Saturday, December 25, 2010

Exit Through The Gift Shop, Grade A

Director: Banksy
Awards? none I know of--but it is still early in its life --YES is nominated for an Academy Award
cast: Banksy; Shepard Fairey; Thierry Guetta; Rhys Ifans; Space Invader; Jay Leno; Joshua Levine
sez says: What is art? Can the market place taint art? Is "Street Art / aka Graffitti" as valid of an art form as the "fine art" that hangs in a museum?  Who decides?  Does the market place determine the 'true value' of art?  All of this and ever so much more is tossed up for us to look at in this wonderful documentary.  It features a Frenchman who starts off with a video camera capturing every thing around him, obsessively recording life as he encounters it.  He eventually gets some focus and starts recording 'Street Artists" in action.  He watches them as they get public attention and begin selling their work for BIG $$  -- then he decides to make some art himself--or to hire people to produce images he wants made --and he has an 'opening' that is a gigantic event--hyped to the hilt--- and he becomes rich.  This makes the 'old school' street artists very uncomfortable---and we get to watch.  
mjc says:  What is art--is it cash or consciousness.

Tuesday, December 21, 2010

Emergency Mine Rescue, NOVA, (Grade B)

Directors: Kate Dart, Nick Evans, Tom Stubberfield
Topic: Rescue of 33 Chilean Miners 2010


This documentary begins in September 2010, following the August collapse of a deep spiral copper and gold mine in Chile in which 33 miners were trapped.  The Chilean government had announced it would takes months to rescue these men--and it promised to do everything possible toward that end.   The film chronicles the fate of the miners, and explains the multitude of challenges faced by both the miners and those working around the clock to bring them safely to the surface.  Via interviews with engineers, NASA experts, medical personnel, and key figures from the companies that provided drills and crucial rescue equipment, the film gives a detailed and scientific account of the events as they unfolded.  Even knowing the outcome in advance --the story manages to build some tension as you see the stress the participants suffer. It is a story of people doing what appears to be impossible and succeeding.  Uplifting stuff. 

DOGS: Decoded NOVA (Geade B)

Director: Dan Child
 TOPIC: DOGS

 "Dogs Decoded" says it is is going to tell us about "the science" that creates the bond between humans and dogs. Evidently dogs are now being taken seriously as a subject to study--and there is some pretty interesting information/ideas that are coming out of that.  An example is the genetics research that illuminate the origin of dogs. More interesting to me is the research that suggests that dogs have an ability to read and respond to human emotions. and that some humans, in turn, respond to dogs with the same hormone responsible for bonding mothers to their babies. Also, Dogs and wolves--while both canine--are NOT the same in their response to humans--no matter how hard humans try and create that bond.  Fun stuff...not sure it all qualifies as science.. but people in universities have begun to look at the relationship between humans and animals --and I am glad to see that trend.

Tuesday, November 2, 2010

The Vikings, NOVA 2000 (Grade C+)

sez says:  Vikings have long been portrayed as horned-helmeted barbarians. Well their helmets didn't have horns and their major accomplishment was that they were master boat builders.   This"Nova" episode shows the Vikings to have been civilized and sophisticated people. Startling new research indicates that the 8th century Norsemen were, in fact, also shrewd merchants, accomplished artisans and superbly creative. They traveled extensively and colonized large sections of eastern Europe, all the way to Constantinople.They also populated the British Isles, Northern France, Iceland and Greenland--and made their way into the Mediterranean.   Part of the time they were raiding, even more of the time they were trading--and regularly they settled and melted into the local population--often dominating.  You come away from this thinking they played a much bigger role in the history and peopling of Europe than is generally taught.  Interesting stuff. Fairly well presented--but no where near brilliant.

