All Things Movie/Documentary Reviews/Recommendations Thread

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BleedGopher

BleedGopher

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We have a good ongoing thread for TV shows - we definitely need one for movies and documentaries.

Here are a few movies that I've recently seen:

Hangover 3 - not nearly as funny as the first, but better than the 2nd. Probably a little too much Chow for my liking, but there certainly were some funny parts, with the best scene being the one after the credits.

42 - I was underwhelmed by this movie. I didn't feel like I learned anything new and thought they tamed down the hatred/language that Robinson had to endure. Harrison Ford was the highlight - he was fantastic.

Silver Linings Playbook - I am a little late to this one, but I thought it was very good. Bradley Cooper was very good as was Jennifer Lawrence. I can see why it was nominated for so many awards. I would definitely recommend this movie.

Here are a few documentaries I've recently seen:

Searching for Sugar Man - wow, what a GREAT documentary. The story of Rodriguez and the way in which he was found is why good documentaries are often the best thing around. Simply an amazing story, very well done documentary and the music was fantastic. I'd recommend this to anyone.

Undefeated - story following a Memphis HS football team for a season. I just watched this a few weeks ago (a year after it won the Academy Award) and had high expectations given the critical acclaim and awards it received. I was really disappointed. I don't know what was unique about this team and I actually thought some of the storyline was trite. It wasn't awful, but not that good either.

The Retirement Gamble - PBS Documentary on the FrontLine show a few weeks back (it can be accessed on the Frontline site). Very well done - as usual Jack Bogle carries the message perfectly and the spokesperson from Prudential was brutal and embarrassing. I did think the young guy who did the research was quite oblivious and irrational in his fear.


Hopefully this turns into a good/informative ongoing thread with some great recommendations.

Go Gophers!!
 

Here are my favorite documentaries that I've seen recently:

Inside Job - about the economc meltdown ( the interview with the Harvard? professor is classic)
Waiting for Superman - about the US education system


Iron Man 3. Very entertaining I thought.

Also saw Mud - I enjoyed it - sort of Mark twain like. Slower moving but good story.

Two movies I saw recently - from Hong Kong- were a couple of old John Woo movies from a number of years ago - Hard Boiled and The Killer. The action is fantastic- porbably my two favorite action movies.
 

Saw The Gatekeepers a couple of months ago. All living former heads of the Shin Bet were interviewed about the Israeli/Palestinian conflict. A lot of human drama, information and surprises. It's available now "on demand". Wonder if it will ever be broadcast or on cable?
 

Kon Tiki was good. Not as good as the real thing (original doc) but still impressive.

Greenwich Village: Music That Defined a Generation. Another really good documentary.

Big Star: Nothing Can Hurt Me. Long doc. that tells/shows you everything you ever wanted to know about Big Star.
 



Well the 30 for 30 films by ESPN are almost always great. A couple other highly recommended documentaries:

- Back and Forth (Foo Fighters doc) is one of my favorite music documentaries. I have seen it around ten times now.
- Senna - A documentary on Brazilian Formula One racing driver Ayrton Senna, who won the F1 world championship three times before his death at age 34. Excellent documentary.
- Capitalism: A Love Story - Not for everyone but very interesting either way.
 

Spirit of the Marathon II: Saw it tonight. An excellent doc that profiled several runners who participated in the 2012 Rome marathon. Very inspiring stories; excellent production values.
 

A tie-in to the music thread: It Might Get Loud is a lot of fun. Jimmy Page, The Edge, & Jack White - three generations of guitarists - get together for a chat and jam session. Interesting to hear the different approaches each takes to making music.
Here's the trailer:

 

has anyone seen the internship with Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson? Worth going or wait for rental?
 



I love documentaries, though I haven't been watching many lately. A few of my favorites are:

Baraka - A non-narrative documentary with fantastic cinematography and music. Roger Ebert the Blu-Ray version "the finest video disc I have ever viewed or ever imagined." Best to watch stoned.

The Yes Men and The Yes Men Fix the World - About 2 guys who impersonate representatives from transnational corporations (Dow, Halliburton, etc.) to shed light upon their ridiculous practices.

Collapse - A documentary on Michael Ruppert, a noted conspiracy theorist, shot "interrogation-style."

The Wild and Wonderful Whites of West Virginia - About the Jesco "The Dancing Outlaw" White and his family of mountain dancers.

GasLand - About the impacts of fracking for natural gas.

Restrepo - The documentary companion to Sebastian Junger's book War on Afghanistan and the defense of an Army outpost.
 

Dr. Lloyd Christmas said:
Baraka - A non-narrative documentary with fantastic cinematography and music. Roger Ebert the Blu-Ray version "the finest video disc I have ever viewed or ever imagined." Best to watch stoned.
Click to expand...
Is that about the auto mechanic off Central in Northeast?
 

Exit Through the Gift Shop - about a street artist and those who follow him. It seems like an odd premise, but is one of my favorite documentaries of all time.
 

One of my favorite docs is called "The Last Waltz" made by Martin Scorcese about the last concert by The Band (Phish before there was a Phish) in the late '70's at the famous Winter Land in San Francisco. The doc featured extensive interviews with Levon Helm and Robbie Robertson and all of the songs from the concert, many of which included guest appearances by some of the greatest musicians of that generation (Dylan, Neil Young, Van Morrison, Muddy Waters, Joni Mitchell, Dr. John, et. al). I've probably seen it eight to ten times through the years.
 




