Author Topic: DOCember Group Marathon 2019  (Read 4944 times)

Beavermoose

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Re: DOCember Group Marathon 2019
« Reply #20 on: December 28, 2019, 11:59:00 PM »



Free Solo (2018) Jimmy Chin & Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi
&
Meru (2015) Jimmy Chin & Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi
What makes both these movies so incredible is that the stakes are so high, all of these climbers have made mistakes, have been injured before and knowing that they have these flaws and that they do make mistakes shows us that every decision that they make can be life or death. The fact that the filmmakers acknowledge the possibility that their filming might make the Free Solo climb even more risky almost makes the audience complicit if anything were to happen.

FS: ★★★★
Meru: ★★★½

The Unknown Known (2013) Errol Morris
Morris fails to push Rumsfeld and in doing so reinforces the fact that this awful man's legacy, much like his tenure in power will remain filled with horrible unknowns.

★★ ½

The Autobiography of Nicolae Ceausescu (2010) Andrei Ujica
Fascinating compilation of propaganda intentionally ignores the horrors of Romania under Ceausescu and rather portrays the era as an ideal, unified and hopeful communist dream. Watching it without the knowledge of history makes it easy to understand how influential and believable large propaganda systems are and can help us better understand both countries like China, North Korea but also western countries and their own form of propaganda to a certain extent.

★★★

Visions of Light (1992) Arnold Glassman, Todd McCarthy, & Stuart Samuels
The movie is great as an introduction to film imagery for film students but is very limited in it's scope. The most fascinating thing about this movie is probably how much cinematography has changed since it's release.

★★ ½


Kedi (2016) Ceyda Torun
A beautiful tale of co-existence, compassion and collaboration, Kedi shows us that humanity has the ability to share the world with other living creatures. The film succeeds in portraying the personalities of each of these animals and the empathetic people who live with them. Perhaps people may someday develop the same kind of empathy for their fellow humans.

★★★★

1SO

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Re: DOCember Group Marathon 2019
« Reply #21 on: December 29, 2019, 12:52:10 AM »
Hail Satan?
★ ★ ★ - Good

Makes its point early and often. The Satanic Temple are little more than a growing group trolling the religious right, but in that Sacha Baron Cohen idea they hit a nerve and a path that allow them to legally use conservative Christian arguments against them. The main battle centers on putting a pagan statue outside a government building that has a 10 Commandments monument, because freedom of religion by law encompasses all denominations. The group are not seriously satanists, but they are serious about standing up to religious persecution, and follow strict rules that promote peace and acceptance.

Dave the Necrobumper

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Re: DOCember Group Marathon 2019
« Reply #22 on: December 29, 2019, 04:45:41 AM »

Free Solo (2018) Jimmy Chin & Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi

FS: ★★★★

What did you see the movie on? It is very much one that holds to bigger is better.

It was a stunning achievement, both the climb and the filming of it.

Beavermoose

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Re: DOCember Group Marathon 2019
« Reply #23 on: December 29, 2019, 05:51:47 AM »
Yeah, I'm glad I saw it on my 55'' TV rather than my computer screen.

Bondo

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Re: DOCember Group Marathon 2019
« Reply #24 on: December 30, 2019, 04:18:26 AM »
Thankfully, I was able to see that one in IMAX.

Rat Film

Extremely unstructured and often tending toward mood poem, which is a style of documentary I am not here for. Thinking of Of Time and the City and the like.

Antares

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Re: DOCember Group Marathon 2019
« Reply #25 on: December 30, 2019, 06:50:27 PM »
Not Quite Hollywood: The Wild, Untold Story of Ozploitation! (2008) 72/100 - An interesting little documentary on the Australian film industry in the 70's & 80's. I would have loved to rate it higher, but the editing in the first 40 minutes or so is like it was done by a teenager drunk with caffeine after downing gallons of Dr. Pepper and direly in need of a sedative or Ritalin. Picture watching the Woodstock documentary edited to be shown as an MTV video. Quick cuts, using two separate screen images, rapid fire montages and talking heads popping in and out explaining what you are seeing. But you are not allowed enough time to absorb what you're watching, because it's on to the next film. It's this need to be flashy, coy and cute at the same time, that detracts from the viewer's experience. It finally settles in after about 45 minutes, and this is when the documentary gets interesting. I remember a few of these films back in the mid-80's when Cinemax would play them in the wee hours of the morning, filling out their daily schedule. It was the perfect time to watch one of these films, and though not all were good, every so often, you found a diamond in the rough. If you grew up on drive-in movies or late night cable schlock, then you'd probably be interested in this documentary. I know I wrote down at least half a dozen films for future perusal.
Masterpiece (100-91) | Classic (90-80) | Entertaining (79-69) | Mediocre (68-58) | Cinemuck (57-21) | Crap (20-0)

