Review Your Fave/Recent Documentaries
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Behn Wilson
Registered User
The Motown Documentary on Showtime is phenomenal and some of the archival footage of behind the scenes stuff is unbelievable, seeing young Michael Jackson and Stevie Wonder's initial visits to Motown and glad they were able to have interviews with so many while they were still with us. And Smokey Robinson must have found the fountain of youth, he stills looks fantastic.
Vernon, Florida (1981)
This one seemed a little ahead of it's time. The 'reality show' slice of life documentary. The doc is a compilation of interviews with the residents of a small Florida town.. & showing them enjoying everyday pastimes (attending church, turkey hunting, etc). Reminded me of an extended episode of Welcome to Flatch.
I read that the filmmakers original plan was to document a potential insurance scam there, but eventually edited it down to unrelated everyman interviews. Kinda boring, but good document of small town South, circa the early 8os. On AMC+ (I think).
This one seemed a little ahead of it's time. The 'reality show' slice of life documentary. The doc is a compilation of interviews with the residents of a small Florida town.. & showing them enjoying everyday pastimes (attending church, turkey hunting, etc). Reminded me of an extended episode of Welcome to Flatch.
I read that the filmmakers original plan was to document a potential insurance scam there, but eventually edited it down to unrelated everyman interviews. Kinda boring, but good document of small town South, circa the early 8os. On AMC+ (I think).
Empire of Dust (2011)
Watched this one on YouTube. It's about a Chinese company hired to repair an old highway in Congo. The road had been constructed/maintained by Belgians, but fell in to disrepair after Congo independence. The doc mostly focuses on one Chinese engineer, and his relations (& frustrations) with Congolese workers & suppliers etc. An insightful glimpse in to a fundamental culture clash.. Boring at times tho, because it's just like watching an ordinary construction crew/workplace..
Watched this one on YouTube. It's about a Chinese company hired to repair an old highway in Congo. The road had been constructed/maintained by Belgians, but fell in to disrepair after Congo independence. The doc mostly focuses on one Chinese engineer, and his relations (& frustrations) with Congolese workers & suppliers etc. An insightful glimpse in to a fundamental culture clash.. Boring at times tho, because it's just like watching an ordinary construction crew/workplace..
kook10
Registered User
- Jun 27, 2011
- 5,010
- 3,067
I watched this over the weekend and loved it as well. I really wish it could have been a documentary series.
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Never Sleep Again (2010)
Thorough documentary on the Nightmare on Elm Street movies. A lot of interviews & behind the scenes insights and recollections. Because of all the behind the scenes minutiae, it probably only appeals to hardcore Elm Street fans. There are some cool factoids, but because of all the details & length of the documentary (almost 4 hours).. found it boring in spots.
Thorough documentary on the Nightmare on Elm Street movies. A lot of interviews & behind the scenes insights and recollections. Because of all the behind the scenes minutiae, it probably only appeals to hardcore Elm Street fans. There are some cool factoids, but because of all the details & length of the documentary (almost 4 hours).. found it boring in spots.
This was a wild story. Been a while since i watched it, but the aspect I remember most.. was when a customer flew off a slide and was killed/maimed. And the park owner's unethical defense was: the park (& it's safety failings) were not legally responsible for the customer's death. The rock he crashed in to was responsible for the death. The rock was at fault..
Sugar Mills: Antigua and Barbuda (2020)
Strange, but cool, little documentary I saw on Tubi. It's really a general history of Antigua, with some facts about sugar cane cultivation woven in. Good history lesson; kinda reminded me of a video you'd watch in a museum visitor's center. Great scenery. It's brief, about 25 minutes.
Strange, but cool, little documentary I saw on Tubi. It's really a general history of Antigua, with some facts about sugar cane cultivation woven in. Good history lesson; kinda reminded me of a video you'd watch in a museum visitor's center. Great scenery. It's brief, about 25 minutes.
Jumptheshark
Rebooting myself
went down the rabbit hole of crazy. Watched 3 documentaries on everyone's favourite bad guys the Nazi's.
