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Post by Deleted on Jun 8, 2020 3:31:10 GMT
MsMovieStar - Oh honey, I would think Papa Kelly's pockets had something to do with Rainier choosing Grace over Marilyn, too - the dowry was reportedly $2 million. I do know that Onassis wanted to meet Ava Gardner and had Princess Grace set it up - it didn't end well.
Oh honey, I never knew that. There was a dowry?
I can't imagine Ava being tied like that. She was a free spirit. Onassis & Ava - not her type at all. How did it end?
She had dinner with him in Monaco, but didn't find him appealing at all. It was a very early night.
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Post by cheesecake on Jun 8, 2020 16:27:04 GMT
Amy (2015)I went to watch this documentary almost blind, the most I knew about Amy was that I remembered seeing news about her death in 2011 (but I didn't care much) and hearing 'Rehab' often on the radio and that's it. When she passed away I was 13 years old, so I wasn't very close to music and for me Amy Winehouse was just a name. The documentary is yet another example of artists exploited by family and so-called 'friends' ... There are several artists who claim to write 'personal' songs, but I think this was never as real as in Amy case, before watching the documentary I never saw anything too much in the depressive lyrics of her songs, after all, depression nowadays is something that sells and several artists adopt this 'sad-girl' image, but after knowing about how and why she had problems with alcohol and drugs, the songs look more like a cry for help. The documentary could have been better, I thought it was good but not too deep, but it was satisfactory as an introduction to someone who knew nothing about Amy's life. After watching this documentary I will probably spend hours listening to her songs on Youtube. I loved her style. I agree that it wasn't very deep and I found it all rather surface level. What really struck me is them presenting her life as being exploited by not only her family and friends, but also the media -- but then the documentary used all that footage from paparazzi of her body being removed at the end. Didn't sit right with me.
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Post by cheesecake on Jun 8, 2020 16:28:58 GMT
Horror Noire: A History of Black Horror (2019) - 6/10. Has the effort of your average dvd extra. It's a fine overview but feels lacking in research or thoroughness, more examples etc, and completely ignores television. Fascinating topic though... made me wanna see Blacula. I was curious about this.
Did you see In Search of Darkness?
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Post by Mattsby on Jun 8, 2020 19:30:43 GMT
Horror Noire: A History of Black Horror (2019) - 6/10. Has the effort of your average dvd extra. It's a fine overview but feels lacking in research or thoroughness, more examples etc, and completely ignores television. Fascinating topic though... made me wanna see Blacula. I was curious about this.
Did you see In Search of Darkness?
I haven't! What a great roster of interviewees. Also, 4 and 1/2 hours - that's more like it!
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Post by Mattsby on Jun 8, 2020 19:36:30 GMT
Be Water (2020) at least 8/10 for me. Premiered at Sundance before last night's ESPN release. I haven't seen the other Bruce Lee docs - pacinoyes maybe has? This one covers a lot and very sensitively and with great contextual arranging around Lee's identity and celebrity and philosophy. Also no talking heads, so we get a lot of great archive footage....
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Post by pacinoyes on Jun 8, 2020 20:04:13 GMT
Dying to see Be Water - not only have I never seen a particularly good Bruce Lee doc but they almost all are talking heads heavy. I'm dying to find any that gives insight into his WONG JACK MAN 1964 fight in particular which would be a great "mythical" movie all on its own.......that particular stuff fascinates me. As little pacinoyes - or as I was known then "the cranky little dragon" -I had a book on him that went into details of that fight and I cherished that thing beyond belief.....
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Post by cheesecake on Jun 8, 2020 21:30:15 GMT
I was curious about this.
Did you see In Search of Darkness?
I haven't! What a great roster of interviewees. Also, 4 and 1/2 hours - that's more like it! It's kind of a glorified clip show, but for lovers of the genre there are some nice interviews and it may put the spotlight on some lesser seen films. The poster is fantastic.
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Post by Tommen_Saperstein on Jun 17, 2020 23:19:59 GMT
been watching Frederick Wiseman recently. I watched both Ex Libris: The New York Public Library and At Berkeley a few days ago and Monrovia, Indiana (2018) yesterday, this last being A LOT shorter then both those others at 2 hours and 26 minutes but it feels much longer. The films are relentlessly, almost gruelingly, dedicated to establishing a sense of place so watching them makes you feel like your visiting these locales yourself, although what Monrovia lacks what the other two have is a semblance of narrative thru-line. Even though At Berkeley and Ex Libris are geographically specific you can apply the broad concepts they explore (information and education access, tuition costs, historical revisionism, technological advance, hunger for knowledge) universally, but life moves a lot slower in the agrarian farm town of Monrovia, Indiana, and Wiseman doesn't capture much of interest there (not my interest anyways). Peppered throughout the intercut images of pig and cattle farmers herding their animals into pens, tractors rolling through fields and pickup trucks driving down a quiet mainstreet, Wiseman peppers in disconnected moments including full-length meetings at both a church and a masonic lodge. One gets the sense that Wiseman is just documenting things that capture his fancy, and that didn't feel like the case in those other docs. If the intent was to get an intimate glance at small town America, the doc is occasionally fascinating but ultimately a reminder of why young people leave these kinds of towns in droves: it's boring as fuck! If there's beauty to be found (and surely there is), Wiseman's direct cinema either doesn't find it or doesn't make it accessible.
