1

Marie bought me "1" on blu-ray for x-mas. It's a new documentary on Formula One racing.

On the one hand there are a lot of good things about this doc. But on the other hand, I had a couple bones to pick.

The good: Very high production value. Dynamic editing. Interviews from many of the greats. Good archival footage. Music is legit. It's narrated by Michael Fassbender.

The bad: The movie seemed like it was just taking you from one crash to the next with filler content in between. We know there are a lot of crashes (and deaths in the old days), but this was overkill (pun intended). The thread seemed to follow crashes and how they improved safety over the years. But that's not really a good focal point for an F1 doc. How about...the cars, the drivers, the glamour, the teams, the personalities, the technology? I'd like to see that a lot more. Also, it took you from the inception through about 1996. For a movie made in 2012 why did it stop in 1996?

So I didn't think it was a good movie to show someone who's not all that familiar with F1. I enjoyed it. It was fast-paced and well-made. I just thought the focus was too sensational and it would have been much better served if they had focused on something other than accidents.

Still recommended, just with a bit of caution. If you love F1, watch it. :)

Fuzz: The Sound that Revolutionized the World

Eric told me about this documentary. It's about guitar pedals. He neglected to tell me the documentary is shitty.

I watched it over a couple lunch breaks at work, hoping there would be this ONE sequence that made the whole thing worthwhile. It never came. It's pretty much a dude interviewing some pedal makers with a camcorder. It doesn't appear to be edited in any logical order.

If I were in prison I'd probably find some other shit to do before resigning myself to watching this movie. Maybe go cornrow some dude's hair.

J Mascis...that guy is a fucking human sloth. Look at this random clip on youtube.

Breath of the Gods

Marie wanted to watch this documentary on the beginnings of yoga in the Western World. And we did. Reflecting on it we both agreed it was interesting but honestly not a very good documentary from an artistic point of view.

This is a doc made by a German dude (or maybe he's Austrian, I don't know) who gets into yoga through his wife. He really digs it so he decides to track down some pupils and descendants of T. Krishnamacharya, the legendary Indian yogi who brought yoga to the West. He interviews them about what it was like back in the 30's and 40's and that's about it. It's honestly more like a well-edited holiday video than a legitimate documentary.

Whether you're just curious about yoga or you're diehard about it, it's definitely worth watching because you'll probably nerd out on it. But it won't win any fucking awards for artistic merit. There are better movies to watch.

Time Zero

I came across this flick on Netflix. It's a documentary about the last year of Polaroid film. Seemed like a light flick I could check out so I did...

The doc interviews a variety of photographers and artists who are heavy Polaroid users. One of them being none other than John Waters. I don't dig his films but the dude is freakin entertaining. The whole premise of the film is that Polaroid is shutting its doors, there are people who love the film, so what the fuck are they gonna do now that it's gone?

Well, I won't tell you because that wouldn't be very sporting of me. But it's an interesting look at the corporation, the people who love the film, and what fruit is born from that love.

The doc is well done. The biggest takeaway for me on any film like this is always the passion of the artists involved. It's always profoundly powerful when people are moved to tears, to action, and sometimes to risk their lives for the sake of art and expression. Very cool, man.

Good doc.

Design is One

Design is One is a documentary about Massimo and Lella Vignelli. You don't know them but you definitely know their art. Everything from the NY MTA wayfinding signage to the American Airlines logo to the Bloomingdale's logo. Ducati, Ford, JCPenny, United Colors of Benetton, Knoll...the list is endless. Their influence is profound. It's shocking.

They design anything and everything from clothes to furniture to buildings to logos to corporate identities to housewares to whatever.

If you saw the Helvetica documentary you were probably amused by Massimo's interviews. He's very passionate and very straightforward, but without being a dick. He's opinionated, but approachable. Funny dude. Talented as fuck.

So, this is a doc focusing on their design impact. I recommend it to anyone who cares about aesthetics. Period.

Go stream it on Netflix.

Super Duper Alice Cooper

Alice Cooper is one of those acts who has never grown out of favor with me. I've been a huge fan since '90. That sounds crazy but that's about when Trash came out and that was THE album that got me into him. Then Hey Stoopid came out in '91 and I was singing about "meet my libido, he's such a psycho" and I had no idea what the fuck that meant. I just knew the chorus was about Frankenstein's monster and that was cool when you're 10 or 11.