Doc 1: Hitler's Hollywood. There are two versions of this. One that is sanitized and one that suggests a lot more evil was at play. I saw the sanitized version years ago and someone sent a link to a meetup group that was showing the version before the Hollywood lawyers got involved. The sanitized one is interesting but the second one gives greater detail in just why it took till the great dictator for Hollywood to bring out the heavy guns against the Nazis and even then both the US guv and many studios interfered with many productions that were about the war
Doc 2 and 3: Gets into the esoteric nature of the big bad guys on why they were looking for the holy grail, proof they were the chosens ones and that in fact they were descendants from Atlantis. To say both were nuts is an understatement and how they twisted the information they found to defend some of the stuff they did in the camps. The part on the Jewish Skeleton collection was chilling on how they tried to use their findings as proof of what they believed in. Also, there were extremely farcical stuff they did to look for relicts as mentioned in the bible. For those who have studied the bible, you know that in 1684 that between 10 to 20 books were removed and other chapters edited to make up for some of the parts that were removed. The second problem the big bad guys had was that they were using the German translation of the bible which they had decided was the proper bible and so they were using their own edited copies of an edited edition that was a translation 4 times removed a poorly translated version that used only the Greek translation of the bible and not the original parts written in biblical Hebrew or Aramaic. The editing of 1684 and mistranslation's of the bible is another story all together. But in the docs they went into great detail on just how far and wide the big baddies went to try to prove things
Doc 1: Hitler's Hollywood. There are two versions of this. One that is sanitized and one that suggests a lot more evil was at play. I saw the sanitized version years ago and someone sent a link to a meetup group that was showing the version before the Hollywood lawyers got involved. The sanitized one is interesting but the second one gives greater detail in just why it took till the great dictator for Hollywood to bring out the heavy guns against the Nazis and even then both the US guv and many studios interfered with many productions that were about the war
Doc 2 and 3: Gets into the esoteric nature of the big bad guys on why they were looking for the holy grail, proof they were the chosens ones and that in fact they were descendants from Atlantis. To say both were nuts is an understatement and how they twisted the information they found to defend some of the stuff they did in the camps. The part on the Jewish Skeleton collection was chilling on how they tried to use their findings as proof of what they believed in. Also, there were extremely farcical stuff they did to look for relicts as mentioned in the bible. For those who have studied the bible, you know that in 1684 that between 10 to 20 books were removed and other chapters edited to make up for some of the parts that were removed. The second problem the big bad guys had was that they were using the German translation of the bible which they had decided was the proper bible and so they were using their own edited copies of an edited edition that was a translation 4 times removed a poorly translated version that used only the Greek translation of the bible and not the original parts written in biblical Hebrew or Aramaic. The editing of 1684 and mistranslation's of the bible is another story all together. But in the docs they went into great detail on just how far and wide the big baddies went to try to prove things
John Price
Gang Gang
- Sep 19, 2008
- 386,477
- 31,136
Yellow Brick Road and Beyond (2008)
A brief, but cool, history of The Wizard of Oz.. backstory on it's author, the book series, movie incarnations, cultural impact, etc. It even has some interviews with some of the original munchkins (probably recorded in the very early 2ooos). Good piece of Hollywood history, available on Freevee.
A brief, but cool, history of The Wizard of Oz.. backstory on it's author, the book series, movie incarnations, cultural impact, etc. It even has some interviews with some of the original munchkins (probably recorded in the very early 2ooos). Good piece of Hollywood history, available on Freevee.
John Price
Gang Gang
- Sep 19, 2008
- 386,477
- 31,136
Rodgerwilco
Entertainment boards w/ some Hockey mixed in.
- Feb 6, 2014
- 8,050
- 7,569
Don't Pick Up the Phone (Netflix 2022) - Interesting documentary about the string of mysterious hoax calls over about 10 years to dozens of fast-food restaurants which resulted in many young women and men to getting sexually assaulted at the hands of the store managers they worked under.
The documentary itself wasn't very well done, but the actual material that they cover is so mind-blowing you might give yourself a concussion from the level of face-palming you'll do wondering how anyone could fall for this.
The documentary itself wasn't very well done, but the actual material that they cover is so mind-blowing you might give yourself a concussion from the level of face-palming you'll do wondering how anyone could fall for this.
Killing Oswald (2013)
I've been interested in the JFK assassination since the 9os. And I've basically been an Oswald as lone wolf believer.. but open to conspiracy theories.
This documentary actually delivers one of the more credible theories of co-conspirators.. and doesn't absolve Oswald of any/all agency in the killing(s). Didn't really change my opinion, but I was intrigued.
Low production value is my one minor complaint on this one. Good tho..
I've been interested in the JFK assassination since the 9os. And I've basically been an Oswald as lone wolf believer.. but open to conspiracy theories.
This documentary actually delivers one of the more credible theories of co-conspirators.. and doesn't absolve Oswald of any/all agency in the killing(s). Didn't really change my opinion, but I was intrigued.
Low production value is my one minor complaint on this one. Good tho..
frisco
Some people claim that there's a woman to blame...
