Review Your Fave/Recent Documentaries

[kook10]

Fascinating woman and so charming.

You might like this one below too. I watched It recently and it was pretty interesting.

Bombshell: The Hedy Lamarr Story (Netflix / PBS)
Hollywood star Hedy Lamarr (Ziegfeld Girl, Samson and Delilah) was known as the world’s most beautiful woman – Snow White and Cat Woman were both based on her iconic look. However, her arresting appearance and glamorous life stood in the way of her being given the credit she deserved as an ingenious inventor whose pioneering work helped revolutionize modern communication. An Austrian Jewish emigrant who invented a covert communication system to try to help defeat the Nazis, Lamarr was ignored and told to sell kisses for war bonds instead. It was only toward the very end of her life that tech pioneers discovered that it was her concept that is now used as the basis for secure WiFi, GPS and Bluetooth technologies.

 

[Babe Ruth]

The Unknown Story (2022)

A multipart, behind-the-scenes doc on iconic movies & TV shows.

I watched the Three's Company and Karate Kid segments. Both were entertaining and had some good factoids. I'll probably watch the Elm Street episode next. On Peacock..

 

[VMBM]

I watched a new documentary on the legendary ABBA manager Stig "Stikkan" Anderson on YT (mostly in Swedish).


Based on one view, I'd give it a tentative 7.5/10. It's somewhat on the short side (just under an hour), but on the other hand, would I really want to see a (much) longer doc about him anyway? Not sure. So, while his accomplishments (hit maker, lyric writer, manager, record company owner) in the Swedish music/entertainment business in the 1950s/1960s are being discussed, pretty soon we get to the ABBA part of his story, which basically started around 1963/64 when he signed Björn Ulvaeus' band called the Hootenanny Singers. Then it's the glory years and his role — not at all small — in ABBA's world-wide success. And finally, the bitter breakup of both their financial and personal relationships (minus Frida) and somewhat sad final years, marred by alcohol(ism), with the Polar music prize being one highlight.

The definitive high point for me was to again see footage of "Dancing Queen" being recorded in late 1975; I had seen some of it previously, but less-extensively. The film also debunks the myth that Anderson wrote 2000—6000 song lyrics in his career; it was apparently considerably less (700+). For an ABBA nerd, though, I don't think there are too many new revelations.

The negative is obvious; no member of ABBA was interviewed for the film. I don't know for sure, but one would guess that they were asked, and they declined (probably consulting each other first). Shame. So, we mostly get to hear Anderson's daughter Marie, his son-in-law and Swedish superstar Tomas Ledin and his long-time assistant/secretary/co-executive Görel Hanser, and that is perfectly fine by me, but I wonder if international ABBA fans at large care very much? Well, there's always the ABBA footage in the film at least.

Not necessarily because of the documentary per se, but I was left wondering; what would Stig Anderson think about ABBA's new-found mega-popularity in the 2000s (the musical, the films, the 'ABBAtars' show etc)? Would he have been able to enjoy it and be proud of his own role in the ABBA history or (still) just bitter about it à la "It was me who made this possible"? I guess we'll never know.

 

[Bounces R Way]

Zero Days (2016) 6.5/10

Fascinating documentary on the cyber attacks conducted on the US and Iran in the early 2010s. Explores the origins and applications of the malware Stuxnet developed by American and Israeli to target the Iranian nuclear facility(allegedly). How a piece of software they'd created was designed specifically to overclock Iranian cooling tower turbines. Found it same parts amusing and terrifying that basically if you owned a computer that was connected to a network during this time it was more likely than not that it had had this specific piece of code lurking on it.

The very idea of 'cyber warfare' has always perplexed and overwhelmed me as I've never been really sure how to properly conceptualize it. This film gave me some insight of what a war over the internet could look like. Scary how many of the systems and failsafe systems we rely on are almost entirely controlled from computers these days. The idea of a entire country getting shut down due to some laptop hack seems Hollywood ridiculous on its face, but I am also completely certain every developed country in the world is trying to find a way to do exactly that to somebody else right now. Even taking down something as simple as a cellular banking network for a week or two would induce a massive panic for Western civilization.

Would have to say it was more the subject matter that kept me invested. The documentary film making itself, although competent, was fairly garden variety.

 

[Bahama Mama]

You might like this one below too. I watched It recently and it was pretty interesting.

