Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jay Cutler, Hulk Hogan, The Ultimate Warrior, Barry Bonds and Marion Jones. What do these superstar athletes all have in common? The use of steroids to reach the top. To most this will not come as any surprise and with endless doping scandals having rocked most sports at one time or another, the 2008 documentary feature Bigger Stronger Faster explores … [Read more...]
Wordplay (2006) review by The Documentalist
The New York Times crossword is an American institution and is completed by millions of players every day. To most, it is just an easy way to pass some free time and how well they do is not important. To others however, the speed of completion and how this compares to others is incredibly important - enough in fact to have spawned the sport of competitive crosswording. While … [Read more...]
Undefeated (2011) review by That Film Guy
Directed by Daniel Lindsay and T.J. Martin, Undefeated is a documentary that tells the story of the 2009 Manassas Tigers high school football team from Memphis, Tennessee. Head coach Bill Courtney attempts to lead his team, centred around a group of seniors who he has been training for years, on a winning season for the first time in decades in hopes of taking them to the … [Read more...]
Room 237 (2012) review by That Art House Guy
The Shining, as we all know, is Stanley Kubrick's mea culpa for his part in faking the video footage of the moon landings “ an expression of the angst he felt about lying to his wife about what he had done and a howl of rage about the difficulties he found in complying with government orders and keeping the whole thing secret. This is clear because at one point in The Shining, … [Read more...]
Being Elmo (2012) review by The Documentalist
Being Elmo is the story of Kevin Clash - the man behind everyone's favourite Sesame Street character, Elmo. Starting from his childhood in Baltimore and his early days as a child growing up watching Sesame Street and being hooked on puppeteering, Clash tells the tale of how he came to work with Jim Henson and create the most popular character of all time. … [Read more...]
Murderball (2005) review by The Documentalist
Nominated for an Oscar in 2006, Murderball is the story of the United States quad rugby team as they train towards the 2004 Athens Olympics. It centres predominantly around the charismatic team spokesman Mark Zupan, a 28 year old quadriplegic who found himself in a wheelchair at the age of 19 following a car accident. … [Read more...]
The Imposter (2012) review by That Art House Guy
I like to imagine that at some point in the last few years there was a meeting of documentary directors. I can see it held in a smoky pub (let's not worry about how they got around the smoking ban), and in that meeting they decided that, when dealing with factual subjects, it's ok to drip feed the information through to strengthen the narrative and it's ok to reveal things to … [Read more...]
Searching for Sugar Man (2012) review by That Art House Guy
In 1970, Sixto Rodriguez, a construction worker from Detroit, released his first album Cold Fact. Those who had worked on it were really excited about it “ and predicted big things for the singer songwriter whose impassioned lyrics reminded them of Bob Dylan. Reviews were good, but nobody bought the album. It was the same with his second attempt, Coming From Reality. Sales were … [Read more...]
American Movie (1999) review by The Documentalist
Making an independent film is hard. Very hard. You have no budget, limited resources and limited time, the sum of which is often fairly shambolic despite the best efforts of the creator. Everyone in their time has picked up a camera and thought about making a film but few really commit to it. One man who can say with his hand on his heart however that he tries his best is … [Read more...]
Food, Inc. (2008) review by The Documentalist
Ever wondered where your food came from? Well if you are ready to face some ugly truths you need look no further than Robert Kenner's Oscar nominated 2008 documentary Food, Inc. which takes an unflattering look at the corporate food industry in America. With population explosions worldwide and ever growing demand for convenient food, gone are the days of buying local produce … [Read more...]