Saturday, August 21, 2010

The True Meaning of Pictures: Shelby Lee Adams' Appalachia, 2002 (Grade B)

Director" Jennifer Baichwal
Topic Photography - manipulation of images

sez says: this explores some heavy philosophical terrain. Shelby Lee Adams, a photographer, who grew up in Appalachia, takes photos of people in the far-back hollers of Kentucky -- and presents those photos to the world via galley showings and books. He says he is just presenting these people to the world, as they are, and he is not exploiting them in any way. The film talks to many of the people who have had their pictures in his books,  and only a few have any problem at all with the pictures or with him.  But the pictures do, undeniably, perpetrate stereotypes about inbred simpletons who are immersed in poverty and misery.  The people in the photos are more complex than the pictures--and the pictures are sometimes rather shocking.  Did the photographer intentionally make the pictures shocking to sell the photos?  Are the photos art, or documentary materials?   Critics point out that he posed the pictures--and in so doing he makes them something other than documents--one man called them "Shelby Lee Adam's Picture Poems" -- and had no problem with them as 'visual poems' but stood firm against their being accepted as documentary photos. There are a lot of voices in this...and questions about morality, ethics, cultural elitism, what is art and more..are churning around the discussions. It is well done. (Grade B)   

Thursday, August 5, 2010

Art & Copy, 2009 (Grade B+)

Director: Doug Pray
Producer:
Topic: Advertising

featuring Lee Chow; Cliff Freeman; Jeff Goodby; David Kennedy; George Lois; Charlie Moss; Hal Riney; Phyllis K Robinson; Ed Rollins; Rich Silverstein; Mary Wells; Dan Wieden.and others


this documentary explores the world of advertising and features a host of interviews with some of the biggest names in the business. Meet the talented minds who created tag lines forever embedded in the American psyche, including "Just Do It," "Where's the Beef?" and "Got Milk?" Hal Riney, Ed Rollins and many others share their insights. Used for fun and entertainment--in the name of selling stuff--and for insidious ends--like manipulating emotions and lying to get a candidate elected, the power of images and the right mix of just a few words can turn heads and shape our world.  This is really worth seeing.

Saturday, July 24, 2010

The Spy Factory, 2009 (Grade D)

Producer Scott Willis & James Bamford
Topic: NSA / National Security Agency

this program  claims to exposes the NSA, an "ultra-secret intelligence agency" and its role in the failure to stop the 9/11 attacks and the subsequent eavesdropping program that listens in without warrant on millions of American citizens.  The program is alarmist, wanting you to hold your breath to hear what you already know --- that is, you know it if you pay attention to the news.  Yes the NSA operates in the shadows, and it may well be doing things that are 'unconstitutional' and we ought to be aware that it exists. So if you didn't know any of this, well then, this docu-drama will tell you these things.  But what it doesn't talk about is do we need this organization..and if so, how do we have an organization that can do what it does and also not have it cross lines pertaining to civil liberties.  This documentary both criticizes the agency for not being invasive enough (stop 9/11) and for being too invasive. So which is it you want?  We could use a serious discussion about this topic--but it is not available in this documentary.

Sunday, July 18, 2010

Martin Scorsese Presents: The Blues: A Musical Journey Vol 7, Piano Blues Grade B

Director Clint Eastwood
Producer Martin Scorsese
Topic Piano Blues
Disc 7 -- the last in the series
Clint Eastwood takes an in-depth look at piano-blues music through rare video footage, interviews and performances by greats such as Ray Charles, Jay McShann, Pinetop Perkins, Dave Brubeck and many more -- He tends to take us into jazz and classical works--but keeps trying to tie them back to the blues. It is clear that Eastwood love the piano -- and I enjoyed this a lot.. but I really wold have preferred it if he would have stayed a little closer to the music I do so love-- the blues.

Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Storm That Drowned A City, 2005 (Grade B+)

Written Directed and Produced by Caroline Penry-Davey and Peter Chinn
Topic: Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans, Geography & Politics

sez says: This is well done. It was helpful to at last get a full understanding of the exact geography of the area hit by Katrina--and to see where, how and why the levies failed. It all could be predicted--and it was predicted--so you have to realize we don't always do what we know we should do and we pay the consequence. Or, in this case the people of New Orleans paid the consequence of inadequate levies. Is anyone checking to make sure the new ones are being done right? (grade B+) 

A Walk to Beautiful, 2008 Grade A+

Producer  Mary Olive Smith
Topic: African Women with Obstetric Fistula

Awards: This film took top honors at the 2007 International Documentary Association Awards Competition, where it was named Best Feature Documentary. It also won the People's Choice Award for Best Documentary at the Starz Denver Film Festival, the Audience Award at both the San Francisco and St. Louis international film festivals, and the Best Human Rights Film Award at the International Documentary Festival of Barcelona.

sez says: this is as perfect of a documentary as I have ever seen. There is no hyped-up dialogue. It is just a straight forward telling of a story about people facing an horrendous problem and good people trying to help those people.  It is about African women who, due to malnourishment, stunted growth, early child bearing, and lack of medical facilities, develop fistula while they are in labor.  They are then outcast.  There is a small clinic they can go to the get the fistula repaired--and the operation is generally helpful--but it can only help a very few of the large number of women with the problem. This is heartbreaking and uplifting at the same time. Grade A for perfect job.

