Editorial Review

Documentarian Errol Morris has a knack for finding the fascinating quirks of his subjects, and this brings Stephen Hawking's book Read more

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Reviews (16)

Interesting Look
A very fine and intriguing documentary from Errol Morris about the life and work of physicist/celebrity Stephen Hawking, who revolutionized the way we think about the universe in his monumental book of the same name. The film is really divided into two stories, the life of Hawking as he struggles to overcome his paralysis, and the brilliant work he achieved in spite of his physical limitations. One gets the impression that had Hawking never became ill, he wouldn't have been as compelled to carry out the kind rigorous intellectual work that he of course did carry out, and (he himself notes that he was quite bored with life prior to his paralysis). Morris does a fine job with the material; the first half hour of the film suffers from a dry PBS feel, but the aesthetic and intellectual intensity takes off from there, the film never digresses into a mere sob story. Morris nearly always keeps the material more intellectually intriguing than it is uplifting and sentimental.

Biography and Science
Many documentaries focus on either the scientific ideas of a person, trying to explain them to an audience wherein most people can understand what is being talked about.
...
A Brief History of Time is an uncomfortable combination of autobiography and a bibliography of some (generally Hawking dominated) concepts in cosmology.While it does go into more depth (and is slightly more entertaining) than Stephen Hawking's Universedoes when it covers these topics, the movie is greatly distracted by anecdotes about his life.Some of these offer an entertaining glimpse into his life and personality, some into how certain of his and other scientests' ideas were come across, but others are pointless and annoying, and on the whole they distract from the science, which is really the most interesting topic the film could cover.Read more

Subjects:  1. Documentary    2. Movie   

Editorial Review

The most successful public-television miniseries in American history, the 11-hour Read more

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Reviews (153)

excellent introduction, but only as a starting point
This is a superb film, combining the emotion evoked from images and selected narratives (wonderfully read by great actors) as well as some analysis by prominent scholars or writers. So far as it goes, Burns has exploited the attributes of the film medium to what I believe is the maximum extent: you leave this experience with a good idea of what went on and how it changed the country. It is moving, horrible, and beautiful all at once.
Shelby Foote and Ken Burns Resurrect the Dead
I have seen the critical remarks regarding this film.True, not all material could be included...unless filmakers wanted to exceed the 11 hours that this documentary already comprises.This is a stirring masterwork which features master historians with the powers of captivating story -- Shelby Foote, Ed Bearss, and others.Giving renewed life and voice to those who have passed on, the drama of this timescape is carefully unfolded.It is filled with struggle, humanity, and grace.If I could afford the collector's box set, I'd own it...but it's a tad expensive.If you can afford it, buy it -- it will be a set that you often revisit.If you can *really* afford it, buy me a copy.:)

british version i believe is longer
the british version which is a PAL region 2 dvd is 690 minutes long according to uk amazon website with 3 DVDs in a boxset,and according to USA amazon the US version is only 660 minutes long. also i believe at time of writing this review the british version is also cheper if obtained via amazon.co.uk at about i think $64 to $68 though this will change as intrest dollar to pound rates change over time. please rember if buying uk dvd version that your dvd player MUST BE a multi region dvd player to play UK region 2 PAL dvds! hope this helps some one ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Documentary    2. Movie    3. TV Shows    4. War Documentaries   

Editorial Review

Another reliably well-crafted, generally engrossing documentary from Ken Burns, Read more

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Reviews (43)

A Good Documentary: A Bit of History, A Bit of Storytelling
When I was growing up in Oregon, the Lewis & Clark Expedition was raised up as one of the most important events in American History and we got to learn about it every year.Of course, the entire focus of the journey was on reaching the Oregon Country and the winter they spent at Fort Clatsop.I was always captivated by the journey and loved visiting some of the sites along the trail.
Beautifully Filmed
If you are a Ken Burns Junkee, I don't have any idea why you would read a review, just buy it.However, if you find Ken Burns boring, sentimental, revisionist, and overbearing like me, you may be inclined to pass this one by.Unlike the soap box barrage that is Baseball, and the myopic epic that is the Civil War, this documentary is worth every penny for the score (which is superb) and the filming...yes, I can hear it now, another sunset studded Burns bloated documentary, but in this documentary the filmography is breath-taking.The story is well told albiet somewhat biased, but still worth it just to watch and take in.Read books for history, watch Burns for the light show...and this is a good one.

