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Post by HELENA MARIA on Nov 24, 2019 19:19:08 GMT
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Post by Tommen_Saperstein on Nov 26, 2019 0:41:05 GMT
just finished last year's Sundance sensation Science Fair, which follows several students from around the world on their journey to compete at the 2017 International Science and Engineering Fair, in the process conveying the wonder of scientific inquiry from a unique perspective and the necessity in cultivating that spark in our education system. The documentary is fairly by-the-numbers as docs go, but these kids are so lovable and brilliant that I had a smile on my face from start to finish. The scope and variety of the projects is fascinating, ranging from psychological studies to flight technology to artificial intelligence and Zika research, and the fact these were all developed my highschoolers makes it that much more impressive. These kids are amazing.
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Post by pacinoyes on Nov 29, 2019 12:42:45 GMT
Leaving Neverland (re-watch) As we get to the end of the year I'm thinking this will make my top 10 (behind only Rolling Thunder Revue for docs). It is just a devastating film that does exactly what a documentary should - present it's POV, and lets what you are seeing settle and also providing contextual frame of reference. Left me gutted at the end and I guess there are people who don't like it but then again we all build our own truths don't we.......
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Post by Tommen_Saperstein on Dec 13, 2019 2:59:55 GMT
Jawline (2019) I find the grossly capitalistic world of influencer culture at once ceaselessly fascinating and demoralizing, whereas the boomers just want to pretend it doesn't exist. In Jawline, filmmaker Liza Mandelup seeks to navigate this world by juxtaposing the wide-eyed optimism of a Tennessee teen named Austyn Tester trying to escape his small-town roots through social media stardom against the dehumanizing business machinations in LA which turn adolescent needs to be seen, validated, and understood into dollars and cents. A solid documentary, though the best parts center around Mandelup's interviews with the teenage fangirls that make these boys so popular (the hugely overlooked factor in this equation) which hinted at ideas that should be explored further. The key to deconstructing this entire influencer culture is in understanding the demand that it's meeting, and how that demand stems from universal human needs for belonging and self-actualization, and that getting it through a screen is better than not getting it at all. 7.5/10
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Post by Deleted on Dec 16, 2019 3:25:34 GMT
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Post by isabelaolive on Dec 16, 2019 15:01:33 GMT
One Child Nation (2019) - 3.5/5
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Post by Tommen_Saperstein on Dec 21, 2019 1:04:30 GMT
just finished up Cold Case Hammarskjöld, the true crime doc out of 2019 Sundance. My review from Letterboxd:
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Post by Deleted on Dec 30, 2019 14:30:20 GMT
The immensity of his talent (recognized by more than just the LGBTQ community ) is just unparalleled in my mind.
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Post by cheesecake on Dec 30, 2019 19:36:41 GMT
Has anyone else watched Tell Me Who I Am? My parents recommended it to me and it left me very uncomfortable. It felt very artificial and off-putting.
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Post by Longtallsally on Dec 30, 2019 21:44:55 GMT
John Wayne, l'Amérique à tout prix (2019) - 7/10
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Post by pacinoyes on Jan 10, 2020 22:43:49 GMT
One Child Nation (2019) 8/10Absolutely devastating, gut-punch documentary that I assume will win this years Oscar but is a little iffy as a film in its full arc and how it's presented - instead it lays it on pretty thick because it kind of assumes you're rather stupid which I was about the policy etc. Not an easy watch........to say the least (on Amazon).
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Post by MsMovieStar on Jan 12, 2020 10:16:45 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Jan 12, 2020 18:19:36 GMT
Oh, dahlings... Every fashion editor today can only aspire to Diana Vreeland. MsMovieStar
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Post by MsMovieStar on Jan 12, 2020 19:55:51 GMT
Oh, dahlings... Every fashion editor today can only aspire to Diana Vreeland. MsMovieStar Oh honey, divine! As Dee-a-ahna would say. I loved her enthusiasm for everything. She inspired this scene with Kay Thompson in Funny Face (1957)
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Post by Mattsby on Jan 15, 2020 22:33:37 GMT
Honeyland (2019) - I wanna rate this a B just for the joke! but I'll go 8/10 or 9/10. "Cursed be the neighbors" as one character says. I actually didn't think I was going to like this - I wasn't expecting something this involving and well-done and funny. It's barely even about bees! It's in some ways a remarkable, mind-boggling achievement - a crew of four (two cameramen, two directors) filmed for 100 days in Macedonia over a 3-year period and they've carved out something quite this beautiful, interesting, deeply sad... With a quiet, observant camera, and an entire dramatic structure to it too. The feeling that some of it is "set up" goes away bc it seems to be played so honestly. The mother-daughter relationship reminded me of Grey Gardens - and the realism blended with poetic decoupage recalled for me Olmi or Taviani, but not a single review has mentioned those names, maybe it's a stretch...
