Documentaries (2 Viewers)

Watched this one yesterday...


I never really got heavily into Indie bands. Though I had heard of most of the bands in the doc, I only really listened to Oasis and a little bit of Primal Scream and Blur. Sounds like it might have been fun working for the label though. ;)
 
Half way through the big star documentary, and am not in love. Was never a big fan of the band, and the movie does little to compel me to invest much more to try again.
 
a bunch of us talked a bit about Louis Theroux's documentary on the Westboro Baptist Church at BBotB, but somehow i had never seen Louis' documentary on Vegas gamblers until tonight.

it's pretty hilarious to watch because he is just so completely and utterly earnest and ends up asking insane questions and making outlandish comments without even realizing it.

it's an hour, but it's so worth it.

 
asking insane questions and making outlandish comments without even realizing it.

I have seem almost all of his stuff. For me his appeal is the fact that he knows exactly what he is saying and asking but manages to frame it in such a way as the "target" thinks he is a nice, if somewhat dim, every-man interviewer.

I always suspected that fellow Brit Sacha Baron Cohen simply took the "Louis Theroux style" to the extreme.
 
A couple I watched this weekend that were really really good...

The Wrecking Crew - I knew studio musicians were a big part of the beginnings of rock and roll, but holy shit these guys played everything...literally. This one focuses on 4 of the musicians from that era though they talk about everyone.


Who Is Harry Nilsson - This one was really good also. I knew about a couple of songs he wrote, then I saw this. I never realized how many songs I know that he wrote.

 
Watched Going Clear (Scientology) over the weekend. Thought it was pretty good but possibly could have been 15 mins shorter.

Even though it wasn't the main focus of the documentary, the Travolta and Cruise stuff was good. Also further proof that governments around the world should hang their collective heads in shame at granting any religious organisation tax exempt status in this day and age.
 
R.I.P. Wes Craven...I love that I live on Elm St...



what a pisser. just recently rewatched New Nightmare and it held up pretty damn well. was too young to see the original Nightmare in the theater but i remember watching Scream and thinking, "holy shit this is going to change horror movies." and it did. not all of the ripoffs of scream were worthy, but some were pretty awesome.

back to documentaries, Never Sleep Again is quite long and it could stand some tightening, but it's still pretty great for those of us who have loved the elm street movies. part 1:

 
what a pisser. just recently rewatched New Nightmare and it held up pretty damn well. was too young to see the original Nightmare in the theater but i remember watching Scream and thinking, "holy shit this is going to change horror movies." and it did. not all of the ripoffs of scream were worthy, but some were pretty awesome.

back to documentaries, Never Sleep Again is quite long and it could stand some tightening, but it's still pretty great for those of us who have loved the elm street movies. part 1:

I have had Never Sleep Again on my Netflix list for some time now. I started watching it once after work a while back, but fell asleep pretty early. I will make it a point to get it watched soon.

I honestly think all of the Nightmare movies have fared pretty well on re-watch. Some better than others obviously, but the one or two that don't stand up didn't fare well initially though they have high nostalgia value. Freddy's Dead (#6) is pretty bad and basically a parody of the entire series IMO, but it is the one I laugh at the most.

Wes Craven was a game changer in the Horror genre a few times throughout his career and will be sorely missed.
 
Watched a few this weekend...

I enjoyed this one. I didn't know a whole lot about Dock Ellis before watching this. It turns into a tiny bit of an anti drug PSA, but not at the expense of the story IMO.

Not a fan of Community whatsoever, but watched Harmontown because Rick and Morty is the funniest thing I watch currently. The doc has nothing to do with R&M at all as it takes place just before it came out.

I also watched this one on H. H. Holmes. I have a few docs that I know are mostly fluff on my Netflix list and this was one of them. Holmes was possibly the first serial killer in the U.S. It was a decent watch and I recommend it if you like that sort of thing. He was one seriously twisted dude.
 
I watched this a few weeks ago on the John Joe Gray family.

