leebutler Documentary, Review

I’m Chevy Chase And You’re Not (2026) – LIVE

Released: 1st January
Seen: 28th March

There are some things in life that are just undeniably true. The sky is blue, water is wet, Chevy Chase is a massive asshole. These things are facts that one cannot reasonably argue with anyone. That last one is a truth that people have really known for over 50 years, since his first appearance on TV the easy way to describe Chevy has been “Asshole”, for a period of time you might even put the word “Lovable” before “Asshole” but the general consensus has always been that Chevy Chase is an asshole… but what if there was more to him than just being a legendary entertainment asshole? Well, that’s what the documentary I’m Chevy Chase And You’re Not hopes to prove… if only its main subject would stop getting in the way.

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leebutler Documentary, Review

Melania (2026) – Uggh

Released: 30th January
Seen: 23rd March

Donald Trump is a horrific fascistic scumbag, a useless pile of flesh that’s held together by bitterness and rape allegations. He’s up there on the list of worst world leaders to ever exist and yes, I am including the German guy with the funny moustache in that assessment. He’s vile, putrid, disgusting, and that’s the polite terms I can use without potentially risking getting investigated by the FBI. I do not like the man whatsoever, and I never ever have… I also have never been a fan of his wife, Melania. I’ve seen other people on the left try to pass her off as some kind of victim who secretly hates him and needs to just get away but I’ve never been one of those people, I’ve always been down to say she’s just as bad as him so when I heard there was a documentary being made about her, I was not looking forward to it. Of course, her documentary’s been a big talking point all year; it made so much money but also got critically panned, and it’s been the butt of every joke about a bad documentary for several months now. Now I’m not going to pretend I’m a fan of the film’s subject matter (did you work that part out already), but hey, I can enjoy a documentary about a bad person if the documentary is done well… but this isn’t, it’s Melania, and there is nothing good about Melania.

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leebutler Documentary, Review

Strange Journey: The Story Of Rocky Horror (2025) – Sweet

Released: 5th December
Seen: 6th December

The first time I saw The Rocky Horror Picture Show was on a VHS tape while at home sick from school. For a long time I had been aware of the VHS tape that sat in the house, an impossible to miss set of ruby red lips on the cover, hovering wickedly under the words “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” printed in slightly-raised silver writing. Like everyone else on earth, I’d heard of the film before, indeed my school even taught us how to do the Time Warp at one point so elements of the film had entered my consciousness but the film itself hadn’t, so in my sickly state, I watched the film for the first time and was soon transfixed by it. It’s brilliant songs, completely mental performances and strange references that flew over my head just washed over me in that living room. Even on a crappy VHS tape, the magic of Rocky Horror worked on me, as it does for most people who see it. At that moment I joined the cult, the cult that has kept Rocky Horror in theatres and in the public consciousness for 50 years. Now seems like the perfect time to celebrate this truly insane film with a documentary and Strange Journey: The Story Of Rocky Horror is the exact kind of documentary that this classic deserves.

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leebutler Documentary, Review

The Perfect Neighbor (2025) – Everybody Needs Good Neighbours

Released: 17th October
Seen: 4th November

On June 2nd 2023, Police were called to a street in Ocala, Florida to respond to an alleged disturbance call. Susan Louise Lorincz called them to report that a couple of kids were being loud near her house and creating a nuisance, a call she had made multiple times in the past for all kinds of issues that largely revolved around those kids just playing in the street or in the open field near her house (a field she did not have any ownership of). Susan was informed that police were on their way… 2 minutes after she hung up, Susan would be calling the police back to inform them that she had just shot her neighbour, Ajike Owens, who was the mother of one of the children that Susan regularly had run-ins with. Ajike would not survive the shooting and the circumstances that led to this horrific event are the subject of the documentary The Perfect Neighbor

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leebutler Documentary, Review

Exorcismo: The Transgressive Legacy of Clasificada ‘S’ (2025) – Magnífico

Released: 13th September
Seen: 13th September

One of my weird fascinations is with film rating systems and what can and can’t be shown to certain audiences. The entire strange history of the US’s NC-17 rating is something I will never stop being fascinated by, same with the story of the British Video Nasties and how some horror films were considered so vile that owning a copy was grounds for an arrest. The ways that these ratings have impacted what movies get made or released is something truly worthy of lengthy study so hearing about this kind of censorship from around the world is something I’m eager to learn more about, which is why I’m glad that I got a chance to see Exorcismo: The Transgressive Legacy of Clasificada ‘S’ because it turns out Spain’s history of censorship is as wild as it gets.