Beginners Only
This would have been great if I was doing a report in school and had no previous knowledge of the expedition.After reading Steven Ambrose's, "Undaunted Courage", the movie did not provide any new knowledge.The book is obviously way more detailed.It's the details that make the journey...not the highpoints. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Documentary    2. Movie    3. TV Shows   

Editorial Review

In 1996, with his public image at a low ebb after a messy breakup with Mia Farrow, clarinetist and filmmaker Woody Allen set off on a tour of Europe with his New Orleans jazz band. Accompanying him were his sister, his soon-to-be wife Soon-Yi Previn, and Oscar-winning documentary maker Barbara Kopple. Like Allen says as the beginning of the tour, "Theoretically, this should be fun for us."Read more

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Reviews (16)

Dry yet Quirky...
In all honesty, I found this film only MILDLY amusing because of the "voyeuristic" pleasure of getting to see Woody Allen "off camera" - - but let's face it, a documentary crew was following the guy around... so when you see him and Soon Yi chatting away in their robes in the privacy of their hotel room, do you really believe they're alone and unwatched and not trying to ACT as they want to be perceived...? So the question is, who was doing the acting ?Based on the fact that both came across as rather dull and uninteresting and I'm sure like many viewers I spent most of the film sitting (unfairly) on the edge of my seat waiting for Woody Allen to say something funny or be more neurotic my answer would be either neither or both, and perhaps the film was merely made to simple counter the bad image of Woody Allen that were going around at the time.- - "Wild man, my tookus !" the viewer is expected to say.- - If the film were to be compared to CRUMB (which I found delightfully entertaining, if not dark and depressing beneath its hillarity at times), in terms of interest it would be like comparing SPEED to MY DINNER WITH ANDRE.
Music, fun, and an interesting look at being a celebrity
If you like music and Woody Allen, you will love this endearing documentary by Barbara Kopple. Go behind the scenes as Woody, Soon-Yi, and his band go on a European tour.Allen's wit and quirky but charming personality expose him for the humble and intelligent man he is.But, oy...his mother!

Un-Wild Man Blues
Barbara Kopple's "Wild Man Blues" is decidedly un-wild. That's its first fib. It is the un-intense and un-penetrating chronicle of Woody Allen's 1997 European tour with his New Orleans jazz band. Released in 1998, "Wild Man Blues" came hard on the heels of a period of public scandal for the notoriously private filmmaker, prompting critics to dub it a "public relations corrective". There is a whiff of mendacity about this film. Its motive is abstruse and its meaning convoluted. It carries an air of constructivism. It smells like propaganda. Lurking behind an obeisance to jazz music is a salve for moviegoers' indignation over Allen's romance with stepdaughter cum fianc�, Soon-Yi Previn. Read more

Subjects:  1. Documentary    2. Movie   

Editorial Review

Given the legendary life of its subject, it's not surprising that Read more

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Reviews (28)

THE American: a hero, an icon, a human being
Being still a young man, 21, I can vividly remember my high school days, and my hateful relationship with the "dreadfully boring" Huckleberry Finn.
THIS IS NOT A "KEN BURNS" PRODUCTION!!!
Okay, folks - Ken Burns DID NOT produce this production.MARK TWAIN: A MUSICAL BIOGRAPHY is a film that was made of the musical production of THE MARK TWAIN MUSICAL DRAMA in Elmira, NY.Jane Iredale and William Perry wrote the lyrics and music to this musical.If you like musicals and enjoy the varied works of Mark Twain - this film is for you.If you want KEN BURNS' version - go somewhere else.WOW!Even Amazon has posted the incorrect review to this page!!Ken Burns doesn't do "Musical Biographies".Jane Iredale and Bill Perry DO musical biographies . . . VERY WELL!

