Andrea James

Film and media news

Sundance 2020: “Whirlybird” Probes LA From Above

Clint Worthington January 26, 2020 Even through its glimpses into the dark underbelly of LA and the Turs’ marriage, Yoka still manages to craft propulsive moments of lurid news stories, and occasionally takes the time to dig into the quirkiness…

In WHIRLYBIRD, The Cost Of A Scoop Is Your Soul (Review)

by Kyle Anderson Jan 26 2020 • 3:15 PM The footage we get in Whirlybird is astonishing. We see the raw footage, including outtakes before and after the live segments on the news. With this, we see a picture of Tur’s demanding perfectionism…

‘Whirlybird’ Film Review: Journalism Doc Makes More Impact With Family Breakup Than With Breaking News

Sundance 2020: The evolution of L.A.-based news pales in comparison to the personal story in Matt Yoka’s documentary Elizabeth Weitzman | January 26, 2020 @ 3:15 PM There’s more, though. And since it’s not presented as a spoiler, it should be…

Sundance 2020 Documentaries: How I Shot That

Chris O’Falt Jan 29, 2020 1:32 pm Shooting “Whirlybird” Dir: Matt Yoka Format: 2.8k ProRes 4444Camera: ARRI Alexa MiniLens: Panavision PCZ 19-90mm T2.8 zoom Cinematographer Ed Herrera: Our earliest conversations revolved around the color photographs of Nan Goldin from the 1980’s. There’s something inherently personal…

‘Whirlybird’ Review: An Absorbing Look at a Sky News Pioneer’s Unconventional Life

Jude Dry Jan 29, 2020 12:39 pm The Tur family tale, in which a plucky young couple fall in love and raise children to a soundtrack of manhunts and forest fires, is undeniably compelling and an obvious fit for the…

Sundance Film Review: ‘Whirlybird’ Soars Just As High As Its Subject

BY TONI GONZALES -January 30, 2020 The history of Los Angeles isn’t in a museum that you visit. No, it sits on thousands of videotapes in a U-haul storage unit. Or, it did until director Matt Yoka and his team came along to convert…

Sundance 2020: Whirlybird

Matt Yoka beautifully weaves in archival footage with contemporary interviews.  One can look at Whirlybird as a time capsule.  The film captures around 40 years or so in the industry.  When it comes to the news business, it’s about being in the…

Sundance 2020: Coded Bias, Whirlybird, Be Water

by Brian Tallerico January 27, 2020  Married couple Marika Gerrard and Bob Tur were on the forefront of a breaking form of news journalism in Los Angeles when Tur bought a helicopter and started flying over the city of angels. Gerrard…

Sundance 2020 reviews: Day 4

Scott Renshaw on January 27, 2020 The central subject is the founders of L.A. News Service, a breaking news operation that began by chasing police scanner calls at street level in the 1980s, before taking to the skies with helicopter footage that…

Sundance Review: Whirlybird Explores the Adrenaline-Fueled Aerial News Game

Matt Cipolla January 28, 2020 It’s curious to see something like Whirlybird in a time when traditional television use is 1.) on the decline and 2.) retroactively looked as a precursor to today’s voyeurism. Director Matt Yoka frames the archive footage almost…