Documentaries

[Reply #120 on:]

I'm only out to see two documentaries, and I'd like some opinion if anyone has seen either:

The War Room. How Clinton kicked Bush1's ass in the 92 election.

Lake of Fire. Every side of the abortion debate give their opinion on abortion.

[Reply #121 on:]

Has anyone seen "A Fistful Of Quarters"?  It's a great documentary about the race to grab the all time high score on Donkey Kong, and is a showdown between two guys, one, an everyman likeable family guy, and the other, a full-of-himself egotisical prick.

Some of the hardcore gamers on here will love it.

[Reply #122 on:]

Poor Billy Mitchell, portrayed as an egotistical prick, Melll, portrayed!
Every movie needs a villain, I suspect some of it was out of context maybe?

I think both of them have retaken the top score at least twice since it was made and then recently some Asian dude beat them both, HA!

Last documentary I saw was Inside Job, pretty damn good.

[Reply #123 on:]

Yeah, maybe he was out of context, but was still pretty gripping stuff, and it was the other guys around the Record Score break who were pretty shit really...  The guys turning up at their house and demanding to see the boards, the poorly shot video tape which upstages the guy actually getting to the kill-screen, all made for a good doc... I love it.

[Reply #124 on:]

Oil City Confidential

Trailer

I love a good music documentary, even ones about bands I've not really heard that much from.  This one is about Canvey Island's best, Dr. Feelgood.  Made by Julian Temple (who made one of the favourite all time music docs, in The Filth And The Fury, the Pistols doc).  This is as much a straight story from their upbringings in the shadows of the oil refineries on Canvey Island (shot pretty much like Blade Runner...) to breaking big in the mid 70's, and the fallouts.

The star of the movie is Wilko Johnson, who's is a total character, still buzzing with all that on-stage verve, and serves as a guide through the story (due to the death in the 90's of singer Lee Brilleaux, and appears in archive interviews).  Wilko is around Canvey, with his trademark black and red telecaster, effectively busking out tunes for passers by, strutting around in the way he does onstage...

Temple also provides startling backdrop against which the interviews are done, projecting movies of the Feelgood's onto the sides of massive oil-tankers, intermigling that with animations, and old heist movies to illustrate the band's rise like that of a gang of bankrobbers.

Of all of their stuff, I only remembered "Milk and Alcohol" but that was done after Wilko left so the majority of the music I'd not heard much from.  Still, it was gripping enough to keep me interested, and another movie to add to the already growing list of music docs I could watch over and over....

8/10

[Reply #125 on:]

Senna

Asif Kapedia's documentary on the tragically short life of Ayrton Senna, who, for people who do not visit the F1 thread or know anything about F1, is one of the greatest F1 Drivers of all time.  3 Times World Champion, and would have won a lot more, had his life not been cut short in an horrific accident during the 1994 San Marino GP at Imola.

I've seen two versions of this movie, there's a 2 hour 40 minute version, and a 1 hour 45 minute version, and of the two, I prefer the short version.  The reason being, is that the longer one, has talking-head interviews with a few people, Ron Dennis and Alain Prost included, and takes away from the "flow" of the narritive.  In the short version, there are no talking heads, just disembodied voices, as the action all plays out using actual footage from the time (some behind the scenes stuff shot by the FIA and given over to the filmmakers, like drivers briefings and the like), there are no reconstructions, or visits to sites in the current time.  It plays out practically as a story narrated by Senna himself.

As for the story, it's one of a guy, extremely talented, at odds with the political nature of the sport he's in (Prost and Jean Marie Balestre particularly are not painted in a particualrly good light - the scenes following the conclusion to the 1989 Japanese GP show this to its fullest), showing concern over the safety for his fellow drivers, and battling to gain supremacy in a massively competitive sport.  

It switches gears once we hit the 1990's and shows Senna's concern over Martin Donnelly's crash, which, when you see how it ended, was a miracle that he was not killed (even though it ended his F1 career).   And then once Senna's move to Williams was in place, and the events of April 29th, 30th and May 1st 1994 play out in there entirety.  Firstly, there's Barrichello's crash, clearly from the footage, the worst of the weekend, was the one he walked away from.  Then the death of Roland Ratzenburger, shown in detail (I found it difficult to watch the footage of him being given CPR at trackside), and Senna's reaction, which is someone (you can clearly see it in his face on the day) who is conflicted about racing, under pressure to fight off the up-coming Schumacher, and in a grossly underperforming car, and has just seen a fellow driver die on the track, you can see he just doesn't want to be there.  Professor Sid Watkins puts this to Senna, "Why don't you quit, and I'll quit, and we can both go fishing?", to which Senna replies, "I can't quit".

