The CCD Podcast: Episode #70 - Amazing Documentary Picks or "Documentaries Are Movies Too, Dammit !!!"

Documentaries... ah.... the red headed step brother of feature length movies. While docs have come a long way in terms of mainstream acceptance, they are still looked at from afar and not looked at as typical movies. But if you give them a chance, and find the right documentary... man, can you find some gems. So we decided to take a break from our typical "regular" movie talks and delve deep into what we think are some of the best docs ever made. Give them a chance... they might change your life!

Listen to host Jedi Rob Martin as he is joined by documentary filmmaker (what is he doing on THIS episode?) Leland James and the lovely & talented Mrs. Alicia Gomes as they will help you find some great documentaries to enjoy for your viewing pleasure!  

Atari: Game Over - The Documentary About That Time A Major Corporation Buried Hundreds of Thousands of Copies of E.T.: The Video Game Cause It Sucked Reese's Pieces...

One of the greatest video game Urban Legends ever had to be the one about E.T.: The Game... you know, the terrible movie adaption of a video game for the Atari system that was so bad the company buried hundreds of thousands of unsold copies rather than ruin the rep of the brand. Did it really happen? One never can tell... however, last year the supposed burial ground was to be exhumed, and low and behold it was REAL!!! Yup, Atari did bring all those games out to the middle of the desert... as well as many other secrets they wanted to hide. Terrible console ideas, bad port versions of classic games, and the tons of the 'dreaded alien that stole the box office but sunk the video game company' cartridges were found. In the documentary Atari: Game Over famed Hollywood writer Zak Penn (of X2 and X3: The Last Stand) tagged along, and the results look pretty fantastic. The doc is available free on the X-Box Live website. Check out the trailer after the jump...

'Doomed' - The Untold Story of Roger Corman's Fantastic Four

I am very proud of my DVD collection... I have built it over the years since I bought my first DVD in 2000 and it is quite impressive. I have a ton of imports, rare movies, and the such... but the highlight of my collection (especially in my nerd cred portion of the collection) has to be my bootleg copy of the low budget Fantastic Four movie that was made by Roger Corman. Corman has long been known as the 'schlock king of Hollywood', a dude who has made movies out of peanuts and has had tons of success. He is one of the greatest producers/directors of all time when it comes to making magic out of a nothing budget... but that was definitely not the case when he took on one of Marvel's greatest super hero teams. Back in the days before all the current Marvel Cinematic Universe success the company had fallen on hard times and licensed out most of its character stables to various production companies. Most of those deals had expiration dates attached to them: If the company purchased the rights to a character than they had 'X' amount of years to put out a film. In order for the companies to retain the rights to the films they would have to have something constantly in the works (either filming or in development). Some studios never made a product, some made a film and then cut their losses allowing the rights to go back to Marvel, and others have produced products and maintain their licenses (much to the chagrin of Marvel like the X-Men, Spidey, etc). The German film production company Neue Constantin that owned the rights to the Fantsitic Four for numerous years in the late 80s/early 90s had never been able to get the ball rolling on a film. So in a bold move the company teamed up with Corman to make a $1 million dollar version of a Fantastic Four movie just before the deadline expired. By creating the film the company was then able to hold on to the rights and buy more time in order to possibly make another FF movie at a future date. This angered Marvel, and they paid the company to never release the film... And so begins one of the greatest debates in B movie history! Was the movie made just to keep the rights or as a intended low budget/high return venture? Did Marvel really pay for the movie to not be released? Was Corman and Neue Constantin in on the squashing of the film, all the while never telling the cast or crew? And how is it possible that such a terrible version of a movie could have been made yet they got so many things correct in the production (The Thing's costume looks great considering the low budget, and Doom is dope!)? All of these questions have lingered for years, especially when you consider that Neue Constanttin retained the rights to the FF and later produced the two big budget FF movies we got in the mid 2000s. But now we may finally get some answers in the form of a definitive documentary: Doomed: The Untold Story of Roger Corman's Fantastic Four is about to be released!

Click after the jump for more info:

Spook Central: Yes Mayor, This Documentary Has No Dick....

