Documentary Films

Excellent but haunting look into the life of a man who was clearly not all there. The insertion of this man's footage into the movie gives that voice from beyond feeling to it that adds to the loss of his life. He truly thought the bears would never harm him...
This doc is perfectly made and the decision of the filmmaker to not air the audio of the actual attack is classy and respectful. The story is sad enough without having to add the shock and exploitative nature of the death sounds.
The whole thing is tragic. A must watch for anyone in to documentary films.

It's a simple beginning to what seems to be a very daring and lengthy film series. The makers take children from all over England from various social groups and ask them common questions about their lives. Did they want kids or marriage? What did they think of folks of different color? What are their feelings about the opposite sex? What did they want to be when they grow up?
The children are honest and their answers to most of the questions are simple and to the point.
I really liked where this was going and look forward to the rest of the series.

With the first jump of seven years we find all these kids are 14 and completely different than when we last saw them. Except for one. He said he wanted to be a jockey and he is on his way.
All of the kids seem to be sad to me. Almost as if they now realize after viewing the first installment that their childhood was almost over. The carefree abandon they faced life with has been replaced with schooling and an ever present knowledge that in seven years the person you once were has vanished forever.
I am looking forward to the next doc and seeing where these young people end up in the beginning of adulthood and the ever important 21st year of their lives.

Some of the children have grown into the people you expected. Some have not. I found it interesting how when they talked about the film series they discussed to pointless nature of it. I think they thought about it too hard. The point is to see the unpredictability of life and how we are not really in control of our futures.
They also talk about how they are judged by what is shown on the film and not by all the things they did to get there. I say what they answer the questions with shows us more about them than seeing what they do every step of the day.
So far this is an excellent series. We are still seeing these people from a time that has long passed and I look forward to seeing how they change as the world goes into fast forward in tech and thinking.

With this installment in the series we lose two of the "kids". They decide not to participate anymore. It's unfortunate but ultimately their choice,
Huge changes come this time around as we see our folks with families and adult lives and thoughts. Gone are a lot of the cockiness of youth. A lot... not all. Some folks seem to know who they are and what they want while others seem lost in life still.
It was nice to see a couple of the "kids" grow up and stop being the brats they were in the last couple installments.

We see one of the "kids" come back that had chosen not to participate in the last installment and two more drop out without a word. So we have lost three total at this point.
It's a weird thing to see these films one right after the other as the idea that so much time has passed for these people is hard to wrap my mind around. It's easy to be lost in the thought that these are not real people but characters in a movie. They are just really good at casting young people that look like the older people.
The fact that we get to see the span of these lives is something rare in cinema and I don't think people should miss out on this. Ask yourself some of the questions they get asked and see if you are not any different from some of them.
Another thing we get a look at are the marriages. In the last installment we saw most of them married and some even having kids. In this one we get to see if the marriages survived. Some did... some didn't.
The year is 1990 and we are soon going to be in a very modern setting and I still am wondering where the folks will be as the tech and society takes the big leap that is coming soon.

It continues. We are still missing three of the "kids" as one who came back last time dropped out again and one that was missing in the last installment has returned.
As the folks head into the middle years of their lives they all seem to be leveling out. Sure there were hard times but they have managed to overcome them and find a balance on which to live.
Relationships have come and gone and the one thing that is evident as we continue on the journey of life with these people is that no matter the social standing you are in life will always be chaos. Nothing will be as you see it for yourself.
It was nice to see one of the gentlemen who was having a hard time at life seems to be on the track to a better life. The ones that have managed to stay married after all this time give you hope that not all of the "kids" marriages are going to end up like much of their parents.
As I started this installment I did have a nice reaction of It's-good-to-see-these-people-again that I enjoy.

