Corman's World (2011)

disgusting, overrated, pointless

Fanciful, disturbing, and wildly original, it announces the arrival of a fresh, bold voice in American cinema.

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

This is a dark and sometimes deeply uncomfortable drama

Believe it or not... I have watched the documentary feature on life and works of this man with smiles and tears throughout. Smiles at my realization how crazily, madly, and fiercely independent Mr. Roger Corman has proudly been and how fascinating his ups and downs in his film life must have been. The man's integrity and strength deserve admiration at all levels. It can never be easy to go against an establishment for decades and to remain self-fulfilled, commercially successful, and happily married. Worse, the very establishment or Hollywood itself has to succumb when it unanimously gives him an Academy Award for Lifetime Achievement. Tears at a life of man denied his rightful place for a very, very long time. He gives birth to the likes of Martin Scorsese, Ron Howard, Jonathan Demme, Jack Nicholson, and the almost endless list of names in the 285 films he makes, and yet the father has been treated almost as an embarrassment by the children because most of his works are of exploiting nature. I find it greatly unfair and very sad. It is true that Mr. Corman himself may never have craved for meaningless glory and praises, but can't we be a little stronger and award courage and human free spirits as opposed to those bricks in the wall? I think it is appropriate for Jack Nicholson to cry during the interview because, I believe, of such hard truth. In fact, this film shows several people who look back and rediscover, after all, their deep love and gratitude to Roger Corman. It is amusing to see many of these film celebrities cracking, smilingly while doing it, at a mere mention of Mr. Corman's name, as if they feel slightly ashamed of failing early on to realize his genuine values, personal goodness and morality code, and the real contribution of him to their very lives. They almost think of him now as a father whom they disgust, ridicule, and make fun of in their previous lives. Now they know all too well from whom they obtain their secrets of success. Roger Corman is a wonderful subject matter of this wonderful, and unpretentious, film about a man who is strictly his own among the devious crowd.

If nothing else, Roger Corman has been a blue collar filmmaker- a man who got things done. Sure, the Hits and the Misses were often indistinguishable from one another (at least, BEFORE the receipts were counted), but Corman keeps plugging away. CORMAN'S WORLD gives us a rare (nay, long overdue) look at The Man Himself and there ARE some interesting insights along the way. One of my first attempts to sell a script to someone in Hollywood was a monstrosity titled BEAST WORLD, which had a giant alien bat living in a cave on another world humans were trying to colonize. It was, to its CORE, a Corman-type of scenario; i.e.;one part Mario Bava's PLANET OF THE VAMPIRES, one part IT! THE TERROR FROM BEYOND SPACE and one part Christian Nyby's THE THING (with, by default, a touch of ALIEN in the mix). The script never sold, but, man, what a Corman movie it could've been!

One of the most under-appreciated innovators in cinema history, Roger Corman, is given the celebration he deserves here. Most commonly given the tag of the 'king of the B-movies', it is often criminally ignored just how much influence Roger Corman had on the industry, and how many major industry players he set up in the game. Of course, his filmography as director and producers is possibly around 95% crap, but Corman is the king of reminding just what fun we can have at the movies, regardless of whether we're watching a rubber shark, an attack of crab monsters, or a sexy girl in knee-high boots firing a machine gun.All the big names he's helped promote in his career are on interviewee duty, namely Jack Nicholson, Peter Bogdanovich, Martin Scorsese, David Carradine and Ron Howard. Even though most of them will be completely embarrassed with the work they did under Corman, their gratitude and appreciation for the man who set them up, and even gave them artistic license is embedded into their faces. One especially touching scene sees Jack Nicholson break down whilst reflecting on his early career with Corman, and how a fresh-faced kid with apparently little hope in the industry was given more lead roles than he perhaps deserved, and even offered writing opportunities later on with The Terror (1963) and The Trip (1967).His tale is told chronologically (after a visit to the set of his then- latest film Dinoshark (2010)), beginning in the 50's when he was a reader of new scripts, and later a self-styled director/producer when he didn't receive the recognition he deserved after recommending the successful The Gunfighter (1950). He rolled out cheap double-bills such as Monster from the Ocean Floor (1954), Swamp Women (1955), and the hilarious-looking It Conquered the World (1956), but it wouldn't be until the 1960's when Corman would make his mark. His numerous Edgar Allen Poe adaptations received critical acclaim, and he would become a counter-culture icon with biker movie The Wild Angels (1966) and drug movie The Trip. He also bought and screened art-house classics such as Ingmar Bergman's Cries and Whispers (1972) to the drive-in audience, and even strived to make a 'proper' film with The Intruder (1962), a film about social segregation starring, er, William Shatner.I know I'm mainly talking about the career of Roger Corman rather than actually reviewing the film, but that's probably the best thing about this documentary. Corman's story is all the film needed to be entertaining, as it remains refreshingly unfussy throughout and allows the often fascinating talking heads (which also include Bruce Dern, Joe Dante, Robert DeNiro, Dick Miller, Jonathan Demme and Pam Grier) to simply tell the story. After being told such a story, the climax that sees Corman collect his long-overdue Academy Lifetime Achievement Award, is suitably, an inevitably, very moving. Director Alex Stapleton has hardly re-defined documentaries here, but with such a likable and fascinating subject, it remains highly informative, fun, touching, and entertaining.www.the-wrath-of-blog.blogspot.com

If anyone ever made a movie about you, you'd wish it was made like this. I'm pretty sure Roger Corman himself is happy about the end result. It's a mix, where you are treated to the past and the present (of course the present is the past, at the time you'll be able watch this, but you get what I mean) of Corman body of work. New and old collaborators are there to be interviewed.At the end there is a special treat, though I guess fans will know this (actually should know this), before watching the movie. But to newbies or people not as aware to Corman (like myself) this works wonders. You really start to respect the man. And while it is rose tinted most of the time, it also involves some controversial material in it too. Still this is here to celebrate a man and that is what it does