Documentaries & Biographies > 2005 Documentaries & Biographies > up to 5 GBP

Advantages: Stunning scenary, excellent commentary
Disadvantages: Is a little sad what with all the penguins getting killed

General This is a simple production of what must be one of nature's greatest feats and an example of sheer tenacity to survey and a commitment to parenting which humans should aspire to! Thousands of Emperor Penguins bravely trek the arduous 70 mile journey through some of the most hostile terrain in the world. Morgan Freeman narrates this Warner / National Geographic festival of stunning artic beauty. As I watched the movie I was awed ...
...I saw what human avarice is slowly destroying with our over indulgent world wide consumerisation. Freeman tells us a story; it is a story of deep love and the struggle to survive, as the handsomely beautiful Emperor's commence their journey to find a mate, through the hostile winter of the Antarctic South Pole, this quest by the penguins has been going on from before the time of the Pharaoh's. We see a society in which the male penguins appear ... Read review

Advantages: Masterfully edited, full of astounding footage both familiar and otherwise...a classic.
Disadvantages: None.

...rarely-seen footage and interview material, No Direction Home is, for the first half at least, as much about America in the pause-for-breath moment between the beat writers of the 1950s and the counter-culture student movements of the mid-to-late 1960s as it is about the life and work of Robert Zimmerman. It is - clichéd as it sounds - a sweeping, engrossing portrait of a time and of a place, scouring the terrain leads from the rattle-tattle zap-pow ...
...of Odetta's acoustic guitar, from the wandering shoes of Neil Cassidy to those of Woody Guthrie. Dylan features heavily throughout this section of the film, of course, but he is very much a character-in-the-making. When he does take centre-stage in time for the second half (the film is, incidentally, almost four hours long), it is via some of the most compelling footage available, some of it assumed lost or destroyed. A talking heads documentary ... Read review

Advantages: entertaining
Disadvantages: not educational, not suitable for children as swear words are constantly used, very promotional

...worth it. What is Rock School about: Basically, about a school, where teachers teach 9 to 17-year-olds how to play the guitar, sing and hopefully become a rock star and make Paul Green (the owner of the school) rich. Now, I would say that's a story that could be told in 15 minutes. So what's there to say in another 1 hour and 15 minutes? The answer is: nothing. When you watch Rock School, it's like you watch a neverending ad. The kids are kinda ...
...copy of movie School of Rock , only it's extremely boring, repetitive and not cute at all. And I have never seen a more obvious promotional campaign in my life. The sound and picture quality are not great. In fact, they're really bad. There's no extras. However, you have subtitles, if that helps. As much as I tried to like this documentary, it's impossible. Paul Green is not the saviour of proper rock, as he likes to describe himself. He may be ... Read review

Advantages: LOTRs history all in one place
Disadvantages: Nothing Special

Why did I rent this DVD? Simply for my growing interest in Dominic Monaghan; Merry in the LOTR's films and theses days known as "Charlie" in the hit LOST. OK so I'm shallow but who hasn't been tempted by a film or a TV show based solely on its casting credits!? That aside its been a while since the films were released and thought it would be nice to have a trip down memory lane, starts off with a wicked soundtrack, awesome introduction and generally ...
...me in and I was ready for an hour and a half of LOTR's history. The premise is to explore what LOTR's is all about, you learn (if you don't know already) about Tolkien, his life, the rise of the books and most importantly the effects the LOTRs has had on its fans or as this documentary calls them "Ringers", and to be fair the DVD does cover in detail LOTR's from the view point of its fans, there are clips of conventions and interviews of "ringers" ... Read review

Advantages: Uncompromising, thought-provoking meld of exploitation and propaganda.
Disadvantages: Morally disturbing, apparently uncertain of its audience at times.

...Executions. Like the latter, The Killing Of America parades its grotesqueries (sundry assassinations, beatings, slaughters...) in the service of a core political message - a message which, in this instance, is almost as disturbing as the carnage onscreen. The film almost seems to call for vigilante justice, and a reactionary, right-wing tone informs most every scene. It is, however, a fascinating picture in its own right, a strange, curious meld ... Read review