documentaries

"American Blogger?" Yeah Right.

Hamilton Nolan · 04/08/14 02:51PM

In the grand tradition of "American [Noun]" movies comes this new (and apparently real) documentary, American Blogger, the trailer for which is above. You will notice that its "American bloggers" are almost exclusively attractive, well-lit women.

The Inside Story of One of the Greatest Movie Failures of All Time

Rich Juzwiak · 03/21/14 12:56PM

Legendary director Alejando Jodorowsky's Dune has built up a multi-decade reputation as a great production that never was. Now, thanks to Frank Pavich's documentary on the subject, we can see as complete a picture as possible of what could have been—a brilliantly insane undertaking.

Is the Black Community Homophobic?: A Discussion With Yoruba Richen

Rich Juzwiak · 02/12/14 03:05PM

Yoruba Richen's documentary The New Black (opening today at New York's Film Forum) achieves what seemed impossible before it: It examines the generalized notion that the black community is homophobic with specificity and subtlety. Using the backdrop of the fight for marriage equality in Maryland in 2012 (where it was eventually approved by voters), Richen's film examines both sides of the debate within the black community by primarily using the National Black Justice Coalition Sharon J. Lettman-Hicks to represent the pro-equality side, and Maryland Marriage Alliance's Derek McCoy as the face of the anti-equality side.

Inside Russia's Anti-Gay Vigilante Army, Occupy Pedophilia

Rich Juzwiak · 02/06/14 10:27AM

Last night, the U.K.'s Channel 4 aired Hunted, a wide-ranging documentary about homophobia in Russia. Its biggest coup was achieving access to the inner workings of Occupy Pedophilia, the largest vigilante group responsible for the hunting down of, physical abuse against, and public humiliation of gay people (predominantly gay men). Though such footage has been making the rounds, this is the first time I've seen the planning and luring process of the group. Via the third-party cameras, we also get a sense of how long such an ordeal lasts (an hour). Though mild in violence, the footage above is as hard to watch as the rest of this stuff, so proceed with caution.

White Supremacists Tried to Take Over a Town: Here's the Documentary

Sarah Hedgecock · 02/04/14 03:21PM

Leith, North Dakota, was once a ghost town. But recently, there's been a population boom: white supremacists have begun moving into the small town in an effort to take it over. Now, No Weather Productions is making a documentary about the town, its people, and its new tenants.

This Documentary About Men Who Dress Up Like Rubber Dolls Is Amazing

Rich Juzwiak · 01/07/14 02:34PM

Last night on UK television aired a documentary called Secrets of the Living Dolls, about men who dress up in rubber suits and masks, giving them the appearance of walking sex dolls. "Maskers" mask for a variety of reasons that were mentioned but not exactly explored on this freak-show doc: to be the women that they can't get, to get attention, perhaps sexual reasons. None in the documentary owned up to this last reason, but one of the members of the family that makes of FemSkin body suits, which seems to be the sole supplier of rubber body suits to these guys, told a group of maskers at a convention, "I don't know what you guys shove up those vaginas, but they can't take it, I'm tellin' ya."

"It's Impossible To Be Objective": An Interview with Frederick Wiseman

Rich Juzwiak · 11/08/13 01:05PM

Frederick Wiseman is a master of the art of documentary. Since 1967’s sensational Titicut Follies, the 83-year-old has made films, focused on American institutions, that don’t use narration, interviews, or identifying chyrons to tell their stories. These stories, in fact, are only implicitly narrative. They are often associative assemblages of scenes that favor portrayal over dictation.

The Bigotry That Bronies Face

Rich Juzwiak · 10/15/13 08:00AM

Last night, Logo aired a documentary on the by now well-examined phenomenon of grown male fans of the show My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic. The most interesting parts of the one-hour doc What?! Bronies were those focused on the flack bronies receive for their interest in a cartoon targeted at young girls. One guy had his car vandalized and experienced homophobic slurs for putting custom-made My Little Pony decals in its windows. Another military brony described his inability to come out of the brony closet to his fellow servicemen (don't ask don't tell lives). We also watched a pair of fathers discuss their initial unease with their sons' Pony fandom. The parallels to mistreatment of gays were overt (hello, this was on Logo). The mere suggestion that a man take interest in something perceived as feminine is still enough to rub plenty of people the wrong way.

