Documenteers: The Documentary Podcast

Devil In A Blue Dress (1995) by Bob Sham & Friends

This month we’re excited to analyze the films in our January theme of PORTRAITS OF THE ARTISTS. In this theme we will be discussing the films of two major black leading men in film. For our Monday classics we will be exploring the films of Paul Robeson, an actor and activist who would be an outlier in any era of film. The title of our theme is inspired from the Criterion Collection’s Paul Robeson set titled “Portraits of the Artist”. For our first discussion in this New Year of MOVIEHUMPERS, we’re going to explore an important root in film history with an early work by the prolific pioneering director, Oscar Micheaux. Religion gets a little dragged as a crooked and fraudulent reverend (played by Paul Robeson) has connived his way into women and money in the small town of Tatesville. Isabella’s mother wont let her marry the nerdy ass inventor, Sylvester (also played by Paul Robeson) because she’s gotta marry the evil faux reverend. Some great characters in a fairly strange story with an early appearance of a certain film trope. Oscar Micheaux certainly has plenty to say with his 1925 silent film “BODY AND SOUL”, which you can find easily on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-A9alUp1pa8 Check out some history and hear our take on it. This is just the beginning of our talks on Paul Robeson and there is LOTS of Denzel Washington to pair with it.

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It’s been 20 years since Richard Curtis dropped “LOVE ACTUALLY” on our nutsacks and this holiday romantic comedy remains prolific. As lauded as it is critiqued. It seems like this UK ensemble movie may never leave the zeitgeist of Holiday hits. It’s here to stay. A tangential web of romance and sad attempts at romance. It has its ups and downs. “Love, Actually” is like a pie but you see that all the pieces are cut and each individual piece is its own flavor. There are a couple of pieces that are very good. Surprisingly good. A few pieces are fine. Typical of what they are but not bad. Then there’s a piece that seems like apple but tastes like they put anise in it so it’s kind of weird. Then you get to that one piece that you think is fudge but SURPRISE that piece is actually made of cat shit. “Love Actually” is that pie but how does the overall depth of the drama and comedy hold the film together? Bill Nighy, Hugh Grant, Laura Linney, Emma Thompson, Liam Neeson, Alan Rickman, Colin Firth, Keira Knightly. That’s only about a quarter of the full cast. Hear us out in the final episode of our inaugural year of MOVIEHUMPERS. Thank you so much for hanging out with us. January is around the corner and we will be discussing the films of Denzel Washington and Paul Robeson. Until then, let’s hit you with it one last time in type, HAPPY NEW YEAR AND DEATH TO ALL TRAITORS.

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The Iron Claw (2023) by Bob Sham & Friends

MERRY CHRISTMAS! It’s that one and only day. Seems like people are mad as hell leading up to this day and can’t drive for shit but once the day gets here then it all feels all right. We culminate in our theme of THE MOST WONDERFUL TIME OF THE YEAR with this ultimate Christmas Classic. Some might say that having this movie as your favorite Christmas movie is perhaps typical. Cliche. But it’s much more typical to proclaim it as typical because this is one of the most anti-cynical movies ever made. It wasn’t even a hit in its time. Not until around the 70s did it truly become iconic holiday fare. It’s a heavy hitter that stands the test of time for a reason. Of course, we’re talking about Frank Capra’s 1946 classic “It’s A Wonderful Life” starring Jimmy Stewart, Donna Reed, Lionel Barrymore & Henry Travers. Bob & Angela actually saw it in the theater as is the annual tradition of the Belcourt to show it during this time every year. There’s not much more you can say about it (we still say a lot) but maybe we can inspire you to relive it if it’s been a minute. Y’know we get choked up. Merry Christmas and a Happy New year.

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It’s THE MOST WONDERFUL TIME OF THE YEAR and for the tail end of the loaded week we’re presenting you a special episode for our last episode before Christmas. You didn’t really think we would go through this month without hitting up some HALLMARK CHRISTMAS SELECTIONS did you? When we come for Hallmark we gotta go to the queen. Nah, fam. We ain’t talking about that uptight Candice Cameron Bure. No we’re doing the Holidays right with “Party of 5” and “Mean Girls” alum, LACEY CHABERT. We’re hitting up another 6 pack and it’s all Lacey Chabert Hallmark Christmas movies. Relationships fail and spring anew. Jobs keep you busy until they don’t. Mistletoe smooches? Plenty. White dudes that all kind of look the same? Of course! Single parents? A couple. Ridiculous conflicts that feel forced? Just about all of them. CHRISTMAS CHEER????? COMING OUT OF EVERY GODDAMN ORIFICE! We’re talking “Christmas in Rome” from 2019, “Christmas Waltz” from 2020, “Pride, Prejudice and Mistletoe” from 2018, “The Sweetest Christmas” from 2017, “A Wish for Christmas” from 2016 and “A Christmas Melody” from 2015. That last one is directed by Mariah Carey but don’t get too excited. Half of these aren’t bad but that one is rough. Not because of Lacey Chabert. No way. She’s a perfect snow angel. You better not “Chablow” it because when it comes to Christmas, Lacey Chabert is going to “Chabring” it. Grab some pie and hear us out. Don’t make us HO HO HOLD you to it. ROFLMAO we’re totaled Hallmarked now. No going back. Never in my life have I had a roasted chestnut. Never. I didn’t even know they were actually nuts. I thought it was slang for boobies. 