WadeHokenson said:
Exit Through the Gift Shop - about a street artist and those who follow him. It seems like an odd premise, but is one of my favorite documentaries of all time.
Click to expand...

I have this but haven't gotten around to watching it yet. Sometimes I wish I was an internationally renowned man of mystery like Banksy.
 



A remarkable documentary I saw at last years Twin Cities International Film Fest: "The Other Chelsea"

It's about sports, class and politics in eastern Ukraine. Just a great flick with wonderful characters. Highly recommended.

Here's the trailer -



You won't find this on Netflix, and you can't buy it on Amazon. I think you can only buy it by contacting the filmmaker in Germany. Fortunately you can watch it on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GgJ7v_PJt5g

Narrated in German; subtitles in English
 


Nokomis said:
A tie-in to the music thread: It Might Get Loud is a lot of fun. Jimmy Page, The Edge, & Jack White - three generations of guitarists - get together for a chat and jam session. Interesting to hear the different approaches each takes to making music.
Here's the trailer:

Click to expand...

Yeah, I loved that movie.
 

jamiche said:
One of my favorite docs is called "The Last Waltz" made by Martin Scorcese about the last concert by The Band (Phish before there was a Phish) in the late '70's at the famous Winter Land in San Francisco. The doc featured extensive interviews with Levon Helm and Robbie Robertson and all of the songs from the concert, many of which included guest appearances by some of the greatest musicians of that generation (Dylan, Neil Young, Van Morrison, Muddy Waters, Joni Mitchell, Dr. John, et. al). I've probably seen it eight to ten times through the years.
Click to expand...

Enjoyed that one too. I've had Sound City HD recorded from pay-per-view for awhile now. It's Dave Grohl's documentary on L.A.'s Sound City Studio. I'll have to watch it over the next couple of days.
 

Iceland12 said:
Enjoyed that one too. I've had Sound City HD recorded from pay-per-view for awhile now. It's Dave Grohl's documentary on L.A.'s Sound City Studio. I'll have to watch it over the next couple of days.
Click to expand...

Really want to see Sound City too.
 

Saw Warrior last night on Netflix. Very entertaining and emotional movie surrounding (2) brothers and the sport of MMA. I want to know the secret to looking like Tom Hardy. The traps on this man.
 

great thread. i hope most of these are streaming, because i'm going to dig in.

if you know of any good wardocs, please post them.

i thought that this one was one of the best.

 


march madness said:
Here is a list I made of my favorite Documentaries of all time on IMDB, most are pretty recent.
http://www.imdb.com/list/iLMU6NCiK5Q/

Like others, i enjoyed Retrespo, Exit ..., Fog of War, and Inside Job.
Click to expand...

Gol dang it, thank you for the great list! Makes me wonder if there's a limit to the length of a person's Netflix queue. It's gonna get long (I know, that's what HE said).
 

bigtenchamps1899 said:
great thread. i hope most of these are streaming, because i'm going to dig in.

if you know of any good wardocs, please post them.

i thought that this one was one of the best.
Click to expand...

Restrepo is excellent. Not a war documentary, but Ears, Open. Eyeballs, Click is about Marine bootcamp. It's basically just a guy with a camera observing bootcamp. No narration. I've never been to bootcamp nor will I ever go, so I thought it was quite interesting. The full video is available on Youtube.
 

Just made the flight from Bangladesh to Peru which allows for a huge opportunity to get caught up with recent releases and old classics never before seen. Here´s a scorecard from the trip:

Searching for Sugarman-As Bleed originally posted and others also commented upon, I loved this documentary, quite an incredible story and interesting follow up.

The Darjeeling Limited-I´ve quite enjoyed Wes Anderson movies over the years, but found myself lagging with this offering. It does seem like he´s making the same (or very very similar) movies over and over again.

Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? was quite the campy classic with a very dramatic score and Bette Davis tormenting Joan Crawford throughout. Entertaining old Hollywood fare.

Looper-Really enjoyed this sci-fi-ish action movie with Joseph Gordon Leavitt & Bruce Willis as his future self. Took me a bit to get into the storyline, but my patience was rewarded with a gripping story that had me really engaged to the end. Along with Sugarman, the highlight of the airline movies.

Take the Money and Run-Early Woody Allen screwball comedy that certainly had its moments, but I prefer Allen´s style in Annie Hall, Manhattan, Bullets over Broadway, Midnight in Paris, et al.

Some other fairly recent views. . .
Skyfall was amazingly the very first James Bond movie I have ever watched and I thought it was pretty damn awesome. I´ll be diving into the back catalog of Bond movies sometime in the near future.

What´s Up Doc? was about the funniest movie I´ve seen in recent memory. I recall reading years ago that it was worthy, but at that time in my life I couldn´t imagine ever wanting to watch anything with Barbara Streisand involved in it, but I´m glad I have moved on-if you like zany comedies, this does the trick.

Cedar Rapids with Ed Helms, John C. Reilly, and Anne Hecht was a nice little comedy, in the vein of Win Win or Up in the Air.

Beasts of the Southern Wild was another movie I really enjoyed, pretty amazing performances given by the inexperienced cast; while fiction, I felt it was one of those movies which showed a side of America seldom seen and done so without mocking the lifestyle.
 

We have good friends who are from South Africa and, while they are not at all into music, they knew every word of every Sugar Man song. They saw they movie four times. It was a great film.

I also really liked Cedar Rapids and I thought it was very underrated.
 

On netflix, I recently watched UNDEFEATED, a documentary about an underdog underpriviledged football team and it was excellent. It was an academy award winner.
 

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