Room 237
Netflix | Amazon | Google Play | iTunes | SEN | Xbox | YouTube
DVD | Blu-ray
Directed by Rodney Ascher
Starring Bill Blakemore, Geoffrey Cocks, Juli Kearns, Stanley Kubrick, Stephen King, Jack Nicholson, Shelly Duvall
IFC Films
Originally Released: January 23, 2012

If you haven’t checked it out yet, my fellow G.O.D. standing for the horror fans, FamousMonster, put together an awesome 31 Days of Horror list to get you all ready for Halloween this year. While running through his list, I came across one film that grabbed my consideration immediately, for I had not seen it before: Room 237.

That’s because it’s a documentary, and not a horror flick. Not that I do not watch documentaries (I like a doco thing), but I’d just never seen it before. Room 237‘s mission is simple – get in touch with as many Stanley Kubrick enthusiasts as possible and ask them to deliver their differed and in-depth interpretations of the filmmaker’s adaptation of Stephen King‘s The Shining.

Rewind This!
Directed by Josh Johnson
Starring Frank Henenlotter, Drew McWeeny, and Charles Band
FilmBuff
Release Date: August 27, 2013
Available on iTunes
Official Site

Videotapes once played a huge role in my life. I grew up in a family that never had much money to splurge on weekend excursions to the local cinema, except on rare occasions. Therefore, we were reliant on home video to keep us up to date on the most popular movie releases of the day. In the beginning we had to not only rent the videos, but also the VCR to play them, and a neighborhood store called Video Circus carried the early model “top loaders” that were big enough to build the pyramids of Egypt with. For years my younger siblings and I were fixated on certain movies and every time my mother offered to rent us a movie for the weekend, we were always crowing for Police Academy 4: Citizens on Patrol or The Princess Bride. As I got older, I started to build my own collection of films on tape; my library officially kicked off on Christmas Day 1993 when my late grandmother Betty gifted me Batman Returns, Beetlejuice, and The Rocketeer.

Once I got my first job and suddenly felt the rush of having real money in my pocket for once, I purchased more tapes and even my first VCR, which I picked up dirt cheap at a thrift store. When I was 20, I started working for a Tower Records and Video in my hometown of Richmond, Virginia and took great advantage of an amazing employee discount to build my movie collection into a literal library of cinema. Having a VCR and access to digital cable movie channels precipitated the purchase of blank video tapes that could three to four movies depending on their length and how much storage space was on each tape. Within a few years, I had more movies than I had time to watch them.

Blackfish
Directed by Gabriela Cowperthwaite
Written by Gabriela Cowperthwaite and Eli B. Despres
Magnolia Pictures
Rated PG-13 | 83 Minutes
Release Date: July 19, 2013 (Limited)

“Never Capture What You Can’t Control.”

Picture yourself at Sea World with your friends or family, and you are about to watch one of the many shows they have to offer. You are excited to see the famous killer whales as they show off some various tricks, which brings smile to everyone in the crowd. Things seem to be going well, although one of the whales appears to be distracted. And what happens next will stick with you for the rest of your life.

Blackfish is a documentary about one of those killer whales, Tilikum, who is responsible for the deaths of a three people. But this is not about showing how dangerous this animals are; rather, it’s a movie to show that when we take these smart, wild creatures and stick them in a confined areas in captivity, sometimes they get frustrated and accidents happen, including a few deaths.

Former Middleweight Champion and colorful and controversial pugilist Jake LaMotta, best known to film going audiences for the gritty, hard-nosed bio pic that showcased his life, Raging Bull, is now the subject of a full-length feature documentary.

LaMotta, 92, is collaborating with Greg Olliver, best known for co-directing and producing Lemmy, the much-lauded film about the Motorhead frontman Ace of Spades, Lemmy Kilmister. Oliver also has projects such as a documentary about a WWII Commando and blues stalwart Johnny Winter in the works.

The LaMotta project, which already started filming in Arizona back in January of this year, will feature interviews with fellow athletes such as Mike Tyson, as well as actors, family, and friends, all whom are sure to give a keen insight to the complex and emotional boxer.

Waiting For Lightning
Netflix | Amazon | Google Play | HitBliss | iTunes | SEN | Vudu | YouTube
DVD | Blu-ray
Directed by Jacob Rosenberg
Starring Danny Way, Tony Hawk, Mike Ternasky, Rob Dyrdek
Samuel Goldwyn Films and First Run Features
Originally Released: March 10, 2012

Waiting For Lightning is a documentary that pursues the crusade of pro skater Danny Way as he aims to accomplish one of the most insane stunts of all time: to jump the Great Wall of China on a skateboard using the biggest ramp ever constructed. As the movie heads towards the inevitable climactic few seconds of the jump, the narrative follows the trials and ordeals of Way from childhood to adulthood, as well as the immediate lead up and planning for the Great Wall stunt.

While the focus of the documentary leads into the China jump, for all intents and purposes, Waiting For Lightning is a biography. It documents how Danny Way rose into pro skateboarding at such a young age, propelling from a difficult and tumultuous home upbringing, dealing with the death of his father, and then the loss of his stepfather through divorce. As his mother fell into a pattern of self-medicating with drug use, and abusive relationships; Danny escaped into skating, becoming one of the most memorable pro skaters of all time.