Review: Pearl Jam Twenty

2011
Directed by: Cameron Crowe
Category: Documentaries

I'm a lover of all kinds of music, but have always had an affinity for 80's Metal and 90's Grunge and Alternative. Those are the ones I always seem to listen to more than anything, whether I'm listening to actual CD's, or using XM Radio or Pandora, I always seem to be drawn towards the 90's Alternative stations more than any other.

I remember when grunge seem to come outta nowhere and take over the music scene back in the early 90's, and for me, it wasn't until I saw Cameron Crowe's Singles at the theater in 1992 that I even became aware of "grunge" music. I don't know, maybe I was pre-occupied with films or just hanging out with my friends, but at least from where I was raised, unless you lived in Seattle, you hadn't heard of grunge music yet. But once Singles hit theaters, I was hooked. Though to be honest, I was always (and still am) more of a Nirvana, Smashing Pumpkins and Soundgarden fan. But I've always kinda dug Pearl Jam. More so there radio hits. Just not as much as say Nirvana.

Cameron Crowe writes/directs/produces/narrates this exhaustingly informative and captivating documentary on the bands formation all the way to it's recent twenty year anniversary using new interviews, archival footage, home videos, news broadcasts and everything in between. This methodically detailed and fascinating documentary also chronicles the bands tumultuous relationship with there alternative counterparts Nirvana, as well as there decades long friendship with Soundgarden.

One of the best things about Pearl Jam Twenty, even if your not necessarily a fan of there music, is that it gives great insight in highly detailed research on the 90's grunge/alternative music scene. This is the part I loved the most because watching these bands from Seattle battle it out for dominance and how they influenced a generation of music lovers and musicians, even right down to how they dressed was just so fascinating to me. Being 36 now, I was a highly influential 16 year old back in 1992 when these bands really took off and were taking over MTV (when MTV actually played music videos all day) and the radio airwaves and I soaked it all up. From that core group of grunge/alternative artists that emerged from Seattle, my tastes later expanded to bands like Dovetail Joint, Fountains of Wayne and other alternative groups which led me into "Indie" music, of which I am still a huge fan of.

You don't necessarily have to like or be a fan of Pearl Jam to enjoy this documentary. Cameron Crowe puts it all together in such a way that whether you dig there music or not, you will thoroughly enjoy this history lesson of where and how the grunge scene was born and how Pearl Jam just so happened to be a major part of it.

Review: Best Worst Movie

2009

Directed by: Michael Stephenson

Category: Documentaries

Man, I always love me a good film related documentary. More times than not, the documentary ends up being better and far more entertaining than it's actual subject, and this is no exception. Directed by Michael Stephenson, who played little Joshua Waits in Troll 2, Best Worst Movie chronicles the legend that is Troll 2 and it's current cult status as "The Worst Movie of all Time". Here, Stephenson packs up his camera and together with the star of Troll 2, George Hardy (in his first of only a handful of roles), they track down all the major cast members, the writer and director, and travel the country hitting the conventions and special screenings of this masterpiece of "It's so bad it's good" cinema and try to decipher why the film has garnered such a huge cult status from all over the world, when in reality it's such an awful mess of a movie.

Knowing what Best Worst Movie was about, I suppose I should have actually watched Troll 2 beforehand as a way of brushing up on my memories of this film, which I think I have only seen once. But the beauty of this documentary is that you don't have to know diddly squat about it, because they fill you in on "every" aspect of the film itself, it's production and it's current huge following. This was a blast from start to finish and just simply hilarious. 

While they do go out and find all of the main actors from the film, they mainly focus on it's lead George Hardy, now a respected small town dentist, pillar of the community and all around nice guy. This guy is really interesting because he's such a contradiction. He doesn't like horror films in general, yet the few films he has appeared in are all horror films. Up until 2007, the only film he had ever been in was Troll 2, and if you look at his IMDB page you'll see he has appeared in 3 other films since then, which is strange since they are all horror films and he doesn't like them. And when you see him attend a horror convention as a vendor to promote Troll 2 and listen to how he reacts to seeing true horror fans and how they look, dress and act, he comes off as disgusted and repulsed by these people. 

The other character that also takes center stage in this doc is the films notorious director Claudio Fragasso. You gotta love this guy when you listen to him talk about Troll 2. He honest to god felt like he made an important "film" about society, the world and how we live. He honestly feels like there's deep meaning behind Troll 2 and that the entire world, including critics and fans alike, have gotten it all wrong and don't see the film for what it really is, and important piece of cinema. It's almost heartbreaking when you see him attend special screenings and conventions all over the U.S. and see his face when fans and even the cast members themselves bash the film for being completely incoherent, confusing and just plain awful. Because at first he's a little surprised and amused that almost 20 years later it's developed a huge following. But as the screenings go by one after the other to sold out crowds, it becomes apparent that the love for the film is because of how horrible it is, and not for the talent and hard work he feels went into making it and by the end, you kinda feel sorry for the guy. 

A truly fascinating, hilarious and thoroughly entertaining documentary about one of the worst and most confusing films ever made. Best Worst Movie is every bit as fascinating as it's subject. 

Cannon Films Documentary Coming Soon!

So this is probably the coolest news I've heard all week. Well, next to Giorgio Moroder's Metropolis hitting DVD and Blu-ray this past Tuesday anyway, which by the way neither Walmart nor Target are carrying in there stores which doesn't make any sense to me whatsoever! But anway.........

Mark Hartley, the guy who gave us the awesome documentaries Not Quite Hollywood and Machete Maiden's Unleashed is now working on a new documentary centering around the films of the producing cousins of Golan and Globus who formed Cannon Films. That is really exciting news because they put out a really wide range of films in all genre's back in the 80's like The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2, Masters of the Universe, Invasion U.S.A. and of course the Electric Boogaloo films just to name a few. It's fair to say they were a big part of my 80's viewing experience as a teenager. Thanks to my buddy Ingo over at Hellford 667 Movie Reviews for the heads up. 

Here's the word via BadassDigest.com:

Mark Hartley, the man behind Not Quite Hollywood and Machete Maidens Unleashed, has another movie doc lined up, and this is the one that he's been waiting to do for years. It's called Electric Boogaloo: The Wild, Untold Story of Cannon Films. Yes, it's about the film company that Golan and Globus made famous with films like Missing In Action, Delta Force, American Ninja, Lifeforce as well as surprisingly serious fare likeTough Guys Don't Dance, Runaway Train and Zeffirelli's Otello.

Hartley has been trying to get this going for some time, so it's exciting to see him finally announcing it. I'm not sure when this is happening - he also has a remake of the Aussie horror film Patrick brewing - but I for one can't wait to see it. The image above is the announcement/promo poster.