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2017 DOCUMENTARY THREAD


RIPPA

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  • 2 weeks later...

Beware The Slenderman was fairly good, but it was definitely missing a certain something..  Heartbreaking and tough to watch.

This was just as much an indictment of the internet as it was a study of the crime and the documentary gets a bit busy in the middle as it seagueways from the viral nature of internet media to the particulars of the case.

I like how Irene Broadsky manages to deal with the horror of the event without completely vilifying Morgan Geyser and Anissa Weier and addressed society's continuing struggle to understand and deal with mental illness (ie. Morgan Geyesr is a diagnosed schizophrenic and Anissa Kate was diagnosed with host of disorders in the obsessive / compulsive spectrum. ). 

It is undeniable that the girls committed a horrible act, but the documentary goes on to show how the US Justice System has contributed to our "insanity is a crutch" mentality and it also cast a withering glare at society's preference for locking up troublesome individuals rather than earnestly deal with the issue of mental health.

Seeing the toll the crime has taken on the Weiers and the Geyers will yank tears out your eyes.

The film could've used more content from the family of the victim and it would've been nice if the actual creator of the Slender Man had been interviewed along with the various producers of the "Big Three" ARGs that contribute to the lore (Marble Hornets, Tribe Twelve, Everyman HYBRID), but I have heard that the Paytons declined to participate and I am not sure if Eric Knudsen (aka Victor Surge, the de facto "creator" of the Slender Man) or the others (Noah Maxwell of Tribe Twelve, THAC aka The Marble Hornets Gang, The HYBRIDS crew) were asked to comment. 

Broadsky's exploration of the paradox of Slenderman having a distinct origin and yet surviving authorless through various media definitely lacked in weight without the input of the more recognized creators of content.  I'm always annoyed when documentaries turns to so called scholarly experts rather than going to the source itself.

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Enjoyed reading your take @J.T., the Mrs & I attempted to watch last night, but unfortunately both nodded off several times towards the end. Rolling Stone has and article on Morgan Geyser and her schizophrenia. http://www.rollingstone.com/culture/features/slender-man-geysers-mom-begs-court-to-toss-confession-w461360

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Bix posted on Facebook that apparently he is "all over" the Hogan/Gawker/Free Speech/Privacy Doc that just premiered at Sundance

I think it is called "Nobody Speak" but don't quote me on that

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On 1/25/2017 at 0:36 PM, Curt McGirt said:

https://www.democracynow.org/2017/1/24/nobody_speak_new_documentary_probes_billionaire

Well damn. Director is the guy behind the Aaron Swartz and Anonymous docs. Sounds like it gets pretty deep and -- of course -- involves Trump. Netflix has already picked it up.

Our very own Bix has a significant on-screen part in this one. 

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13 hours ago, RIPPA said:

A documentary about CrossFit. Yup...

I respect their dedication, but I also think it is pretty dangerous to commit yourself to a thing so fully that you aren't equipped to do anything else.

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8 minutes ago, Curt McGirt said:

Humanity has officially run out of things to do

Also, these people claiming to be the fittest people in the world apparently have never met an Army Ranger or a Navy SEAL.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I just watched a new called from the Independent Lens on PBS series called Tower which was about the 1966 mass shooting from the Tower of the University of Texas. It is an amazing story but what really puts it over is that they combine real life stories from the survivors, archive news footage, and these black and white cartoons like footage that vividly describes the whole story.  I would definitely recommend watching this

 

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12 minutes ago, hammerva said:

After Tower they showed a preview of a new one about the Sandy Hook shooting in Newtown coming soon.  I may have to avoid that one because I am 100% sure I will be extremely sad and pissed off at the same time.

Holy fuck is this the beginning of the Let Us Make JT Commit Suicide block of programming on PBS? 

Is this my punishment for not donating enough money to get the fucking tote bag?

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Weiner is on the free preview of Showtime right now and good lord, it is a living, breathing episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm. 

EDIT: That was hilarious, if you can overlook the indignity of his poor wife. The most surreal thing in all of this is it's a documentary that feels like a comedy and ends up having an unintentional punchline right at the end... and then another one after that as well. 

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Watched Where Is Rocky II? last night.  A very unusual movie.  Apparently an artist made a large fake rock and put it somewhere in the Mojave Desert in the 1970s.  A private investigator is hired to try to track down this lost art piece, so we follow his search.  The movie completely disappears up its own ass by the end as apparently people were worried that this might not be interesting enough for a movie and bring in some screenwriters (including the guy who wrote Grosse Pointe Blank) to create a fictional film based on this premise, so we end up flipping back and forth between the P.I. searching and the screenwriters brainstorming.  And the guy I watched it with felt that the whole movie was a hoax, that the whole fake rock thing never really happened and the P.I.'s search is staged.  It's definitely an entertaining watch, though.

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