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Author Topic: DOCember Group Marathon 2019  (Read 4949 times)

Dave the Necrobumper

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Re: DOCember Group Marathon 2019
« Reply #10 on: December 12, 2019, 06:21:34 AM »
They Shall Not Grow Old (2018 Peter Jackson)

Well at the moment this is the film of the year for me. (I am considering this a 2019 release). Just incredible. This film has brought to life scenes from WW1 and soldiers who fought in the war (well the British ones in the Western front). It's technical achievement is .... wow. The use of old interviews as the narration was inspired, the interviews were from the 1970s (I think). This documentary has conveyed such a strong sense of what it was like, although there were times when it was worse than what is shown (well based on the history I remember), but this was about the general feel of what being a soldier was like, the good and the bad. That said the bad was not presented as strongly bad as you would expect, mostly because the way the interviewees talk about the events and their experience of it. Or is it just the way they wish to talk about it, stiff upper lip and all.

For an insight into WW1 a massive recommend

Rating: 90 / 100

TT3D: Closer to the Edge (2011 Richard De Aragues)

Another great doco. Guy Martin is gorgeous, he is just such a beaming blast of passion, makes he a super subject. The subject is off to compete in the annual TT motorbike race on the Isle of Man. An insane race run since 1907 and with over 200 deaths. These riders know it is very dangerous, but still they do it. 5 races over 2 weeks on a street course at average speeds over 110 miles / hour. The bike cam footage was very immersing, although the framing in the opening scenes was off (the camera was pointed too low). A really interesting look into the prep, the course, and the races of the TT.

There is a 3D version of this film and it is meant to be impressive

Rating: 88 / 100

Bondo

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Re: DOCember Group Marathon 2019
« Reply #11 on: December 12, 2019, 07:29:52 AM »
Going to be interesting starting the year with They Shall Not Grow Old (my #1 February viewing) and ending it with 1917. Even with all of Sam Mendes’ budget and technical talent, I don’t imagine it holding a candle to what Jackson accomplished with the documentary footage.

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Re: DOCember Group Marathon 2019
« Reply #12 on: December 13, 2019, 01:28:09 PM »
The Imagineering Story
★ ★ ★ – Very Good

I wanted to wait until I watched today's final episode before I commented. This has been my favorite original program on Disney+, with a ton of information, images and sound clips that were even new to me. As I expected, the final episode is more of an extended commercial for the newest theme park attractions, but the rest is a comprehensive guide through the people who come up with all those wonderful toys, including the era when they thought their division was going to be shut down.

Director Leslie Iwerks (The Pixar Story) doesn't shy away from the many poor decisions made along the way. (Imagineer Joe Rohde starts the section on Avatar by admitting he wasn't excited to take on the job.) The series includes an interview with Michael Eisner, who is honest about the mistakes he made as well as the good that happened under his time.

There's an interesting, though perhaps necessary trajectory to the doc. While it begins by focusing on the Imagineers, around Eisner it starts leaning more into the Disney CEO's, so that when it comes time to discuss Pixar's influence the story smoothly transitions from Eisner to Bob Iger. It doesn't completely ignore John Lasseter, though he's the biggest name who doesn't appear in a present day interview and they talk about his cinematic contributions instead of mentioning he was once in charge of Imagineering. It's not 100% honest, but I don't think they could've handled it any other way without derailing the focus.