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Post by pacinoyes on Jan 16, 2020 18:05:42 GMT
Killer Inside: The Mind Of Aaron Hernandez (2020) - 8/10 on Netflix
Fascinating, puzzle piece documentary that attempts to track the exact age where Hernandez broke off and snapped. This movie goes a long way to explain the football player and the man and tracing his problems back to when he was a boy - crucially at age 16 - where his sexuality, sense of loss and suffering and impending success form a dangerous mix.
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Post by Mattsby on Jan 18, 2020 1:34:35 GMT
Don't F**k With Cats: Hunting an Internet Killer (2019) - 7.5/10 Hate the title and really hate the last fifteen seconds. Otherwise, a very rapid, surprising, entertaining three-hour doc, it's oddly kinda funny too... Starts with a small group of people innocently looking for attention online, and then their borderline obsession.... unmasking a psychopath who craves a much different type of attention, going to ludicrous lengths to build up and simulate an image of himself that would resemble the pop culture icons and ideas he worships - and would kill for! - and then taunting those following his every move. Many levels to the disturbed, sickly narcissism here... Crazy that he gets caught while looking at his own mugshot! And earlier, the video of him, after committing the murder, checking himself out in the mirror...
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Post by pacinoyes on Jan 18, 2020 18:15:54 GMT
America's Great Divide - Frontline/PBS & Youtube (Free)Searing, detailed and insightful look at the years from Obama's end of term to the Trump era. This is actually smartly done with a legit POV and non-partisan too (mostly at least) - an up to the minute look at where we are now. 7.5/10
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Post by getclutch on Jan 22, 2020 19:18:16 GMT
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Post by getclutch on Jan 24, 2020 1:00:37 GMT
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Post by getclutch on Jan 24, 2020 20:04:12 GMT
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Javi
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Post by Javi on Jan 24, 2020 22:17:51 GMT
The Ted Bundy Tapes (2019) - Extremely watchable, but the subject matter gets most of the credit here. The whole idea of needing to put a face to Evil and Bundy denying you the pleasure by virtue of being faceless and unreadable is unsettling enough. You can't pin him down. Some threads get dropped: the link between a new type of serial killer and the emerging sexual freedom, or the bit about his father ("Unknown"). Maybe most disturbing of all is the extent to which he achieved his goal--to fascinate. And even the doc isn't sure how to grapple with this... is the fascination a viable subject or is it just a problem? There's some unfortunate horror movie trickery at times. Overall very good though.
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Post by getclutch on Jan 25, 2020 15:05:33 GMT
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Post by Tommen_Saperstein on Jan 25, 2020 19:23:32 GMT
For SamaThe kind of film that makes you feel like a voyeur. The pseudonymous Waad Al-Kateab documents her experiences living through the Battle of Aleppo while raising her daughter amidst the chaos. She points her lens on the Regime-perpetrated violence around her and the viewer is assaulted with intimate glimpses of dead children and grieving families; a mother carries her dead child through the streets while her other two young children try to make sense of it; two parents weep over the death of a daughter--an insider's look into the effects of Assad and Putin's warcrimes. There are joyful moments too; a garden full of growing plants, a festive wedding brimming with life and possibility, Waad gently singing her baby Sama to sleep, all leading up to Waad and her family's escape into the UK. The documentary is about that faint glimmer of humanity poking through the deep darkness of inhumanity, but it ends on a bittersweet note of callbacks to simpler better times before the airstrikes started, because the film is just as much about a failed uprising, those few seconds of political empowerment before it's all snatched away. Waad Al-Kateab's legacy for Sama is a tribute to an Aleppo that was and the people who fought and died to keep it. Can't wait to see this woman give her Oscar acceptance speech.
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Post by Tommen_Saperstein on Jan 25, 2020 19:55:47 GMT
btw I haven't seen anyone mention it yet and I know not many have seen it but the Anton Yelchin tribute doc Love, Antosha is really beautiful and moving. I've seen other tribute docs before and they can sometimes cross the line into obituary (the Ebert doc Life Itself for example), but Antosha more than anything is a meditation on cinema's ability to capture the imagination. It's closer to Listen to Me Marlon in how it documents the rigors of Yelchin's creative process and how he came alive through his art, and knowing how heavily his parents were involved in the process makes the project that much more special. It's their final eulogy for him and all us cinephiles will find a lot about his life to relate to. He had a real hunger. Pictured below is Yelchin with his mom. They apparently had a really sweet relationship. She shows us all the little love notes he wrote to her and the letters he wrote when he was older. I did cry a couple times because I'm a mama's boy too. Seriously watch it if you can, it's one of the best docs of 2019.
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