This Week In Documentary: 'Ladies And Gentlemen…50 Years Of SNL Music' & 'Liza: A Truly Terrific Absolutely True Story'
Theatrical & Streaming Releases - New & Recommended - January 24-30, 2025
The 2025 Sundance Film Festival is underway, so look for some reviews and possibly interviews in your mailbox over the next few days. Will any documentaries programmed for the event be among our top films of the year? Given the festival’s track record, that’s very likely. Also, some will likely be Oscar contenders. Look at the latest nominees (in the highlights below) and you’ll spot some former Sundance selections. Speaking of great premieres of the past, check out our list of the best Sundance documentaries of all time.
Speaking of Sundance, don’t forget to help out former Sundance filmmakers who lost everything in the L.A. fires via their GoFundMe pages: Ondi Timoner; David Timoner; and Tracy Droz Tragos.
Now, without further ado, below you’ll find this week’s highlights, listings, and coming attractions, including our Pick of the Week. Please consider becoming a paid subscriber to receive more in-depth highlights and reviews in the future.
Nonfics Pick Of The Week: Ladies And Gentlemen…50 Years Of SNL Music (2025)
One of two new films directed by Questlove (Summer of Soul) that made our list of the most anticipated documentaries of 2025, Ladies and Gentlemen…50 Years of SNL Music far exceeded my expectations. I knew it’d be better than most TV anniversary specials, but it’s so much more than it needed to be. With a runtime of three hours with commercials, the documentary (co-directed by Oz Rodriguez) has room to kick things off with a seven-minute montage that brilliantly mashes up various musical guest performances from Saturday Night Live’s first half-century.
The editing continues to marvel after that as the documentary covers a lot of ground while showcasing the artists, digging into the show's history, exploring some of the myths and legends of certain notorious incidents, and exploring SNL’s music traditions outside of the guest performances. Impersonations, music video parodies, and the challenges of being both the guest host and musical guest are just a few of the topics discussed. Many cast members and musical guests from the show’s 50-year run provide anecdotes and other commentary, but the documentary always puts the archival footage first. There are talking heads, but they’re rarely on screen for long.
While this is a special made for NBC and definitely celebrates SNL for its significance in reflecting and shaping culture over the decades, particularly for many music artists, it’s not exactly a puff piece. Not that it’s ever really critical of anything about the show, but that’s because it’s a smartly crafted documentary that is able to address mistakes and other issues without losing the commemorative spirit. What further elevates Ladies and Gentlemen… beyond the usual TV special is the amount of behind-the-scenes material used to enhance the storytelling with greater detail and context presented visually rather than merely being stated in recollection.
Among the best stories shared in the documentary are those of Rage Against the Machine being escorted out of the building while their episode was still going on, MC Sha-Rock and the Funky 4 being the first hip-hop group to perform on national television, and anything involving John Belushi, including his role in booking the punk band Fear and the origins of the Blues Brothers (one complaint: Dan Aykroyd is disappointingly missing from the documentary to add to the latter). Even with all that is recognized and honored through its 129 minutes (sans commercials), I get the sense that many of the interviewees shared much more, but this isn’t just another SNL oral history. It might be the most cinematic TV special of its kind ever made.
Ladies and Gentlemen…50 Years of SNL Music airs on NBC on Monday, January 27, at 8 pm ET/PT, and begins streaming on Peacock the following day.
Other Documentary Highlights

Eno (2024)
I still haven’t had a good opportunity to see Eno, so this highlight isn’t a recommendation, but it’s definitely deserving of acknowledgement this week. Director Gary Hustwit is doing something special for the film’s streaming debut. He’s hosting a 24-hour livestream marathon of Eno via his website Oh You Pretty Things. According to the program notes, there will be six different versions of Eno, which employs AI to re-edit the film with each showing. Hustwit is also sharing the Eno prequel piece, Nothing Can Ever Be the Same, and the brand new Laraaji concert film It’s All Light: Laraaji at Nine Orchard (streaming twice), plus interviews, DJ sets, and more. Make it a day and night of paying tribute to Brian Eno.
The 24-hour Eno livestream event begins at noon ET on Friday, January 24. Get your tickets via the link to Oh You Pretty Things above.