Ken Burns: History Of Country Music (9.0/10)
Excellent. I'm through 7/8 two-hour DVD's so far. Very thorough, sprawling and comprehensive view of the genre starting around 1930. About 8-9 years per episode more or less. Haven't watched the last one but I heard it sort of ends with the Johnny Cash/Rick Rubin albums about 1996.
The early ones are interesting, basically Jimmy Rodgers and the Carter family sort of laying the foundation. Then Hank Williams sort of dominates. Things picked up for me when they started getting into Sun Records (Elvis, Cash) and stuff I still like to listen to. Kind of gave up on country music in the early 80's except for stuff released by established artists like Cash, Kris Kristofferson and Waylon Jennings and a few others. Obviously, ebbs and flows very nicely but the touchstones are Rodgers, Williams, Cash, and the Carter family.
Personally, a little less George Jones, Dolly Parton, Loretta Lynn, Bill Munroe, Ray Acuff would've been OK, just because they get a lot of time and I'm just not that into them. Maybe Glen Campbell, Kenny Rogers (though he might get some time on the last one) and Marty Robbins get a short shrift, of all whom I really like and could've gotten more air. Anyway, not a lot to complain about and the whole thing is of top quality.
For rewatching, I noticed the DVD menus do break up each artist/period quite well so if you're into the Flying Burrito Brothers and Gram Parsons but don't care much for George Jones/Tammy Wynette duets or whatever, you can jump to the stuff that interests you the most. I haven't checked out the special features but looking forward to those--one of the reasons I bought the DVD set instead of streaming (only $45 for the set on Amazon on Black Friday).
Kind of hoping to see some more Cash, Highwaymen, Steve Earle on the 1983-1996 finale.
My Best-Carey
Excellent. I'm through 7/8 two-hour DVD's so far. Very thorough, sprawling and comprehensive view of the genre starting around 1930. About 8-9 years per episode more or less. Haven't watched the last one but I heard it sort of ends with the Johnny Cash/Rick Rubin albums about 1996.
The early ones are interesting, basically Jimmy Rodgers and the Carter family sort of laying the foundation. Then Hank Williams sort of dominates. Things picked up for me when they started getting into Sun Records (Elvis, Cash) and stuff I still like to listen to. Kind of gave up on country music in the early 80's except for stuff released by established artists like Cash, Kris Kristofferson and Waylon Jennings and a few others. Obviously, ebbs and flows very nicely but the touchstones are Rodgers, Williams, Cash, and the Carter family.
Personally, a little less George Jones, Dolly Parton, Loretta Lynn, Bill Munroe, Ray Acuff would've been OK, just because they get a lot of time and I'm just not that into them. Maybe Glen Campbell, Kenny Rogers (though he might get some time on the last one) and Marty Robbins get a short shrift, of all whom I really like and could've gotten more air. Anyway, not a lot to complain about and the whole thing is of top quality.
For rewatching, I noticed the DVD menus do break up each artist/period quite well so if you're into the Flying Burrito Brothers and Gram Parsons but don't care much for George Jones/Tammy Wynette duets or whatever, you can jump to the stuff that interests you the most. I haven't checked out the special features but looking forward to those--one of the reasons I bought the DVD set instead of streaming (only $45 for the set on Amazon on Black Friday).
Kind of hoping to see some more Cash, Highwaymen, Steve Earle on the 1983-1996 finale.
My Best-Carey
frisco
Some people claim that there's a woman to blame...
Watched the last one (1983-1996). Probably overall the least interesting for me. They did do a great job on the Johnny Cash-Rick Rubin albums and I liked the blurbs on Dwight Yoakum and Steve Earle (very brief). But there was a lot on Randy Travis, Ricky Skaggs, Garth Brooks, Reba McIntyre, Vince Gill which was really when I wasn't listening to any country music at all.
Anyway, the set was very good. It all sort of comes around to Cash as probably THE figure of country music. That's how Burns played it out. I would agree. My quibbles would be very slight. A little more on Kenny Rogers, Marty Robbins, Glen Campbell would've been OK. Rogers and Campbell had a lot of pop success and they sort of steered away from that type of thing I noticed. No Elvis recordings (Live From Memphis) from the 70's--just the Sun years. They didn't really mention the Highwaymen as a group. I thought that was a significant oversight.
My Best-Carey
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Kanji Ishiwara: The Man Who Triggered the War. (2018)
Good synopsis of Japanese imperialism of the 1930s. And a good timeline of events leading to the War in the Pacific. A focus on Ishiwara is kinda overstated by it's title.. it's a pretty broad Japanese/WW2 documentary. Watched it on Prime.