Nothing happens in this doc. We get to meet a man who is a bit out there as he shows us the suit he built to withstand a bear attack. But the suit is super clunky and he can't really move in it. This makes it a problem as he can't even walk around on the rough terrain needed to get near a bear.
We sit through all this boring footage and him talking about bears and his dumb suit for nothing because in the end he isn't able to go up against a bear. They find a bear but the suit is ten miles away and there isn't any way to go and get it.
A waste of time.

Really good. There is a shift half way though the movie as the scandal breaks and the film maker needs to shift focus to what might be going on underneath it all.
As I watch more and more docs I have noticed that there are not many that can tell the story objectively. This one is the same as the director puts his struggle to try and stay objective into the film. Does he continue with the original premise of documenting a child painter or does he follow the path before him that could taint the story as a ruse?
A well done film that lets you decide for yourself in the end with the facts laid out before you.

An interesting doc about a church that puts on a super elaborate Death House every Halloween.
While I understand their goal... this is a very in your face chose-now-or-else kind of ministry that may just turn more people away or achieve false results in the people who accept Jesus at the end just out of fear and not out of a true want of a relationship with Christ.
A lot of the time during the prep the church folk come off looking silly as they are telling about the dangers of things they really don't know any real information about. A scene in which two people are talking about how role playing games and Magic: The Gathering leads to worship of the dark arts comes off with the two looking silly as they can't figure out what the name of the card game is. This shows that they never really looked into the things they are condemning... only using the popular targets for their wrath.
Likewise, the scene in the House depicting the sin of homosexuality is very cliched as we see a gay man dying of Aids in a hospital. Because everyone knows that only gay people get Aids...
It is interesting to see how much effort goes into the creation of the House each year and there are really good scenes of people exiting the house and their reaction to the whole thing.
One group of teens get almost violent afterward as a man at the church tries to explain why they put on the event. They spend the whole time cursing and throwing around "facts" about why the church is a fraud only to come off looking moronic and hateful.
A good watch no matter who you are and what you believe.

Interesting but off balanced doc. They go out of their way to show the crazy Christians without showing enough of the other side of things. It's very much a flick that says "Look at the crazy Christians!" and some will see the flick and think this is how it is in all churches.
It's a little scary at parts as we see kids nearly brainwashed into a thinking of Us vs. Them mentality. They are taught to think that they are better than the dirty sinners of the world and that is a dangerous lesson to teach young people.

An ok doc but pretty boring. We follow around a bunch of kids but there isn't enough screen time to really get to know these people. I would have rather seen this tackle the summer camp from the view of the counselors.
It plays more like a commercial for the camp at times. It's ok to miss this one.

We get a pretty good look at who these people really are and for some I hope it was a wake up call.
We get the classic types here... jock, princess, outcast, and artsy. Each one has a story that shows they all have hardships and struggles while just trying to get through high school but you can tell some wouldn't care if they knew about them.
You know who the villain of the story is and it's almost a bummer when she gets what she wants despite her being so hateful and mean.
It's a good doc but it comes off a little too edited and fast sometimes. It looks at the senior year but we miss much of the story as that year flies by.
It is entertaining though. I recommend this for those people who maybe aren't that into the more usual documentary films out there.

A good watch. Most of the kids involved are fun to learn about except for the one who talks a hundred miles an hour and has to be one of the most annoying kids in the world.
Well made and really gets you into the hype.

This is a good documentary but be warned... it is not a happy subject and will leave you a little depressed. The whole thing is a look at the people that kill themselves by jumping off the Golden Gate Bridge. The camera group filmed a bunch of these guys actually jumping to their deaths and this footage is pretty grim.
So be warned...

This doc shows you what happens when someone dies with no next of kin. We take the journey with them step by step through all the paperwork and clean up.
The film follows three men who have died and we get to see inside their homes and learn personal details about the lives they have lived.
This is a graphic movie as we are shown dead bodies and more. Not recommended for the faint hearted.
The one thing I think most will learn from this film is that the things we have collected in this life are never our own. We are merely temporary custodians of things that in the end mean nothing.