Antares

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Re: DOCember Group Marathon 2019
« Reply #13 on: December 15, 2019, 07:28:44 PM »
They Shall Not Grow Old (2018) 50/100 - Extremely disappointed in this after reading all the wonderful reviews for this documentary. It came across as second rate Ken Burns and you'll not learn a thing about the war watching it. I do understand what Jackson was trying to do, give the viewer a soldier's insight. But having modern day soldiers read excerpts from long since dead soldiers, accompanied by colorized film stock is not the way to do it. I'd rather see and hear living human beings, who fought in the war give their remembrances. Which is why I suggest you forgo this forgettable documentary and head over to YouTube and watch the best documentary on the first World War, done by the BBC as a television documentary series back in 1964. It's called The Great War, it's hosted by Michael Redgrave and here's a link to a playlist with all 26 episodes. https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLucsO-7vMQ00twBJvRZKs1KNUKUVClo6C. At the time it was made there were plenty of ex-soldiers still alive and their recollections are worth the time it takes to watch all 26 episodes. And, you just might learn something more than a Cliff's Notes version of history. To compare the two, the latter is like a banquet with 26 magnificent meals to choose from. The former is a TV dinner.
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Antares

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Re: DOCember Group Marathon 2019
« Reply #14 on: December 15, 2019, 08:05:28 PM »
The Wrecking Crew (2015) 75/100 - If you grew up in the sixties the music was unparalleled in history. In 1965 alone, you had three major movements just in Rock & Roll. You had the British Invasion leading the charge, surf music on the West Coast and Berry Gordy forging a musical empire in Detroit with Motown. But along side these three movements was a pop hit making machine in Los Angeles which rivaled the Brill Building in New York City in the early sixties. And at the various producer's disposal was a group of musicians whose abilities were second to none. They were called The Wrecking Crew. Phil Spector wouldn't record without them. All of The Monkees hits were instrumentally done by them. Pet Sounds is virtually a Brian Wilson and the Wrecking Crew album. The amount of hit records they played on is mind boggling in its scope. Yet, Hal Blaine, Tommy Tedesco, Joe Osborne, Carol Kaye, Earl Palmer & Bones Howe are names that most music aficionados do not know. A few of the Crew would go on to music careers of their own, with varied success. The most successful was Glen Campbell, who is thought to be by many, one of the greatest studio guitarists of all time. Leon Russell would have a short successful career and Larry Knechtel would become a member of the group Bread in the early seventies. The documentary mainly focuses on the six unknowns I mentioned and while it tells of their history in the recording studio, it offers very little in revelations. And that is why I can only give this documentary a lukewarm rating. It was made by Tommy Tedesco son, and he's really not a filmmaker. He's basically just trying to give his pop some props for what he accomplished while he was in the music business. In a sense, it works, and if you know nothing about this group of extraordinary musicians, you will be entertained and schooled a bit. Though there's one really sad and poignant moment when the Crew's days are long since over and Tommy Tedesco appears on and wins The Gong Show. It brought a tear to my eye to think that Tedesco was desperate for any gig and chose that. He should be remembered, and so should the rest of the Crew. There wouldn't be a sixties without them.
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Dave the Necrobumper

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Re: DOCember Group Marathon 2019
« Reply #15 on: December 15, 2019, 10:22:08 PM »
They Shall Not Grow Old (2018) 50/100 - Extremely disappointed in this after reading all the wonderful reviews for this documentary. It came across as second rate Ken Burns and you'll not learn a thing about the war watching it. I do understand what Jackson was trying to do, give the viewer a soldier's insight. But having modern day soldiers read excerpts from long since dead soldiers, accompanied by colorized film stock is not the way to do it. I'd rather see and hear living human beings, who fought in the war give their remembrances. Which is why I suggest you forgo this forgettable documentary and head over to YouTube and watch the best documentary on the first World War, done by the BBC as a television documentary series back in 1964. It's called The Great War, it's hosted by Michael Redgrave and here's a link to a playlist with all 26 episodes. https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLucsO-7vMQ00twBJvRZKs1KNUKUVClo6C. At the time it was made there were plenty of ex-soldiers still alive and their recollections are worth the time it takes to watch all 26 episodes. And, you just might learn something more than a Cliff's Notes version of history. To compare the two, the latter is like a banquet with 26 magnificent meals to choose from. The former is a TV dinner.

