Documentary HOF

I think Dear Zachary either hits you just right emotionally or it feels like an overly sentimental crime doc, everyone including myself saying it is so devastating is actually a pretty big spoiler. If it isn't then its at least setting some people up to be disappointed.

@ yeah, the documentaries so far that I felt more engaged emotionally were Miazaki's one, because its Miazaki, the Chinese one, deals with more common and hence relatable issues and the American movie one because I found the characters really cool actually.

The Imposter (2012)



Impersonating teenagers? Hum, now I wanna do it too!

Got asked via post comment what my rating would be for The Imposter. I didn't forget, I just couldn't decide on a rating. And then I remembered that I don't usually rate movies in halls of fame, because I think the discussion is more important, and because a rating you slap on a film immediately after watching it doesn't necessarily translate into where I would place it when making my list. But that said, probably somewhere between a 3 and a 4. I'm still trying to decide whether some of things I was less comfortable about outweigh the sheer storytelling quality.

I stopped doing rating for HOF films too. However if you have to know you can check Letterboxd.

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Letterboxd

Food Inc

I'm not going to say much about this one because others have stated similar thoughts. The film isn't particularly good, but the content and the information is somewhat important. More substance over style, much like Dear Zachary. I'm too lazy to change the way I eat, but Food Inc is a step in the right direction.

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"A laugh can be a very powerful thing. Why, sometimes in life, it's the only weapon we have."

Suspect's Reviews

West of Memphis

I had never heard of the 'Memphis Three'... so when I started watching this I though it was just another story about a grisly, triple murder of three kids. It's much, much more than that. There's a real question as to the guilt of the three teenagers who were charged with the crime. There's also a disturbing question of injustice, incompetency and unscrupulous police investigation. I won't say more, except it's an important film to watch. Be forewarned it shows graphic pictures of the three murdered eight year old boys and I wish they hadn't.

One of the most disturbing parts of the story is the tie in to satanic cult worship. The accused were alleged to be devil worshipers involved in a satanic killing when the murders happened in 1993. I believe I know why the satanic tie in occurred. I wonder if anyone else will pick up on it. When you watch this eye opening documentary, remember history isn't just for the past.

CR - Are you at all interested in seeing the 3 documentaries that came before it? West of Memphis pretty much sums up a lot of what those documentaries presented, so it might feel like back peddling at bit.

Thanks Suspect, my movie watching schedule is really full right now. But if you don't mind listing the titles of the other 3, that would be cool. I didn't even know there were 3 others.

Paradise Lost: The Child Murders At Robin Hood Hills (1996)
Paradise Lost 2: Revelations (2000)
Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory (2011)

Each film uncovers more about the case, as you can see this has been a long time coming. I wouldn't rush to see them though, like I said West of Memphis covers A LOT of this material. I would only recommend if you're really invested into the story.

Thanks!

I stopped rating altogether. I don't think ratings give particularly good information about a person's experience with a film. It's art and hence multidimensional not amenable to be scored like a math exam.

Truthfully, I rate films for my own benefit. I want to keep track of how I have "scored" a lot of these films for later. I was on another site just to record all of the movies that I have seen, but I haven't been back there in awhile. So, to rate them now is good for me so that I have a reference for how I rated them when I first saw them. I will then have my rating for when I enter them onto my profile on that other site. I hope that explanation just made sense.

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I became insane, with long intervals of horrible sanity - Edgar Allan Poe

Citizen, personally i think the Paradise Lost docs are alot better, they are just more detailed and with each one being made closer to the dates everything happened i just feel it adds more. Saying that i understand that we can only nominate one so West of Memphis was clearly the way to go Vamp, also i watched West of Memphis last which meant it felt alot more like a rehash to me than first timers to the story. I'm curious how Cricket feels about it since i know he likes the trilogy.

I had heard of the West Memphis 3, but I didn't really know much about them, so I watched all three of the Paradise Lost documentaries last night, and I'm going to watch West of Memphis tonight.

I'm glad she nominated it. I guess everyone else had heard of the Memphis Three, but not me. I wonder if Johnny Depp will ever make a dramatized movie version? He's got the the look and vibe down. If I was a producer, I'd be on it.

The Imposter

Ok, i had already watched this shortly after it was released but while i knew the jist of the story i had forgotten some, because of my previous viewing it didn't have quite the same impact there were a few things that i focused on more that about evened it out though. In the next paragraphs i'm going to post some kinda minor SPOILERS, so iwouldn't read past this if you haven't seen it yet.

By minor spoilers i meant that i'm not mentioning anything that happens in the last 25-30 minutes, so to anyone who has seen it i'd say take everything i'm saying as if the last half hour never happened, because of this i'm mainly talking about Frederic.

Frederic is quite possibly the most terryfying non-murderer, real life person i've ever seen. How he says and describes how he could come across as a scared kid and how that gives him power truly sent a chill up my spine. He comes across as a smug, heartless, horrible person but honestly in a certain way it almost makes me respect him, he doesn't try to show a false sense of remorse but admits; almost embraces the fact that he is so selfish and callous, which makes me sympathising with his story impossible. One thing i liked about this doc is that it didn't spend much time on his horrible childhood or his finally finding a loving family, truthfully i barely take a word outside of the straightforward, confirmable facts on this one case seriously from him. I have no doubt giving the right airtime to his former life he'd be able to manipulate a good chunk of viewers into believing that he is the true victim.

Overall this is a very intriguing, remarkable story that is also sad and the best word to sum up everything including everyone involved for me is despicable. Great nom Suspect!

Yeah, Depp was a major supporter of the three. I think and you probably do too that a film would turn out awful but there has been interest.

What i hate about all this is that the WM3's innocence has completely taken over the search for the killer(s), saying that this case will never be completely forgotten like so many other unsolved murders in the world. I'd just like some more focus on the victims (they were victims too i know) now that they've been released, MR.Bojangles in particular creeps me the f out i'd love for that to be figured out.

Camo, I thought the same thing you did about Frederick. He's despicable but interesting. Heck he might have a career on his own reality TV show...just another of my producer ideas.

Calm down, Citizen. A WM3 movie and an Imposter reality show? I can hear Hollywoods boots shaking . Kind of a play on something Frederic said that made me laugh out loud, "I washed her brain"

There IS a dramatized version of the West Memphis 3. It's called Devil's Knot starring Reese Witherspoon and Colin Firth. Directed by Canadian Atom Egoyan, it did not get particularly favourable reviews.


As for hunting the real killers? That will never happen. They've pleaded 'Guilty' essentially, which means the state considers this case closed.