Movie Review: Documentaries 2011

            In an effort to keep myself funny I am going to try to write a movie review a day for the next 30 days.  This will be exhausting but I have done it before, so when I fail this time I really won't have the excuse of going beyond my means.  For the sake of simplicity I will just review all of the movies that came out in 2011 that I saw.

            Today I will do two quick reviews of documentaries.  The first one is a sad and confusing movie which deals with a group of actors who have played central roles in something I really like, "The Captains" of Star Trek.  William Shatner talks to Patrick Stewart, Avery Brooks, Kate Mulgrew, Scott Bakula, and Chris Pine (I managed to spell their names right on the first try, that is shocking to me) about portraying someone in command, being science fiction icons, and what they have done since.  I had no idea how balls to the wall crazy some were, and how fun and personable Shatner can be, it is a fun look into the creative process and is a decent way to spend a couple hours if you are a Star Trek fan.

I'm sure you can't.

             The other movie is possibly the most uplifting documentary I have ever seen, and takes a real touching look into the creative process beyond being a performer, into the realms of creator and artist, more specifically the art of puppetry.  "Being Elmo" is such a cute and sweet and legitimate movie.  I think it should be watched to put you in a good mood.  If anything I would have liked it to be more in depth with the technical aspects of the show, it really sparked my curiosity on the topic, but I wanted it how they presented it, I don't have the patience and drive to seek this out on my own.  Really "Being Elmo" left me rather jealous too, I don't have the level of creative fire that Kevin Clash does and I wish I did.  I write this blog and try to be entertaining or thought provoking in my life, but I don't know how far that can go.  One day I will write enough on one thing to have it be a book and that creative energy will be out of me like popping a metaphysical zit, till then I will just look on with green eyes at people like Kevin who have unmitigated success making their dreams real.

Who wouldn't want to be an icon of this Stature.  Shatner wouldn't mind.

Final Scores:

"The Captains": 2.5 out of 5 (3 out of 5 if you are a fan of Star Trek)

"Being Elmo": 3.5 out of 5 (4 out of 5 if you are in need of a mood pick up)