MIT: Boogie Man: The Lee Atwater Story

Rating: 9.5 out of 10 stars
Watched this on November 17th

Ok, new idea, from now on if there's a recent movie that I miss when it's in theaters but I see it soon after (well, I guess in the same year) I'll review it and classify it as Missed In Theaters. So anytime you see MIT before a title I didn't see the movie in a theater but still it's a recent-ish movie.

First of all, I absolutely loved this movie. Lee Atwater was as fascinating as he was deplorable and the man himself made this movie worth watching. With my politic fix mostly gone after the elections this was a great view.

For those less fascinated with politics and Karl Rove and such this may be much less exciting. Overall it's a good but not great documentary if you're not interested in the topic but if you are, it's amazing and enthralling.

Worth a view either way but don't get your hopes up if politics doesn't tickle your fancy.

Next on my list, I'd like to see JCVD in theaters (maybe tomorrow night) and I'll probably watch The Fall in my MIT series.

Encounters at the End of the World

Rating: 7 out of 10 stars (probably against my better judgement)
I saw this movie on August 12th at Coolidge Corner

This was a Werner Herzog documentary (same guy who made/narrated "Grizzly Man") about the people and work being done at the South Pole. The music was really great and stoic and almost made the movie feel like a religious experience. The visuals were also breathtaking in their magnanimity. These were the major selling points of the movie.

I didn't like that Herzog tried to do too much and tell too many stories with very little unifying theme or thread. It seemed very scattered and aimless at times.

I also am still not a fan of scientific (or historical for that matter) documentaries without an argument. I don't find them well suited to big screen documentaries. This is probably a personal bias but I felt like this would have been better served if it were drawn out as a multi part piece on Antarctica for the Discovery channel. It's definitely episodic in nature and I just think movies like this (and "March of the Penguins") belong on the Discovery Channel and not the big screen.

I probably should give this a lower score but I'm in a good mood today. It was good for what it is, I just don't particularly like what it is.

If you know what you're getting into and the archaelogical and especially scientific aspects of Antarctica interest you then this is definitely worth a view. Otherwise it is not a travesty to miss.

Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired

Rating: 6.5 out of 10 stars
I saw this on August 4th at Coolidge Corner

This documentary on Roman Polanski was ok. It was mostly about Polanski's trial and most of its value comes from the fact that Polanski is a very interesting character and his story in rather compelling as well.

The downfall of this movie is the production and telling of the story. It was very blatantly a made for tv documentary that had a hackneyed 'Dateline NBC' feel to it. There seemed to be very little direction to the documentary and could more aptly be described as a mere history program. I would go to see this movie especially if Roman Polanski interests you or if you hate to miss a documentary.

It was a pretty good movie but nothing to write home about.

American Teen

Rating: 8 out of 10 stars
I saw a sneak preview showing of this on July 15th at Coolidge Corner

Wow! I had a hard time believing this was a documentary because it was so complete. It made me very angry at times but mostly because it represented different facets of high school life so well.

I thought it was magnificently done and painfully honest. I was surprised by how much I enjoyed this movie. It is not your stereotypical happy ending teen movie (although the ending is fairly happy or at least mediocre...I guess real).

I think it carried extra weight with me because I've been a high school teacher but this movie almost had me screaming at the screen. It is just really well done.

Constantine's Sword

Rating: 9 out of 10 stars
I saw this on July 7th at Coolidge Corner

Wow! I had no idea that I would enjoy this movie as much as I did. This movie tracks Christian anti-semitism from Constantine to the Holocaust to evangelizing going on in our Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs.

I was originally worried/frustrated that James Carroll had not tied Constantine and the Papacy during the Holocaust to the current day issues. It was done very well and James Carroll is in a unique position to tell this story (Carroll was a Catholic priest who left the Church soon after Vietnam and his father was the first head of the Air Force).

This documentary may seem rambling at times but it is very powerful and the message rings very forcefully. It seems a little too conclusive at the end (for my liking) but the shear weight of the story and powerfulness of the message carries this documentary to be one of the best of the year so far.

Don't miss this movie!

I intend to see Sergei Bodrov's "Mongol" tomorrow.

Bigger Stronger Faster

Rating: 8.5 out of 10 stars
I saw this in mid to late June at Coolidge Corner Cinema

This movie was terrific. Truly a hidden gem. Chris Bell addresses the idea of what it means to be American (especially an American male) with a takeoff point of steroids and his personal and family experience with steroids and other performance enhancing substances.

Bell does a great job analyzing how American's perceive themselves, each other, steroids, drugs, and a host of other topics and does it in a nuanced and masterful way. It does a great job of not answering the questions that we might have but framing them well and presenting all sides in a compelling manner and raising more questions we didn't even know we should have.

Extremely informative, well put together, insightful, go see it!