|
Trainwreck: Woodstock ’99 2022 ★★★★
This review may contain spoilers.
Netflix documentaries sometimes get a bad rep. This one has its flaws too, but it's certainly worth watching.
Over the course of three episodes, you get a detailed image of what went wrong in the months leading up to Woodstock and the climax at the festival itself.
The seeds were planted in the aftermath of Woodstock 94 and the days leading up to Woodstock 99. 94 did not make enough money, so they wanted 99 to compensate for that by cutting costs and maximizing profits. To subcontractors who inevitably did not deliver. Who woulda thunk it?
This leads to the type of price gouging and bad service that only served to (further) infuriate the crowd.
A crowd that over the course of the festival became
- drugged up
- dehydrated
- undershadowed - is that a word?/sunburnt
- taken for a ride (and not in a good way)
Agression released by Limp Bizkit, escalating in a night of debauchery, a lot of consensual sex, and a lot of non consensual sex. The security was a joke (because of course, cost cutting), so nobody had the authority to stop it.
And then the third day. Between an in hindsight infuriating press conference (everything is well Madame Marquis), the infected water, a surprise super headliner who was not there,... And the candles... Oh my goodness, the candles,... As well intentioned as it may have been... if the organisation had any idea of what was going on in the field, they would have realized the boneheaded nature of this idea. The saddest part is that, at first, it seems to go well. But then of course all hell breaks loose. And then a celebration of peace and love ends with the organisation barricading their own offices and having to call in the goddamn national guard.
The musicians only get a short bit of speaking time and only Fatboy Slim does a bit of introspection. Jonathan Davis is right about security, but how much has he reflected on his own part in all of this? And where was Fred Durst? Why did this tough guy nu metal rapper did not have the time or courage to answer a few tough questions?
Sadly, the people in the organisation rarely show any intropsection themselves or admit much guilt to what happened.
The only silver lining is that some of the women in the documentary credited the events for planting the seed of ideas and thoughts what would later become the metoo-movement. Other than that, it's just a very sad story.
Death Dive 2015 ★★★½
Death Dive – or Le Scaphandrier, as it is known in its native Quebec – is a bit of an odd offering in that in it starts with your standard slasher to then throw in elements from monster films/creature features and a bit of zombies towards the end.
The story revoves around retrieving a boat named Princess of the north. (Just for the way the characters say this name, I recommend watching it in the original French version. And for those hating subtitles: suck it up.) A monster appears from the ship, killing everyone out to retrieve/steal its contents and/or the possessions of the original passengers. Wearing what is quite possibly the least comfortable killer outfit ever: a diving costume.
The kills are done nicely gory. The second one has a shade of the original My Bloody Valentine over it and the researcher/vintage horror fan gets a kill not unlike Axel in The Final Chapter. On the upside: we do see the consequences. On the downside: the big moment is more than once offscreen.
That said, this movie has other things going for it too like he two diving suits in the researcher kill (you'll see when you see) or a shot that has to be a nod to Quint from Jaws. The ghosts haunt the car engine, putting a bit of a spin on the “car won't start”-trope. And I won't psoil it, but the ending has a touching moment that gives the killer the sort of extra touch that sets this movie apart from the standard.
Check it out.
Evidence 2011 ★½
Evidence is a pretty uneventfull found footage that does not bring many new things to the table. The first forty minutes are the typical stuff about friends going on a trip. One of them needs to record everything for some vague reason about a "documentary". The group falls apart and bicker amongst each other.
Then it makes a sharp turn in the second half, but it does not add anything apart from a few jump scares. Just a lot of shaky cam, sceraming and running around.
The rest? Bla bla conspiracy bla bla secret government project gone awry. Bla bla shouty bits bla bla bursty bursts. Something vague about zombies... who cares... something something another jump scare... At times, it just feels like a dull level of Doom.
__________________
|