Documentaries & Biographies > Entertainment Documentaries Documentaries & Biographies > F > Dolby Surround

Advantages: Intimate and knowledgable
Disadvantages: Some meaningless asides

Julien Temple’s first documentary about The Sex Pistols, The Great Rock and Roll Swindle, often gets criticised for its bias towards Pistols manager Malcolm McLaren’s version of events and for the fact that it didn’t include John Lydon’s input at all. The Filth and the Fury was much better-received, giving all the band members as well as McLaren time to tell their own stories. If anything, it’s biased more towards Lydon’s point of view – or at least, ...
...The film sets the scene of lower-class life in the UK in the 70s, showing a grim world of repression, boredom and grime, then charts The Sex Pistols’ rise to infamy, feuds and eventual break-up, interspersing interviews and live clips (though I’m thinking not live sound recordings, most of the time) with clips of Richard III (to whom Lydon compared himself) as played by Olivier, animation of the band, archive footage and various British comics playing ... Read review

Advantages: brilliant necessary truth telling
Disadvantages: the truth hurts!

it's both utterly harrowing to watch this, but it is also a beautifully exact record and film. the film makers let the people, landscape, mad race haters speak for themselves, they approach a very wide range of people very tentatively usually allowing us to encounter them as they are, and want to present themselves and gradually introduce more contentious things to the conversation, often with horrifying results. this film is the twin of Lanzman's ...
...historical film about a unique horror that happened decades earlier. This is a unique horror that is decades long and ongoing; placades all over Israel screaming Arabs Go/Out/Expel/Transfer. Warning! The views expressed by Israeli officials soldiers etc. in this film are truly shocking, the hypocrasy grotesque, the echo in the mouths of Presidents and Prime MInisters a matter of the deepest shame -on all of us. You must see this film, without hesitation: ... Read review

Advantages: very entertaining, interesting to watch due to the risks involved
Disadvantages: some of the drivers fall-out and resign

...Northwest Territories and the infamous ice roads. It is very similar in style to the 'Deadliest Catch' and the British 'Trawlermen', so if you're a fan of these you're sure to love this. To date there have been 2 complete seasons and 29 episodes made, it's a very popular show. The format is simple, the drivers are regular truck drivers for ten months of the year, but when the sharp winter sets in they turn their hand to driving trucks on the ice ...
...known to fall through the ice before and therefore police implement a strict speed limit on the ice road. If trucks breakdown they can be stranded and because they're miles from anywhere it can take hours for them to get help, drivers sometimes attempt to fix their vehicles, but the temperature is so low their hands can stick to the tools if they forget to put their gloves on etc. The most obvious danger is probably coming off of the road itself ... Read review

Advantages: Very entertaining!
Disadvantages: Some may find it boring.

...the dangerous world of the Ice Road Truckers. Although this has been shown on numerous channels such as The History Channel, Discovery Channel and Sky One, it has been a ratings success on Five where it has been shown in the prime time at 8pm slot on a Wednesday night with a repeat over the weekend. As the narrator at the beginning of each episode says: "At the top of the world, there's an outpost like no other...and a job only a few would dare. ...
...thin ice." The ice has a road marked out on it so the drivers can see where they must go which allows them to stay on a relatively clear path. Now be aware that these trucks are fully loaded with loads in the regions of tonnes and they are travelling 50mph over frozen water that in some places can be less than a metre thick!!! For the drivers the loads appear to be endless and the race is on to make money by simply delivering as many loads as possible ... Read review

Advantages: Great Information
Disadvantages: none

...is an excellent view into Jackie Chan and how he makes movies. The DVD is in 2 parts both on the same disc = Jackie Chan - My Story + Jackie Chan - My Stunts. Jackie Chan - My Story is a bit of a potted biography and presented in a sometimes irritating MTV type pop up format it certainly is a useful introduction into who Jackie Chan is and contains some interesting footage and interviews. Jackie Chan - My Stunts has been termed a primer for Hong ...
...footage towards the end where Jackie Chan stunt-team members carry out some quick stunts that where choreographed including the 'bad' takes with an explanation as to what went wrong and why. Some interesting behind the scenes footage again with some interviews of Jackie explaining what went into the stunts. ... Read review