The Aristocrats: If you're not familiar with the age-old joke, The Aristocrats starts with the premise of a man pitching his family's variety act. It's then up to the person telling the joke to come up with the most vulgar act possible and then at the end of the joke, proclaim that the act is called 'The Aristocrats'. This documentary chronicles over a hundred different famous comedians discussing the origins of the joke, how it's crafted and their own versions of telling it. It's a unique concept and at times really provides some insight into the creative process of a comedian. Unfortunately, the premise doesn't hold up for 90 minutes. A lot of it has to do with the unrelenting nature of hearing all of these loud, fast-talking comedians speaking at their filthiest. There are occassional moments of both hilarity and intrigue, but ultimately it gets tiresome rather quickly. Rating: ***
Man on Wire: Recently nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary and deservedly so. This is the film which chronicles high wirewalker Phillipe Petit and his attempt to walk across the Twin Towers during the 1970s. It doesn't seem like it would be that engaging of a premise to sustain itself for a full film, but it does. A large part of that is due to the wonderful storytelling skills that Petit and the crew that helped him achieve this feat possess. At times the films plays like a real life Ocean's 11. The film is equal parts high risk adventure tale and love story to the World Trade Center buildings. It would be easy to dismiss this film, but I'm confident that if you give it a chance, you will quickly get wrapped up in the story. If you're at all interested, it's currently available to watch instantly on Netflix, so give it a look and see for yourself. Rating: *****
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