Friday, June 18, 2010

Martin Scorsese Presents: The Blues: A Musical Journey Vol 6, Red, White & Blue- Grade A

Director Mike Figgis
Producer Martin Scorsese
Topic The Blues -- British Impact

sez says --this is the best in the series (so far) It includes people like Van Morrison, Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck and Tom Jones who perform and talk about how American Blues came to England, the impact it had there and how it morphed and than returned to the USA as part of the wave of British blues music that hit the United States in the '60s. These are mostly talking head interviews--interspersed with some fine music. It gave a strong sense of time and place and personality. John Mayall, Steve Winwood. Georgie Fame, Albert Lee,  Mick Fleetwood, Humphrey Lyttleton, Lonnie Donnegan, Chris Farlowe,  and John Porter, plus some very special foot age of performances by Cream, the Mick Jagger / The Rolling Stones and more.  The point that is made, is that Black Blues Music was introduced to  American White Audiences via English performers.  Had they not 'discovered the blues' we Americans might have continued to ignore it. (Grade A)

Saturday, June 12, 2010

This So Called Disaster: (Grade B)

Director: Michael Almereyda
Cast: Sean Penn, Nick Nolte, Cheech Marin, Sheila Tousey, T-Bone Burnett, Sam Shepard, Woody Harrelson
Topic: Theater --producing a Sam Shepard Play

sez says: fun to watch these actor at work --it gives you a sense of what it takes to produce a play. The relationship between the writer-director and the actors is had to describe in words--but it is something you can watch and  pick up clues about. It sure entertained me... but I have to wonder what kind of mass appeal it might have.  (Grade B)

Thursday, June 10, 2010

The Sucide Tourist (Grade A)

Director: John ZaritskyProducer FRONTLINE
Topic: Right to Die / Sucide

sez sys: I thought this was a perfectly crafted documentary. We follow a man with Lou Gehrig's Disease as he decides to take action and bring on own death before he has to experience extreme suffering--and then die anyway.   Dignatis, a Swiss Organization, aids him and his wife, providing the assistance they need.  It is a strong piece for anyone, both those who are pro-and those who are cob assisted suicide-- to observe and consider the issues at hand.  We all will die: Some of us will travel the hard road to making a decision about when and how.  This is a helpful perspective. (Grade A)

Sunday, June 6, 2010

Trudell: Independent Lens, 2006 (Grade C)

Director: Heather Rae
Awards? None that I know of
Cast: Robert Redford; Kris Kristofferson; Bonnie Raitt; Jackson Brown; John Trudell; Wilma Mankiller

sez says: If you know noting of the AMERICAN INDIAN MOVEMENT --aks AIM --you might find this really interesting,  The backdrop to this man's story is the history of that movement:  It is something we should all know about. And Trudell is an interesting man. He has led a life of commitment to making the world a more fair and equitable place for all.  He speaks loudly and clearly about the contradiction that we all live with--and we can never be reminded enough of that. He has many admirable qualities.  He has also suffered great loss and tragedy--which is told about in this film.  But here is my gripe.  Once the tragedy is told -- the documentary wants to lift him into a god-like status and super poet.  That is a shame. It is quite enough that he survived and continues to engage the world  with a passion to be heard. That is an accomplishment and it is a worthy story on its own--and it seems more respectful to me than making a pedestal for him stand on.  People can be pushed off pedestals--and if what he is supposed to be remember for is his poetry--well ,I think he will be forgotten. What we need to remember him for is his passion, his commitment his accomplishments in the name of justice and that should have remained the focus of the documentary.  Grade C

Thursday, May 27, 2010

Bettle Queen Conquers Tokyo (Grade C+)