A good doc about a horrific crime. It's really hard to watch the first chunk of the movie as we are told and shown the facts of the crime. We see the crime scene and the bodies. We hear the known facts about what has occurred. As the film continues we see the people left behind try and come to some sort of closure as the trials begin and end.
We as the viewers draw our own conclusions based on what we are able to see from the snippets of the court proceedings but we have to remember that we aren't privy to the whole trial and that we are missing information.
In the end we know that the murders are horrific and evil. We also need to wonder if the trials are fair and if the system is just.
I just hope this never happens again.

This is a good follow up to the original film about the case. We see the people standing their ground that these young men killed the kids and even more people coming to the defense of the men .
We are given more information about the crime and how ill prepared the defense was to help defend these boys. As new and old defenders press on we see even bigger holes appear in the case.
I would like to see another follow up to this case as the boys are still locked up and still trying to clear their name. New DNA evidence has come out that does not match the defendants and the most vocal parent of the slain children has now come out and said that he does not think that these boys committed the murders.

A great documentary about a weird man. It was interesting to see how the whole thing went down.
It would have been great to have actual footage from one of the people who were there but the pictures do the job just as well.
Even though it was a photo on a tv screen I still had a feeling of vertigo and dread for this man to be out there with nothing to save him if he fell.
There is no way you could ever have gotten me on the roof much less on a wire out in the middle of nothing.
Well done.

A really good look into the lives of the people just trying to make it in the movie business from the lower levels.
The film is really well made and the colors are great. I like the differences of the people they focus on. I was a little suprised that I found myself liking Wonder Woman and the Hulk more than Superman and Batman.
There were a couple of parts for Superman and Batman that I thought were a little awkward and embarrassing to watch. I think both of them have a few issues that need to be worked out.
I'll point out this flick the next time my wife says I have a Superman collecting problem.

This isn't a good documentary. Towards the end of the film the director says he doesn't feel like finishing the film and in my mind I thought that I felt the same way.
This flick feels mashed together. He heads out on these trips to interview people about the book, spend a lot of his personal time and money to seek these people out, and he didn't even bother to ask if they remembered anything about the book before heading out. A lot of his problems could have been solved if he had asked "Do you remember anything about this book? No? Ok thanks anyway." Most of his interviews went downhill fast. Plus he seemed to talk most of time.
I really didn't feel like sitting through anymore when he finally tracks down the author and plans to meet with him. I pushed through the last half hour as he interviews the guy and when the movie ends I was upset. We received no answers to any of the questions that he had been searching for through the whole movie. All we had we a couple of random stories from this mans life and not once did the director think to ask... why did you not write another book?
This movie fails for a lot of reasons and the biggest one being the director being more interested in himself than the story he was supposed to tell.

This is an excellent doc about a guy just trying to make his mark in the world and he proves that he has what it takes to keep going even when the world is against him.
This is a made film and really shows the two main people in an honest light. If a guy comes off looking like a jerk then it stands that it's because he is. Just saying. Watch the doc as it's a fun watch and a great underdog story.

An excellent look at how a movie can fall apart very quickly. The speed at which the whole production goes to crap astounds me as does the slight craziness of the director.
The movie looked interesting and I kind of wish we could have seen it. Very good doc though and I recommend it to anyone who likes the behind the scenes stuff...

Well made and interesting. This is about religion. Don't let that scare you off though.
While most documentary films I have seen about God are making fun of those who believe in Him this one just sets out to ask questions and lets you make your own mind up about the answers given.
While most interviewers would go the easy route and interview some of the weaker supporters of the "other side" this one goes straight to the top minds of the field of evolution and questions them openly and honestly about what they believe.
Check it out.

Say what you want about the subject matter... it's a well made film. It's totally one sided but well made.
This is the guy that brought the documentary feature into the main stream once again and made a splash doing it.
I recommend you see it even if you don't agree with the mans politics. He knows how to make a fluid flick.

