ORIGINAL MOVIES AND DOCUMENTARIES ON APPLE TV

We post alot about Netflix and Disney as they send us alot of press releases and invites but what about Apple TV? What do they have to offer in 2022.

The Beastie Boys Story (2020)

The Beastie Boys Story is an amalgamation if you will—a movie hybrid that’s one part documentary, one part concert film, and one part live, two-man play. The simple formula, which finds remaining Beastie Boys bandmates Adam Horovitz (aka Ad-Rock) and Mike Diamond (aka Mike D) sharing the story of their lifelong friendship with the late Adam Yauch (aka MCA), and their rise, fall, and subsequent rise again as trend-setting icons in the music world. The scaled-down storytelling formula of the doc offers an off-the-cuff, intimate experience which shines a light on the ups and downs the group hit in their career—from their embarrassing early days as Def Jam’s hit party boy rap group to the experimental jam sessions that sparked an evolution that propelled the Beastie Boys to new heights, both creatively and spiritually. Directed by Spike Jonze, the film takes the formula of a Behind the Music episode and elevates it with humor and heart.

Billie Eilish: The World’s a Little Blurry (2021)

The World’s a Little Blurry is not the hagiography one expects as a film made with the full participation of the pop star that inspired it. It’s instead a deep portrait of a truly unusual current icon encountering a truly unusual type of fame. Director R.J. Cutler buoys the narrative with concert footage and clips of the songwriting process that showcase Eilish’s natural talent, but the most astounding moments are the ones when he captures her as a teenager caught in a maelstrom. She throws a Louis Vuitton sweatsuit in the backyard washing machine of her childhood home where she still lives with her tight-knit family; her dad gives her a kind-hearted, almost spiritual lecture about responsibility before she takes her car out for the first time by herself after getting her license. Even as she’s reaching new peaks, she’s dealing with typical teenage stuff, including a shitty boyfriend who refuses to come see her following her major Coachella performance. A touch of fear hangs over The World’s a Little Blurry, the notion that it could all go wrong very quickly, but it’s also a look at someone who almost has no choice but to be a star.

Boys State (2020)

Since 1937, the American-Legion has assembled two yearly gender-segregated programs—Boys State and Girls State—to walk young people through America’s political process. Boys State follows a large swath of teenage boys on the verge of adulthood as they converge to assemble their own mock government. What transpires is reminiscent to Lord of the Flies in the sense that the young people are in charge. But the real entry-point to the story is the multiple characters the camera crews decide to follow. While the documentary takes place in Texas and is filled with the expected conservative views that come with living in the red state, the movie does its best to explore the views of the next generation without bias. In turn, it shows how handed-down ideologies can impact our young people, and thusly shines a light on our country’s political strengths and weaknesses. While audiences will most certainly be yearning for the female perspective once all is said and done, Boys State acts as a reminder that the children are indeed our future—and that concept plays out in both a terrifying and inspiring light.

CODA (2021)

CODA stands for Child of Deaf Adults, which is an acronym that applies to the main character, Ruby, of this family dramedy. Ruby is the only hearing member of her working class family and has acted as their interpreter most of her life in their small New England town. Although she’s been ostracized for years, once she discovers she has a gift for singing, the coming-of-age film follows the high schooler as she tries to find her own voice. It’s the kind of family film that’s unabashedly sentimental and will undoubtedly make you cry, but with a story this sweet, you’ll welcome the waterworks.

Fireball: Visitors from Darker Worlds (2020)

Fireball is absolutely as broad as it sounds, with little central thesis pulling you toward anything resembling resolution. It might not have a flashy subject, but the surprising variety of entry points to discussing meteorites as objects of beauty, veneration, and intrigue quickly sucks you into the journey. It takes the viewer globetrotting with director Werner Herzog—whose narrations are as ponderously Herzog-ian as ever—and co-director, host, and professor Clive Oppenheimer, with whom Herzog worked on the 2016 volcano documentary Into the Inferno.

On the Rocks (2020)

Sofia Coppola’s On the Rocks is a sweet, melancholic midnight rendezvous around the upper echelons of Manhattan. The film sees her reunite with Bill Murray, who plays a dashing playboy art dealer named Felix who unexpectedly crashes back into the life of his daughter Laura (Rashida Jones) as she’s in a midlife crisis and suspects her husband is having an affair. A few cocktails, joy rides in vintage red hotrods, and ice cream sundaes at members-only clubs later, and the two are sleuthing across the City (much to Laura’s dismay). It’s a world that’s surprising, and also shockingly intimate.

The Tragedy of Macbeth (2021)

For his first time directing without his brother, Joel Coen turned to one of Shakespeare’s most mystical tragedies, at the suggestion of his wife, star and producer Frances McDormand. In the set, tone, and performances, from Denzel Washington as the titular cursed king to stage actress Kathryn Hunter playing all three witches, the filmmaker leans into the text’s eeriness—resulting in a deeply haunting movie. Doom seeps through every frame of the film. It’s there in Washington’s eyes and Hunter’s chapped lips issuing curses. Like the knocking Macbeth hears, it’s an adaptation that will beguile and plague you.

The Velvet Underground (2021)

Todd Haynes’ documentary of the coolest rock band there ever was is a comprehensive overview of The Velvet Underground’s most groundbreaking material, as well as an empathetic and unflinching portrait of the volatile personalities and the experimental pressure cooker that made it all happen. From Lou Reed to Andy Warhol to Nico, Jonathan Richman, David Bowie, Amy Taubin, from 56 Ludlow St to the Cafe Bizarre, the film paints a picture of subversive artists obsessed with music, film, sex, counterculture, and the 60-cycle hum of their apartment fridge, incorporating it all into some of the best music ever written.

Wolfwalkers (2020)

This gorgeous animated movie from directors Ross Stewart, Tomm Moore, and Moore’s team at Irish animation studio Cartoon Saloon will have you longing for days when 2D was the norm. The folk tale-esque film retells a classic Irish fable about wolfwalkers, or humans that could transform their souls into great wolves, bringing them to stunning, cinematic life. The story here follows a young girl named Robyn and her father, a talented hunter, as he’s tasked with hunting down the last of a pack that’s ravaging an Irish city—all of which is complicated with Robyn meets the pair of wolfwalkers who are actually leading the tribe.