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Seen any good documentaries lately?
I'm a big fan of documentaries. Thankfully, we seem to be living in a Golden Age for the genre. In fact, there are so many documentaries coming out in various formats at any one time that I'm sure quite a few are slipping through the cracks. I recently saw one called Helvetica. Yes, it's about the font. Yes, it's quite good. Even if you don't know a serif from a sans-serif, you'll enjoy watching these obsessive people discussing something most of us never think about. Has anyone else seen something noteworthy of late?
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I saw some on the Pioneers of Television that I really liked - it was on channel 20, I believe. The best one was the very first, which had such shows as I love Lucy, The Honeymooners, etc. The other ones in the series were o.k. - just not ones I liked as well. I remember one on early game shows (boring, but then I don't like game shows) and one on early Late Night TV that was pretty good.
I really enjoyed King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters. Helvetica sounds really interesting. I'll have to check that out. I'm a font-geek, and I'd never heard of that one.
King of Kong was outstanding, and I'm looking forward to watching the similarly-themed "Tilt: The Battle to Save Pinball."
"A Ripple of Hope," which screened Friday at the Madame Walker Theatre, was incredible.
Wow. I need to check out Helvetica too.
"King of Kong" was the best doc I've seen in the last year.
The Indianapolis International Film Festival gets going in a few weeks, and there are a number of good documentaries in the running. Look for previews in the April 18 Go! and April 17 Indy.com.
"King of Kong" was the best doc I've seen in the last year. The Indianapolis ...
For the backstory on the filming of "King of Kong", this serves as a nice jumping off point:
http://www.kottke.org/08/02/king-of-kong-a-fistful-of-quarters
I saw this 22 minute doc called "they do more for prisoners than they do for vets". I was astounded to see a lot of recent news headlines touch upon this doc's themes. I also was blown away by what the Iraqi veterans had to say about their time abroad.
Unfortunately one has to have an updated computer to see the film (by downloading a client to enter the world's first online film festival). However, a ten second trailer can be seen at the following link, and if you want to watch the rest just follow the instructions at the end of the trailer.
http://www.babelgum.com/html/clip.php?clipId=110604
The Ovation TV Network carries a lot of interesting music documentaries/biographies. I caught "Eric Clapton: Standing at the Crossroads" the other night, and found it interesting. It was where I learned for the first time, for example, why Clapton spent such a short time with so many bands in his early years (Roosters, Casey Jones & the Engineers, the Yardbirds, John Mayall and the Bluesbreakers). One reason was that he wasn't sure what he was looking for (it probably didn't help that he was an admitted anti-social and had legions of admirers who exclaimed that "Clapton is God"). Another reason was that he couldn't find anyone in those bands who he felt was able to challenge him musically. Cream, with Jack Bruce and Ginger Baker, was the first band that could do it ... and it might explain why he ventured, a few years later, into the experimental (and another short stop) Derek and the Dominos, where he could go lick for lick with Duane Allman.
The channel's programming also delves into art, dance and theater, if anyone has been looking for a television outlet for that. The Web site is ovationtv.com.
For the backstory on the filming of "King of Kong", this serves as a nice ...
Interesting. That certainly changes things a little bit, though there are often arguments like this that documentaries take liberties. Reading Walter Day's comments really make it seem like the filmmaker really stretched the truth.
I have not seen King of Kong! Thanks for reminding me. I'm going to ensconce it in my Netflix queueueueueue before I forget. While I'm talking about documentaries, I should also mention the Up series. Some British filmmakers decided to follow a group of kids from the age of 7 and film them every seven years. The first is called 7 Up, the second 14 Up, etc. They have made it to 49 Up so far. Once you start watching the thing, you'll definitely be hooked. It's quite heartbreaking at times. Here's a thingy about it:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seven_Up!
I love Doc's, that Up series I have been meaning to check out, and I guess i really need to see the KING OF KONG.
Thanks.
Key Cinemas on the near southside, shows a wide variety of documentaries year round. Currently showing is this year's Oscar winner for best documentary feature TAXI TO THE DARK SIDE (ends tonight) and starting Friday, 4/11 is the Oscar nominated documentary WAR/DANCE.
