A Place At The Table (2011/Magnolia Blu-ray)/Bert Stern: Original Mad Man (2012/First Run DVD)/Bidder 70 (2012/Bullfrog DVD)/Ferlinghetti: A Rebirth Of Wonder (2010/First
Run DVD)/The Gatekeepers (2012/Sony
Blu-ray)/Herman’s House (2012/First
Run DVD)/In Vogue: The Editor’s Eye
(2013/HBO/Warner Archive DVD)/Joanna
Lumley’s Nile (2009/Acorn/Athena DVDs)
Picture: B-/C+/C+/C/B-/C+/C+/C+ Sound: C+/C+/C+/C+/B-/C+/C+/C+ Extras: B/C/D/C-/B/C/C+/C+ Main Programs: B/B/B/C+/B/C+/B/B+
PLEASE NOTE: In Vogue is only available from Warner Bros. through their Warner
Archive series and can be ordered from the link below.
Here is a
fine set of new documentary releases you should definitely know about…
Kristi
Jacobson and Lori Silverbush have co-directed an impressive, vital documentary
entitled A Place At The Table (2011)
about the ugly crisis of starvation and poverty that has grown so badly since
the early 1980s that 50 million people actually do not know where their next
meal is coming from. Add on to that the
increase in cheap junk food, genetically engineered foods that are dangerously
not labeled as such (guess who got paid off over that one?), how such
engineering only denatures the nutritional content of food, how this is now
causing people (along with the lack of quality foods) to have health issues you
would only previously expect to see in Third World countries and how
corporations and mega-mergers (along with taking advantage of programs meant
for small farmers and turning them into wasteful corporate welfare) has screwed
up food production as we know it.
Sure,
there is a health organic foods movement that is working on a small level (you
can never have enough farmer’s markets either) and other countries have rightly
rejected engineered foods outright, but this is also about bad government
policy cutting benefits from people who need them desperately and treating good
people as disposable is creating a crisis that the mainstream media is
dangerously and highly irresponsibly ignoring.
The great
Jeff Bridges, who has started a foundation and movement to end the starving, is
among the fine line of interviewees and we see how this is hurting real
people. These same people are ashamed
and afraid to discuss this and their situation, afraid of the stigmatism that
some politicians enjoy perpetuating against them (and openly so) in what is one
of the most un-American trends I have ever seen in my life. The richest country in the world has zero
excuse to allow this and in the late 1970s, had actually created successful
programs that kept this issue at bay.
It’s time
to go back to that future.
Extras include
Deleted Scenes, Cast/Crew Interviews, Deleted Interviews, AXS TV look at the
film, a feature length audio commentary track with Jacobson, Silverbush and
Colicchio, the Original Theatrical Trailer and a few more advisory featurettes,
all worth your time after seeing the film.
Shannah
Laumeister’s Bert Stern: Original Mad
Man (2012) takes a look at the life and work of the legendary still
photographer (and filmmaker, hew also directed one film, the Jazz music classic
Jazz On A Summer’s Day (1959,
reviewed elsewhere on this site) considered one of the great music films and
sadly, he never made another one.
We see
his family, the loves of his life, obsession with women, obsession with images
and his ups and downs as an artist and man.
We get a nice section of the 89 minutes here on his work and life with
Marilyn Monroe, whose sessions with him were among her best and sadly,
last. It is amazing how he innovated
shooting celebrities, nudes, commercial products and so much more, but he did
and you know early on when one of his best photography friends was Stanley
Kubrick that something special was about to happen.
Kubrick
hired him to do the stills for the Lolita campaign (in color, though the film
was black and white) and as you watch, you can see more and more how
innovative, influential and brilliant he was.
This is a fine documentary also worth going out of your way for.
Extras
include a Photo Gallery than can never have enough images and text director
bio.
Beth
& George Gage’s Bidder 70 (2012)
tells the story of Tim DeChristoper’s crashing of a auction for public lands
to/for oil/energy companies so they could be exploited, denatured, ruined,
slashed, burned and cashed in for quick profits and the retaliation against him
despite the fact that said auction was eventually declared illegal, which was
his motivation to get involved in the first place. He falsely bid $1.8 Million to save 22,000+
acres and actually succeeded as the second Bush Administration gave way to
Barack Obama, but the energy people were furious they had been foiled so
simply.
Running
only 72 minutes, it is obvious that he was being targeted and what sore losers
some industry people who were up to no good actually are, but it is especially
disturbing how his civil rights were violated for standing up for what all
American Citizens are allowed to stand up for and this is a case that is far
from over if you see this, its results and really think about it.
Interviewees
include Robert Redford who makes vital points about how the situation jumps
from one injustice to another and how a lack of leadership all around and dirty
money are ruining the country in profound ways.
However, the documentary spends not enough time on the facts, does not
get into the exposition it needs and sometimes falls into the illicit appeal to
pity category in telling its story.
Still, it is a must-see despite its short-comings because the media
ignored this almost totally without giving it the serious attention it
deserved.
There are
no extras.
Christopher
Felver’s Ferlinghetti: A Rebirth Of
Wonder (2010) is a mixed documentary about the life of poet and founder of
the legendary City Lights Bookstore, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, who helped usher in
the Beat Poets that made the 1960s counterculture possible and the history
behind all of this, including a biographical portrait of the man himself.
Featuring
the expected overlap of his story with other key writers like Ginsberg,
Burroughs and the many histories of the events they were part of, this runs a
very short 78 minutes and needed to spend more time on uncovering new
information and aspects of the lives of those covered, especially Mr.
Ferlinghetti. Watchable but a bit
disappointing, it is worth a look from those interested.
