Defamation documentary trailer

Mad Hot Ballroom

Set in the bustling metropolis of New York, this brilliant documentrary by Marilyn Agrelo takes an insiders look at the annual ballroom dancing contest that sweeps through the public school system every year, wrapping a select group of Gotham kids up in the excitement and emotion that characterises the event. Who would have thought such a traditionally staid pursuit could be so dramatic?

Man on Wire

These days it seems that everyone has an angle, every communication is a means to an end, and every action is loaded with meaning and purpose. It is invigorating then to learn of the true story of a man who never sold out and believes in art for art’s sake. Frenchman has never been classically trained in tightrope walking, and claims to have been obsessed with the wire and climbing since a young age. His most famous feat involved erecting and then walking across a wire between the Twin Towers in New York, an achievement it is now impossible to replicate, and that achievement is the focus of this documentary. It also covers the public and illegal wire-walks leading up to this momentous event, and goes in painstaking detail over the preliminary work and planning, training and finally the good fortune required. The technical explanation perhaps drags in places. However, it is still a worthy portrait of one of the most memorable and unique occurrences of all time.

Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr Hunter S Thompson

How this man lived to the ripe old age of 68 is anybody’s guess. Remember how the brow furrowed as you sunk yourself deeper into the calamity that was his assignment to Las Vegas? ‘The trunk of the car looked like a mobile police narcotics lab. We had two bags of grass, seventy-five pellets of mescaline, five sheets of high-powered blotter acid, a salt shaker half full of cocaine, and a whole galaxy of multi-colored uppers, downers, screamers, laughers … and also a quart of tequila, a quart of rum, a case of Budweiser, a pint of raw ether and two dozen amyls.’ Reading Fear and Loathing at the tender age of fourteen wasn’t the catalyst behind my decision to pursue journalism, but at least proved that jobs did exist outside the office. He’s a hero of everyone’s, even those too proud to admit it — the stiff, conservative hack who’s privately salivating over the thought of a job where leisure rules the day. So it’ll be interesting to see whether this documentary reveals the full scope of his life, including the obviously vicious undercurrent that caused such extreme living, and dying.

Valentino: The Last Emperor — Fashion documentary

A documentary about one of the world’s most famous fashion designers? Hmm. Not a film I’d ever choose to see, but sometimes we do what we don’t want to in order to make friends happy. It’s called compromise apparently, and the experience reminded me that any material, if well structured and presented, can make a decent film. The filmmakers follow the over-tanned Valentino Garavani and his long-term lover and business partner Giancarlo Giammetti. Read more

Woody Allen’s Whatever Works

Larry David plays a slight variation on his Curb Your Enthusiasm incarnation, spouting some of the most articulate rants on humanity in Woody Allen’s new comedy. I enjoyed last year’s Vicky Cristina Barcelona, but this is definitely better. It’s a spectacularly executed comedy farce, with the action constantly escalating along the way, adhering to the old comedy formula of putting the characters through hell for big laughs. Read more

Black Dynamite blaxploitation movie trailer

One very angry and unstoppable man wages war against drugs and malt liquor. A take-off of the old blaxploitation films, this is parody at its best, with many knowing nods to camera and hilarious moments involving clichés taken to their extremes. There’s the Asian kung-fu master, pimps and orphans hooked on heroin. It all begins with Black Dynamite being spurned on his quest for blood after his brother’s brutal murder, and then pushed further for the love of a good woman. There are hoes and guns, along with catchphrases and great one-liners. See it.