Day: January 26, 2016

Director: Wayne Darwen, Henry Goren

Writer: Wayne Darwen (Screenplay)

 

Plot: A real-life attempt to film a reality television pilot turned into the most unreal experiences of a lifetime for veteran journalist and producer Wayne Darwen and videographer Henry Goren, when they found themselves transformed into the characters Dave High and Roland Jointz in an accidental immersive investigation of the marijuana wars on the island of Hawaii.  

 

There may be spoilers the rest of the review

 

Verdict: Party Time

 

Story: High There starts as David High a journalist and his cameraman Roland Jointz head to Hawaii to shot a new travel show but along the way David enjoys drugs, drinks and woman as they go to make their own story. It isn’t long before David and Roland find themselves being followed around the island as the island looks to clean up the drug problems on the island.

Dave goes around different ideas to make his show work but just can’t shake the drugs every day, where he makes each outing a party. David continues to learn about a bigger problem on the island dealing with marijuana.

High There is a documentary that wants to tackle the real problem of marijuana on the island in Hawaii, we only see small parts of this with most of the film being David High just wanting to smoke drugs and get drunk, this really takes away with what we want to learn about and it turns into just the life experience of the two men on the island. Not being a fan of drug usage I personally didn’t enjoy the almost glorification of using them during the adventure the men go on.

 

 

Director Review: Wayne Darwen – Wayne puts together the trip well to show the good, the bad and paranoia drugs cause people.

 

Documentary: High There is a documentary which also happens to play out as party holiday for David.

Settings: High There uses the Hawaii settings but most importantly showing how it isn’t all beauty we get led to believe.
Suggestion: High There is one to try, it is very heavy on using drugs which isn’t something I enjoy. (Try It)

 

Best Part: Seeing the dark side of Hawaii.

Worst Part: Too much drug usage.

 

Believability: Based on the real trip the two men had.

Chances of Tears: No

Chances of Sequel: No

Post Credits Scene: Yes

 

Oscar Chances: No

Runtime: 1 Hour 27 Minutes

Trivia: Director, writer and star Wayne Darwen is a celebrated tabloid newspaper and television journalist and producer who was the inspiration for Robert Downey Jr.’s character “Wayne Gale” in Oliver Stone’s 1994 film, Natural Born Killers.

 

Overall: Documentary that feels like it is a film party for the men involved.

Rating

Continuing our Oscar Season of reviews, Rob and I have decided to pick one of the best Oscar nominated documentaries.

 

Director: Kirby Dick

Writer: Kirby Dick (Screenplay)

 

 

Plot: An exposé of rape crimes on U.S. college campuses, their institutional cover-ups, and the devastating toll they take on students and their families.

 

There may be spoilers the rest of the review

 

Verdict: Important News

 

Story: The Hunting Ground starts as we see the real reaction of college students getting accepting into their choices before we move into the real issue this film is about. We follow interviews with a string of students who experienced sexual assaults during their time at college and how little the college helped support them.

We go through certain cases that are more intense, following both females and males that have been raped and how the statistics show that no college is take responsibility for what happen on their grounds. We see how certain survivors fight to find a way to make more victims speak up and change how rape is reported.

The Hunting Ground is a film focusing on a real problem in America with how the colleges deal with rape, the film points out that the victims are to blame which is a huge no to say to any victim. Growing up in England I have never been exposed to the college style that Americans go through other than from film, so my look into the world everything is happening is never going to be full supported. Coming in from the outside all I could think about was the naïve nature of the American treat the idea of American football being more important that morale correct ideas. This is a difficult watch because of the nature of the material but also comes off as a forced way to expose a culture which is considered normal in America

 

 

Director Review: Kirby Dick – Kirby gives us an important insight into what is happening at these schools as well as how important change is needed in these locations.

 

Documentary: The Hunting Ground is very important to see because it does open the eyes to what is really happening.

Settings: The Hunting Ground brings us to all the big colleges in America to show what is happening in America where all the students are trying build their future.

Suggestion: The Hunting Ground is something for all Americans to see because we don’t have the issues like this in England. (Americans Watch)

 

Best Part: Important things to learn about.

Worst Part: Difficult to watch

 

Believability: Based on the real accounts and interviews of the victims only.

Chances of Tears: No

Chances of Sequel: No

Post Credits Scene: No

 

Oscar Chances: Nominated for an Oscar

Runtime: 1 Hour 43 Minutes

Tagline: Their dream school will become a nightmare.

 

Overall: Important documentary that really shows the problem in American colleges

Rating