Blog 4 - November 28th, 2011

Grass (1999)

Directed by Ron Mann, the documentary Grass covers the war on marijuana by the American Government during the 20th century.  From the El Paso Ordinance in 1914 and onward, the documentary covers the prejudice, politics, and propaganda speaking louder than voices of reason in the United States.

The documentary is done entirely with archival footage of interviews, news reels, and graphics from whatever time period currently being covered.  There is a vast amount of unique footage put together in this documentary and a lot of dug up videos of America's history.  The doc makes apparent the questionable ill effects that the substance has and the studies upon studies discredited in the pursuit of illegality. 

Personally the idea of using nothing but archival footage was a choice that makes this documentary unique.  Grass is narrated by Woody Harrelson as he explains the archival footage and drives the story forward through history.

This particular documentary's segments are divided into not only time periods, but points in history where America changes their official policy on marijuana (which is a lot).  I found the documentary interesting and informative, but partially annoying.  This wasn't because of any cinematic standpoint because it's all archival footage, but on more of a global scale.  It was the confusion I had similar to watching Inside Job.  So many things go by in life unaccounted for that the majority of people just forget are wrong.

The documentary does its job; to make you start thinking about it again.
For information on this documentary, visit here.


W5: Into Thin Air - Saturday, November 19th, 2011

W5 and their episode on November 19th, covered the disappearance of Mariam Makhniashvili (left) two years ago and the questions they have yet to answer.

Through reenactments and archival footage W5 and Sue Sgambati cover her original disappearance and interviews with detectives, police, and her mother to cover the time during the primary search.

With security camera footage, the first few clues, and onward you realize that she seemed to have completely fell off the map.  Nobody recognized her because she had recently come to Canada, which made the international search all the more harder.

W5 covers the family's background, the two year search, and what's happened recently.  Their interviews have deep settings and content that are always relevant to her case.  An example of this is the detective and her Missing Person posters in the background.  W5 always brings their A-game to their stories and this is no exception.

To watch this episode, click here.

Planet Earth - Shallow Seas
 

Shallow seas cover 8% of the planet's water, but contain the vast majority of marine life.  Planet Earth travels down with the humpback whales, across the Great Barrier Reef, and all around the world documenting life in the shallow seas.

Planet Earth and their team can never be praised enough for their shots.  They're amazingly unique to the point where you start to believe they're done digitally.  Just a few examples are the close up of humpback babies being supported to the surface, time lapses of multiple kinds of algae growing, and the 18 million sea birds that migrate to Australia.

The shots are synced together with the music and make the twisting, swaying, and time lapsing feel like a musical.  As dolphins sway through the walls of fish left and right, Shallow Seas makes it feel like a choreographed dance number underwater.  Planet Earth always delivers because they don't leave until they get their shots.  It's respectable work that deserves all the high praise it receives.

For information on Planet Earth, visit here.

Blog 3 - November 7th, 2011

Supersize Me (2004)

Supersize Me is a feature documentary by Morgan Spurlock on obesity in the United States and the consequences of a month of solely McDonalds food.  Morgan essentially attacks the original statement of McDonalds Founder Ray Kroc - “Look after the customer and the business will take care of itself.”

The documentary begins with a question.  Morgan Spurlock proposes to everyone, ‘what would happen if someone ate McDonalds for an entire month?’  ‘Let’s find out.’  A Cardiologist, Gastro Entomologist, Dietician, and a General Practitioner all tell him that the results will be low and change will be slightly moderate – how wrong they are.

Supersize Me is split into two stories – Morgan Spurlock’s personal 30 days and the titled accounts and personal stories of those that the food industry effects.  The film is clearly at a lower budget, but its story is solid and relatable for its time.  His ‘McDiet’ is documented very well from day 1 to 30 and the change in his physical and emotional appearance becomes largely evident from his first vomiting to his last.  The documentary has rules and regulations such as scorecards and charts created by Morgan that he adheres to so that the story stays factual.  There are computer graphics, stills, and narration that are standard in many documentaries.  In my opinion the cinematography is nothing special, but as I mentioned before the doc is all about his personal account.

For more info on Supersize Me, visit here.

Daily Planet - November 4th, 2011

Daily Planet, hosted by Ziya Tong and Dan Riskin, focused their episode on November 4th on not only Spain, but the architectural changes over the last century.  The episode gave a ton of information on architectural design, geometry, engineering, and physics through expert explanation and computer graphics draped with narration.  Each story has a sense of uniqueness when you watch it.  They are quick, professional cuts to the tone and mood of each individual account.  Every narrative feels like its own little documentary because it essentially is.  My favorite thing about this episode is the amount of information you gather on physics and engineering.  There is a mass amount of information on trajectory, stabilization, geometry, and the planning involved in every feat that inspires other.  The amount of B-roll and beautiful shots, such as the Metropol Parasol (Top Right), involved in each story for not only the projects, but the interviews as well is gigantic and exciting.  I enjoyed this episode and what Daily Planet continuously offers because I always expect to learn something about the world and I never knew before - this episode is no exception to their brilliance.

To watch this episode or other episodes of Daily Planet, visit here.

Planet Earth Series – Caves

From the structural ingenuity of man, to the marvels of nature and the thousands of miles of underground passages all over the world, this is the Planet Earth documentary entitled Caves.

I like to be surprised, excited, awe inspired – everything I ask for I get plus more in Caves.  There are glow worms with chemical lights, lizards drastically changed through adaptation, millions of bats and cockroaches, and eroded limestone passages that stretch for miles – all amazingly documented with excellent cinematography and through the narrative of David Attenborough.

From Deer Cave in Borneo, the subterranean water world of the Yucatán, and the Chandelier Ballroom of Lechuguilla Cave in New Mexico (Right) are just a few of the wonders in this world that are so stunningly beautiful, but lost in miles of darkness until the last recent decades.

Right off the bat (no pun intended) I insist everyone see this documentary.  It is in my opinion the best one out of all the series and maybe the best nature documentary I’ve ever seen.  There is so much about caves that we know nothing about.  They are those yet to be trekked parts of the world that people these days long to discover.  But Planet Earth goes there and you’ll learn so much about the dark and creepy side of nature.  The classical music selection is superb for the action. The ambient sound of the B-Roll helps you feel the tone of the clips.  They got cameras on mountain-sized piles of feces, the least we can do is watch.

For more information on Planet Earth visit, here.