Winnebango Man (2009)

What happens when you become an internet sensation, but not for doing something admirable, but embarrassingly funny?   Well, that’s what this documentary from Ben Steinbauer attempts to find out when he searches out and finds Jack Rebney, aka the Winnebango Man.   Mr. Rebney shot an industrial sales video for Winnebango.  Unbeknownst to him the outtakes of this strenuous job became a favorite for home video collectors, his cursing and outbursts being traded across the country for big laughs.  And then to make things worse for him, the video gets released onto the internet.  The rest is internet history.   Yet that’s only half the story, because its Steinbauer’s journey to find the real Rebney and to help him find redemption that is truly inspirational.  Grade: A-

Game of Thrones (Season 4)

This might be so far the most satisfying season of this epic fantasy series from HBO.  Again it’s impossible to write about this kind of show without spoilers.  I’ll only say there are a lot of surprises and many changes.  Tyrion must suffer his new life, not as the Hand of the King, but as a pawn in family politics.  Ayra must learn to endure The Hound in order to survive.  Jon Snow must decide if he’s a Watcher or an ally of the Wildings. Daenerys learns her first lessons as a ruler of a city.  David Benioff and D. B. Weiss have really increased the stakes and pushed this television show into cinematic proportions.   The ninth episode is glorious in is scale and execution.  At this point it’s clear we’re watching a classic of the medium, the kind of show we’ll be talking about for a long time.  The interesting thing for me is that George R.R. Martin hasn’t finished his series yet.  Hopefully he’ll get the next book out soon or I don’t know what Benioff and Weiss are going to do.  Grade: A

An Honest Liar (2014)

This is a wonderful little documentary about James Randi, magician and scam debunker.  It had me enthralled from his days as a magician and escape artist to when he decided to go after faith healers and other mystics and prove them to be the frauds they are.  Then there’s the twist which completely surprised me, almost like a work of magic in its own right.   Grade: B+

Stories We Tell (2012)

Sarah Polly captures on film her own story of finding out she was the child from an affair.  This is a fascinating film that stuns in that it proves what love is.  Love isn’t knowing you’re “real” father.  Love is family accepting their history with open arms.  These are very complex people with real emotions.  I couldn’t take my eyes of this film.   Grade: A-

Lost Soul: The Doomed Journey of Richard Stanley's Island of Dr. Moreau (2014)

I love a good documentary about the making of a film.  What’s great about this one isn’t that the film turned out to be bad, but that it could have been really good.  We’ll never know if the film Richard Stanley wanted to make would have been any good.  All I do know is that if you want to kill a film’s chances at being good hire actors with monster-size egos.  This film does not color Marlon Brando and especially Val Kilmer in a good light.  Hearing the stories of what happened on set is very entertaining, from the parties to the changes to actors roles.   What’s sad is that Mr. Stanley didn’t try to reboot his career.   Yet he gave up and we’ll never know if he was a promising talent or a guy just too sincere to work for Hollywood.  Grade: B+

Game of Thrones (Season 3)

This is the first season where I hadn’t read the books first.   I almost wished I had because I then would have been prepared for what is the most shocking and bloody season so far.   I don’t know a more effective gut-punch in television show history; at least that I can remember in recent times.  A lot of things happen and most of it is not good, for our heroes that is.  To not give anything away, instead of giving a rundown, I’ll say just see it.  If you’ve watched the first two seasons then just go ahead and keep watching.  It’s a great television show and unless you’re squeamish and hate violence then do yourself a favor and watch.  True, it might piss you off a bit, and you might threaten to never watch another episode, but you will because you’ll recognize great storytelling when you see it.   The question I have is can the producers top themselves with season four?   I’m going to start watching the next season right away to find out.  Grade: A

