Fat Head (2009)

Director:

Tom Naughton

IMDB

Review:

Tom Naughton made a documentary that explains the facts and fiction about obesity and also as a reply to Super Size Me documentary. I must say it reminded me of Michael Moore and Michael Wilson (Michael Moore Hates America) but the difference is that Tom really has some point here, and those two...well, they had only personal reasons to do what they did (ex. money - ex. misapprehended patriotism and personal anger). Nevertheless Tom explains a "few" things that are interesting and also sheds some light on the Super Size Me doc and the "bologna" (his words) that is served there.

Sick Humor (2003)

Director:

Vikram Jayanti

Review:

Well as many of the uploads that I upload but forget about them, this one was also on that list. It's been uploaded for months but I simply forgot about it. Lets look a little bit in the world of sick (or dark) humor. Note that some people might be offended as these jokes are...well let's say inappropriate.

The Beales of Grey Gardens (2006)

Director:

Albert Maysles and David Maysles

IMDB

Review:

Mother and daughter - Big Edie and Little Edie Beale - live with six cats in a crumbling house in East Hampton. Little Edie, in her 50s, who wears scarves and bright colors, sings, mugs for the camera, and talks to Al and David Maysles, the filmmakers. Big Edie, in her 70s, recites poetry, comments on her daughter's behavior, and sings "If I Loved You" in fine voice. She talks in short sentences; her daughter in volumes. Utilizing hours of unseen archival footage, The Beales is a new take on the women of Grey Gardens.

Absolut Warhola (2001)

Director:

Stanislaw Mucha

IMDB

Review:

Absolute Warhola is a wry but affectionate look at the village in Slovakia where Andy Warhol's parents were born and which proudly claims the artist as its native son. This is not a purist's documentary. The seasons shift inexplicably. The pace feels a bit aimless. It contains no useful information about Warhol nor his work. Instead of cinematic orthodoxy, however, Absolut Warhola offers the quirky poignancy of a documentary on the Cargo Cult, combined with a bizarre juxtaposition that perhaps would be found in a Lawrence Welk special on Abstract Expressionism. The filmmakers visit Warhol's cousin who recalls, at one point, how Andy sent them a pack of drawings and paintings which they didn't much care for, so they rolled some up to use as paper cones and pitched the others into the water after the house was flooded. The curator of the Warhola Museum explains how he chose the works to be included in the collection primarily on the basis of their relevance to the local community: cows, butterflies, Lenin, and Ingrid Bergman as a nun. The touching absurdity of his discourse is rivaled only by David St. Hubbins' explanation in Spinal Tap as to why the amplifier whose dial goes up to eleven is better than the ones that only go to ten. Absolut Warhola may not be a textbook work of documentary filmmaking, but it presents a consistent vision of people whose lives under the shadow of Chernobyl are somehow brightened by the memory of a man they never knew nor remotely understood.

Python Night: 30 Years of Monty Python (1999)

Director:

Terry Jones and Elaine Shepherd

IMDB

Review:

A BBC 30th anniversary commemoration of the debut of Monty Python's “Flying Circus” with a treasure trove of new sketches performed by the Pythons (minus spoilsport Eric Idle, and, of course, ex-Python Graham Chapman); new interviews with all the surviving members; classic clips; and recently discovered and rarely seen Python material unearthed from the BBC archives. “It's... the Monty Python Story”, is a sketchy history, recalling the highs (the first two seasons of the groundbreaking TV series and The Life of Brian) and the lows (the death of Chapman, who in a poignant clip from his memorial service is eulogized by John Cleese as a "freeloading bastard"). The disk includes a long-lost 10-minute film Monty Python created for the 1971 Pan-European May Day Festival. Michael Palin spoofs his travel shows by giving viewers a tour of "Pythonland." He revisits the actual locations where such classic Python sketches as the Ministry of Silly Walks and the Fish Slapping Dance were filmed. South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone offer an animated tribute (the Dead Kenny sketch), while Meatloaf goes behind the music to reveal the inspiration behind the Python's most memorable songs.

