Thank God scientists finally found the missing link (aka Darwinius masillae, aka “Ida”). Now we can at last prove Charles Darwin right and be done with films like Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed, as well as all the seemingly pro-science movies that inadvertently ruined the theory of evolution. We now look forward to the “Ida” biopic, or at least a movie detailing the 26 years (give or take 47 million) it took for the discovery of her fossil to become a mainstream media sensation. Never mind that this is hardly the missing link between apes and humans. With almost 50 years passed since the release of Inherit the Wind, film-loving Darwinists need some kind of missing link story to grab onto.
It is true that cinema has not been so kind to Darwinism, giving us such mockeries as Evolution, Howard the Duck and Creature from the Black Lagoon. But filmmakers have consistently shown a special love for the concept of the missing link, at least. Although many movies depict the idea with little seriousness, and some feature negative portrayals of primitive monsters, there are a number of truly lovable creatures that represent the concept of the missing link on film. Check them out after the jump. …Read more
Despite my negative review of Jay Delaney’s documentary Not Your Typical Bigfoot Movie, which screened earlier this year at SXSW, I can’t help but feel bad today for the film’s subjects, Bigfoot enthusiasts and would-be hunters Dallas Gilbert and Wayne Burton. They’re the ones who wanted to go down in history as a famous research team. As Wayne says in today’s clip, they even had a joke that God put Bigfoot on this earth strictly for them to try to catch him.
Unfortunately, Dallas and Wayne seem to have been beaten to the punch. Reportedly, two men have found the body of a Bigfoot in Georgia, and they’re set to prove their discovery at a press conference this Friday to be held in Palo Alto, California. Last weekend, Bigfoot researcher Tom Biscardi (who appears in Not Your Typical Bigfoot Movie, investigating the findings of Dallas and Wayne) went down to Georgia to see the body and since that time it has been undergoing DNA tests and other scientific study. For Dallas and Wayne’s sake, I hope the find isn’t legit, and the guys can keep on holding onto the American Dream.
Judging by its trailer alone,Not Your Typical Bigfoot Movie seems to approach its mythic subject from an angle that sounds, well, atypical. A documentary portrait of Bigfoot hunters in Applachian Ohio, the doc ties the pursuit of these probably fictional creatures to the area’s decaying economy and a shared desire to transcend the everyday. You can watch that trailer above; director Jay Delaney answers the 4 Questions We’re Asking Everybody below.
Tell us about your movie. Who did you work with, why did you make it? Give us the reductive, 25-word or less, “It’s like [pop culture reference a] meets [pop culture reference b]!” pitch, then explain what the quick and dirty sell leaves out.
It’s like American Movie meets Grizzly Man! As the title hints, it’s about more than just Bigfoot. Through the experiences of two amateur Bigfoot researchers in southern Ohio, Not Your Typical Bigfoot Movie provides a look at how the power of a dream can bring two men together and provide a source of hope and meaning that transcend the harsh realities of life. The feature doc grew out of a short doc I made back in 2001 – American Dream – about these two local Bigfoot researchers in my hometown. The short haunted me for years thereafter, and I always wanted to revisit the project in greater depth.
I see a tremendous amount of honesty in Dallas and Wayne’s story, and it raises so many questions in my mind. My connection to the story stems largely from its ability to capture the contemporary state of the American Dream in old Appalachian steel towns like Portsmouth, Ohio. Although the economies there face some real challenges, people like Dallas and Wayne find a way to hold onto their dreams and keep hope and faith alive.
We’ve had a bit of trouble getting this episode to go through the iTunes feed, so we hope this re-post will fix the problem. The original post, with episode description and embedded player, is here.
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