Some interesting stuff, I'm impressed with all the stuff the family has achieved living completely off the grid. But I really feel for the children if they ever go out to make it on their own.

 
I forgot about this one that I watched over the weekend as well. I really liked this one. I like anything about people going around and debunking bullshit artists so it was a no-brainer for me.

 
I forgot about this one that I watched over the weekend as well. I really liked this one. I like anything about people going around and debunking bullshit artists so it was a no-brainer for me.


That looks cool. Will check it out thanks
 
This is the kind of shit I live for these days. Just makes me go to bed in awe after going down the reality rabbit hole.

Check out this half hour doc about what is reality/matter, and is it all just a simulation like the matrix? Some really good research in this movie from very well known and respected physicists.

A little slow to start but by around 10 min or so it really starts to get awesome. I love documentaries about out of body experiences, outer space, quantum etc.

I really encourage you to watch it all and draw your own conclusions (if possible!). There is no 'conspiracy' shit in this so relax :) I Really like the info around 8:25

 
Rewatched Crumb last night for the first time in maybe 15 years. I loved it when it came out and watched it several times over the next several years, but it is absolutely worth revisiting. If you've never seen it, it should be at or near the top of your "to watch" list. As with the best documentaries, it totally transcends and becomes even bigger than its subject and considering it's subject is Robert Crumb, that's pretty impressive.

Very, very creepy segments in the film. Definitely forces the viewer to consider what they feel is acceptable in art and in the personal lives of the artists they admire. But when you have both the left and the right saying your art is corrupting minds, you're doing something right imo.

 
I loved crumb. I should revisit. I haven't seen it since the theatre.

He's featured in Sex in the Comix, which I tried to watch last night, but Netflix had completely bungled the subtitles making it unwatchable.

I'd consider renting it on amazon if I knew the subtitles were good.
 
Watched a doc over the weekend that I've been meaning to get to for some time.


Probably more objective than anything I've ever read, seen, or heard about abortion. There is absolutely no tilt by the filmmaker in any direction. Those involved in advocacy on both sides are interviewed in addition to doctors and women who have had or chosen not to have abortions and ethicists and thinkers who have contemplated the issue but who do not necessarily advocate for any particular position (at least within the confines of the film).

It is extremely graphic at times both in language and in what is presented visually. An abortion is filmed as is the procedure following the abortion in which the doctor inspects the fetus that was removed.

Ordinarily I love to recommend double features and would say this would pair well with After Tiller (trailer here) - a documentary about third-trimester abortion - but to be honest, I would find it too emotionally heavy to watch both in succession. If you think you can, go for it.

In any case, Lake of Fire is available in its entirety for free on Youtube here. If you have any interest in the subject at all, it is amazing.
 
We watched Michael Moore's "Where to Invade Next" this weekend. It's not heavy on his political viewpoint, and it's absolutely guaranteed to teach you things you didn't know about life in France, Germany, Slovenia, Finland, Norway, and Tunisia -- not to mention give you some much-needed objectivity about life in the US.
 
We watched Michael Moore's "Where to Invade Next" this weekend. It's not heavy on his political viewpoint, and it's absolutely guaranteed to teach you things you didn't know about life in France, Germany, Slovenia, Finland, Norway, and Tunisia -- not to mention give you some much-needed objectivity about life in the US.

After a few very lackluster outings I was very pleasantly surprised by this one. I wouldn't have gone without my wife's urging but I'm glad she wanted to see it. Great flick.
 
As I said when giving a brief, very positive verdict on the film in the movies thread, I saw Weiner this weekend.


The first truly great political documentary was Primary about the 1960 Wisconsin primary fight between Humphrey and Kennedy. Then there was The War Room about Clinton's 1992 campaign. And then Street Fight about Cory Booker's 2002 campaign for Mayor of Newark. Weiner is good enough to challenge any one of those films to break into that top three and could be a contender for the best campaign documentary of all time.

