Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on June 26th, 2015
"In these mountains roams one of the rarest species on our planet. A shy, elusive, and gentle creature: the giant panda."
If you are old enough you will remember President Richard Nixon's famous trip the China. He was the first President to make the voyage, and it was heralded as a foreign policy breakthrough for the nation. Long after, the hoopla had died down and the only time it seemed Nixon was in the news was for Watergate. But even amid the scandal, one bright legacy of that trip remained for years to come. That was, of course, the Chinese gift to the United States to celebrate the event. We received two pandas named Ling-Ling and Hsing-Hsing that would capture the hearts of a nation even as Nixon was losing them. We all paid close attention as various attempts were made to mate the animals. Unfortunately, there were only five successful matings, and the pups only lived a few days at most. It was a disappointing end to a marvelous story. The pandas did live into the 1990's, breaking records to panda lifespans outside of China. Today there are new pandas at the National Zoo, and they have given birth to pups that have been returned to China based on the deal we brokered to get them. You can still see those guys today.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by J C on June 22nd, 2015
What do Elvis Presley, Frank Sinatra, The Beach Boys, Sonny & Cher, The Monkees, and Nat King Cole have in common? (Besides, of course, their undisputed status as musical icons and the adoration of millions of fans.) Well at various points in their illustrious careers, they were each backed by The Wrecking Crew, a tight-knit group of session musicians responsible for cranking out some of the most familiar hits of all time. This documentary is a lively love letter to that incredibly charismatic and cohesive group, whose contributions remained largely anonymous for decades.
Early on in The Wrecking Crew, we are presented with some snippets from the group's work as if we were scanning stations on car radio; it doubles as a tour through the history of pop music in the 20th century. The film is directed by Denny Tedesco and we quickly learn his very personal motivation for making this movie. His father, Tommy Tedesco, was a master session guitarist whose work can be heard on everything from Sinatra's “Strangers in the Night” to the Bonanza and Batman themes. But the general public's lack of awareness regarding Tedesco's contributions was magnified after his 1997 death. (The film points at a few televised obituaries, which misspelled his last name or called him “Tony Tedesco.”)
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by J C on June 12th, 2015
I honestly didn’t know what to expect when I sat down to watch The Swirl. I didn’t need urban dictionary or the comically on-the-nose tagline on the DVD cover to tell me the film would be exploring the world of interracial dating, with a strong emphasis on the relationships between African Americans and Caucasians. But I assumed I’d be watching some no-budget melodrama that would (at best) be good for some unintentional laughs. Instead, The Swirl set out to be funny on purpose.
Turns out The Swirl is a “documentary” that curiously blends man-on-the-street interviews, movie clips, polling data, and wisecracks from a handful of comedians. It’s a lot to pack into the movie’s slim 45-minute running time, which is why there’s a fairly extensive amount of bonus material included on this DVD. (In fact, some of the absolute funniest riffs from comics like Rodney Perry and Reggie Jackson are relegated to the special features because there’s no time for them in the feature presentation.)
Posted in: Disc Reviews by J C on June 1st, 2015
“One thing one can be sure of is that there wasn't before him an Orson, and there'll never be a second.”
This year (May 6, to be exact) marks what would've been Orson Welles' 100th birthday. To celebrate, filmmaker Chuck Workman has made a charming documentary with a title as grandiose as its subject. Magician: The Astonishing Life & Work of Orson Welles is a thoroughly entertaining — if somewhat superficial — survey of one of the 20th century's greatest showmen.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by J C on May 28th, 2015
“There are some rough spots in His plan.”
I’m not the only person who’s reflexively rolled his eyes after an athlete or entertainer has thanked God for helping them win the Super Bowl or a Grammy. I personally don’t mean it as blasphemy; I just don’t believe God has a vested interest in the outcome of a football game. Following that logic, it seems silly to think He also roots *against* certain people. And if anybody has a right to feel like God is “against” them, it’s people like the real-life tornado survivors who appear in this admirable documentary, which illustrates how one can rise above anger and staggering loss.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by J C on January 26th, 2015
“Hello, please allow me to observe you working.”
