Category: DOCUMENTARIES
Jiro Dreams of Sushi (2011)
By: Henry J. Fromage (A Toast) – I like food as much as the next guy, but with my college-dulled palate, I’ve never been much of a foodie. That’s affected my movie viewing habits a touch as it’s led me to largely ignore a large subgenre of documentaries- the kitchen/culinary docs. I’d heard great things
Pawn Stars (TV Review)
By: Kyle Daley (Four Beers) - So what happens when History Channel realizes they haven’t been discussing much history over the past five years and need to figure out a way to get back to their roots but still keep the A.D.D. crowd? You get Pawn Stars, the historical reality show hybrid set in a pawn shop right off
West of Memphis (2012)
By: Henry J. Fromage (Four Beers) – The case of the West Memphis Three has been a source of unending fascination for Hollywood. The story of the sensational murder trial and the quest for exoneration of the innocent teenagers convicted in it has spawned four documentaries and soon the inevitable Hollywood adaptation, starring Reese Witherspoon.
Room 237 (2013)
By: Mitch Hansch (Three Beers) - In the documentary Room 237 Rodney Ascher takes the in-depth pulse of five film historians, in particular their unique and sometimes kooky proposed conspiracy theories and observations on one of my top 5 horror films of all time. Bill Blakemore, Geoffrey Cocks, Juli Kearns, Jay Weidener, and John Fell
Hearts of Darkness (1991)
By: Oberst Von Berauscht (A Toast) - Francis Ford Coppola’s epic war movie Apocalypse Now had gigantic ambitions, and fittingly, so did the filmmaker. So much so, that he invested much of his own money into the project, just to ensure he maintained 100% creative control. His investors were more or less assured of a successful film,
Burden of Dreams (1982)
By: Oberst Von Berauscht (A Toast) - A story about triumph against the odds is painted against the often troubling background of obsession in Les Blank’s documentary portrait of the making of Fitzcarraldo. In the late 1970′s director Werner Herzog began work on what would prove to be his biggest and most mercilessly challenging film. The film
Knuckleball! (2012)
By: Henry J. Fromage (Two Beers) – Spring is right around the corner, which means only one thing if you’re me, or people who hope to be as cool as me: Baseball. Where I’m at now it’s difficult to catch spring training games, so I have to content myself with baseball flicks, which I’m in
Bettie Page Reveals All (2013)
By: Rob Perez (Two Beers) - “Lies, lies . . . L. I. E. S.” is what Bettie Page reportedly said out loud when she attended a screening of an unauthorized 2005 Hollywood bio-film. Upon its release, the film also suffered from negative reviews, leaving one reviewer to mention in their review (and we’re paraphrasing here) that
Hoop Dreams (1994)
By: Abby Olcese (A Toast) - It seems appropriate to write about Hoop Dreams at the start of March Madness, especially when you live, like I do, in a town where basketball features prominently in local history (James Naismith coached here, and is buried here). We in Kansas idolize our basketball players. We think of
Undefeated (2011)
By: Henry J. Fromage (Two Beers) - Good news! The acclaimed but underseen winner of the Best Documentary Feature Oscar is finally hitting DVD, where we can all check it out! No, not this year’s winner. That came out a few weeks ago. Nope, I’m talking about 2011’s big winner, Undefeated.