And it's Watkins who provides the films moment, literally describing Senna's last breath, that I have to say, I cried at.  As an F1 fan since 1986 (25 years and counting), one cannot help but be moved by such a moment.

I'd heard and read reviews of this, that says that this is not just a film for F1 fans, but one which allows people outside of F1 to glimpse into that world and see what it's really like.  Being of that world, I couldn't possibly say, but I know that I've seen one of the films of the year.

9/10

[Reply #126 on:]

Queen - Days Of Our Lives Parts 1 & 2

I was sceptical before watching this because I thought everything that could be said had already been said. Turns out I was wrong and this was a worthwhile watch. I liked the detailed insight into their beginnings and I also loved how they talked about each and every album because they all mean something to me. I liked the honesty in the documentary, especially when it came to Hot Space (which I like btw, but I like every Queen album)...

What could have made it better was if they shared more in depth information about lesser known tracks. I'd love to hear in detail about tracks like Ogre Battle, Flick Of The Wrist, Lily Of The Valley, The Prophets Song, White Man, Let Me Entertain You, Dragon Attack, Staying Power, Party, Rain Must Fall, All Gods People and songs like those. I want to hear the stories behind them. Also it always pisses me off that John Deacon is never present, but his choice I suppose...

I always hate how every Queen documentary ends, because you know what's coming, but it doesn't make it any easier to watch. Their legacy continues to live on, great band, decent documentary...

8/10

[Reply #127 on:]

I've seen that documentary, and I'm kinda with you on most of it.  Except Hot Space, which is terrible.

There's always something about how Brian may in particular is when he talks about Queen nowadays, which kinda annoys me.  I actually think that John Deacon had the right idea, myself.  For him, then band ended when Freddie died, and it's sad to have seen it being dragged around by the other two like some dead singers rotting carcass...

The better insight into Queen for me, came from the two BBC-made Live Aid documentaries, Against All Odds, and Rockin' All Over The World, which if you can seek out, are absolutely brilliant, and at 90 minutes each, there's 3 hours of good stuff there, especially from U2, who talk frankly about their participation (they threatened to pull out the night before), and Bono offers a fab anecdote about being cornered by Freddie Mercury backstage after the show.

[Reply #128 on:]

Food Inc.

Oh corporate Hamerica, when will you stop being silly and killing everyone?

Argh, now I only want organic food, nice going documenters!

A-

[Reply #129 on:]

Just make sure you realize that organic farmers use pesticides too, just organic pesticides instead of synthetic pesticides, and there's no evidence that shows that organic pesticides are any less dangerous or toxic than synthetic ones.

There's several other reasons why organic farming is superior to industrial farming, but most people think that organic farmers don't use pesticides at all, which is a misconception organic farmers are all too happy to let continue.

[Reply #130 on:]

It's probably slightly safer over here because our regulation dudes aren't big enough to be corrupted!
My friend was just telling me at lunch when she was in the US she was amazed at how long the milk and bread stays fresh over there because of all the chemicals and stuff in it.
I bought a small carton of milk the other day and it probably won't last past the weekend.

[Reply #131 on:]

I've seen that documentary, and I'm kinda with you on most of it.  Except Hot Space, which is terrible.

The better insight into Queen for me, came from the two BBC-made Live Aid documentaries, Against All Odds, and Rockin' All Over The World, which if you can seek out, are absolutely brilliant, and at 90 minutes each, there's 3 hours of good stuff there, especially from U2, who talk frankly about their participation (they threatened to pull out the night before), and Bono offers a fab anecdote about being cornered by Freddie Mercury backstage after the show.

Hot Space rocks! I can see why so many people hate it, but I do enjoy a lot of it, especially Staying Power, Dancer, Back Chat and Calling All Girls. I wasn't aware of the Live Aid documentaries, but I'll keep that in mind. I hate U2 btw, but the Queen stuff should be good...

[Reply #132 on:]

To be fair, Bono and Larry Mullen are pretty good in the doc, and Bono (for once) is pretty self deprecating, which is why I like their contribution.  The docs can be found on TheBox.Bz, be aware it's a signup site.  Or if you ask me nicely, I'll put them on a fileshare site for you.

[Reply #133 on:]

The Greatest Movie Ever Sold
From Morgan Spurlock (Supersize Me, Where in the World Is Osama Bin Laden?), where he tries to delve into the world of movie product placement and sponsorship, where the documentary is actually sponsored by products (so there's three cheesy ads during the documentary itself), so meta!

He gets some interesting stuff with some movie directors like Tarantino and other guys like Noam Chompsky and Ralph Nader (who he sends a pair of Merrell shoes, one of the docs sponsors!)
And he visits Sao Paulo, Brazil where billboards and advertisements on the streets were banned completely was cool.

