What to watch this weekend: Fresh documentaries about Elton John ...
Lisa Kudrow as Lydia in Episode 101 of No Good Deed.SAEED ADYANI/Netflix
Elton John: Never Too Late, Disney+
“I love people who think about tomorrow rather than yesterday,” says Elton John in this new doc – despite the fact he’s been devoting quite a lot of time to looking back in recent years. First came the Rocketman biopic, then his memoir Me and now here’s Never Too Late, which is directed by John’s Canadian husband, David Furnish, and R.J. Cutler (Billie Eilish: The World’s a Little Blurry). Using preparations for his final North American show at LA’s Dodger Stadium in 2022 as a frame, it explores the path to his 1970s superstardom pinnacle – a personal nadir in terms of drugs and depression. New details are few (we learn old Elton’s not fond of the word “queer”) but there’s appeal in the intimate access, including joyful video calls with his young children, Zachary and Elijah. The doc draws on audio of conversations John had with journalist Alexis Petridis while preparing his biography, along with animation and archival audio, photos and footage, to vividly reconstruct, for instance, the lead-up to John’s concert with John Lennon at Madison Square Garden in 1974. Premieres Friday.
Jackie Shane, who built her career as an R&B singer in Toronto's Yonge Street clubs.courtesy of Banger Films and the NFB
Any Other Way: The Jackie Shane Story, Crave
Less well-known than Reg Dwight’s transformation into Elton John is the story of Jackie Shane, a charismatic Toronto R&B singer in the 1960s who built her career in Yonge Street clubs, had a hit single with Any Other Way and then shirked opportunities to become truly famous before mysteriously disappearing. Extravagant rumours about drownings and drug busts filled in the gaps, until renewed interest in her career in the 2010s led to the revelation that the trailblazer was alive and well and living in Nashville. Amid reissues of her work, she began doing interviews about what it was like to be a transgender Black woman soul singer a half-century ago. This touching doc is based on weekly phone calls she had with Michael Mabbott (who co-directed with Lucah Rosenberg-Lee) in the two years before she died in 2019 with a concert comeback looming. The Globe and Mail’s Brad Wheeler made it a Critic’s Pick when it was released in cinemas earlier this year, writing: “Denied a second act, Shane is recognized with a heartfelt film that celebrates an undersung icon who lived her authentic self, sparkled on her own terms and defied the squares.”
Left to right: Christina Milian as LaGuerta, Patrick Gibson as Dexter Morgan and Christian Slater as Harry Morgan in Dexter: Original Sin, episode 6, season 1.Adam Rose/Paramount+
Dexter: Original Sin, Paramount+
When Dexter premiered on Showtime in the relatively innocent television times of 2006, there was much controversy over a serial killer being the protagonist. Since then, of course, that has become a whole television subgenre (including You, Hannibal and Dahmer – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story) and Dexter Morgan’s own gruesome escapades have evolved into a universe of shows. Though Michael C. Hall has not yet fully abandoned the character – improbably, Dexter: Resurrection is expected next summer – Irish actor Patrick Gibson takes on the role in this new prequel series set in 1991 Miami. It promises to flesh out the bloodthirsty backstory of the avenging forensic scientist’s attempts to channel his evil urges into good under the guidance of his father (Christian Slater). Premieres Friday the 13th, naturally.
Lisa Kudrow, left, as Lydia and Ray Romano as Paul in No Good Deed.SAEED ADYANI/Netflix
No Good Deed, Netflix
After putting their family home in LA’s hot Los Feliz neighbourhood on the market, Lydia and Paul Morgan – played by turn-of-the-millennium sitcom survivors Lisa Kudrow and Ray Romano – become highly motivated sellers when an ex-con shows up demanding $80,000 in order to not expose their darkest secret to the police. As the pair scramble to cover their tracks, three couples circle the home waiting to pounce, including a washed-up and depressed soap-opera star (Luke Wilson) and his cheating developer wife (Linda Cardellini). Created by Liz Feldman (Dead to Me), this bingeable real estate dramedy has plenty of soapy elements – with the Morgans’ grief over their late son giving it a pinch of gravitas.
Open this photo in gallery:Colin Farrell stars in The Banshees of Inisherin.Photo Credit: Jonathan Hession/Courtesy of Searchlight Pictures / 20th Century Studios
The Banshees of Inisherin, CBC Gem
If you recently watched HBO’s The Penguin, you may have forgotten what star Colin Farrell actually looks like underneath all those prosthetics. Refresh your memory by revisiting this 2022 Oscar-nominated movie from Martin McDonagh, available to stream free courtesy of the Canadian public broadcaster as of Friday. Set in Ireland in 1923, the film follows Padraic (Farrell) as he is incapable of coming to terms with the fact that his friend Colm (Brendan Gleeson) no longer wants anything to do with him. In her Critic’s Pick review, Kate Taylor wrote: “Both Colm’s initial rejection of Padraic and Padraic’s final crazed reaction are not the stuff of realism or reason but of fairy tales and nightmares, yet Gleeson and Farrell make the film a delight.”
