
Purple Rain
Prince’s premature death prompted me to see Purple Rain for the first time. The film feels a bit like Flashdance. Incidentally, Jennifer Beals, the star of Flashdance was asked to play lead female role but declined. The plot is apparently based on Prince’s life but the main story is Prince’s talent. No plot can compete with his musical genius. The movie’s ending, where Prince shows off his musical talent, is worth seeing.

Amy
Since every person now has a smartphone, documentaries of people living today will much easier to do because so much film material will be available on each person. Compared to the documentary on Bob Marley that I covered earlier, a lot of film material was available on Amy Winehouse. Relatively cheap digital video cameras were around when she turned 14 and she and her friend started to interview each other like teenagers do. Documentaries on popular musicians are generally wonderful because we love to hear the music again that accompanied our own lives. Amy is a rewarding film to watch.

Marley
Like so many other people around the world, I love Bob Marley’s music. A few years ago a documentary was made about his life made.

Carol
The discrimination and legal persecution that gay men had to go through until laws were gradually changed starting in the 1960s has been covered in many films, most recently in the film about the British mathematician Touring. But I had never seen a film about a woman facing legal persecution for having sexual relationships with another woman. Carol takes place in New York of the early 1960s. The strongest part of the film was how well it portrayed the style of the period.

The Reverent
I had heard that The Reverent contains a lot of graphic violence and was not that good.