A documentary about legendary director/producer Roger Corman, covering his career of over 400 movies. Beside starting the career of many famous directors and actors (Jack Nicholson in particular), it shows the influence of his films on cinema and that even exploitation movies are OK as long as you like what you do and give the audience what they want.Watching this documentary really got me thinking that there's no huge difference between Roger Corman and Ed Wood: Both did "commando" low budget movies with minimum budget and shooting. So is it a matter of talent? Some of the scenarios described by the people involved really sound like scenes taken from "Ed Wood".This documentary features lots of clips from his entire career and interviews with lots of famous actors and directors.

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!

Even while I truly enjoyed watching this documentary, I still felt somewhat disappointed by the end. Something was missing.I often love watching dumb, low-budget B-movies, no matter how bad they are. It's sort of relaxing to watch and helps to make you forget all your sorrows for a short while. Besides, the thing about B-movies is that it keeps reminding you about it how complex and painstaking the movie making process actually is. With good and big budgeted movies you can't really see how the movie got made but with B-movies you notice every little detail. Every piece of bad dialog becomes more notable, editing, camera-positioning, storytelling, acting is often so simplistic and lacking that it makes you appreciate the art, passion and talent that often goes into making a movie. When it's done right, you hardly pay attention to it but when it's done poorly, you all suddenly start to realize this and appreciate and respect the movie making business all the more.And Roger Corman is everywhere- and by everyone regarded as the king of B-movies. No wonder, since his movies are pretty much form the definition of a B-movie; cheap, simplistic and they got put together as fast as possible, even if there isn't a completely finished script to work with. And not only that, it is hard to find a film-maker with more movies behind his or her name. He has produced over 400 movies in the past 7 decades and directed over 50.And this is a documentary about the film-maker Roger Corman and his methods of filmmaking and about his views on the industry. So don't expect an insightful documentary about the man behind the film-maker. In that regard this really isn't a documentary that goes deep into things but that doesn't mean that it also doesn't have plenty of different stuff to offer.No doubt that you'll still learn a lot from this documentary and makes you realize what Corman has done for the industry and how his movies and his style of film-making have influenced the business and helped to give many film-makers a boost. Many people that normally wouldn't had been given a chance in the industry started out their careers with Corman's movies. I'm not just talking about actors but also lots of people involved with the work behind the cameras. Many of them actually grew out to become big names in the industry as well, such as James Cameron, Francis Ford Coppola, Martin Scorsese, Peter Bogdanovich, Jonathan Demme, Joe Dante, Ron Howard, Jack Nicholson, Peter Fonda, Bruce Dern, Dennis Hopper, Talia Shire, Sandra Bullock, Robert De Niro, David Carradine and William Shatner. Some of them participate in this documentary as well, which makes you realize all the more what Corman and his movies must have meant for them.The whole documentary is presented as a light and fun one to watch. It never gets too serious and when it does, there is something to laugh about 5 seconds later again. This ensures that the entire documentary remains pleasant to watch but I surely wouldn't had minded some more depth and also some more focus on the negative aspects at times. You feel that this movie is mostly being a tribute to Corman and his work, over the many decades. Perhaps the documentary would had featured some more depth and feeling to it if it was about 30 minutes longer. Normally a documentary of movie can feel to long but in this case it could had truly benefited from a longer running time. I don't have the feeling that this documentary told the entire story and especially the ending, when Corman receives an honorary academy award feels very rushed, as if it got put into the documentary at the very last moment.It's still good and fun to watch, especially when you are a Roger Corman enthusiast but it's lacking a bit of depth and substance at time.7/10 http://bobafett1138.blogspot.com/

-- www.Ramascreen.com --It's a Corman's World, we all just live in it! This is a docu feature that's just as rebellious as the the man himself. It gives us insight into the determination, the stubbornness, the pride, and the struggle of a filmmaker who takes chances and gambles, and is still kikin', who directly and indirectly influences independent filmmakers everywhere to be OK with and be passionate about making low budget movies as a way to stick it to the man!..Movies that has such weird titles like Little Shop Of Horrors, Monster From The Ocean Floor, or Dinoshark nowadays probably get laughed at by general audiences but did you know that those movies actually have strong fanbase?! There are some of us who can find something entertaining or artful about B-exploit horror and action flicks. And the man we need to thank for that is none other than Roger Corman. Director Alex Stapleton's documentary covers Corman's career and personal life extensively. The film works as a way to reintroduce Corman to today's generation who probably had no idea that The Fast And The Furious starring Vin Diesel was actually an updated version of Corman's old movie of the same title. The docu shows his early involvements with film industry, and it's clear from early on that even as one of the young story editors, Corman was not appreciated or credited for his contributions. So that part was more or less like a premonition of what his entire career, in the next 50 years plus, was going to be.Looking back now, the A-list celebs who at one point or another, starred in Corman's movies may be a bit embarrassed to admit that they started out that way but they themselves know that they wouldn't be where they are if it weren't for the chances that Corman took with them. The docu interviews such greats as Scorsese, De Niro, Nicholson, and Pam Grier. It's impressive how dedicated director Stapleton was to capture every Corman story possible from those who've crossed paths with or encountered him It's a 90-minute documentary but it goes by quickly because it's so engaging and you want to know more about this man named Roger Corman. Packed with archival footage of Corman's old movies, you'll laugh at how cheesy those movies were but in the back of your head, you know that you could watch these kinds of movies on a Saturday night with a huge bag of popcorn because that's the kind of occasion that those movies are made for.I now understand that 2 things kept Corman from advancing to the next level of filmmaking: Pride and bad luck. You'll see from this docu that there were opportunities that Corman could've taken but he chose not to because he was too proud and there were opportunities that almost fell on his lap but for some unknown cosmic reason, the projects went to other filmmakers and they became classic hits. I think as much as he'd like to be part of the A-list and be appreciated, he feels that low budget filmmaking is where he belongs, as painful as it is to be labeled King Of B. One interesting segment in the docu is about the arrival of Jaws and Star Wars, basically big Hollywood Studios perfecting and banking on the concepts and films that Corman had made for years before on a budget lower than $50,000. You feel sorry for the guy. I've been a Star Wars fan for as long as I could remember, but this docu feature gives me a different perspective, a different way of looking at the franchise. This docu ends with the 2009 Honorary Academy Award for Roger Corman which makes it like a cherry on top, The film is an honest portrait of persistence, you can't get a better example of a filmmaker who withstood mockery and became admired eventually.-- www.Ramascreen.com --