Documentary Movie Films

[Blaze]

Anyone seen Special When Lit - A Pinball Documentary? Supposed to be a good doc.

Yes. It's very good and made me want to seek out some machines. The film doesn't have a specific focus or narrative arc...just covers pinball: the history, the fans, the weirdos, the designers, and the state it is in today.

[Rick V]

Another issue I had was when they interviewed the old label boss and asked him "hey, where did all the money from the album sales go?" and the guy was like "I don't know" so they were like "okay, thanks!" and we never heard another thing about it. Shouldn't they have investigated this angle a little further, or followed up on it a little bit?

Its been awhile since I saw this doc but as I recall they didn't really do a "hey, thanks" thing. They pressed the label head guy enough on the royalties issue so much so that he became very hostile and defensive - and it becomes clear as day that this guy ripped Rodriguez off. They made their point on this issue: Rodriguez was screwed out of a lot of royalties by this guy. To continue to press that point would veer the doc away from its purpose: that Rodriguez was a very big and famous artist in South Africa (whom South Africans all believed was dead) and Rodriguez had absolutely no idea of his status there (thanks to apartheid and its closed-off society).

And a big thumbs-up on Chasing Ghosts. Great doc and a sort of follow up to King of Kong. The interesting thing about Chasing Ghosts (and King of Kong) is that you can tell the documentarians are impressed with the gaming skills of these guys and the stories themselves but, at the end of the day, they think they're weirdos - especially Walter Day. Kinda sad that they allow some of these guys to make fools of themselves.

[Rick V]

Anyone seen Special When Lit - A Pinball Documentary? Supposed to be a good doc.

Yes. It's very good and made me want to seek out some machines. The film doesn't have a specific focus or narrative arc...just covers pinball: the history, the fans, the weirdos, the designers, and the state it is in today.

What state is pinball in today? Did it make a comeback? I used to love playing pinball back in the day but by the end of my arcade days pinball was on the wane.

[Blaze]

Anyone seen Special When Lit - A Pinball Documentary? Supposed to be a good doc.

Yes. It's very good and made me want to seek out some machines. The film doesn't have a specific focus or narrative arc...just covers pinball: the history, the fans, the weirdos, the designers, and the state it is in today.

What state is pinball in today? Did it make a comeback? I used to love playing pinball back in the day but by the end of my arcade days pinball was on the wane.

The film ends on a more down note as far as the state of it, but it focuses on some enthusiasts that are still out there. At the time of the film there was only one pinball company still making machines in America, but now there is another one that popped up, so there is that.

[Rick V]

Watched Special When Lit on Hulu. Really enjoyed it. Definitely brought back some great arcade memories.

[Rick V]

Last Fall, HBO showed a solid music doc: The Rolling Stones - Crossfire Hurricane. It concentrates on The Stones from the beginning up to about 1981 - i.e. their best years. If you're a Stones fan (and who isn't) you'll dig it. It's available on DVD now.

[Rick V]

Searching For Sugarman won the Oscar for best documentary. Yes!!!


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