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ALL PURPOSE DOCUMENTARY THREAD


hammerva

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Last week I went to see The Dandy Warhols in concert, so that made me re-watch Dig! for the first time in years. For those who haven't seen it Dig! follows The Dandy Warhols and The Brian Jonestown Massacre for 7 years starting around 1994, in that time the Dandy's sign with a major label and BJM self destructs due to their leader Anton Newcombe's mental health issues and addiction. Someone who's never seen it or heard of either band would think it's a mockumentary, there's scenes and soundbites that come off as hysterical 20some years after it's release, a lot of the Anton Newcombe stuff can be hard to watch since it obvious he has serious issues and everyone is either "he's a genius" or have "that wacky Anton" attitudes. Both bands felt the director Ondi Timoner did them dirty, I can see that but there's a point where the camera doesn't lie, and they gave her tons of that. But, I did agree with the Dandy's take that it framed Newcombe as a "true artist" and the Dandy's as somewhat "sell-out's" since they had moderate success. It's still a really good doc that's worth watching and it's streaming for free on Plex.

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The Dark Side of the 2000's two part episode of Shock Jock Radio last night was great.  I was going into it wondering how are you going to talk about this in the 2000's because frankly shock radio was on the decline in that decade not thriving.  But this show is kind of complete history of it from Howard Stern time in DC to his beginning in New York to the end of the decade and the whole thing with Stern and Opie and Anthony.   I mean a show spends a good amount of time talking about the feud in Philly with John Debella in 1991-1992.  I knew that feud was vicious but I didn't know it was so bad that Howard brings John's ex wife on the show and basically taunting John that "she is mine now" and then she kills herself.    Then the Mancow feud that is so fucked up that people on Stern's show apologized to Mancow.   The major negative on this was Mancow trying to portray himself as the "better" guy among shock jocks.  Like he was pretty fucked up as well.   Frankly the 2nd part isn't that great as it basically talks about how Janet Jackson and uptight politicians destroyed the genre but necessary for the history.

So much of this stuff you can't possibly do in today's society.  I mean shock jock radio in the 90's makes Barstool looks extremely tame.  And most of it is shown here.  I will readily admit that 20 to 30 year version of me loved this shit.   It was good to see the face tied to people that I have heard the name of on places like Don & Mike and Stern for decades.

 

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Yeah, as a teenager, I watched the Stern show on E! every damn weekend/whenever it was on, without question. No compunction about that whatsoever. But hearing about this stuff is flat-out BAD. The Mancow stuff (funny enough he was on Tony Bourdain's Chicago episode on another channel right after) was vile. Also strange that they didn't get into his stuff or talk about what ended up happening to him; I'm guessing he's still on the air? What made me most sad, beyond finding out that Stern 1. totally sold out and 2. totally screwed his co-workers, was seeing people I respect like Jim Norton, or f.e. the still photo of Gilbert Gottfried on Anthony's show AFTER the controversy, being involved with these totally horrible people. It's hard to say "that's show business" when people are offing themselves or being emotionally destroyed in public. 

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And from every review that I have heard about this,  Rippa is 100% right.   The only people that have really praised this documentary series are Tim Tebow worshippers and Florida alumni with their head so far in the sand it isn't funny.   Here is a tweet really really explains how much this 4 PART SERIES missed

 

 

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On 9/8/2023 at 1:12 PM, RIPPA said:

Savior Complex

Hoo Boy...

I swear I am not just posting docs that will make @J.T. blood boil

There is a lady halfway through the trailer that clearly would cut an amazing wrestling promo

I saw the trailer for this last night on HBO-W right before RAW. 

Yes, I had to remember not to smash my television because I have a lot more Starfield to play.

I also plan on watching Silver Dollar Road and then going into my back yard to break my hand after I punch a tree.

Edited by J.T.
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  • 3 weeks later...
  • 2 weeks later...

I could not make it all the way through No Accident.  I nearly broke my television remote in two.  I will try to finish when my blood is not boiling.

I somehow watched every episode of Savior Complex.  There were some tense moments when I thought I might snap, but I kept it together. 

Both of the extreme sides of this argument annoy me.  Yes, it is bad that some white people stroke their egos with these sort of photo ops, but what do you do if you are a white person that actually gives a fuck? 

Wouldn't you be dissuaded to follow through on your genuine humanitarian spirit because critics will assume you are in it for the optics?  The idea that Caucasians are incapable of being altruistic is insulting.  It does not help that the popular political response to calling out social entitlement nonsense is to make laws that forbid anyone from making white people feel guilty about anything. 

When you are accustomed to getting your way, any leveling of the playing field feels like tyranny.

As much as I love true crime stories and tales of the supernatural, I cannot watch The Devil on Trial and knowingly give money to the Warren family estate.   I am happy to hear Prep School's cover of Korn's Freak on a Leash is making the rounds, though.

Edited by J.T.
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No Accident was INFURIATING. These smirking, disingenuous motherfuckers... Richard Spencer is caught red-handed with a vile series of quotes that is finally honest about his egotistical role as an oppressor, literally saying "these people are below me, I look down on them from above". They save it for the cherry on top right about at the end, so you might want to leave your remote out of arm's reach because it might end up in your TV. And right now The Insurrectionist Next Door is on HBO as well, pretty much as a sequel. There's a skinhead with "PROUD" tattooed on his forehead who's a rapper on here and the cultural appropriation is completely lost on him. The interviewer is about seconds away from punching these assholes on camera. 

EDIT: Also about No Accident (spoilers)

Spoiler

The jury, who pretend at one point that they don't even understand the case they're trying, award $25 million to the plaintiffs and a couple years later on appeal they appear to say "we forgot a decimal point in there" and drop the price to $2.5! Those assholes probably paid with that from the Koch brothers' pocket change or something. 

 

Edited by Curt McGirt
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7 hours ago, RIPPA said:

Sly

I'm gonna take this as yet another opportunity to say he probably deserved an Oscar for Cop Land, however flawed some of the story threads were (and they weren't very IMO). Also, seeing Cliffhanger in the theater was so badass. That deserved to be in the theater as much as Twister deserved to be in the drive-in, which I also experienced. And that reminds me that I saw Jurassic Park on a screen that was floor-level and that made it actually scary! 

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