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coop032
Full Member
Choose life.
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Post by coop032 on Jun 18, 2020 3:05:15 GMT
Scream, Queen! My Nightmare on Elm Street. THought it was pretty good.
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Post by Tommen_Saperstein on Jun 25, 2020 1:09:04 GMT
Ukraine Is Not a Brothel (2013)At which point does transgressive radical feminist protest mutate into disempowering and dangerous patriarchal corporate sideshow? Such is the question posed by Kitty Green's documentary, investigating the controversial feminist organization FEMEN and turning over more than a few stones in the process. The answer: one too many roosters in the henhouse. The paradox at play here is really fascinating: a patriarchal bully, who by all appearances is also an abusive sexist, is in charge of a feminist organization protesting patriarchy. Green's picks at the scab of these contradictions and paradoxes by interviewing FEMEN's members (even the leader himself towards the end) and uncovers some deep rot both the culture these women are struggling against and in the organization itself which puts its own members at danger and discriminates based on appearance (it's chilling to hear the organization's male leader instructing his protesters to fight back police with sticks when ten minutes previously one of the girls recounts to Green's camera a degrading and dehumanizing run-in they had had with KGB officers in the woods). The lines blur and Green comes perilously close to negating her own title (itself one of FEMEN's slogans). Ukraine is a brothel, at least the Ukraine of this doc, in which even women in feminist organizations are slaves to a profit-based patriarchal system which reduces their bodies to products (there's another scene where one of the girls describes how a trip to Turkey was financed by an anonymous man in the lingerie industry... gross). Money always wins, and men are the ones with all the money. The group moved to France apparently. This intent to emigrate appears too in the doc, only increasing the sense that Kitty Green really was at the right place at the right time to capture this group's crisis of identity. Apparently this guy Victor is no longer in charge either--that's nice. In a lot of ways then Green's doc is already outdated but to me that makes it even more interesting, because in a small way she captured a small slice of fascinating history and she went straight to the source.
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Post by cheesecake on Jun 25, 2020 5:07:35 GMT
Athlete A.
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Post by Mattsby on Jun 27, 2020 17:20:06 GMT
Ballad of the Little Soldier (1984) 46min from Herzog whose running commentary gives this dangerous little doc a journalistic turn. A lot of affecting, pained close-ups of these faces...
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Post by cheesecake on Jun 29, 2020 15:54:32 GMT
Disclosure (2020). Very informative and fascinating look at the power and importance of positive representation in the media.
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Post by fiosnasiob on Jul 1, 2020 11:52:12 GMT
The life and big family's pressure of single women in China, brillantly done.
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Post by Mattsby on Jul 5, 2020 16:59:06 GMT
The Resurrection of Jake the Snake (2015) - 7/10. Before my time, I didn't know much about this once very famous wrestler. This is a pained and affecting little doc about the levels and failures of recovery - personally, physically, publicly. Unlike a snake, he can't simply shed his childhood trauma, his dug addictions, his boggy shape. It's a complicated process as the filmmakers themselves are sort of both his savior and at times captor..... He seems to have deeper psychological issues that can't be solved or sweated out, but they try, especially Diamond Dallas Page who shares his home and mentors the man who was once, mightier, his own mentor.
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Post by Tommen_Saperstein on Jul 9, 2020 3:36:53 GMT
rewatch of Deep Water (2006), the doc about Donald Crowhurst's doomed participation in the 1968 Golden Globe round-the-world boat race. Surprised at how well this holds up. In fact I probably like it more now than when I saw it a few years ago. Crowhurst's tragic voyage is instantly dramatic and theatrical. The story of an ill-prepared idealist and wannabe adventurer who bit off more than he could chew. Faced with his own shame and financial ruin if he gave up, Crowhurst signed his death warrant in deciding to undertake the gargantuan task of faking his log books to make it appear that he had sailed around the world when in fact he never got out of the mid-Atlantic--an undertaking that drove him mad in the middle of the ocean. His remaining log books (some quite deranged) and cassette tape recordings leave more than enough to piece together this tragic misadventure, and the doc weaves together the remaining pieces with firsthand interviews with primary sources, including Crowhurst's wife and children and the news and businessmen who held a stake in the man's story. The doc still watches very well even though dated in some respects (some cheesy lightning effects, some obvious musical cues) but nothing major. Certainly nothing to detract from the inherently gripping nature of this tale of mental illness, loneliness, shame, and madness on the open sea. Narrated by the lovely voice of Tilda Swinton.
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Post by JangoB on Jul 9, 2020 12:42:43 GMT
Spike Lee's 4 Little Girls - the story itself is haunting and powerful as it is but some of Lee's signature touches (music, vivid editing style, the use of various film stocks) help to make the documentary more than a simple retelling of the events. Good stuff.
