The story of Cannon Films and its founders are examined in this documentary. Fast-paced, with tons of interviews and clips from Cannon's films, it's a very entertaining movie, with larger-than-life director/producers Menahem Golan and Yoran Globus the stars of the film.
Golan reportedly threatened a pilot with an uzi, and reportedly endangered his newborn son by giving him a part in a film, which involved the baby being unrestrained in the back of a moving wagon. He reportedly made plot lines up on the spot, and heavily promoted films which underperformed, including the legendarily awful Superman IV.
Electric Boogaloo was a humorous documentary, particularly the footage of a starlet from one of their films burning a VHS copy of the film she starred in.
I'm particularly intrigued by the film Ninja III: The Domination. I'm surprised I've never heard of it.
The history of The Jolly Old Elf is examined in this documentary.
Xmas sucks. Now, don't get upset. I hate every holiday. I'm of the mind that believes that holidays were invented just to distract us just long enough to stop killing one another for a day to two, which is why they've become so omnipresent, and I'm looking at you, National Bubblewrap Appreciation Day (that's January 25). I think if you celebrate every day for no apparent reason whatsoever, you don't need a special day to do it. And if you celebrate every day, you'll eventually be good at it, and you won't be one of those amateur party douches that overcompensates and vomits into a potted plant at the holiday get-together on New Year's, and St. Patrick's Day, and July 4th, and Labor Day, and pretty much every holiday involving a six-pack, which is all of them.
Anyway, back to Claus. Don't get me started on that guy. We go way back. My second cousin Krampus works for him. BTW, there's a documentary about Krampus currently in theaters (I haven't seen it). That's neither here nor there. Speaking of there, you might already be aware that I hung out with Santa this summer, when I took a road trip to visit him. I wouldn't say we get along that well.
No, I didn't drive to the North Pole, that's where he keeps his sweatshop, where he underpays elves to makes cruddy plastic toys they sell at the dollar stores. What, did you think he was some master artisan? Did you really think he was hand-tooling ornately carved wooden rocking horses? HA! Hardly. He hasn't picked up a chisel since 1849. It's all outsourcing, baby. And plastics. He's in it for the cash. If he was so altruistic, he'd be flying around giving everyone vaccines. Anyway, he lives in Santa Claus, Indiana. I spent the night in his hotel, and then we had an epic kung fu battle in a thunderstorm. And there was pie.
That's not important right now. Legends Of Santa details Santa's first Kickstarter, where he threw a bag of coins through someone's window in Turkey during the 3rd century. Head up, Claus, that's not how Kickstarters work, and that's not how banks work, and I'm pretty sure flinging a sack full of pennies willy-nilly is how vandalism works. Then all the squares got really upset about Saturnalia, which is one big ancient and decadent party involving vandalism, and they then decide Christmas would be a much better holiday, and by "better" I mean "way more lame, but with just as much, if not more, binge drinking". Then Santa lands a very lucrative sponsorship deal with Coca-Cola, and it's all downhill from there, as Xmas creeps into stores at the end of July and doesn't leave until Valentine's Day, even though secretly everyone wishes it wouldn't.
Sorry, I can't seem to find a trailer for Legends Of Santa, but I didn't try very hard. All this holiday stuff is starting to press my nerves, and Xmas is already a holly-jolly nightmare. Here's a trailer for that documentary about my second cousin I was telling you about.
The search for the men responsible for The Great Train Robbery is examined in this documentary. Nonchalant and matter-of-fact, Bruce Richard Reynolds felt destined for a life of crime. After being caught for one of his many crimes, he was whipped with the cat o' nine tails. In spite of this, he felt torture and prison wasn't a deterrent. In a startling onscreen revelation, he details the methods and dangers to blowing a safe, where he suffered a concussion. Along with 14 other men, he pulled Britain's largest robbery. Utilizing interviews, vintage film clips, recreations, and fantastic slang, A Tale Of Two Thieves is an intriguing story of a charismatic criminal.
The career of the art forger is examined in this documentary. After buying ancient flea market paintings, Beltracchi removed the old paint from them, hand-mixed gorgeous pigments, and created new art on top of the old. After artificially aging it by baking it in an oven, he added dust to the inside of the back of the painting for authenticity. Because being wrong could jeopardize their careers, experts and dealers assumed the painting was authentic. Beltracchi created approximately 300 fakes, many hang in museums. Arrogant and talented, he was ultimately brought down by a tube of titanium white. Somewhat slow-moving, Beltrachhi: The Art Of Forgery felt overlong, but it was still an intriguing film.
Twin sisters unknown to one another are reunited in this fresh, youthful documentary. Samantha, an actress in Los Angeles, is contacted by Anais, a fashion designer in Paris, because of the striking physical similarities she found after watching one of her acting performances. Somehow managing to make internetting look interesting on film, Twinsters uses Skype, texts, and emojis to forward the compelling narrative. Surprising, bittersweet, but a bit cloying in the middle, it's a fascinating film.
The life stories of tap dancers are profiled in this entertaining documentary. Featuring dancers floating, sliding, leaping, and tapping, Tap World is a documentary about dance, community, and family, spoken in the language, rhythm, and music of tap. 'A seeing music and a hearing dance', the life-changing power of tap is shown through poignant stories, including a college student who busks on the subway, and a cancer survivor, now an amputee, who taps while wearing a prosthetic leg. The cultural influences that have molded modern tap are also shown, including gumboot dancers in South Africa who used tap to communicate in the mines, Indian barefoot kathak dancers, and Brazilians using tap to help kids get off the streets. Filled with talented and innovative performances, Tap World is an enlightening documentary.
The link between the rise of expressionist cinema in the Weimar Republic and the connection to the rise of Nazism is examined in this documentary. Featuring clips from dozens of films, the premonition of war, tyranny, and conformity in Germany is shown through amazing images and breathtaking scenes from the cinema giants of the age, including M, The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, the Mabuse films, The Golem, Nosferatu, Faust, Metropolis, and many others. Thankfully, the film doesn't dwell so much on the politics of the era and the tragedies that ensue, but concentrates on the lustrous, shining film artistry that blossomed during the time period.
