Author Topic: Documentary recs  (Read 104395 times)

Mike Desert

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Re: Documentary recs
« Reply #240 on: April 06, 2015, 06:20:15 PM »
I second the GLOW doc
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Krokodil_Gena

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Re: Documentary recs
« Reply #241 on: May 10, 2015, 06:22:20 PM »
About to be go-time for this Scientology doc on HBO.   Interested to hear what folks think of it.

The mere existence of Going Clear means that Scientology can't scare the media anymore, and I think they've been cowed by cults since the `70s due to legal threats and violence, like the time that Synanon (a now-defunct 12-step-based cult) put a de-rattled rattlesnake in the mailbox of Paul Morantz, a lawyer running a suit against that group for kidnapping a woman. Morantz barely survived.....that was in October, 1978.  Within a month there was the Jonestown Massacre and it all stopped being funny to the general public.


peter falk

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Re: Documentary recs
« Reply #242 on: June 30, 2015, 12:05:26 PM »
Synanon actually still exists through its German branch.  When I lived in Berlin, I would regularly see Synanon drones moving boxes in and out of people's apartments.  I think the movement has monetized its adherents and put them into forced labor...much like Scientology.  I don't think they're putting snakes into mailboxes anymore, but they're still creepy.   One of the guys jumped out from a dark alley and yelled at me for buying beer one night on the way home from the grocery store.

I was a little underwhelmed by Going Clear as a documentary, but the book was superb.  I would like to see a documentary just on the life and psychoses of Miscavige.

Mike Desert

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Re: Documentary recs
« Reply #243 on: July 02, 2015, 05:06:14 PM »
a few friends have been talking up that Nina Simone one on Netflix.  Looking forward to it...

not a doc, but go see Love and Mercy in theatre if you haven't, the surround sound audio is 100% worth it, even if it seems like "wait for DVD" kinda film

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Carver

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Re: Documentary recs
« Reply #244 on: July 02, 2015, 07:01:56 PM »
a few friends have been talking up that Nina Simone one on Netflix.  Looking forward to it...

not a doc, but go see Love and Mercy in theatre if you haven't, the surround sound audio is 100% worth it, even if it seems like "wait for DVD" kinda film

Yeah, the soundscape featuring "Surf's Up" era stuff was awesome.

josh c

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Re: Documentary recs
« Reply #245 on: July 03, 2015, 12:43:32 PM »
Nina Simone documentary is well-made and carries the power of her as a person/performer all the way through. Goddamn. Each performance was nuanced in its own way, each song she sung an entirely new thing.

Has anyone watched that Bob Weir doc?

Mike Desert

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Re: Documentary recs
« Reply #246 on: July 03, 2015, 11:41:35 PM »
I did...SO dull. He's just not that interesting
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Krokodil_Gena

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Re: Documentary recs
« Reply #247 on: July 22, 2015, 05:43:34 PM »
Swastika (Documentary) 1973

Swastika (1973), first film where we saw Eva Braun's color home movies of the Obersaltzberg mountain house parties.

Mike Desert

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Re: Documentary recs
« Reply #248 on: July 23, 2015, 12:21:07 AM »
Just watched that ABA one on netflix about the st Louis spirits. Really enjoyed it. ...I played with an ABA basketball as a kid..


Also the island of Dr moreau doc was really great.  Also on netflix
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Krokodil_Gena

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Re: Documentary recs
« Reply #249 on: July 23, 2015, 04:37:43 AM »
Synanon actually still exists through its German branch.  When I lived in Berlin, I would regularly see Synanon drones moving boxes in and out of people's apartments.  I think the movement has monetized its adherents and put them into forced labor...much like Scientology.  I don't think they're putting snakes into mailboxes anymore, but they're still creepy.   One of the guys jumped out from a dark alley and yelled at me for buying beer one night on the way home from the grocery store.

I was a little underwhelmed by Going Clear as a documentary, but the book was superb.  I would like to see a documentary just on the life and psychoses of Miscavige.

So did "Synanon Deutschland" still have members running around with shaved heads? Or did they all wear the same sort of clothes?

peter falk

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Re: Documentary recs
« Reply #250 on: July 23, 2015, 07:36:37 AM »
Shaved heads and matching blue coveralls.  But their moving service (complete with the slogan, 'life without drugs') gets 5 stars on Yelp!

http://www.yelp.com/biz/synanon-berlin

JeffertonFromTX

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Re: Documentary recs
« Reply #251 on: July 29, 2015, 06:30:51 PM »
I watched Lost Souls last night and I really liked it. Its a lot of talking heads but still pretty engaging throughout.
Wailin' the eff outta that vibraslap!

peter falk

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Re: Documentary recs
« Reply #252 on: July 30, 2015, 09:41:41 AM »
I caught that on Netflix over the weekend and really enjoyed it.  Nobody on that crew comes off particularly well except the Australians.  I would've loved to see a contemporary on-set documentary like Burden of Dreams to see firsthand what a cluster that production was, including examples of Val Kilmer's long-rumored petulance.

Richard Stanley is also a goofball, but his own documentary work from the late 80s is worth checking out.  He did one short film (or it may have been a small series) about the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan called Voices of the Moon that is incredibly haunting.

Mike Desert

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Re: Documentary recs
« Reply #253 on: July 30, 2015, 12:25:59 PM »
Has anyone watched that Vampire mockumentary thing? It looks like it has gotten mostly good reviews, but I keep thinking that it can't really be good.
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mostlymeat

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Re: Documentary recs
« Reply #254 on: July 30, 2015, 01:25:05 PM »
Has anyone watched that Vampire mockumentary thing? It looks like it has gotten mostly good reviews, but I keep thinking that it can't really be good.

If you are referring to "What We Do In The Shadows" starring Jemaine "Flight of the Concords" Clement and Taika "Boy" Waititi, I can confirm that it is nothing short of terrific and that all Best Show fans would enjoy this playful romp into the world of the New Zealand undead community.

My wife, who hates comedy, watched it twice.