Bondo

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Re: DOCember Group Marathon 2019
« Reply #26 on: December 31, 2019, 12:06:26 AM »
This Changes Everything

First off, this isn't the documentary titled This Changes Everything that I was actually hoping to watch. There is a new one about women in the film industry. This however is a Naomi Klein-driven documentary about climate change. It starts with her musing that she is bored by most docs about climate change. That sets a high bar for this to clear that it does not. It does not, in fact, change anything, with its fairly standard approach to the issue, as combined with Klein's Shock Doctrine theory of mass capitalist conspiracy. Her main point seems to be that mass protest actions are what change everything, of which I am similarly dubious.

At first glance, what I though changes everything is to bill responses to climate change as not what you have to give up to avoid catastrophe but rather what a great world we could create using the new green technologies. Basically offer a better life, not a worse life, as a result of the response. But this doc is more about how we cannot do capitalism and sacrifices must be made. It tries to paint a positive element, but not in a way I think many people will really respond to.

Dave the Necrobumper

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Re: DOCember Group Marathon 2019
« Reply #27 on: December 31, 2019, 01:46:28 AM »
Not Quite Hollywood: The Wild, Untold Story of Ozploitation! (2008) 72/100 - An interesting little documentary on the Australian film industry in the 70's & 80's. I would have loved to rate it higher, but the editing in the first 40 minutes or so is like it was done by a teenager drunk with caffeine after downing gallons of Dr. Pepper and direly in need of a sedative or Ritalin. Picture watching the Woodstock documentary edited to be shown as an MTV video. Quick cuts, using two separate screen images, rapid fire montages and talking heads popping in and out explaining what you are seeing. But you are not allowed enough time to absorb what you're watching, because it's on to the next film. It's this need to be flashy, coy and cute at the same time, that detracts from the viewer's experience. It finally settles in after about 45 minutes, and this is when the documentary gets interesting. I remember a few of these films back in the mid-80's when Cinemax would play them in the wee hours of the morning, filling out their daily schedule. It was the perfect time to watch one of these films, and though not all were good, every so often, you found a diamond in the rough. If you grew up on drive-in movies or late night cable schlock, then you'd probably be interested in this documentary. I know I wrote down at least half a dozen films for future perusal.

And they were?

Antares

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Re: DOCember Group Marathon 2019
« Reply #28 on: December 31, 2019, 06:00:45 AM »
Not Quite Hollywood: The Wild, Untold Story of Ozploitation! (2008) 72/100 - An interesting little documentary on the Australian film industry in the 70's & 80's. I would have loved to rate it higher, but the editing in the first 40 minutes or so is like it was done by a teenager drunk with caffeine after downing gallons of Dr. Pepper and direly in need of a sedative or Ritalin. Picture watching the Woodstock documentary edited to be shown as an MTV video. Quick cuts, using two separate screen images, rapid fire montages and talking heads popping in and out explaining what you are seeing. But you are not allowed enough time to absorb what you're watching, because it's on to the next film. It's this need to be flashy, coy and cute at the same time, that detracts from the viewer's experience. It finally settles in after about 45 minutes, and this is when the documentary gets interesting. I remember a few of these films back in the mid-80's when Cinemax would play them in the wee hours of the morning, filling out their daily schedule. It was the perfect time to watch one of these films, and though not all were good, every so often, you found a diamond in the rough. If you grew up on drive-in movies or late night cable schlock, then you'd probably be interested in this documentary. I know I wrote down at least half a dozen films for future perusal.

And they were?

Fair Game, Long Weekend, Turkey Shoot, Road Games, Mad Dog Morgan, Patrick, Next of Kin, Stunt Rock & Snapshot
« Last Edit: December 31, 2019, 06:02:22 AM by Antares »
Masterpiece (100-91) | Classic (90-80) | Entertaining (79-69) | Mediocre (68-58) | Cinemuck (57-21) | Crap (20-0)

Dave the Necrobumper

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Re: DOCember Group Marathon 2019
« Reply #29 on: December 31, 2019, 10:58:34 AM »
Long Weekend is excellent, Road Games and Turkey Shoot are ok, Mad Dog Morgan is not good, but it does have Dennis Hooper in full blown drug and alcohol addiction (during the filming)

 

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