The narration is from 1970s BBC interviews with veterans of WW1 the only modern voices are actors saying what forensic lip readers determined those in the footage were saying. Further work was done to determine which regiment was in the footage so the correct regional accent was used.

Antares

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Re: DOCember Group Marathon 2019
« Reply #16 on: December 25, 2019, 06:20:33 PM »
A Band Called Death (2012) 70/100 – So after I finished watching this documentary, I went on Youtube and found the album. When the last song was finished, it left me pondering what should be obvious questions. Their debut album, or should I say EP, is only 26 minutes long. How could the film makers not spend more time actually playing excerpts from all of the songs on the disc? They seemed to focus only on three songs, and though they are great songs, more depth could have been given to the film by showing how diverse and talented the Hackney brothers were on the entire EP. The film then starts to meander through the history of the two brothers who are still alive and it is here where the film starts to falter. Had they focused more on the stuff from the 70’s and the resurgence in the 00’s, this could have been a really tight documentary. I would have liked to know why the band, after all the rejections, didn’t choose to relocate to New York City, instead of Burlington, Vermont. Their EP was recorded in 1975, two years before the punk invasion of 1977. When the Sex Pistols toured America, it was on the nightly news on three major networks. Why didn’t Death just go to CBGB in 1977? They would have crushed the other famous bands that came out of that seminal punk venue. If you’re into music, then this documentary is worth a look. But if you’re not, the story just doesn’t grab you enough to keep it interesting. After listening to the whole EP, I can tell you this, I never really cared much for punk rock, but it would have been interesting to see what David Hackney would have come up with next. He definitely had talent and one can only wonder what technically crafted music he would have created.
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Bondo

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Re: DOCember Group Marathon 2019
« Reply #17 on: December 25, 2019, 06:44:57 PM »
Starting to regret making December the month of docs out of service of a pun, as I always go in with big ambitions that get drowned amid the Oscar deluge.

Bondo

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Re: DOCember Group Marathon 2019
« Reply #18 on: December 28, 2019, 11:24:52 AM »
Grass (1999)

Since this film came out in 1999, it isn't aware that the next two decades would see a sea-change in attitudes towards cannabis, including full legalization/commercialization in many states. That said, in its tidy summary of the various eras of drug enforcement of the 20th Century, and the ebb and flow of crack downs (as always, it was more about race than drugs) and liberalizations (turns out La Guardia was big in this area, not just the namesake for a bad airport), it provides a certain warning not to take the current mood for granted.

One thing that occurs to me...a lot of the legalization movement is horrified at the concept of big cannabis. This is a natural result of significant overlap between people who think it should be legal and those who dislike and distrust corporations. And given how tobacco and alcohol industries' incentive in profit over health have been detrimental in many ways, this isn't completely without merit. That said, getting a corporate stake in the legality of cannabis is probably the best way to assure that the winds won't turn back to prohibition and criminalization. It is rare enough we can align market interests with positive policy, I reckon we shouldn't pass it by.

Compared to the prior cannabis doc I watched, this is a masterpiece, though really it is thoroughly middling from an artistic standpoint. Having Woody Harrelson as narrator lends it a haze of legitimacy though.

1SO

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Re: DOCember Group Marathon 2019
« Reply #19 on: December 28, 2019, 01:24:25 PM »
Starting to regret making December the month of docs out of service of a pun, as I always go in with big ambitions that get drowned amid the Oscar deluge.
DOCs are my biggest blindspot because I'm more into fictional stories. My Hit List for the 2010s contains big titles like 13th, Icarus and Free Solo.

Then I look at my current Top 150 of the 2010s:
1. Exit Through the Gift Shop
2. The American Scream
3. Blackfish
4. Mistakes For Strangers
5. Life Itself
6. The Act of Killing
7. The People vs. George Lucas
8. Catching Hell
9. We Steal Secrets: The Story of WikiLeaks
10. Audrie & Daisy


That's a strong group with a few titles I wish were getting more attention.