Director: Jessica Oreck
Producer: Jessica Oreck
Topic: Insects as pets in Japan


sez says:  this documentary wonders around the web of cultural and historical ties underlying Japan's relationship with insects...INCLUDING the new market for Bug as PETS.  This is strange stuff.. about 20% will put you to sleep--and 20% is really great--the remaining 60% is nothing less than weird. It could have done with less 'arty' ramblings. But it did a great job weaving layer upon layer of material that seemed disconnected at times and then would snap into place to form understandings of Japanese culture. Here you find kitsch meeting science, meeting philosophy, meeting ecology, meeting music and poetry and on and on. This is not linear--but it eventually takes shape..even if you take a nap in the middle.  Grade C+

Saturday, May 8, 2010

Martin Scorsese Presents: The Blues: A Musical Journey, Vol 5: Fathers & Godsons (Grade B)

Director: Marc Levin
Topic: The Blues --Chicago, Chess Records, Rap

Includes rapper Chuck D, Marshall Chess (of Chess Records) Bo Diddley, Pinetop Perkins, Sam Lay, Lonnie Brooks, Chuck D and Public Enemy, Common, Ike Turner, Koko Taylor, Magic Slim, Howlin' Wolf and more

sez says: we are sticking with this series because it is a joy to listen to the music and to be learn more about the history of our favorite music.  This disc focuses on Chicago and Chess Record. It tells about Maxwell Avenue and about how it came to be the "Black+Jews=Blues" in the windy city. The organizing structure of this film is Rapper Chuck-D (of Public Enemy) came across an old Chess record (Electric Mudd) and contacted Marshall Chess (son of the founder of Chess Records) to learn more about the record. So Chess and D wonder about the city talking about and listening to old and new Chicago Blues and eventually build a bridge from the blues of old to the rapper of today--It all ends in really pretty amazing recording section where the original musicians from Electric Mudd (which is a psychedelic version of Muddy Water's music that was panned when it was released in the 1960s or 1970s) join forces with rappers of the early 2000s era,  It is a little slow in places in the middle..but it is still a fine ride. (Grade B to me)

Sunday, April 25, 2010

Breaking the Mayan Code, NOVA ,2008 (grade B+)

From the PBS SERIES NOVA --here is a winner.

sez says: This subject is fascinating all by itself--that is how do you break a code and learn to read a language that is near dead, etc.  But add to that, the history of why we knew so little for so long, and a new importance is added --that is to see how we, as humans, stumble all over ourselves creating, and destroying and struggling back to understanding.  What I didn't know in its entirety is that Europeans--by way of the Catholic Church--burned libraries in the effort to destroy the Mayan culture and language. I knew they had engaged in torturing people to convert them to Catholicism, and that they may have made the violence that the Mayan people themselves practiced, look tame in their rampage against all things Mayan. But the loss of all of the written history I didn't know about.  But what they didn't destroy were all of the building that were hidden under the jungle's growth--and those building were covered with symbols/hieroglyphics.  Once discovered these markings ignited the curiosity-turned to passion--of multiple generations of people who worked to decipher the meaning of these markings.  Throw in the Cold War, which kept people from working together and toss that with human pride, a little one-ups-man-ship and a 12 year old genius and slowly, slowly we find our way back from the time of the original book burnings into the light of  some understanding about who the Mayans were. This is well worth watching--and while I'm not sure I really understand how they finally broke the code, I now know something about how it was done. (Grade B+)      

I.M. Pei, Building Modern China, American Masters Series 2010 (Grade A)

PBS Series Modern Masters says of this show ... "I.M. Pei has been called the most important living modern architect,  defining the landscapes of some of the world’s greatest cities.  A monumental figure in his field and a laureate of the prestigious Pritzker Architecture Prize, Pei is the senior statesman of modernism and last surviving link to such great early architects as Corbusier, Gropius, and Mies van der Rohe.   Entering into the twilight of his career and well into his eighties, Pei returns to his ancestral home of Suzhou, China to work on his most personal project to date.   He is commissioned to build a modern museum in the city’s oldest neighborhood which is populated by classical structures from the Ming and Qing dynasties.  For the architect who placed the pyramid at the Louvre, the test to integrate the new with the old is familiar but still difficult.  The enormous task is to help advance China architecturally without compromising its heritage.  In the end, what began as his greatest challenge and a labor of sentiment, says Pei, ultimately becomes “my biography.”"