Looking for Alaska by John Green

This is the second book of Mr. Green’s that I read and I enjoyed this book more than his last.  That said, I do have a big issue with this book and that it glorifies smoking.  I want to get that right out of the way.  I deplored this aspect of the book.  I don’t smoke and I don’t think we should ever craft an illusion that smoking is cool. I get it.  Kids smoke.  And that’s the story Green wanted to tell, and it is a genuine point of view.  But I hated it.  Smoking is not cool and to have a character start smoking to fit in is dumb.  Yes, it’s believable and true to life but it really rubbed me the wrong way.  Now that I’ve got that out of the way . . . what a memorable story about growing up and learning the importance of living in the moment and appreciating every aspect of it.  Miles Halter moves to a boarding school and quickly finds close friends and begins a series of pranks they hope will make them legends at their school.   His two closest friends are his roommate Chip Martin “the Colonel” and Alaska Young, a girl he quickly falls for. What makes this book work is that you really get to know these characters and really feel their joy and their pain.   The mystery that developed in the third act is not that mysterious in that it was obviously what happened, I still enjoyed the story.  Grade: B+

True Detective (Season 2)

Nic Pizzolatto attempts to repeat the success he had with the first season of this crime anthology but this time in the industrialized LA (and fictional city within).  He brings with him a new directing team, a new film noir storyline, a new top notch cast (including Vince Vaughn, Colin Farrell, Rachel McAdams and Taylor Kitsch) and new beginning intro.  Sadly the result is really underwhelming.  There is speckled throughout a good moment here or there but in the end it’s just a bad mixed bag, especially on how it ends.  The set up takes a while to get going.  The mystery is confusing.  The characters start out pretty awesome but then they meander their way into predictable archetypes.   The worse example is with the female characters.  PIzzolatto does his best to create some very strong three-dimensional women and then they take the back seat and become your typical moll or girlfriend character.  Taylor Kitsch’s CCP character is at first really interesting, a conflicted cop dealing with Mommy issues and sexual confusion.  But in the end none of this was important and it’s almost like his character didn’t even need to be in the show.  Then there are at times where the writing goes off the rails with some dialogue that’s almost too cheesy to believe.  I think he was trying for a film noir like film speak but that’s hard to pull off.  I’m convinced Pizzolatto is a fine writer and storyteller but he needs a directing partner that will help bolster him with their own creative energy.  Fukunaga was sorely missed.   Grade: C+

The Girl with All the Gifts by M.R. Carey

In many ways, as I read this, I felt I was experiencing the proper sequel to Danny Boyle’s zombie masterpiece 28 Days Later.   Told from various points of view, one of which is a child zombie, Carey takes us on an apocalyptic journey that is both exciting and emotionally engaging. Melanie is the child zombie that has the ability to still think and is through her eyes we see humanity for all its complexity.   We see the good in her teacher and mother figure Justineau, and the bad in the scientist that wants to dissect her, Dr. Caldwell.  This is an excellent addition to the zombie genre and proof that there is still a lot that can be done with these stories about the walking dead or infected as in this case.   Grade: A-

Games of Thrones (Season 2)

That was fast.  As soon as I completed reading the second book in A Song of Ice and Fire and binge watched through the second season of this wonderful fantasy program.  Some changes were made, as expected, but ultimately a very faithful adaption.   The performances, the direction of each episode and the production design are all first class.   I wish all great fantasy novels could have this kind of treatment.   I’m now going to start flying through this series, it’s too good to not watch and I’m petrified that someone will spoil something and this is one of those shows that you want to experience the many surprises that Martin has up his sleeves.  Grade: A

Hot Girls Wanted (2015)

This documentary produced by Rashida Jones takes us into the underworld of internet porn from the point of view of a group of teens caught up in its vile web. It’s a fascinating film in many ways while at the same time depressing as hell.  These girls basically all live in the same house in Florida with their manager who pimps them out to various shoots.  Or they perform on a webcam in their rooms.  It’s hard to watch at times, seeing these girls get seduced by money that disappears in a flash.  This is a real problem in our country but the only way we can really fight it is for films like this one to show us how bad it is.  And maybe then we can have an open discussion about sexuality instead of keeping it hidden.  Grade: B+