Documentaries & Biographies > Entertainment Documentaries Documentaries & Biographies

Advantages: The hint of a conspiracy is always exciting
Disadvantages: The production of the DVD quashes any hopes of conspiracy, even before the..."evidence" is given

...insight into the life of Jimi Hendrix, with feedback and opinion from a small number of people connected to him. And by 'people connected to him' I don't mean his parents, or his best friends. I mean recent biographers and ex-members of government organisations. These people argue the case that Jimi was murdered by a combination of his manager, the mafia and the US government. One interviewee persuades us that Hendrix was held down to a chair and ...
...the same 3-10 shots of Jimi playing guitar on a continuous reel - highlighting either a lack of funding, professionalism or enthusiasm by the creators. Or a mixture of the lot. The soundtrack even appears to not be Hendrix, but some basic guitarist performing an average, slow, rendition of 'All Along The Watchtower'. It might just be me, but if ever there was a DVD that needed renting before purchasing, it was this one. ... 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: Thought provoking, will learn alot about graphs and spreadsheets
Disadvantages: You may never want to go near Microsoft Excel again, tad boring

...follow (Super-Size Me for example), An Inconvenient Truth is essentially one of Al Gore's lectures, put onto film, with a few clips 'tacked on' to break up the never ending flow of graphs. Some just don't seem to fit with the nature of the film, for example, the clip of Al Gore losing the 2000 American elections. Although he does explain why it's important to his passion for global warming (unfortunately I wasn't convinced), its obvious the real ...
...going to the cinema, not an auditorium. Humour plays a small part in Gore's fight, with cartoons displaying simple-to-follow explanations of global warming, and stories that poke fun of the intellect of the American education system. Unfortunately, despite its best efforts to appeal to a wider audience, only scientists will be able to sit comfortably throughout the films running time. Some parts of the lecture have the American audience in stitches, ... Read review

Advantages: -
Disadvantages: -

...on a regular basis. Dog The Bounty Hunter is based of Duane "The Dog" Chapman and his family that are real life bounty hunters. An ex con that has turned his own life around and now encourages people that are in the same boat as what he has been in to do the same. Working in Hawaii with his family, including his wife, Beth, his brother, and his son and daughters, the whole family follow the lead of the dog that goes round trying to track down people ...
...of the cases deeply disturb Dog himself and he has to greater lengths to try and catch these villains than he should do and landed himself in more bother, in one case he crossed over the border of Mexico to catch a criminal in which they are not allowed to do and landed himself in prison. What makes me laugh is when they actually catch someone and they pile them into their people carrier one of the first questions that they ask is "Do You want a ... Read review

Advantages: Great use of footage, analysis from experts and pieced together wonderfully
Disadvantages: None

'When We Were Kings' is a documentary by Leon Gast, centred around the 'Rumble in the Jungle', the boxing match between Muhammad Ali and George Foreman, which will undoubtedly go down as one of the most famous sporting events in history. Held in Kinshasa, Zaire, the event generated massive interest from all around the world. The documentary focuses primarily on Muhammad Ali, who at this point in his career, and with Foreman's dominance in the boxing ...
...the fight. Ali's charisma, personality and charm meant he was always going to be the man the fight centred around. 'When We Were Kings' charts the build-up to the fight, utilising interviews with experts in the boxing field, members of the media who were in Zaire at the time of the fight, and natives of Zaire as well as interviews and press conferences with the two boxers involved. It tells of us how the natives felt a connection with Ali and supported ... Read review