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Category:    Home > Reviews > Documentary > Design > Art > Modernism > Archeology > Legal > Injustice > Sexploitation > Slavery > Terroris > Design Is One (2013/Vignelli/First Run DVD)/Dinosaur 13 (2014/CNN/Lionsgate Blu-ray)/Tricked (2013/First Run DVD)

Design Is One (2013/Vignelli/First Run DVD)/Dinosaur 13 (2014/CNN/Lionsgate Blu-ray)/Tricked (2013/First Run DVD)


Picture: C+/B-/C+ Sound: C+/B-/C+ Extras: C+ Documentaries: B/B-/B-



Here are some new documentaries for you to consider catching...



Kathy Brew and Roberto Guerra's Design Is One (2013) tells the story of Leila and Massimo Vignelli, those designs combined modernist design with a sense of Italian sensibilities in the cleverest ways resulting in them creating some of the most important, enduring and lasting graphic arts, designs, furniture, devices, logos and architecture ever made. You've seen their work for corporations and product makers and not even known it, so successful and long-term prolific in their production they have been. This new documentary at a tight 79 minutes (I wish it were longer, but would recommend one called Helvetica that you can see on Blu-ray elsewhere on this site) that shows their amazing work and legacy.


We spend plenty of time with them and they are interviewed, along with many of their friends and associates. We see how far their works have gone, how effective the work has been and this also includes vintage film and video clips with all kinds of stills. Definitely catch this one!


Extras include text Biographies, text Resources, In Memoriam section and 11 Bonus Shots to be seen after watching the documentary.



Todd Douglas Miller's Dinosaur 13 (2014) is the story of how a complete T-Rex dinosaur was found that was not only amazingly complete, but was the largest ever found. The amazing team that found it did everything as correctly and as legally as they thought, but by trusting a man who turned on them and not consulting a lawyer and getting a proper contract going, landed up having the dino seized not just via legal error, but by the federal government who (guided by investigators who made it a bigger deal than it needed to be) said the discoverers had violated dozens of federal laws and thus a Kafkaesque nightmare began for all involved. This was bad for the town Sue (as the dino was named) was found in, the great people who found it and for anyone who loves great discoveries.


In fairness to some of those criticized, they were not interviewed and the 100 minutes might get a little one-sided, but this still has great footage and interviews throughout, becomes a cautionary tale of why you should ALWAYS have lawyers in special situations like this and how this luckily has somewhat of a happy ending for fans of Sue and all archeological and dinosaur research. I actually had a chance to see Sue a few years ago, extremely well preserved and saved, so I want to thank those who saved her. You may have been through some unfair, rough and ugly things, but it will always be your legacy, even if you don't get the credit you deserve for it.


Extras include Digital HD Ultraviolet Copy for PC, PC portable and iTunes capable devices, while the Blu-ray adds raw footage of The Complete Auction Of Sue, Deleted Scenes (some of which could have stayed in the program), Complete Story Of Sue featurette, short How To Build A Dinosaur and Fossil Whales Of Peru.



Jane Welles & John-Keith Wasson take on a tough subject of human trafficking and sexual exploitation in Tricked (2013), a recent documentary about men who become pimps by beating, terrorizing, kidnapping and manipulating young ladies to make money for them and keep 100% of the profits. Myths about grown women 'doing that willingly' (similar to some critiques of the XXX sex business on film and video) are quickly and rightly disproven throughout the often hard-to-watch 75 minutes that have the exploiting men amazingly candid about their hatred of women and open willingness to exploit, use and much, much worse throughout. Why none of them have been arrested or worse since this was released is pathetic.


We meet the survivors of the exploitation, including one who was targeted at her college and got used very quickly with nowhere to turn, her kindness taken as weakness to say the very least. What is captured is so rotten, you'd think you were watching a recruiting film or propaganda that says this is somehow acceptable behavior, but all these men (including the customers) should go to jail and worse. The co-directors sometimes even miss how bad things are and not enough is being said. How Hip Hop/Rap culture celebrates these criminals is insane, down to extravagant shows in Las Vegas (!?!), but we interview more than a few great police officers fighting against these situations that are no more than modern slavery targeting women of color and (usually) poor white females.


Most telling of all in the subliminal terror these criminals use is this bizarre woman who produces the glitzy, gaudy drinking mugs with all kinds of designs and 'bling' on them for these pimp types. She roots for them and hopes they'll prosper and do well as she self-censors herself severely about the female victims who she re-victimizes with her stupid junk production. Capping all off is a shrine she has to the pimps and these goblets where she is practically doing mamalois voodoo chants as good luck. This includes supernatural, religious, spiritual and evidently Satanic terrorism too!


This one is worth a good look, but expect some dehumanizing moments throughout. Laws and law enforcement needs to change (along with bigger budgets to combat it all) because this is an extremely unacceptable situation.


Extras include extensive text resources and 4 more scenes that should have stayed in the main program.



The 1080p 1.78 X 1 digital High Definition image transfer on Dinosaur show the age of the older analog and low definition digital video materials used, but that is an issue with all the releases here, but it just passes up the anamorphically enhanced 1.78 X 1 image on the two DVDs that look as good as you would expect for that older format. The DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 5.1 lossless mix on Dinosaur is also the best sonically here, but it also share rough older audio issues (monophonic sound, location audio limits) that all three releases do, as the lossy Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo on the DVDs hold their own sounding as good as they could. Especially Tricked with all of its surveillance footage.



- Nicholas Sheffo


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