By: Trevor Chartrand While entertaining and informative, Happy Happy Joy Joy: The Ren & Stimpy Story is a documentary with two very different and almost contradictory goals. On the one hand, the film takes a mostly light-hearted look at the making-of a beloved animated series. But on the other hand, however, the doc is also a dark character study featuring the disturbing behaviours of Ren and Stimpy’s show creator, John Kricfalusi.
Never Be Done: The Richard Glen Lett Story is a fantastic example of true documentary filmmaking.
Pretending I’m a Superman: The Tony Hawk Video Game Story may be a crash course on the popular gaming staple, but it’s also about the waffling relevancy of skateboarding – a journey through its cultural ebb and flow – during the sport’s ongoing search for innovation.
Just as California Typewriter taught us about the cult culture about its title antique, The Booksellers is an equally nifty-and-thrifty doc about the history and culture behind collecting and preserving literature.
Jeffrey McHale’s documentary You Don’t Nomi dissects 1995’s much maligned racy drama Showgirls in a similar way that Rodney Aster’s Room 237 delved into different theories on Stanley Kubrick’s adaptation of The Shining. Both films are about how cult interest breathed new life into a filmmaker’s original vision, however the difference between the documentaries stems from their points of interest. Room 237 was about how movie goers have interpreted visual totems within the film. You…
Adapting to a compromised year, the annual Canadian Film Fest has decided to screen select titles from the year’s lineup exclusively on Super Channel. Wylie Writes received a sneak peek of the two documentaries that will close out this year’s run.
Chris Bolan’s documentary A Secret Love is a sweet tearjerker that explores the nearly 70-year relationship between ex-All American Girls Professional Baseball League player Terry Donahue and her loyal partner Pat Henschel.
By: Trevor Chartrand It Started as a Joke is an emotionally charged documentary that will sort-of sneak up on you. It’s so sneaky in fact, that the film will try to convince you that you’re watching ‘just another Netflix-style comedy special’ – until you’re suddenly not. You’ll let your guard down, laughing with the featured comedians, chuckling at their on and off stage antics. It’s funny, it’s goofy, and it’s a great time… and then…