Anyway, Alice Cooper rules hard and I've been a fan for 25 years now. Of course I'm gonna buy the new doc that Sam Dunn just put out. He's the Canadian hesher responsible for Iron Maiden Flight 666, Metal: A Headbanger's Journey, and Global Metal (all of which I also own). It's all good shit.

This year at work our theme is Nightmares and my team is doing Alice Cooper "Welcome to My Nightmare" as the theme. I watched this flick to help get some ideas for whatever we come up with. I like the idea of dropping panties from a helicopter. I'll have to recreate that at work somehow...

Getting back to the doc...
There are no talking heads. All interviews are done off camera. It's just VO's from the people who were there on top of archival footage. It's woven together in more of a present-tense format instead of a retrospective format. The doc starts with Vincent in high school and ends in 1986, 18 years after "I'm Eighteen." It's somewhat of a rise and fall and rise again story.

I definitely learned a lot. I wonder if Alice has a bio? I should get that if he does...

This doc is good but it didn't get me as psyched as I expected. Flight 666 makes the hair on your arms stand up. Every time. It's electric. It's just more kinetic. For being as crazy as Cooper is, this doc is somehow mellow and subdued. It could have done with some sort of jolt in the storytelling. Maybe some other more animated VO's. It's just kind of mellow. Probably because Alice is in his 60's and he's told these stories a million times.

I'd watch this on Netflix when it comes out unless you're a diehard then go ahead and get the blu-ray.

Word.

Krautrock: the Rebirth of Germany

Can't remember how I got onto the subject of Kraturock but for some reason I looked up Amon Düül II on YouTube. I think I was reading Iron Fist or Decibel or some shit like that. Anyway, I checked out the aforementioned Germans and really dug it. Far out shit like Kraftwerk meets Hawkwind. Perfect combo! Totally bizarre. So I thought it was about time I checked out more Krautrock proper. I've dug Kraftwerk for years now. I fuckin love em. But I need to dig deeper.

I ran past Flipside on Tuesday and picked up a couple Tangerine Dream LP's from Uberti. Dig.

Then I gave Henry Pardike a holler and asked him for some recommendations as he's a musical oracle. He passed along a link to this documentary that focuses on the big name bands like Tangerine Dream, Can, Neu!, Kraftwerk, Amon Düül II and Faust, etc. I watched it at lunch today.

If your'e a total n00b to the scene like I am, this is a decent place to start. It's even got some Iggy Pop interview footage in it so you can't bitch about your 58 minutes too much.

I'm looking forward to getting some more LPs from this genre, but it's definitely going to be hit or miss. All these bands are very experimental. Very temperamental. So you'll have to do your research to find out what era of each band is good and what is just a couple krauts banging some saucepans together, fiddling with a random tone generator and calling it music. I think Tangerine Dream alone have over 100 albums...

You should watch this if you don't know anything about Krautrock. Hell, even if you do you'll still find it interesting.

Cutie and the Boxer

Marie and I both wanted to check this out, so she made some popcorn and we watched it last night.

An Oscar nominated doc about an old artistic Japanese couple? You know that's my shit. If that doesn't sound like it'd be your jam then stay away. This is what it is.

The most incredible part is how spirited and vital the 80 year old Ushio Shinohara is. The dude is a machine! Very inspiring. Looks like a life of drinking and shirking fathering responsibilities keeps one young in mind and young in body. Righteous.

Weekend of a Champion

One of my coworkers told me about this one. Jackie Stewart hanging out with Roman Polanski in Monaco in 71. What's not to love?!

Polanski was a big F1 fan at the time so he produced this flick. It's fly-on-the-wall footage surrounding the three days of practice / qualifying / racing at the 71 Monaco GP. It's pretty much all Jackie Stewart. You get an all access view of what it was like to be around him at the time. Having dinner with the likes of Graham Hill and Ringo Starr. Surrounded by HOT ASS SEVENTIES CHICKS. Everywhere, man.

Jackie did quite alright marrying Helen, that's for sure.

Anyway, if you dig racing you should definitely watch this. If not, I wouldn't check it out cuz I think it's too technical and potentially alienating if you don't care about F1. I thought it was pretty freakin cool. A great glimpse at a bygone era.

Scottish beast.

Pumping Iron

I just watched Pumping Iron. I'd never actually seen it the whole way through, just clips here and there.

It's a really cool snapshot in time as it follows the 1975 Mr. Olympia competition. It's a pretty superficial documentary that is more like a band's tour diary than anything else. You don't really get into anyone's psyche. It's just light-hearted banter between various body-builders. You actually don't learn very much at all. So from that perspective it's a failure. But on the flipside...it is entertaining. So you gotta give it that. It'd be worth it for Arnold's "cumming" monologue alone.

