Rating: 
Summary: So worth it
Review: I was amazed. This production (like most by Peter Jackson) just oozes fun. I have watched and recommend this to all my friends and even strangers on the street. Watch it.
Rating: 
Summary: Absolutely Brilliant! If you didn't know, you wouldn't know
Review: I've been in the Motion Picture business for twenty years and it fooled me. So much so that for 12 hours I was searching my film reference books, newspapers, sock drawer and finally the internet before I got clued in. Great fun. Very well done. "War of the Worlds meets Spinal Tap."
Rating:
Summary: The episode on Richard Pearse (did I spell it right?) ......
Review: might just be historically correct, that is, beating the Wrights into the air by a couple of months.
(a kiwi would say that, wouldn't he?)
PS You get a look at Peter Jackson long before he became Lard of the Rings (he's merely pudgy here.)
Rating:
Summary: Before Blair Witch...
Review: Peter Jackson displays with finesse the art of the mockumentary. He took what was done before with Spinal Tap (an over the top and completely OBVIOUS film from the get go) and went forward by actually daring us to believe him. Many did. Forget The Last Broadcast and the now infamous Blair Witch Project, Peter Jackson's opus to a fictitious film maker shows us true genius behind the camera. Always stellar and inventive polishing up what others have done before him and adding his own personal twist in movies like Bad Taste, Braindead, Heavenly Creatures and Forgotten Silver...I can't wait until Peter Jackson's epic and soon to be masterpiece rendition of the Lord of the Rings trilogy unfolds before my eyes...
Rating:
Summary: See the first ever close-up in cinematic history.
Review: Peter Jackson tells the farcical tale of finding some old reels in a neighbor's tool shed and discovering, for the first time, the career of, film pioneer, Colin McKenzie. McKenzie is the first filmmaker to film in color, with sound, or a feature length film. He filmed the first ever flight months before those glory hogs, the Write brothers. He even built a film set the size of an entire city in the wilderness of New Zealand. How did he fund all this? Oh the usually sources, Christian fundamentalists, Soviet Russia, "Stan The Man" (a comedian who's act consists of destroying property and minor assaults).
This is a great movie. I love Peter Jackson and Sam Neill. I just wish the "truth" hadn't been spoiled for me before I watched it.
Rating:
Summary: Superb mockumentary
Review: Peter Jackson, he of Lord of the Rings fame, filmed this sharp as a razor, short (50 minutes) mockumentary about Colin MacKenzie, New Zealand's first great film maker, in 1994. The script was co-written by Jackson with Costa Botes, another New Zealander, and the two have a ball chronicling all kinds of fictional events that are so skillfully interwoven with real ones (e.g., New Zealand's participation in WW I) that it really does seem to be the case that MacKenzie did exist and did make his epic film Salome in the New Zealand jungle.The frequent interviews with and sound bytes by Leonard Maltin, Sam Neill, MacKenzie's "wife", film archivists, and others contributes to the feel of authenticity which, of course, only adds more to how much fun this all is. Especially interesting is the featurette "Behind the Bull" in which Jackson and a host of others talk about how the film was made--in particular, the lengths to which the filmmakers went to make "archived" footage look as old as it does. This, along with Heavenly Creatures, stands as Jackson's best work and should be seen by those who really love a good pulling of the leg. Recommended.
Rating:
Summary: Making Myth for Mirth
Review: Shortly before he begun filming "The Frighteners," director Peter Jackson helped deliver this clever tribute to the greatest New Zealand film pioneer that never was. Appearing in the project as himself, he unravels the life of one of film's earliest mavericks, Colin McKenzie. Mixing impressively faked footage and stills with poker-faced interviews from experts and film scholars, the fictional director's legacy is revealed to include numerous milestones that predate many landmark achievements in movie history. Among other triumphs that were trumped by fate, he engineered the first talking picture, developed the first color motion picture film, invented the closeup, and created the first feature length epic. Testimonies from film critic Leonard Maltin, actor Sam Neill, and Miramax's Harvey Weinstein give a sense of authority to the affair. The whole thing is played very straight and the unknowing viewer may fall for it entirely (as did the majority of New Zealanders who watched its initial airing on television). Although it certainly has its humorous moments, the film ranks closer to classic scams like "The Blair Witch Project" or Orson Welles' "War of the Worlds" radio broadcast than more obvious mockumentary comedies like "This Is Spinal Tap" or "Waiting for Guffman." The DVD includes both a running commentary by co-director Costa Botes and an enlightening featurette ("Behind the Bull") that details the genesis of the idea, what went into the making of it, and the public's reaction to being had). There's also a collection of deleted scenes featuring a few additional interviews that were filmed but not used. Whether or not you're a film history buff, this amusing parody of public television documentaries is a lot of fun, especially if you watch it with someone who doesn't know about the joke. Fans of this sort of thing should also check out the overlooked 1994 mockumentary "...And God Spoke."
Rating:
Summary: Making Myth for Mirth
Review: Shortly before he begun filming "The Frighteners," director Peter Jackson helped deliver this clever tribute to the greatest New Zealand film pioneer that never was. Appearing in the project as himself, he unravels the life of one of film's earliest mavericks, Colin McKenzie. Mixing impressively faked footage and stills with poker-faced interviews from experts and film scholars, the fictional director's legacy is revealed to include numerous milestones that predate many landmark achievements in movie history. Among other triumphs that were trumped by fate, he engineered the first talking picture, developed the first color motion picture film, invented the closeup, and created the first feature length epic. Testimonies from film critic Leonard Maltin, actor Sam Neill, and Miramax's Harvey Weinstein give a sense of authority to the affair. The whole thing is played very straight and the unknowing viewer may fall for it entirely (as did the majority of New Zealanders who watched its initial airing on television). Although it certainly has its humorous moments, the film ranks closer to classic scams like "The Blair Witch Project" or Orson Welles' "War of the Worlds" radio broadcast than more obvious mockumentary comedies like "This Is Spinal Tap" or "Waiting for Guffman." The DVD includes both a running commentary by co-director Costa Botes and an enlightening featurette ("Behind the Bull") that details the genesis of the idea, what went into the making of it, and the public's reaction to being had). There's also a collection of deleted scenes featuring a few additional interviews that were filmed but not used. Whether or not you're a film history buff, this amusing parody of public television documentaries is a lot of fun, especially if you watch it with someone who doesn't know about the joke. Fans of this sort of thing should also check out the overlooked 1994 mockumentary "...And God Spoke."
Rating:
Summary: a must-see for any film maven
Review: This film is a classic. You must see it if you love film history. A cross between "Zelig" and "Spinal Tap", it's provocative, inspiring and technically amazing. We have screened "Forgotten Silver" many times for friends and it never fails to confuse, bemuse and amuse. It is an essential film for fooling the pretentious and puzzling the naive. Don't tell your audience anything about it, except that it's short and worth seeing and then sit back and watch them out of the corner of your eye to see when they "get it". Have fun!
Rating:
Summary: (...)
Review: thsi is a brilliant doco (or mocko). I just wish I wasn't fooled by it. (...) him for making me feel so stupid. I was convinced that the whole thing was a load of bull until Leonard Maltin and Harvey Weinstein showed up telling me otherwise. I figured "Hey, they must be telling the truth". I never imagined for one moment that they were in on the joke. I love Pete Jackson as a director and love everything he has done, including this film. However, I can never forgive him for making me feel so stupid. only kidding. I love that he could fool me and most of the world. This is the ultimate joke and one that will go down in history only bettered by Orson Welles' "War of the Worlds" radio broadcast. Go Jackson Go! You are the man!(...)
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