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Showing posts with the label documentary

THE POLKA KING - REVIEW

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Based on the true story of polka band leader Jan Lewan, The Polka King is a new comedy released by Netflix starring Jack Black, Jenny Slate and Jason Schwartzman. The film follows the rise and fall of Lewan, who was convicted for running a Ponzi scheme in the early 2000's. Jack Black is in familiar territory here playing a likeable, well-meaning yet off-beat and troubled character based on a real person like he did in the underrated 2011 film Bernie . This story, however, isn't so much dark as it is fascinatingly ridiculous: the idea that a little-known Polish polka singer in Pennsylvania somehow convinced a lot of people to invest in him for years is so surreal that it's ripe for parody. Black could have easily turned this role into a Nacho Libre -style cartoon but, even though he puts on an impossible accent here, he still captures what made this guy so appealing to others and shows different sides to his personality. Most of the time, Lewan is friendly and generous

JIM & ANDY: THE GREAT BEYOND - REVIEW

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Released on Netflix this month, Jim & Andy: The Great Beyond is a documentary revealing actor Jim Carrey's unusual behaviour on the set of Man On The Moon as he appeared to embody the spirit of ground-breaking comedian Andy Kaufman both on and off camera. A bushy-beard Jim Carrey is interviewed on the subject and this is intercut with actual footage gathered back in 1999 during Man On The Moon's production. We meet a Carrey completely committed to "be" Andy Kaufman (or the typically aloof Tony Clifton) from start to finish confusing just about everyone from cast-members to director Milos Forman. With the help of Kaufman's partner in crime Bob Zmuda, Carrey keeps this method acting train going no matter what, staging stunts at the Playboy Mansion, with the crew and reporters in the process. One staged incident, for example, sees him getting seemingly gravely injured while filming a wrestling scene in the film and getting carried out on a stretcher. The a

INTO THE INFERNO - REVIEW

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After taking a general, critical look at the pros and cons of the Internet in Lo & Behold: Reveries Of The Connected World , which also came out this year, Werner Herzog turns back to nature to focus on volcanoes. Released through Netflix, Into The Inferno  presents itself as sort of a follow-up to Herzog's own documentary Encounters At The End Of The World since that's where he first met volcanologist Clive Oppenheimer who appears in and co-directs this latest outing. The film takes a look specifically at active volcanoes and how their isolated life affects the people living around them. The real theme explored here being the spiritual impact left by nature and Man's need to attach a higher meaning to his mysterious, timeless surroundings. Typically, the documentary isn't predictable as Herzog travels the world not only looking at volcanoes themselves, capturing beautiful images in the process, but also reflecting on significant events in history relating to

FOR THE LOVE OF SPOCK - REVIEW

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Partly a project started by Adam Nimoy and his father focused on the Spock character's conception and cinematic journey, partly a crowdfunded homage to the late actor, For The Love Of Spock is a new documentary tribute with a lot to say and a lot of heart. Chronicling the impact of Star Trek , the birth of Spock and the ups and downs of Leonard Nimoy's career, the film takes great care to touch upon different aspects of the actor's journey from his films to his family life, other interests like directing, theatre or photography and what he and his iconic character means to the fans. A lot of emphasis is put into showing how all kinds of fans have gravitated towards the stoic Vulcan from the 60's to today as we get interviews from cosplayers, celebrities (Neil deGrasse Tyson, Jason Alexander) and NASA employees who all explain what the character means to them. Of course, the key members from the Original Series' cast are all there to talk about on and off-set s

LO AND BEHOLD: REVERIES OF THE CONNECTED WORLD - REVIEW

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Director Werner Herzog takes a general yet focused look at the pros and cons of the internet in new documentary Lo And Behold: Reveries Of The Connected World . Told through a series of chapters, Lo And Behold is exactly what you'd expect from a Werner Herzog documentary as the soothing-voiced filmmaker learns about the internet's origins before exploring the impressive technological and scientific advances made possible by being connected to a worldwide network but also the people negatively affected by this seemingly boundless medium. Not one to really impose his own opinions on the audience, Herzog makes sure to show different sides of the equation and leaves the professionals to do the talking when it comes to the more technical stuff. We see how education can reach a greater number of people nowadays but we also see how insensitive anonymous people online can be, we touch upon robotics and space travel but we also meet young gamers dealing with addiction whose lives o

BERNIE - VIDEO REVIEW

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Here's the video version of my Bernie review.

