This documentary remind me, so much of 2010's 'Video Nasties: Moral Panic, Censorship & Videotape' & 2010's 'Machete Maidens Unleashed!' in the way, they are able to tell a Hollywood story. It feel like a very braze and wild informative clip-show with a few talking head interviews. Directed by 2008's 'Not Quite Hollywood: The Wild, Untold Story of Ozploitation!' director Mark Hartley; the film explores and expose the shameless history of the low-to medium-budget exploitation movies of Cannon Films, from 1967 to 1994. Unfortunately, the structure of this movie is not as strong as the others. Don't get me wrong, I like how the movie structure Cannon film history, into three main groups: Cannon's earlier years of producing skin flicks, Cannon's mid years of producing violence action flicks and dance movies, and last, Cannon's last years, trying to produce main stream blockbuster flicks. However, it's also here, where the film seem to jump around with its history. It was somewhat distracting when one minute, they are talking about the original Death Wish film series (1974-1994), only to cut to something else, and then later on the film, go back to talking about the film once again. It was a little too odd. Still, I did like how the movie talk about the history of Cannon Film Israeli producers, cousins, Yoram Globus & Menahem Golan, making films in Israel in the 1970s. Only to later focus, their resources, on turning a dying American porno company into a global Hollywood Blockbuster firm in early to mid-1980s. It made for a very entertaining watch. However, the film did omitted a few good informative, such as mentioning how the video film company invested heavily in the video market, buying the international video rights to several classic film libraries; while also, buying off, the film rights to a number of comic book superheroes like Spiderman, Captain America and others. The film also fails to mention, the fact that they also made or produce, animation movies and foreign language movies like 1986's 'Robotech the Movie'. Another misleading thing about this movie is how the film makes it seem like Cannon film went out of business in the late 1980s, when in truth, Cannon films last until 1994 when its new owner, Parretti at Pathé got into serious legal trouble. It's also sucks that this movie acts like most of Cannon films, were pure crap, when in truth, several of their works, won or were nominated for Academy Awards, and Golden Globes, such as 1986's 'The Assault', and 1986's 'Otello'. Yes, those films were produced by other companies, but there were some other well-received films from them, like 1987's 'Street Smart' that gave an unknown middle-aged actor named Morgan Freeman his big break, and allow him to receive his first Oscar nomination. I wish, the movie would showcase, more films like that, because, I thought the overall bashing of the Cannon films was a little much. After all, Cannon films do have their cult fans. Too much hate for these films, is probably, the main reason, why Yoram Globus & Menahem Golan didn't want to be in this film. Their 2014's documentary film, 'The Go-Go Boys: The Inside Story of Cannon Films', is a little more kind for those fans. However, that documentary was produced quickly and wasn't as well-made as this film. One thing, I kinda wish this documentary had, was more important, talking-heads giving their opinion on their films. How cool, would it be, if we saw actors Chuck Norris, Brooke Shields, Jean Claude Van Damme, Mickey Rourke, Sharon Stone & Sylvester Stallone give their opinion on their films. It would be awesome. Despite that, the people being interview like Richard Chamberlain, Elliot Gould, Franco Nero and Bo Derek, gave some good facts and opinions. Even if they were a bit biased, and resentful toward their former employers. Like Cannon Films, this documentary is also a clear guarantee that you were going to get violence, nudity or bad language, and frequently a combination of all three. So, I wouldn't say, this movie is for everybody. There is lots of scenes of gruesome acts like murder, rape, and deaths, but since I was a kid raised on VHS in the 80's and 90's, this movie was a nostalgia trip for me. Overall: I do recommended seeing, this walk down memory lane film.
Lights! Camera! Action! This documentary about Hollywood movies is a lot of fun.
6 March 2016
Warning: Spoilers