ made about the 60s/70s band The Doors. This biopic has very mixed reviews and I fully agree with both sides of the spectrum. For example for a movie named after the band you would expect it to talk about every member but this isn’t the case it is very heavily based on Jim Morrison (the lead singer). Although the film is heavily focused on Jim you only really see one side to him and that is the angry, drunk, drug addicted side where there is a shy, quiet side to him as well that the members always refer to in interviews. We see this side of him once in the film when he has to perform with his back to the crowd as he was too scared to face them. But after this we never see the shy, intelligent Jim the members loved. The director said himself that when you have to take someone's life and put it into 2 hours you will only use the highlights as someone's life lasts a lot longer than 2 hours. Fans of The Doors know how crazy Jim was, so to put his life in a movie it would never be perfect but I feel like what we got was a good collection of phases of his life. I think Val Kilmer was a perfect choice for this role. He really embodies Jim Morrison and sounds so similar to him. Val Kilmer actually sung all of the songs in this biopic and his voice is very close to the original. When the news came out of Val Kilmer's passing everyone mentioned his roles in Top Gun and Tombstone but he said the role he is the most proud of is in this film as Jim Morrison. Overall this film isn’t the reality of what happened to Jim Morrison and what the 60s were like but it’s what we want to imagine Jim Morrison and the 60s were like. Fan or not this film can be enjoyed as you can see the genuine love put into it. 

In this post i will be talking about the biopic that came out in 2024 about Bob Dylan called ‘A complete unknown’ the title of this film is a direct quote from his song ‘like a rolling stone’. Overall this biopic is very accurate. I think it is the most accurate one I have seen in a long time. Fans of Bob Dylan say they love the film and that they did a good job at it. A few things they got wrong are that Bob Dylan's first girlfriend wasn't called Sylvie Russo but was actually called Suze Rotolo and featured on the front cover on his album ‘The Freewheeling Bob Dylan’. There is one scene that supposedly Bob asked to be put in but it is completely inaccurate. Nobody knows which scene it is as the director won't tell. There are a few other things that aren’t completely true but have a slight truth to them. The director said that the film “isn’t a wikipedia entry” and that “it isn’t really a Bob Dylan biopic. It's a kind of ensemble piece about this moment in time in the early 60s in New York". This biopic does feel a little low at some points as not much is happening and we don’t necessarily learn anything about Bob because even with his first girlfriend he doesn’t tell her anything about himself. We only learn about the music side of his life and not where he came from and how he was raised. I feel like this biopic did what it wanted to. It gave us a tiny glimpse into Bob Dylan's life and kept us wanting more. 

In this review I will be talking about the brand new BTS documentary that came out a few days ago called BTS:The return. This documentary takes you through the process of making their new album and everything that comes with coming back to the music industry as a band after 4 years. The documentary starts with showing how the members had to go off and do mandatory military service and how the fans would have to wait awhile till they could get any new music etc. It then takes you through what happened when they got out and how they all had solo careers while waiting for each member to finish their service. I feel like this documentary gives you a good look into how scary it can be to try and make the right decisions as a band and make sure the fans still love you because even though BTS are one of the biggest pop bands they still had that fear that they would come back and nobody would care anymore. Although it may feel a little pointless in watching at first as it is mostly just them talking round the table eating food or messing around if you stick to it you will see some bits in the studio and you kind of get to see the real them although there isn’t much left for the fans to wonder about as BTS have reels and reels of content for you to watch online such as Run BTS and their logs they did as they were becoming a band. Production wise this could be helpful to watch as you get to see how they plan their concepts and you see them mess around with a few tracks to get the right sound the main one they focus on is ‘Body to Body’ as they have the debate on whether to keep certain bits in or not and it shows you the meetings they have with the company to make sure they can do what is best for them and what works for everyone. I feel like if you are a fan or not that this will be a really fun documentary to watch to get a look into the band that is taking the world by storm.