The Wild and Wonderful Whites of West Virginia (2009)

Director:
Julien Nitzberg

IMDB

Review:
Riffing off of the original documentary "Dancing Outlaw," about tap dancer Jesco White and his dancing dad, director Julien Nitzberg headed down to the coal-mining heart of West Virginia to further exploit this drug-addled family for some film footage that's fairly unbelievable. Launching right into some current family drama between Sue Bob's son, Brandon, having landed in prison after shooting his uncle, among others, this documentary then goes back to trace hooligan behavior to the originators of the family, dancer and coal miner D. Ray and his tough-cookie wife Bertie Mae. Daughters and cousins Sue Bob, Mousie, and Kirk dominate the film, snorting pills in trashy bar bathroom stalls and getting tanked in cars while driving around with less-than-savory boyfriends and ex-husbands. Occasionally, interviews with the town's district attorney provide some background information on this infamous regional family.

I, Curmudgeon (2004)

Director:
Alan Zweig

IMDB

Review:
In this often very funny enquiry into crankiness, Toronto filmmaker Alan Zweig interviews notable curmudgeons like Fran Lebowitz, Harvey Pekar and Bruce LaBruce. Zweig wants to know what their frickin' problem is and, more importantly, whether it's the same as his. As in Vinyl, his equally irascible doc on record collectors, the endearingly dour filmmaker spends much of I, Curmudgeon spilling his guts directly to his camera and torturing himself with big questions that he can never answer satisfactorily. Zweig then confronts his subjects with the same questions, thereby making them even grouchier. (How grouchy? Andy Rooney is moved to kick Zweig out of his office.) Though I, Curmudgeon's meandering structure and incessant jump-cuts are irritants, they're also appropriate to the movie's abrasive, anti-social personality. Consider this a testament to the power of negative thinking.

Trumbo (2007)

Director:
Peter Askin

IMDB

Review:
He was Hollywood's greatest screenwriter. His words still resonate today. He defied a committee, he defied the system. They took his honor. They took his freedom. So Dalton Trumbo went to war. But the ending could only be written by him.

Sherman's March (1986)

Director:
Ross McElwee

IMDB

Review:
Ross McElwee sets out to make a documentary about the lingering effects of General Sherman's march of destruction through the South during the Civil War, but is continually sidetracked by women who come and go in his life, his recurring dreams of nuclear holocaust, and Burt Reynolds. It was awarded the Grand Jury prize in the at the 1987 Sundance Film Festival, and in 2000, was selected for preservation in the U.S. National Film Registry.

Exit Through the Gift Shop (2010)

Director:
Brit Banksy

IMDB

Review:
Los Angeles based Frenchman Thierry Guetta gets the idea that he would like to film street artists in the process of creating their work. He tells them that he is making a documentary, when in reality he has no intention of editing the footage into one cohesive movie. Unaware of this latter fact, many street artists from around the world agree to participate. Thierry even gets into the act by assisting them in creating the art. One of the artists that participates is the camera-shy Brit Banksy, who refuses to be shown on screen unless he is blacked out. Banksy does convince Thierry to use the footage to make a movie. In Thierry doing so, Banksy comes to the realization that Thierry is a lousy filmmaker, but he is an interesting character in an odd yet appealing way. So Banksy decides to use the footage and add additional material to make his own movie about Thierry's journey in this project.

Young @ Heart (2007)

