05Wasteland is moving, to say the least. Vik Muniz is an amazing artist who’s transformative work is awe-inspiring. His work spans beyond material and touches the lives of the people he portrays. This documentary is fabulous, and a miraculous story about beautiful people making a life in and off of other’s trash. As you will see at the end of the trailer above this doc has won numerous awards, and for good reason. 5 out of 5. Don’t watch this while you’re distracted by something else, you’ll need to play close attention to the subtitles, and it deserves focus.
Tea: Something reminiscent of South America. Passionfruit black tea, or a coffee tasting yerba mate. In essence, something that is a branch between you and the people you are viewing, even if it is only a cup of tea.
The Botany of Desire is not the kind of documentary I would recommend to everyone. It’s for the person who enjoys knowing little useless facts. What makes these facts interesting to me is that they are about well known plants that have a foothold in our lives whether we use them or not. The movie focuses around 4 distinct plants and their economic and biological impact; Potatoes, Tulips, Cannabis, and Apples. Honestly, after this movie I couldn’t look at an apple the same way again, knowing so many little things about something so everyday. However, because this movie would probably put most people (who aren’t obsessed with the little stuff) to sleep, I give it a 3 out of 5.
Tea: Drink with something fruit related. If you can find an apple flavored white tea that would probably be best, but I know that’s not very common. In lieu of that a nice rose black or jasmine green to compliment the floral knowledge stuffed into your brain during the tulip segment.
Catfish is a surprising documentary to say the least. I do not want to ruin this surprise for anyone who hasn’t seen it, so I’ll keep this summary rather vague. I have never seen such an in depth study of the veil that Facebook and the internet provides our society. If you haven’t seen it I highly recommend it. While it is filmed in kind of a somewhat joking/unprofessional way, the story is enticing, and keeps your attention the whole way through. I give it 4 and a half stars.
Tea: Drink something you’ve heard of and thought about but never tried with this movie. I assume for most people something exotic and strange to them would be any kind of yerba mate. It’ll keep you energized throughout the movie, and it’s different, but delicious flavor will match with the emotions you’re certain to feel while watching.
Hey guys, I really want to see this documentary because this looks like a really fascinating subject. Can you even imagine not thinking about sex? At the risk of sounding like a perv, it’s hard for me to believe people exist that never desire or think about intercourse. It’s got to be one of the smallest minorities in our society, or at least the totally sex-filled western media. I’m broke so I really don’t have the money they need, but if anyone is out there and would like to help some independent artists out, make a donation hokay?
Tea Recommendation: If this got made, I would drink it with something ambivalent, like english breakfast.
Anyhow it’s 6:53 in the AM. There wasn’t actually a trailer for this documentary “The Comedians of Comedy: The Movie” so I just took a clip I found on youtube that really sums the whole thing up beautifully. I must admit Zach Galifianakis was a favorite comedian of mine before this, but Patton Oswalt’s dry humor is more similar to my own. It seems to defeat the purpose of this documentary to try and be serious in the review of it, but it really does give an honest view of how difficult stand-up is. I know I am not really the type to readily put myself on stage in front of a highly judgmental and merciless crowd, so I can respect the amount of bravery it takes to do so. Highlights of the movie, any moment where there may be an awkward amount of ‘no homo’ gay tension between Zach, Brian, and Patton, and the first 5 minutes of seeing Brian Posehn because I really did think for a while that he was Eric Wareheim and I was excited about that. For the lulz, I give it a 4 out of 5.
Tea Recommendation: Long island iced tea, because you’re going to need a cool down from being exposed to so much Zach Galifianakis hottness, and being drunk would make this movie even better, I think. :]
I’d like to say that first of all, “Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed” really challenged me as a documentary. I watch a lot of biased film-making that makes me feel all warm and fuzzy about my opinions, but this was really an exercise of how open my mind really is. An overwhelming majority of scientists are whole-heartedly sold on darwinism without any thought given to intelligent design. The misconception lies in that religion in the scientific community is blasphemy, and intelligent design has come to connote a God figure. Ben Stein’s dry approach can be a bit underwhelming, but for the interesting challenge this documentary posed, I give it a 4 out of 5.
Tea Recommendation: Drink something scholarly with this movie, like a good cup of earl grey with a splash of cream and a little sugar. Pretend you’re Giles. If you don’t like Buffy the vampire slayer, think of the newest doctor on Doctor Who.
I hope you’re reading this from your solar powered laptop! No? FOR SHAME.
Oh fuck it. Energy is a wonderful thing. Anywho that’s what I learned from “No Impact Man: The Documentary” because this guy goes above and beyond to remove his carbon footprint by spending an entire year radically altering his and his family’s lives. Essentially endorsing cutting out any and all of the waste created by humans on a daily basis, this enlightening documentary should make anyone want to hesitate before throwing anything away.
But who am I kidding? I’m gonna go drive my gas guzzling cadillac de ville, throw away some freezy pop plastic wrappers, and maybe if the day is looking good, go stomp on some plants. Being environmentally friendly is a nice thought though. I give this movie a 4 out of 5 for being generally good but also making me feel rather guilty.
Tea Recommendation: I recommend an organic red bush tea. Caffeine-free so you won’t stay up all night like I do, and full of all sorts of good stuff for you! Do something good for your body if you can’t do something good for the Earth.
I don’t know about you, but I am so fucking intrigued by North Korea. This documentary, “A State of Mind” actually goes inside the closed off country to follow 2 teenage girls (not in the creepy way) through their daily lives. Both of them are involved in what’s called the “Mass Games,” an event where thousands of gymnasts (i.e. thousands of 13-year-old girls who practice 8 hours a day) participate in coordinated routines to represent North Korea’s belief in total uniformity. However interesting, the film is a little slow, so I give it a 3 out of 5.
Tea Recommendation: Any old regular green tea. Preferably the cheap bagged kind (Which if you didn’t know, is the dust they sweep off the floor at the tea processing plant). This way you can enjoy the same limited resources causing residents of North Korea to have malnutrition! Yum!
Dude. There are like. So. Many. Pot documentaries. On Netflix instant.
Doug Benson’s “Super High Me” is by far one of my favorite. Not only is it rife with little nuggets of Doug Benson stand up, but it’s also a hilariously informative documentary, knocking down many a pot mythology. I mean “Super Size Me” was pretty good, but I’m willing to bet this documentary is more relevant to college students and is drastically less depressing. Doug Benson doesn’t smoke pot for 30 days. Lulz. Doug Benson smokes pot continuously for 30 days. Moar lulz. You really can’t lose. Rated 4 out of 5 because I can’t really take this documentary too seriously.
Tea Recommendation: Pair with Macha green tea, unless you got the good stuff.*
*I solemnly swear I do not do drugs. But people who do are hilarious.
What documentary better than “We Live In Public” to start this blog? Directed by Ondi Timoner, the doc centers around iconoclast Josh Harris. Why do I say this movie is relevant? Well, many years before the web became a place for us to broadcast our lives (or talk about documentaries and tea that we like), Josh Harris was creating artistic experiences that predicted the future of the interbutts. If you’re into watching creative genius happen, this gives a real inside look to one startlingly crazy, yet terrifyingly correct, human being. I rated it a 5 out of 5 on netflix. Generous, maybe, but I would love to have netflix bring up more movies like this for me to watch.
Tea recommendation: Best served with Yerba Mate. Get hyped up on as much mate caffeine as possible and you may begin to understand Josh Harris’ crazy genius babble. Beware, you may also experience extreme rises and falls of energy, much like the rise and fall of Josh Harris’s checking account.
