Strong and Moving!

just watch it!

It's fun, it's light, [but] it has a hard time when its tries to get heavy.

A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

Raiders!: The Story of the Greatest Fan Film Ever Made (2015)*** 1/2 (out of 4)This documentary tells the rather exciting and at times sad story of Chris Strompolos and Eric Zala, two young friends who decides to try and do a scene-for-scene remake of RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK. Their journey would eat up seven years of their childhood and the two would eventually be brought back together as they try to film the one scene that they couldn't as children.There are countless fan films out there and especially in today's age where anyone can film something on their phone and upload it to YouTube within minutes. What's so amazing about RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK: THE ADAPTATION is the fact that it was done back in the 80s with real effects and the fact that it ended up becoming a huge hit after the bootleg tape fell into the right hands.This documentary does an excellent job at not only covering the making of the film but also how its making impact the two main people involved. After the fan fare started to pick up, a Kickstarter campaign was started so that the two could go back and finish one piece of the movie that was missing. We get to see the actual shooting of this scene as well as learn about the original shooting as well as all the ups and downs that went into it.I'm sure most people have pretended that they made a movie or they dreamed of doing so. What's so fascinating about these kids is the fact that they actually went out there and did it. Their stories are certainly something that leads to a highly entertaining story and there's plenty of nice drama throughout this documentary of them trying to complete the picture. If you're a fan of the original Steven Spielberg film then you'll certainly be entertained by this documentary and the stories that come with it.

I suspect that all of as geeks, no matter what it is we are geeky about, having wanted to create something to express our passion for what it is we enjoy so much. For example, I spent much of my time in high school writing and trying to get to film a James Bond fan film adapting the original Ian Fleming novel of Moonraker. I never quite pulled it off but I'm not the only one who a dream like that. Back in 1980s Mississippi, a group of childhood friends decided to do a shot by shot remake of Steven Spielberg's Raiders Of The Lost Ark. In doing so they would would create a tale worthy of a Hollywood film and the subject of the documentary Raiders!: The Story of the Greatest Fan Film Ever Made released in 2015, now available on home video and streaming.The documentary essentially tells two different narratives. The obvious one has the documentary makes documenting the making of "the Raiders tape" as it came to be known. They do use so through footage from the finished adaptation, outtakes, and more recent interviews how this fan film came to be made to begin with and how it came to wider attention than it ever should have thanks to pirate video copies and eventually the internet. Watching these sections of the documentary makes for incredible viewing in its own right as we watch a group of twelve year old's become young adults across the seven years it took to make it and the lengths they went to to do so. How did a group of people so young pull off the truck chase and fight sequence? What about the burning bar sequence? The answers are here as told by those who were there, parents who watched it all go down, and by those who watched the film later and were amazed by what they saw including John Rhys- Davies.Yet that's only half the story. The other narrative is one that is every bit as inspiring and taking place decades later. After a Kickstarter campaign, these now adult filmmakers get back together in the Mississippi town they shot so much of it in to film the one sequence they never shot: the fight sequence around the Nazi flying wing and the explosive conclusion to it. In trying to film this one sequence and more than a hundred shots, we're presented a story every bit as dramatic as anything they did decades before as weather and real life threaten to leave it unfinished. Watching the difficulties of film making, the lengths they have to go to, what is put on the line, and all in the need of finishing up a childhood dream makes for some of the most engrossing viewing I've experienced in recent memory.Yet as much as it's about young filmmakers coming back to finish something they started three decades earlier, it's also a personal journey as well. You watch them grow up, you get to see them as adults talking about the experiences, their personal lives, and how the latter could often impact the making of the film. We hear about their struggles and falling out with one another in the years after their adaptation was finished. We also get to hear how their friendships were restored, how the film brought them back together and with an ending that would be ludicrous in a Hollywood movie if it wasn't the truth. It proves, once again, that fact can be every bit as dramatic as any work of fiction.What makes this so watchable in the end is that, in the final analysis, it's about a dream. It's about pursuing that dream in the face of adversity, of naysayers and those who wonder why you would bother doing it to begin with. Raiders!: The Story of the Greatest Fan Film Ever Made is a film for every artist and dreamer out there and for anyone with even a spark of creativity in their soul. It's ninety-six solidly inspiring minutes, a love letter to fans, fan films, and anyone who has ever dreamed of doing anything big.

