Featured Audience Ratings

• Randy T

  
  Harlan's life imitates his art. Angry. Rebellious. Uncompromising.

• Jim H

  
  This documentary is relatively even-handed as it presents Harlan Ellison, a prolific, important, but impishly angry writer. There are several laugh-out-loud moments of the cringe humor ilk as we listen to Ellison rant about fans, writers, Hollywood, politics, and writing. I enjoyed… More
  This documentary is relatively even-handed as it presents Harlan Ellison, a prolific, important, but impishly angry writer. There are several laugh-out-loud moments of the cringe humor ilk as we listen to Ellison rant about fans, writers, Hollywood, politics, and writing. I enjoyed listening to much of what he had to say, but I don't think I could stand to be in the room with him unless I knew that he liked me and was unarmed.

• Spencer S

  
  Creative personalities, however bright their stars gleam, collapse under the weight of the world's pressures. Harlan Ellison, the brightest of all these literary stars, takes these impossible problems and swallows them whole. So is the subject of this insightful documentary,… More
  Creative personalities, however bright their stars gleam, collapse under the weight of the world's pressures. Harlan Ellison, the brightest of all these literary stars, takes these impossible problems and swallows them whole. So is the subject of this insightful documentary, centering on the giant, with awards in the genres of sci-fi, mystery, and political commentary. Not only has this pillar written 70 novels, hundreds of short stories, nonfiction, teleplays, and screenplays, but is one of the most interesting human beings I have ever seen. Following his life in the limelight as an intellectual of unparalleled comparison, and his early years as a downtrodden Jewish teen in anti-Semitic Ohio, we are given a complicated maze in which to extract the personage of Ellison. Not only is he against all forms of bullsh*t, but was a figure in the civil rights movement, and a mouthpiece for education. Putting the praises aside, the trailer reveals the true payoff, which is that Ellison is also an intolerable narrator of his own life. He has awesome (and I mean that as in awe inspiring) knowledge to lay down in commentary throughout the film, speaking of what it is to be a writer, a famous personality, and an independent entity among the Hollywood elite and cultural milieu. He is loud, obnoxious, and at times reviles you, but is so entertaining and uncaring of the views of populist America, that not to appreciate his audacity feels like heresy. In the midst of all that prophecy he lays down, he is also a bitter, old, angry man, but with the credentials he has, it's hard to imagine him being anything resembling timid. He is, by all accounts, the most original person alive. Peppering his own narration is that of Robin Williams, Neil Gaiman, and Dan Simmons, great artists who not only see him as a glorious person, but the human he so truly embodies. This, is a film you must see, and cannot fully be explained. A film where creativity blooms, ripe to pick for the eager mind.

• _kelly .

  
  Mandatory viewing for all living artists, especially writers and authors. A candid, fun, and thorough immersion into the world of Harlan Ellison with interviews and cameos by several living legends of the creative world. I'm just disappointed that they didn't go into the… More
  Mandatory viewing for all living artists, especially writers and authors. A candid, fun, and thorough immersion into the world of Harlan Ellison with interviews and cameos by several living legends of the creative world. I'm just disappointed that they didn't go into the whole Harlan Ellison vs the Internet thing (and how it drained him of money and energy), or just his sue-happy exploits throughout the years. I take it that this is meant to glamorize Ellison, while also humanizing him, and will do well as a video intro to the man and his viewpoint for new readers and students.

• Walter M

  
  "Dreams with Sharp Teeth" is an entertaining documentary about the life and work of Harlan Ellison, the prolific speculative fiction writer who has written more than 1700 stories, some in a store window to prove a point, that occasionally feel like a slap to the face.(There… More
  "Dreams with Sharp Teeth" is an entertaining documentary about the life and work of Harlan Ellison, the prolific speculative fiction writer who has written more than 1700 stories, some in a store window to prove a point, that occasionally feel like a slap to the face.(There is even a warning at the beginning of an edition of his Deathbird Stories, not to read it all in one go.) The best way to get to know him is through these stories and essays, where he is remarkably open about his own life(including the dead gerbil) as he proves that the best revenge is to live well. The documentary does add more details I was unaware of and it is a treat to hear him read from his own works. However, I would have loved to have heard more on his politics and love of movies. Regrettably, since we live in an age when image is everything, Ellison is mostly known for his cantankerous personality.(Due to the vastly different ways they carry themselves, it is odd seeing him hang out with Neil Gaiman, despite their shared profession.) So, the guy's not going to win the Nobel Peace Prize, so what?(However, his wife Susan of 20 years probably has a decent shot at it...) In reality, he is continually fighting for writer's fees and other causes, where he is extremely litigious and is brutally honest.(For example, his advice to young writers is to "stop writing crap." Truer words never spoken.) And then there is the ambivalence towards his fans which can also be seen as impatience at their seeming unwillingness to engage his works on a certain level due maybe to laziness at only taking but not putting anything back in.(To read a darker essay along these same lines, check out "Xenogenesis.") This also explains his hatred of television which has never really been amenable to science fiction.

• William G

  
  Doc showcases prolific author Harlan Ellison through his own anecdotes and no-gruff attitude.

Read all 6 featured audience ratings