Great introduction to a great writer
I use this film every year in my American literature class to introduce my students to Mark Twain before they read Huckleberry Finn. My students stay glued to the television during the week that we watch the videos. I find it to be a far more effective introduction to Twain than I could ever give. And I love rewatching it every year. It never fails to make me tear up! This film brings Twain to life in a way that allows students to see him as a human being rather than as just another author to add to our list. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Documentary    2. Movie   

Editorial Review

This landmark award-winning documentary, which revolutionized the form and helped acquit an innocent man of murder, came about almost by accident. Errol Morris had already directed such offbeat documentaries as Read more

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Reviews (16)

The Thin Blue Line
This is a documentary of a 1976 cop-killing in Dallas, in which all the evidence, at least the way it's presented here by director/writer Errol Morris, indicates the wrong man was convicted. The whole movie consists of interviews with witnesses and those involved with the case, with the camera used to show and reshow various scenes as they are recounted. Good as far as it goes, with much concern over motives of witnesses and their revelation of "truth" - but seriously lacking in drama. Philip Glass wrote the music, which is haunting. Worth a watch.

LOVING AND HATING THE GENIUS OF ERROL MORRIS
This film sums up my love-hate relationship with Errol Morris's work.First of all, one has to acknowledge right at the outset that, on purely aesthetic terms, this is an absolutely brilliant piece of work.It is hands down one of the most fascinating pieces of filmmaking I have ever seen and manages to turn the normally staid documentary format into an utterly unique cinematic experience.Morris makes pseudo-filmmaker Michael Moore's work look like the sophomoric video camera-wielding amateurism that it is.This is the work of a truly gifted filmmaker, which is both the strength and weakness of this film.
Funny, sad, disturbing...
Great documentary. At first I thought some of the characters were purposely cast in the film just to make it funny until I realized it was a true documentary. Hard to believe people like that actually exist.
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Editorial Review

George, Dave, Ray, and Rodney. Not a singing group, but four real-life individuals dedicated to controlling the entities that don't take kindly to their efforts. George Mendonca is a topiary gardener who spends his time taming tendrils of plant life into animal shapes. Why? Because he can, and apparently it's no easy job. One slip of the clipper and a green and leafy body part can go bye-bye for years. Dave Hoover takes on big cats under the big top. An admirer of the famous lion tamer, Clyde Beatty, Dave comes out of the lion ring covered with sweat. Not from working hard, but from hand-trembling fear. Ray Mendez, a mole-rat expert, waxes eloquently about the social structure of these sightless, hairless natural wonders who wear their teeth on the outside of their lips. But if you want to see a real wacko at work, watch Rodney Brooks, a robotics expert who is convinced our extinction will be the first step in a takeover of tin men.Read more

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Reviews (36)

The mark we leave on the world.
In the guise of a movie about four eccentrics with strange jobs, Errol Morris has made a very moving picture about the mark we leave on the world. Each of these four people have four very will have different legacies. It's about why we do what we do, how we came to be doing it and who -- if anyone -- will do it after us? Of course, Morris, by making the movie, is leaving a permanent record, not only of himself, but of these four.

Inspired
Fast, Cheap & Out of Control is a thoughtfully composed look at the work of four men and how their lives are poured into what they do.In the begining, the audience would be hard pressed to imagine how these men and what they do could have anything to do with one another.We start seeing the passion that directs them and the discipline that maintains them.Each man begins speaking, in specific terms, about his interests and how those interests relate to what he does professionally.
One of the best documentaries ever
This would make a perfect companion doc to Grizzly Man, as every one of these men have a similar control/unintentional subject relationship to their particular obsessions - especially with the lion tamer who never forgets what he's dealing with and serves as an interesting contrast to the protagonist of Grizzly Man who allowed his delusions about his relationship to the bears to kill him.
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Editorial Review

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Reviews (128)

