Listen Up: The Lives of Quincy Jones (1990)

(6) based on 1 votes
The extraordinary life of Quincy Jones -- one of the 20th century's most influential and talented composers, musicians and music producers -- provides the basis of this offbeat, free-form documentary tribute. With little regard for formal timelines and traditional documentary biography methods, the film is an amazing patchwork of personal insights featuring a constellation of music stars including his long-time friend Ray Charles, Miles Davis, Frank Sinatra, Herbie Hancock, Ella Fitzgerald, Michael Jackson, Aretha Franklin, Dizzy Gillespie and rappers Big Daddy Kane and Flavor Flav, as well as politicians, filmmakers and other important people. Some of the most moving scenes involve Jones returning to his childhood home in Chicago and recounting honest and painful memories from his childhood. Jones does not shy from discussing everything -- from his mother's mental illness, to his marital problems, to his serious health conditions. He also looks frankly at his career.
Directors
Release Date
Oct 05, 1990
Runtime
01h 55m
Genre
Available in streaming on

The extraordinary life of Quincy Jones -- one of the 20th century's most influential and talented composers, musicians and music producers -- provides the basis of this offbeat, free-form documentary tribute. With little regard for formal timelines and traditional documentary biography methods, the film is an amazing patchwork of personal insights featuring a constellation of music stars including his long-time friend Ray Charles, Miles Davis, Frank Sinatra, Herbie Hancock, Ella Fitzgerald, Michael Jackson, Aretha Franklin, Dizzy Gillespie and rappers Big Daddy Kane and Flavor Flav, as well as politicians, filmmakers and other important people. Some of the most moving scenes involve Jones returning to his childhood home in Chicago and recounting honest and painful memories from his childhood. Jones does not shy from discussing everything -- from his mother's mental illness, to his marital problems, to his serious health conditions. He also looks frankly at his career.

Movies like Listen Up: The Lives of Quincy Jones

Marty Feldman: Six Degrees of Separation

A documentary about the legendary and influential comedian, actor and writer, who went out from the BBC to conquer Hollywood, but sadly the system quickly withdrew its support when they couldn't contain his talents. This portrait is spiked with many comments from people who knew Feldman privately or had dealt with him professionally. His early death sadly rendered him all but forgotten by the public. The compilation consists of interviews, some film clips and photos as well as various audio clips from him.
Search similar movies
7.8
Marty+Feldman%3A+Six+Degrees+of+Separation
Marty Feldman: Six Degrees of Separation

2008

Search similar movies
Life of a Mutt

Through seven scenes, the film follows the life and destinies of stray dogs from the margins of our society, leading us to reconsider our attitude towards them. Through the seven “wandering” characters that we follow at different ages, from birth to old age, we witness their dignified struggle for survival. At the cemetery, in an abandoned factory, in an asylum, in a landfill, in places full of sorrow, our heroes search for love and togetherness. By combining documentary material, animation and acting interpretation of the thoughts of our heroes, we get to know lives between disappointment and hope, quite similar to ours.
Search similar movies
10.0
Life+of+a+Mutt
Life of a Mutt

2021

Search similar movies
Haatim Tai

Hatim Tai is the legendary chief of a small district. He is Known for his generosity, wisdom and courage. Hatim learns that one of the local girls in his town has a curse put on her - whomever marries her, the husband will die. In order to break this curse, Hatim agrees to take part in 7 quests. All 7 quest are dangerous but have a moral. If he completes all 7 then he will also release the fairy who has turned into a stone. Hatim and his friend (Satish Shah) embark on a fun but dangerous quest to break the curse once and for all.
Search similar movies
7.0
Haatim+Tai
Haatim Tai

1990

Search similar movies
Stalker 2: Dandelion

An unfortunate mix-up leaves an unsuspecting victim in a situation of life or death.
Search similar movies
2.5
Stalker+2%3A+Dandelion
Stalker 2: Dandelion

2021

Search similar movies
166 Main St.