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leebutler Documentary, Review

Occupy Cannes (2025) – Tromatic

Released: 31st July
Seen: 13th September

Ever since 1974, Troma has been one of the best-known independent movie companies on the planet. The company responsible for bringing us such treasured films as The Toxic Avenger, Sgt. Kabukiman N.Y.P.D. and Class of Nuke ‘Em High have managed to somehow keep their doors open for 5 decades and counting, through a combination of making quality cheap underground films and just raw determination. They’ve also just been relentless in trying to sell their films, pimping their product like a desperate Girl Scout trying to make quota. One of the many tactics that they’ve used over the years to get their films distributed is to attend the Cannes Film Festival and use guerrilla marketing stunts to get attention, and in the documentary Occupy Cannes, we get to see just how that goes for them.

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leebutler Documentary, Review

Butthole Surfers: The Hole Truth And Nothing Butt (2025) – Bodacious

Released: 15th August
Seen: 12th September

In 1996, a song called Pepper made it onto the charts and became somewhat of a hit. While it only barely made it to the top 40 on the mainstream charts, it hit number one on the modern Rock charts, which back then actually meant something. It was at least enough to get you noticed, maybe even get a performance on Letterman. It also didn’t hurt that the band’s name was The Butthole Surfers, a name so immediately iconic that it would go on to be referenced by The Simpsons and remain a punchline for decades to come. Pepper turned The Butthole Surfers into one of those magical acts that can lovingly be called “One Hit Wonder”, which is still a pretty big thing for a lot of young bands… by the time The Butthole Surfers got their one hit, they’d been a pretty popular underground touring band for 15 years with a fascinating history that is presented with great adoration by the film Butthole Surfers: The Hole Truth And Nothing Butt.

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leebutler Documentary, Netflix, Review

Don’t Die: The Man Who Wants to Live Forever (2025) – Eternally Average

Released: 1st January
Seen: 5th January

Bryan Johnson is a weird man, that’s the story you’ll find if you google him. A tech millionaire who has dedicated his life to the pursuit of immortality through a strict regimen that includes 100 pills, multiple high-end medical devices and plasma transfusions from his son. It’s an undeniably odd story on some level, there have been people obsessed over their health since the first vegan told everyone else how much they loved being vegan but Bryan Johnson is on his own unique level. Bryan truly seems to believe that the insane hard work that he’s doing will actually keep him from dying and the documentary Don’t Die: The Man Who Wants To Live Forever gives you a glimpse into his lifestyle… I might choose death over this option but to each their own.

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leebutler Documentary, Review

Dario Argento: Panico (2024) – Opera-tic

Released: 2nd February
Seen: 26th February

In the history of the Horror genre, there are a few iconic directors whose work is so distinctive that their last name becomes a descriptive term. Hitchcock, Carpenter, Raimi, these names have all been used to conjure a specific style of filmmaking that people still mimic to this day. One name particularly powerful name that managed to define a certain kind of horror film is Argento, as in Dario Argento the legendary Italian director who made his name synonymous with a major element of the Italian horror of the 1970s and 80s with his works The Bird With The Crystal Plumage, Inferno, Deep Red, Opera and probably his most famous work, Suspiria. During one of the biggest periods in horror cinema, Argento was one of the biggest names in the industry who was making funky fascinating fright films that fucked with the audience’s heads and with what cinema could look like. He is on the shortlist of directors whose careers warrant a documentary retrospective and Dario Argento: Panico is pretty much exactly what his work deserves… as a first documentary, anyway.

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leebutler Documentary, Netflix, Review

The Greatest Night In Pop (2023) – We Are In Awe

Released: 29th January
Seen: 29th January

In 1985, one of the most undeniably iconic images in pop culture was created in the middle of the night, just after the American Music Awards. That image was of the inside of a small recording studio in LA where 45 of the greatest musicians of the day (and also Dan Akroyd, for some reason) stood around a collection of microphones to sing a song to try and help world hunger. The image of these legends together is iconic, it’s been parodied dozens of times and earnestly recreated almost as many. The song that came from that legendary night is one of the highest-selling songs of all time, taking in millions to try and help those in need, while also being truly inescapable for decades to go. There was never anything quite like We Are The World and there will probably never be anything like it again, and the documentary The Greatest Night In Pop makes it clear how the song’s existence is something of a minor miracle.

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