Documentaries & Biographies > Natural World Documentaries Documentaries & Biographies > 2003

Advantages: Beautiful footage, educational, interesting
Disadvantages: I want more episodes!!

...our favourite documentaries came from the life of mammals series, so I decided to buy my boyfriend the complete 'The Life of Mammals' box set for his birthday. The box set itself comes in a cardboard sleeve, and the inside of the box set containing the dvds unfolds so that you can see all of the dvds at the same time. The front cover of the box set has a picture of a tiger on the front of it surrounded by some water and in big letters at the top ...
...bottom 'David Attenborough' The dvd box set contains 4 dvds with a total of 10 episodes on them. The episodes are: Episode 1: A Winning Design - Tells us about mammals in general and what makes them different from other species and how they survived. Episode 2: Insect Hunters - All about mammals who eat insects! Episode 3: Plant Predators - This episode tells us about herbivore mammals. Episode 4: Chisellers - About mammals who make use of ... Read review

Advantages: See review
Disadvantages: See review

Where in the World is Osama Bin Laden? Firstly before we get into the meat of this review, I must apologise when I watched this film I had very high expectations, also at the time of writing I am incredibly nervous about the results of my GCSE's which I will find out in a few hours time. Introduction Where in the World… is a docudrama, directed, written by and starring Morgan Spurlock. Where in the World is Spurlock's second feature the first being ...
...this is not a film where Osama Bin Laden is tracked down by a single journalist where many US & UN army experts have failed. The film seems to be divided into 3 parts: 1) The son, there is an on going theme in this film about Spurlock's wife giving birth to a child; this is who the film is dedicated to. Spurlock uses this to relate to some of the people he interviews. 2) Training. Before Spurlock embarks on his travels he undergoes a vigorous anti ... Read review

Advantages: Interesting, rousing, entertaining
Disadvantages: Bit biased, less insightful than the book

...hours of Extras on the Taking Liberties DVD, including: - Making Of Taking Liberties featurette - crew interviews and behind the scenes footage - Original promo - Theatrical trailer - Director's commentary - Additional extended interviews with Rachel North, Mark Thomas, Joanna Lumley, Boris Johnson, Shami Chakrabarti, Henry Porter, Andrew Gilligan, Lord Carlisle - Additional and extended footage of action at demonstrations - More information on ...
...claims for their ID card scheme SUMMARY I'd like everyone to have watched this at least once; for most people, it's an eye-opener. Failing that, it's worth owning for the front cover alone [Tony Blair grabbing some guy by his nuts]. For those who want something more indepth, I'd suggest checking out the book, also called 'Taking Liberties', and written by Chris Atkins. ... Read review

Advantages: Excellent value, great selection of his best documentaries
Disadvantages: Lack of extras, missing Max Clifford documentary

...Louis Theroux: The Man Louis Theroux is best known as a documentary maker specialising in films about off-beat, quirky subcultures around the world (but predominantly in the USA) and also for his celebrity profiles of some of Britain's more eccentric personalities. He started out his television broadcasting career with a few segments on a documentary show by Michael Moore called 'TV Nation' in the mid-1990s. His first major series, Weird Weekends, ...
...with a series called 'When Louis Met...', originally aired on British television between 2000 and 2002. During 2003, Louis made three special episodes before disappearing from our screens for three years. In which time he signed a deal to make ten films for the BBC over the course of three years. To date, five of those films have been broadcast on television since the start of 2007. His interviewing style is quite unique, mainly due to (what I think ... Read review

Advantages: wonderful film of a true story
Disadvantages: none

I remember watching Apollo 13 when it first came out at the cinema in 1995. Base on the real events of the unsuccessful moon mission in 1970, it would have been possible to hear a pin drop as the entire audience watched as the events unfolded - and this was even when we knew what happened. For the purpose of this review I am going to assume that most people know the story of Apollo 13 - if you don't and you are likely to watch the film it's probably ...
...on the Apollo 13 mission which was intended to be the third moon landing by US astronauts. The mission was led by Commander Jim Lovell (played by Tom hanks) who had already circled the moon on an earlier mission. His crew was meant to be Fred Haise (Bill Paton) and Ken Mattingly (Gary Sinise) but a threat of contracting the measles while in Space meant that Mattingly could not go and his place was taken by Jack Swigert (Kevin Bacon). The film charts ... Read review