Something for the Weekend O_o

I must have watched hundreds of documentaries over the years and just like traditional films there are good ones and there bad ones. Below I've decided to list a few of the ones I thought we're particularly good. It is the nature of the beast of course that some documentaries deal with subjects, and can contain content, that offends. But with these harsh realities often comes truth. The documentary film is still low on the radar of most film audiences, but the popularity of recent films (Food Inc, The Cove, An Inconvenient Truth) illustrates that audiences are willing to watch a film that has a serious agenda.

So here are some of my recommended films with a brief summary:

Taxi to the Darkside

An examination into the torture tactics used by the U.S. army during the war in Afghanistan, focusing on a Taxi-Driver tortured and killed in 2002.

The Smartest Guys in the Room

The story of the collapse of U.S. energy giant Enron. A shocking insight into corruption and political scandal.

Zeitgeist: Addendum &  Zeitgeist: Final Edition

As controversial as they come Peter Joseph's hugely popular Zeitgeist series (the 3rd is due out due later this year) discredits the corrupt institutions that surround us. Religious, Financial and Political.

Loose Change - Various Versions

Love them or loathe them there is no doubting these 9/11 conspiracy films raise many fully quantifiable questions that have yet to be answered. World Trader Centre Building No. 7?

No End in Sight

This highly detailed film takes an in depth look at the Bush Administration during the Iraqi war. Nominated for an Oscar this film examines incompetence at the very highest level.

Jesus Camp

A documentary following children on the trip to summer camp in the U.S, where they are brain washed into fanatical Christian beliefs. A hard hitting film showing that you don't need to go to the middle east to find religious extremists.

Earthlings

Using hidden cameras and never-before-seen footage, Earthlings chronicles the day-to-day practices of the largest industries in the world, all of which rely entirely on animals for profit. At times shocking to watch. You may never wear leather again.

An Inconvenient Truth

A passionate documentary following Al Gore's campaign to stop global warning before it's too late.

Hearts and Minds
This Oscar winning 1974 documentary was very hard to get hold of until a recent region 1 bluray release. This film documents the opposing views of the Vietnam war through the eyes of the Vietnamese and key political figures of the time (in particular Daniel Ellsberg who leaked the Pentagon Papers to the Washington post triggering Watergate). In here lies the truth, which makes this almost unpatriotic film infamous for getting Oscar approval.
                     

If there are some films above that you haven't yet seen then give them a go. Whether you agree with the sometimes biased angles taken in some documentaries you can't deny that even the worst can't be as bad as a film with Keira Knightley in, can it?

No Russian | Short Film

Taking the highly controversial and extremely violent No Russian level from 'Modern Warfare 2' for its inspiration this explosive short film shows off the true processing power of the next-generation gaming consoles. Utilising the actual IW 4.0 game engine and running in real-time this well directed, edited and stylised film further demonstrates the closing gap between the video game and cinema.

Modern Warfare 2 is the most successful video game of all time, as well as one of the most expensive with a development budget of $60 million. As staggering as that may seem, that figure is dwarfed by the marketing budget for its launch, an epic $200 million. With $620 million in sales so far and analysts predicting the game to eventually earn $1 billion, Activision, the games publisher, has made a hefty yet successful investment in Modern Warfare 2.

However, in a step akin to New Line Cinema after the final instalment of the 'Lord of the Rings' films, Activision has now refrained from giving the games developer Infinity Ward their royalties and are being sued by its now sacked founders.

Video games, eh? Its a dirty war.

Zombie Tragedy

I recently had the misfortune of watching George a. Romero's 'Survival of the Dead' and what a painful experience it was. The films, put simply, was terrible with a shocking script, awful acting, lazy direction and well below par special effects (CG, incidentally, has no place in Zombie films). However, as shocking as the film was it wasn't what I was watching that upset me. It was simply that the legend that was George a. Romero, THE creator of the Dead series of films and the Zombie horror as a genuine film genre has clearly lost sight of what once made his films so challenging, thought provoking and original.

History will no doubt show that he should have ended the series after Land of the Dead which, although enjoyable, was beginning a fall from which the Dead films would not rise. Expanding on Day of the Dead's concept of having 'zombies that can learn through repetition' was always going to be difficult to swallow, but then having them actually communicate with each other was simply a step too far. However, all would have been forgiven had that been the only chink in the armour.

Bring forth Dairy of the Dead to not only remove the armour but inflict some serious flesh wounds to boot. Dairy was clearly a film made quickly in order to cash in on the success of Zack 'Watchmen, 300' Snyder's excellent Dawn of the Dead remake, which had undoubtedly brought new life into the genre. The rejuvenation was short lived as Romero released this shocking 'straight to DVD' film. Flags around the Zombie loving community drew to half mast as we crawled back into our homes and sank ourselves into The Walking Dead for respite.

Lessons clearly not learnt the once-was-and-now-isn't-a-horror-legend Romero has released this putrid sack of bile. Watching Survival was hard. It lacks everything that made the Dead films so great and it clearly doesn't have passion behind it. It was the film equivalent of a dying fire. Even the contemporary political under current was weak.

If you, like me, are a fan of the genre and Romero in particular please take my advise and steer well clear. You really don't want to go into that room and confirm the identity of this corpse. Remember Romero for the first three (four at a push) films and be happy for that.

Going Back to its Roots

Whether it be book to screen, screen to book, video game to screen, stage to screen or album to stage transitions between mediums nearly always seem to fall short. The number of failures is seemingly endless whilst the number of actual successes is so short it really does beg the question, at least from a business point of view, is it worth doing in the first place?

History is littered with failures. For every To Kill a Mocking Bird there are hundreds of English Patients.

Tomorrow I'm going to see Glengarry Glen Ross at a local theatre and I'm not sure if I'm looking forward to it or not. I'm sorry, I'll rewind for those not familiar with the play. Glengarry Glen Ross is a play by David Mamet. The story is based around a group of real estate salesmen in Chicago vie for the best "leads" at a small firm selling property in "resort" areas, such as Florida and Arizona. The story is not really too important, what is important is that the play was made into a film in the early 90's and that film, that piece of platinum plated celluloid is my favourite film of all time.

And herein lies the problem or paradox if you will. My favourite film is in fact a transition piece, going successfully from stage to screen. But will it go into reverse? By that I mean can it hold it's own going back to it's roots with smaller actors (the film has Pacino, Spacey, Lemmon, Alda, Baldwin, Pryce) and only the words to hold it up.

I'm not sure. The reviews for the play from friends and the press have been great, but I'm still nervous. One thing in the plays favour, it doesn't have Rebecca Pigeon in it.