Director:
Stephen Walker and Sally George

IMDB

Review:
As early as autumn 2006, surreal and hilarious video clips of Stephen Walker's documentary (which originally aired on the BBC) were making the rounds on YouTube and in email inboxes all over the U.S.--tantalizing, out-of-context glimpses of the Young At Heart vocal choir, composed of elderly men and women, having a go at chestnuts by Sonic Youth, the Clash, and the Ramones. It seemed that the feature film, re-released for the screen in 2008, would perhaps be an uncomfortably comic look at a bunch of geezers set up to look ridiculous for the smug delectation of hipster audiences everywhere. The reality is not so far off-base, at least on first glance, but Walker's film, tracking the progress of the chorus as they prepare for a big gig, provides enough good-natured humour, personal narrative, and intimate details to inspire respect and admiration--and some major heart-string-plucking--in filmgoers.  Viewers witness the blossoming of long-buried or completely latent musical talents in the elderly folks; learning the new, unfamiliar material, under the direction of irascible 50-something conductor Bob Cilman, keeps their neurons firing and their emotions kindled, while communing with and trusting each other staves off the isolating effects of old age, even as they cope with heartbreaking losses within their ranks. It is undeniably funny to watch them struggle with the more challenging punk, classic rock, and soul songs as their leader kvetches wearily, but Walker skilfully ensures that, by the end of the film, we are laughing with the intrepid Young At Hearters, and not at them.

Surfwise (2007)

Director:
Doug Pray

IMDB

Review:
As usual Doug Pray does an amazing job. The inspiring and tumultuous story of 85-year old surfer, health advocate and sex guru, Dr. Dorian "Doc" Paskowitz, his wife Juliette, and their nine children who were all home-schooled and raised in a small camper on the beach, where they surfed and had to adhere to the strict diet and lifestyle of animals in the wild.

Hammer: The Studio That Dripped Blood! (1987)

IMDB

Review:
A retrospective of the films of Britain's Hammer Studios, renowned for making stylish horror films in the 1950s, '60s and '70s. Included are clips from Hammer productions and interviews with actors, actresses, directors and producers who worked on these films.

Not Your Typical Bigfoot Movie (2008)

Director:
Jay Delaney

IMDB

Review:
Dallas Gilbert and Wayne Burton, best friends from a dying former steel town in Ohio, are out to convince the world that Bigfoot exists. They have amassed a vast library of video footage and still photographs of proof (their website is highly trafficked) after years of venturing into the forest, day and night, to the capture shots of the legendary creature in its native habitat.
Dallas is the gregarious of the dyad is a Reiki master who uses Sasquatch calls into the wild and claims to have a sheep's bone in his skull; some claim Dallas to be one of the world’s leading big foot researchers. Wayne is the repressed, emotional of the gang- a former high-school bully who currently works at a car wash and is living paycheck to paycheck.
Seeking fame, fortune, and notoriety, Wayne and Dallas's friendship is tested when a nationally recognized high-profile California BF researcher makes a stop in their town. Director Jay Delaney's honest and often funny look at their lives, proves that Bigfoot certainly is alive and well in Wayne and Dallas' world.

SuicideGirls: The First Tour (2005)

Director:
Mike Marshall

IMDB

Review:
What Playboy magazine was to the 1950's, SuicideGirls is to the new millennium: a revolutionary lifestyle brand that combines the DIY attitude of underground culture with a vibrant, sex-positive community. Now comes Suicide Girls: The First Tour, a movie featuring the unique mix of punk and burlesque that made the SuicideGirls first national tour such a hit with audiences. Beyond the stage performances, this movie follows the women along for an intimate behind-the-scenes look at life in the van, along with exclusive photo shoots, and behind-the-scenes antics like trying to set up a topless photo shoot on the streets of San Francisco at midnight. In 2004, the SuicideGirls traveled 9,000 miles around the country to perform 60 sold-out burlesque shows in 45 cities, and this movie documents it all. Giving a goth attitude to the tradition peek-a-boo, the SuicideGirls are sexy, seductive and charming as well as chaotic and candid, with scenes from the live performances interspersed with intimate looks at the individual models.

Air Guitar Nation (2006)

Director:
Alexandra Lipsitz

IMDB

Review:
With equal measures of showmanship, patriotism and irony, hundreds vie at NYC's Pussycat Lounge for the East Coast Division of the first-ever nationwide air guitar championship for the right to eventually represent the U.S. at the world championship. Meanwhile, back in Finland, the current world champ frets that the influx of Americans could corrupt the form's purity. Faces contorted, bodies vibrating, fingers gripped convulsively around non-existent strings, contestants get one minute apiece to practice their art. Actor David "C-Diddy" Jung uses a kung fu style to advance to the finals at the Roxy in Los Angeles. There, he manages to defeat the West Coast faves as well as the New York runner-up, Dan "Bjorn Turoque" Crane. In Finland, C-Diddy faces some fierce competitors, not least Bjorn Turoque, who never lets a little thing like losing hold him back.