'RAIDERS!: THE STORY OF THE GREATEST FAN FILM EVER MADE': Four Stars (Out of Five)A documentary on the making of the fan film 'RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK: THE ADAPTATION'; which is a shot-for-shot remake of the classic 1981 Steven Spielberg movie. It was made by two 11-year-old Mississippi boys, and their friends, over the course of 7-years. They finished the entire remake, except for the final airplane battle sequence. The friends reunited, 30-years later, to finally film that one missing scene (and finish their movie). This film documents that process. It was directed and written by first time filmmakers Jeremy Coon and Tim Skousen; and it was based on the book by Alan Eisenstock. Being a past childhood filmmaker, myself, and a huge movie nerd, as well (to this day), I really enjoyed this documentary.Two 11-year-old childhood friends, Eric Zala and Chris Strompolos, setout to remake their favorite movie, 'RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK', in Mississippi in 1981. The film was not available on video yet; so they had to rely on a lot of other resources to pull it off (like a published script, and magazine articles), as well as their friends and memories. They completed filming every scene of the original movie, over the next 7-years, except for the landing pad battle sequence. 30-years later, the friends finally reunited; and raised the money they needed (through a Kickstarter campaign) to finish their childhood dream.I've never seen the fan film, this movie is about, but I have (of course) seen Spielberg's 1981 masterpiece (multiple times). I love the original film still, and I'm sure I'd probably like the kids' remake too. Spielberg has seen it (and he loves it), so have many others; like filmmaker Eli Roth and film critic Harry Knowles (who both appear in this documentary). Even though I haven't yet seen the beloved fan flick 'cult classic' (this is based on), I could still really appreciate this documentary; because it beautifully captures what a 'love for movies' is all about. I was a childhood filmmaker, and I still try to make movies (today); so I definitely found this film inspiring and relatable (to say the least).Watch our movie review show 'MOVIE TALK' at: https://youtu.be/_3w7EWxV5vg

Greetings again from the darkness - from the Dallas International Film Festival 2-15. Most documentaries are pretty simple to recap: A filmmaker makes a movie about a topic or person. However, simplicity just doesn't fit here. Filmmakers Jeremy Coon and Tim Skousen made a movie about the making of a movie that is a movie re-made in honor of a movie that was already made. This isn't Coppola's Hearts of Darkness which portrays his difficulty in making Apocalypse Now. Far from it. This is a modern day look back at two/three geeky eleven year old boys making a shot-for-shot remake of Steven Spielberg's classic Raiders of the Lost Ark.Coon and Skousen catch up with forty-somethings Eric Zala, Chris Strompolos and Jayson Lamb as they are trying to put together the financing and logistics to film the final scene of their unfinished movie Raiders of the Lost Ark: The Adaptation. These are the same boy that started the process in 1982 and filmed each of the next seven summers until they graduated from high school.If you are a total film geek, you have probably heard of their film and know that it has been an underground film favorite for years. But you may not know the real life details behind it and certainly not the modern day drama of Eric and Chris as they try to complete it. How about some interviews with their mothers? How about the real world possibility that Eric risks losing his job to complete this thirty plus year old kid's summer project? How about the personal struggles of Chris over the years, or the fallout with Jayson as he is left out of this final chapter? Director Eli Roth was instrumental in spreading the word of this film project throughout Hollywood, and the boys even got invited to meet with Spielberg. Mostly we are left with the fascination that young boys can have such passion and persistence over so many years. When asked about whether they missed out on their childhood, Chris responds "We filmed childhood". A true and fitting response, that doesn't tell the whole story. Fortunately, Coon and Skousen do.