Alex Winter’s ‘ZAPPA’ Trailer (Theaters/VOD Nov 27)

What are the titles of the documentaries with John French and Bill Hackleroad?

 

'From Straight to Bizarre'
It came packaged with two other docs - 'Frank Zappa and the Mother's of Invention: In the 1960's' and 'The Freak Out List'. It looks like they were all made by the same guy(s).

 

Price for the US edition has dropped rapidly just a few days before its release (Next Tuesday): 2nd March. This is in the realisation that there are probably not going to be any extras whatsoever (none they have bothered to detail anyway)

 

Where have you seen it for sale?

 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B08LGMR...olid=1MUDS78JTB60S&psc=1&ref_=lv_ov_lig_dp_it

 

Yeah, I couldn't find it any cheaper. Ordered. Shame the artwork isn't the same as the official poster.

 

That bluray'd better have plenty of tasty extras or no goddamn sale.

 

Find out tomorrow when its released in the US. I can't see it happening as the info is just not forthcoming anywhere. If true, a real missed opportunity there.

 

My copy of the blu-ray just showed up in the mail. The blurb on the back lists "Deleted Scenes" as a special feature but no specifics as to what those scenes actually are.

 

If only there was some way to find out...

 

Alas, I can’t find out until the kids are in bed.

 

Forgot to check my Tweet to Alex yesterday, bless him he did reply that there are some extras on it.

https://twitter.com/Winter/status/1366465467636932608

 

got my vimeo steam of it today...
will watch after I get some things done.

 

SOooooo,
What did 'yours truly' think of this doc?:
Well, he certainly 'framed' it to the 'man-of-contradictions' theme, that's for sure!
Still, I found it emotional, thinking of all the things that interviewers COULD'VE asked him, and never did....
Lots of missed opportunities, though... things that wouldn't even take up much time, really!
-That little speech during the "Mount St. Mary's concert you hear on "Lost episodes" shoulda been used...funny then, and funny now.
-keeping with the 'contradiction' theme, after the "MTV sucks' section, show a bit of the concert aired on MTV.
-Dare I say...more Gale....(when she said Frank kept allowing old friends to return...some terrible, did anyone else think to themselves, "Roy, maybe?")
-Telling Ahmet to get some clay instead of playing with his video game, a small bit of reaction from modern-day Ahmet might've been funny.

In the end, I don't think anybody who watches this will be prepared for ANY of Frank's major body of work.....my opinion.
It seemed like such a small amount of the vault was actually used!

 

Not much to them. Frank tries to recruit a pig to be in the Mothers, a brief ad for Apostrophe and a snippet of an interview with Haskell Wexler on how the Mothers came to do the music for Medium Cool. I just saw that movie recently and was surprised to hear them on the soundtrack.

I liked the doc but it did feel like it was just built around what they found in the vault. It's interesting what they talked about and what they skipped over completely. It did seem a little arbitrary. Great to see Ruth Underwood interviewed, though seeing her break down in tears was a heart wrenching moment akin to Emmy Lou doing same in the Linda Ronstadt doc. Love her living room though. Cool looking stuff everywhere. Overall, a compliment to the other documentaries out there. Like Frank's records, you have to kind of take them all in to get a complete picture. Now I want to see the Uncle Meat video. Is it as bad as 200 Motels?

 

If you have the Ryko version of "Uncle Meat", you've heard the movie, basically..without the Festival Hall footage.

 

200 Motels is Citizen Kane compared to the Uncle Meat movie.

 

Weeeelllll..."Baby Snakes" is.....maybe...

 

I actually kinda like Baby Snakes. I can't say the same for 200 Motels, which I found pretty boring, FRANKly. Okay I will give it a pass and just listen to my Meat Light CD instead... I was actually surprised that they pretty much skipped over the 1969-70 period in the movie, which of course is probably my most favorite. No Lumpy Gravy either. Maybe Alex didn't like that music...

 

Thanks for posting. the extras sound like a massive disparity between Alex Winter and the company that actually put the disc together.

A missed opportunity.

 

[I copied myself from another thread, I wasn't sure where this was being discussed]
I finally sat down to watch this last night, having had the code since last Tuesday.

I was ready to be underwhelmed by this, but I was blown away by how great a film it is. I know a lot about Zappa, have heard all the stories, and seen/heard a ton of things. And yet Alex managed to take a story I already knew and told it perfectly.

I was surprised that he didn't even start editing in the "talking head" new interviews until 30 minutes in (Bunk Gardner talking about the early Mothers). Even when he started weaving the new interviews/voice overs in, it didn't overwhelm the story.

Probably because he had so much archival footage to work with, he was able to craft a fresh take on the man and his life/work. And the footage (drool), there were so many clips I had never seen. Some of those I really would love to see the complete performance (I'm not sure what the bonus content on the blu ray will be).

I know there were probably some fans who were upset they didn't mention album X, or player Y, or glossed over certain eras, but for a one-fill overview of such a densely populated career, it was good. They used those key events in his life, and fleshed some elements out, but didn't linger too long on anything. That last montage of clips set to a track from the Ensemble Modern sessions (I'll have to check which song) was beautiful.

I will re-watch this again, but I can't think of a better documentary of a musician that has come out in the last 20 years.

Go see it if you haven't yet.

 

Finally watched this. Holy fuch what a movie. I cried at a few points smiled about many more.

I really wished we saw some of Ike and Moon here, those are the two individuals I would have liked to hear from, but I get why this is. I dont like it, but I get it.

still, excellent work Alex. I will watch it again and again.

 

Watched this on Hulu, and while I would say I like Zappa, I’m not hardcore and I learned a lot from it.

Such a talent, and I forgot how young he was when he left us. So young very sad.

 

When Zappa Came to Sicily - Another surprisingly good Zappa doc. I figured this for another concert film but it's actually a doc about a Zappa concert in Palermo that ended in a riot but also about his family visiting Sicily after his death and meeting his father's family. I think this is the most I've seen Gail and the kids get interviewed about Frank and the whole thing seems very heartfelt and perhaps portrays Frank at his most human. Yet another piece of the video puzzle. Recommended!

 

Also humanizes Mr. Tango Na Minkia Tanta, himself!