Eternal You (2024)
One year after its Sundance premiere, Eternal You is finally being made available to the public. I say that not as an endorsement so much as a fact, recognizing that it’s one of this week’s more notable new releases. The film, which showcases AI programs developed to help people grieve by creating avatars of their lost loved ones, could be more critical of the products and address more of the psychology that they cater to. Here’s an excerpt from my mixed review of Eternal You from the festival last year:
“I guess I’m with the documentary’s impartial filmmakers (Hans Block and Moritz Riesewieck) in that I wouldn’t condemn these programs or their creators, yet I’m also disappointed in the lack of pressure on the users employed in the documentary and a lack of a direct, professional address of their mental state. Eternal You does raise some good questions, but they might not be the right questions. They’re certainly not the only questions worth discussing.”
Eternal You will be released on digital/VOD on Friday, January 24.
The Greatest Night In Pop (2024)
Unlike our Pick of the Week above, The Greatest Night in Pop is just barely as captivating a music history as expected. It’s good enough for its nostalgic purposes. The film came out a year ago this week, and I highlighted its release then. However, despite all its success since, including its Emmy nominations and Critics Choice Documentary Awards win, the feature is a lot more relevant now. The film is about the making of the star-studded charity track “We Are the World” and its music video, recorded simultaneously on January 28, 1985. This week is the 40th anniversary. Last year, I called the documentary “disappointingly simple” yet “worthwhile for the curious.”
The Greatest Night in Pop is streaming on Netflix.
Holocaust Documentaries
Monday is International Holocaust Remembrance Day, commemorating the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Nazi concentration camps toward the end of World War II, and both PBS and TCM have programming recognizing the occasion. The former is premiering the feature documentary Resistance: They Fought Back, which celebrates the Jewish resistance members who fought back during the Holocaust. From my review of Resistance: They Fought Back published last year:
“As a whole, Resistance: They Fought Back is focused, well-structured, and effective. The continued necessity of Holocaust documentaries is, for one, that there are still so many stories to be told with narratively and thematically concentrated films and other media, and two, that the lessons of the Shoah and its resistance will always be important and, unfortunately, too often still relevant. This film is particularly compelling in the way it mostly follows a chronological path, but it’s also very well-organized in the way it’s broken into separate segments about uprisings in the ghettos, rebellions in the camps, and armed partisans waging war in the forests. And it’s successful in the way it shares the stories and shows the remnants of so many inspirational heroes.”
TCM is hosting a marathon of Holocaust dramas and documentaries on Monday, including Claude Lanzmann’s nearly five-hour 2018 anthology work Shoah: Four Sisters, one of his spinoffs of his most famous film, the nine-and-a-half-hour masterpiece Shoah (which you can stream on AMC+). The cable station is also showing multiple documentaries focused on the Nuremberg trials: 1948’s Nuremberg, 1961’s Hitler’s Executioners, and 2021’s Filmmakers for the Prosecution.
Liza: A Truly Terrific Absolutely True Story (2024)
Liza Minnelli gets the biographical documentary treatment with Liza: A Truly Terrific Absolutely True Story, and it plays like a living funeral as it’s so reflective that almost all of its content is in the past tense. Minnelli does appear in the film, making for a delightful watch, though she doesn’t do anything but sit and occasionally speak. Sometimes she’s shown a clip that the audience is also treated to in the documentary. Friends who comment on her life include Mia Farrow, Michael Feinstein, Ben Vereen, Joel Grey, and Darren Criss. Her half-sister, Lorna Luft, is also present.
What’s interesting about the structuring of Liza, possibly in an unintentionally unfavorable way, is how much it defines Minnelli by her relationships. Of course, she hated the fact that her mother was so often brought up in interviews, and she never liked discussing her marriages or romantic affairs publicly, yet those topics are on the table here even if through address of such issues with them. Moreso, Minnelli’s life comes across as pieced together by the men and women who mentored or otherwise influenced her, including Bob Fosse, Kay Thompson, Halston, and Charles Aznavour.
