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The Documentary Thread

RIPPA

By RIPPA
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hammerva

hammerva

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I watched "1971" on PBS from their Independent Lens series.  It is a documentary about the break-in of an FBI regional center in Media, PA by some civil rights activists uncovering classified footage from the FBI that they were covering up violations of the First Amendment on many groups/people especially Martin Luther King Jr.  This lead to the exposure of the COINTELPRO program and the investigations where the shit really hit the fan.   Really amazing that breaking into an FBI office (granted a regional one) with relative ease and the issue with whether to use the information that was obviously illegal

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Johnny Sorrow

Johnny Sorrow

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I just watched "The Other One: The Long Strange Trip of Bob Weir" on Netflix. It's fantastic. And while I know I'm not the most impartial source when it comes to the Grateful Dead, I'm also very critical of projects about them. This is truly a fun, informative, touching, and well made doc. There were some stories even I had never heard before. And it's great to see Weir being treated as one of the most original rhythm guitar players ever, which he is. And he takes a stance about the Heads who sold drugs to support following the band that pissed off a few people in the community, but it's pretty right on. He has no sympathy for those people if they got busted. If you could do it by selling t shirts or falafels then fine if you could make that work.

Bottom line, you don't have to be a Deadhead to enjoy this movie. Check it out. 

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Curt McGirt

Curt McGirt

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Watching Crips and Bloods: Made In America on Fusion and it's a hell of a documentary. Stacy Peralta, one of the Z-Boys skaters from the old days, directed it and Forest Whitaker narrates it. Usually you get shit like the Gangland show that is basically snuff/gang porn describing the reality of gangs on the streets, this is way closer to the American Gangster show that tries to get into the real reasons behind them (racism and poverty, both entwined). There's a level of honesty available in neither show. Finally somebody admits that LA was gridded out into racially divided sections on purpose, and I didn't even know about the old pre-'50s lease agreements that segregated different races into different neighborhoods. A truly scathing indictment of... well, this country. You can watch it on Youtube if you don't mind the giant Worldstarhiphop tag hanging out at the bottom for an hour and a half. 

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Tabe

Tabe

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WHOO, a new batch of documentary reviews, y'all:

Bowling For Columbine - Michael Moore takes on America's gun culture in this documentary made after the Columbine high school shooting. Moore visits banks and businesses to show how easy firearms and bullets are to acquire while shaming businesses with the presence of students who were injured in the shooting. The title of the movie comes from the (since-disproven) story that Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold went to their bowling class the morning of the shooting. There are other inaccuracies in here along with the typical dishonest editing by Moore to make things fit his narrative. But this is Moore and you know that's his style going in. His message still resonates and it's hard not to at least understand where he's coming from when the NRA hosts tone-deaf conventions and rallies right after the shooting. All in all, this is a pretty standard Moore documentary, for what that's worth. 6/10.

Bettie Page Reveals All - After a career in the 1940s and 1950s where she became a very famous pinup model, Bettie Page retired abruptly and "disappeared". Where did she go? What happened? Decades later, Bettie was tracked down and agreed to narrate this documentary of her career. This is a terrific look at a former star about whom very little was previously known other than her "product". Bettie has become something of a cultural icon in the years since her retirement (a status from which she, sadly, didn't much benefit from until very late in her life). Page comes across as a fun, interesting person who had a very...interesting...career. And, yes, her "disappearance" and subsequent life are discussed. Be forewarned: much of Page's career involved nude modeling and bondage and there's tons of that featured in this film. It's not gratuitous or anything but there's a ton of nudity showing off Page's remarkable figure. The sum of it all is a revealing documentary on a very famous person not really revealed previously. 8/10.

All-In: The Poker Movie - Documentary that tells the story of online poker, particularly its rise during the boom era of 2003-2007. You get interviews with all the usual suspects - Chris Moneymaker, Daniel Negreanu, Chris Ferguson, Howard Lederer, etc. The story it tells is well-done and goes up through the crash following online poker being made illegal and into present-day. Unfortunately, it appears some compromises were made in order to get participation from Lederer and Ferguson, specifically that no mentions of fraud or cheating would be made. Lederer & Ferguson ran Full Tilt Poker and are accused of stealing hundreds of millions of dollars from players. Another site was found to have its founder actually cheating during games. That seamy underside never gets explored however - a major hole in what is otherwise a very good movie. 5/10.

Eminem AKA - "Let's make an Eminem documentary! Who can we get to participate? How about only people he hates or are no longer in his life? That'll be perfect!" Such is the premise for this documentary. Yet, as awkward as that beginning is...it works. The folks here - Eminem's mom, grandmother, former manager, and friends - all seem to be pretty honest with no axes to grind. The result is Eminem's story being well-told and lots of great insights that I, a fairly casual fan, was not aware of. For example, I had no idea that Eminem was attacked in grade school, resulting in a severe head injury that led him to have to re-learn how to speak and all kinds of other therapy. That injury led to the song "Brain Damage", which led to a defamation suit against Eminem filed by the guy who attacked him. That lawsuit was dismissed - with the presiding judge writing a rap for her decision, LOL. Anyway, this is good stuff. Check it out. 8/10.

