leebutler Review

Finding Creativity (2021) – Found It

Finding Creativity was seen as part of the Melbourne Documentary Film Festival

Finding Creativity Info

Trying to describe creativity is not an easy thing, it feels like one of those topics that can only be described with the famous phrase used by the United States Supreme Court in relation to pornography “I know it when I see it”. Putting the concept of creativity into words, describing what it means to be creative and how one develops a creative mind is not an easy thing to do… but the documentary Finding Creativity somehow pulls it off in under an hour which is upsettingly brilliant.

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leebutler Review, Documentary

Black Summer (2020) – Essential Aussie Documentary

Black Summer was seen as part of the Melbourne Documentary Film Festival

Black Summer Info

From the end of 2019 until the start of 2020, a large portion of my home state was on fire. The fires were mostly in country areas and so intense that the smoke made it over the ocean to New Zealand, where the sky turned an angry orange and the air became so toxic that people in NSW were wearing masks long before it was cool to do so. It was truly a devastating fire, destroying nearly 10,000 buildings and killing 34 people directly and 445 people from smoke inhalation. 

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leebutler Documentary, Review

Do Nothing And Do It Well (2020) – Out Of The Cabinet, Into The Streets

Do Nothing And Do It Well was seen as part of the Melbourne Documentary Film Festival

The history of anti-Asian racism in Australia is much like the history of all racism in Australia… it goes back to the Federation of this country and the white people try to pretend we’ve gotten better when we really haven’t. Sure, every country born from colonialism contains some history of racism that still impacts people today but today’s film, Do Nothing and Do It Well, really does whatever it can to make it clear to its audience just how intense this history is for one community.

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leebutler Horror, Action, Adventure, Review

Escape Room: Tournament Of Champions (2021) – Get Me Out Of Here

Released: 1st July
Seen: 10th October

Escape Room: Tournament Of Champions Info

Over the last few years, it appears that one of the big things in horror movies is “What if escape rooms were actually deadly?”. No, not like in the Saw films where you have deadly traps in rooms you need to escape, but literal escape rooms with puzzles to solve and if you don’t solve them fast enough you will die somehow.

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leebutler Documentary, Review

Kid 90 (2021) – What’s The Matter With Kids Today?

Released: 12th March
Seen: 27th September

Kid 90 Info

Throughout the history of Hollywood, often those who have had it roughest going through the industry has been children and teenagers. There’s not just a long and disturbing history of abuse, but there’s also just kids who never got to see the money they earned or kids who had to grow up in front of a camera and lost their entire childhoods.

Some of these kids didn’t get to grow up fairly and ended up having serious problems that followed them throughout their lives, and some have made it out the other side with some horrifying and fascinating stories to tell. Kid 90 is the story of one of those kids, even though it promises to be about several of them.

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leebutler Musical, Netflix, Review

Diana: A True Musical Story (2021) – A Royal Mess

Released: 1st October
Seen: 7th October

Diana: A True Musical Story Info

Princess Diana, also known as the people’s princess, died in August of 1997 after a group of paparazzi chased her through a tunnel. The crash also took the lives of Diana’s partner Dodi Fayed and the driver of the car, Henri Paul. This was in 1997 and the obsession with Princess Diana has not abated for even a moment since that day, I would dare to say that there isn’t a week that goes by when she isn’t on the cover of a magazine that probably paid the very paparazzi that contributed to the events that led to her death. Her life was fascinating and full of truly great highs and lows… and is the subject of possibly the worst musical I’ve seen in my life and keep in mind that the Cats movie still exists so that’s a low bar.

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leebutler Documentary, Review

Mental As Everything (2021) – Musical Health

Mental As Everything was seen as part of the Melbourne Documentary Film Festival

Mental As Everything Info

The subject of mental health has never been easy to talk about, no matter how serious it might end up being to those who suffer from it. This is kind of strange when you realise how many people have some form of mental health issue, I’m going to wager that everyone reading this either has some form of mental health issue or knows someone who does. Hell, the person writing this knows several people with serious mental health issues. The reason it’s not talked about as much as it probably should be is because of social stigma… something that the brilliant minds behind Mental As Everything are trying to help with.

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leebutler Documentary, Netflix, Review

Hating Peter Tatchell (2021) – Love Peter Tatchell

Released: 11th August
Seen: 28th September

Hating Peter Tatchell Info

Throughout queer history, there is a long list of people who, in some form, have pushed forward the cause of queer acceptance. From major events like Marsha P Johnson throwing the first brick at Stonewall, to the founding of Act Up by Larry Kramer, to Harvey Milk becoming one of the first openly gay people elected to public office, there are many figures who in some way or another have done something to push the cause of LGBT people forward.

One name that should be up near the top of that list is Peter Tatchell, a proud polemic figure who has put his body and life on the line to fight for gay liberation and Hating Peter Tatchell is absolutely essential viewing for anyone even slightly interested in the power and the cost of protest.

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leebutler Documentary, Review

FoodxFilm Festival Review: Wild Relatives (2018)

Over on Soda & Telepaths, another one of the FoodxFilm festival reviews is up (yes the festival ended 2 days ago, the reviews still good). This one’s for the film Wild Relatives which is about seeds because this festival had a very pointed theme.

Also guess whose internet is borked so can’t watch any new films? That’s why I haven’t started on the Melbourne Documentary Film Festival stuff, though I have got access to that and will get onto it the moment my internet is unborked.