DVD Review: Only in Theaters - a documentary by Raphael Sbarge

Only in Theaters
a documentary by actor/filmmaker Raphael Sbarge (DVD 791.43 Onl)

Fascinating documentary about the Laemmle family (pronounced Lem-lee) and the chain of independent arthouse movie theaters they established in the Los Angeles area. This documentary started filming in 2018/2019 and its focus was going to be on the decline of independent movie theaters, and the Laemmle family facing hard decisions on whether to sell their chain or continue to cater to arthouse movie crowds.

But the documentary was still filming when COVID-19 arrived and movie theaters in California all had to shut down. The documentary focus shifted to how a family-owned-for-80-years business can survive during a period of forced social isolation.

 

I loved the sections of this film, particularly the interviews with film critics and fans (like Leonard Maltin), which dealt with the history of the Laemmle chain and how essential it has been to the film-loving community of Southern California. The interviews with both movie fans and movie makers was absolutely marvelous. While I certainly feel badly for the current generation of Laemmle family leadership on the hard decisions they have had to make in the pandemic era, those portions of the documentary eventually became somewhat repetitive.

 

But I do still recommend this film to cinemaphiles and anyone who loves the experience of seeing movies with a crowd in a movie theater…an experience that continues to become less and less common in an era in which streaming and home theaters continue to replace the actual movie-going tradition.

 

(If you enjoy this, you may also wish to try The Last Blockbuster (a documentary on DVD), Going Attractions: The Definitive Story of the Movie Palace by April Wright, American Picture Palaces: The Architecture of Fantasy by David Naylor, Ticket to Paradise: American Movie Theaters and How We Had Fun by John Margolies (Heritage Room only) or The Projectionist by Nicholas Nicolaou.)

 

( Internet Movie Database entry for this 2022 documentary film )

 

See Scott C.’s review of the documentary The Last Blockbuster in the August 2021 Staff Recommendations here on BookGuide!

 

Recommended by Scott C.
Bennett Martin Public Library — Public Service

 

Have you watched this one? What did you think? Did you find this review helpful?

New reviews appear every month on the Staff Recommendations page of the BookGuide website. You can visit that page to see them all, or watch them appear here in the BookGuide Blog individually over the course of the entire month. Click the tag for the reviewer's name to see more of this reviewer’s recommendations!

DVD Review: From the Earth to the Moon

From the Earth to the Moon

(DVD From)

 

I first saw this award-winning mini-series on HBO (had to first subscribe then I unsubscribed as soon as this series was over). Each segment aired weekly and I was in front of my TV with my VCR recording each one. When the DVD came out I bought that version as well. I was surprised to see no one at the library had yet reviewed this excellent series.

 

Based on A Man on the Moon by Andrew Chaikin, this is one of my favorite shows about the space program, and mostly covers the Apollo Program. Each episode, introduced by Tom Hanks (except for the final one), is about a specific segment of the space race to the moon beginning with President Kennedy’s speech through the last of the Apollo flights. Along the way we learn about building the lunar lander (“Spider”) – this was so fascinating, personal, and humorous, who knew we’d care? – and a segment from the wives’ perspectives (“The Original Wives Club”).

 

The final disc is Bonus Material: the original trailers, Behind-the-Scenes, Special Effects, JFK’s speech, History of the Moon, interesting facts about space beyond our solar system, and famous astronomers.

 

The performances are excellent and they draw you right into the various stories. The soundtrack is ideal and sets the tone as well. If you decide to binge this in one sitting, set aside 12 hours (not including the Bonus disc).

 

(If you enjoy this, you may also wish to try Apollo 13.)

 

(Also available — the Chaikin book that inspired this, in traditional print format.)

 

( Internet Movie Database entry for this series )

 

See the One Small Step booklist on BookGuide, featuring a massive list of materials — fiction and non-fiction — about the Apollo program!

 

Recommended by Charlotte M.
Bennett Martin Public Library — Public Service

 

Have you watched this one? What did you think? Did you find this review helpful?