Cliff's notes for anyone unaware of the basics: Anthony Weiner was a Democratic congressman representing a Brooklyn district in the House from 1999 through 2011 when he resigned following a sexting scandal. Two years later he ran for mayor of NYC. A former congressional staffer had since transitioned into documentary filmmaking and was allowed to follow his campaign which looked to be poised to be a comeback. During the campaign - and during filming - a second "scandal" broke wherein it was discovered his sexting had continued long after he had claimed he had ceased having such contact with women other than his wife, Huma Abedin, who, to add even more allure, was a senior aide to Hillary Clinton. She and Hillary were so close that Bill Clinton had officiated Anthony and Huma's wedding.

A lot of the questions that arise in the film are the kind asked in our thread here wondering how deeply flawed a person can be before he loses our respect in his professional endeavors. My tendency has long been to not care at all about what goes on in one's personal life if he or she is capable in their chosen profession and this film only solidifies my opinion. To my mind we lost one of the most promising, most effective, most charismatic liberal politicians, so of course I would lament the loss. But so many people who otherwise supported him seemed genuinely outraged by his behavior which, to me, is perplexing.

This on the heels of losing another extraordinarily gifted liberal politician - Elliot Spitzer - to a sex scandal. Of course, the facts there were quite different. Spitzer had actually slept with other women and it appears he used public funds to support his travel to do so. So the two scenarios are by no means equivalent. Weiner's is almost certainly the most minor misdemeanor compared to Spitzer's felony. But nonetheless we've lost two of this generations most promising liberal politicians to sex scandals, which I find truly pathetic. (Spitzer's also resulted in a documentary which, while good, was nothing compared to Weiner)

But back to the movie. It presents Anthony Weiner in all his hedging glory. Even after the second set of revelations, he can't seem to just be straight with his own staff. It's unclear if he was ever completely open to his wife during this period, but he admits that during the initial scandal he kept her in the dark simultaneously with the rest of the world. A lot of the coverage at the time was focused on what he was doing to Huma with his acting out and while she is not nearly as open with the filmmakers as Anthony, you end up psychoanalyzing every expression and every piece of body language in the film no matter how hard you might try not to.

It seems clear that his problem is that he doesn't know when to call it a day. When a man in a deli insults him, he refuses to let it go and ends up making things ten times worse for himself. He makes himself look like a petulant jerk on Lawrence O'Donnell. He confirms our suspicions by laughing as he watches the appearance and tries to seek Huma's input.

To his credit, Anthony never asks for our sympathy or tries to act as if he doesn't deserve our judgment even if we (well, at least I) might think he doesn't. He plows on. During an appearance on City Island he goes into a room of critics and, in response to a loaded question, turns them all around to supporters by the time he leaves. These scenes are the ones that really broke my heart. A gifted, passionate politician who has been forced from his work because he sent some women some pictures of his dick. No women alleged the pictures were unwanted by them. No women alleged he had tried to have any physical contact. No women alleged that their interaction with him was anything but positive. But because we as a society are intent on treating sex like we're all under the watchful eye of our Sunday school teacher.
 
Finally watched this last week (netflix) and thot it was very good. Recycles some of Chomsky's pivotal ideas but packages them in a powerfully succinct way.

 
Finally watched this last week (netflix) and thot it was very good. Recycles some of Chomsky's pivotal ideas but packages them in a powerfully succinct way.

That's in my queue on Netflix. Glad to hear it's good.

I saw "the man who is tall is happy", and was surprised how one of the most influential linguistics experts in history was unable to always understand the interviewer, who I thought was quite clear.
 
Just watched Crossing Arizona and am about to watch 9500 Liberty.
 
This was a recent Facebook conversation. Surprisingly good even for a non-fan.
Most definitely. I wouldn't call myself a fan by any means, but watching the doc made me want to check out more of their stuff. Previously only heard the radio songs and a few of their other songs.
 
For the poker fiends, Daniel negreanu released a documentary on Netflix, called KidPoker. Haven't watched yet but I will be
 
I saw KidPoker last night. Felt more like an infomercial than a documentary. Was moderately entertaining, but not a real documentary IMO.
 

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