Movie Review

Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie paints a complete picture of actor's complex life

Michael J. Fox in Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie

Photo courtesy of Apple TV+

Of all the big stars that rose to fame in the 1980s, few appealed as broadly as Michael J. Fox, who hit his peak in 1985 when he was simultaneously on the second-most popular TV show, Family Ties, and in the No. 1 movie of the year, Back to the Future (not to mention Teen Wolf, a schlocky werewolf comedy that rode the BTTF wave to a No. 23 finish).

However, as the new Apple TV+ documentary Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie demonstrates, Fox’s life has come to be defined more by a disease that is out of his control than by the career he crafted. Directed by Oscar and Emmy winner Davis Guggenheim, the film could have been a standard one where Fox and his celebrity friends talk about his career, extolling his winning personality and his positivity in the face of living with Parkinson’s disease the past 30 years.

Instead, Fox and Guggenheim let Fox do almost all the talking, whether through a direct-to-camera interview, candid moments with his family and others, narrating stories about his life, or scenes from his many projects. While all of these methods are illuminating in one way of another, Guggenheim’s clever usage of actors to re-create stories from Fox’s life, as well as scenes from different Fox projects to emphasize real-life moments, are the most effective in crafting a compelling narrative.

Those stories are consistently interesting, whether it’s about him pulling double duty with Family Ties and Back to the Future, where he only got 2-3 hours of sleep each night while filming both over the course of three months; or talking about his bad behavior in the late ‘80s/early ‘90s, when he let success go to his head. Fox also talks about how the idea of being still was foreign to him for many years, and Guggenheim illustrates this with countless scenes of the diminutive-but-athletic actor running, jumping, and flipping in a variety of roles.

Anyone who has not seen Fox in recent years may be shocked by the degree to which his Parkinson’s has progressed, as he’s shown to have difficulty walking and having to do special vocal exercises to speak clearly. But lest you think Fox is asking for pity, he’s the first one to dispel that notion. Despite clear frustration with the more onerous parts of the disease, he’s always ready with a joke to deflect from uncomfortable situations, and readily acknowledges what a blessed life he has led.

Still paints a complete picture of Fox the man, someone who’s been to the height of fame and brought low by a disease that can be managed but not cured. Like all of us, he contains multitudes, and the film shows all sides of him, even if it’s his affability that shines through time and again.

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Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie debuts on Apple TV+ on May 12.

Movie Review

Oscar-worthy film A Complete Unknown digs deeply into Bob Dylan

Photo courtesy of Searchlight Pictures

Timothée Chalamet in A Complete Unknown.

Music biopics never seem to go out of style, although they’re rarely very good because most of them tend to tell the same story. A musician/band gets discovered, rises to popularity, experiences trouble at their peak due to (insert sex/drugs/alcohol/ego), and either finds a measure of redemption once they’ve been sufficiently humbled or dies due to their lack of control.

Paradoxically, what few music biopics fail to do is properly showcase the music that made the person popular in the first place, a mistake that A Complete Unknown doesn’t repeat, becoming a smashing success in the process. The film follows Bob Dylan (Timothée Chalamet) over a roughly four-year period from when he first arrived in New York City in 1961 to his then-revolutionary electric set at the Newport Folk Festival in 1965.

Dylan seeks out well-known folk singers Pete Seeger (Edward Norton) and an ailing Woody Guthrie (Scoot McNairy) when he first arrives, with Seeger taking him under his wing. Dylan starts to establish himself in the local club scene with his unique songwriting voice, meeting fellow singer Joan Baez (Monica Barbaro), with whom he starts an on-and-off relationship. As his popularity grows, his reaction is antithetical to what’s expected, as he rarely engages with fans and focuses on his next song(s) instead of the ones for which he became known.

Directed by James Mangold (Walk the Line) and written by Mangold and Jay Cocks, the film may not be much of a revelation for Dylan superfans, but for casual fans or those who know nothing about him, it is one of the most effective music biopics in recent memory, if not ever. Not only does Mangold track the musical evolution of Dylan, but he gives the full context of the people who influenced him most, including Guthrie, Seeger, Baez, and more.

The film is not a musical in the traditional sense, but the amount of music in it makes it the next best thing. Rarely does more than a few minutes go by before someone is singing, either on stage, for someone close to them, or as part of the songwriting process. Whether you’re a folk music fan or not, the way the genre is showcased in the film will make you believe in its power and why it was so popular at that particular point in time.

Dylan is famous for his enigmatic personality, and Mangold does a great job of maintaining that elusiveness while still exploring what drove Dylan early in his career. His relationships with Baez and the fictional Sylvie Russo (Elle Fanning) give him some dimension, but why he continually went back-and-forth between them (or why they put up with him) is only lightly explored. The film keeps most of the drama focused on the music, and it’s this decision that makes it as compelling as it is.

Chalamet has been “The Next Big Thing” since his Oscar nomination for Call Me By Your Name, but the combination of the Duneseries, Wonka, and now this has firmly established him as the star he is. His Dylan impersonation (including singing) is subtle-yet-clear, and he has the cool factor that makes him completely believable in the role. The supporting cast is also off-the-charts good, with Norton and Barbaro making the best cases for awards notice.

While 2024 has had its fair share of great movies, A Complete Unknown - in this critic’s opinion - should now be the favorite to win Best Picture at next year’s Oscars. It bucks the trend of mediocre music biopics by giving moviegoers the transporting feeling of what it was like to experience Dylan’s meteoric rise, and why his early songs remain so indelible.

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A Complete Unknown opens in theaters on December 25.

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