Bombshell: The Hedy Lamarr Story (Netflix / PBS)
Hollywood star Hedy Lamarr (Ziegfeld Girl, Samson and Delilah) was known as the world’s most beautiful woman – Snow White and Cat Woman were both based on her iconic look. However, her arresting appearance and glamorous life stood in the way of her being given the credit she deserved as an ingenious inventor whose pioneering work helped revolutionize modern communication. An Austrian Jewish emigrant who invented a covert communication system to try to help defeat the Nazis, Lamarr was ignored and told to sell kisses for war bonds instead. It was only toward the very end of her life that tech pioneers discovered that it was her concept that is now used as the basis for secure WiFi, GPS and Bluetooth technologies.

Some woman are more than a pretty face. Thank the male species for the suppression, the repression and diabolical treatment.

 

[Babe Ruth]

I Am Paul Walker (2018)

Bio on Paul Walker, mostly related by his family and childhood friends. But 'Fast' co-star Tyrese Gibson also gave some really candid, moving recollections of his relationship with Walker.
Covers some of Walker's charity work and other professional pursuits outside of acting.
Streamed it on CW app..

 

[Babe Ruth]

The Twelve Apostles (2003)

A ten part, Biblical history series on Jesus' 12 Apostles (& Mary Magdalene). Most episodes feature a single apostle at a time, but a couple of the lesser known disciples are bundled together. Each episode is half an hour (including ads on Freevee).

 

[Unholy Diver]

The Chernobyl Tapes

The Chernobyl disaster described by first hand accounts from people who lived through it, and the coverup by the Soviet Union. It was sad , but still not surprising to see how the country lied to and used and abused their citizens and then pretended like the radiation was nearly nonexistent and wasn't the cause if illnesses and mutations to both babies and farm animals.

 

[Babe Ruth]

The Disappearing Male (2008)

Documentary on developmental problems of modern male sexuality. Lowered & compromised sperm counts of both people and animals. Covers possible explanations like pollution and exposure to plastics, which seem to specifically disturb testosterone and male fetuses.

Documentary has a low production quality, but it's an important, underreported topic. The doc interviews Dr Shanna Swan, who wrote a good book on this research a couple years back (Countdown).
43 minutes, streaming on Prime..

 

[Babe Ruth]

Filling in the Blanks (2023)

A middle-aged man uncovers a family secret after submitting DNA for a genealogy test.
It covers his story coming to terms with what he learns..
Not bad.. on Tubi (I think), and Prime.

 

[KallioWeHardlyKnewYe]

Tubi is a treasure tove of random-ass docs. It's got a big selection of nostalgic and fandom-connected docs. I am, for better and often worse, a sucker for anything covering video games/arcade games/toys/80s stuff and the like. A lot of it is kinda bad. Just cheap, poor production value, even if the content is kinda interesting. But every now and then I find one that's ok. Recently watched ...

Plastic Galaxy, about the history of Star Wars toys. Definitely hamstrung by a low budget but it's decently comprehensive info-wise with insights from key folks from the Kenner toy team and collectors and historians. If you're a fan you're probably not going to learn anything new, but it scratches a nostalgic itch.

Similarly, I thought The Power of Greyskull, which is about the history of He-Man in all forms (cartoon, toy, movie), was honestly pretty good. Again, not the highest quality production but a pretty thorough history with access to a lot of key people. A much better product than I expected when I hit play.

On the flipside though is Jack of All Trades, which is about the boom and bust of baseball cards in the 80s and 90s, at least in passing, but also about the director/star's relationship with his dad and woof, does it not work. Putting yourself in the middle of your movie about another topic is always risky. Doubly so when you introduce yourself to us as a former child actor. Triply so when you're pretty unlikable. I just do not believe this dude for a single second. Not that his backstory isn't true, it's just that he feels like he's performing at every turn. His shock that his baseball cards lost value feels fake. His surprise when his co-director brings up his personal issues feels fake. It's not that informative and it reeks of phoniness throughout. And the production ... count how many times you see the camera crew reflected in mirrors and windows. Really hated this movie.

 

[Babe Ruth]

Tubi is a treasure tove of random-ass docs. It's got a big selection of nostalgic and fandom-connected docs. I am, for better and often worse, a sucker for anything covering video games/arcade games/toys/80s stuff and the like. A lot of it is kinda bad. Just cheap, poor production value, even if the content is kinda interesting. But every now and then I find one that's ok..