2 adventurous teenagers decide to go into a supposedly haunted apartment building.
Search similar movies
6.1
166+Main+St.
166 Main St.

2023

Search similar movies
Tokyo Refugees

When his father flees from debt, carefree college student Osamu sees his life turn upside-down. Expelled from school and evicted from his apartment, he becomes one of Japan’s many ‘net cafe refugees’, barely scraping by each day with temporary and part-time work. Even though he’s still in Tokyo, his circumstances drive him to see and experience his home city in new ways. Trying to survive, Osamu gradually acquaints himself with the ‘invisible’ spaces occupied by the wanderers and homeless of Tokyo… people just like himself.
Search similar movies
5.2
Tokyo+Refugees
Tokyo Refugees

2014

Search similar movies
VeggieTales: The Wonderful Wizard of Ha's

Meet Darby (Junior Asparagus), the son of a Kansas floss farmer who, more than anything else in the world, just wants to have fun. When he learns about the Wonderful Land Of Ha's - an amusement park with all the fixin's - and its mysterious Wizard who promises to make his dreams come true, Darby is determined to go. But when his father tells him he's needed to help with the harvest, Darby decides that nothing is going to stop him and he makes a choice that will change his life forever. With his pet dog Tutu by his side, Darby flees the farm and sets off to find the Wonderful Land Of Ha's. Along the way he meets a bored scarecrow (Mr. Lunt), a tin man (Larry the Cucumber) who wants to ride roller coasters and a lion (Pa Grape) that craves cotton candy. Each with their own dreams, they set off to see the Wizard.
Search similar movies
6.0
VeggieTales%3A+The+Wonderful+Wizard+of+Ha%27s
VeggieTales: The Wonderful Wizard of Ha's

2007

Search similar movies
Hatch Up Your Troubles

A baby woodpecker mistakes Jerry for his mother. The mouse rejects the newly hatched bird but soon finds himself protecting it against his feline nemesis, Tom.
Search similar movies
6.8
Hatch+Up+Your+Troubles
Hatch Up Your Troubles

1949

Search similar movies
Flow

A turbulent day in a life, painted by air.
Search similar movies
8.7
Flow
Who Took Johnny

An examination of the infamous thirty-year-old cold case of Iowa paperboy Johnny Gosch, the first missing child to appear on a milk carton. The film focuses on Johnny’s mother, Noreen Gosch, and her relentless quest to find the truth about what happened to her son. Along the way there have been mysterious sightings, bizarre revelations, and a confrontation with a person who claims to have helped abduct Johnny.
Search similar movies
6.8
Who+Took+Johnny
Who Took Johnny

2014

Search similar movies
Born Into Brothels: Calcutta's Red Light Kids

Documentary depicting the lives of child prostitutes in the red light district of Songachi, Calcutta. Director Zana Briski went to photograph the prostitutes when she met and became friends with their children. Briski began giving photography lessons to the children and became aware that their photography might be a way for them to lead better lives.
Search similar movies
6.8
Born+Into+Brothels%3A+Calcutta%27s+Red+Light+Kids
Born Into Brothels: Calcutta's Red Light Kids

2004

Search similar movies
The Price of Gold

The world couldn't keep its eyes off two athletes at the 1994 Winter Games in Lillehammer - Nancy Kerrigan, the elegant brunette from the Northeast, and Tonya Harding, the feisty blonde engulfed in scandal. Just weeks before the Olympics on Jan. 6, 1994 at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships, Kerrigan was stunningly clubbed on the right knee by an unknown assailant and left wailing, "Why, why, why?" As the bizarre "why" mystery unraveled, it was revealed that Harding's ex-husband, Jeff Gillooly, had plotted the attack with his misfit friends to literally eliminate Kerrigan from the competition. Now two decades later, THE PRICE OF GOLD takes a fresh look through Harding's turbulent career and life at the spectacle that elevated the popularity of professional figure skating and has Harding still facing questions over what she knew and when she knew it.
Search similar movies
6.6
The+Price+of+Gold
The Price of Gold

