Capsule Reviews feature a collection of thoughts from Sean Phillips (Math Teacher Movies) on films from recent days, as well as the past year, decade, and beyond.

From Sean Phillips

This documentary has a similar style and amount of content to one of the documentaries shown in between movies on TCM, which is a good thing for fans of that type of thing but bad that it lacks a full substance.

This documentary lets Elizabeth Taylor tell her own story through several interviews on tape and her as the narrator gives a solid personal touch and perspective throughout. 

The documentary is a fascinating narrative and study of celebrity and the culture that surrounds it with an in-depth generosity offered up by Taylor as she tells her life’s story. 

Taylor has been a figure for a large amount of Hollywood and this humanizes her in a way that she has never been offered and was important for her to receive.  

The documentary suffers from the structure that flies a bit too fast and then ends a bit too sudden. For a documentary that started off in-depth, it glosses over the later years.

This film suffers from interview reenactments that are a bit too over-dramatized and don’t ruin the movie, but give it an annoying element of style which is too frequent for documentaries. 

This is a proper celebrity documentary that could have benefited from potential episodes or an extended ending but is still a great watch for the cinephile and fan of old Hollywood. 

Rating: 4/5

This film is currently available to stream on Max.

Follow Sean