I watched one recently that basically fits your description.. 'The Video Game Years'.
It's a ten part series, where they cover video game trends & developments on a year-by-year basis thru the 8os. Low production value, sort of like extended YouTube videos. But it's a lot of comfort nostalgia & factoids. They jump around some, each episode doesn't strictly adhere to its chronological year..
I watched & liked a couple episodes. I streamed it on Prime, but it is aimed at Gen Xers & has a Tubi vibe..

 

[Brodeur]

Looked up this old series of Saturday Night Live retrospectives.

1975-79:

https://kaltura.uga.edu/media/t/1_j7nr5pbp

1980-89:

https://kaltura.uga.edu/media/t/1_j0lidhjh

1990-99:



2000-09:



Still fun for me as a 90's kid to see the 70s/80s footage. Part of me is still surprised to see Billy Crystal, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, and Robert Downey Jr as part of the cast.

I enjoy explaining to younger friends how SNL seemed very vulnerable in 1995 and the other networks took a shot with their own sketch shows; Fox/MadTV had the most traction, ABC has the Dana Carvey Show, and CBS had one episode of The State.

 

[Brodeur]

On the flipside though is Jack of All Trades, which is about the boom and bust of baseball cards in the 80s and 90s, at least in passing, but also about the director/star's relationship with his dad and woof, does it not work. Putting yourself in the middle of your movie about another topic is always risky. Doubly so when you introduce yourself to us as a former child actor. Triply so when you're pretty unlikable. I just do not believe this dude for a single second. Not that his backstory isn't true, it's just that he feels like he's performing at every turn. His shock that his baseball cards lost value feels fake. His surprise when his co-director brings up his personal issues feels fake. It's not that informative and it reeks of phoniness throughout. And the production ... count how many times you see the camera crew reflected in mirrors and windows. Really hated this movie.

I had the same reaction when I watched that one. Seemed a bit off that he still thought his cards were worth something. Felt like it could have been boiled down to 30 minutes. The Jose Canseco interview was better than I expected.

But since I grew up in the junk wax era, parts of it got me feeling nostalgic about hanging out at the card shop while my mom was grocery shopping.

It's available on YouTube in case anybody was interested:

 

[Babe Ruth]

Still fun for me as a 90's kid to see the 70s/80s footage. Part of me is still surprised to see.. Julia Louis-Dreyfus..

I enjoy explaining to younger friends how SNL seemed very vulnerable in 1995 and the other networks took a shot with their own sketch shows..

Good post..
This is kind of obscure, but referring to 8os sketch comedies, and other networks challenging SNL..
'Fridays' was a discount SNL, that also featured future Seinfeld icons (Michael Richards and Larry David). I think Tubi has some old episodes..

 

[kook10]

Good post..
This is kind of obscure, but referring to 8os sketch comedies, and other networks challenging SNL..
'Fridays' was a discount SNL, that also featured future Seinfeld icons (Michael Richards and Larry David). I think Tubi has some old episodes..

They have some great clips of their musical guests too.

 

[KallioWeHardlyKnewYe]

I had the same reaction when I watched that one. Seemed a bit off that he still thought his cards were worth something. Felt like it could have been boiled down to 30 minutes. The Jose Canseco interview was better than I expected.

But since I grew up in the junk wax era, parts of it got me feeling nostalgic about hanging out at the card shop while my mom was grocery shopping.

It's available on YouTube in case anybody was interested:

I have boxes of worthless cards in my basement. I can't bring myself to just toss them. Maybe one of these day! Lots of fond memories though.

 

[Brodeur]

I have boxes of worthless cards in my basement. I can't bring myself to just toss them. Maybe one of these day! Lots of fond memories though.

Same here, lots of baseball cards from 1987-1991. Then I made the poor decision to start collecting hockey cards in the late 90's just in time for some super lousy draft classes.



Going back to the Dana Carvey show, I didn't realize that Robert Smigel left SNL to join Carvey. The Ambiguously Gay Duo cartoon started on Carvey's show before Smigel brought it back to SNL after Carvey's show was cancelled.

And now I've stumbled upon a Hulu doc on The Carvey Show. I'm gonna give that a watch now.

 

[Brodeur]

Dana Carvey Show documentary was enjoyable. The above clip caused me to laugh out loud, although maybe not quite as good without the additional context.

Essentially boiled down to:

- ABC was bought by Disney after Carvey agreed to do the show. They wanted to edgier but that created issues with ABC/Disney execs.

- Like most shows, they needed a few episodes to hit their stride but they were hemorrhaging viewers in a primetime spot. Until watching the doc, I didn't realize they had been in primetime which probably explains why I never saw an episode since I was busy with homework in 1996.

