MamaPop™

Awesome Documentaries about Very Specific Things

Because I am a frazzled working mom, I'm often way behind on seeing movies with smaller releases. This obviously applies to documentaries since I'm not in a huge release market and these things tend to fly through theaters anyway.

Thankfully, Netflix (and other such services) exist, so I'm able to catch up on some of the awesome stuff that I miss. Most recently, I rented and adored two documentaries that are about subjects so very micro that they're almost ridiculous: Helvetica (the font) and Donkey Kong.

The National Parks. Not America's Best Idea, but, Definitely Not the Worst

September came and went without too much Pomp and Circumstance.  There were Things, I reckon.  There was the whole Kanye debacle.  We're still milking that bad-boy for all it's worth.  We're deep in the throws of the NFL and collegiate football.  *yawn*.  What?  Don't judge me.  Just because I like my Football to be of the European variety.  After all, it takes different strokes to move the world.

You know what curled my toes about September?  PBS.

I know, I know.  Does anyone under the age of 60 even watch PBS?  Not usually. 

Brick City Might Just Punch You in the Gut

The Sundance Channel has something really special, powerful, and moving that you need to check out if you can. It's called Brick City.

Brick City is the nickname for Newark, New Jersey. Like many American cities, Newark has experienced decades of decline, but is ready for rebirth. This rebirth comes from the people who live and die in Newark and Brick City follows their struggles and triumphs over five hour-long episodes, filmed during the summer of 2008.

Hard Knocks: Or, Why I Now Care About Cincinnati For The First Time Since WKRP Was Cancelled

There's a reason HBO is an essential part of modern life: because they consistently produce some of the most compelling television on television. If you've read this site before - like, uh... ever - you're well aware that Team MamaPop brings some big love to the good people at HBO with great regularity, notwithstanding the current inexplicable infatuation with rovampic melodrama.

Their expertise extends beyond fiction, however — as the just-started new season of Hard Knocks makes abundantly clear. As has been the case in previous seasons, this five-week documentary follows the strange and immensely fascinating world of preseason NFL training camps in a unique marriage of documentary, reality TV and sports drama that transcends the appeal of professional football to create a truly compelling on-screen experience.

Catelynn's Story: An Interview With One Of MTV's "16 and Pregnant" Teens

Last week, I wrote about MTV's show 16 and Pregnant. I talked about how, as someone who had a baby at a relatively young age, I related very much to the young parents featured on the show and that I thought that MTV made every effort to present the parents and the larger issue of teen pregnancy in a mature, realistic, non-judgmental, and responsible way.
The final episode of the series will air tomorrow night and follows a young Michigan woman named Catelynn. Her story differs from those of the other mothers on the show because she decides to give her baby up for adoption. As we see in the preview, her reasons are pretty simple: the adoptive couple can provide for the baby better than she can and Catelynn simply wants her daughter to have better than what she did.

I had the opportunity to speak with Catelynn yesterday. She is now 17 and her baby, who is now 8 weeks old, is doing well with her adoptive family.

The Test Is Positive: I'm Addicted to 16 and Pregnant

When I first heard about MTV's new show, 16 and Pregnant, I cringed a little. In my opinion, MTV is not exactly a somber source for commentary on social issues, at least not lately. Think back to the first season of The Real World, when the cast members discussed things like finding a job, being young and broke, race, sexuality, AIDS, politics. More recent seasons have found the cast members discussing pressing issues like hot tubs, alcohol, and being a bitch.
I really did not want to see some sensationalized, Springer-esque depiction of teen pregnancy.

David Lynch's Interview Project

I love David Lynch's work and the reason might scare you a little bit, but here it goes: his movies (and TV show) are one of the most accurate depictions of life I've ever seen. I don't mean that, on a day-to-day basis, dwarves regularly speak backwards to me or that my husband has the potty mouth of Frank Booth. But just in general, when I stop and look around and actually observe what's going on, things feel really weird most of the time and I think David Lynch gets that.

Bikinis and Zombies Go Together like...

I love to support independent films and sure other people might call me a hero, and I would totally understand why, but I'm not in this for the glory, I'm in it for the fortune, obviously... so here's the point...ready? The first full trailer for Oneechanbara Vortex has been released and it looks to have captured the subtle eroticism and hidden mystique of the first two Oneechanbara films with aplomb. The carefully interwoven narrative that accentuates the inherent beauty of female bonding and camaraderie coupled with the nuanced social commentary in which Japan analyzes how it's zombie-filled future will mesh with it's feudal past. It is a hard-cutting investigation into how dressing in a sailor suit is the best possible solution to any problem.

Or maybe it's a bunch of scantily clad Asian women chopping up zombies with samurai swords. And if you think that's gross and sexist, than you are probably a racist, and everyone knows that racism is way worse than alleged sexism that you can't even prove, and also I bet you hate foreign films because you don't like to read subtitles and maybe you should just go home and watch a Larry The Cable Guy Movie instead. What? I'm not being defensive. YOU'RE being defensive.

