Supermensch: The Legend of Shep Gordon
Very entertaining documentary about one of the greatest talent managers of all time - seriously, here's who this dude managed: Alice Cooper, Anne Murray, Teddy Pendergrass, Luther Vandross, Groucho Marx, Pink Floyd (for like 9 days, lol), Rick James, Emeril Lagasse, Roger Vergé, and countless other musicians and celebrity chefs. He was also friends with Sylvester Stallone, Michael Douglas, Mike Myers, Tom Arnold, Willie Nelson, and dozens of others in addition to outright creating the entire "celebrity chef" genre.
It's funny (seriously, hearing Sly and Douglas recount stories is gut-busting) and it's touching (he basically adopted his friend Mia William's four young children after she died) all at once. The early part focused more on the music stuff which I wasn't as into, but it served as a good window into the era. Dude was literally at the right place at the right time, but never let it get to his head and even discounting his friends' testimony just comes across as a genuinely nice dude without a mean bone in his body.
Mike Myers actually directed this and he has a great sense of comedic editing, the whole movie feels like a warm breeze on a Maui beach.
4 / 5
Dream Boat
This documentary follows five men on a gay Swedish cruise, complete with plenty of eye candy, nudity, and even some public sex. Normally I might be into that, but something about this film felt off to me. Maybe it was the sweeping operatic music out of something like House of Cards pretentiously playing over what is clearly an EDM rave. Maybe it was the gratuitous, lingering ass-shots combined with narration about how lonely it can be to be gay (we get it, you know what juxtaposition is.) Maybe it was the lack of really distinct personalities driving the non-story. For whatever reason, I can only really recommend this if you're into beefcake and horny at the time of viewing.
2 / 5
