Trey's Top Five Favorite Movies

I have nothing else to talk about tonight so I'm beginning my movie installments I may only post one every now and then. Tonights category is...DOCUMENTARIES! I think I just heard everyone who may read this close it. I don't care I'm talking about it anyway. I love documentaries, it could be a film over glue drying and I would probably watch it. A good documentary can be about anything, it can have a slant to make you believe one way or another on a subject, it could something as simple as following someone around while they really don't do anything. It just depends on what grabs you. I'll list a couple of honorable mentions that weren't quite good enough to crack the top 5 and then we'll get to the top 5.

Honorable Mentions:
Roger and Me - This was Roger Moorer's first big break as a documentary director, it failed to make the top 5 because its a little dated now although it may soon be relevant again. It came out in the late 80's. It basically talks about all the jobs GM cut during a downturn of the automobile industry in Moorer's hometown of Flint, MI. I'm not a Moorer sympathizer and this was before he got really out there and did stupid stuff like go on a rant at the Oscars. It is sad and funny at the same time, his usual formula and it worked really well in this movie. This was probably the first real documentary I ever watched.

Favorite Scene- Cuts between a lavish Christmas party thrown by GM for the white collar workers and people who used to work for GM being forcibly evicted from their homes while Christmas music plays in the background. Good Times.

Endless Summer - It's a movie about two guys who travel the world in the 60's surfing, yes, that's about it. I'm always mesmerized by people doing things I can't do.

Supersize Me- Probably the most well known documentary on my list. The film maker goes on a crazy diet of McDonalds for 30 days and every time he is asked if he would like to supersize his order he has to say yes. He takes a physical before and afterwards (the experiment was actually cut short due to health issues that arose from the diet of fried fatty food 24/7, imagine that.) the change is unbelievable and I swore off of the golden arches for about a year before choosing items off the menu that kill you more slowly.

Favorite Scene- His doctor packs up, closes her practice and leaves town because of threats that are hinted to have come from the main clown of fastfood. Scary.

5. The Devil and Daniel Johnston
This the story of Daniel Johnston, an underground hero in the music world of Austin, Texas and his slow slip into insanity. He is plagued by voices and depression, infatuation with the devil and the number 9. His case is so severe his parents will have to take care of him the rest of their lives, which isn't long considering they were in their seventies when the film was made. You actually feel bad for them and want to take him in if for no other reason to allow them some peace before their time is up. The hurt in them is horrible, you can tell they are both tired and scared for their child once they are gone. His music is somewhat child like, songs about Casper the ghost and other things from his childhood but it is also very nice to listen to.

Favorite Scene - Daniels dad retelling the story of a time when he personally flew Daniel to a show and Daniel, freaking out mid-flight, wrestling the keys from his father and throwing them out of the window. He actually started crying again just telling the story...

4. This Film is Not Yet Rated
It's the history and the quirkiness of how films get rated. Film rating is voluntary but almost a necessity to get a film into theatres. The director finds out that it's a very secretive process, the industry does not even release the names of raters and most refuse to talk after they leave. He makes it his mission to expose the raters of the year the film was made (they change the raters every year). It really is very interesting.

Favorite Scene - When they tell a list of words that are guaranteed to get you an 18 or older rating if used to often and in certain combinations. What words can be said and what words can't be said and they say them all. I haven't laughed this hard at a film in a longtime. My wife who is more conservative than I did not find this scene the least bit funny.

Favorite Scene 2 - When the director submits his film for rating, the hoops he has to jump through just to get a letter on the film. You already know where his rating is headed once they see the content of the film.

3. Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room
This is basically the story of Enron, it lays out their creative accounting ideas that brought down the largest business to ever fail in the U.S. well, before the whole housing thing anyway. In some ways it is a foreshadowing of what we are seeing now. You get to see up close through interviews how they destroyed hundreds of thousand of lives with their lies. Then when it's over and you're about to get the bad taste out of your mouth, you think about the fact that the CEO escaped prison by dying and virtually getting off free. It's a real feel good movie (sarcasm mode off).

Favorite Scene - Enron found they could drive of the price of electricity by having un-needed emergency shutdowns of parts of or whole power plants and while this is happening listening to two employees joke about squeezing every last penny out of grandma. The whole company should have gotten jail time.

Favorite Scene 2 - The CEO Jeffery Skilling actually showing a future plan in which you could invest in weather. WTF!?

2. Dogtown and Z Boys
This is a skateboard documentary about the evolution and revolution of skateboarding in the seventies. The Z boys were a skate team that took surf moves and brought them to the street (they would skate when there were no waves). In doing this, they took skateboarding from a light version of ice skating and transformed it into the aggressive over the top sport it is today. You meet every member of the team and what they did and what they became. I used to skate before I got fat and old so maybe that is why this appeals to me but it did win best documentary at the Cannes film festival when it was released.

Favorite Scene - The members of Dogtown talking about how they would empty pools just to skate them. Yeah, these were pools they didn't own.

1. Decline of the Western Civilization: The Metal Years
This is actually part 2 of a 3 part set, it deals with the music scene of Los Angeles during the 80's so it is basically about hair metal. You get to see some stars before they were stars, people who hoped to become stars, and how decadent the whole scene was. A time of fast cars and faster women, a time when chicks were hot and guys looked like hot chicks. This was my scene, I grew up on this music and so that is why it is special to me. This is long out of print but supposedly they are working on getting it re released. I was able to catch it on the tube and record it.

Favorite Scene - When the director asks musicians in the scene what will they do if they don't make it, (which most didn't) the common answer? "I will probably end up in a slum somewhere, I can't do anything else".

So there you have it, my first top 5 films of _________ genre. Hopefully you'll look some of these up. If Documentaries don't appeal to you, stay tuned I'll have more in the future.