Arnold comes across like a bit of an arrogant douche. No surprise there. Ferigno comes across as a simple child.

The best part about it is the motivation factor. You watch it and you want to lift hard. That's all there is to it. It's a 90 minute pep talk. It'll be fresh in my mind when I hit the gym tomorrow.

Jimi Hendrix: Hear My Train A' Comin'

I'll always back Freddie Mercury as the greatest vocalist and frontman of all time. Likewise, Jimi Hendrix was the greatest guitarist to ever live, in my humble opinion. The dude's guitar playing is beyond inspirational. If I could express myself like anyone via any medium, it'd probably be Jimi.

This is a 90 minute doc on Netflix. Recently added. It's well-done. Good production value. Nothing fancy or terribly innovative. But just a good meat and potatoes doc with excellent archival footage and contemporary interviews with many people who were close to Jimi back in the day. Even Sir Paul McCartney makes an interview appearance for the doc.

It charts Jimi's humble beginnings to his rocket-like ascendency to fame and 30,000 sold-out venues. The dude was cool as a cucumber, man. He wasn't a dick. He was humble. He was honest. Seemed like a genuinely rad dude to be around. And obviously a phenomenal artist.

The doc is woefully incomplete, but how can you boil anyone's lifetime into 90 minutes? It does what it can. It's a good overview. A nice primer. I'd love to see a series on Hendrix doing deep dives on certain albums and periods of his life and career. Wish Ken Burns had done something like that.

You should stream this. Hendrix was the ultimate.

Respect.

Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson

I read Hell's Angels by Hunter S. Thompson a few months ago. It was a super good read. I saw this doc on Netflix and thought I'd dig a little deeper to understand the crazy dude behind the crazy stories chronicled in that book.

Oh, I'd also seen Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas and I didn't dig that flick at all.

Anyway, this was a well done documentary. Good production values. Not too flashy. Johnny Depp narrated a bunch of it, but it was pieced together via standard fare historical footage as well as purposely shot interviews. Didn't break the mold.

It was a good doc but at the end of the day I guess I just don't find Hunter S. Thompson all that compelling a subject. If you like drugs, guns, booze and politics then have at it...

Read the book instead.

Scratch

I was talking to a co-worker about turntablism and the 4 elements of hip-hop. I mentioned I loved the b-boy doc, Planet B-Boy. He told me if I liked that then I needed to watch Scratch.

So I streamed it on YouTube at lunch. It's dope. You should watch it.

It's a pretty comprehensive overview of where turntablism came from and where it's going. It breaks down the art into various aspects and facets and gives you a great overview of the sub-culture.

I was blown away with DJ's ever since I got the Return of the DJ double LP when I was 18 or so. This doc happens to interview the man behind Bomb Records and most of the cats featured on that LP. So that's kinda cool.

Anyway, check this doc out. You'll be impressed.

Senna (audio commentary)

So, I think this is my fourth time watching Senna. Marie bought me the Blu-Ray for my birthday so I popped it in and watched it with the audio commentary on.

The Director, Editor and Producer are all talking if I recall. But it's mostly the Director and Editor. Anyway, I don't have anything new to add that I haven't mentioned any of the other times I've watched the film. The commentary is obviously only for die-hards. If you've seen it three times then maybe you'll wanna watch the commentary. I learned a few interesting tidbits. I'd love to see a longer cut of the film because their first cut was five hours long. Then they got it down to three. Then two. And finally 100 minutes for theatrical release.

This was the first time that I didn't cry like a baby while watching it. But that's only because there were two or three other people talking over the whole film. You couldn't get emotionally involved while the Director was going on about access to Bernie Eckelstone's archives...

It got me stoked to watch it again, though. So I'm pretty sure I'll be watching it for a fifth time by year's end...best. documentary. ever.

Shut Up and Play the Hits

Just watched Shut Up and Play the Hits. It's a documentary about LCD Soundsystem's final show at Madison Sq. Gardens.

It's mostly a multi-camera live show, but it's interspersed with interviews and fly-on-the-wall footage of the week leading up to the show. I was hoping for more documentary-type stuff than it actually contains. It's more of a live show / pseudo-doc.

Anyway, if you like LCD Soundsystem then watch it. You won't be disappointed. If you don't care about them then it's not going to enthrall you. Go do something else.

Nancy Whang is pretty hot at this show. For reals.