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Post by cheesecake on Jul 10, 2020 8:57:27 GMT
Rewind (2020). Unflinching, uncomfortable and tragic retelling of childhood abuse and trauma. I'm amazed the director was able to reopen those wounds but hopefully this helps to start a conversation and bring about more change -- such as the advocacy centre that was created from his experience with the court process. The stats at the end stating 15% of children will be abused before the age of 18 was such a gut-punch.
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Post by Tommen_Saperstein on Jul 11, 2020 1:24:50 GMT
two today on Kanopy Marwencol (2010). The most Herzogian doc Herzog never made. This story is crazy. An endlessly fascinating and beautiful tribute imagination as a means of coping with trauma and anxiety as examined through the experiences of an oddball on the periphery of society and sanity. The way it was filmed using DVCAM video and Super-8 formats gives it a rawness and intimacy that make it feel like a lost discovery of the late 90s and give it a breathtaking sense of rawness and intimacy. This guy is something else. Crazy Horse (2011). Fourth Wiseman this year, there will be others. Felt conflicted about this one. Lots of interesting fly on the wall footage of the cabaret performances themselves and the numerous preparations/discussions/rehearsals going on behind the curtain, but you have to reconcile the stylishness and fun of the performances with the very real presence of objectification throughout parts of the doc. Features an audition process in which a trans-performer is rejected because they "don't hire transsexuals" and where the rest of the hopefuls are chosen based on their measurements. The show purports to celebrate feminine power and beauty but only a specific and limited kind of feminine beauty determined mostly by men.
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Post by cheesecake on Jul 13, 2020 4:31:48 GMT
two today on Kanopy Marwencol (2010). The most Herzogian doc Herzog never made. This story is crazy. An endlessly fascinating and beautiful tribute imagination as a means of coping with trauma and anxiety as examined through the experiences of an oddball on the periphery of society and sanity. The way it was filmed using DVCAM video and Super-8 formats gives it a rawness and intimacy that make it feel like a lost discovery of the late 90s and give it a breathtaking sense of rawness and intimacy. This guy is something else. Huge fan of this. Raising Hope actually introduced me to it because one of the characters became obsessed with it and was making his own little village. If it wasn't for Exit Through the Gift Shop this would be my win. Never did get around to the movie version...
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Post by cheesecake on Jul 13, 2020 4:33:39 GMT
Mucho Mucho Amor. Walter Mercado being a character for Snatch Game on Drag Race recently really put him back in the zeitgeist. Solid little documentary obviously made with a lot of love.
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Post by Tommen_Saperstein on Jul 15, 2020 0:18:46 GMT
Huge fan of this. Raising Hope actually introduced me to it because one of the characters became obsessed with it and was making his own little village. If it wasn't for Exit Through the Gift Shop this would be my win. Never did get around to the movie version... I remember it being namedropped when trailers for the Zemeckis movie were dropping (probably by you or stephen) so it hasn't been on my radar long but I'm glad I checked it out. I loved the hell out of this doc. It's such a strange and wonderful story, and the way it was filmed is such a lo-fi way. Honestly looks like an early youtube vlog and it feels so personal as a result. Haven't seen Exit Through the Giftshop yet and I hear great things but it'd have to be really, reeeeaaallly good to unseat this one. can't wait to check out Mucho Mucho Amour. Glad you liked that one.
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Javi
Badass
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Post by Javi on Jul 24, 2020 23:59:52 GMT
Into the Inferno (2016) - Herzog's warm reminder that ash and magma shall engulf us all. Volcanoes are the excuse; impermanence the theme. But what a gloriously shot excuse, lava flowing like a heraclitean acid trip. Doc begins in Vanuatu with the crew worried Herzog will try and launch them inside the volcano. (They have reason to worry). I've always loved Herzog's nonfiction more than his fiction—his Bavarian demons are more endearing in this format (they truly do run free). Here he's after the demonology, the mythology of fire across cultures and time. There's even room for fun like the bit in Ethiopia (birthplace of the species) starring a few overly excited fossil hunters. Another segment is about the poetry of Iceland—as tied to volcanic activity as Westerns to the Far West. Best in show is the chapter on North Korea. You get an exasperated Herzog dealing with the official Korean version of history: spanning less than a century, a grotesque anthropomorphization of a volcanic myth through Kim Il-sung worship. North Korea commits the Herzogian cardinal sin of fancying itself an eternal country. This he will not abide. Meanwhile, in Vanuatu, the people await the arrival of "John Frum", the prophesied messiah who is to bring chewing gum and all sorts of consumer goods to the region... you cannot make this stuff up, not even Herzog.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jul 25, 2020 13:25:52 GMT
Obsessed.
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Post by pacinoyes on Jul 25, 2020 16:28:10 GMT
Flannery (2020) - ~ 7/10 Somewhat prosaic but if you like her work and want to celebrate it this a good way to pass the time. Tommy Lee Jones and some others pop up to praise her and it gently examines the contradictions in her work........if you are Southern.....or like Southern Gothic stories or you like to read at all actually .........it's worth a watch.
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