Riefenstahl's Powerfully Cinematic Sensibilities Remain Noteworthy Despite the Controversial Subject
Before her death in 2003 at the age of 101, filmmaker Leni Riefenstahl would have you believe she had no affiliation with the Nazi party when she was asked by Adolf Hitler to document the momentous four days leading to the 1934 Nuremberg rally. However, it's obvious from her concurrently celebrated and reviled 1935 propaganda film that she was mesmerized by Hitler's oratorical skills judging from the dynamic way she has captured his undeniable charisma. She shows a remarkable deftness in editing techniques and camera movement and placement that remains the gold standard among documentarians. Riefenstahl succeeds in making Hitler a larger than life figure to the masses without resorting to editorial commentary to validate what is obvious from the images.
Try to remember -- the movie wasn't made for YOU!
After slogging through a number of these reviews it is clear that most cannot see that we Twenty-First Century Americans were not the intended audience for this movie. The movie was intended to be a unifying morale-builder for the National Socialist Party in Germany, which had been in power only about a year when this movie was made.
Fine film! (too bad about all the Nazis in it...)
As another reviewer rightly pointed out, this film is one of the most influential films in cinema history. A masterpiece of editing, cinematography, and all around directing. It is a shame, then, that because of the subject matter - much like the Communism of "Battleship Potemkin" and racism of "Birth of a Nation" - it is another film doomed to always be a taboo, a guilty pleasure for film buffs. I sincerely doubt it's the kind of movie you'd watch with your girlfriend, but as a historical piece it's still recommended.
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Subjects:  1. Documentary    2. Foreign Film - German    3. Movie   

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Reviews (1)

Great Collection of brilliant film maker
I have been waiting for this box set to come out - Now for the first many of Mr. Burns best work are collected in one set - Having seen several of these works on PBS, I feel qualified to rate this set highly - He can take an interesting subject matter and enchance it or take a subject I know little about and have me fascinated - Buy this set, enjoy and learn

Excellent collection of Ken Burns' shorter works.
This collection contains seven of Ken Burns' shorter documentary works that range from his early days as a film maker to those that show him at the height of his craft.While "The Brooklyn Bridge" is ratherweak, the other six films more than make up for it.Truly an excellentshowcase for Burns.See below for a review of each film in thiscollection.Read more

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Editorial Review

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Reviews (182)

The Fog of War -- We're In It Again
Last night, I watched the documentary, Fog of War, about former Secretary of Defense, Robert S. MacNamara, the Harvard-educated whiz kid who many call the architect of the Vietnam War.It is the portrait of a brilliant, but profoundly troubled old man who weeps about selecting a plot of ground in Arlington in which to bury JFK, but is steel-eyed as he recounts bombing sorties that destroy hundreds of thousands.While fighting hard to stay composed, it is evident that MacNamara is haunted by his own dark deeds and the human condition but remains stubbornly out of touch with the part of himself that orchestrated them.
mein fuhrer, i can walk again!
the oscar winning documentary studies the career of robert strange mcnamara, savior of ford motor company, architect of the viet nam war, patron saint of the golbalization economy, self-justifier par excellence, and (imho) one of the greatest villains of the 20th century.(ok, hes not on a level with stalin or hitler or walter o'malley, but hes close).the film manages to remain even handed about its subject, something i would never be able to do, and on that level it should be appreciated.i think his fans will come away seeing him as a tragically flawed hero, and his detractors (like me) will come away seeing him as the vile [...] he is.the movie demands that you think, and for that alone it should be seen by any person interested in americas role in the world.
Great Lessons
A great behind-the-scenes look at decisions that shaped history - and nearly killed all of us.
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Editorial Review

Errol Morris launched his fascinating, Oscar-winning career with this instant classic, a documentary about pet cemeteries. The subject is darker and weirder than even Stephen King could dream up, yet the movie is also wildly funny and lingeringly sad. As Morris gets his people to soliloquize for the neutral camera, they confirm that their love for their pets is utterly sincere--and that eccentricity runs deep in the American grain. Although the ostensible topic is animals, the owners and clients reveal much more about the species that walks on two legs; the depth of human feeling on display is bottomless, and the ability of humans to anthropomorphize their pets is astounding. (Surely some of these animals must be utterly bewildered by their keepers.) Read more