2014

Search similar movies
Fed Up

Fed Up blows the lid off everything we thought we knew about food and weight loss, revealing a 30-year campaign by the food industry, aided by the U.S. government, to mislead and confuse the American public, resulting in one of the largest health epidemics in history.
Search similar movies
7.3
Fed+Up
Rich Hill

If you ever find yourself traveling down Interstate 49 through Missouri, try not to blink—you may miss Rich Hill, population 1,396. Rich Hill is easy to overlook, but its inhabitants are as woven into the fabric of America as those living in any small town in the country. This movie intimately chronicles the turbulent lives of three boys living in said Midwestern town and the fragile family bonds that sustain them.
Search similar movies
6.9
Rich+Hill
Last Days in Vietnam

During the chaotic final weeks of the Vietnam War, the North Vietnamese Army closes in on Saigon as the panicked South Vietnamese people desperately attempt to escape. On the ground, American soldiers and diplomats confront a moral quandary: whether to obey White House orders to evacuate only U.S. citizens.
Search similar movies
7.2
Last+Days+in+Vietnam
Last Days in Vietnam

2014

Search similar movies
To Be Takei

Over seven decades, actor and activist George Takei journeyed from a World War II internment camp to the helm of the Starship Enterprise, and then to the daily news feeds of five million Facebook fans. Join George and his husband, Brad, on a wacky and profound trek for life, liberty, and love.
Search similar movies
7.4
To+Be+Takei
To Be Takei

2014

Search similar movies
Trespassing Bergman

In the sixties, Swedish filmmaker Ingmar Bergman (1918-2007) built a house on the remote island of Fårö, located in the Baltic Sea, and left Stockholm to live there. When he died, the house was preserved. A group of very special film buffs, came from all over the world, travel to Fårö in search of the genius and his legacy. (An abridged version of Bergman's Video, 2012.)
Search similar movies
6.6
Trespassing+Bergman
Trespassing Bergman

2013

Search similar movies
The Story of the Weeping Camel

When a Mongolian nomadic family's newest camel colt is rejected by its mother, a musician is needed for a ritual to change her mind.
Search similar movies
7.1
The+Story+of+the+Weeping+Camel
The Story of the Weeping Camel

2003

Search similar movies
Step

The senior year of a girls’ high school step team in inner-city Baltimore is documented, as they try to become the first in their families to attend college. The girls strive to make their dancing a success against the backdrop of social unrest in their troubled city.
Search similar movies
7.5
Step
Trophy

This in-depth look into the powerhouse industries of big-game hunting, breeding and wildlife conservation in the U.S. and Africa unravels the complex consequences of treating animals as commodities.
Search similar movies
7.0
Trophy
Unrest

When Harvard PhD student Jennifer Brea is struck down at 28 by a fever that leaves her bedridden, doctors tell her it’s "all in her head." Determined to live, she sets out on a virtual journey to document her story—and four other families' stories—fighting a disease medicine forgot.
Search similar movies
7.0
Unrest
Jesus Camp

Jesus Camp is a Christian summer camp where children hone their "prophetic gifts" and are schooled in how to "take back America for Christ". The film is a first-ever look into an intense training ground that recruits born-again Christian children to become an active part of America's political future.
Search similar movies
7.0
Jesus+Camp
Jesus Camp

2006

Search similar movies
Revolution: New Art for a New World

Drawing on the collections of major Russian institutions, contributions from contemporary artists, curators and performers and personal testimony from the descendants of those involved, the film brings the artists of the Russian Avant-Garde to life. It tells the stories of artists like Chagall, Kandinsky and Malevich - pioneers who flourished in response to the challenge of building a new art for a new world, only to be broken by implacable authority after 15 short years and silenced by Stalin's Socialist Realism.
Search similar movies
7.5
Revolution%3A+New+Art+for+a+New+World
Revolution: New Art for a New World

