The Stone Roses:Made Of Stone (2013)

'Made Of Stone' is director, and fan, Shane Meadows documentary on The Stone Roses, the early days, but mostly the (surprising) reforming of the band in 2012, something most people thought would never happen.

Yes a lot of the warts are glossed over (the Reading Festival fiasco for example) but this is a 90 minutes celebration of a legendary band, for all the right, and wrong, reasons. Interviews, backstage and candid footage, and some great rare on stage footage ("Breaking In" at Heaton Park and great black and white footage at the 1,100 capacity warm up gig at Warringtons Parr Hall), if you're a Roses fan, like me, you'll wallow in this.

*****

Rewind This (2013)

'Rewind This' is a documentary charting the rise of home video from the late 70s, and the eventual dominance of Sony's VHS for the next 15 years.

Every aspect of this 'golden era' is covered and I was filled with nostalgia over so many of the various interviews with directors, distributors and of course, collectors. Frank Hennenlotter is great fun as he tells tales of how 'Basket Case' became a massive success on the small screen ("It paid for this apartment!"), movie geeks (me) discuss travelling miles trawling shops for hard to find releases (usually B movie horror), how they categorise their collection (got to be alphabetical).
The decision by a distributor to sell movies at an 'affordable' price to the public, and the massive success that entailed for company's such as Troma with cult classics such as 'The Toxic Avenger' and the general public with the advent of the workout video.

Intelligent, heart warming stuff, this struck a cord with me from my days in the 80's and early 90's collecting VHS, trading dodgy copies of uncut versions of 'Nekromantik', 'Cannibal Holocaust' etc, and again, scouring rental stores looking for an original copy of 'The Texas Chainsaw Massacre'.

Highly recommended for movie fans, geeks and nerds (me, me and yes, me)

*****

Mission To Lars (2013)

Tom Spice has Fragile X Syndrome, a kind of autism and the most common form of an inherited learning disability, he is also a massive fan of Metallica, and drummer Lars Ulrich in particular, his brother and sister Will and Kate make it their promise to get Tom to meet his hero and they set off on a trip to the US hitting the Metallica tour, ringing promoters, journalists, anyone to get a one on one with Will and Lars.

A thoroughly heart warming documentary, it won't tell you much about Toms condition, but it will tell you everything about a loving familys bond and what they will do for each other, it's a rollercoaster ride with plenty of ups and downs but ultimately an uplifting finale that you hope for, and an experience that not just forfilled Toms dream, but also acted as a 'medicine' to his condition giving him new confidence from his adventure.

*****

You've Been Trumped (2012)

 

 

Business tycoon Doanld Trump decides he wants to build a muli-million dollar Golf complex somewhere in Scotland, Trumps not sure where, he doesn't really care, The Scottish Environmental Protection Agency, Scottish Natural Heritage, World Wildlife Fund and the RSPB do, as it's of special scientific interest, a unique habitat of dunes and one of the last of it's kind, oh and the local residents aren't too happy either, as the area gets bulldozed, water and elecrtic get cut off (illegally) all under the watchful eye of the private security and over zealous local constabulary(who also throw the Director Anthony Baxter in Jail!)

 

The documentary is shockingly similar to Bill Forsyth's classic "Local Hero" from the early 80's, big bad US business takes on small Scottish community, but there's no happy ending here, the Scottish Parliament bow down to the Yankee dollar and give the go ahead.

 

A real life horror story and utterly depressing.

 

*****

 



Ray Harryhausen:Special Effects Titan (2012)

For a fan of the movies Ray Harryhausen is a legend, after watching "King Kong" as a child he fell in love with the idea of 'stop motion' and the ability to create creaures from your imagination, fable or folklore and bring them to life!


This is exactally what Ray did for three decades, and this wonderful documentary tells that story."Jason And The Argonauts", "The 7th Voyage Of Sinbad", "Clash Of The Titans", "Valley Of Gwangi", these were the movies I grew up watching on the TV and in the cinema, and they are the films that inspired a host of film legends, Tim Burton, Peter Jackson, Steven Spielberg, James Cameron, our very own Nick Park, saw the amazing creatures that Ray brought to the screens and were inspired by his creative visions of wonderful alien worlds and creatures taking on mankind!


Director, model maker, artist, visionary, all round nice guy.
Legend.

*****

West Of Memphis (2012)

 

 

1993.

Three eight year boys go missing in West Memphis, Tennessee,a few days later their bodies were found in a ditch, stripped, naked and apparently sexually molested. One year later, three young men are convicted of the killings are found guilty of the murders, and  sentenced to life imprisonment with no parole.....In 2010 they are released by a Supreme High Court Judge after a massive campaign into a huge miss carriage of justice..this film documents that story.

 

A two and a half hour hard hitting documentary, this is powerful stuff, at times quite gruesome, with post mortem video and photo footage, if you're a Parent this might be quite distressing, but it's worth the painful journey.

 

A compelling document, of what was ultimately a waste of so many lives, the three children suffering such a terrible fate, the three 'guilty' men robbed of 18 years of freedom, all the family's involved....and the horrible thought that the real killer got away with it, someone whom the Police seem to think could never have done it, even with testimonies and evidence against him.

 

*****

Some Kind Of Monster (2004)

Now, I've been, or rather was, a big fan of Metallica, since I first heard the awesome "Ride The Lightning" LP back in 1984 (oh gawd I feel old).I had the privilege to see them live twice in the mid 80's (at Donington, and headlining with Anthrax-what a bill!!) and this to me really was their heyday.

Of course a lot has happened since then.
They are without doubt the biggest Metal band on the planet, each album has sold millions, each tour sold out in hours.
It hasn't been all roses though as there have been some lows, the tragic death of Cliff Burton, the Napster fiasco, and more recently the problems that arose during the recording of their last studio LP "St Anger" (their first full Lp since 1996's "Load")

This superb documentary chronicles the bands story from early 2001 when they regrouped to start work on that album, it shows the recording sessions, the arguments, news clips of the Napster episode, interviews with Dave Mustaine and Jason Newstead, and also James battle with alcoholism .
As expected Lars and James come across as self-centered ego-maniacs (though since James has quit drink he does seem to have changed for the better) and Dave Mustaine and Jason Newsted are really decent blokes.
If you're a fan of Metallica or rock music in general then I can't recommend this high enough to you.
*****         

The Imposter (2012)

A 13 year old boy disappears from a small town in Texas, three years later Police in Spain alert authorities in the US, against all odds it appears that child has been found....or has he?

I watched this 'movie' not knowing very little about it, and after 10 minutes or so I was puzzled, is this a mocu-mentary or based on a true story? surely it couldn't be as the story was so bizarre!!

Filmed in the same style as the tv show 'Banged Up Abroad', part interview clips with the real people, part reconstructed key moments with actors, this is a quite astonishing story and well worth a viewing.

*****