sez says -- I couldn't say it better so I am just sharing with you their description. I might add that a man of remarkable charm and grace is also reveled  here and that meeting him this way was a delight.  Also, you get to see, at lest in part, the process of creating this museum. I'd very much like to go see it in person. (Grade A)

Wednesday, April 14, 2010

The Marx Brothers in a Nutshell, 1982 (Grade C)

Director: Richard Patterson
Topic: The Marx Brothers


sez says: Knowing very little about the Marx Brother I did learn a number of things about them by watching this documentary that overviews their careers. There are a few talking heads: family and people that knew them. There is lots of film footage of them in action.  There is a narration (by Gene Kelly) that ties it all together. No question about it--they were a unique madcap bunch, who look spontaneous--but who were really absolutely disciplined, hard working guys.  The only problem, there is no analysis here--no asking why their unique humor has such a captivating appeal --and that is the sort of  question I'd be interested in seeing answered. Not that anyone has 'the answer' but at least I'd be interested in hearing some of the the theories.  In any case, this is a light weight bit of fun. (Grade C)

Thursday, April 8, 2010

Martin Scorsese Presents: The Blues: A Musical Journey, Vol 4: Warming by the Devil's Fire (Grade C+)

Director: Charles Burnett
Topic: Gospel v The Blues (sort of)

sez says: I've loved this series--and I plan to see all 7 segments.  But if this had been the first one I saw I might not have been as enthusiastic.  It is not bad--but it is not great either.  Burnett uses a supposed story of a young boy being sent 'home' to the south, to be 'saved' (ie baptized in the family church.)  His uncle, a blues man, waylays the boy to show him what he is gong to be saved from--ie the blues.  We follow these two along (shot in full color, setting the 1950s) and as Uncle tells the story of the blues, B&W footage of real blues singers in the real 1950s is shown.  Simple structure..but a little hokey.  And while the blues were being juxtaposed to 'the church' there was a lack of clarity about what, exactly the topic was.  Anyway there was some nice old footage, and a wide variety of music (a lot of WC Handy in particular)  and that is worthwhilein my book--but probably not so much in everybody's book.  (Grade C+)

Saturday, April 3, 2010

The Cove, 2009 (grade A-)

Director: Louie Psihoyos

Topic: Dolphins
Awards?  -yes Sun Dance (audience choice / documentary) and an Academy Award for best documentary

sez says: shame on you Japan. What a story. Dolphins are being slaughtered for no good reason. They are caught to be sold to sea-world circus type attractions. The ones not chosen for this profession are killed in mass and are being sold as 'whale' meat (they are a type of whale) to the Japanese people, Their meat is full of mercury--so they are poison to those who do consume them.  This is a documentary that tells how the proof of  these allegations has been brought to public attention. This is Activist Film Making -- It only tells one side...but that side would be hard to counter, No doubt that is why the Japanese are so adamant about trying not to let anyone know about this practice. And why these film makers had to go to such extremes to get the proof they present here.  Not for the squeamish  (Grade A-)

Friday, March 26, 2010

Religulous, 2008 (Grade C)

Director: Larry Charles
Topic: Religion

sez says:  This is not really a documentary--it tries to take the form of a documentary, with Bill Maher traveling around and talking to people about religion...but it is more of a comic stand up show with people as props and a platform for Bill Maher's opinions. I generally like Bill Maher and I am not a big defender of organized religion--but this really is a cheap shot.  Without a doubt much evil has been done (and is currently being done) in the name of religion.  And it is not hard to find wacky people professing belief in miracles and such.  But Maher never seriously asks anyone a question that he wants an answer to--rather the format is something like this: he asks, they get a few lines and then he provides the answer he is looking for via commentary that is disguised as another question.  If you watch this, note how much time he talks (probably over 80% of the time) vs how much time he gives to listening to the people he interviews. And when he does have them talk, it is edited material to make them look as stupid as possible.  Sometimes his is funny--and Maher's point is one worth taking about--but a documentary this is not.

