Here we go again!
Looking back at another year's worth of films and
I can only restate what I've said before:
This is only an exhibition,
not a competition!
Please:
No wagering.
Before I begin this years look back at the movies I had the pleasure and displeasure of watching I'd like to point out that I've decided to go with a four part format this year so that I could highlight some of the brilliant documentaries I watched in one post.
FINDING VIVIAN MAIER
What It Is:
The discovery of 100,000 old photos and negatives taken by an unknown photographer leads the viewer on an amazing look into a talented and tainted life.
What It Was:
A brilliantly discovered mystery that unfolds like a lush yarn, revealing an interesting and tragic life and a truly talented street artist, a film that proves more rewarding as it goes along.
What It Earned:
“A”
BROTHER’S KEEPER
What It Is:
In upstate New York a man reports his eldest brother’s death and soon becomes accused of the murder of his older brother by means of suffocation.
What It Was:
A stark picture of a livelyhood that is both basic and unforgiving, of a family that is a throwback to a simpler time, of a simple old man caught up in matters that may well be beyond his understanding. Tragic and heartening all at once.
What It Earned:
“A”
MAKING A MURDERER
What It Is:
A multi-part look into the American legal system and it’s failings during the investigation of a murder blamed on a man who had already been exonerated for a crime he did not commit and a learning-disabled teenager who may have been duped by wildly aggressive investigators.
What It Was:
An at once harrowing account of how the legal system is a twisted, malignant thing used by people with agendas far removed from a simple truth-seeking desire and an examination of how one’s reputation or how perceptions shape opinion. If you trusted the way the law works before seeing this film, you will find yourself a paranoid mess by the end.
What It Earned:
“A-“
LOST SOUL: THE DOOMED JOURNEY OF RICHARD STANLEY’S ISLAND OF DR. MOREAU
What It Is:
Told mostly from Richard Stanley’s point of view, the film looks back at the making of a film that was set upon with a plague of problems that would have put any other film out of it’s misery—somehow this one kept going.
What It Was:
A true case of Murphy’s law, as young director Richard Stanley takes his idea of remaking The Island of Dr. Moreau from concept to drawing board to studio to shooting and how that, at each step, the movie becomes less and less his single vision and more an amalgamation of ideas from spoiled actors, selfish producers, studio heads, etc. What ends up a horrible experience for those involved makes for a totally engrossing folly.
What It Earned:
“A-”
BIG STAR: NOTHING CAN HURT ME
What It Is:
An examination of the big little band that never quite made it big and yet had a huge impact on many musicians that followed.
What It Was:
It is hard to quantify what it is about Big Star’s sound and songs that make them so good and appealing beyond the fact that they have a voice that is true and are told so honestly. This film does go a long way in at the very least documenting what made them who they were as a group and each member.
What It Earned:
“B+”
THE DEATH OF “SUPERMAN LIVES”: WHAT HAPPENED?
What It Is:
In an effort to cash in on the hit comic book story “The Death of Superman”, the film industry set out to revive The Man of Steel’s dead franchise and to give their Superman a new, fresh start in the ‘90s. This film reveals why that never happened and why it came within a hair’s breadth of actually being made.
What It Was:
This one will make you wonder how any good films get made. How does one story ever get told well when it’s being pulled at from all directions like some sort of taffy in a confectioner’s orgy? It’s not that all people have bad ideas, it’s that each person’s agenda tends to get in the way of the original idea. Nonetheless, another fascinating yarn about a disaster and millions of dollars flushed down the toilet.
What It Earned:
“B+”
ATARI: GAME OVER
What It Is:
Part examination of the rise and fall of Atari and part journey into the mysterious legend that a vast amount of cartridges of the game “E.T.” were dumped in a landfill due to cancelled sales on the notoriously bad game.
What It Was:
An informative and fun look at the blossoming of the video game industry and how tumultuous it was in its early days. As for the hunt for the landfill “E.T.” games, well that was the icing on the cake.
What It Earned:
“B+”
THE PUNK SINGER
What It Is:
The pioneer of the “riot grrrl” movement of the 1990s and founder of the punk band Bikini Kill, activist and musician Kathleen Hanna reveals the path of her life.
What It Was:
Educational and entertaining and touching all at once. Interesting how even the most driven people can have life throw their goals and ambitions assunder and leave them scrambling to survive.
What It Earned:
“B+”
42ND STREET FOREVER
What It Is:
Not exactly a documentary, but I’ll include it here as it is a collection of trailers of the “B” to “Z” grade films that flourished in the pre-video tape days of the mid to late ‘70s.
What It Was:
A visual and auditory treat for the action movie mind. If it punches, kicks, shoots, stabs, blows up or bleeds, you will find it here. If a genre of exploitation isn’t represented here, it didn’t exist! Pure impure fun.
What It Earned:
“B”
GOING CLEAR
What It Is:
A stark look behind the scenes of the Scientology movement—what it is, what purpose it serves and what goes on behind those tightly closed doors of the quasi-religious organization.
What It Was:
At the end of the day it works the same as any other pyramid scheme or religious organization. Abuse from the top goes unpunished and those who lust for more power rise to the top. Disturbing and yet nothing I didn’t already suspect or know.
What It Earned:
“B”
THE NIGHTMARE
What It Is:
A focus on the state of sleeping known as “sleep paralysis” in which the dreamer feels trapped and menaced by beings other than themselves that can be represented by boogie men or aliens or just plain scary figures.
What It Was:
Having heard ahead of time that this doc was “scary as hell” or something similar, I really expected more. What was delivered was a fairly good examination of what goes through the minds of those with sleep paralysis—especially when the sufferers don’t know what it is they are experincing. Nothing scary, really.
What It Earned:
“B-”
KILLER LEGENDS
What It Is:
A couple of researchers look into the real life origins of several urban legends.
What It Was:
The myth of poisoned or razor-bladed candy is examined and linked to a real Texas man who claimed poisoned candy killed his child. The tale of the babysitter in danger can be linked to true deaths—some whose murders were solved, some who weren’t. The Hookman in which a madman stalks a couple on lovers lane falls straight back to the true killings in Texarkana that inspired the movie “The Town That Dredded Sundown”. And, of course, the story of the evil clown flows directly to John Wayne Gacy. Interesting stuff to be sure, but nothing revolutionary.
What It Earned:
“B-“
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