C.S.A.: The Confederate States of America (2004)

Director:
Kevin Willmott

IMDB

Review:
Set in an contemporary alternative world where the Confederate States of America managed to win the American Civil War, a British film documentary examines the history of this nation. Beginning with its conquest of the northern states, the film covers the history of this state where racial enslavement became triumphant and the nation carried sinister designs of conquest. Interspersed throughout are various TV commercials of products of a virulent racist nature as well as public service announcements promoting this tyranny. Only at the end do you learn that there is less wholly imagined material in the film than you might suspect.  In an alternate universe, Jefferson Davis became president, the Confederates won the Civil War, Abraham Lincoln was not shot and killed but becomes an escapee in blackface and dies in disgrace in Canada (not before recording his last words in 1905 -- a little anachronistic since sound in films did not occur until the 1920s), and slavery is alive and well and becoming one with technology. Subversive enough? You'll have to watch this mockumentary to believe it. Nothing is sacred here, and it works so well because it looks as if these events truly took place. It could be a documentary shown on A & E from its meticulous attention to detail to make it look authentic, and its segues into "commercial breaks" are fantastic -- you laugh, but you cringe. And this is exactly what director Kevin Willmott and producer Spike Lee want you to feel.

Religulous (2008)

Director:
Larry Charles

IMDB

Review:
Bill Maher interviews some of religion’s oddest adherents. Muslims, Jews and Christians of many kinds pass before his jaundiced eye. Maher goes to a Creationist Museum in Kentucky, which shows that dinosaurs and people lived at the same time 5000 years ago. He talks to truckers at a Truckers’ Chapel. (Sign outside: “Jesus love you.”) He goes to a theme park called Holy Land in Florida. He speaks to a rabbin in league with Holocaust deniers. He talks to a Muslim musician who preaches hatred of Jews. Maher finds the unlikeliest of believers and, in a certain Vatican priest, he even finds an unlikely skeptic.

Who the #$&% Is Jackson Pollock? (2006)

Director:
Harry Moses

IMDB

Review:
After semi-truck driver Teri Horton bought a large splatter painting for her friend for $5, she was forced to sell it in her own garage sale when her friend said she had no place for it. Eventually someone commented on the painting stating it might be an original Jackson Pollock. This documentary follows Teri, her son, and a forensics specialist as they attempt to prove to the world, or more specifically the art community, her painting is a true Jackson Pollock.

Tupperware! (2004)

Director:
Laurie Kahn-Leavitt

IMDB

Review:
In the 1950s, American women discovered they could earn thousands -- even millions -- of dollars from bowls that burped. "Tupperware ladies" fanned out across the nation's living rooms, selling efficiency and convenience to their friends and neighbors through home parties. Bowl by bowl, they built an empire that now spans the globe.  American Experience presents Tupperware!, a new documentary by Laurie Kahn-Leavitt (A Midwife's Tale). Narrated by Kathy Bates, this funny, thought-provoking film reveals the secret behind Tupperware's success: the women of all shapes, sizes, and backgrounds who discovered they could move up in the world without leaving the house. Tupperware! charts the origins of the small plastics company that unpredictably became a cultural phenomenon.  It all began with the unlikely partnership of Earl Silas Tupper, a reclusive small-town inventor, and Brownie Wise, a self-taught marketing whiz. At a time when women, who had been celebrated for working in factories during World War II, were being pushed back to the kitchen, Wise showed them how to defy the limitations they faced by starting up their own businesses -- based in their kitchens.  In Tupperware!, archival footage of Tupperware parties, annual Tupperware Jubilees, and home movies is interwoven with the thoughtful, often humorous recollections of Tupperware salespeople and executives who experienced firsthand the company's meteoric rise.