Instead of a movie, documentary, and TV show recommendation, this weekend is all about documentary recommendations! They are all available on instant streaming! Enjoy!
Indie Game: The Movie is the first feature documentary film about making video games. It looks specifically at the underdogs of the video game industry, indie game developers, who sacrifice money, health and sanity to realize their lifelong dreams of sharing their visions with the world.
After two years of painstaking work, designer Edmund McMillen and programmer Tommy Refenes await the release of their first major game for Xbox, Super Meat Boy—the adventures of a skinless boy in search of his girlfriend, who is made of bandages. At PAX, a major video-game expo, developer Phil Fish unveils his highly anticipated, four-years-in-the-making FEZ. Jonathan Blow considers beginning a new game after creating Braid, one of the highest-rated games of all time. Four developers, three games, and one ultimate goal— to express oneself through a video game.
Indie Game: The Movie is about the creative process and putting yourself out there through your work. It’s a journey many filmmakers, creators, artists, entrepreneurs – many people, can relate to in the digital era.
Confessions of a Superhero is a feature length documentary that chronicles the lives of three mortal men and one woman who make their living working as superhero characters on Hollywood Boulevard. This deeply personal look into their daily routines reveals their hardships and triumphs as they pursue and achieve their own kind of fame. The Hulk sold his Super Nintendo for a bus ticket to LA; Wonder Woman was a mid-western homecoming queen; Batman struggles with his anger, while Superman’s psyche is consumed by the Man of Steel. Although the Walk of Fame is right beneath their feet, their own paths to stardom prove to be long, hard climbs.
In a time when America’s economy and sense of community were crumbling, one guy left everything behind – to see if he could survive solely on the support of the 21st century’s new town square: Craigslist.
As of recent, the United States found itself in one of the most precarious financial meltdowns in modern history. News programs spoke of the worst economy since the great depression and demise of the American Dream. Unemployment was soaring and millions were losing their homes. Rather than banding together and helping one another, people started pointing fingers and casting blame. Many feared the sense of community that had once carried us through tough times had dissolved into an attitude of ‘every person for himself.’ Many were skeptical that today’s self-involved society would be able to weather the storm without its traditional social supports.
It was in this climate that 29-year-old Joseph Garner cut himself off from everyone he knew and everything he owned, to embark on a bold adventure. Armed with only a laptop, cell phone, toothbrush, and the clothes on his back – alongside the hope that community was not gone but just had shifted – Joe lived for a month looking for alms in America’s new town square: Craigslist. For 31 December days and nights, everything in his life would come from the Craigslist website. From transportation to food, from shelter to companionship, Joe would depend on the generosity of people who had never seen him and whose sole connection to him was a giant virtual swap meet.
Would America help Joe? Could he survive with nothing, apart from the goodwill of others?
Through his explorations, Joe gained insights into our collective psyche, and took the pulse of an anxious nation teetering on a knife’s edge of hope and uncertainty. Joe encountered a diversity of unique stories that reveal the layered mosaic of our national identity. He observes some of the most challenging issues facing our country today – from new economic realities to the continued reconstruction of New Orleans to the effect of America’s presence in Iraq. His experiences raise profound questions about who we are as a society and where we are headed, leaving you to draw your own conclusions.
“What to Watch This Weekend: Netflix Edition” 2013 Posts
November 1, 2013
October 25, 2013
September 27, 2013
September 20, 2013
September 13, 2013
September 6, 2013
May 31, 2013
May 24, 2013
May 17, 2013
May 10, 2013
May 3, 2013
January 12, 2013
January 5, 2013