So I finished all the regular movies - so I went for a Bonus round. On Netflix they have all the best documentary nominees except for one, that you can stream. So I went for it.
It's like I am Sonic going for my Chaos Emeralds now.
It's like I am Sonic going for my Chaos Emeralds now.
Let's do it!
I was frustrated by this documentary. Other than that tiny paragraph blurb we are given no context for the motivations of this film crew. Which I get, documentaries are supposed to offer no critique, but just let the story unfold. So in that regard they did a great job, but as a viewer, I was frustrated.
It was only until I was about 2/3 through that I realized why there is no context given. Because you can't. What these men did was horrific. What they have to say about the winners writing history and the fact that they are "heroes" because they won is truth we all realize. They know no one really respects them, but that they are thugs and gangsters who the public was afraid of. Their popularity is a veneer and they know it. They also believe in karma, and are deeply disturbed one moment by what they did - and proud the next. They are constantly battling between depicting the "truth" of what they did, and the fact that people will hate them for it. It is such a strange movie in that you can forget for a brief moment that this grey-haired old man who looks so frail and harmless playing with his grandsons sweetly is anything but a grandpa. Except for the fact that he will tell you he invented a way of killing that was quicker and less messy.
Humans are complex critters. The fact that we are capable of love and violence, sympathy, and cold-blooded murder is a hard thing to reconcile. This is a movie that at the end of the day I don't know what to do with. I think I liked it, and it made me think, but it almost feels like to say I liked it, somehow condones what these men did. I guess if you want to watch a movie that will leave you grappling with the depravity of humanity - you will enjoy the experience. I won't say I disliked it either. I am still sitting here a week later trying to understand it.
Of all the documentaries, I was dreading this one the most. It plays all the stereotypes of a documentary. An avant-garde artist and his wife in New York. My heart sank. I do not understand these people as artists, and people who talk about there art frustrate me even more.
What it's really about; "This candid New York love story explores the chaotic 40-year marriage of famed boxing painter Ushio Shinohara and his wife, Noriko. Anxious to shed her role as her overbearing husband's assistant, Noriko finds an identity of her own."
Ushio is a bully. He feels he is the artistic genius. Noriko was also an artist but put her life on hold to be a wife and mother. She is now rediscovering her passion for art through a series of drawings she does involving a little braided girl named Cutie and the Cutie's gross husband named Bullie. It's not exactly real deep.
There is about five minutes of the film that I loved. The pair is sitting on a couch and Ushio admits he is a bully, and Noriko says she loves him anway. She comes to a realization it's his crappy behavior that gives her a story to tell and express through her art. The ending credits are also of the two of them boxing each other with paint on their gloves. I think it is a story most women would be able to relate to, it's just the pretentiousness of the art that was a turn-off. I also didn't think it took us that long to get the point of the documentary. I could see this working better and delivering more emotional punch as a short.
If Act of Killing gave no context, Dirty Wars gives too much.
From IMDB:Investigative journalist Jeremy Scahill is pulled into an unexpected journey as he chases down the hidden truth behind America's expanding covert wars.
I could not help but feel that the way it was shot and narrated Scahill sees himself as the next Jason Bourne, but in a jourlisty way, not a trained assassin way.
Dirty wars talks about JSOC, the group that took down Osama bin Laden, but that before that, they were doing other covert missions, and not just in Afghanistan, but other countries where we are supposedly not fighting wars.
I didn't hate it, I just felt it was overblown. Let me be clear. I think the message is sound. We as a country are getting in too deep, and making enemies where we don't need to be making any more. We are in dangerous territory. We are not fighting wars like we used to. However, this films failing to me, was that it was too self-important. If felt like an early run-through for the story we're going to see made about this journalist in a couple years, when he's being played by Bradly Cooper. It felt bloated and like it was caving in under its own gravitas. While I appreciate the subject, I did not enjoy the treatment.
This movie was made by a Kickstarter. That is pretty damn cool.
I really liked this movie. It's about the revolution taking place in Egypt in Tahrir Square. It's the recent history, and one I think in America we like to think we are well informed of, even if we are not.
I fully admit to know the name Tahrir Square, and that it had something to do with revolution, but for what I was unsure. I liked this movie because it was informative, and yet intimate. You got to know the different protesters and what the revolution meant to them. Like all revolutions, not everyone has the same vision for what comes after the revolution.
A lot of times I hear people talk about how Revolution is going to come to America. Some day the government will just push all too far and we will snap and rise up against them. I don't agree. If anything this documentary proves my point. Revolution is hard. Even when they had a huge angry but hopeful populace trying to get rid of a corrupt government they were left with two more bad choices. Revolutions are tricky business. We're going to see more with Venezuela and Ukraine.But I don't think America. We have it too easy. These people having nothing to lose, and they are still struggling.
What I like most about this movie was even though the odds seem insurmountable, there is still hope here. Ultimately, many of the protesters despite their different ideals, they want the same thing, and they aren't giving up until they get it. It's a great film. I would love to see it win best documentary.
Of all the documentaries I enjoyed this one the most. (Sadly, this is also the one you cannot get streaming on Netflix yet - but you can rent it on Amazon for 99 cents. WORTH IT!
Thanks to this movie I now have three amazing female artists I had no real appreciation/knowledge of, but do now.
Darlene Love - oh my god - she basically sang every damn 60's girl group song that I loved. Even ones she was not credited with, she sang. (Eff you - Phil Speckter you creepy dandelion mutherthumper). And one of my all time favorite Christmas songs.
Merry Clayton -- her voice is amazing!
and Lisa Fischer - not only is her voice amazing, she just has a beautiful soul and personality.
How none of these women ended up with stellar solo careers is a crying shame, and the point of the whole movie. That last 20 feet to the front of the stage is a long walk, and not everyone gets to make, or even wants to.
Super awesome movie. I want this one to win best documentary. I felt the most giddy and super charged after watching it. I don't know that it can beat out such heavy hitters, but I enjoyed it the most.
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