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It’s THE MOST WONDERFUL TIME OF THE YEAR! Get out that eggnog, stoke the fire, put on that cozy sweater because we’re all going to watch a movie that will bring the whole family together. Of course we’re talking about the 1999 Stanley Kubrick Christmas Classic “EYES WIDE SHUT” starring Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman. This “erotic” thriller didn’t really chub us out. Beautiful but cold. A jealous cold. Stanley Kubrick passed away just a few days after screening it which lends a little bit of mystery to this strange movie. It also features the tamest illuminati orgy you’ve ever seen. Like, seriously, if they just let Dr. Bill go and he went to the police, what would he say? “A bunch of men in masks and cloaks were having consensual sex with women in masks”? There would have been nothing they could do. Were any visible laws even broken? They didn’t need to kill that lady at all. The man who invented the moon landing couldn’t go harder than this? You know these sick fucks are doing shit that you truly wouldn’t want to watch. But they did kill a girl. Maybe. I think the illuminati got ahold of Angela, actually. She seems to downplay their capabilities in this episode. Did they get to her? Is she one of them? What the hell is going on here? Is this entire YouTube/Podcast channel some kind of cover for dark elitist rituals??? Who am I? Who are you? Do you think that sailor is cute? Merry Christmas.

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There are some good looking movies coming out at the end of this year and they’re not disappointing. We knew long ago that we were going to be watching Yorgos Lanthimos’s newest surreal comedy “Poor Things” starring Emma Stone, Mark Ruffalo, Willem Dafoe, Ramy Youssef & Jerrod Carmichael. We got a little bit of Frankenstein, some philosophical feminine and a “coming of life” story. Also, it’s steampunk. It’s surprisingly not as lame as you might think based on the word “steampunk’ but who doesn’t like stove pipe hats and telescope glasses and…what else is steam punk….air ships? Robots with handlebar mustaches? Ok, there are no robots with handlebar mustaches. Thank goodness. It’s just another strange and unique world full of fucking to behold from Yorgos Lanthimos and it doesn’t disappoint. Hear us tell of it.

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It’s THE MOST WONDERFUL TIME OF THE YEAR and we’re putting some extra movies in your stocking this week leading up to Christmas and we’re discussing a modern Christmas comedy hit that’s a pretty good movie to watch if you’re not really a big fan of Christmas. There’s, maybe, only one truly good person in this movie and his name is Thurman Merman. Everybody else from the derelict Santa and the homicidal dwarf to the everyday people we briefly interact with, most everyone in this movie is pretty insufferable. Crude but relatable, we sit down and discuss Terry Zwigoff’s (Crumb, Ghost World, Art School Confidential) most successful movie to date, “BAD SANTA” from 2003 starring Billy Bob Thornton, Tony Cox, John Ritter in his last performance, the late Bernie Mac and prime Lauren Graham. A couple of cons plot to play Santa and rob a store like they do every year, but the one playing Santa is a complete mess. He’s a Bad Santa who cons himself into the heart of a young, awkward boy, who gives him a purpose that involves attacking teenagers. It’s better than pissing yourself or running your car in the garage with a hose going from your exhaust to the driver’s seat. A crude embellishment with a pinch of heartfelt sincerity. Kind of like me.

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Going through some bonafide Christmas Classics every Monday and todays discussion is about a movie that might be slightly lesser known than the other vintage choices we discuss but no less full of seasonal joy. We’re talking about Roy Del Ruth’s Christmas comedy classic “It Happened on 5th Avenue” starring Victor Moore, Don DeFore & Gale Storm. Bonafide Hobo King, Aloysius T. McKeever, lives in the 5th Avenue mansion of the second richest man in the world when he leaves for Virginia every winter. There’s also a very relatable housing crisis going on that leads to homeless veteran Jim Bullock staying at the mansion as well. Then the millionaires daughter shows up and then the millionaire and from here things are, admittedly, contrived if not completely absurd but the movie’s comedy timing and one-liners manage to keep it going. But not without a hefty share of good will towards men. It's nuts, maybe slightly radical, and definitely not an accurate depiction of the charity of the ultra wealthy but it’s a worthy holiday comedic fantasy nonetheless.

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

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