New reviews appear every month on the Staff Recommendations page of the BookGuide website. You can visit that page to see them all, or watch them appear here in the BookGuide Blog individually over the course of the entire month. Click the tag for the reviewer's name to see more of this reviewer’s recommendations!

DVD Review: The Center Seat: 55 Years of Star Trek

The Center Seat: 55 Years of Star Trek

(DVD 791.457 StaYc)

 

The Center Seat is a documentary on nearly everything Star Trek. Behind-the-scenes stories of its creator, Gene Roddenberry, the producers, writers, cast, the props, and the scripts. Some stories we have heard before, other stories we’ve heard from “those in the know” from their Facebook posts or from chatting with them at conventions, and others are new. Some are in-depths tales of how this all came about. So many interviews with cast, crew, producers, writers, and directors. Narrated by Gates McFadden (Dr. Beverly Crusher, “Star Trek: The Next Generation” and the Next Gen movies) this is a fully encompassing, fascinating story of the history of Star Trek as each series and movie is discussed in-depth.

 

If you decide to binge this (as I ended up doing), set aside almost nine hours. Otherwise, each episode is approximately 45 min in length.

 

The final disc consists of uncut interviews with Leonard Nimoy, Nichelle Nichols, and Kirstie Alley. I began watching the bonus episodes, but I ended up quitting before the end of Nimoy’s interview as the info had already been covered on the previous discs. Your mileage may vary.

 

Definitely for Star Trek fans, especially those who’ve watched all the series and the movies.

 

Four discs, 11 episodes plus three Bonus Interviews:

Disc One

1. Lucy Loves Trek
2. Saturday Morning Pinks
3. Trekking Through the ‘70’s – Phase II and The Motion Picture
4. Trek Goes to the Movies

 

Disc Two

5. Whales, Gods, and Pepto Bismol
6. Queue for Q
7. Dancing with Syndication in the Pale Moonlight
8. Voyage(r) to the Delta Quadrant

 

Disc Three

9. It’s Been a Long Time…
10. Starships A-Z
11. The Stars Above

 

Disc Four (Bonus Material)

Leonard Nimoy Interview (Uncut)
Nichelle Nichols Interview (Uncut)
Kirstie Alley Interview (Uncut)

 

( Internet Movie Database entry for this 2021-2022 series )

 

Recommended by Charlotte M.
Bennett Martin Public Library — Public Service

 

Have you watched this one? What did you think? Did you find this review helpful?

New reviews appear every month on the Staff Recommendations page of the BookGuide website. You can visit that page to see them all, or watch them appear here in the BookGuide Blog individually over the course of the entire month. Click the tag for the reviewer's name to see more of this reviewer’s recommendations!

DVD Review: When We Were Apollo

When We Were Apollo

(DVD 629.454 Whe)

 

For anyone interested in the United States history of the Space Race, this documentary is a must-see. As someone who has always been interested in the space program and NASA, I found this film to be a fascinating look at the men and women who made every mission possible. Growing up in the 1960s and watching each mission to the moon and back, it was interesting to me to see old news reels of each event interspersed with clips of major news events that were happening simultaneously with the space program and their effect on each other. I was especially moved by the interviews with men and women who were part of the program to land a man on the moon and hear their memories first-hand. It is important that we should remember the accomplishments of these people at a time when our country was in a technological war with the former Soviet Union in its efforts to get ahead in the space race. We still have many people alive today who can provide first-person accounts of the advancements made in the early years of NASA; now is the time to record those memories for future generations to learn from.

 

(If you enjoy this, you may also wish to try Apollo 13 or Hidden Figures.)

 

( Internet Movie Database entry for this film ) | ( official When We Were Apollo Twitter feed )

 

Recommended by Kim J.
Bennett Martin Public Library — Public Service

 

Have you watched this one? What did you think? Did you find this review helpful?