In this post I will be talking about the biopic called The Lords of Chaos which is about the black metal band Mayhem. This was directed by Jonas Åkerlund who was a member of the band Bathory and then later continued to direct music videos for bands such as Jamiroquai, The Prodigy, Metallica and many more. This movie focuses mostly on 3 members of the band, those being Euronymous (played by Rory Culkin) Pelle 'Dead' Ohlin (played by Jack Kilmer) and Kristian 'Varg' Vikernes (played by Emory Cohen). There is a lot wrong with this movie,timeline and the way it either makes things overdramatised or underwhelming. A problem is this biopic is half music biopic and half true crime biopic due to everything that happened with the members so mashing these together you would think would make a good movie but we don’t really get the answer we are looking for come the end of this. This movie does tell you basics of what happened for example Pelle Ohlin does commit suicide and then they get Varg to join them a year after this and most of the things after that were also true but the way they were shown maybe wasn’t the best way. For example in one scene a character we haven’t heard from for the whole movie says to Euronymous he wonders what it would be like to stab someone which is a really clunky way to lead up to the scene where Faust does end up stabbing someone in the park. I feel and some others also feel that the film didn’t really earn the right to show such a harrowing scene to an insignificant background character who we hardly know about as he is only seen in the back watching horror movies until this point. Despite the serious things that happens in this it is very difficult to take seriously as it glosses over and rushes a lot of things not providing much insight into what happened or in the black metal scene. As a whole i think that this movie is a missed opportunity of what could have been a good look into the black metal scene. If you are just looking at it as a normal movie with nothing to do with real life it could be enjoyable but if you know the facts it is difficult to ignore the flaws that this movie carries. I haven’t wanted to go into too much detail without spoiling the movie if you do plan to watch it but if you know the band you will know everything wrong with this when you watch it.  

In this blog post I will be talking about the documentary from 2023 about artist Min Yoongi (AgustD aka Suga from BTS) called SUGA: Road to D-DAY. This documentary shows us how once you have made it in the industry you want to keep making music but how is that possible if you don’t have any dreams anymore. You get to see a deeper side of Suga in this as he explores adulthood while trying to make his 3rd solo album. After watching this I can't help but feel deep admiration and respect for him as he talks us through his dreams (or lack of), desire, the need to create, fear, uncertainty and wisdom he has gained over the years. If you enjoy music or creating music this is a must watch as you see how he creates a truly beautiful album and all the equipment, studios and people he works with to get there. There are a few performances scattered throughout this documentary as well so you can listen to a few of the songs he created. Suga wrote and produced all 10 songs on this album and you follow him every step of the way meeting with artists like Steve Aoki and Halsey. We hold celebrities and idols to such high standards but this documentary makes you realise we are all human experiencing human emotions we just express them differently and that's what makes it beautiful. While you are watching you almost get a feeling of ‘what am i doing with my life?’ and you want to start making music or doing something you have been dying to do your whole life. By the end of this documentary Suga tells us that the pressure we put on ourselves due to time and age in his opinion is focusing too much on finding a meaning to the past, present or future and that it is a recipe to torment. He tells us to not focus on the things we can't control in life and just float in the feeling of being unsure sometimes as and enjoy it while you can. Before watching this you may think its impossible to relate to a world famous star but this documentary shows you we are all the same while showing you how we can use these emotions to create art be that music or something else you love. 

In this blog post I will be talking about the movie that has recently come out called EPIC: Elvis Presley in concert. I saw this in the cinema a few weeks ago and all i can say is that it feels like he is really there in the room performing for you and everyone in the cinema. One of the main things that i like about this movie is that it is led by Elvis himself Elvis narrates it not an actor or impersonator that we are used to when it comes to him. The documentary is made by the same person who made the film in 2022 Baz Luhrmann. Yes this film does still hold that Baz Luhrmann feel but you can also see he has taken a step back and is letting Elvis tell his story for once. None of the audio or videos you see are ai or hologram or anything like that it is all genuinely Elvis. I think that's what I like the most. So many people have tried telling Elvis's story and either get it wrong or mix things up nobody can tell you about Elvis but Elvis himself. This is definitely one you have to see in the cinema with the surround sound and the big screen it can make you feel as if you are really there with him and the band at the International in the 70’s. I haven't got a bad word to say about this movie. I feel like this is something fans of Elvis and those who aren't so much can enjoy as you can't help but not look away while he's performing. Overall I feel like this will definitely introduce a new generation to Elvis just like the biopic did as so many people i know who are around my age are obsessed with Elvis and music of that era.