2017

Search similar movies
Bowie: The Man Who Changed the World

Experience an inside look at David Bowie's incredible influence on music, art and culture via interviews with some of the people who knew him best.
Search similar movies
5.7
Bowie%3A+The+Man+Who+Changed+the+World
Bowie: The Man Who Changed the World

2016

Search similar movies
Deliver Us from Evil

Documentary filmmaker Amy Berg investigates the life of 30-year pedophile Father Oliver O'Grady and exposes the corruption inside the Catholic Church that allowed him to abuse countless children. Victims' stories and a disturbing interview with O'Grady offer a view into the troubled mind of the spiritual leader who moved from parish to parish gaining trust ... all the while betraying so many.
Search similar movies
7.1
Deliver+Us+from+Evil
Deliver Us from Evil

2006

Search similar movies
American Teen

A documentary on seniors at a high school in a small Indiana town and their various cliques.
Search similar movies
6.4
American+Teen
American Teen

2008

Search similar movies
Who Is Arthur Chu?

Documentary feature about 11-time Jeopardy! champion and Internet iconoclast, Arthur Chu.
Search similar movies
6.3
Who+Is+Arthur+Chu%3F
Who Is Arthur Chu?

2017

Search similar movies
Cycling the Frame

In 1988, Tilda Swinton toured round the Berlin Wall on a bicycle - starting and ending at the Brandenburg Gate - accompanied by filmmaker Cynthia Beatt. As Swinton travels through fields and historic neighborhoods, past lakes and massive concrete apartment buildings, the Wall is a constant presence.
Search similar movies
6.9
Cycling+the+Frame
Cycling the Frame

1988

Search similar movies
Served Like a Girl

Five women veterans who have endured unimaginable trauma in service create a shared sisterhood to help the rising number of stranded homeless women veterans by entering a competition that unexpectedly catalyzes moving events in their own lives.
Search similar movies
5.6
Served+Like+a+Girl
Served Like a Girl

2017

Search similar movies
Kim Dotcom: Caught in the Web

The larger-than-life story of Kim Dotcom, the 'most wanted man online', is extraordinary enough, but the battle between Dotcom and the US Government and entertainment industry—being fought in New Zealand—is one that goes to the heart of ownership, privacy and piracy in the digital age.
Search similar movies
6.7
Kim+Dotcom%3A+Caught+in+the+Web
Kim Dotcom: Caught in the Web

2017

Search similar movies
Pornocracy: The New Sex Multinationals

Never before have we watched as much porn as today yet the traditional porn industry is dying. The arrival of web sites showing amateur clips has transformed the way porn is made and consumed. Behind this transformation lies one opaque multinational.
Search similar movies
6.7
Pornocracy%3A+The+New+Sex+Multinationals
Pornocracy: The New Sex Multinationals

2017

Search similar movies
The Untold Tales of Armistead Maupin

The Untold Tales of Armistead Maupin celebrates one of the world’s most beloved storytellers, following his evolution from a conservative son of the Old South into a gay rights pioneer whose novels inspired millions to reclaim their lives.
Search similar movies
6.6
The+Untold+Tales+of+Armistead+Maupin
The Untold Tales of Armistead Maupin

2017

Search similar movies
The Order of Myths

In 2007 Mobile, Alabama, Mardi Gras is celebrated... and complicated. Following a cast of characters, parades, and parties across an enduring color line, we see that beneath the surface of pageantry lies something else altogether.
Search similar movies
6.1
The+Order+of+Myths
The Order of Myths

2008

Search similar movies
Halftime

Global superstar Jennifer Lopez reflects on her multifaceted career and the pressure of life in the spotlight in this intimate documentary.
Search similar movies
6.8
Halftime
Meet the Patels

