Skip to: Content
Skip to: Site Navigation
Skip to: Search

August 29, 2008 10:38:59 CDT

Learn about Newser Points »

« Back to the grid | Next story »

Gonzo Gets It

Posted Jul 4, 08 8:24 AM CDT in Arts & Living 

(Newser) – There’s a “fascinating history lesson” in the documentary Gonzo: The Life and Work of Hunter S. Thompson, “a lively collage of interviews and found materials,” writes A. O. Scott in the New York Times. The film cements the journalist's “place in the great American parade of cranks, renegades and sages,” Scott adds. It's “all you could wish for in a doc about the man,” notes Roger Ebert in the Chicago Sun-Times.

The “mesmerizing” film is narrated “with just the right mix of awe and impertinence,” writes Peter Travers in Rolling Stone. Still, “there was one subject I found conspicuously missing: the fact of the man's misery,” says Ebert. “It leaves you wondering: how was it that so many people liked this man who does not seem to have liked himself?”

Sources Rotten Tomatoes, New York Times, Chicago Sun-Times, Rolling Stone

0 comments | Print E-mail | Digg Seed this on Newsvine Add this link to Del.icio.us StumbleUpon

Related Newser Stories

  • Man on Wire a Thrilling Act

    Aug 2, 08 5:57 CDT
    Man on Wire a Thrilling Act A Frenchman's daring high-wire walk between the Twin Towers nearly 35 years ago is chronicled in a documentary that feels "like a real-life heist picture," Dana Stevens writes in Slate. Man on Wire recounts Philippe Petit's 6-plus years of planning, his procurement of equipment and fake IDs, and shows the two stoned accomplices who weep as they recall the historic stunt.
    More »

  • Gunnin' Sure to Score With Hoop Fans

    Jun 27, 08 5:25 CDT
    Gunnin' Sure to Score With Hoop Fans Gunnin’ for That #1 Spot, the second documentary from Beastie Boy Adam Yauch, is no Hoop Dreams, but critics predict a slam-dunk with roundball and hip-hop aficionados. The film follows eight high school phenoms through a high-profile Harlem pick-up game and “offers a snapshot of the kind of top players who one day hope to have a shoe named after them,” writes Variety’s Ronnie Scheib. More »

  • Critics Pumped for Steroids Doc

    May 30, 08 5:45 CDT
    Critics Pumped for Steroids Doc The documentary Bigger, Stronger, Faster is drawing raves for its clear-eyed, nuanced look at the world of steroid users. Christopher Bell, a bodybuilder and onetime juicer, directs and narrates an "incisive and compulsively watchable look at America's love affair with steroids," Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly writes. More »

  • Waltz Explodes at Cannes

    May 16, 08 2:10 CDT
    Waltz Explodes at Cannes Now that's more like it. After a typically lousy opening—allegorical disaster Blindness—the Cannes Film Festival shook things up yesterday with Waltz with Bashir, a ferocious animated documentary from Israel recounting the 1982 massacre at Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon. It’s “stunning,” writes Manhola Dargis in the New York Times, “at once a furious act of conscience and a lament.” More »

  • Sweeney Todd Is Bloody Good

    Dec 21, 07 2:14 CST
    Sweeney Todd Is Bloody Good Sweeney Todd, about a wronged barber-turned-murderer, is so good that watching it will make you "feel sorry for the poor saps in the next theater at the multiplex," writes Kyle Smith of the New York Post. Directed by Tim Burton and starring a "stupendous" Johnny Depp, the big-screen adaptation of the 1979 Broadway musical is "scary, monstrously funny, and melodically thrilling," writes Peter Travers of Rolling Stone. More »

Director Alex Gibney and his wife Anne arrive to a special screening of "Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson" on Wednesday, June 25, 2008, in New York.   (AP Photo/Peter Kramer)
Hunter S. Thompson is shown in a promotional photo for the film "Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson."   (AP Photo/Magnolia Pictures)
Hunter S. Thompson is shown in a promotional photo for the film "Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson."   (AP Photo/Magnolia Pictures)
« Prev« Prev | Next »Next » Slideshow
Our editors also recommend:

Threads (1 of 4)

Tags

movie review  • journalist  • documentary  • Johnny Depp  • Hunter S. Thompson


Loading...

Premium Articles from HighBeam

Find more articles like this

Today's Most Popular


Other Arts & Living Stories

What is Newser?

2008 Codie Finalist

Newser gives you more news in less time. We search for the best and most important stories all over the web, read them for you, and deliver concise and sharp summaries—along with links to the full text. Newser provides a way to stay on top of an ever-expanding horizon of news and opinion—politics, sports, business, trends, technology, personalities, crimes, and controversies. Newser keeps you not just better informed, but, with our signature graphic interface and smart condensed format, more enjoyably informed.

Learn more »