Documenteers: The Documentary Podcast

Our theme: PORTRAITS OF THE ARTISTS examines two significant black leading men from both ends of film history but just go ahead and call it DENZEL MONTH. We finally get to a Tony Scott film today. This over stylized, overwrought, over cooked hard action thriller is a wild ride that feels like it gets away with some goofy shit. Deceptively slow and visually rapid. Cuts like crazy and some very memorable torture scenes. Yeah, dude, what else could we be talking about other than the 2004 Tony Scott escapade of destruction “MAN ON FIRE” starring our guy Denzel Washington, Dakota Fanning, Christopher Walken and Marc Anthony? The bullet never lies. Revenge is a meal best eaten cold. You have a bomb up your ass. This and many more gems in this wild, early post 9-11, feature. Revel in the torture. SOAK IN IT!!!Denzel and Dakota’s friendship actually feels genuine. Wow, that Denzel Washington is pretty good at this gig.

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Our OG podcast “Documenteers”: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/documenteers-the-documentary-podcast/id1321652249

Soundcloud feed: https://soundcloud.com/documenteers

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This month’s theme of PORTRAITS OF THE ARTISTS digs us deeper into the film history of Paul Robeson. Soured greatly on the post-production outcome of his previous British film, “Sanders of the River”, Robeson asserted more creative control for his follow up feature “JERICHO” from 1937. Directed by Thornton Freeland. Robeson stars as Jericho Jackson, a U.S. soldier in WW1 who accidentally kills a commanding officer while rescuing some of his fellow soldiers. He jets off on a stolen boat with a snappy AWOL American to a North African desert scape where they help a small village prosper. “JERICHO”, like many Robeson features are deep cut in the greater film zeitgeist and yet often feature certain representative traits that just might symbolize several firsts for the history of cinema and African American History itself. Also, you know my man is in this picture soothing those desert hotties with his warm baritone from atop the tallest sand dunes. He’s pulling Sudanese Princesses up in this piece and his wisecracking white sidekick is off tending to the camels. That’s shit you don’t even see today. Camels are fun to look at. Here’s the movie: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7xwKPeyfuwg

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Our OG podcast “Documenteers”: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/documenteers-the-documentary-podcast/id1321652249

Soundcloud feed: https://soundcloud.com/documenteers

Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/culturewrought

This month’s theme is called PORTRAITS OF THE ARTISTS but we understand if you want to call it DENZEL MONTH because that’s mostly what it is. We’re capping off this week’s selections of lead characters holding power with the most recent film in our Denzel celebration. We’re talking about Joel Coen’s 2021 adaptation of Macbeth called “THE TRAGEDY OF MACBETH” and it looks pretty amazing. It stars Denzel Washington, Frances MacDormand (sorry we misspelled your name on the scroll), Kathryn Hunter & Brendan Gleeson. It was a film made on a soundstage, delayed by pandemic and had a limited theatrical release that is only streamable on Apple Plus or TV or whatever the shit it’s called. I’m gonna put all these streaming services into one bigger service and call it “cable”. That’s my modern dad joke. I’m not a father but your mom calls me “daddy” every night. Stars hide your fires, let not light see my black and deep desires. Out you goddamn spot. Fley-Hive rise up.

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Our OG podcast “Documenteers”: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/documenteers-the-documentary-podcast/id1321652249

Soundcloud feed: https://soundcloud.com/documenteers

Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/culturewrought

American Gangster by Bob Sham & Friends

January’s theme of PORTRAITS OF THE ARTISTS has us examining some of the works of two major black leading men in film and our Monday classic selections revolve around a man that would be ahead of his time at any time, Paul Robeson. We’ve seen him silent and now it’s time for the talkies as Paul Robeson plays the lead character of Brutus Jones in Dudley Murphy’s 1933 adaptation of the Eugene O’Neil play “THE EMPEROR JONES”. Jones hits some ups and downs and finds himself a crafty little despot on a small Caribbean island but getting power and keeping it are two different things. Featuring, for the first time this month, is Paul Robeson doing what he was very famous for doing. Singing. It’s pretty nice. We watched an excellent remaster from the Robeson Criterion collection (the title of that is what we named this month’s theme after) but there are other free versions online that you can find such as right here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=suYeWvhFxwQ

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Our OG podcast “Documenteers”: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/documenteers-the-documentary-podcast/id1321652249

Soundcloud feed: https://soundcloud.com/documenteers

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We end week two of our PORTRAITS OF THE ARTISTS theme with a rare romance in the Denzel Washington oeuvre. Is it getting hot in here or is it just this muggy Mississippi atmosphere because I am totally chubbing out. We discussed Mira Nair’s hidden gem of ethnic culture clash from 1991, “MISSISSIPPI MASALA” starring Denzel Washington, Sarita Choudhury, Roshan Seth & Charles S. Dutton. Not only will this movie chub you out but it will also educated you about the history of Ugandan Indians and their migration to middle of nowhere Mississippi. Indian and black culture come together as hotel employee Mira falls for a hunky carpet cleaner named Demetrius. It doesn’t all go smoothly but after watching this one you might feel a little robbed that we so rarely get to see Denzel romancing the bone. It’s a very sharp and character rich romance and you can actually watch this hidden gem at this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jHQrw_s28qA So click that link and hit play on that and prepare to be chubbed and charmed.

