The 33rd annual Philadelphia Film Festival runs October 17-27, 2024 and features over 100 films this year. Most films play twice and our own Justin Nordell will be sharing “Philly Film Fest Fast Reviews” to give you a taste of the festival so you can pick and choose which films to make for the second screenings!
Even if you don’t know who Diane Warren is, you are most likely familiar with the songs she’s written. Jefferson Starship’s “Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now,” Celine Dion’s “Because You Loved Me,” Trisha Yearwood’s “How Do I Live,” and even Aerosmith’s “I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing” are all Diane Warren mega hits. The other thing all four of those chart-topping songs have in common? All of those songs were written for films (Mannequin, Up Close & Personal, Con Air, and Armageddon respectively) and nominated for Academy Awards for Best Original Song. In fact, Diane Warren has been nominated for the award more than any other artist: a whopping FIFTEEN times… and she’s never won.
Diane Warren: Relentless follows the prolific songwriter as she continues her journey pursuing Oscar gold (yes she got an honorary award in 2022, but does that really count – Diane sure doesn’t feel so). The documentary is a decent enough portrait of Warren, but it seems to relish in her chutzpah to keep churning out original songs for films rather than acknowledge the fact that for years now she’s been placing semi-decent songs in forgettable films all in pursuit of a nomination and hopefully, maybe finally a win.
The issue with Diane Warren: Relentless isn’t that it is a bad documentary per se, but more so that the entire affair seems like a Diane Warren Oscar campaign video for whatever next song she will put forth for nomination. Oh look: she has a song in the new Tyler Perry / Kerry Washington film for Netflix coming out this holiday season… guess we’ll be seeing Diane Warren at the 2025 Academy Awards again, and maybe if enough voters see this film… maybe she’ll finally win?
Grade: C-
Catch it at PFF33: Friday, October 25th at 12:15pm at the PFS Bourse
Tickets Available Here: https://prod5.agileticketing.net/websales/pages/ticketsearchcriteria.aspx?evtinfo=429769
Philadelphia RowHome Magazine's Blog 