Review: "EPIC: Elvis Presley In Concert"

On June 24th, 2022, Baz Luhrmann directed Elvis, a film that explored Elvis Presley’s (played by Austin Butler) career along with his relationship with his manager, Colonel Tom Parker (played by Tom Hanks). The film grossed $288.7 million dollars and earned eight Oscar nominations as well as many positive reviews from critics. While working on the film Lurhman discovered miles of unseen footage from Elvis Presley’s career and personal life from Elvis: That’s The Way It Is (1970) and Elvis on Tour (1972), two concert films released just before Presley’s untimely death in 1977. Lurhman had initially hoped to edit the footage he found in his original movie, but instead decided to turn the footage into a special compilation of its own, EPIC: Elvis Presley In Concert, released on February 27th, 2026. Here’s what I thought:

This documentary film deepens exploration of Elvis Presley’s celebrity along with his humanity, but unlike the 2022 film, you only hear the voice of the real Elvis Presley throughout it’s duration. There’s an interview clip in the film when Elvis is being interviewed about the pressures of living up to his image and he explains “The image is one thing, the man is another.” Throughout his career, Elvis Presley dealt with fame with various difficulties, same as any other celebrity would. However, he never stopped making his fans feel valued.

Furthermore, there are clips with Elvis talking about how he would have a hard time not taking it personally when critics criticized his dance moves. He, himself, never actually thought that he did anything wrong whenever he danced onstage and didn’t understand why some people mocked his moves. You also get to hear Presley talk about how he’s a lifelong lover of music and he plays it just because it’s what he loves to do. You also get to learn the things that inspired Elvis Presley’s songs, i.e. his mother’s passing inspired him to write “That’s Someone You Never Forget.” You can even feel the love that he brings to all of his songs including: “Heartbreak Hotel,” “Hound Dog,” “Walk A Mile In My Shoes,” etc.

This “man behind the legend” story is home-run hit for Baz Luhrmann and Elvis Presley and it can deepen your appreciation for both of their talents. Although Elvis Presley himself has been deceased for almost 50 years, his music never has and never will stop being entertaining. And Baz Lurhmann is a brilliant director whether he’s making an aesthetic/artistic piece like Moulin Rouge! (2001) or a documentary like “EPIC.” 

Review: "Disneyland: Handcrafted"

When Disney+ launched on November 12th, 2019, one of the first shows created exclusively for the streaming service was the 6-part miniseries The Imagineering Story, the story of how Walt Disney founded his team of engineers who imagine, or “Imagineers.” The miniseries was directed and executive produced by Leslie Iwerks.  Leslie Iwerks is a documentary filmmaker, whose grandfather, Ub Iwerks was the first person to animate Mickey Mouse. Leslie’s father, Don Iwerks, is also known at Disney for inventing the 360 Degree camera which produced the former Disneyland park attraction America the Beautiful.

Leslie Iwerks, has worked on numerous Disney-themed projects, including The Man Behind the Mouse: The Ub Iwerks Story (1999), which is a tribute to her late grandfather and The Pixar Story (2007). She received a Best Documentary, Short Subjects, Oscar Nomination for the Short Film Recycled Life, also released in 2007, and on January 22nd, 2026, released her latest documentary to both Disney+ and YouTube, Disneyland: Handcrafted. My thoughts are as follows:

“Disneyland: Handcrafted,” delves deeper into the excruciating details of construction that went on as Walt Disney and his team Imagineers built Disneyland. It features no first-person narration, but several audio “excerpts” from Walt Disney, his family (daughter Diane and nephew Roy), and imagineers Harper Goff, Marty Sklar, Bob Gurr, and Blaine Gibson. Each discusses their own memories of working their fingers to the bone as they built the park, how it’s budget escalated as they moved closer and closer to opening day, July 17th, 1955, and how both the work and financial constraints were so overwhelming, that very few people believed that the park would be successful (except for Walt himself!)

The documentary acknowledges each of Disneyland’s beloved lands, Fantasyland, Tomorrowland, Adventureland, Frontierland, etc., and the audio interviewees explain that every part of the park faced some sort of problem. The imagineers simply always did the best they could to solve them. Two of those interviewees include Harriet Burns and Bob Gurr. Burns was Disney’s very first female imagineer, and she oversaw the designing of the Enchanted Tiki Room, Pirates of the Caribbean, and the Haunted Mansion, while Gurr designed the Matterhorn Bobsleds, the Submarine Voyage, and the Double Decker Buses on Main Street. At 94 years old, Gurr remains one of the only two imagineers alive today who worked at Walt Disney Imagineering during Walt Disney’s lifetime. (The other is Orlando Ferrante, who is 93. Ferrante worked on designing Disneyland Paris and helped launch the Disney Cruise Line in Venice. Sadly, he is not featured in the documentary.)

“Disneyland: Handcrafted” is guaranteed to deepen your appreciation for the history of Disneyland and those who worked to make it come to life. While many of those people are sadly deceased, it’s easy to imagine them being proud that their park is still beloved—nearly 71 years later. No one could have ever predicted the kind of success they had. This documentary will also deepen your appreciation for Leslie Iwerks’s skills as a documentary filmmaker, and how she continues the talent that runs in her family.