mjc says:  being a methodist minister and all, I have come in for my fair share of ridicule and abuse for the sins of my fathers in the faith (and some mothers) and I am generally lumped together with the nut cases on the religious right, so I would have been happy to have a documentary that differentiated between the various religious perspectives.  This wasn't it, although Maher's conversation with the renegade priest in front of theVatican came close.  Don't bother.  (Grade C)

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Martin Scorsese Presents: The Blues: A Musical Journey, Vol 3: The Road to Memphis

Director:  Richard Pearce
Producer:  Robert Kenner
Topic: American Music - The Blues

sez says: oh yes, we do love this series..and this may be the best we have seen so far.  It tells about blacks moving out of the deep south and forming a community in Memphis...among them were, of course, many musicians. In Beale Street as one of the men interviewed said. "if you were a white man and you could turn yourself into a black man for one night on Beale Street, you'd never want to go back to being a white man again"   A radio station, WDIA 1070, eventually found its place in the early 1960s by hiring black announcers and playing to the black community.  The station reached over a million blacks and became tremendously powerful/influential.  Among other things it played the music that had developed on Beale Street-the Blues.  That music made via the radio to the youth of the 1960s and crossed the race line. BB King is a prime example of a musician who come up via Beale Street and jumped the color line. He is heavily featured in this documentary. But he is not alone. There is lots more information, and musicians in this film--including Bobby Rush, a most interesting contemporary performer seeking his day in the sun. It organized itself around a reunion in Memphis of the men who started there musical careers in that city --and then it told some of the story of each one of a set of featured men including Ike Turner & Rosco Brown, Bobby Rush,  Calvin Newborn and more.  There is a very interesting interview with Sam Phillips (of SUN Record fame) who has a particular take of the time and music being a white man in the black community.  This is good enough to watch twice!

mjc says:  Once again, a great excursion through the history and musicians of the Blues using Memphis as a focus.  I had no idea of the history particularly of the radio station and its impact.  Watch it even if you never heard the blues, it will captivate you!(Grade A)

Monday, February 15, 2010

Martin Scorsese Presents: The Blues: A Musical Journey: Vol 1: Feel Like Going Home

Director:  Martin Scorsese
Producer Martin Scorsese
Topic: American Music The Blues

sez says: Oh my I love this music, and I love that this series was made, and I could listen to it over and over again.  In this one blues artist Corey Harris is featured as our tour guide and he introduces old and contemporary musicians from the Delta Blues region of the South --and then he goes on to Africa to meet current musicians from that region and to demonstrate the roots of the music. It is something of a general introduction to the topic and it has footage of lots of famous and not so famous musicians... but to me it was all just a joy to watch. But then, I am a dyed-in-the-wool lover of the Blues so maybe I am not really capable of being critical of this sort of documentary.  I am just delighted to see this sort of documentary made.

mjc says:  really wonderful introduction to the blues and its roots.  Grade A

Martin Scorsese Presents: The Blues: A Musical Journey Vol 2 Soul of A Man

Director Wim Wenders
Topic: American Music: The Blues

sez says -- First off I'll say I love this series -- and I recommend it to anyone that loves the Blues.  But, if you don't love the Blues it might not be of much interest.  There is a lot of detail, various renditions of the same songs, interviews with sometimes rather unusual people.  But still I could watch any of the volumes in this set multiple times, just like I'd listen to an album multiple times.   That said, I also have to say that Vol #2 is rather bizarre: You've got to ask what "cartoons of outer space" have to do with the subject -- that is the framework around which Wenders sets his telling of this story.  (There is a connection but it is thin and then it is stretched--so it's got holes in it--but that didn't stop Wenders --a mistake I'd say but then maybe others found the connection moving or camp. You'll have to watch it to see what you think.) Titled "The Soul of A Man" the focus is on the contributions, (and lives) of three men: Blind Willie Johnson, J.B. Lenoir and Skip James. The story is well known --amazing musicians made wonderful music --got cheated out of the profits, were rediscovered in the 1960s, etc.  But this one demonstrates how much of the music we know actually came from these men.   It is an awe inspiring and amazing contribution they made--I am sure glad that Scorsese put this together to acknowledge that contribution.  And I hope lots more documentaries are made about this subject so an ever increasing number of people will be exposed to the gift the world received from these men. Hallelujah!