Finding love is never easy. For Ravi Patel, a first generation Indian-American, the odds are slim. His ideal bride is beautiful, smart, funny, family-oriented, kind and—in keeping with tradition—Indian (though hopefully raised in the US). Oh, and her last name should be Patel because in India, Patels usually marry other Patels. And so at 30, Ravi decides to break up with his American girlfriend (the one who by all accounts is perfect for him except for her red hair and American name) and embark on a worldwide search for another Patel longing to be loved. He enlists the help of his matchmaker mother, attends a convention of Patels living in the US and travels to wedding season in India. Witty, honest and heartfelt, this comedy explores the questions with which we all struggle: What is love? What is happiness? And how in the world do we go about finding them?
Search similar movies
6.9
Meet+the+Patels
Meet the Patels

2014

Search similar movies
Adriana's Pact

Lissette's favorite aunt Adriana, who lives in Australia, is arrested in 2007 while visiting her family in Chile and accused of having worked for dictator Pinochet's notorious secret police, the DINA, and of having participated in the commission of state crimes. When Adriana denies these accusations, Lissette begins to investigate her story in order to film a documentary about her.
Search similar movies
7.2
Adriana%27s+Pact
Adriana's Pact

2017

Search similar movies
The Hooping Life

Learn the origins and rise of modern day hula-hooping through eight extraordinary stories of hoop devotees who have embraced it as an art form, a teaching aid, and even an instrument of redemption. From the streets, to intimate clubs, to giant arenas, we alternate between self-filmed video diaries, verité documentary footage, and spectacularly filmed performances in an attempt to celebrate the healing power of movement and the spirit of human inventiveness.
Search similar movies
8.7
The+Hooping+Life
The Hooping Life

2014

Search similar movies
Germany in Autumn

Germany in Autumn does not have a plot per se; it mixes documentary footage, along with standard movie scenes, to give the audience the mood of Germany during the late 1970s. The movie covers the two month time period during 1977 when a businessman was kidnapped, and later murdered, by the left-wing terrorists known as the RAF-Rote Armee Fraktion (Red Army Fraction). The businessman had been kidnapped in an effort to secure the release of the orginal leaders of the RAF, also known as the Baader-Meinhof gang. When the kidnapping effort and a plane hijacking effort failed, the three most prominent leaders of the RAF, Andreas Baader, Gudrun Ensslin, and Jan-Carl Raspe, all committed suicide in prison. It has become an article of faith within the left-wing community that these three were actually murdered by the state.
Search similar movies
6.3
Germany+in+Autumn
Germany in Autumn

1978

Search similar movies
The Devil Came on Horseback

While serving with the African Union, former Marine Capt. Brian Steidle documents the brutal ethnic cleansing occuring in Darfur. Determined that the Western public should know about the atrocities he is witnessing, Steidle contacts New York Times reporter Nicholas Kristof, who publishes some of Steidle's photographic evidence.
Search similar movies
7.2
The+Devil+Came+on+Horseback
The Devil Came on Horseback

2007

Search similar movies
I'm Going to Santiago

This black-and-white film is a loving portrait of Santiago de Cuba and its people. It provides a view of Cuba as a picturesque country, the product of an earthy mix of black and criollo cultures. The film uses historical images which portray the end of the eighteenth century when Haitian slave owners fled with their slaves to Cuba after the Haitian Revolution.
Search similar movies
6.1
I%27m+Going+to+Santiago
I'm Going to Santiago

1964

Search similar movies
Milk

Through an intimate and artistic lens, yet investigative and political, Milk brings a universal focus on the politics, commercialization and controversies surrounding birth and infant feeding over the canvas of stunningly beautiful visuals and poignant voices from around the globe.
Search similar movies
5.0
Milk
Ydessa, the Bears and etc.

