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Post by pacinoyes on Jul 29, 2020 16:49:55 GMT
Helmut Newton - The Bad and The Beautiful ~6.5/10
Starry, repetitive, light talk-fest that has one real zinger in it from Susan Sontag about how his photos humiliate women which opens up a whole discussion that Newton is sort of like Von Trier (or insert your bad boy provocateur of choice) .........and could have been a fascinating and entirely different movie ......but doesn't explore it in more than cursory way. What's here is lightly entertaining though........
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Post by pacinoyes on Aug 14, 2020 20:25:00 GMT
Cheating a little - I haven't seen this but I was just reading about it on Jeff Wells site and it's totally my thing. Comes out Aug 7th......whoo-hoooo Updating this as a reminder and a full trailer too: ~7/10 Creem : America's Only Rock N Roll Magazine - Fun, surface level documentary that helps to comprehend at least why the most disposable Rock music is often the most vital especially in the 70s..............This could have been even better as a miniseries........Dave Marsh comes off like such a tool it's hard to believe he worked for Creem........Michael Stipe even more so, which makes it hard to believe that for a while he had to be covered by them and not ignored.
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Post by MsMovieStar on Aug 14, 2020 20:45:34 GMT
Helmut Newton - The Bad and The Beautiful ~6.5/10 Starry, repetitive, light talk-fest that has one real zinger in it from Susan Sontag about how his photos humiliate women which opens up a whole discussion that Newton is sort of like Von Trier (or insert your bad boy provocateur of choice) .........and could have been a fascinating and entirely different movie ......but doesn't explore it in more than cursory way. What's here is lightly entertaining though........ Oh honey, we are quite capable are doing that ourselves with selfies. Haven't read any Sontag but in the doc Regarding Susan Sontag she was depicted as a horribly self-obsessed, pretentious, freeloader!
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Post by pacinoyes on Aug 19, 2020 18:36:52 GMT
MARTIN MARGIELA: IN HIS OWN WORDS (2019)~7.5/10 Kind of fascinating doc even if you don't care much about fashion - - and the reclusive genius talks - sort of like getting Garbo for your Garbo doc.....and there is much movie star-like about him and his mythology and a very unfashionable approach to fashion. He's a kind of artist in the sense that you aren't getting something functional but rather singular overtly through his creation and worldview (which is quite complex and inherently misunderstood by his avoiding the limelight). As Kanye said - what's drugs, my deala?/what's that jacket Margiela?.....well we should be so lucky.
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Post by stinkybritches on Aug 19, 2020 20:28:26 GMT
Jonas Mekas' NOTES ON AN AMERICAN FILM DIRECTOR AT WORK: MARTIN SCORSESE. Just Mekas' footage hanging with Marty on the set of THE DEPARTED:
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Post by Viced on Aug 19, 2020 21:28:53 GMT
Boys State (on Apple TV+)
Best of 2020 so far for me... and one of the best movies I've seen about politics tbh. Some great subjects (René MVP) and an eye-opening look at the younger generation and where the US is at overall right now (kind of).
