Sick Birds Die Easy
Director: Nik Fackler
Street: 02.22.13
After assembling a team of his “fucked up friends,” which consists of drug addicts and film crew, director Nik Fackler takes his group to Gabon, Africa, where he plans to have them take the iboga root—a plant that is said to provide long psychedelic trips, but also clean the body of all toxins and cure addictions. With overpowering, suffocating narration, the young Fackler sets out to “[create] new holy scripture through film,” but “Paranoid Drug Addict” Ross Brockley honestly captures the essence of the documentary towards the end of the film: “We were gonna make a documentary film and then they said we were gonna do iboga, and, instead, we’re out in the forest taking acid every night making the worst movie you’ve ever seen.” Now, I’ve seen the Twilight movies, so this is definitely not the worst film I’ve ever seen, but it ranks up there. Most of the groups’ actions throughout the documentary reek of insolence, racism, pretentiousness and white privilege—the most alarming example takes place on their trip into the jungle to find a Pygmy tribe when, after their African guide dies in his sleep, they leave his body in his tent and continue on their way. If someone suggests that you watch this documentary with them, smack them in the face and unfriend them on Facebook. –John Ford
Top Gear (Season 20)
BBC Home Entertainment
Street: 01.14
I am definitely not a car aficionado. At most, I know they have four wheels and go. However, if I am channel surfing and I see Top Gear is on, I will stop whatever I am doing and watch. The guys over at Top Gear make cars interesting and fun. I have learned more watching this show than reading any manual or sitting in a testosterone-filled room listening to arguments about which car is best. I can’t choose where to start when it comes to praising this show. Each episode highlights a car (be it sports, luxury or a piece of garbage) and their reviews of its performance. They then move to a car news segment, which usually derails with tangents. A producer challenge has the men creating new cars or travelling across different countries and completing tasks, usually winning nothing but bragging rights. Lastly, they host a different celebrity guest in each episode and the guest races around the track in a reasonably priced car. Every segment, every challenge and every guest is amusing. Occasionally, I forget I’m watching a car show. It’s a show about three guys (and The Stig, a nameless race driver, not one of the guys from Daft Punk) who invent and test cars while ragging on each other. Of course, this show has made it to 20 seasons—I imagine the show would go on forever if the hosts would allow it. You can find Seasons 1 through 19 on Netflix, but you don’t get the added features of a Stig cam (where you can watch from a racer’s perspective) or the collection of the greatest moments in Top Gear history (and trust me, each moment is gold). If you appreciate technology and British humor, you probably already know about Top Gear. –Rebecca Frost
