Waiting for ApeDonkey: Netflix Reveiws - 2/23/11

Monster Camp - See it - I have a bit of a fetish when it comes to LARPers. For those of you out of the know, LARP stands for Live Action Role Playing. These are people for whom Dungeons & Dragons wasn't real enough so they started dressing up in medieval fantasy garb, made some cardboard and foam swords and started acting out their D&D adventures. Now that may not sound like a lot of fun to you. However, a documentary about the people who do find that stuff appealing should sound outstanding. Monster Camp focuses on the NERO Seattle chapter the issues and social politics involved in running a game like this. It's amazing the amount of work the people who love this stuff put in to making it successful. The documentary is definitely a step down from superbly done Darkon but is very good and funny by its own right. If you have a case of LARPer love like me then this is a must watch but if you just like good docs about social outcasts then check it out.

What We Do is Secret - See it - I have to admit being surprised that I ended up liking this movie. Following on the heels of The Runaways, one of the worst movies I've ever seen, I expected another disaster. They shared a time period and even a few of the same characters and actors are in both movies. Surprisingly, I was wrong. I've never been a Shane West fan but I thought he did an admirable job as Darby Crash, the leader of The Germs. As a testament to his ability to embody Crash and sing The Germs' songs, West actually fronts the band in concert from time to time. The movie is not without its problems. The story moves way too fast trying to pack five years into 90 minutes. There would have been nothing wrong with simply telling the very common story of a 70's punk band's rise and fall due to excess and drugs. Instead they tried to sell us on Crash being punk icon with a unique ideology. Too much is left up to interpretation. Was Darby gay? What exactly was the hold Rob had over him? Why did he come back from London dressing like an Indian Chief? I assume it has something to do with Adam Ant. If you're a person who's very stingy with your Netflix selections then I'd say look for it on cable or instant watch but if you just want an entertaining 90 minutes then go ahead and check it out.

Examined Life - Skip it - Director and documentary filmmaker Astra Taylor was right to question whether or not philosophy would translate to film. It doesn't. Artistically I get what she was trying to do. She was trying to take a philosophy and philosophers who's work is usually consumed through the written word and place it in a new medium. She went as far as to juxtapose them with backdrop that would better illustrate their point. Pete Singers piece on charity versus consumerism is shot as he walks through the multitude of ads in Times Square. The biggest issue is that most of the films subjects fail to captivate audibly or visually. The lone exception is Cornel West. West is extraordinarily captivating. You can't take your eyes off of him as he rides in the back of a car and you find yourself hanging on his every word. Sadly, there just aren't enough West moments for me to recommend this film. Do yourself a favor though and search for Cornel West Examined Life on youtube. You won't be disappointed.

Waiting for Superman - Must See - If you've read my reviews before, you know I'm a sucker for documentaries on our education system. Teachers and our school systems have more opportunity to shape our kids than anyone outside of parents. An educator who truly cares can save a kid but the ones just doing their "job" allows potentially special individuals to slip through the cracks. I was one of those kids and if not for my 10th grade English teacher, I would have quit school even though I was an honor student.

Waiting for Superman is an extraordinary documentary that puts the spotlight on our failures as educators in this country. As money dries up and we continue to focus on pushing everyone through the system, we continue to fall behind the other industrialized nations in math and science. Our government has put a premium on lip service and catering curriculum to the lowest common denominator instead of working to push the bottom up to a higher level. The documentary makes a very clear point along with dynamic educator Geoffery Canada that our system is broken. Kids in lower income communities who are fed into one of many "drop out factories" are left with just a slight hope of having their number pulled in a charter school lottery. The film points out that our nation's education issues stretch beyond the poverty line. They focus on a student from a wealthy California suburb who wants to get into a local charter school so that she avoid being lost in the local schools tracking system. This really is an outstanding documentary almost guaranteed to piss you off. Especially if your a parent of a kid our system has already failed. My only real issue with the movie is that they didn't find a place to use this equally outstanding song.

Fast, Cheap & Out of Control - See it -Very interesting 1997 Errol Morris documentary paralleling the life's work of four seemingly unconnected individuals. David Hoover a wild animal trainer, George Mendonca a topiary gardener, Ray Mendez a mole rat specialist and Rodney Brooks a robot scientist are the film's subjects. They individually tell their story of how they found their way into what they do and continue to give the details of their work. Morris intertwines these stories to make a point on the evolution of humans. How we have been shaped to where we are headed as a species. Worth checking out and it's on instant watch.

Solitary Man - Skip it - Remember that Michael Douglas movie about a womanizer who was once very successful but is now watching his life melt down around him? Yeah this is another one but not as good. There's nothing outstanding about this movie including a cast. The names in the cast, Jenna Fisher, Jesse Eisenberg, Susan Sarandon, look much better than the performances delivered. The only performance I found spot on was Danny Devito. Over all a rather disappointing film. You'd be better off going back and re-watching the terrific film Wonder Boys for a movie about a man at the crossroads in his late mid-life years.