Year of Release: 2025
Director: Colin Hanks
Starring: John Candy, Bill Murray, Catherine O'Hara, Eugene Levy, Chris Candy, Jennifer Candy-Sullivan, Dan Aykroyd, Tom Hanks, Andrea Martin, Robin Duke, Martin Short, Dave Thomas, Conan O'Brien, Chris Columbus, Mel Brooks, Macaulay Culkin, Steve Martin
Genre: Documentary
Score out of ten (whole numbers only): 6
Watch it on Amazon Prime
Synopsis and Review
Actor, producer, and director Colin Hanks' newest documentary (this is his third), focuses on the story of late comedic powerhouse, John Candy who passed away at the tender age of 43 in 1994. It's a celebration of the actor's life and memory, focusing on statements from his well known colleagues and friends from Canada (including Catherine O'Hara and Eugene Levy), his surviving family, and a variety of friends he had during his life. It's indeed an homage, one that never goes into much detail on the impact of John Candy's career, or for that matter, where his ambitions lied. There's a brief sense of anguish lying with the actor, as well as some of his own insecurities with his public persona, but it's somewhat of a slight portrait of a charismatic performer who was gone too soon. Colin Hanks doesn't really probe much, and the documentary feels almost like a celebratory reel that is played at a public event, more so than a documentary detailing who the person was. With that being said, it's worth watching for who John Candy was and his lasting legacy.
Year of Release: 2025
Director: Andrew Renzi
Starring: Charlie Sheen, Denise Richards, Tony Todd, Jon Cryer, Sean Penn, Ramon Estevez, Chris Tucker, Chuck Lorre, Heidi Fleiss, Brooke Mueller, Marco Abeta
Genre: Documentary
Score out of ten (whole numbers only): 7
Watch it on Netflix
Synopsis and Review
Director Andrew Renzi's most recent documentary focuses its attention on actor Charlie Sheen. The actor candidly performs a retrospective on his career and life, unapologetically presenting what drove him to certain decisions and options he had in his life. It's an interesting documentary, though at times the fascination with Charlie Sheen himself makes the documentary feel almost sensationalist, emulating the narrative that the actor and the other participants are describing. However, it is a candid, even if at times mildly curated presentation of who this actor and person has been, and what a troublesome journey he has experienced in his life. It does come across as a bit of a self-promotional piece, but its candor is nonetheless arresting and the documentary is worth watching.
Year of Release: 2025
Director: Matt Wolf
Starring: Paul Reubens, Gary Panter, David Arquette, Cassandra Peterson, Ann Prim, Helen Welchel, Laraine Newman, Debi Mazar, Natasha Lyonne, S. Epatha Merkerson, Laurence Fishburne, Tim Burton, Blair Berk, Judd Apatow
Genre: Documentary
Score out of ten (whole numbers only): 8
Watch it on HBO Max
Synopsis and Review
Of this series of documentaries, Matt Wolf's "Pee-Wee as Himself" is the best one of the three. It's also the most heartbreaking one of the three, as the tribulations Paul Reubens went through, are seen through his own eyes, but also of the ones he interacted with closely. It's a documentary focused on a person simultaneously self-aware, but also deeply sensitive, someone who went through an array of issues that eventually did have a profound effect on who this person was, how his life evolved, including all the relationships he was able to maintain. It's also a documentary that captures the reluctance of this individual in documenting this type of self-reflection, when he himself knew he was at the end of his life. This is a documentary that sheds light on the life of an artist, including how society reacted to his individuality, how it tried to silence a distinct voice, and how this individual eventually had to find a way to continue existing, no matter what the challenges were. Of these three documentaries, it's the one that surfaces the brutality, the superficiality that comes with success (and the commodification of relationships), but also the compromises, and downfall that surrounds that success. Well worth watching.
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