Review – The Making of The Blues Brothers

I have a real love-hate relationship with The Blues Brothers. Part of me still enjoys the jokes I thought were completely hysterical when I first saw it in 1980 (I was 14 at the time). But another part of me struggles to cope with its embodiment of white-centered media to “borrow” heavily from Black culture in general and music in particular. This documentary suffers from the same setbacks as its subject. It’s a great study of the people involved with the production and their experiences making the movie. But there still isn’t much critical thought to its more uncomfortable aspects. Mildly amusing

Review – The Entire History of Roman Britain

This documentary lives up to its name ably enough. And that’s a problem, because wow does the subject start to mash together after awhile. The familiar players – Julius Caesar, Boudica, Hadrian and a few others – are easy enough to tell apart. But a lot of the rest of the history blurs together into a parade of names that are super similar even when they aren’t actually identical (a common problem with a lot of Roman history). Blending notwithstanding, the filmmakers do a good job with the task at hand. Anyone with an interest in the subject should find this worth a look. Mildly amusing

Review – Halloween Home Haunts

This low budget documentary explores a range of homemade haunted house attractions from converted garages to semi-professional dark rides. The passion it takes to turn a passion for the holiday into an annual commitment of time, energy and no small amount of money is clearly evident in the interviews with the creators and the video of their creations. Mildly amusing

Review – The Haunted World of Edward D. Wood, Jr.

The more I learn about the subject of this documentary, the sadder it makes me. Wood himself seemed to want to make good movies despite being really bad at it, so mocking him leaves me uncomfortable. Further, his “haunted world” of friends and other associates includes a number of neurodivergent or otherwise vulnerable people who deserved neither to be exploited by Wood nor made fun of by us. To be fair, the filmmakers here do their best to keep things respectful. But that can’t allay the strong, lingering sense of “I’m sorry that happened to you” (except perhaps for the conservative businessmen Wood conned into financing some of his pictures). Mildly amusing

Review – You Don’t Nomi

As surprised as I am to find myself writing this, I would have preferred hearing from the fans of Showgirls rather than sitting through interviews with the people who made it. The production’s status as one of the worst movies ever made by a Hollywood studio isn’t seriously in dispute. And the issue of whether it was intended to be terrible or just came out that way isn’t all that interesting (not that this documentary manages to answer the question). I’ve seen it a couple of times, so I don’t need a plot summary or a reminder of which scenes are more embarrassing than others. Given what a loyal following it still has decades after its original release, the nature of its lingering appeal is more interesting than the movie itself. There’s some of that here, but not nearly enough. Mildly amusing