thekeeth

I'll break this one out around the holidays just so I can say that I get into the spirit of x-mas. You see, I'm a very aggressive atheist, so I don't do the Christmas stuff at all, but as a kid I did obtain some holiday season habits that have nothing to do with religion at all. Watching certain movies is one of them. Scrooged is a pretty good film. It's funny in parts, but for me it's mainly nostalgia. This movie hasn't nearly stood the test of time as well as I would have thought it would. It's got it's parts though. Some bits of this movie are as quotable as they come.

This is the perfect, feel good, holiday film for the season. It's non-religious except for the Christmas stuff, but, modern Christmas is about as Christian as a Slayer concert.

This doc is completely awesome in every way I can think of stuff being awesome. It's not even perfect, and there's some things in this film that I don't like. However, to be honest with you, most of this doc is so informative, and fun to watch that I still consider it to be one of the best documentaries ever made.

First off, let me give Sam Dunn some props. He's a lifelong head-banger himself, so he's as qualified as anyone should need to be to lead this film. I am also a lifelong head-banger. I also had to defend my love of this style of music to my parents, teachers, and friends, so I understand where his interest in this approach to the subject comes from. I'm sure most fans of heavy metal can attest to being faced with similar challenges while growing up, and it was good to see that I am not alone. This was a recurring theme in the film. That if you are a metal fan, you may be told or feel that you are weird, that you're a real outsider, but in fact, you have a lot of allies out there in the world. I also like the fact that Sam Dunn has the educational background he does, and is obviously making something productive and positive out of his life because too many people do write off metal heads as being stupid, low class, criminal, uncultured, and most likely, introverted, out of touch, and mentally unstable. He seems like a real good person in general, a friendly and talented guy, and a good person to be an ambassador for metal heads everywhere.

This doc is an investigative film that asks lots of questions, and it gives lot of answers in return. I can't imagine a true fan of music, no matter what kind, not appreciating the goals of Sam Dunn and his crew in this film. Simply, he was looking to find an answer to why heavy metal music, and it's fans, have been stigmatized and labeled as this horrible thing in our society. This is interesting stuff, and it's about time someone stood up and asked the questions, answered them, and presented it all in a package that no one can discount as being, "low-brow." Metal heads across the globe for over 30 years have been asking this very question, and it's nice to see someone really tackle it like this.

The heavy metal, "tree," is a really cool thing, and while I hate the fact that too many discussions surrounding heavy metal spiral downward into arguments over what sub-genre a certain band does or doesn't fall into, it's a really well thought out visual aid to the film. There is so many great interviews in here, and most of them are from really great people. With only a few exceptions, I agreed with the views of the people being interviewed, but there were a few that left me scratching my head and yelling at the screen. Some of them were way off base, but that's okay, it only serves to bring light to the fact that many people can't, or won't, "get," heavy metal music.

But like Sam Dunn says at the end of the film, "that's okay," and I agree with him completely in that, no matter if other people understand why I love heavy metal so much, the fact is, I do love it and I do, "get it." I'm glad I'm not alone.

I caught the end of "Party Monster" the movie starring Macaulay Culkin, and it sparked my curiosity to watch the documentary.

This doc is fairly bare bones looking, but it tells the whole story I think. Since this film isn't covering ancient history, there are lots of living people around that can be interviewed for fleshing out the story. However, after watching the movie for 5 minutes you realize that all of these people were more than likely completely zapped on multiple drugs while the covered events were happening, so how much do they remember and how accurate is it? We'll never know. This story sounds really simple to me, too simple really. Michael Alig became very famous for promoting parties, he had access to lots of drugs, and lots of people who catered to this party all the time lifestyle.

I am going to sound like a downer by saying this, but I can't see any substance at all in any of the Club Kids. Was this all their lives was about? Pretty pathetic and meaningless if you ask me. Getting high and dressing up to go to get more messed up with a bunch of other idiots. This wasn't a very entertaining film to me. I guess the story is just all too familiar. Small town kid goes to the big city, gets some success, this causes a tragic spiral towards self destruction, the end. Blame it on the current state of our media if you want, but I am personally not shocked anymore by stories of drug abuse and the crimes committed by mentally unstable drug addicts.