More of Minnelli in her current life would have gone a long way to show the result of all those decades of her forging an identity of her own beyond her parentage, performances, husbands, and addictions. I realize that I often dislike celebrity documentaries that combine biography and profile, but when you’ve got a personality like Minnelli, it’s best not to present her as just a headstone. There’s enough of her to please anyone who loves her, too much of others speaking for her, and nothing of her comedic reinvention this century and why she remains a pop culture staple not just an icon of the past. Maybe after she’s actually dead she’ll receive a better eulogy than this.
Liza: A Truly Terrific Absolutely True Story opens theatrically on Friday, January 24.
Oscar Nominees
The nominations for the 97th Academy Awards were announced last week, with documentaries appearing in three categories. You can see the titles below (and where to watch them). First I’d like to congratulate former Best Documentary Feature nominee RaMell Ross (Hale County This Morning, This Evening) for the two Oscar nominations for his fiction film debut, Nickel Boys. Also, congratulations to former Best Documentary Short Film winner Kris Bowers (The Last Repair Shop) for his nomination for Best Original Score for the animated feature The Wild Robot.
BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
Black Box Diaries (Paramount+ with Showtime)
No Other Land (In Theaters on 1/31)
Porcelain War (In Theaters)
Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat (Kino Film Collection)
Sugarcane (Hulu and Disney+)
“We are overjoyed and filled with gratitude for this acknowledgment from the Academy. We want to extend our deepest appreciation to our creative team, funders, and National Geographic Documentary Films for the endless work and heart they gave to this essential story. Above all, we want to acknowledge the courage and fortitude of our participants and the thousands of survivors of Indian residential and boarding schools across North America who have been ignored for too long as well as the generations of families who continue to suffer their harms. In a moment where justice seems out of reach, we are grateful that Sugarcane has helped illuminate the truth, bring about healing, and called institutions of power to account.” - Sugarcane directors Julian Brave NoiseCat and Emily Kassie.
BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT FILM
Death by Numbers (In Theaters)
I Am Ready, Warden (Paramount+)
Incident (The New Yorker)
Instruments of a Beating Heart (The New York Times Op-Docs)
The Only Girl in the Orchestra (Netflix)
“On behalf of our incredible partners at MTV Documentary Films and executive producer Sheila Nevins, we are so thankful to the Academy and deeply humbled by this recognition. In polarized times, acts of grace and forgiveness remind us of our shared humanity, and we are eternally grateful to John Henry Ramirez and Aaron Castro, for showing us that hope exists even in a place like Texas death row. Congratulations to our fellow nominees — we are honored to be in your company, and to share the power of short documentaries with the broader film community.” - I Am Ready, Warden director Smriti Mundhra and producer Maya Gnyp.
BEST ORIGINAL SONG
“Never Too Late” from Elton John: Never Too Late (Disney+)
Documentary Release Calendar 1/24/25 - 1/30/25
Friday, January 24, 2025
Eno (2024) - A feature documentary directed by Gary Hustwit (Helvetica) about the music artist Brian Eno. (24-Hour Livestream via Oh You Pretty Things)
Eternal You (20240 - A feature documentary about AI avatars of lost loved ones created for those grieving their deaths. Read our review of Eternal You. (Digital/VOD)
Half-Life of Memory: America's Forgotten Atomic Bomb Factory (2024) - A medium-length documentary about the Denver suburbs where thousands of atomic weapons were secretly made. (VOD and DVD)
Life as a B-Movie: Piero Vivarelli (2019) - A documentary about the titular Italian B-movie director. (Film Movement+)
Liza: A Truly Terrific Absolutely True Story (2024) - A feature documentary about Liza Minnelli. Read our review of the film above. (In Theaters)
My Best Friend’s an Animal Season 2, Episodes 5 & 6: “Penny, Chunk, and Faith” & “Jasper, Terry, and Gumbo” - The latest episodes of this docuseries about friendships between humans and wild animals. (National Geographic Wild)
