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Reviews
Captive Audience (2022)
What was director thinking?
Instead of a straight up true crime documentary, which this story warrants, the director decided to make a mashup of news footage form 1972, interviews from 2022 and for reasons that are beyond me, extensive footage of the late 1980s made for TV mini-series. I cannot for the life of me figure how they thought the addition of the mini-series footage or act outs from the aged actors added anything to this narrative. I struggled through the first episode baffling at this choice. This is a poorly directed doc.
The Amazing Johnathan Documentary (2019)
It's a work.
The doc is a work. If you're not familiar with the term, it means you're being played. Director Berman, as many have stated before, has made it all about himself. Funny he's blurred in the title card, as he appears unobstructed in about 80% of the shots. But worse still is that about a quarter of the way in, it became obvious to me that he was in on the prank. The whole thing feels like an con job cooked up by Ben and Jonathan. I came for inside look at one of my favorite childhood performers, I left with a lot less respect for the meth addict he is and the director who thought this drivel qualified as "gonzo journalism." Hunter S. Thompson he is not.