Going to Pieces: The Rise and Fall of the Slasher Film (Jeff McQueen, 2006)

Documentary about the slasher movies that doesn't even bother to mention mighty Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Italian maestros ala Bava and Argento, infamous Video Nasties stuff etc etc

I don't think so.

Still it was fun to watch trailers and excerpts from some classical 80s flicks and see the usual talking heads ala Savini, Carpenter, Craven tell their anecdotes.

3/10

The Queen of Versailles (2012, Lauren Greenfield)

I was really intrigued by this movie when it had came out and wasn't even sure if this was supposed to be a mockumentary or a "proper" documentary. But somehow I always managed to miss it. And they did play it here in Dublin for quite some time! So I was pleasantly surprised when it was shown on BBC just a few weeks after it had finished its theatrical run.

Story is well known and bizarre and it obviously speaks to the audience about human stupidity, shallowness, megalomania, trivial and materialistic view of life etc etc etc. But I liked it foremost from its documentary film-making aspect. Director doesn't really choose any sides and just keeps filming what's in front of her camera. And what comes out from it is that you don't feel absolutely nothing for these assholes. No pity, no anger, no contempt, no nothing.

7/10

Men at Lunch (Seán Ó Cualáin, 2012)

What a mess this movie turned out to be. Advertised as a documentary about this famous photo it made me a bit intrigued. Concept of making full length documentary about nearly 100 years old photography sounded original and promising. Lots of territory to cover by trying to track down portrayed workers, photographer, circumstances surrounding it, maybe some technical stuff etc. Lots of possibilities indeed, it can be made almost as a mystery/thriller kind of flick. I was pretty excited to check it out.

But then it turned out that movie gives roughly 10% of its time to this fucking photography and the rest of it is just some incoherent rambling and jumping from one pretty unrelated topic to another. We learn everything about history of New York, great depression, immigrants, construction workers, some personal stories etc etc etc. At one point it got really absurd. I needed to go piss and when returning to the cinema after few minutes there were scenes from 9/11 on the big screen. Come on, give me a break...

Just skip it, it's not worth the price of a ticket. And besides, you'll probably be able to see it on National Geographic in a few weeks time.

2/10

Fix (Doug Freel, 2011)

I was never a die hard Ministry fan although they were always around. Saw them live on few occasions over the years and they had disappointed every single time - always using so many samples and effects resulting gigs to feel phoney and band just using playback instead of actually playing their fucking instruments. So I didn't expect nothing special when I went to check them out few weeks ago and was pleasantly surprised because they were really good! Intense, loud and focused with crowd going crazy for the whole time of 2+ hours set ending with some oldies-goldies hits from Psalm 69 record.

Few days after the gig I came across this documentary posted on one of my favorite blogs and it was too big of coincidence to ignore it. Seemed I just had to see it. And besides that I've heard some positive opinions about it when it was shown at the best film festival in the world.

And it's not bad at all. Very watchable and I'm sure that fans would enjoy it a lot. There's lots of music and behind the scenes footage from the 92 tour accompanied with bunch of interviews. Doug Freel really made more than just a decent effort of portraying band on the road but after halfway through you realize that you are watching just another tour film of just another rock band. Especially once you get over the initial shock of seeing Jourgensen shooting up heroin in front of the camera...

Total winner and show stealer is David Yow and I'm giving this flick at least one extra point because of him! We all know he's really crazy - especially comparing to Jourgensen who's ¨just" a junkie - and here he is at his best. His anecdotes are simply hilarious (stuff with him and Gibby Haynes selling their asses), shots of Al shooting drugs are nothing compared to Yow going crazy on the stage (and stage diving) in total nude. Brilliant and funny as hell: Oh yeah - and Buzz is also cool, no surprise there of course.

8/10

Maldito - O Estranho Mundo de José Mojica Marins aka Coffin Joe: The Strange World of José Mojica Marins (André Barcinski, Ivan Finotti, 2001)

Great stuff and perfect film to conclude Coffin Joe phenomenal box set. Great mix of documentary footage (opening scene of acting class is so fucking awesome!), scenes from his movies and of course interviews full of bizarre anecdotes. 

Stuff with making his actresses drunk for "snakes" scenes is hilarious, doing porn in order to survive and do his personal films reminded me so much of Jean Rollin and of course now we finally know how Coffin Joe was born. Mojica took 20 amphetamines pills to keep him awake 4 days when shooting At Midnight I Will Take Your Soul. He had divided his crew into 2 units and shoot movie without sleeping. Since then he was never the same...

The only objection to this little jewel is that it is too short!? I could and certainly would watch it for hours.

9/10

TAD - Busted Circuits And Ringing Ears (Adam Pease, Ryan Short, 2008)

Had no idea this even existed until it was posted on one of my favorite music blogs shiny grey monotone and didn't hesitate one second to check it out. How could I not with the uber cool title like that!?!?

Must admit I was never die hard fan of TAD. Was addicted to Salt Lick EP (I'd probably wore down that tape on my car radio) and 8 Way Santa (I'm a Jinx yeaaaah!!!!!!!!!! Good ole' days!) but somehow didn't exactly follow the band or travel abroad to see them live. Mudhoney were (and still are) my favorite poison from Seattle.

So it was really fun to watch a documentary about the band I used to be kind of a fan but didn't really know much about it. To remind you all - these were internet-less times! And it was cool but also sad to hear the same old story about talented guys getting fucked by big business and bad luck and booze and drugs.

Movie itself is well made, on low budget I would image and made with lots of love (I would imagine again). Maybe not enough talking heads, but then again this may even help it because in case of TAD talking is not necessarily because music is so fucking good. So instead of seeing usual suspects (Biafra, Rollins, Thurston etc) we get to see lots of live footage although sometimes barely watchable. But fuck it, those were times before ultra HD home video cameras shit.

Cool stuff, good story told in honest way about the band who didn't have a chance to cash it on grunge euphoria and "sounded like a nerdy, hipsters west coast version of Sonic Youth. Until you saw them live!"

8/10

Alex Higgins - The Peoples Champion

Pretty standard, talking heads type BBC documentary about enfant terrible of snooker. If you're fan of the game, you have probably already seen it. Otherwise I encourage you to check it out because guy was really and truly insane.

And make sure you have few cans of Guinness in the fridge!

6/10