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)

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)