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Post by isabelaolive on Aug 19, 2020 23:01:15 GMT
In the last two months I watched a lot of documentaries, fortunately most were good, only one disappointment (Life in a day) and several surprises. The times of Harvey Milk – 4/5
I already knew who Harvey Milk was because I had already watched Milk, that movie with Sean Penn, but I was never interested in knowing more about him, I thought that watching the film had been enough. But in the last few months I started to get interested in documentaries about activists and lgbtq + personalities and this documentary was always recommended to me, I even saw that the film won the Oscar for Best Documentary in 85 and I decided to watch it. I thought it was an excellent documentary, it even changed my opinion about Sean's performance as Milk, now I even think he deserved to win that year instead of Rurkey. Stonewall Uprising – 3/5
Average, I watched it just because it was the only documentary about Stonewall I could find, I found it illuminating in some points (for example, it clarified some doubts I had about who "threw the first brick during the revolt" or about the fact that the Stonewall bar it wasn’t exactly a welcoming place created to support and give shelter to the lgbt + people of that time (which many people nowadays think it was) but still I thought it left something to be desired. How to survive a plague – 4/5Again, I wasn't really interested in watching this documentary, but I wanted to know more about the AIDS crisis and this was one of the first ones I found, and it was like watching a class! Excellent documentary, I had no idea of the neglect with which AIDS patients were treated at the time and how almost everything was achieved thanks to activists not only in NY, but in other countries / cities that used the same tactics for the government to invest more in research and making medicines available. And in this documentary I came across several names that I had heard about but didn't know why they were relevant, like Larry Kramer, for example. Cameraperson – 3/5Well, I liked the proposal of the film and they had several touching moments, but in general it did not impress me. The Cave – 3/5It is good, but it is not very enlightening about the situation in Syria and why this is happening, I know that the main objective is to focus on the work of doctors, staff and volunteers at the hospital, but it could have gone a little deeper. I found an inferior version of 'For Sama'. 13th – 4/5Very good, it clarified many of my doubts about the US prison system and the punitive logic that society imposes, despite being about US racial and economic issues, much of what is addressed also applies to what happens in other countries, including here in Brazil. The Cove – 3/5Good, but considering that everyone always recommends me and even won an Oscar, I expected something better, it is quite revolting even, but I didn't think it was very deep. Chasing Trane – 3/5I watched it out of curiosity, I always wanted to learn more about Jazz and I thought it looked interesting, every Jazz fan always talks about Coltrane, I found it interesting and I was surprised to already know some of his songs, but maybe I would have liked it more if I already had more background about the history of Jazz in general. Paris is Burning – 4/5I had watched it before, but had left it in half, I decided to finish it and I found it more enlightening than when I first watched it a few years ago, since before I didn't even know what ball culture was or understood about the lgbt scene in the USA . I was surprised at how much of today's jargons used among young people (millennials), fashion and music was influenced by this culture, I swore that Madonna had invented the 'voguing' . I thought it was very good, a pity that most of the people that appear in the documentary are not even more alive today. Hoop Dreams – 3/5Good, but a little too long. Very enlightening about how the sports scholarship system works for students and university students in the USA, curious how all kinds of talent are always hampered by institutions. Disclosure – 3/5Good, I just found it a little shallow. I liked the beginning where it talks about the first representations (direct or indirect) of trans people in cinema and TV, several films that I had never heard of entered my watchlist. I understood better why heterosexual actors playing gay characters are not seen as problematic as heterosexual cis actors playing transgender people. Howard – 3/5I liked it, as a person who loves Disney animated films and their songs, it was an exciting documentary, but I found it disappointing that most of the videos and audios in the documentary are the same ones that had already been used in 'Waking Sleeping Beauty', for whoever had watched it like me, ended up not being a very useful or informative documentary. The Booksellers – 3/5Again, another documentary that addresses an interesting topic in a shallow way. Even though it only took 1h30, it could have gone deeper into the topic, in the end it ended up being a random compilation of bibliophiles, salespeople, collectors and writers pouring out random information about the literary industry and about some notable personalities in the field of selling rare books. But I still liked it, I met some interesting people I had never heard of before. Pavarotti – 4/5Great, at least for me, a person with zero knowledge about classical music or opera, I found it very good. I already knew that this Pavarotti was very famous, but his impact was greater than I thought. Finding Vivian Maier – 4/5 One of the most touching films I watched this year. I had never heard of Vivian Maier until I found this documentary while looking randomly on the Internet, I decided to watch it since I had never seen anything about photography despite loving the subject, and what a fantastic and enigmatic life she had! Every time I see stories like this, I think of how many great artists got lost out there, never having been discovered or received the deserved recognition. Too bad she was only discovered after she died, but maybe it was better that way ... Curious that after I finished watching the documentary, I went to google and found out that I had seen several pictures taken by her, randomly over the internet, without knowing ...
