Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on April 26th, 2004
Synopsis
Bill Paxton accompanies James Cameron on another expedition to the Titanic, and narratesthis documentary about their exploration of the ship. Though the narration is hobbled by anendless stream of pseudo-profundities, the underwater photography is simply stunning. Thanks totwo remote-controlled robots, we get to see the interior of the ship. Computer animation andsuperimposed extras (the ghosts of the title) both re-create the ship as it once was, and help usvisualize where...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on February 20th, 2004
Synopsis
Barbarians is The History Channel’s box set of a series of four interesting documentaries. Each chronicles the rise and fall of one or another of history’s famous “Barbarian” tribes – from their generally agrarian origins, to their bloody warlike height and eventual gradual decline or precipitous fall. Four groups are covered in this box set, on two discs:
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on February 17th, 2004
Synopsis
Mickey and Negra Rosario run an inner city boxing center in New York, helping youngpeople not only to do well in the sport, but also to turn their lives around. We learn about theRosario’s lives and courtship (and about Mickey’s time in a gang), and follow a group of theirproteges as they train for an upcoming amateur tournament.
An interesting piece, with a wide variety of voices and theories about boxing. (I particularlyliked what a ref had to say about the sport ...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on January 27th, 2004
Synopsis
This documentary follows eight children as they compete in that peculiarly Americaninstitution, the National Spelling Bee. The first half of the film profiles each of the eight, andwe see them at home with their families, getting ready for the big competition. The second half isthe Bee itself, brilliantly edited to generate maximum tension in the viewer. One of the film’sremarkable achievements is that, unlike so many other documentaries which centre around acompetition, we...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on January 13th, 2004
If you are a fan of space flight, this DVD is your holy grail.
While the Spacecraft Films series of releases is full of high-quality products covering the history of space flight, Apollo 11 – Men on the Moon pushes their usual high standards to the outer reaches. The few frustrations that I had with their previous titles have all been remedied here, and the result is an absolutely fantastic DVD set covering every aspect of NASA's famed Apollo 11 mission.
The amount of footage and informatio...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on January 10th, 2004
Apollo 8 – Leaving the Cradle continues the high standard that Spacecraft Films have set for themselves with their previous NASA-themed releases. While earlier titles examined the early role that rockets played in the ultimate goal of manned space flight, Apollo 8 sees that dream come to fruition.
This three-disc set is an amazing record of that famed mission, and literally all of the footage available in the NASA archives is included here, much of it coming complete with bonus audio. The foot...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on December 10th, 2003
NASA's Gemini project is filled with some of the most overlooked missions of the early days of space flight. The previous Mercury missions had yielded the first American in space, and the following Apollo missions included the famous Apollo 11 moon landing, and the subsequent Apollo 13 near-disaster. The Gemini missions, however, were a crucial stepping stone in the process, which perfected the challenges of orbital mechanics as well as overcoming the limitations of working outside of the spacecraft.
This ...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on December 9th, 2003
How quickly we forget our accomplishments. It was not long ago that the thought of sending a man into space was a far-fetched concept. The thought of landing a man on the moon was pure science fiction. Once the space race heated up, however, all boundaries were eclipsed. We succeeded in reaching the moon, and eventually space flight became a regular occurrence. It is easy to take for granted the miracles that were performed during the early days.
Thankfully, the folks at Spacecraft Films are here to remind ...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on December 1st, 2003
Synopsis
Ray Greene wrote, directed and edited this documentary. He also narrates, and a fine guidehe is to the world of the exploitation film. He acknowledges such 30s classics as ReeferMadness, but his interest is primarily the 50s and 60s, tracing the post-WWII world of theindependent film, and ending with the 70s, as the major studios moved in on the market and theexploitationers became victims of their own success at challenging censorship laws. The filmis smart, ...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on November 17th, 2003
Being a white, middle-class American male, my knowledge of the black struggle with apartheid in South Africa during the latter half of the 20th Century is virtually nil. My exposure to the music that was so instrumental to the success of that movement is even less. With these facts in mind, I was dreading having to review this title, as it is a documentary film covering a subject that I really had very little interest in.
My dread turned to fascination upon sitting down to watch the film, however. This is a...
