The Last Repair Shop

Documentary short featuring four vignettes of workers in the LA Unified School District instrument repair shop. The district provides band instruments to its students, resulting in frequent damage. But this is really more about the workers, their passion and how they got to the shop. only about an hour - feel good biography

4 stars (out of 5)

Fire of Love

A documentary following the relationship and work of volcanologist couple Katia and Maurice Krafft. This film has astounding footage of both red volcanoes (with lava) and grey volcanoes (explosive ash) and teaches us along the way both about volcanoes and about life work, love and how to live with passion instead of fear. 

4 stars (out of 5)

Summer of Soul

Documentary with newly found footage of the Harlem Cultural Festival in 1969. This was a weekend outdoor music festival (8 consecutive weekends that summer) in Mt. Morris park in Harlem. I had never heard of it, nor I am sure have many people. A veritable hit parade of artists, including musicians (Stevie Wonder, Gladys Night, etc.), preachers (Jesse Jackson, etc.), and comics (Moms Mabley, etc.) to explicitly celebrate black culture. Director Questlove does a great job of allowing full songs to play-out with original footage of the festival and voiceover interviews of both attendees and performers reflecting on the impact of the festival on them some 50 years later. Really good. 

4 stars (out of 5)

Azorian: The Raising of the K-129

Documentary detailing an ocean salvage project from the 70's. A Russian nuclear sub (K-129) sunk in the Pacific to a depth of nearly 3 miles. The U.S. detected and pinpointed the accident and wreckage pretty quickly, while the Russians had no real idea where it was. This led to a massive secret CIA project to raise the sub and glean intel that would help win the cold war. The documentary chronicles the engineering challenges and methods that were undertaken to enable this salvage. Fascinating cold war history and even more fascinating engineering problem solving. 

4 stars (out of 5)

Biggie

The story of the rise of Notorious BIG, mostly through the piecing together of selfie video by BIG himself and his crew. We also get interviews and a little bit of voice over. Interesting in that this was not my world in the 90's and while I have listened to the music and heard the names, I didn't know the East Coast v West Coast rivalry or the backstory of some of these artists. Probably more interesting if you are a hiphop fan.

2 stars (out of 5)

The Long Way Up (serial)

Third in a series of travel diaries with Ewan McGregor and his buddy Charlie Boorman on a continental motorcycle trip (Long Way Down and Long Way Around). This time it is from the southern tip of South America traveling north to LA. The majority of the 10 episode trip is in South America (actually mostly in Argentina/Chile) and then a sprint through Central America and Mexico. The plot device here is that the trip will be done on prototype electric Harley Davidsons, with support vehicles of prototype Rivian trucks. Because of the electric charging and range issues, 150 miles per day is a really long day, and the trip will take 3 months. I appreciated that this slowed down the travel, forcing them to see more. I also loved the same things here as I did in the others... seeing the scenery and the remote routes and fantasizing about being alone on the open road. The tiresome parts were the repetitive self-aggrandizing "we are so lucky" and worry about "dangerous" areas of Central America and Mexico. 

4 stars (out of 5)

Kareem: Minority of One

Documentary on Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Tells the story of his development as a basketball player and becoming the NBA all-time leading scorer. Since Kareem was involved, we get interviews with him and his perspective now that are juxtaposed with his on-camera persona throughout his career. It is a fascinating and interesting telling of the story of his basketball life. I wish that we could have delved into his life as an activist and writer post-basketball, but maybe that is needing its own 90 minutes.

4 stars (out of 5)

Kapp to Cape

A documentary following a couple of friends who ride their bikes from the northern tip of Norway to Cape Town. They are trying to do it in world record time (something like 100 days). Maybe what makes this enjoyable is the fact that they don't dwell on the trauma of riding so many miles. Instead, they are meeting people, enjoying scenery and encountering the difficulties of bike travel in general. The visuals were striking, particularly Ethiopia and Northern Iran, before either got into desert. Very different scenery than my mental stereotypes expected.

3 stars (out of 5)

Safety to Nome

 This documentary follows the athletes who embark on a 1000 mile cross Alaskan trek (from Safety, Alaska to Nome). They can choose to either walk, ski or bike. This doc follows the bikers and, like the EcoChallenge, there are no rest areas etc. Each racer can choose to go 24 hours straight if they like. It is brutal and grand all at the same time. At just under 90 minutes, it is also the perfect length to get to know and understand the racers and journey, without getting bored by a 6 episode series. Fascinating what these extreme athletes will do.