New reviews appear every month on the Staff Recommendations page of the BookGuide website. You can visit that page to see them all, or watch them appear here in the BookGuide Blog individually over the course of the entire month. Click the tag for the reviewer's name to see more of this reviewer’s recommendations!

DVD Review: Calendar Girl

Calendar Girl
(DVD Biography Finley)

Normally I am not interested in films that are biographical in nature, but this one caught my eye. Calendar Girl tells the story of Ruth Finley, founder of the Fashion Calendar of New York City, one of the most influential and important newsletters of the century in the fashion world centered in New York. From office assistant to business owner, Ruth’s story shows how she saw a need and produced a calendar to meet the needs of all the top designers wanting to show their fashions in New York City. Ruth continued working through age 95 and is considered to be one of the most influential women in the fashion industry. Although I am not interested in fashion, I was fascinated by the story of Ruth and the empire she helped to create and run for over 70 years. The documentary includes interviews with some of the best-known designers in the business as well as the people who worked with Ruth and her family over the years.

 

( Internet Movie Database entry for this film )

 

Recommended by Kim J.
Bennett Martin Public Library — Public Service

 

Have you watched this one? What did you think? Did you find this review helpful?

New reviews appear every month on the Staff Recommendations page of the BookGuide website. You can visit that page to see them all, or watch them appear here in the BookGuide Blog individually over the course of the entire month. Click the tag for the reviewer's name to see more of this reviewer’s recommendations!

DVD Review: The Comedy Store by Mike Binder

The Comedy Store
written and directed by Mike Binder (DVD 792.76 Com)

This five-episode documentary originally aired on the Showtime network in 2020, and came out later on DVD in 2021. The Comedy Store is a legendary club in Los Angeles, which opened its doors in 1972, and was expanded/renovated in 1976. The original facility has three different performing spaces — a main room and two smaller spaces, and all the rooms played host to many of the stand-up comedy legends of the past 50+ years.

 

Each hour-long episode of this documentary takes a look at a different era in The Comedy Store’s history. Shortly after it launched, Mitzi Shore received The Comedy Store from her husband in a divorce settlement, and she then spent the next several decades mentoring hundreds of comics and providing for an atmosphere that fostered the development of stand-up comedy.

 

Writer/director Mike Binder managed to conduct dozens of interviews with past and present comics, as well as unearthing tons of rare footage from past performances. What results is a fast-paced melange that is part “historical documentary” and part “personal remembrance”.

 

Because The Comedy Store was produced for a pay-cable network, the language is…colorful, and unfiltered…to say the least. But if you’ve only ever heard about The Comedy Store, and never had the opportunity to visit it, this will be an educational experience. Whether you’re a fan of old-school comics like Robin Williams, Whoopi Goldberg, Richard Pryor, Jay Leno, Andrew Dice Clay and David Letterman, or you lean more towards today’s comics, like Whitney Cummings, Joe Rogan, Andrew Santino, Ilza Shlesinger and Marc Maron, you’ll find something of interest in this look back at stand-up comedy history. I was particularly moved by the fact that this documentary not only pays tribute to so many comedians that have left us (Williams, Pryor, Sam Kinison, etc.), but also features recent interview segments with artists like Bob Saget and Louie Anderson, who’ve passed away just in the past few weeks.

 

(If you enjoy this, you may also wish to try the Showtime TV series, “I’m Dying Up Here“, which preceded this documentary, and addresses (in a fictionalized setting) the 1970s comedy club scene. This has NOT been released to DVD at this time.)

 

( Internet Movie Database entry for this film ) | ( official The Comedy Store documentary page on the Showtime web site )

 

Recommended by Scott C.
Bennett Martin Public Library — Public Service

 

Have you watched this one? What did you think? Did you find this review helpful?

New reviews appear every month on the Staff Recommendations page of the BookGuide website. You can visit that page to see them all, or watch them appear here in the BookGuide Blog individually over the course of the entire month. Click the tag for the reviewer's name to see more of this reviewer’s recommendations!