Robin Williams: Come inside my mind – 4/5Like most documentaries about personalities who died tragically, it is quite emotionally manipulative, but I still liked it. Although I love Williams, I know very little about his career, I was even surprised to find out that he had drug problems early in his career (although, let's face it, which celebrities from the 70s/80s didn't?)
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Post by Mattsby on Aug 22, 2020 18:25:57 GMT
Boys State (2020) 8/10. I liked this a lot more than I thought I would, it's totally engaging, very funny at times (Robert is like a dolt out of Linklater or American Vandal, I'm half-assuming they wrote some of those lines for him), with some revealing pockets of crueler behavior (like against Rene), and definitely emotional too by the end. Steven is the man. Well put together, almost Fincheresque in its tenser edited scenes.
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Post by Tommen_Saperstein on Aug 22, 2020 20:59:59 GMT
reposting from Janurary because we're over halfway through 2020 and this doc still has less than 1000 votes on IMDb. 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.
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Post by cheesecake on Aug 23, 2020 16:36:32 GMT
Boys State (2020). Born in the U.S.A. continues to be played on any and all campaign trails.
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Post by MsMovieStar on Aug 28, 2020 13:23:41 GMT
Such a very personal and painful documentary on the painter Arshile Gorky, who commited suicide. The last few months of his life he was totally overtaken by obstacles. It was made by his grandaughter and featured Gorky's widow & his two daughters. There seems to be a lot of tension and underlying recriminations, besides the full story of how he came about being an artist. For some strange reason it reminded me of Woody Allen's September. The aftermath of Gorky's suicide clearly wrecked lives. 9/10
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Post by stinkybritches on Sept 1, 2020 14:03:08 GMT
Streetwise (1984, Martin Bell). Excellent "street kids" doc:
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Post by Mattsby on Sept 6, 2020 16:13:03 GMT
Coup 53 (2020) 7.5 or 8. I came to this bc of the legendary, literally genius Walter Murch who is editor and "co-writer" here. He had 532 hours of material to mine, worked that into a 9 hour functional assembly cut, then whittled it finally down to a little under 2 hours. It's an info-packed, thrilling doc - a history lesson that unfolds a bit like a David Fincher mystery. This Iranian coup seems to carry an almost fathomless and terrifying weight of lasting global impact. I also really liked how we get a peek behind the filmmaking process itself (at one point they are watching a scene from the doc we've already seen). There's also a surprise appearance by a great actor who gives a dryly shady "performance."
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Post by Mattsby on Sept 10, 2020 16:55:24 GMT
The Social Dilemma (2020) Netflix. Idk how to rate docs really, I try to but to me they don't work, work, or really work. This one didn't work for me at all. Despite all the tech personnel, the subjects aren't that illuminating and the doc pov is condescending.... especially the fictional scenes that are inept and very cheesy.
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Post by Tommen_Saperstein on Sept 11, 2020 3:21:43 GMT
The Social Dilemma (2020) Netflix. Idk how to rate docs really, I try to but to me they don't work, work, or really work. This one didn't work for me at all. Despite all the tech personnel, the subjects aren't that illuminating and the doc pov is condescending.... especially the fictional scenes that are inept and very cheesy. Just finished this now. Generally didn't have a problem with the film's thesis or interview footage but jeeeeezus those fictional scenes were so misguided and PSA-level cheesy. To the point that it really undermines the whole film. What a stupid idea. I'm glad most docs don't do that, at least not to that fucking extent. Practically half the movie...
