It's a reminder, not so gentle, that even the most well known celebrities are human beings.

| Original Score: 3.0/4.0 | Sep 12, 2020

Above all else, The Last Magnificent captures the passion with which Tower operates every corner of his life, even when he's mostly sitting still.

| May 6, 2020

Other than in the broadest possible terms, I'm not sure we're given a clear sense of what makes Tower tick... But the movie is still watchable and amusing.

| Jan 7, 2020

It didn't give me a ton of new insight into the culinary world but was interesting.

| Original Score: B- | Mar 11, 2019

In spite of these reservations, if you care about food, and especially if you care about the history of American fine dining, and the evolution of California cuisine, The Last Magnificent is worth watching.

| Apr 13, 2018

Tower is portrayed as a solitary figure who has never recovered from the isolation of his early, formative years.

| Sep 19, 2017

The film's best achievement may be the way it reminds us that restaurants have become entertainments unto themselves.

| Aug 30, 2017

As profiled in Jeremiah Tower: The Last Magnificent, Tower defies easy characterization, a credit to this engrossing documentary.

| Aug 29, 2017

Though you may be tempted, do not run screaming from "Jeremiah Tower: The Last Magnificent" after the first two minutes.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Jun 8, 2017

Its real revelation is in discovering this coulda-been-Gordon-Ramsay and his restaurants in their heyday, thanks to a surprisingly ample collection of archival footage and the colorful anecdotes.

| May 31, 2017

It's a moody, chilling tale of a respected artist beset by those demons, as well as his own.

| Original Score: C+ | May 26, 2017

Like his restaurants, the film is carried by Tower's personality and vision. Even if you're not into food, it's a fascinating look at a seminal moment in American cuisine, and the man who helped bring it about.

| Original Score: 3.5/5 | May 19, 2017

Jeremiah Tower: The Last Magnificent does give a haunting portrait of its protagonist whose tormented background gave him a vision of creating a place above the concerns of the ordinary world, buoyed by his culinary creations.

| May 18, 2017

The Tavern footage is terrific stuff - unstaged and unmediated and the closest the camera gets to penetrating the enigmatic yet magnetic chef.

| Original Score: 3/5 | May 18, 2017

The documentary Jeremiah Tower: The Last Magnificent is as vibrant as its subject, who charms as he deflects the filmmakers' best efforts to plumb his depths.

| Original Score: 3/4 | May 17, 2017

The sum total of the effort reveals a man who was exquisitely unique, yet every bit the classic artist stereotype: controlling, tormented, driven and lonely.

| Original Score: 3/4 | May 12, 2017

Luckily, the mercurial Tower, whose legend includes a romantic mysterious disappearance from the restaurant scene, opens up to the camera revealing some secrets. The curious are rewarded.

| Original Score: 7/10 | May 12, 2017

Tower stands tall and defiant, a survivor of egregious childhood neglect and multiple betrayals who still finds his cool in the warmth of a kitchen.

| Original Score: B | May 6, 2017

Fascinating occasionally unpleasant portrait of America's first celebrity chef.

| Original Score: A minus | May 5, 2017

Lydia Tenaglia's alternately dreamy and gossipy documentary about celebrity chef Jeremiah Tower is heavy on the "celebrity" and frustratingly short on the "chef."

| Original Score: 1/5 | May 5, 2017