A sign bearing those words hangs inside Studio Ghibli, the Japanese animation factory responsible for films like Grave of the Fireflies and My Neighbor Totoro. It's one of many polite directives that adorn the airy workspace, but it also describes the mission of The Kingdom of Dreams and Madness. The movie gives fans an unprecedented look inside the world (and walls) of Studio Ghibli, and watching the creative process is alternately fascinating, frustrating, and exciting. However, the documentary also surprisingly turns out to be an elegy for a dying art form.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Brent Lorentson on January 9th, 2015
Even though in this documentary we may not get to experience T-Rexes chasing after unfortunate paleontologists while running amuck in a theme park, Dinosaur 13 still manages to be an engaging adventure from start to finish. This is a film that reaches out to all the young kids inside all of us who while growing up dreamed about what life was like when dinosaurs once ruled the world. It taps into that adventurous bug that was once inside all of us as kids about exploring and discovering worlds that have not yet been discovered and creatures that now can only survive in our imaginations. Dinosaur 13 follows one man’s journey as he went from making a discovery of a lifetime that would also in turn deliver the most crushing heartbreak of having a dream torn from his grasp.
In 1990 Peter Larson and his team made a discovery of a lifetime when they found a near-perfectly-preserved T- Rex. They would go on to name it Sue (after one of the female members of the Black Hills Institute of Geological Research), and Sue would go on to become one of the greatest discoveries not just in South Dakota but in the United States. But where the documentary goes on to give a closer look is the controversy that surrounds Sue and simply who really does own the rights to this grand archeological discovery.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by J C on December 23rd, 2014
“Life is always a tightrope or a featherbed. Give me the tightrope.”
Edith Wharton was born into the “featherbeds” of New York’s high society, and some of her most famous books — “The Age of Innocence”, “The House of Mirth” — are set among the well-to-do elite. But this dry, informative documentary — which focuses on her work as a designer, world traveler, and philanthropist — makes the case that Wharton chose the “tightrope.”
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on November 18th, 2014
"If anybody gets up, they're dead. Anybody moves, they're dead. Anybody makes a sound before I leave this movie, ..."
You get the idea. These are the words of one John Wojtowicz, better known as The Dog. On August 22, 1972 he attempted to rob a Chase Manhattan bank in order to finance his male lover's sex change operation so that he could become a woman. The heist was about as amateur as the come and went horribly wrong from the start. In a matter of minutes the bank was surrounded by a swarm of police units and a growing mob of bystanders. In the hours that followed, The Dog interacted with the crowd, gave a radio interview, and managed to whip the crowd into a frenzy by throwing thousands of the bank's dollars out of the front door. If this all sounds familiar to you, it should. While you may not have heard of these exploits directly, you surely saw the movie Dog Day Afternoon. Al Pacino played John Wojtowicz, and now you know where he got the nickname The Dog.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on October 29th, 2014
"It was the gang that ran amok. You have people who were being extorted, who talked of having a shotgun barrel stuck in their mouths or machine guns pointed at their groin. Body bags were shown by Bulger as he shakes them down. It was absolute terror."
It amazes me that I really had very little idea who James J. Bulger was before I watched this film by director Joe Berlinger. How could I have missed this guy? On the run for over 16 years, Bulger was once #2 on the FBI's most wanted list. Who was #1? That was Osama Bin Laden. So who was this man that came in second only to the world's most infamous terrorist? That's what I set out to discover, and Whitey: The United States of America vs. James J. Bulger filled in all of those blanks. When the film is finally over you'll be asking yourself, "How is it possible I didn't know this stuff?" One possible reason and the focus of this documentary lies in the fact that the FBI might not have wanted you to know much about this case. Joe Berlinger corrects that oversight with one of the more compelling documentary films I've seen in years. In the end, it asks as many questions as it answers. But those questions are powerful ones indeed.