Hindenburg: The Untold Story - Great in-depth documentary over the spectacular crash and fire involving the Hindenburg zeppelin/blimp in 1937. Lots of detail and probing into exactly what happened and remarkable stories from guys who were either there (ground crew) or ON the blimp itself. Thanks in large part to being one of the first spectacular disasters to be filmed and seen worldwide, the Hindenburg continues to hold fascination even today. I don't know how much brand-new info is presented here, as much of it is from transcripts and investigations from the 1930s, it was new to *ME*. Good stuff. 8/10.

Print the Legend - A Netflix original documentary documenting the rise of the consumer 3D printing market, the movie focuses on a couple of companies, each taking a different technological route to the home user. We see the rise of each company, the triumphs and the backbiting as founders get booted out and tempers flare. It's fun to see the companies right at the brink of what could be a big industry (eventually) and their approaches. Good stuff. 7/10.

Gameloading: Rise of the Indies - Ah...a video game documentary. Haven't seen those before! Only this time, we're focusing on so-called indie games - those smaller titles often made by 1 or 2-man teams in their living rooms and bedrooms. Gameloading tells the story of several games and teams as well as having commentary on the state of the industry itself and indie games in particular. It's very obvious that the makers of the movie have a a strong pro-indie game bias and it shows through in the pretentiousness of the movie itself. This movie wants you to know that indie games are awesome because they're...indie. Anything that might be mainstream is clearly inferior. It even comes through a bit in the selection of interview subjects - there's a definite emphasis on choosing folks whose appearance is a little different (unusual haircuts or hair colors) when that doesn't represent the majority of those doing indie development (as shown during a clip of a development competition where the vast majority of the developers are pretty...unremarkable?...in their appearance). Anyway, that elitist, snobbish attitude definitely detracts from the film and hurts the message and story being told. And, of course, Zoe Quinn has a big presence with "Depression Quest here (has there ever been a developer with a larger presence than Quinn with a smaller, less remarkable resume????) Still, even with that, you can't help but be really happy for the guys behind The Stanley Parable as their game goes live and becomes a big hit immdiately. The joy just leaps off the screen and is really cool to see. In the end, though, the lack of balance just kills this one. 5/10.

Get Lamp - Hey, another gaming documentary! Can you tell I love gaming documentaries? I definitely do, that's for sure. Get Lamp focuses on the world of the text adventure, its rise, fall, and (sort of) rise again. Remarkably, it does this without interviewing Zoe Quinn about HER text adventure :) As you might imagine, there's a heavy focus on Infocom, the kings of the genre in the 1980s. Lots of great interviews with developers and staff, all of whom look back VERY fondly on this era, considering it their best job and most fun time ever. There's some exploration of the designing of the games themselves as well. Personally, I was never a huge fan of text adventures due to what I felt was cheating by the few I played (unfairly disorienting maps being my main complaint) but I enjoyed this movie anyway. This is a joyful ode to a genre whose time has passed and a fun look back. 7/10.

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tbarrie

tbarrie

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Get Lamp - [...] This is a joyful ode to a genre whose time has passed

Has it, though? I'm pretty sure more good text adventures are being cranked out each year now than there were in the '80s.

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Tabe

Tabe

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Get Lamp - [...] This is a joyful ode to a genre whose time has passed

Has it, though? I'm pretty sure more good text adventures are being cranked out each year now than there were in the '80s.
It has. When was the last time one was even close to being a top seller? No, Depression Quest doesn't count.
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Reed

Reed

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I'm a fan of Amy Winehouse so I'll have to check out the documentary at some point.

 

Although, glancing at some reviews, it seems their point is: she was a massive mental wreck and an accident waiting to happen but got stuck with money-hungry enablers for staff and a press that got a kick out of badgering her, which didn't help and maybe even accelerated her demise. Didn't we know that already though?   

 

Honestly I never saw her as that different from someone like Britney Spears (apart from the fact Amy could sing obviously.) Both had many of the same problems but at the end of the day, Britney wasn't as hellbent on self-destruction and was able to save herself. 

 

My point is: there's only so much you can blame other people for. I don't see the need for doing a two hour film blaming other people for the death of a girl who had a death wish anyway. I've heard they go after her dad a bit too, which seems shitty.

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RazorbladeKiss87

RazorbladeKiss87

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Recently watched Dope Sick Love on HBO GO, a doc about two couples struggling with addiction in NYC. As someone who has had a pretty long struggle with substance abuse I was a bit nervous what feelings/cravings it might trigger in me but it didn't actually make me feel anything other than repulsion. The movie's detection of junkie life is pretty accurate, if maybe a little exaggerated. I have known people like this and also have known people you'd never suspect we're users. I thought having no narration at all was a good choice. It added a sense of the extreme loneliness and hopelessness you can feel when you are constantly struggling for your next fix.

The worst scenes for me were when the one guy shot up with toilet water. Especially because he had a bottle of water RIGHT THERE!!!

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