I know what you're thinking. 30 days on nothing but MacDonalds? I can do that. Trust me. You wouldn't want to.
This man puts himself through a lot of punishment to prove what almost everyone already knows. Eating fast food all the time is bad for you. Eat it for every meal for a month and that might kill you.
This flick didn't make me stop eating fast food but my consumption of it went down a lot.
The flick is interesting and well put together. It's also not just a lot of footage of this man eating either. They also talk about how the food is made and prepared. There is a lot of good info in here.
Recommended.

A really good look into how films are rated and by who. A lot of people might not know how this whole thing works and in some cases it comes off as being very flawed.
The doc is well made and covers the subject very well even if it is from a point of view that doesn't think the system is working.
One of the highlights of the film is when the ratings review board has to review this film.

While I thought this was an interesting look into the lives of high schoolers in LA I didn't think it was a great flick.
It is disturbing to see most of these kids acting the way they were knowing that people would be viewing these videos. Candid talk about sex, drugs, and crime shocked me as none of these kids were even 18.
We even see two of the folks doing drugs in the film. To me it seems as if most of the kids have already given up and resigned themselves to live out life with the idea that they can do no better than where they find themselves now.
I really hope my kids don't fall into that trap as well.

A good doc about the history of the comic book movie. Well made with a lot of cool commentators.
The beginning is a little shaky though, as it comes off feeling like a commercial for Hellboy 2. That feeling goes away though and the rest of the doc is informative and fun.

A well made doc about the kids who were involved with the Annie show back in the day. It's good for anyone who likes Annie but it's also informative about the perils of being a child star.
Some of the things that went on in the lives of these girls off stage was a little shocking and it makes me think about how it is now.

Your basic doc. The story is simple and the people involved are interesting. There is a point where I got tired of hearing the Mom complaining about all the work she had to do and there were moments I wanted to tell the girl that she needed to focus more.
I would liked to see more of the film she was making in the doc though. You can buy her movie for $8 but I'm not really that interested.

An average doc about the world of LARPing. I would have liked it to cover more of the world of LARPing but it sticks to just one group and it's struggles. There are a few people covered but one more than the others. You get interested in the story but I would have liked to see more of the others.
They do get a little carried away but I think the whole thing looks fun and I wouldn't mind trying it out.

A really good doc about people who play online games. We get to see a lot of people in this flick that range from the love birds who met online to the guy who almost becomes homeless thanks to his addiction to the game.
While we do get to see the hard core gamers we don't really see any casual players and hear why they haven't crossed into the hard core. Maybe it's because there aren't many casual gamers.
I liked how the doc was put together and the stories told were all compelling. A good watch for anyone who has a connection to anything like the online gaming world.

It's a good documentary but I would have liked to get a little more into how the game is played and seen more of that than people talking about what a pain it is to play the game.
It's well made and the people are interesting enough to sit through but they all come off a little out of touch with reality. Something none of them are afraid to admit.

I got bored and tuned out more than once while watching this flick. There were a few really good parts that dealt with issues fans had with Warner Bros over fan sites but then rest of the movie dragged on and really didn't have a direction.
The music the bands played was not really all that good and only would appeal to those fans who have let the world of Harry Potter over shadow the real world they live in. Not something to be proud of.
Slow documentary that I can recommend to anyone to watch.

A good watch but it's almost just a commercial for the genre. They get into the history of how people were against the slasher flicks when they were coming out but there was no one to talk about the other side of the situation. It's a very one sided doc.
This is one for the fans of the genre, by fans of the genre.

This isn't about Bigfoot. It's about a couple country bumpkins who do "research" on Bigfoot. They come off like a couple of crazies as they attempt to prove that the creature exists. The pictures that they say have Bigfoot in them are nothing more than foliage and stumps.
It's a little ridiculous that this documentary was even made as all it does is make these two men look pathetic.

The information in the doc was good and I was interested in hearing the stories but the look and style of the film feels forced and cheap. Seeing a random dude standing around in a dime store Hannibal Lecter mask took me right out of the flick.