Good Ol' Freda

Never been a huge Beatles fan, but this doc looked worthwhile. And it most certainly was.

Freda Kelly was the secretary to the Beatles for their whole career. She's a wonderful woman. Clearly very warm, sincere, and loyal. Also; very private.

Freda's still a secretary to this day. But she doesn't really talk about her "past life" working for the Beatles in the 60's. She's incredibly fond of the time, but she doesn't live in the past. Anyway, mortality rears its head and you realize you gotta do something. Freda knew if she didn't tell her story now then she'd never get around to it. She wanted her grandkids to know about their grandmother's amazing life and her incredibly close relationship to the biggest band in the history of the world. Hence, this documentary was born.

This is a well done doc. It's very touching. It's woven together well. Very entertaining stuff. But most of all it's just a great down-to-earth, human story. It's light-hearted, but definitely moving. I dug it.

Stream it on Netflix. It's good shit, man.

Tarrah!

Upside Down: the Creation Records Story

Just watched this today. Well done documentary about an upstart indie label you may have heard of...Creation Records.

Creation was home to the likes of Ride, Primal Scream, My Bloody Valentine, the Boo Radleys, Super Furry Animals, the Jesus and Mary Chain, and Oasis. A pretty outstanding roster of bands to say the least.

This doc interviews members of all those bands and more, as well as the founders of the label. It chronicles the labels inception in Glasgow through to its real birth in London, and it follows the bands and people involved from one drug to another. From one year to the next. Always getting bigger and better, until the label finally folded in November 1999.

I've been a big fan of a lot of the bands on the label for years and it was cool to see a professional doc on the label. Very easy to get through it. Check it out for sure.

Meet the Fokkens

Feel kinda bad because Marie never watches flicks with me anymore, and when she finally decides to....it's kinda crap.

Meet the Fokkens could have been a really interesting documentary. It could have been very emotional or very funny. But it was just pretty drab.

It's about identical twins in the red light district in the Netherlands. They've been whoring for five decades! This is their story. zzzzzzzzz...

There's no narration; they let the Fokkens tell their own story. I don't know if that was the best idea. It's very fly-on-the-wall. But with fifty years of tales this could have been a far more dynamic and compelling story and a deft Director could have made something far superior out of this content. They could have mined the content from a different angle. Unfortunately, pointing a camera at identical twin hookers doesn't just equate to cinematic gold. You have to work with it.

So, in a nutshell, don't watch this movie. Maybe Whores' Glory is better. I can't be bothered finding out right now...

Choke: A Rickson Gracie Documentary

Hayes turned me on to this documentary. It was filmed in 95 and came out in 99. The movie follows Rickson Gracie and the 1995 Vale Tudo MMA competition.

I'd never heard of that tournament but it's pretty crazy shit. Eight fighters enter and they do the quarter finals, semi-finals, and finals all in one night. So if you one the first round but you get beat up in the process, you're going into your second fight bringing in those injuries. In one case there was very little time in between bouts so it was like this dude was fighting a fresh opponent right after winning his last fight. It's kinda nuts.

Anything goes except maybe eye-gouging and biting. Otherwise, do your worst. It's a street fight. No weight-class either. Pretty much how the UFC used to be back when it first started.

Rickson Gracie of the famed Gracie family enters this tournament with an unbelievable record of 401 wins and zero losses.

The movie follows Rickson, but also checks in on a few of the other competitors that are in his bracket. You see Rickson's dad, brothers, and training partners. His family and whatnot. It's cool stuff.

I think you should watch it if you like MMA.

KAZ: Pushing the Virtual Divide

Kazunori Yamauchi is the man behind the incredibly popular game series, Gran Turismo. I've never played the thing, but that didn't stop me from being engrossed in this documentary. Hell, I haven't owned a games system since SNES and I still think Legend of Zelda is the best game ever made.

This is very well done. High quality stuff. This doc is really cool because even though it's about GT...it's not. It is but it isn't. It's hard to explain. But put it this way, there's hardly ANY footage of the game. It's all about art, inspiration, and follow-through. What happens in the wake of a great artist. Because that's what Kaz is, a great artist.

This just premiered on Hulu yesterday. You can stream it for free with annoying commercials. I definitely recommend you watch this if you care remotely about motorsports. Or if you're a gamer then you need to watch it obviously.

It's inspirational to see Kaz's passion and talent for racing manifest itself in something like this. To see him prove the naysayers wrong. Fuck the bean counters. Fuck focus groups. It's cool shit.

Just watch the trailer.