mjc says:  I love the blues so I am always happy to sit and listen and watch the guys who made it.  This movie is a bit over the top, Wenders trying way too hard to be cool and creative!  Grade for this Vol B

Tuesday, February 2, 2010

Rome: Rise and Fall of an Empire

Producer: History Channel
Topic:  Roman Empire

 sez says: This is a 4 Disc Series--each disc has 4 episodes --so there is a lot of material covered.  The visuals are reenactments--and maps.  Meanwhile there is a voice-over narration telling about the rise and fall of various figures, or reading from texts of the time.  This is interspersed with talking-head academics filling in info about what is known / or believed to be true / about the folks involved. Why we got into watching this I am not sure. It is not fabulous but it is just compelling enough to keep you with it.  Certainly it is full of detail that I'll never retain but it also provides a strong overview-sensibility that describes a civilization that is based on militarism and is held together by the military. According to this program no one could rule without the support of the military; all wealth came from the plunder obtained via military conquest; the military repeatedly removed leaders and replaced them; there was always trouble on the borders with various tribes of people fighting back; there was plenty of intrigue inside Rome as people vied for power.   That is not particularly surprising. But I keep wondering about all those folk (called barbarians) who resist the Romans along the borders...who were they? -- did they too just want to be 'Romans' and conquer other people, or were there any that just wanted to live peaceably and get the Roman's off their backs?    Also, not covered are questions like how exactly did communication take place over such a large area? People seemed to know what was going on from one end of the empire to another..and I'd sure like to know more about the society that grew out of this wealth..not just the ruling elite but how did regular, everyday-people fare. But there is the rub, the more you learn, the more questions you have, and this silly thing is already over long.

mjc says:  I've picked up a few morsels about this empire from the series, although I am always skeptical about what is said when I don't know the ideology/perspective of the producers.  I mean, was this really all about to whom the legions were loyal, or was there more to it then that.  Most of the academics, I noticed, were from fairly obscure schools, many in the South.  Just a itch that I might scratch one of these days.  
GRADE C

Tuesday, January 26, 2010

Influenza 1918, American Experience

Director: Robert Kenner
Narrator: Linda Hunt

sez says:  interesting bit of history. It must have been frightening to have lived through this epidemic. 600,000 dead in the USA, 33 million dead around the world-and this all happened in a very short time.  It started sometime in 1918 and hit its peak in October of that year, then mysteriously it tapered off.  No one anywhere had any idea how to stop it.  Certainly people tried, scientist worked feverishly, people turned to folk medicine, but there was nothing that worked.  And it was not killing the weakest members of society-it was killing the strongest.  A reminder that we really don't have all the answers--not then, not now. GRADE B -

Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Riddles Of The Sphinx , NOVA 2010

sez says --What happened to NOVA? It use to be such a good, reliable show. Now it is all hyped up language and hold your breath cliff-hanger talk that is really off putting.  The Sphinx is an iconic image and so I thought it might be interested to learn a little about it..and that is what I learned, just a little bit.  So sure I now know something more than I did but it was hard work listening to the dialogue, that wanted to make the story into a race of some sort, saying things like: "Just in time" somebody is studying the Sphnix! --Huh? Even I know that people have been studying the Sphinx for a long time.  Oh well --maybe I just need to give up on the NOVA series.

mjc:  agree with the sentiment about how the show was constructed, all breathless and awestruck.  They could have had the camera slowly wander around the giant statue and it would have been more interesting. GRADE D

Tuesday, January 12, 2010

Sam Cooke, Crossing Over, 2010

Director:  John Antonelli
Topic: Sam Cooke, American Music and Race Relations
Narrator: Danny Glover

sez says:  what a delight it is to hear this music and to learn a little more about this talented man.  The film makers tried hard to make each stage of his life 'yet another dramatic moment.'  but his life was not so very dramatic. The subtext is he had enormous talent, he was ambitious and he worked hard. That added up to many accomplishments. Tragedy also entered his life but his ultimate downfall came from his life long habit of chasing women.  Too bad for us. He died at age 33. GRADE C

mjc says:   pretty guy; pretty music.