Pay Dirt: The Story of Supercross (2024) - A documentary about Supercross and its top riders. (In Theaters)
This Is the Tom Green Documentary (2025) - A documentary about the titular comedian and his new life on a farm. (Prime Video)
Up the River with Acid (2023) - A documentary about an elderly man with dementia. (True Story)
You Can’t Fool a Camera (1941) - A short documentary about the value of motion picture cameras to tell the truth, plus behind-the-scenes footage. (TCM)
Saturday, January 25, 2025
Asia (2025) - A seven-part nature docuseries narrated by Sir David Attenborough about the wildlife and landscapes of Asia. (AMC+ and BBC America)
Beautiful Banff and Lake Louise (1935) - A short documentary installment of James A. FitzPatrick’s TravelTalks travelogue franchise that explores locations in the Canadian Rockies. (TCM)
Believe It or Not (Second Series) #11 (1931) - This installment of the Robert L. Ripley documentary franchise features a church service held on boats in the Saint Lawrence River. (TCM)
Canadian Carnival (1955) - A short documentary about carnival celebration in Quebec. (TCM)
Dreams (1940) - A short film in MGM’s Passing Parade series that examines the meaning of various dreams. (TCM)
Kobe: The Making of a Legend (2025) - A documentary about NBA star Kobe Bryant. (CNN)
My Best Friend’s an Animal Season 2, Episodes 5 & 6: “Penny, Chunk, and Faith” & “Jasper, Terry, and Gumbo” - The latest episodes of this docuseries about friendships between humans and wild animals. (Hulu and Disney+)
Prosecuting Evil with Kelly Siegler Season 2, Episode 1: “Long Road to Justice” - The return of this true-crime docuseries begins with a case involving the murder of a pregnant woman. (Oxygen True Crime)
On the Shores of Nova Scotia (1947) - A short documentary installment of James A. FitzPatrick’s TravelTalks travelogue franchise that explores Nova Scotia. (TCM)
To Catch A Smuggler: Mediterranean Season 2, Episode 7: “Party Time” - The latest episode of this spinoff docuseries involving the Spanish Coast Guard and drug traffickers. (National Geographic)
Sunday, January 26, 2025
Snow Birds (1932) - A short documentary within the Pete Smith Sports Champion series that looks at winter sports in California. (TCM)
Monday, January 27, 2025
Czechoslovakia on Parade (1938) - A short documentary installment of James A. FitzPatrick’s TravelTalks travelogue franchise that explores what was then known as Czechoslovakia. (TCM)
Filmmakers for the Prosecution (2021) - A medium-length documentary about the collection of film evidence against Nazis after World War II. (TCM)
History's Greatest Mysteries Season 6 - The latest season of this history docuseries. (History)
History’s Most Shocking Season 1, Episode 1 - A new docuseries presenting the most shocking moments captured on camera. (History)
Hitler's Executioners (1961) - The English-language version of the 1958 feature documentary The Nuremberg Trials presenting recordings from the Nuremberg trials. (TCM)
*PICK OF THE WEEK*
Ladies and Gentlemen…50 Years of SNL Music (2025) - A documentary by Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson (Summer of Soul) and Oz Rodriguez about music performances on Saturday Night Live. Read our review of the special above. (NBC)
Nuremberg (1948) - A feature documentary about the first Nuremberg trial of Nazi war criminals. (TCM)
Resistance: They Fought Back (2024) - A feature documentary about the Jewish resistance fighters during the Holocaust. Read our review of Resistance: They Fought Back. (PBS)
Shoah: Four Sisters (2018) - A documentary by Claude Lanzmann (Shoah) focused on interviews with four women who survived the Holocaust. (TCM)
Spanish Fiesta (1942) - A short film starring the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo as they perform a ballet to Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov's "Capriccio Espagnol." (TCM)
Tuesday, January 28, 2025
Charli XCX: Alone Together (2021) - A documentary following the titular pop star as she records her album How I'm Feeling Now while quarantined during the COVID-19 pandemic. (MUBI)
Chris Claremont's X-Men (2018) - A documentary about Chris Claremont’s work on the Marvel comic book The Uncanny X-Men. (Blu-ray)
The Cowboy and the Queen (2023) - A documentary about the friendship between horse trainer Monty Roberts and Queen Elizabeth II. Read our review of The Cowboy and the Queen. (DVD)