The title of this post goes out to all my true Ghostbuster fans. But this mockumentary concept is intriguing to say the least. Following the in the vein of Room 237, Spook Central takes a look behind the "real" meaning of certain aspects of what is probably my favorite 80s comedies. I would totally watch the shit outta this... Now I don't know if this is really a full length documentary or just a mock up trailer, but either way I wanted to share it cause it is a really cool concept. Check out the trailer after the jump..

Disney's Next Nature Documentary Will Be 'Bears'... I For One Could Not Be Happier!!!

Disney is mostly know for their animated features, but truth is they are a very diverse company. Disney owns Marvel, and they just bought the Star Wars conglomerate... yeah, they are a huge company. But one of the forgotten aspects of the company is their work in nature documentaries... they have long been involved in wildlife documentaries and conservation projects. Disney's Oceans is one of my fiance Tara's favorite thing to watch, and I loved the African Cats documentary they did a few years back. So when their newest project, Bears, was announced for next April, I immediately became excited for a documentary that is over 1 year away from being released. I love bears, so I hope that it loves up to my lofty expectations. I know Disney will do it justice. It does come out in April of 2014, but there is a little teaser trailer out now to get you ready. While I love me some comics and nerd shit, there is nothing like a really good nature documentary to balance things out. Check it out after the jump....

'Backyard Blockbusters' - A Documentary About Fan Films... Jackpot!!!

Have you ever seen Batman: City of Scars? Or the movie where Batman takes on Predator? How about the awesome Superman Classics animated shorts, or the crazy Hulk vs Supes fight footage? How about that crazy Ash vs. Freddy vs Leatherface fight movie? If you have seen any of these things, chances are you DID NOT see them on a big screen in a movie theater. Nope, you were watching a Fan Film, or a film made on a modest budget by regular folks who just love a particular property. Some of these are awful, but some are quite fantastic (any of the ones I named above are must sees). At any rate, there is no denying that Fan Films are becoming much more common place, so it is perfect timing for a behind the scenes documentary about the phenomenon. Check out the trailer for 'Backyard Blockbuster' after the jump and tell us what your favorite Fan Film is in the comment section below...

Room 237: A Peak Into The Hidden Meanings From Kubrick's 'The Shining'

I have been hearing about this documentary 'Room 237' for almost 2 years. It doesn't take much to get me to watch a film in general, but with as exciting a premise that this film has there is NO WAY I could possibly resist. The film delves into the mysteries & hidden meanings of Kubrick's The Shining, promising to change the way you view the classic film forever. The trailer doesn't offer much in the way of footage, but it certainly does build the tension by using Kubrick-esque music and the signature carpet from The Overlook hotel. Even though this film faced some complications in therms of getting a release, it is now scheduled for a 2013 release. I will be on the lookout, that is for sure... check out the trailer after the jump...

Hearts Of Dorkness Trailer: The Movie About The Movie About The Opening Night Of Star Wars...

This is an interesting story right here. Patrick Johnson is a director who is almost finished with his pet project of a film entitled 5-25-77, which chronicles the misadventures of a group of teens on the opening night of the original Star Wars movie. This sounds like a really great concept for a film and something that I would like to see very much. But Johnson is having a bit of trouble raising the last bit of money needed to finish the film, so he decided to take the unfinished version of 5-25-77 on the road and screen it for some fans to raise the funds himself. While on this cross country trek, Johnson has a group of friends who decided to film the whole roadshow experience and it has morphed into ANOTHER documentary parallel film entitled Hearts of Dorkness (I love the homage to the documentary made about Apocalypse Now in the title and the font they used as well). How great is this? Not only are we getting a fantastic indie film about the opening night of Star Wars, but in his quest to finance the film himself Johnson has inspired a whole separate film... the more dorky films that exist, the better the world is. Check out the trailer for Hearts of Dorkness after the jump, which is really a de facto promo for 5-25-77... its all really confusing...

Wu Tang Wednesday: Wu Tang Revealed

It's Wu-Tang Wednesday son... you know what that means!!! It's time to celebrate one of the greatest groups in hip hop history, and this week I think I found something special for ya. Here is a trailer for the documentary "Wu Tang Revealed", which was directed by the Gza himself. I have never seen the film, but this trailer has got my interests peaked. I will be on the lookout for it. Enjoy the trailer after the jump.