This Post is About a Stripper in a Video

Okay, now that I've got your attention, this is really about a woman who goes to her high school reunion.  Feeling a little tricked?  Think how that woman's classmates must feel, since she actually sent a stripper in her place and then got the whole thing on tape. Alright, you got your stripper and your video so quit yer whining.

Growing up in the wealthy enclave of Palos Verdes in Southern California, Andrea Wachner, a drama student, always felt out of place among the BMW and Mercedes crowd and was not looking forward to her 10-year reunion. So she sent tattooed, fishnet-wearing exotic dancer Cricket to pose as her. Wachner rented a hotel room directly above the ballroom where the reunion was taking place and she fed information to Cricket through an earpiece. The whole thing was filmed as part of Wachner’s documentary, “I Remember Andrea.”  Stay tuned for the documentary being made by her duped former classmates, “I Fucking Hate Andrea.”

'Grey Gardens' Trailer Has Me Feeling Cautiously Optimistic

For what seems like years, Drew Barrymore and Jessica Lange have been working on Grey Gardens, an HBO movie about Edith and Little Edie Beale,  the subjects of the 1973 documentary cult classic of the same name. I have loved almost every HBO film I've seen, finding them all extremely well cast and well executed.  Even so, I have to admit I cringed and gnashed my teeth when I heard about this one.

It wasn't that I was worried about HBO "ruining" a good movie. The 1973 documentary, which I adore with all of my heart (yet another fact that probably confirms I am actually a gay man trapped in a woman's body), is an entirely different kind of film than this biopic, which recreates scenes from the doc, but focuses far more on the decades leading up to it. No, my concern was with the casting of Drew Barrymore, who seems like a very sweet girl, but who is not exactly Meryl Streep, if you catch my drift.

The full-length trailer, however, has me feeling less apprehensive:

Spinal Tap Goes To 30. (Cities, That Is.)

And this is the reason we have a category here called Things That Are Awesome. Christopher Guest, Harry Shearer and Michael McKean are heading out on a six-week, 30-city tour -- playing revamped tunes from This Is Spinal Tap and A Mighty Wind. (Sadly, Catherine O'Hara and Eugene Levy aren't involved, so no '"God Loves a Terrier" from Best In Show.)

Unwigged & Unplugged will be a stripped-down, mostly acoustic (duh) and costume-less kind of thing, and while I am sure it will be awesome, I admit I was disappointed to hear that there won't even be one tiny little 18-inch Stonehenge on stage with them. Perhaps there were more napkin-related misunderstandings.

The More You Know: Surprise! Pete Doherty's House Is Just As Big Of A Mess As He Is

I guess this isn't terribly surprising really, though it's certainly a bit shocking: Pete Doherty, aka our generations poor excuse for a Keith Richards, recently proved just how little sense he has by letting an MTV camera crew into his dilapadated crack house of a home. Hilarity does not ensue.

In Defense of Nancy Spungen - 30 Years Later

Most people remember Nancy Spungen, the doomed, peroxided lover of Sid Vicious, as Chloe Webb portrayed her in the movie Sid and Nancy. Staggering, stoned, and shrieking "SIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIID!" as she trips down the sidewalk. She has been portrayed as punk rock's Yoko Ono; the destructive force behind The Sex Pistols' ultimate failure and Vicious's death a mere four months after he confessed to stabbing Nancy and passing out from barbiturates, leaving her to bleed to death on a bathroom floor in the Chelsea Hotel 30 years ago this month.

But is this a fair portrayal of the 20 year old groupie? Was Nancy simply a strong, outspoken girl who didn't fit in to the punk scene and was therefore reviled? And more fascinating still...Did Sid really kill her?

Gwyneth Paltrow and I Have At Least One Thing in Common

I just got back from a long weekend in Toronto where I spent four days eating, sleeping and playing with my beautiful two-year-old nephew. I also read through roughly 15 magazines on both the flights up and back, which may be the only perk of flying: guiltlessly buying ridiculously priced magazines to read to pass the time. One magazine I picked up was the October issue of "O." In the issue, an article on an upcoming PBS show, "Spain ... on the Road Again" was highlighted. This show will chronicle the travels of Oscar-winner Gwyneth Paltrow and her dear friend, Iron Chef's Mario Batali, around Spain as they enjoy Spanish food, culture and wine. In addition to the October-issue feature, both Gwyneth and Mario will be on Wednesday's (9/17) episode of Oprah, discussing the PBS program, their food philosophies and how Gwyneth could possibly eat her way through Spain and still look red-carpet perfect.

Stuff To Watch: American Cannibal

I stumbled across this documentary, "American Cannibal" (which is now out on DVD and on premium cable, tell your friends), the other day and had to do a double take -- for my eyes could not believe The Unholy Awesome.

Reality TV meets Cannibalism. It's a match made in ratings heaven, right?