Great Migrations: A People on the Move Episode 1: “Exodus” - A new docuseries produced and hosted by Dr. Henry Louis Gates, Jr. about the movement of African Americans through the 20th and 21st centuries. This episode follows the Great Migration of 1910-1940. (PBS)
Life Below Zero Season 22, Episode 15: “Rising Water” - The latest episode of this docuseries following secluded life in Alaska. (National Geographic)
Oscar Micheaux: The Superhero of Black Filmmaking (2021) - A biographical documentary about the titular pioneering African-American filmmaker. (VOD)
Picturesque Massachusetts (1942) - A short documentary installment of James A. FitzPatrick’s TravelTalks travelogue franchise that explores Massachusetts. (TCM)
The Plains (2022) - A docudrama following a lawyer along his daily commute. (Ovid)
Wednesday, January 29, 2025
American Manhunt: O.J. Simpson (2025) - A four-part docuseries in the American Manhunt franchise. This installment looks at O.J. Simpson’s murder trial. (Netflix)
Fugitive Hunters Mexico Season 1, Episode 5: “The Money Trail” - The latest episode of this new docuseries involves traffickers and murderers hiding out in Mexico. (A&E)
G I-dle World Tour - iDOL - in Cinemas (2025) - A concert film starring the South Korean girl group G I-dle. (In Theaters)
Homicide Squad New Orleans Season 1, Episode 6: “A Mother’s Betrayal” - The latest episode of this new docuseries involves a man shot in his truck during a thunderstorm. (A&E)
MGM Parade Show #23 (1956) - This installment of the Hollywood-focused docuseries showcases the MGM films Anchors Aweigh, The King Without a Crown, and The Last Hunt. (TCM)
Murder Under the Friday Night Lights Season 4, Episode 4: “Monster Among Trolls” - The latest episode of this true-crime docuseries involving high school football and murder looks into the disappearance of a cheer captain. (Investigation Discovery)
Paris on Parade (1938) - A short documentary installment of James A. FitzPatrick’s TravelTalks travelogue franchise that explores the Paris International Exposition of 1937. (TCM)
UFOs: Investigating the Unknown Season 2, Episode 4: “The Experiencers Part 1” - The latest episode of this docuseries on UFOs involves people who have had close encounters. (National Geographic)
Zeeland: “The Hidden Paradise” (1935) - A short documentary installment of James A. FitzPatrick’s TravelTalks travelogue franchise that explores the titular region of the Netherlands. (TCM)
Thursday, January 30, 2025
Moments in Music (1950) - A short film showcasing musical film clips. (TCM)
Night Life in Chicago (1948) - A short documentary installment of James A. FitzPatrick’s TravelTalks travelogue franchise that explores Chicago. (TCM)
Scamanda (2025) - A four-part docuseries about a woman who scammed people by pretending to have terminal cancer. (ABC)
UFOs: Investigating the Unknown Season 2, Episode 4: “The Experiencers Part 1” - The latest episode of this docuseries on UFOs involves people who have had close encounters. (Hulu and Disney+)
Weather Wizards (1939) - A short documentary showcasing the advances of meteorology at the time. (TCM)
Sneak Peak At What’s Coming Soon
2/13 - Sly Lives! (aka the Burden of Black Genius) - A feature documentary by Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson (Summer of Soul) about Sly and the Family Stone. Find it on our list of the most anticipated documentaries of 2025. Watch the new trailer for the film, which just premiered at Sundance, here. (Hulu)
2/14 - Rez Comedy - A stand-up comedy concert film showcasing nine Indigenous comedians. Watch the trailer for the film below. (VOD/Digital)
2/21 - Art Spiegelman: Disaster Is My Muse - A documentary about the titular cartoonist. (In Theaters)
2/23 - No Taste Like Home with Antoni Porowski - A culinary docuseries exploring famous people’s pasts through food. Watch the new trailer for the series below. (National Geographic)
2/24 - Bike Vessel - A documentary following a father-son bicycle trip from St. Louis to Chicago. (PBS)
4/11 - One to One: John & Yoko - A documentary by Oscar winner Kevin Macdonald (One Day in September) about John Lennon and Yoko Ono’s One to One charity concert for special needs children. The film was recently picked up for distribution by Magnolia Pictures. Watch the teaser for the film below. (In IMAX Theaters)