Teacher of Murdered Gay Student Says She Relates to His Killer

Rich Juzwiak · 10/08/13 09:32AM

Last night, HBO aired Valentine Road, a documentary about the 2008 murder of Lawrence ("Larry") King, a 15-year-old gay student who asked then-14-year-old Brandon McInerney to be his Valentine. The day after, McInerney brought a gun to school and shot King twice in the head in a computer lab. King died two days later.

The Week in Movies: Passion and One Direction in 3Directions

Maggie Lange · 08/30/13 04:00PM

Welcome to Annotate This, where we gather reviews, trailers, and annotate the posters for movies coming out this week. It will help you decide what to avoid, what to see, and what to pretend to see. Click on the image above to add your comments to the mix.

Such Down-to-Earth Superstars: One Direction: This Is Us

Rich Juzwiak · 08/30/13 03:00PM

The young men of the boy band One Direction like playing with their fame. Throughout their Morgan Spurlock-directed 3D concert movie/behind-the-scenes doc, One Direction: This Is Us, we see them conducting the applause they receive as though the crowds of adoring fans are instruments. They run to and from ledges of buildings their admirers have gathered around, manipulating the roar of adulation. They use hand signals to amplify and decrease the screams and squeals. At one point, one member is being interviewed alone about how great his fans are. As evidence, he gets up from his chair and walks a few yards to the window behind him that he stands in front of and throws open, unleashing an appreciative sonic boom.

The Week in Movies: Drinking Buddies, The Grandmaster, The World's End

Maggie Lange · 08/23/13 04:21PM

Welcome to Annotate This, where we gather reviews, trailers, and annotate the posters for movies coming out this week. It will help you decide what to avoid, what to see, and what to pretend to see. Click on the image above to add your comments to the mix.

The Week in Movies: Jobs, The Butler, Ain't Them Bodies Saints

Maggie Lange · 08/16/13 05:00PM

Welcome to Annotate This, where we gather reviews, trailers, and annotate the posters for movies coming out this week. It will help you decide what to avoid, what to see, and what to pretend to see. Click on the image above to add your comments to the mix.

Cutie and the Boxer is a Tough Love Story

Maggie Lange · 08/16/13 04:45PM

In one of the final scenes of Zachary Heinzerling's documentary, Cutie and the Boxer, the 80-year-old artist Ushio Shinohara looks over a book of his works entitled Love is a Roarrrr!!. He likes the final word, but says he doesn't understand why it's preceded by a comparison to love. "Who put 'love is'?" Ushio asks his wife, another artist, named Noriko. She points to herself. "Why? Because I think so: Love is a roar. I found out by experience in my life. Love is a roar."

The Week in Movies: Elysium, Prince Avalanche, Lovelace, and Planes

Maggie Lange · 08/09/13 05:30PM

Welcome to Annotate This, where we gather reviews, trailers, and annotate the posters for movies coming out this week. It will help you decide what to avoid, what to see, and what to pretend to see. Click on the image above to add your comments to the mix.

The Week in Movies: The Canyons, Spectacular Now, 2 Guns and Smurfs 2

Maggie Lange · 08/02/13 05:30PM

Welcome to Annotate This, where we gather reviews, trailers, and annotate the posters for movies coming out this week. It will help you decide what to avoid, what to see, and what to pretend to see. Click on the image above to add your comments to the mix.

The Week in Movies: Blue Jasmine and The Wolverine‘s To Do List

Maggie Lange · 07/26/13 05:30PM

Welcome to Annotate This, where we gather reviews, trailers, and annotate the posters for movies coming out this week. It will help you decide what to avoid, what to see, and what to pretend to see. Click on the image above to add your comments to the mix.