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Documentary Thread #2


Egg Shen

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  • 1 month later...
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I watched They Shall Not Grow Old on Sunday night. What an incredible piece of film.

There's no invention, just voice overs from ex-soliders recorded in the 1960s, plus acres of footage from all over the conflict. 

From a technical perspective it's a masterpiece. When the transition to colour and proper 24 frames happens it is jaw dropping. I knew it was coming and I was speechless. It's so good, it's worth watching for the work here alone. 

But the stories are as dreadful as you imagine. With images to match. And yet I still can't believe how young these lot are. And lied to be there, it's truly staggering. "I'm 15 sir." "Did you say 19?" "Yes sir". If you know any teenagers try and imagine shipping them off to a mudslide in Belgium. Or even them clamouring to get there. It's completely unfathomable.

The 'narrative' follows soldiers only and their routine so has a very personal feel to it. 

An outstanding film I can't say enough good things about. Essential viewing. 

Excellent interview with Peter Jackson here:

 

And you can watch the whole thing on iPlayer here. It's only available for a week.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b0brzkzx/they-shall-not-grow-old

Edited by Onyx2
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Cheers for that, johnnybody.

I went to see it at the cinema a couple of weeks ago and was really amazed at how good it was. For all the grim elements of the film (and yes, it shows you war in all it's horror), I was won over by the charm and humour shown by a lot of the men speaking. Of course, as we ramp up to the No Man's Land part you're fearful for them and Jackson honours them all by crafting that part brilliantly.

Edited by ColinBollocks
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Bros: When The Screaming Stops

Undoubtedly the TV highlight of the festive period, and an instant quotable classic (conkers, the bath, Genesis of worlds)

Luke seems like a fairly decent lad whilst Matt is the Brent like egotist who comes out with the gold. 

The only memory I have of Bros is being sat in a car with my dad outside Wembley whilst my Mum and sisters attended their concert, only to come home to find our we’d been burgled and the only thing they’d knicked was the hi fi and my Mums underwear drawer.

This doc has gone a long way to repair that damaged memory. ******

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6 hours ago, SuperBacon said:

Bros: When The Screaming Stops

Undoubtedly the TV highlight of the festive period, and an instant quotable classic (conkers, the bath, Genesis of worlds)

Luke seems like a fairly decent lad whilst Matt is the Brent like egotist who comes out with the gold. 

The only memory I have of Bros is being sat in a car with my dad outside Wembley whilst my Mum and sisters attended their concert, only to come home to find our we’d been burgled and the only thing they’d knicked was the hi fi and my Mums underwear drawer.

This doc has gone a long way to repair that damaged memory. ******

It was a fantastic watch. I remember Bros being big, but it really does bring back how huge they were. Also, I always thought they were tallentless and only got signed because of how they looked, but there was some talent there.

Edited by Cod Eye
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Spotify pronounces it as Russo would. 

Watched the Bros doc last night. What a hoot! Not quite as Spinal Tappy as I was led to believe but Matt still has this fantastic bubble around him that is a marvel. My favourite line was (talking about tough rehearsals for an imminent gig) "Rome wasn't built in a day, and I can believe that. We don't have as much time as Rome though." 

When the brothers fight it's tooth and claw, uncomfortable stuff. 

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The way they argue is so bizarre. It's probably because they have that weird twin-connection thing going on but neither of them seem to be making any point and they're both apologising and being nice to the other but in a really angry way. It's like they're both arguing the same point.

I felt sorry for Luke though. All he wanted to do was try that bit of the song with the keys coming in a couple of bars earlier this time just to see how it sounded. But that part when Matt asked him to try a drum fill, but Luke said it sounded like a terrible idea, so he said to try a Led Zep style one and Luke said "that's sounds great because Led Zeppelin are actually one of my biggest influences". He was one quick look at the camera away from full on David Brent.

This review of the gig is quite a good read too: https://www.theguardian.com/music/2017/aug/20/bros-review-not-quite-pops-biggest-ever-reunion

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