SPECIAL WHEN LIT: A PINBALL DOCUMENTARY (2009)

This is a documentary about an innovation whose birth and death occurred within the same century, so that the same people who enjoyed it as a rising fad can defend its relevancy later in life.  Yes, that means most people they talk to are super old (like old enough to remember putting dimes not quarters into the machines) and yes, unfortunately most of them can't come up with any more complex than "I like pinball, it used to be popular, now it is not, I don't like that."  But there it still a lot of interesting stuff about pinball to learn, and they also interview a charming (and ancient) Frenchman who says "I like girls and pinball... but girls is finis... so pinball."

MACHETE MAIDENS UNLEASHED (2010)

This is the funniest film I've seen in quite some time.  And it's a documentary.  Don't let that scare you away.  The subject is the glut of American made-exploitation films shot in the Philippines, starting with blood soaked monster movies (like the Blood Island trilogy) and sweaty sexy prison romps (like Women In Cages) during the 60's and leading up to the end of the 70's and the unofficial greatest Filipino exploitation movie ever made, Apocalypse Now.  Why were movies made there and why is this a brilliant subject for a documentary?  Let me answer that with a quote from the film that comes pretty early on, courtesy of producer Jon Davison: "Human life was cheap, film was cheap, it was a great place to make a picture."

MADAGASCAR

BBC Earth Presents Madagascar: The Land Where Evolution Ran Wild.

That's one helluva title, isn't it?

Check out my first Blu-ray review for CHUD.com.

There's plenty of lemurs!

WINNEBAGO MAN (2009)

 Watch this film for free until August 25th courtesy of SnagFilms.

First of all, if you've never seen the video of the angry RV salesman you need to go watch it right now.  This movie chronicles filmmaker Ben Steinbaum's quest to find the man behind the violent torrents of profanity.  He discovers the subject's name quickly, Jack Rebney, and is easily able to collect the crew from that fateful shoot, now twenty years older but still happy to reminisce and laugh about a protracted sweltering shoot cramped inside an RV that was so nerve-wracking to pitchman Jack Rebney that he cursed his way right into history.  But will he find the man himself Jack Rebney?  Well the movie opens with footage proving that, yes, yes he eventually does, but the story's journey is much more interesting that its destination, and also incredibly hilarious and even a little touching in some parts but mostly just really, really funny.

THIRTY TWO SHORT FILMS ABOUT GLENN GOULD (1993)

This intriguing biopic takes the unique form of a 32 part anthology of short films.  But this obviously isn't just any old collection of stories.  Director Francois Girard didn't want to deliver one distinct impression of Glenn Gould, so instead the viewer digests thirty two different versions of Glenn Gould, the famed Canadian concert pianist who gave up touring to focus entirely on recording, whose numerous eccentricities could have served as fodder for thirty two different full length films.  Canadian national treasure Colm Feore plays Glenn Gould, and although this unconventional film's 98 minutes are arranged somewhat chronologically, the segments are incredibly diverse; some are barely longer than a minute, some are as long as seven minutes, some are documentary interviews with friends and contemporaries, some are recreations of interviews or events, and some are as abstract as animated color spheres set to his music or a rapid fire montage of all the prescription drugs Gould took.

CAVE OF FORGOTTEN DREAMS 3D

If you see one film about caves this year, make it this one.  If you see one documentary this year, make it this one.  If you see one 3D movie, make it this one.  I haven't seen any other cave movies or documentaries this year, but at least in the 3D category, this film far surpasses the likes of Drive Angry: Shot In 3D and Priest which are the only other 3D films I saw this year.  Let me spoil the 'plot' as it were: there are cave paintings in France that are over thirty thousand years old and we are going to look at them and talk about them.  If you don't think you would enjoy a virtual reality tour of a very large cavern, with some interviews and a side trip or two thrown in, then you probably wouldn't.