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Our OG podcast “Documenteers”: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/documenteers-the-documentary-podcast/id1321652249

Soundcloud feed: https://soundcloud.com/documenteers

Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/culturewrought

This month’s theme of PORTRAITS OF THE ARTISTS has us examining two distinct black leading men from across the history of film but you can also just call it DENZEL MONTH because most of what we are discussing stars Denzel Washington and we can’t do a Denzel month without a Spike Lee project so why not go with his ambitious and engrossing 1992 biopic “Malcolm X”. Denzel plays the iconic historical figure who turned into a spokesman for black nationalism and pan-africanism who was shot down by the religious and political institution he helped lift up. Denzel Washington has a classic leading man style that sets him apart from other actors but this may be his most embodied and methodical performance in his career. At least it felt that way. He is an actor after all. Love and Race is this week’s sub theme and with love also comes great tragedy. It’s easy to be lost between the truth and the performance in this film and it would seem the most notable difference would be the direct omission of Louis Farrakhan who, allegedly, made threats on Spike when he was making this movie. Baines seems to be the amalgam that holds pieces of the things that are missing. As usual, the truth may be darker. We gotta bring those zoot suits back in style.

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Our OG podcast “Documenteers”: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/documenteers-the-documentary-podcast/id1321652249

Soundcloud feed: https://soundcloud.com/documenteers

Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/culturewrought

“WOOF” that’s what we said after we watched 2021’s “Clifford the Big Red Dog” directed by Walt Becker. “OOF” is the feeling of trying to discuss it. That’s the risk you take when you decide to randomly generate movie titles for specific content. Yes, two months ago “Clifford” came up in a random generator and here it is wedged between Paul Robeson and Denzel Washington movies. Nobody is making us do it but we have this compulsion and it sure as hell won’t blow the doors off. We all know about the Big Red Dog named Clifford. There is cuteness here. No doubt. Formulaic as hell? It’s practically a Hallmark movie. I think fuckin’ ChatGPT will be scripting kids movies soon and it will probably hit this exact tone and structure with the speech at the end. Continuity buffs are gonna be PEYISSED when they find out that this movie is set in New York City as opposed to Birdwell Island like in the books. It’s never as good as the book, is it? This dog would accidentally kill people in such a dense population area. They need a sequel where Clifford accidentally crushed someone to death as well as a pooping scene. God help us we randomly generate another movie to review at the end of this episode.

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Our OG podcast “Documenteers”: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/documenteers-the-documentary-podcast/id1321652249

Soundcloud feed: https://soundcloud.com/documenteers

Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/culturewrought

This month’s theme is “PORTRAITS OF THE ARTISTS” where we analyze selections from the careers of two, distinct, leading black men from film history. Our classic selections are devoted to the one and only PAUL ROBESON. We delve into another silent film from 1930 with strong modernist influence that was made in Switzerland. Paul acts alongside his wife, Eslanda, whose character had an affair with a shitty little white dude named Thorne who is literally played by Chester A. Arthur’s grandson. Some fresh techniques, unique camera angles and lesbian bartenders set this 1930s silent “art film” ahead of its time by several decades. The historic significance definitely helps the overwrought drag that occurs mid-movie but Paul Robeson certainly stands out much more breathlessly than his bohemian writer and musician co-stars. Lost until the 80s, Kenneth Macpherson’s “BORDERLINE” from 1930 is a must see for folks interested in film history and Paul Robeson. You can find it right here: https://youtu.be/VmP1A8IvwB4?si=qrDkzzz0Os3BmJuW Be a nerd and go learn something because we got a special drop tomorrow that’s gonna dumb everything down.

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Our OG podcast “Documenteers”: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/documenteers-the-documentary-podcast/id1321652249

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January’s theme is “PORTRAITS OF THE ARTISTS” where we analyze the works of two major black leading men and a lot of this month is devoted to DENZEL WASHINGTON. Today’s discussion is a bit of casting and franchising genius as Denzel gets to essentially be a superhero without the costume and green screen. Antoine Fuqua and Denzel Washington plucked a deep cut TV series and turned it into a box office action success. This one is for the grandads who imagine themselves being badass in a Home Depot. Bob has a mysterious past, a built in detective mode in his mind and he made friends with a sex-trafficked Chloe Grace Moretz so, of course, he has to kill a bunch of people. Russians in particular. We’re talking about THE EQUALIZER from 2014 and now they’re on the third one. The things he can do with a nail gun and a shot glass are a trip. Denzel pulls out “franchise action star” later in his career and it’s pretty impressive even if some of the story feels a wee bit overbaked.

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Our OG podcast “Documenteers”: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/documenteers-the-documentary-podcast/id1321652249

Soundcloud feed: https://soundcloud.com/documenteers

Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/culturewrought