Full details at the Key Cinemas website: www.keycinemas.com
Welcome back Key Cinemas! Thanks for the $2.00 admission price to Juno!
I don't really know if you can consider his movies "real" documentaries anymore, but Michael Moore's Sicko was pretty good.
Manufacturing Dissent a Canadian doc that breaks down Moore's editing techniques in his films is a pretty good one.
The Middletown documentaries that were made in the 80's were good. Basically they did this study that said Muncie IN was considered "the middle of America" it was pretty controversial at the time, but they caught some great footage.
I don't really know if you can consider his movies "real" documentaries anymore, but Michael ...
Don't even get me started on Middletown. It's IMPOSSIBLE to find any copies of that anymore. They never transferred it to DVD and the video tapes were always rare. The library no longer carries it and a Google search reveals nothing. Argh! PBS or Ball State or someone really need to get on the ball and reissue that thing.
Yeah, the only place where I've ever been able to find those tapes is at Bracken Library at BSU, or in the T-Comm building's files
Many thanks to Key Cinema's for having the courage to bring great documentaries to Indy! Everyone should see Taxi to the Dark Side and the documentary about Hollywood and the Holocaust was excellent also! We all should frequent the theater so that the good work can continue! Landmark doesn't seem interested in controversy as much!
I like Michael Moore's films, I don't see why everyone has such a beef with that guy.
Another one I really enjoyed is AMERICAN MOVIE
I like Michael Moore's films, I don't see why everyone has such a beef with ...
I agree on Michael Moore. I don't know why he is the only documentarian in America who is expected to be objective.
I have a couple of new ones to recommend, both of which can be seen during the Indianapolis International Film Festival, April 23-May 3.
An Unlikely Weapon -- Doc on Eddie Adams, the photojournalist who took one of the most infamous photos of the 20th century: a Vietnamese general shooting a Vietcong in the head. It's an interesting take on a cantankerous soul, and spotlights the power of still photography.
Spine Tingler! The William Castle Story -- For those not familiar with Castle, he was a schlock filmmaker who made low-budget horror films that he marketed with clever/cheesy gimmicks like shock buzzers in theater seats.
I like Michael Moore's films, I don't see why everyone has such a beef with ...
I liked all of Moore's stuff up through Bowling for Combine. Since then he's become a polemicist rather than a documentarian. It's alright for a documentary to take a point of view, but not to play fast and loose with the facts.
The problem with Moore's more recent movies is that he has his finger on the scale -- or rather, two knees and an elbow. He highlights info that support his arguments and downplays or ignores anything that doesn't. (Sound like anyone we know?)
Anyone remember that his big thesis in "Fahrenheit 9/11" was that the Bush family was conspiring with the Saudis to reap billions by building a huge transcontinental oil pipeline? We're still waiting for that to happen.
Moore has legitimate points to make, but undermines his arguments with squishy facts and stunts. In interviews he did for "Sicko," he repeatedly claimed that Europeans get their health care for "free." Of course it's not free -- European income tax rates are much higher than ours, and those Euros fund their medical system. It's OK for Moore to argue that their single government payer method is superior to our system of public and private insurers. It's not OK to make utterly false claims about them.
As the wise old sage once said, "Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not his own facts."
I liked all of Moore's stuff up through Bowling for Combine. Since then he's become ...
Totally agree about Michael Moore, and Robert Hammerle and I had discussions about this a ways back on here (you can see a lot of it if you check out the comments on our respective profiles. I think at first he mistook me for a right-wing fanatic, which I assuredly am not...any more :)).
Even some of his earlier stuff, namely Roger and Me, had some pretty blatant misrepresentations in it. I've always said he makes great points, but he (usually unnecessarily) allows his ego to get in the way of his ultimate point, and opens himself up to criticism from the other side, which ultimately renders his point virtually useless.
Why, when you can make almost the same point without giving them ammo to come back on you with to discredit you, would you ever do something like that? You have to assume he's trying to draw attention to himself, which gets him the pub and maybe a little more money, but detracts from the argument.