Saturday, January 9, 2010

Killer Subs in Pearl Harbor, 2009

NOVA  Premiere Broadcast on PBS: January 5, 2010

sez says: This has interesting new information about the details of exactly what happened at Pearl Harbor,,,but how annoying can you get with all the hyperbole about 'at last the truth is told' -- the material doesn't need that kind or stupid talk.  A puzzle has been pieced together.  We know more now than we did previously, and some interesting scientific specialties were used to get the new picture in focus. So if you are interested in what happened at Pearl Harbor you will find this interesting..but you may find your self talking back to the TV about the hype and drama the script engages in.  I wish they wouldn't do that. GRADE D


mjc says:  all I could think about was how much I wanted to get in the warm Hawaiian waters and float around.  OK, I know that is retrograde, but it was what I thought.  That, and how horrifying it would be to be one of the crew in the midget submarines the Japanese had created.

Saturday, January 2, 2010

Louisa May Alcott: The Woman Behind 'Little Women', 2009

Director: Nancy Porter
Topic Louisa Alcott

sez says: I am not much taken to the documentary style used here. People in period costume reading lines from the works of people in the past...but it is a known style and I can put up with it. And it is done here as well as it is done anywhere. They do have some pretty impressive 'cast' members. New England in the mid-19th century must have been a grand place--full of people serious about ideas and trying to live life according to their own lights. One of my favorite lines is when Louisa says she was not allowed to wear clothing made of cotton--the product of slave labor, or silk because it was produced by degrading worms, or wool because it was robbed from sheep.  I appreciate the aim of harming no one and nothing,  I came away from this seeing Ms Alcott as a hard working, driven woman, who searched a long while to find a niche for herself that would save her and her family from poverty.  Once she found one she was not to be stopped.  Think whatever you want of her literary skill, she cannot be faulted when it comes to determination, perseverance and a manic work-ethic.  She because a very wealth woman with those attributes--and talent may not have been much involved at all.

mjc:  of interest was the look into early New England literary connections and the various ways in which folk tried to make something "new" in the New World, communes and towns alike. GRADE C

Woody Guthrie: Ain't Got No Home, 2007

Director Peter Frumkin
Topic Woody Guthrie

sea says: what a great American and what a talented man.  there is a subtext in this documentary saying he may have been a bit of a bastard as a human being. But no one is perfect and what he did right sure is wonderful.  This film reinforced my belief that the song "This Land Is Your Land" should be our national anthem.  My favorite story, told about WG in this documentary, is about him integrating the soldiers on a ship in WW2.  The documentary is good--but it is worth watching the whole thing just to learn about what he did that night. GRADE B-

mjc says:  I am always amazed when I am reminded of the songs that are part of our heritage as Americans that came from WG's head and heart.  Thank you Woody

Capitalism, A Love Story, 2009

Director Michael Moore
Topic Capitalism
 IMDB Link:  Capitalism

sez says:  Good for your Mr Moore --  I don' agree with you on every issue but it is way over due for American's (and all the aspiring capitalist in the world) to look at our economic system from the bottom up, there may be a baby in the bathwater that we want to save--but it is time to dump the bathwater. GRADE B

mjc says:  I am grateful to Mr. Moore for tackling this up to now taboo topic:  that is, our economic system is at its basis operating on principles that most of us struggle against in our relationships with those we care about:  greed, selfishness, me first, etc.  Thanks for suggesting that there is another way.

No Impact Man: The Documentary, 2009

Director: Laura Gabbert & Justin Schein
Starring:  Colin Beavin & Michelle Conlin
IMDB Link:  No Impact Man

sez says: She did not like this guy 'No Impact Man'  because he could find electric power to run his computer but could not find it to run a small cooler to keep milk cold for his children.  Yes, he ran his computer off solar power--but priorities are priorities--and his proved to be selfish, even in the face of claiming he was attempting to demonstrate how we as a culture 'can do with less'  -- I guess it still comes down to WHO is going to do with less. GRADE C-


mjc says:  can't imagine why this guy's wife put up with this nonsense; or is he so desperate for work he had to generate this junk?  Obviously it did the trick!

Friday, January 1, 2010

Tyson, 2009

Director:  James Toback


Starring:  Mike Tyson
IMDB Link:  Tyson

sez says:  a look at a part of American culture that isn't often seen and well worth the time to watch. GRADE B-

mjc says:  the impact of a good man on a struggling teenager trying to be a good man, and his slide from grace.