Good synopsis of Japanese imperialism of the 1930s. And a good timeline of events leading to the War in the Pacific. A focus on Ishiwara is kinda overstated by it's title.. it's a pretty broad Japanese/WW2 documentary. Watched it on Prime.
frisco
Some people claim that there's a woman to blame...
Watched the special features on the DVD's. Outstanding. Going to bump my rating to 9.5/10 on this alone.
My Best-Carey
Good Night Oppy (2022)
This was a very enjoyable documentary about Mars rovers Spirit and Opportunity. It tells the history of the two, from creation to mission end, largely through interviews with the NASA scientists and engineers who worked on the missions. It presents the rovers as lovable robots like Wall-E or Johnny-5 and even almost like humans to help the viewer feel the attachment to them that the NASA employees grew to have. It might even make you feel happy or sad for a robot. It's accessible enough that kids 10+ and people not really into science can still appreciate and get into it. If you ever had any interest in the Mars rover program, I highly recommend it. It's on Amazon Prime.
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KallioWeHardlyKnewYe
Hey! We won!
- May 30, 2003
- 15,782
- 3,828
The U.S. and the Holocaust. Ken Burns is basically shorthand for a certain level of documentary prestige and quality. A scathing and deeply detailed look at the U.S.'s failings in regards to helping Jews flee Europe in the buildup to and during WWII (and after, frankly) as well as the country's general unwillingness to really confront the Nazi problem until our hands were almost quite literally forced. Some of the modern parallels are damning. It's heavy material but I can't recommend it enough.
Sr. A portrait of filmmaker Robert Downey Sr. and his relationship with his son whom you may have heard of. There's some insights, but it's almost more of a multi-generational hang and on that front it's quite sweet. As far a documentaries where the subjects control the material go this one comes across pretty genuine. I was just saying the other day how I revisited a Downey Jr. movie that I had really fond memories of but felt really burned out on his shtick. It was nice to see him here, dialed back.
The September Issue. Set in 2008, it's a peek at the production process and personalities behind Vogue's famed September issue, which historically is its largest publication, literally weighing several pounds with pages in the hundreds. Famed editor Anna Wintour (the real inspiration for The Devil Wears Prada) is icy and doesn't crack much, but you do get a lot of process, which if you have any interest in publishing is pretty interesting. A few memorable supporting characters emerge. Budgets for this magazine were insane. Curious how much it's changed 15 years later as so many peers and competitors have gone by the wayside.
Sr. A portrait of filmmaker Robert Downey Sr. and his relationship with his son whom you may have heard of. There's some insights, but it's almost more of a multi-generational hang and on that front it's quite sweet. As far a documentaries where the subjects control the material go this one comes across pretty genuine. I was just saying the other day how I revisited a Downey Jr. movie that I had really fond memories of but felt really burned out on his shtick. It was nice to see him here, dialed back.
The September Issue. Set in 2008, it's a peek at the production process and personalities behind Vogue's famed September issue, which historically is its largest publication, literally weighing several pounds with pages in the hundreds. Famed editor Anna Wintour (the real inspiration for The Devil Wears Prada) is icy and doesn't crack much, but you do get a lot of process, which if you have any interest in publishing is pretty interesting. A few memorable supporting characters emerge. Budgets for this magazine were insane. Curious how much it's changed 15 years later as so many peers and competitors have gone by the wayside.
Jumptheshark
Rebooting myself
Spent the last few days in a few museums here in the UK about Wellington and Waterloo. On historyhit.com there are several really good docs on all aspects of the the battle. IF you like historical docs I suggest getting historyhit
I watched This Is Spinal Tap today and then went to IMDb to check its score...
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OJ:Guilty in Vegas. (2017)
Documentary on OJ Simpson's convictions in a Nevada robbery case. A pretty straightforward factual case, because the robbery was tape recorded.. but the documentary goes in to the people involved, including the detectives & prosecutor, etc.
Because there wasn't much nuance to the case, I thought 90 minute run time was long.. but it was probably fit for a 2 hour (cable) network slot.
Ends with Simpson's parole hearing, and a follow up with a retired Vegas detective-turned pastor.
Not bad, it's currently on Hulu.
Documentary on OJ Simpson's convictions in a Nevada robbery case. A pretty straightforward factual case, because the robbery was tape recorded.. but the documentary goes in to the people involved, including the detectives & prosecutor, etc.
Because there wasn't much nuance to the case, I thought 90 minute run time was long.. but it was probably fit for a 2 hour (cable) network slot.
Ends with Simpson's parole hearing, and a follow up with a retired Vegas detective-turned pastor.
Not bad, it's currently on Hulu.
"He always said it would be the last thing he'd ever do is to kill himself...which it was."
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