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Reviews (23)

Strange, Sad, Hilarious & Profound
This unique film represents not only the beginning of Earl Morris' career, but the finest look at the American obsession with the treatment and care of our pets.
Doggone
I love animals. I like documentaries. I respect Mr Ebert. Thus I bought Gates of Heaven when I saw it on his "10 BEST" list. Reading all the glowing reviews here, calling this "one of the best American movies ever", "breaking down and crying afterwards" etc, I suppose I am shallow, as I thought this was a boring, D-A-T-E-D, incoherent, S-L-O-W mishmash dotted here and there with some colourful characters and poignant images. I say "dated" because what seemed "wacky" and "bizarre" to people then, now feels like a bad mockumentry. I'd rather watch "BEST IN SHOW" , thank you very much. Just to put my view into perspective - I was deeply moved by the "UP series" (7-UP, etc), also on Mr Ebert's "10 BEST" list. I absolutely agree with his assessment and thank him for introducing me to those films. THIS one is at times charming, but on the whole very disappointing.

Human Pathos and Vanity Make for a Comedy Cocktail
A man with an unsettling resemblance and voice to Elmer Fudd of Loony Tunes fame recounts his trauma of losing his Collie in a car collision. Almost on the verge of tears, this sentimental bovine soul begins his failed quest to create a pet cemetery in Los Altos, California. Legal snafus force the pets to be unearthed and transferred to another cemetery in Napa, which is headed by the real stars of the film, a family of New Age entrepreneurs, including an aged patriarch who wears a straw hat with feminine scarves. He bloviates about the wonders of capitalism and how it fuses with sanctiminious bromides about people and their pets. Then there is his wife who prides the cemetery for being all about "life and purity." Her sons, both lazy, vain types, extol their jobs as if they were rocket scientists saving Planet Earth. In particular, the oldest son, Phillip, is a banal narcissist who massages his ego by describing himself as a "motivational speaker" with an expertise in psychology. His expertise inspires him to say such gems as "If you intake negative thoughts, you'll outake negative thoughts. And if you take in postive thoughts, you'll bring out positive thoughts. . . . If you want to get real complex, there's an inbetween, a mix of positive and negative." Then with a look of self-regard, he adds, "This is what we call the gray area." He then describes his "dangerous mission," memorizing animal hospitals where he, a self-described "transportation engineer," picks up dead pets. Phillip discusses the "fear" of having to know the map routes of these animal hospitals. The self-aggrandizement and exaggerated importance he attaches to his lowly job makes for comedy that makes you cringe.
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Editorial Review

A man crouches and pokes at what first appears to be a wad of chewed-up pink bubble gum on the ground. "That's what a scab will do to ya, by God," he says, his voice quavering with emotion. The pink wad is brain tissue from a striker shot in the head by a strikebreaker. That's one of the harsh realities of Read more

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Reviews (25)

Wow!!!
Possibly the most powerful documentary ever! Never could I imagine in the U.S.A., the most developed country in the world, i'd see people working or living in the same conditions as these people were in Harlan county. What impressed me the most was how strong the strike workers' wives were to join their husbands at the picket line. The scene were they defiantly blocked the road with their vehicles and refused to allow the scabs/picket crossers to pass, especially with guns drawn at them brought tears to my eyes. I was very powerful.

scab hater
william caputo sounds like the kinda feller that steals dead flys from blind spiders when he is not busy stealing food from honest hard working people or proclaiming the virtues of scumba... i mean scabs.

Life or Death, KY
Contrary to what the prior reviewer said this documentary is one of the best documentations of working class struggle in the United States. What this film portrays is the inner workings of the way workers and their families become conscious and weary of exploitive practices of the company, and the epiphanies that occur in order to overcome these malpractices. In that function this film is a masterpiece, it won an oscar rightly so because its impact on the viewer is so earth shattering.
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Subjects:  1. Documentary    2. Movie