4 stars (out of 5)

Break Free: 2 People, 2 Years, 1 Goal

 This documentary is really an extended vlog of a german couple who, starting in Morocco, plan to travel down the west coast of Africa to South Africa. The woman has some prior connection to western Africa that is never really clarified, and her boyfriend is along for the ride. This is particularly interesting as the travel through these countries are not the typical "tourist Africa" destinations. The couple is really interested in immersion into culture and meeting and learning about people, not just putting on miles. So as they travel, they spend 6 weeks or 8 weeks "pausing" in different locations as the situation warrants. They communicate a lot of the difficulty of approaching a trip like this with a western mentality, exposing it for the limitations it brings. It is an different insight into cultures and people than I have seen before. Well done.

4 stars (out of 5)

World's Toughest Race

 A reality series based on the Eco-challenge 2017 race in Fiji. This is a nearly 700 km adventure race where teams of 4 paddle, hike, bike, climb, sail, swim, etc. across Fiji. For the elite teams, the race is continuous with racing happening nearly 24 hours continuously, finishing the entire race in 6 days. For the other teams, the narrative is that these are "regular people", but 2/3 of the teams finish in less than the limit of 11 days and they are not "regular people". This is an extreme race and it is fun to watch. 

3 stars (out of 5)

Magic & Bird: A courtship of rivals

The HBO Sports documentary tracing the relationship between these two legends from highschool through the Olympics in Barcelona. An outstanding inside look that really illuminates the personalities and playing styles of each man, and gives two very different approaches to competition. Both protagonists participated in extensive interviews, filling out the details of a story that was part of my introduction to fandom. 

5 stars (out of 5)

Women of Troy

An HBO Sports documentary about the early 80's USC Trojan women's basketball team centered on Cheryl Miller. And more broadly, this tells the story of the development of the women's game referencing the earliest transition to full court and first dynasty (The Mighty Macs) to the development of the WNBA. This doc argues that it was Cheryl Miller and her athleticism and competitive fire that began to turn the tide for the sport. 

4 stars (out of 5)

Winged Migration

I believe this was mostly filmed via bird shaped drone back in 2001. It is some astounding footage following migrating birds. But it really plays as an extended screensaver video. For the 90 minute run time, I need more content to go along with my astounding footage.
2 stars (out of 5)

Long Way Round (Serial)

Ewan McGregor and his buddy Charlie Boorman conspire to take a motorcycle trip around the planet. Well, London to New York -- through Europe, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Siberia, Canada, U.S. This is an 11 episode series, and probably 6 of them are really good. The introductory stuff is boring but necessary, Europe is unnecessary. Asia is fascinating, both in terms of scenery and in terms of travelogue. U.S./Canada unnecessary. But of course, you can't just skip most of the way around for the fun parts. The two travelers have a chemistry and innocence and sense of wonder at what they are doing to make this really fun to watch. Well done.
5 stars (out of 5)

also watch Long Way Down (London to Cape Town) and I've heard Long Way Up (Patagonia to Canada) is now filming.

Slingshot

Everyone has heard of the Segway. No one has heard of Dean Kaman, the inventor of the Segway. But this documentary about him is astounding. This guy is a prolific inventor and problem solver. He is an inspiration for thinking about problems differently, for solving the root of the problem instead of developing solutions for symptoms. He is an odd guy, but look at his list: portable dialysis, insulin pump, segway, stair climbing wheelchair, FIRST robotics, water purification, Coke dispenser. The doc also does a pretty good job of showing the difficulties and complexities of product development. Well worth it.
4 stars (out of 5)

RBG

Documentary portrayal of the rise of Ruth Bader Ginsburg into the Supreme Court Justice and popular icon that she is today. Interesting review of her early career showing the development of her legal identity and how that has carried into her decisions on the bench. Looking forward to the biopic version of her earlier life On the Basis of Sex.
5 stars (out of 5)

Pick of the Litter

Documentary following a 5 dog litter of labs born into the Guide Dogs for the Blind program. We follow the five dogs through initial placement and socialization and eventual training. Really a fascinating process both for the dogs and the various trainers/host families in terms of how to bond with a dog and yet not bond too much. Interesting, but not astounding.
3 stars (out of 5)

Won't you be my Neighbor?

The massively well reviewed documentary about Fred Rogers and his Neighborhood TV show. This was masterfully done: factually informative, revealing of the person of Fred Rogers, and revealing of the culture he was living in and speaking to. He really was a revolutionary in many ways, and this is worth watching to see one man's idea about how culture can be changed.
5 stars (out of 5)

It Might Get Loud

Rewatched this doc  and liked it again, maybe even more. Three guitarists getting together to be musicians. This time my favorite scenes were watching the three lean in and watch the others when they were playing. The pure joy of musicianship is evident.

5 stars (out of 5)