Overall it's decent, nothing groundbreaking.

C+

[Reply #134 on:]

*bump*
Superheroes
Documentary following some real-life superheroes/vigilantes in various cities the USA, including:
-Mr. Extreme, a kind of chubby comic book and Power Rangers fan who abandons his apartment or "Extreme Cave" to live out of his white van.
-Master Legend, an middle aged helmeted dude who likes a beer and chatting up the ladies while on patrol.
-Super Hero, a beefy bald guy with a sweet car and some bear pepper spray.
-Zimmer and his friends Z, Lucid and T.S.A.F., Zimmer is an openly gay technology journalist and part-time EMT, dresses flamboyantly to bait muggers while his team waits in ambush.

There's at least one occurrence of real balls where the Dark Guardian tells a scary looking drug dealer that he can't be dealing tonight and actually scares him off his spot in Washington Square Park (although he does have a camera guy with him).

There's a few short interviews with cops, homeless people who are given food and necessities by some of the supers, psychologists, Mr. Extremes mom, and of course, Stan Lee.

Fans of Kick Ass, Defendor or Super might like this.
B-

[Reply #135 on:]

 

[Reply #136 on:]

Jesus Camp


I watched this yesterday...eep. I like religion to a certain extent, but the extreme Evangelist side of things makes me want to punch something (or someone.) It's kind of scary, watching it. I mean these little kids are essentially being brainwashed...To me, this is a bad thing. I mean, having the children speak in tongues and cry in hysteria because they are sad about their sins is nuts. You have to watch it, it's just not natural for kids to do that. The woman running the camp, called "Kids on Fire" was talking, at some convention or sermon in the beginning of the film, about how extremist Islamic groups train their children from very young...not even realizing the irony of that statement. Because that's what they're doing.

But that's just my opinion, coming from my perspective, which is influenced by my beliefs. You'd have to watch it for yourselves.

A

[Reply #137 on:]

I got about 5 mins into Jesus Camp before I was completely horrified with humanity and deleted it!

Anyway, on to even more horrifying Hamerica:
Gasland
Aka "You can have natural gas or clean drinking water and no cancer... but not both, sorry Hamerica!"
Josh Fox writes and directs this terrifying look at natural gas "fracking" across huge areas of the USA that contaminates drinking water in the area with all kinds of nasty shit, showing water coming out of the tap that can be lit on fire, interviews with a few scientists saying it's all toxic, interviews with people with health problems from drinking the stuff or even breathing in the air near one of the fracking stations.
Bush, Dick Cheny and Haliburton are mentioned for passing the legislation to let it happen and the company that owns some of thousands of wells causing the contamination.
Blatant disregard for human health/life for profits.
A-

[Reply #138 on:]

 

[Reply #139 on:]

Not really a documentary but I just watched The History Channels Targeting Bin Laden , about how the CIA intelligence tracked Bin Laden down to his compound in Pakistan and how Seal Team 6 took him out (pretty fuckin' ninja stuff).
They use a mixture of what I assume is re-enacted footage, CGI (for the cool stealth copters they used) and possibly real some footage from the mission (night vision footage), and a lot of flashy stuff like you'd see in the Bourne or Mission Impossible films.
There's interviews with Barack Obama and intelligence people so it's not entirely amateur, it's pretty well done, but it feels almost like the plot of a COD: Modern Warfare game or something...

[Reply #140 on:]

I Know That Voice!

John DiMaggio made this wonderful documentary about the true art of voice-acting.  And if you think that anybody who does silly voices can do it, you'd be wrong.   It goes through the history of voice-over acting, touching on some of the greats, Mel Blanc appears in archive, but his son is on there.   For me, the sheer wonderfulness of this doc brings across how much fun they have doing it, and every time they go into the voices in question it is guaranteed to bring about a huge smile.

For fans of Futurama, it's a must see.

Electric Boogaloo:  The Wild Untold Story Of Cannon Films

Man oh man....  If you're a child of the 70's/80's, like me, then you'll remember some of Cannon's output.  Masters Of The Universe, American Ninja, Breakin', Delta Force, Over The Top, Death Wish II, III, IV and V.....  You'll see from just that short list that quality was not high on their list of priorities.   Cannon was the offpsring of demented Isreali filmmakers/salesmen Menahem Golan and Yoram Globus, and this doc illustrates how their rise (relative) and fall (catastrophic) comes about through bluff, bluster and bone-headed mis-management.

The only thing is that, I now want to see most of these movies.  Except probably Ninja III:  The Domination, (a mix of Ninja movie, the Exorcist and Flashdance - starring Lucinda Dickey from Breakin' - good god!)

Enjoyed the doc though.