Two Mini Documentary Reviews
October 20th 2010 01:52
Two very short reviews of It Might Get Loud and Tales of the Script
It Might Get Loud (Davis Guggenheim, 2008)
The documentary It Might Get Loud is presented as such: Guitarists Jimmy Page, The Edge, and Jack White gather together to discuss the electric guitar. Except this isn’t exactly what happens. The set-up is there: Jack White even waxes rhapsodic on what will happen when the three of them are in a room together. Instead, the majority of the film is the three of them talking singularly about their thoughts on music. Moreover, their anecdotes are more personal rather than their feelings on birth of the electric guitar and its history in general. What results is a rather self-indulgent documentary and one can’t help but wonder; perhaps they simply didn’t have all that much to say to one another once in that room?
The best scenes are with The Edge: his listening to an early demo of Where the Streets Have No Name, which then cuts to U2 concert footage; his description of the thought process that caused him to finally write a song (Sunday Bloody Sunday). The other standout scenes are Jack White’s intent listening to his favorite song and the trio’s impromptu session of The Weight. Everything in between wasn’t as captivating as it could have been and overall the structure of the documentary was random and inter-titles failed to flow. Avid guitar players may find this to be more fascinating as a whole, but for me, I’d would’ve rather more conversations from all three with respect to their thoughts on music in general and what the guitar really means to them.
Tales from the Script (2009, Hanson)
Tales from the Script presents itself as a completely self-indulgent film without the guise of masking as something else. The film is simple and to the point, made up of onscreen interviewers with numerous writers in Hollywood, sharing their experiences. The interviews are inter-cut with film clips that act as a segue after the title cards.
The result is a captivating, yet overly long, documentary. Although under two hours, the runtime felt almost three and definitely could have benefited from some edits. However, perhaps the most glaring factor in Tales from the Script is in the content itself. The documentary features many writers who have written some truly awful (or simple not credible) scripts. Are we supposed to take the writers of Catwoman, The Chase, and Click seriously? It begs the question: where are all the good writers?
The stories were interesting as a whole, but the documentary didn’t exactly offer up anything revelatory to anyone who is aware of the entertainment business. Alternatively, to someone who is a casual moviegoer, this documentary will be far more fascinating. Guinevere Turner is the standout of Hanson’s doc, given her candid discussion of Uwe Boll and Bloodrayne. Ultimately, Tales from the Script is worth your time; however, don’t take the tagline ‘the industry’s top writers’ as rote.
It Might Get Loud (Davis Guggenheim, 2008)
The documentary It Might Get Loud is presented as such: Guitarists Jimmy Page, The Edge, and Jack White gather together to discuss the electric guitar. Except this isn’t exactly what happens. The set-up is there: Jack White even waxes rhapsodic on what will happen when the three of them are in a room together. Instead, the majority of the film is the three of them talking singularly about their thoughts on music. Moreover, their anecdotes are more personal rather than their feelings on birth of the electric guitar and its history in general. What results is a rather self-indulgent documentary and one can’t help but wonder; perhaps they simply didn’t have all that much to say to one another once in that room?
The best scenes are with The Edge: his listening to an early demo of Where the Streets Have No Name, which then cuts to U2 concert footage; his description of the thought process that caused him to finally write a song (Sunday Bloody Sunday). The other standout scenes are Jack White’s intent listening to his favorite song and the trio’s impromptu session of The Weight. Everything in between wasn’t as captivating as it could have been and overall the structure of the documentary was random and inter-titles failed to flow. Avid guitar players may find this to be more fascinating as a whole, but for me, I’d would’ve rather more conversations from all three with respect to their thoughts on music in general and what the guitar really means to them.
Tales from the Script (2009, Hanson)
Tales from the Script presents itself as a completely self-indulgent film without the guise of masking as something else. The film is simple and to the point, made up of onscreen interviewers with numerous writers in Hollywood, sharing their experiences. The interviews are inter-cut with film clips that act as a segue after the title cards.
The result is a captivating, yet overly long, documentary. Although under two hours, the runtime felt almost three and definitely could have benefited from some edits. However, perhaps the most glaring factor in Tales from the Script is in the content itself. The documentary features many writers who have written some truly awful (or simple not credible) scripts. Are we supposed to take the writers of Catwoman, The Chase, and Click seriously? It begs the question: where are all the good writers?
The stories were interesting as a whole, but the documentary didn’t exactly offer up anything revelatory to anyone who is aware of the entertainment business. Alternatively, to someone who is a casual moviegoer, this documentary will be far more fascinating. Guinevere Turner is the standout of Hanson’s doc, given her candid discussion of Uwe Boll and Bloodrayne. Ultimately, Tales from the Script is worth your time; however, don’t take the tagline ‘the industry’s top writers’ as rote.
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