Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker’s Apocalypse
In my latest Essential Docs piece for Sound on Sight, I took a look at the making-of-Apocalypse-Now documentary Hearts of Darkness and the trouble with chasing absolute truth through one’s art. It’s a pretty fascinating film, made up almost exclusively of archival footage from Francis Ford Coppola’s wife Eleanor’s on-set video and audio diaries. Give […]
Full Metal Jacket Review
RATING: (3.5 STARS) In the immediate aftermath of the Vietnam War, Hollywood produced a series of spectacular anti-war films—The Deer Hunter, Coming Home, Apocalypse Now. Time, it seems, doesn’t heal all wounds as, almost a decade later, Oliver Stone’s Oscar-winning Platoon kicked off a second wave of Vietnam pictures. The world’s greatest director, Stanley Kubrick, […]
Apocalypse Now Review
RATING: (3.5 STARS) Apocalypse Now’s back story has been exhaustively covered, but for good reason. The film forever altered the trajectory of Francis Ford Coppola’s career (and nearly destroyed his sanity). It almost killed Martin Sheen. It was disrupted by indecision, narcissism, and acts of Mother Nature. It was delayed for a long time and […]
