If there is a presidential election on the horizon, it means its documentary time. There are many pertaining to the last four years of the current inhabitant of the White House. An era that is captured in Liz Garbus’ “All In: The Fight For Democracy” which tackles modern-day voter suppression, currently available on Prime Video, or “Agents of Chaos,” a doc series on HBO centered on Russian interference in the 2016 election.

Continue reading ‘The Way I See It’ Exclusive Clip: Pete Souza On Chronicling Barack Obama As A “Human Being” at The Playlist.

The slickest, most polished commercial for a photo collection book the world has ever seen, “The Way I See It” is less a documentary and more of a sales pitch. An assemblage of interviews and speaking engagement clips, on its surface the film is a meditation on presidential temperament as seen through the eyes of Obama’s official White House photographer, Pete Souza. There is nothing especially revelatory here, however, and rather than probe at difficult questions or unexplored avenues of consideration, the documentary contents itself with a book report approach whose conclusions are known from the jump.

Continue reading ‘The Way I See It’: Candid Reflections From Obama’s Photographer Don’t Offer Many New Insights [TIFF Review] at The Playlist.

Without bringing specific political issues into consideration, it’s clear that there is a huge difference between the presidencies of Barack Obama and Donald Trump. Anyone with eyes can see that. However, in the new documentary, “The Way I See It,” it takes a photographer to really break down some of the clearest differences between how Trump runs the White House and how his predecessors carried themselves.

Continue reading ‘The Way I See It’ Trailer: Dawn Porter’s Doc Looks At The White House Through The Eyes Of A Photographer at The Playlist.

When the filmmakers behind “John Lewis: Good Trouble” were preparing for the release of the new documentary, there is no way they could have guessed how badly the world needed to hear the wisdom of the Civil Rights activist and politician at the center of the film. Sure, John Lewis is someone that has been revered for decades, as one of the most influential and admirable folks to come out of the Civil Rights era, but with the country protesting police brutality against Black people and other People of Color, ‘Good Trouble’ has arrived at a perfect time.

Continue reading ‘John Lewis: Good Trouble’ Exclusive Clip: Watch The Civil Rights Activist Speak At The March On Washington at The Playlist.

Like any successful politician, John Lewis has a supply of anecdotes and applause lines to pull out whenever he is needed. And according to Dawn Porter’s documentary “John Lewis: Good Trouble,” he is needed a lot. One of the go-to bits we hear in the movie involves a memory from his childhood on a farm where, as a deeply religious and studious boy, he would preach to the family chickens.

Continue reading ‘John Lewis: Good Trouble’ Is An Inspiring Documentary About A Legendary Rabblerouser [Review] at The Playlist.

There aren’t many figures in American political history quite like Representative John Lewis. From Civil Rights marches to a career as one of the most influential politicians to ever enter Washington DC, Lewis’ life finally gets the documentary treatment in the upcoming film, “John Lewis: Good Trouble.”

READ MORE: ‘Gordon Lightfoot: If You Could Read My Mind’ Trailer: Doc Introduces A New Generation To The Music Icon

As seen in the first trailer for the new documentary, the title of the film refers to Lewis’ insistence that people should get involved in “good trouble” if they notice something wrong in our political system.

Continue reading ‘John Lewis: Good Trouble’ Trailer: The Civil Rights Leader & Politician Is Showcased In A New Doc at The Playlist.

Netflix has become the new home of the true crime documentary series, the tightly knotted, edge of your seat sort of documentary that has as many cliffhangers as it does chapters (“Making a Murderer” and “Wild Wild Country” most recently). Which is what makes the streaming service’s newest edition, “Bobby Kennedy For President” such an anomaly. Certainly, there is plenty of crime, conspiracy, and murder in the life of the lesser-known Kennedy, but the series, as directed by Dawn Porter (“Trapped,” “Spies of Mississippi”) is more of a PBS docuseries than anything else.

Continue reading Netflix’s ‘Bobby Kennedy For President’ Documentary Series Is A Portrait Of What Could Have Been [Review] at The Playlist.