Ydessa Hendeles' exhibition entitled "The living and the Artificial" (consisting of works of art all comprising a photograph of living persons in the company of one or several teddy bears) had puzzled Agnès Varda so much that she decided to go to Toronto where the artist lives and interview her. In front of Agnes Varda's DV camera, Ydessa tells about the singularity of her artistic approach. She also expresses herself about the Holocaust, which both her parents survived.
Search similar movies
5.5
Ydessa%2C+the+Bears+and+etc.
Ydessa, the Bears and etc.

2004

Search similar movies
Riotsville, USA

An archival documentary about the U.S. military’s response to the political and racial injustices of the late 1960s: take a military base, build a mock inner-city set, cast soldiers to play rioters, burn the place down, and film it all.
Search similar movies
6.2
Riotsville%2C+USA
Riotsville, USA

2022

Search similar movies
Maison du Bonheur

When asked to make a documentary about her friend’s mother—a Parisian astrologer named Juliane—the filmmaker sets off for Montmartre with a Bolex to craft a portrait of an infectiously exuberant personality and the pre-war apartment she’s called home for 50 years.
Search similar movies
6.1
Maison+du+Bonheur
Maison du Bonheur

2018

Search similar movies
Best Before Death

Bill Drummond, once the most notorious man in pop music, now travels around the world baking cakes, building beds and shining shoes as part of a twelve year World Tour which is his final art project. This film follows him as he does his work in India and the United States.
Search similar movies
7.5
Best+Before+Death
Best Before Death

2019

Search similar movies
Trouble the Water

"Trouble the Water" takes you inside Hurricane Katrina in a way never before seen on screen. The film opens the day before the storm makes landfall--just blocks away from the French Quarter but far from the New Orleans that most tourists knew. Kimberly Rivers Roberts, an aspiring rap artist, is turning her new video camera on herself and her Ninth Ward neighbors trapped in the city. Weaving an insider's view of Katrina with a mix of verité and in-your-face filmmaking, it is a redemptive tale of self-described street hustlers who become heroes--two unforgettable people who survive the storm and then seize a chance for a new beginning.
Search similar movies
6.8
Trouble+the+Water
Trouble the Water

2008

Search similar movies
The Decent One

Through previously undiscovered private letters, photos and diaries that were found in the Himmler family house in 1945, the "The Decent One" exposes a unique and at times uncomfortable access to the life and mind of the merciless "Architect of the Final Solution" Heinrich Himmler.
Search similar movies
6.4
The+Decent+One
The Decent One

2014

Search similar movies
Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired

Examines the public scandal and private tragedy which led to legendary director Roman Polanski's sudden flight from the United States.
Search similar movies
6.4
Roman+Polanski%3A+Wanted+and+Desired
Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired

2008

Search similar movies
Casa Roshell

You’d never know this is your home away from home. The surveillance camera outside shows a drab reception area and an unremarkable street in Mexico City; inside, the lights flash, but the tables are empty. Yet preparations are soon underway and fixed categories cease to apply: stubble is removed, make-up applied and strands of hair are teased into place; the camera is trained not on the men themselves, but what they see in the mirror.
Search similar movies
4.5
Casa+Roshell
Casa Roshell

2017

Search similar movies
The Pixar Story

A look at the first years of Pixar Animation Studios - from the success of "Toy Story" and Pixar's promotion of talented people, to the building of its East Bay campus, the company's relationship with Disney, and its remarkable initial string of eight hits. The contributions of John Lasseter, Ed Catmull and Steve Jobs are profiled. The decline of two-dimensional animation is chronicled as three-dimensional animation rises. Hard work and creativity seem to share the screen in equal proportions.
Search similar movies
7.5
The+Pixar+Story
The Pixar Story

2007

Search similar movies
Chavela

Inspired by an exclusive interview and performance footage of Chavela Vargas shot in 1991 and guided by her unique voice, the film weaves an arresting portrait of a woman who dared to dress, speak, sing, and dream her unique life into being.
Search similar movies
6.9
Chavela