- And as demonstrated in the above clip, the staff badly misunderstood the type of audience they were getting with the Home Improvement lead in.

- The Ambiguously Gay Duo started there and was migrated to SNL when Smigel returned. Now it makes more sense to me why Colbert/Carell continued to voice Ace and Gary.



And this sketch was originally written/taped for the DCS but it never aired after being cancelled in May 1996. So they brought it over to SNL when Carvey hosted in October 1996.

 

[Babe Ruth]

Wild North (2014)

Three part nature doc on the life and harsh environment of Scandinavian wildlands (on Prime).
Something that stood out to me, in part three they're following a family of eagles.. And stated this particular eagle bloodline had been continuously using the same cliff nest for 150 years. How could they confirm all that..?

 

[Babe Ruth]

A New History of the American South (2018)

Got the Great Courses add-on thru Prime.. and have been watching this course, off & on.
24 total parts, taught by a Virginian professor (University of Richmond). Aspects of Southern culture, history, and politics up thru the start of the 1900s.
Not bad, not great.. I've skipped a couple subjects that I was already more knowledgeable about, or had less interest in..

 

[Babe Ruth]

The Forgotten Genocide: Europe's Gypsies in World War 2. (2018)

A very personal accounting(s) of the Gypsy experience under Nazism.
Interviews with several childhood survivors of Nazi persecution and genocide.
Streamed on Prime.

 

[Babe Ruth]

Cold Case Files: the Rifkin Murders (2023)

This had interesting potential, because there are some unidentified victims of Rifkin. And I think Rifkin's crimes are relatively obscure, compared to other killers with similar body counts.. so I think this doc has value for reporting on these aspects.
But, was kind of long (two 90 minute segments) and meandering, probably stretched out to fill specific time slots.

An investigator on these Rifkin cold cases is a female detective. And there was a scene where she was surrounded by a team of much taller male state troopers (& search/dive team guys). It had a very strong Clarice Starling vibe for me..
(On Hulu)

 

[kook10]

STAX: Soulsville U.S.A. (Max)

In just under two decades, Stax Records in Memphis, Tennessee, grew from a family-owned record store and studio to one of the most influential producers of soul music — launching the careers of Otis Redding, Isaac Hayes, Booker T. & The M.G.’s, and Sam & Dave, and more. Through archival performance footage and intimate interviews, STAX: Soulsville, U.S.A. chronicles the musicians, songwriters, and producers who smashed racial barriers and created the signature Stax sound that defined an era.

I think if you love music, you will love this documentary. Honestly, it could have been several episodes longer as it kind of glossed over some things and even took some creative license (usually by omission) with the timeline. It was great to see the in-studio and behind the scenes footage of the 60s era with Booker T & The MGs, Sam & Dave, Isaac Hayes and Otis Redding. I would have liked to hear more from them though (especially the MGs since they played behind all the acts). It would have been nice to hear anything from Mavis Staples or even Clive Davis too, (but he would have been a stretch).

Not perfect, but good and entertaining.

 

[VMBM]

STAX: Soulsville U.S.A. (Max)

In just under two decades, Stax Records in Memphis, Tennessee, grew from a family-owned record store and studio to one of the most influential producers of soul music — launching the careers of Otis Redding, Isaac Hayes, Booker T. & The M.G.’s, and Sam & Dave, and more. Through archival performance footage and intimate interviews, STAX: Soulsville, U.S.A. chronicles the musicians, songwriters, and producers who smashed racial barriers and created the signature Stax sound that defined an era.

I think if you love music, you will love this documentary. Honestly, it could have been several episodes longer as it kind of glossed over some things and even took some creative license (usually by omission) with the timeline. It was great to see the in-studio and behind the scenes footage of the 60s era with Booker T & The MGs, Sam & Dave, Isaac Hayes and Otis Redding. I would have liked to hear more from them though (especially the MGs since they played behind all the acts). It would have been nice to hear anything from Mavis Staples or even Clive Davis too, (but he would have been a stretch).

Not perfect, but good and entertaining.

Would love to see that. I'm a huge fan of Stax/Southern soul, even more so than Motown. I hope it's not overly preachy (vis-à-vis racial issues), like even music documentaries often seem to be nowadays.

Peter Guralnick's Sweet Soul Music: Rhythm and Blues and the Southern Dream of Freedom is one of my favorite music books of all-time.