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Documenting
Feb. 20th, 2005 09:49 amLast night was documentary night at the David household. After watching Toy Story 2 for Caroline’s amusement, we saw Trekkies 2 and Double Dare.
Peter and I saw Trekkies in the theater and had a screen to ourselves which allowed us to make comments as the movie went along without fear of repercussions. The distributor opened it the same weekend as Star Wars: Phantom Menace. Which could mean one of two things. The nice scenario is that some clever person thought that if Phantom Menace sold out then they would go see Trekkies. The naughty scenario is they wanted to bury this film and picked a weekend that no one would go see it. As it turned out, Trekkies built quite a cult following.
Trekkies II covers new territory as in they go all over the world but not much new in terms of the fans. One of the conventions in the US that they covered was Shoreleave which we go to every year so that was fun. Peter recognized a number of the fans from the various foreign conventions he has gone to over the years. I recognized a number of fans that I met at those conventions which I had attended with Peter. New topics covered were filking, Star Trek tribute bands, and fan made movies. They also revisited some of the fans from Trekkies to see what they were up to. I do like the focus towards the end of the film about the service aspect of Star Trek Fandom and how they help many charities and their own extended family in times of need. All in all, not a bad follow-up but I really don’t see the need for Trekkies III
Double Dare is a great documentary about stunt women specifically two stunt women. Jeannie Epper has been in the game for a long time. I had heard her name in connection with stunts before I saw this documentary. One of the roles she was best known for was stunt double on Wonder Woman. She is 60 now and still fighting the stereotypes of Hollywood. She came from a family of stuntmen and many of her children work as stunt people in films today. She is still working and has no plans to retire anytime soon.
The other woman was Zoe Bell. I knew her name as the stunt double for Xena on Xena: Warrior Princess. We get to watch the end of the 2nd unit filming for the TV show. This leaves Zoe at a bit of a lose end without a job. She goes to the US for a Xena Convention and the documentary crew scores her a ticket to the Stunt Awards. Through this she meets Jeannie who sees something in the Kiwi. After a year of no work, Zoe takes an offer to come to the US and take a course in stunt work. From this Zoe scores a great job that could lead to other jobs in the film industry.
It is really interesting seeing the lives of these two women and what they are up against because they are not men. It is also fascinating to see what they put themselves through for a stunt. Zoe has a daredevil streak and she doesn’t quit when things are not going her way. During her audition she tries to stick a landing from a trampoline jump and ends up on her butt each time. Some of the landings look and sound painful but she gets up, shakes it off, and goes back to try again. Jeannie is trying to make a living and make things better for stuntwomen everywhere. She is looked up to by most of the industry but this does not always translate into work which is so typical of Hollywood.
The director, Amanda Micheli, does a great job with this film. She is very even handed with showing us the lives of these two women both the good and the bad. I recommend this film highly for so many reasons including showing people how the glamorous life of a stunt person is really not that glamorous. I don’t know if it is available on dvd or video yet but keep an eye out on cable for it. It is worth your time.
I am grateful for interesting documentaries.
Peter and I saw Trekkies in the theater and had a screen to ourselves which allowed us to make comments as the movie went along without fear of repercussions. The distributor opened it the same weekend as Star Wars: Phantom Menace. Which could mean one of two things. The nice scenario is that some clever person thought that if Phantom Menace sold out then they would go see Trekkies. The naughty scenario is they wanted to bury this film and picked a weekend that no one would go see it. As it turned out, Trekkies built quite a cult following.
Trekkies II covers new territory as in they go all over the world but not much new in terms of the fans. One of the conventions in the US that they covered was Shoreleave which we go to every year so that was fun. Peter recognized a number of the fans from the various foreign conventions he has gone to over the years. I recognized a number of fans that I met at those conventions which I had attended with Peter. New topics covered were filking, Star Trek tribute bands, and fan made movies. They also revisited some of the fans from Trekkies to see what they were up to. I do like the focus towards the end of the film about the service aspect of Star Trek Fandom and how they help many charities and their own extended family in times of need. All in all, not a bad follow-up but I really don’t see the need for Trekkies III
Double Dare is a great documentary about stunt women specifically two stunt women. Jeannie Epper has been in the game for a long time. I had heard her name in connection with stunts before I saw this documentary. One of the roles she was best known for was stunt double on Wonder Woman. She is 60 now and still fighting the stereotypes of Hollywood. She came from a family of stuntmen and many of her children work as stunt people in films today. She is still working and has no plans to retire anytime soon.
The other woman was Zoe Bell. I knew her name as the stunt double for Xena on Xena: Warrior Princess. We get to watch the end of the 2nd unit filming for the TV show. This leaves Zoe at a bit of a lose end without a job. She goes to the US for a Xena Convention and the documentary crew scores her a ticket to the Stunt Awards. Through this she meets Jeannie who sees something in the Kiwi. After a year of no work, Zoe takes an offer to come to the US and take a course in stunt work. From this Zoe scores a great job that could lead to other jobs in the film industry.
It is really interesting seeing the lives of these two women and what they are up against because they are not men. It is also fascinating to see what they put themselves through for a stunt. Zoe has a daredevil streak and she doesn’t quit when things are not going her way. During her audition she tries to stick a landing from a trampoline jump and ends up on her butt each time. Some of the landings look and sound painful but she gets up, shakes it off, and goes back to try again. Jeannie is trying to make a living and make things better for stuntwomen everywhere. She is looked up to by most of the industry but this does not always translate into work which is so typical of Hollywood.
The director, Amanda Micheli, does a great job with this film. She is very even handed with showing us the lives of these two women both the good and the bad. I recommend this film highly for so many reasons including showing people how the glamorous life of a stunt person is really not that glamorous. I don’t know if it is available on dvd or video yet but keep an eye out on cable for it. It is worth your time.
I am grateful for interesting documentaries.