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Post by cheesecake on Sept 13, 2020 3:54:19 GMT
Very amateurish and tonally all over the place. That final shot is just
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Post by cheesecake on Sept 13, 2020 18:09:16 GMT
The Social Dilemma (2020) Netflix. Idk how to rate docs really, I try to but to me they don't work, work, or really work. This one didn't work for me at all. Despite all the tech personnel, the subjects aren't that illuminating and the doc pov is condescending.... especially the fictional scenes that are inept and very cheesy. You and Tommen_Saperstein weren't kidding. I've never been a fan of reenactments ( The Imposter was one of the worst offenders of this for me), but the approach of this may have been even worse. Couldn't get over the Pete from Mad Men stuck in Inside Out shit.
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Post by pacinoyes on Sept 15, 2020 2:54:14 GMT
All The Colors of Giallo (2019) - 7/10
Amateurish, talking head doc that fascinates like the genre anyway........starting off with the pulp books and drifting to German Krimi films before striking blood with Bava, Argento, Fulci - this movie peaks with those 3 and spins off them.......Fulci (jealously) disses Argento as "a craftsman who sees himself as an artist" but Argento and his work looms awfully large over everyone else here (and is interviewed too). Last half features Aldo Lado, Umberto Lenzi, Sergio Martino .......lots of good tips for movies - though lots of these get spoiled .......it's great fun hearing them discuss Fulci's "The Psychic" (1977) as rapturously as they do here......I may need to re-watch!
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Post by Tommen_Saperstein on Sept 15, 2020 19:03:28 GMT
first half of September has been very doc-heavy for me. Some great stuff, some middling stuff Boys State (2020) - Interesting little piece about Texas youth. Pretty dramatic but ultimately frustrating. I recognized these kinds of kids from my own adolescence. Some might be the next Obama, but most the next Ted Cruz. Racism, sexism, political polarization and underhanded party tricks marches on into a new generation. A Secret Love (2020) - Sweet but light doc about a decades-long lesbian relationship. Goes for the heartstrings, sometimes gets there. You feel the weight of these two incredibly long lives lived interconnected and devoted to each other. Central conflict involves the old lovers finally getting married and having to relocate out of their old house and move closer to family in the twilight years. The Social Dilemma (2020) - There's already been talk about this one. The dramatizations completely undercut whatever Orlowski was going for. The doc undermines itself. Orlwoski is known for the environmental docs Chasing Ice and Chasing Coral (both pretty impactful) but this one feels like an artistic misstep. The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution (2015) - Mostly an educational primer, somewhat light and also divisive in its representations of some of the Panther leadership. What makes this worth seeing is that it's almost all based on figures that were directly involved on both sides of the race conflicts (cops and FBI agents are interviewed too). Long story short, J. Edgar Hoover was a diiiick. Whores' Glory (2011) - Now THIS was something else. Gritty, enlightening, sobering. German documentarian Michael Glawogger takes the viewer on a journey through the world's brothels, starting in Thailand and then moving over to Bangladesh and ending in Mexico. One or two segments feels staged (including one potentially-exploitative moment that features an entire sexual transaction in closeup) but ultimately it feels like an authoritative and candid representation of these lives on the periphery in humanity's oldest profession. The women are all compelling characters and Glawogger's lens is inquisitive and never judgmental, and leaves enough room for the viewer to form their own opinions. De Palma (2015) - Didn't do much for me. I appreciate that the entire doc was just De Palma talking about his movies and career. No other interviews, no audible questions, no other perspectives from anyone else--just one auteur grappling with his own canon from the beginning to present. I'm not much of a De Palma fan and because the segments play like mini-commentary reels, I only found myself drawn to De Palma's thoughts on the films I enjoyed (namely Carrie and Blow Out). What Happened, Miss Simone? (2015) - Affecting biodoc about the singer and civil rights activist. Features archival footage of some electrifying performances. I've only heard a couple of Simone's songs but this doc definitely made me want to check out more of her stuff. Devastating and soulful music. I wish the doc had focused a bit more on her mental health. Felt superficial. We hear scattered bits of pieces about her bipolar disorder and abusiveness from different sources but we're left to put the together ourselves and to imagine how racism exacerbated those problems. Undefeated (2012) - Winner of the 2011 Oscar for best documentary. To read the premise doesn't prepare you for the roller coaster of emotions that is this film. Sentimental but in a way that feels totally earned. Features a lot of speechifying like the kind you see in sports movies, but it resonates here because these are real people putting their heart and soul into their work. When the end of the season comes and the coach is hugging one of his players and they're crying together... you feel that.
