Documentary

Hot Girls Wanted

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  • Title: Hot Girls Wanted
  • IMDb: link

Hot Girls WantedDirected by Jill Bauer and Ronna Gradus, Hot Girls Wanted takes a look at the growing online amateur porn industry by taking us into the house of a small group of Internet porn newbies (few of whom will still be working in the industry by the end of the documentary). The directors succeed in getting a firsthand experience of the industry which tosses out young women at a rate, even once introduced into the industry, our starlets don’t comprehend.

Meant to be a shocking tell-all, Hot Girls Wanted is only partially successful (mainly because of how willing the young women all are to agree to and rationalize away any dehumanizing activity as long as it is 1. on camera and 2. pays the bills). The complicity to their actions undercuts the documentary’s message just as strongly as the documentarians taking further advantage of each of the women profiled for the purpose of their movie.

However, money is only half of the equation. A better film would dive deeper into the yearning for celebrity each girl is willing to go down an increasingly dark and fetishized path to achieve.

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The Wrecking Crew

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  • Title: The Wrecking Crew
  • IMDb: link

The Wrecking CrewFilled with interviews, classic clips, stills, and tunes, the documentary from director Denny Tedesco (whose father was part of the group now known as “The Wrecking Crew”) takes a look back at the Los Angeles studio and session musicians that played anonymously on many records in the 1960s for The Beach Boys, Phil Spector, Frank Sinatra, Sonny & Cher, Bing Crosby, Elvis, The Monkees, Nancy Sinatra, Bobby Vee, the Partridge Family, David Cassidy, Jan & Dean, the Mamas & the Papas, the 5th Dimension, the Association, the Carpenters, Glen Campbell, Cher, John Denver, Simon & Garfunkel, the Grass Roots, and Nat King Cole.

Likely more appealing to music geeks than those not already interested in the topic, the documentary includes a great collection of music while discussing the unheralded studio musicians who helped create the songs. Available on Blu-ray and DVD, The Wrecking Crew includes over six hours of outtakes from musicians, artists, engineers, and producers, additional music, and more.

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Amy

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  • Title: Amy
  • IMDb: link

AmyYour opinion of Amy Winehouse and her place in modern music is likely to color your view of Amy. The documentary unearths an amazing amount of personal footage of the troubled singer-songwriter while also featuring interviews from those who knew her best. Chronicling her rise to stardom, her drug and alcohol abuse, her struggles with bulimia, and her inability to deal with fame, the movie isn’t always a pleasant look back. Although its story of an insecure self-destructive artist is sadly far too familiar, the documentary deals with its subject matter responsibly.

The tone of the documentary isn’t to point fingers and assign blame (although it certainly suggests certain individuals shoulder more of that burden that others such as Winehouse’s husband and father and the paparazzi), but instead to give audiences a look at the woman behind the celebrity. Presented from the view of those that loved her, the documentary is occasionally too reverential about its star.

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20 Feet from Stardom

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  • Title: 20 Feet from Stardom
  • IMDb: link

20 Feet from Stardom

The Oscar-nominated documentary 20 Feet from Stardom is a great idea of showcasing those who spend their entire lives as back-up singers and dancers in the shadow of famous artists that doesn’t give audiences as much insight to these women as you might first expect. Primarily concerned with Darlene Love, Merry Clayton, and Táta Vega, the film also touches on several other artists including The Waters, Lisa Fischer, and Judith Hill.

Featuring interviews from several back-up singers, producers, artists, and even a few big names (Bruce Springsteen, Sting, Stevie Wonder, and former back-up singer turned star Sheryl Crow) praising the unknowns that add so much to their acts, director Morgan Neville is definitely worth viewing. But despite such a treasure trove of untapped potential and some terrific performances (both live and shared from a variety of video clips), 20 Feet from Stardom comes off as a very good, but somewhat limited, look at these women and lives of back-up singers over the years.

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Stories We Tell

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  • Title: Stories We Tell
  • IMDB: link

Stories We TellFor her latest film actress/writer/director Sarah Polley turns the camera on her own past in a series of inter-cut interviews with family and friends of her mother dragging the family’s darkest secrets into the light including her mother’s affair around the time of Polley’s conception raising life-long questions about her true parentage.

Stories We Tell offers several different viewpoints of the past, old home video, video recreations using actors, and emails and letters from over the years read directly into the tale. The father who raised her provides the narration (under the direction of his daughter) adding yet another unique spin to the story, especially given how those family secrets change his relationship with his daughter.

The result is an emotional and spellbinding tale of a search for understanding and truth and how we remember and retell personal stories that likely delivers far more for both Polley and audiences than she originally intended.

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