FILMS from AFAR

If you didn't already love Martin Short, you're going to after this loving profile, directed by longtime friend Lawrence Kasdan. Marty, Life is Short offers a close-up view of the actor's joy-infused and celebrity-filled life. Marty has loved and been loved by a big, happy family and a wide group of lifelong friends (the fact that those friends include figures like Eugene Levy, Tom Hanks, Steven Spielbergand so on doesn't diminish their genuine mutual affection). It's also a

Informative, humanizing, and at moments downright scary, this eye-opening documentary is sure to make waves. Interviewees in The Plastic Detox ask how it’s possible that industrial companies have been allowed to make such prevalent products without knowing or addressing the potential and proven harms. Viewers will want to know the same after this wake-up call, which explores the correlations between plastic chemical exposure and a huge range of illnesses, defects, and healt

This Paul McCartney-focused documentary is an informative and entertaining look at the period between the break-up of the Beatles and the death of John Lennon. Man on the Run starts in a frenzy, with an expected montage of footage, photos, and music amplified with quick-paced collages and animations edited together. It's all very Yellow Submarine, but in a subtle touch, the style gets progressively more mellow over the course of the movie. This ties in nicely with the film's

In some ways, the title of this film is misleading—it sounds like we are looking at another Nat Geo nature documentary, but this is something very different. First of all, Elephant Ghosts seems more focused on the humans than the animals, which makes sense considering how elusive the elephants are. Legendary filmmaker Werner Herzog narrates the tale, reminding himself not to "romanticize" the native bushmen but still finding them endlessly fascinating—the cradle of humanity,

This emotional documentary deftly combines foot-tapping concert footage with heartbreaking individual stories of living with—and searching for a cure for—a rare disease. It would be difficult not to be moved by the stories in Matter of Time of children and families living with a rare genetic condition that can shorten life spans and involve significant pain. We find out two of the profiled patients died before the film even premiered. Vedder is still himself on stage, cursin

This 3.5-hour extravaganza, released simultaneously with a companion documentary series, might feel like self-aggrandizing overkill—but only to non-Swifties. Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour – The Final Show captures Swift's joyous, clear-eyed, flirtatious, youthful energy and her connection with her fans, even from a stadium stage. She makes a point of telling them they're the ones who created the community feel of her historic tour, and the "glorious" feeling of singing togethe