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tobias
Full Member
Posts: 824
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Post by tobias on Sept 17, 2020 23:18:12 GMT
The Sorrow and the Pity (1969) which I enjoyed a lot for it's nuance.
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Post by Tommen_Saperstein on Sept 23, 2020 19:30:31 GMT
I think surely the most interesting docs are the ones that profile extraordinary people (and preferably ones that feature still-living subjects instead of having to rely on archival footage and secondhand takes). I saw Marwencol earlier this year and was totally struck by Mark Hogancamp's tragic and beautiful story and fell in love with Bill Cunningham New York (2011) for similar reasons. It's impossible not to adore this man; a scrappy self-effacing fashion-loving street photographer who seems to radiate pure joy wherever he goes. Cunningham passed away in 2016 just a few years after the film's release but he's so full of life here. A truly beautiful and egalitarian soul. @tyler , you might be interested for the fashion element if you haven't seen this yet. Anna Wintour makes an appearance and Michael Kors at one point. Lots of clothes talk, lots of beautiful pictures!
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Post by Mattsby on Sept 24, 2020 17:18:13 GMT
Warming by the Devil's Fire (2003) 6/10. It's actually a docudrama but part of The Blues doc-series, directed by Charles Burnett, it's a good idea but executed kinda messily and cheaply, surprisingly since among its producers are Scorsese and Alex Gibney. But we do get a lot of great music and archive perfs... Muddy, Howlin, Lightnin, Sonny Boy, Sister Rosetta, Jelly Roll etc.
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Post by Mattsby on Sept 30, 2020 20:31:27 GMT
Hopper/Welles (2020) One drawback while watching is a technical thing, that Welles who isn’t ever on screen also sounds a bit muffled and far away. Otherwise this is a pretty interesting very small doc-convo. Welles as Oz behind the curtain, projecting ideas and prodding Hopper, the latest cinematic revolutionary, that spot Welles once knew so well. It’s less My Dinner With Andre and more like Scorsese’s American Boy and even a bit of A Pure Formality as Welles keeps trying to break Hopper (“It seems you are not willing to admit anything”). Some interesting topics, magic vs miracle, Jesus vs Hamlet, the efficacy of cinema vs their personal burdens. Hopper who’s in every shot has never been as charming, ever. Welles drops some gems, he has a great sarcastic bit about how he enters the editing room as the enemy and “can’t wait to take out a beautiful shot.” The very best quip is when Hopper asks if “God is into sex?” and Welles quick says “Well about two thousand years ago he knocked up a little Jewish girl and they’ve been talking about it ever since.”
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Post by Mattsby on Oct 7, 2020 16:58:14 GMT
It's All True (1993) - Another essential pic for Orson Welles fans. Gives a quick but good idea of his insane work ethic, how RKO screwed him over, and his ambitious docudramatic concept for this 1941 unfinished three-part film on Latin America. But the big surprise is how this also plays like an introduction, some needed context, to what is actually a presentation of a feature film by Welles - Four Men on a Raft - that is 48 minutes long and really beautifully done.
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Post by pacinoyes on Oct 24, 2020 18:05:17 GMT
White Riot (2019/2020) - ~8/10
Quite good UK Punk Rock history lesson and The Clash fellating doc - they come off like The Beatles here - that not only provides context but also some queasy context (ie how non-racist punks were fascinated by and used swastikas etc. in their fashion with a complete lack of understanding of the effect).
A lot of great music here .......and a snapshot of a scene (or multiple scenes) that didn't know how big they were......
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