HIGH GROUND- 2012. Synopsis by Netflix. “Eleven wounded warriors returning from Iraq and Afghanistan join an expedition to climb the 20,000-foot Mount Lobuche. Led by blind adventurer Erik Weihenmayer and a team of Everest summiters, they set out on an emotional climb to reach the top.”
11/2/12-Great reviews including the one in today’s NY Times. TRDB.
Add comment August 7th, 2012
CRAIGSLIST JOE- 2012. Synopsis by Netflix. “Setting out to explore whether America still has a sense of community, with people helping each other through hard times, 29-year-old Joseph Garner spends a month depending on the goodness of Craigslist posters for his survival.”
Good audience reviews but poor professional ones. TRDB.
12/13/12- I disliked this movie and turned it off quickly. If it wasn’t for the cameraman following Joe around who knows how many of those new “friends” would have been so nice to him?” TRDB. Netflix.
Add comment August 4th, 2012
SUSHI: THE GLOBAL CATCH- 2012. Synopsis by Rotten Tomatoes. “Sushi, a cuisine formerly found only in Japan, has grown exponentially in other nations, and an industry has been created to support it. In a rush to please a hungry public, the expensive delicacy has become common and affordable, appearing in restaurants, supermarkets and even fast food trailers. The traditions requiring 7 years of apprenticeship in Japan have given way to quick training and mass-manufactured solutions elsewhere. This hunger for sushi has led to the depletion of apex predators in the ocean, including bluefin tuna, to such a degree that it has the potential to upset the ecological balance of the world’s oceans, leading to a collapse of all fish species.”
8/3/12- A fair review in today’s NY Times and by other critics as well. Audiences have not liked it. TRDB.
Add comment August 3rd, 2012
DREAMS OF A LIFE- 2012. Synopsis by Netflix. “Filmmaker Carol Morley tells the strange story of Joyce Vincent, whose body was found in her tiny studio flat three years after she died. How did an outgoing 38-year-old with no shortage of friends and family just disappear from the world?”
8/3/12 A weak review in today’s NY Times but other critics have liked it. The Times called it frustrating and that it left too many blanks in the story. TRDB.
Add comment August 3rd, 2012
FREE RADICALS: A HISTORY OF EXPERIMENTAL FILM- 2012. Synopsis by Netflix. “Avant-garde director Pip Chodorov offers viewers an intimate tour of experimental film and its creators with this fascinating documentary that features rare interviews, historical analysis, clips and in some cases, entire movies. Along with pioneer Stan Brakhage’s last interview, Chodorov presents discussions with Michael Snow and Robert Breer, and examines the influence of transformative artists such as Jonas Mekas and Andy Warhol.”
8/3/12- A good review in today’s NY Times. Fairly good reviews from otheres. TRDB.
Add comment August 3rd, 2012
GIVE UP TOMORROW- 2011. Synopsis by Netflix. “With the case continuing to polarize the Philippines, this riveting documentary looks at the trial of Paco Larrañaga, who — despite demonstrable proof of his innocence — was sentenced to death for the 1997 kidnapping, rape and murders of two women.”
No professional reviews but good audience reaction. TRDB.
9/8/12- A well constructed and convincing documentary that I viewed at the Martha’s Vineyard Int. Film Festival. I also had the opportunity to hear a Q and A with the director that was fascinating. TRDB.
Add comment July 28th, 2012
THE GREEN WAVE- 2012. Synopsis by Rotten Tomatoes. “THE GREEN WAVE is a powerful film documenting the populist protests in Iran following the suspicious victory of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad over progressive candidate Mir-Hossein Mousavi in the Iranian presidential elections on June 12, 2009. Cell phone videos posted on the internet, Twitter messages, as well as animated blog posts and interviews with prominent human rights advocates and exiled Iranians bear witness to the brutal attacks by government militia in their efforts to squelch the protests that followed. THE GREEN WAVE is a highly contemporary chronicle of the Green Revolution, and a memorial for all of those who believed in freedom and lost their lives for it.”
8/17/12-Very good reviews in general and a good one in today’s NY Times. TRDB.
Add comment July 28th, 2012
MEET THE FOKKENS- 2012. Synopsis by Rotten Tomatoes. “Louise and Martine Fokkens are 69-year-old identical twins, working residents of Amsterdam’s notorious red light district for the past 50 years. Today Louise is retired (citing arthritis: “I couldn’t get one leg over the other”), but Martine still works in the window. Dressed in the world’s most endearing dominatrix outfit, she solicits men, young and old, and seems to have no dearth of customers. Brash, funny, racy stories punctuate their conversations: one laughs at the naivety of young prostitutes who are ignorant of the secrets of the trade; the other recalls a client who was a chaplain: “Don’t you remember, we even had a little confessional!” The sisters also have scary stories to tell, but in the main they recall their clients with compassion and affection. The Fokkens are a wonderfully amusing cultural mix: one part beloved grandma, one part Xaviera Hollander, times two.
Very good early reviews. TRDB.
8/8/12- Good review in today’s NY Times. TRDB.
Add comment July 28th, 2012
YOU’VE BEEN TRUMPED- 2011. Synopsis by Rotten Tomatoes. “In this David and Goliath tale for the 21st Century, a group of proud Scottish homeowners take on Donald Trump, as the tycoon prepares to destroy one of Britain’s last stretches of coastal wilderness by building a luxury golf resort. As the locals make their last stand in the face of security harassment, legal threats and the cutting off of water and electricity supplies, director Anthony Baxter is thrown in jail as he seeks out the truth.”
Very good early reviews. TRDB.
8/3/12- The review in today’s NY Times gives no hint as to the merits of the movie and seems more like a mini-documentary to me. TRDB.
Add comment July 28th, 2012
ABENDLAND- 2011. Synopsis by Netflix. “Filmmaker Nikolaus Geyrhalter’s penetrating documentary takes a nocturnal look at the contemporary Western world — explicitly its wealth and exclusivity — illuminating patterns of isolation and conformity through an array of sequences.”
7/27/12- Good review in today’s NY Times. TRDB.
Add comment July 27th, 2012