"I got the better end of the deal. I only lent you my body - you lent me your dream."
Yep this is still a masterpiece.
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White Balls on Walls 2022
A good thought-provoking film, stirring up the conversation with regards to art and diversity and progress. The film cleverly seems to mock and make fun of everything happening at the Stedelijk, while also allowing us an honest glimpse at how they're trying to make some changes sooner than later. No one is going to watch this doc - but I enjoyed it anyway.
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River 2021
Another extraordinary film from Jennifer Peedom. A breathtakingly entrancing experience to voyage across this planet and be offered just a glimpse at how spectacular and wondrous and amazing it is. I love that it so boldly dips into the darkness that is humanity destroying and disrupting the natural flow of Earth and the ecosystems that inhabit it. "We must ask ourselves, are we being good ancestors?" I so love being immersed in all of this footage and feeling the power…
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Plastic Fantastic
An intriguing film about how much plastic we use, and how hard it is to stop this industry, but overall it's not that persuasive or powerful with its cinematic storytelling. It gives the plastics lobbyists way, way too much screentime to spout their bullshit over and over and over. The idea of being neutral and showing "both sides" and disputing claims with some wacky German scientist just doesn't work. I'd actually say it's detrimental here, it almost seems like the…
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Subject 2022
Nah this ain't it... This film brings up some interesting questions, and appropriately discusses how commercialized the world of documentaries has become, effective only as a conversation starter. (Yeah all this true crime junk really is bad no matter how many people say they enjoy watching it.) But it's all such surface level, simplistic analysis that never digs into anything. Nor is there any real conclusion or good idea presented for how to make better docs moving forward. I do…
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The Longest Goodbye 2023
Lots of questions, not many answers. Good film. Somber and emotional and candid. Meant to be more contemplative and considerate than explanatory. We don't know all the answers, but we will continue to explore and strive on and push forward and see what happens and how to make it possible anyway, learning along the way.
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Fair Game 1986
It takes wayyyyyy too long for this film to finally let her get revenge on these assholes. It gets rather annoying watching these guys just torture her the rest of the time. Also funny how they wrote the doggie out of the script, so they wouldn't have to deal with it anymore, and so it could show up later at just the right moment. Glad the dog was okay, she's easily my favorite part of this film. These dumbass guys all deserved more gruesome endings than what happens in here.
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Werner Herzog: Radical Dreamer 2022
I loooooooooooove Werner. He's the best. But this documentary is a let down, lacking depth or meaningful analysis or insight beyond being a simple, surface-level look at his life story. I'm already not a big fan of the "take a person back to important locations they were originally at years ago" doc style, but this really doesn't offer much when they do it with Herzog. I'd rather just listen to him talking for a few hours, these were the most…
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Much Ado About Dying 2022
What a film. This is really something special. Beautifully made - so soulful and honest and generous. More than just a portrait of an exuberant thespian at the end of his life, this is a profoundly existential film, offering up many intriguing thoughts to consider thanks to the director taking us through his own experiences and worries on this journey with David. As memorable as The Mole Agent, another wonderful and sad documentary about the elderly - specifically about how lonely people get when they're old and how they really need someone else to have around to help and to talk with.
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Atomic Hope: Inside the Pro-Nuclear Movement 2022
Good. More documentaries about this please. Between this and Oliver Stone's Nuclear (Now) doc it might just help build a stronger, better, more engaged pro-nuclear movement. The science is clear. And each film so far rightfully addresses how so many have been stupidly duped into being against something that really is the right solution for the world now.
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Make People Better 2022
A remarkably fascinating documentary about gene editing and the ethical implications of this modern technology - introducing and telling story of the Chinese doctor who was the very first to break the rules and grow two babies with edited DNA. In addition to immortalizing this guy, who is pretty much almost the Rosa Parks of human gene editing, it also shows how quickly the science community can turn hypocritical and become afraid of the public perception of groundbreaking work. Still…