GHOSTBUSTERS: REMAKED

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Remaker Alan Aalda talks about his remake of the Ghostbusters remake, among other things, in this potential new series. Did you enjoy this video? Would you like this to be a continuing series? And if so, should Alan remake Jumanji or Star Wars: The Force Awakens next?  Please let me know in the comments!

THE DEATH OF SUPERMAN LIVES: WHAT HAPPENED? - REVIEW

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One of the most fascinating unmade Hollywood movies has to be Superman Lives , a 90's Superman movie which would have starred Nicolas Cage as the DC hero and would have been directed by Tim Burton of all people. The Death Of Superman Lives is a crowdfunded documentary which finally gives us a better idea of what that film would have been like. This is, of course, not the first time a documentary has spilled the beans on a film that never was: very recently we had Jodorowsky's Dune and, a while back, Lost In La Mancha which focused on the making of Terry Gilliam's Don Quixote . With interviews from the likes of Kevin Smith, Tim Burton and eccentric producer Jon Peters, director/interviewer Jon Schnepp, through valid questions, nifty animated visuals, previously unseen test footage and artwork, translates a project which was often dismissed as a silly idea and a deserved failure into a comic-book movie epic like no other. After the underwhelming Superman Returns and th

LIFE ITSELF - REVIEW

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The loss of Roger Ebert in 2013 was a blow to anyone who knew him or respected his work. Whether you agreed with his reviews or not, here was a man who loved and understood film, who had a true passion for cinema and who inspired many, including this reviewer, to think further about the medium and show it the respect and attention it deserves. With Life Itself , Ebert himself receives the respect and attention he deserves. The film follows the man himself as he goes through rehabilitation in hospital, occasionally answering questions from the film's director Steve James. It's a tough watch as the documentary doesn't sugar-coat anything and Ebert often looks like he's in a great deal of pain but the fact he perseveres the way he does and still finds the strength to keep a sense of humour really shows an amount of courage that's hugely inspirational. The months leading up to the iconic critic's death are very emotional and heartbreaking as Chaz Ebert, Roger

JACKASS PRESENTS: BAD GRANDPA - REVIEW

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Having never been much of a Jackass fan when the show was on or when the movies were first released, I wasn't even aware that Johnny Knoxville played characters like Irving, the lead in this year's spin-off Bad Grandpa . Having enjoyed Sacha Baron Cohen's recent-ish documentary-style antics ( Borat , Bruno ), a bunch of stuff by Tom Green, French joker Francois Damiens and hidden camera shows like Trigger Happy TV , I went into Bad Grandpa expecting pretty much what the trailer promised: light-hearted, dumb, awkward lols and the occasional silly stunt. What I got was basically that but tied together by a "storyline" and packed full of hit-and-miss jokes. Bad taste is, of course, the type of humour the film is going for and when it sticks to that it does rather well. It's juvenile as hell and you'll feel a bit bad for laughing here and there but whatever, that's Bad Grandpa. The core idea of the film, a horny, dirty old man going around the countr

ENCOUNTERS AT THE END OF THE WORLD - REVIEW

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With Werner Herzog documentaries, you never really know what to expect. Would you have thought for one second that The Wild Blue Yonder would have been a sci-fi alien movie set on another planet which in fact is Earth and...actually it turns out you're not watching a sci-fi alien movie at all but an abstract documentary about...Man?! Yeah, this one's not that mad but in the same spirit. Like the filmmaker states early on, this isn't another movie about penguins. It isn't even really a movie about the beauty of Antarctica but rather a realistic look at the place and mostly the weirdos that work there, clearly isolated from the rest of the world and slowly, it seems, becoming eccentric hermits as a result. Herzog doesn't sugarcoat Antarctica for us. Sure he shows us the beauty of the glaciers etc. but also questions the validity of Man's presence there and how it's essentially awkward for us to be there in the first place (hence the rampant madness goin

CAVE OF FORGOTTEN DREAMS - REVIEW

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After a month devoid of any cinematic depth whatsoever, all hopes of seeing something worthwhile rested on Mr Herzog's shoulders. Thankfully, the off-beat director stayed true to himself and, indeed, didn't disappoint. I should point out that Cave of Forgotten Dreams is by no means Herzog's best film, or documentary for that matter and for the uninitiated this might not be the best place to start in terms of watching Herzog's films. That said, it is a great experience and a thoughtful, important film. At times COFD feels a bit like documentation and I'm guessing that was part of the intention since the titular caves aren't actually open to the general public. The director jumps on the 3D bandwagon but what seemed like an odd move, from the very first shot feels right. The depths of the cave are impressively re-created and you really get a sense of being there. In many ways, this is a typically Herzoggian experience: soothing voice-over monologues, albino