A thread just for discussing documentaries or anything with the subject of films
Vice has recently been putting out some videos of varying lengths called “Conversations Inside The Criterion Collection”
So far there is Christopher Nolan, Martin Scorsese, Haskell Wexler and Roman Polanski. I’ve only checked out the Polanski one, its pretty long (47min) and is about just Rosemary’s Baby. Its edited kind of like a documentary rather than just talking head interviews.
Haha, yes am a big fan More I check into him the more interested I become. Anyone know if he lives in that small cabin in Oregon which he appears in several of these videos?
Just watched another Cox feature, the documentary Emmanuelle: A Hard Look. Was more interested in bits about the films than the social commentary as I’ve seen loads of porn docos by this point. Some interesting info here and there but overall mostly a bit dated piece of social commentary. Cox toking a bit of pot on the final scene is funny.
Cox’s Moviedrome introductions are also pretty interesting and there’s several of them on youtube.
Have recently found a few Cox films I didn’t know about so will probably be watching/posting about those soon. The only one I haven’t grabbed yet is The Winner[url]http://www.alexcox.com/dir_winner.htm[/url], which Cox removed his name from due to the producers totally re-editing the film and replacing the soundtrack. Not sure if its worth watching in this case.
I really like Walker, but I thought Straight to Hell was an unwatchable piece of crap. For a movie to annoy me as much as Straight to Hell did, is pretty rare.
Straight to Hell seems to be one of those ultimately divisive films - either really loved or totally hated. Don’t usually hear any middle ground opinions on it. Although I can see why some find it obnoxious, I personally love the film, both for its humour and I think many scenes are beautifully shot. IMO, Straight To Hell is a modern film which shows quite a lot of genuine spaghetti-love-influence, and I really enjoy it for this alone
Alex lives in Boulder, Colorado these days. He teaches film making at the university there and has a new film coming out in December I think which he has made with his students. It’s an adaptation of Harry Harrison’s Bill, the Galactic Hero and was completely funded from Kickstarter.
Mark Cousin’s documentary series is possibly the best and most comprehensive doc about film history ever made. I got a bit irritated by his way of narration somewhere during the serie though.
Mark Cousin’s documentary series is possibly the best and most comprehensive doc about film history ever made. I got a bit irritated by his way of narration somewhere during the serie though.[/quote]
Have heard good things about this series but always manage to forget it. Have also heard several opinions about the guy’s vocal style
Birth of the Living Dead (2013) - Just watched this enjoyable documentary about Romero’s original Night of the Living Dead. Some interesting insight into the social context and development of the film.
A good introduction to the slashed genre, which touches briefly on it’s earliest days up and goes up until the early 2000’a. Most of the information is standard, textbook stuff, but it’s presented well.
I’ve almost made my way through all of the Larry Cohen commentaries available - still need to listen to The Ambulance & Hell Up in Harlem, and I think I will have heard all of them he’s done up till now. Cohen provides the best commentaries I’ve ever heard - very informative and they always give insight which makes me appreciate the films much more. Too often in both commentaries and interviews, people just want to talk about how great it was & praise themselves/everyone involved because I guess they are on a temporary high for being asked to talk about it, but Cohen almost teaches lessons on making these kinds of movies.
Anyone have any recommendations for good commentaries? I also enjoy listening to Frank Henenlotter, who is similar to Cohen
I’ve listened to 100s of commentaries every year on DVDs or Blueray, but not recently. I’m self-employed, so I could listen to them all day long instead of the radio or whatever. Off the top of my head, Fight Club stood out because I think it had 5 different commentaries, about 10 hours. Quality-wise, I think it was Seabiscuit that had its director Gary Ross speaking with Steven Soderbergh. I literally listened to that commentary twice in a row. I stopped listening to commentaries a few years ago but more will stand out as I think about it.
I’ve got Fight Club on blu ray and its one of my favorite films so I will definitely check that out. I never could get interested in Seabiscuit due to the subject matter just not being interesting to me at all, but maybe my impression is wrong… Definitely interested to hear any more suggestions.
I’m also self-employed (or trying my best to be, maybe tomorrow I’ll be homeless instead )& listen to quite a lot of different material - recently I’ve been digging into commentaries I never got around to playing.
I hear you on Seabiscuit. It was well crafted but not my subject matter either. I was watching anything and everything film-wise a few years ago but Italian movies started to stand out as glaringly cool and different to me, particularly westerns.
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More I check into him the more interested I become. Anyone know if he lives in that small cabin in Oregon which he appears in several of these videos?
)& listen to quite a lot of different material - recently I’ve been digging into commentaries I never got around to playing.