The only
extra is Ferlinghetti reading his poem “The
History of The Airplane”.
Dror
Moreh’s The Gatekeepers (2012) is an
interview documentary and history of Shin Bet, Israel’s anti-terrorist unit
(likely working in conjunction with the Mossad) to battle any threats to the
State of Israel and attacks which have now come to be known too commonly as
terrorism. Moreh get to interview all
six heads of the organization to date and we also see a rare series of film
clips, stills and other its that show how the country has operated and
protected itself, including in 1967, when it very existence was challenged yet
again.
Nothing
here is very shocking, but it is all interesting and when asked about any kind
of “occupation” the interviewees explain they never thought to finish such a
thing because they were too busy doing what they were doing and in the end, a
two-state solution is suggested as the only viable outcome. The Israelis are not going anywhere and
neither are the Palestinians, the latter of which have never received any
serious support from outside and have been used as a political football all
these decades for anti-Semitic purposes in the extremist Arab fantasy that Israel would
cease to exist.
It is a
powerful, smart, sometimes painful look at key events that have turned out to
have an effect on world politics to this day and became a very useful, even
vital text in finding resolution once and for all.
Extras
include a trailer, 45 minutes Q&A with Director Moreh and Moreh’s highly
informative feature length audio commentary track.
Though
not as problematic as Mumia: Long Distance Revolutionary (reviewed elsewhere on
this site), Angad Singh Bhalla’s Herman’s
House (2012) deals with the story of Herman Wallace, who has been in
solitary confinement for 40 years, was also a member of the original Black
Panthers like Mumia Abu-Jamal and though the documentary does not explicit
claim he is a political prisoner like Mumia,
hints at this to some extent and makes a more viable argument that solitary
confinement should be limited or outlawed.
It is
another ugly story about justice and struggle as Mr. Wallace admitted to a
robbery but (like the Mumia case) denies he is the killer of someone who is
definitely dead. Jackie Sumell is an
artist who decides to build his dream house and that is supposed to be a symbol
of his freedom and hoped for freedom to be, but the program takes a brief aside
to focus on a young white male who also became incarcerated in solitary for a
crime he did commit and how he is adjusting to the outside world. It is an interesting aside, is underdeveloped
and never returned to again. ON the one
hand, it shows the problem is wide spread in that some solitary overdoes things
and may target the poor, but it also seems to try to inoculate the documentary
of anything racial by showing this happens to more than just African Americans,
but then mysteriously forgets about this discourse for its remainder.
Running
only 81 minutes, more of a discourse on the troubles with solitary confinement
abuse and less of this uneven approach (manipulative or not) would have been a
big help and made any potentially positive or powerful statements intended
stick better.
Extras
include a Director Interview and Deleted Scenes.
The
Fenton Bailey/Randy Barbato documentary In
Vogue: The Editor’s Eye (2013) is a fine look into the success of one of
the most popular, influential and important magazines ever published, Vogue. First aired on HBO, the rich 59 minutes (I
wish this were longer and even addressed the magazine’s famous competitors) has
interviews with all the living editors of the publication, how the magazine
changed and adapted to the times, how it led the way for the look and fashion
of fashion and how it has somehow managed to stay on top.
The big
common denominator is that each person involved (including photographers like
Bert Stern and Richard Avedon) kept coming up with new, fresh ideas and a
shared love of the look, fell and style of what they were doing kept the
magazine as exciting as it was relevant to this day. Nicole Kidman is among the movie stars
interviewed and once again, Bailey and Barbato create a winning work worth
going out of your way for.
Extras
include Inside The Editor’s Eye: Uncut
with Additional & Deleted Scenes and Vogue:
Defining Fashion featurettes.
Last and
certainly not least is Joanna Lumley’s
Nile (2009) which is the most successful release here because it is a
mini-series, takes the time to really delve into the journey and subject at
hand and has the actress and model in prime form taking the trip she always
wanted to take. Turns out the Nile is
now the proven to be the longest river in the world and Lumley fearlessly (as
in her on screen work) travels its full length no matter what and we discover
with her so many great places so few have seen before and others that are
tourist destinations.
Lumley
has a great sense of wit about her and her brilliant comic side keeps showing
up effortlessly in this always interesting 184 minutes journey that shows us a
vital side of our planet and many parts rarely seen. It is a triumph for Lumley, the viewer and
those who love nature and our world, but best of all, it fells as if you are
taking the trip with her and so many such documentaries these days cannot even
muster up the feel of a travelogue. This
one is a major home run.
Extras
include profiles on the countries Lumley visited and another solid 16-page
booklet from Athena on the program, including an interview with Cam McLeay.
The 1080p
1.78 X 1 digital High Definition image transfers on Table and Gatekeeper are
the best picture performers as expected in being the only Blu-rays on the list,
but they also feature some rough newer video, rough older archive video and a
few other raw clips as expected, holding back picture quality a bit. The rest of the DVDs are presented in
anamorphically enhanced 1.78 X 1 image framing and tie for second place having
the same issues, though a little softer overall and Ferlinghetti is softer still, being the poorest playback performer.
The
DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 5.1 lossless mixes on Table and Gatekeeper
should be the best sound performers as well, but Table has more rough spots than expected, but plays back just fine
otherwise. House tries to have its sound expanded to lossy Dolby Digital 5.1,
but should have kept it at lossy Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo like the rest of the
DVDs here. All but Nile have their monophonic
moments and none have any serious Pro Logic surrounds to consider. Thus, sound is just fine overall in all the
releases.
To order In Vogue, go to this link for it and
many more great web-exclusive releases at:
http://www.warnerarchive.com/
-
Nicholas Sheffo
