Skip to content
Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie should technically be called Still: A Michael A. Fox Movie, since his middle name is Andrew.
Seriously, the man is a legend, not only for the iconic Back To The Future trilogy, but some of my other favourite films around the same time: Casualties Of War, Bright Lights Big City, Doc Hollywood, and the action film that never gets shown, The Hard Way. And not to mention The Frighteners… I could go on.
With his young self portrayed by Danny Irizarry, the documentary initially goes back to 1990, in Florida, where Fox felt he 1990, woke up with a hell of a hangover, but in fact, it was the start of the tremors in a finger, which led to the beginning of his Parkinson’s disease – something we learn is only expected in men and women of pension age, yet for him, he was just 29.
After 33 years, Fox shows he hasn’t lost his sense of humour, even though simply walking can lead to him falling over in the street.
The title comes from the fact that even before the Parkinson’s, he was never ‘still’, so even as a child, he was always on the run. Soon after, he realised how short he was, when at 6, he was the same height as his then-3-year-old sister.
Michael J. Fox has some good stories to tell about his life, such as how he joined drama class because it was “where the girls were”, but while we know his big break was the US sitcom Family Ties, it was a long road to get there. As such, for three-and-a-half months, he spent all but 2-3 hours in each 24-hour day, filming BOTH that AND Back To The Future.
I like how a lot of stories of his life are played out by showing clips from his earlier work as if they’re talking *for* him, while anythihng with Irizarry has the man just not quite identifiable enough, so we can imagine it’s Fox.
It’s difficult to rate Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie out of 10, because it’s simply essential viewing, and shows a man who’s always tried to ensure this condition never gets the better of him, such as when we see him at a doctor’s appointment, talking about how and when he takes the medication and his reasoning for doing so, plus showing how in the early years before he came out with the truth, he masked the tremors in his left hand while at work, by always ensuring that hand looked busy.
It’s annoying that the preview doesn’t have subtitles, since the dialogue isn’t always clear, although that’s mostly due to the loud music behind Fox’s words, even though his speech isn’t the clearest.
Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie is on Apple TV+ from Friday May 12th, but isn’t yet available to pre-order on Blu-ray or DVD.
Detailed specs:
Cert: 
Running time: 95 minutes
Release date: May 12th 2023
Studio: Apple TV+
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Rating: Must-see!
Director: Davis Guggenheim
Producers: Will Cohen, Davis Guggenheim, Jonathan King, Annetta Marion
Music: John Powell
Cast:
Self: Michael J. Fox
Self: Tracy Pollan
Steven Spielberg: Andrew Barber
Self – Michael’s Daughter: Annabelle Fox
Self – Michael’s Daughter: Aquinnah Fox
Self – Michael’s Daughter: Sam Fox
Self – Michael’s Daughter: Schuyler Fox
Neighbour: Angela Galanopoulos
Tracy Pollan: Hannah Galway
Michael J. Fox: Danny Irizarry
Kathleen Kennedy: Allison Klause
Props Guy – Video Camera: Brandon Mindel
Candystore Owner: David Diamond
Woody Harrelson: Bradley Peters
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.