The greatest movie ever made..!

a film so unique, intoxicating and bizarre that it not only demands another viewing, but is also forgivable as a satirical comedy where the jokes eventually take the back seat.

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

Blistering performances.

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.

Inspiring, often times funny documentary about a trio of eleven years- olds who set out to do Raiders Of The Lost Ark- they didn't remake it, they *made* Raiders Of The Lost Ark- in its entirety, in the homes and cellars, with next to no money, and over the course of several summers in the 1980s. Four documentary film crews then followed them in 2014, as they filmed the sole scene they could not film originally. This doc includes new interviews with them, along with clips from the film itself, and a few blooper reel scenes and outtakes, and original, hand-drawn storyboards (of which there were 602, as explained in a film festival Q&A session after the screening, and before showing Raiders of the Lost Ark: The Adaptation) and people like John Ryhs-Davies, who have publicly commended the film.Required viewing for fans of Raiders Of The Lost Ark, film buffs, and anyone who ever dreamed and fantasised about making a film.

When you watch a classic like 'Raiders Of The Lost Ark,' it's hard to not feel motivated to see and try if you can recreate those scenes or at the very least walk around cosplaying as Indiana Jones with your friends. So you may watch this docu and start out by wearing your adult or parenthood lenses on and wonder what in the world are these kids thinking but five minutes into it, you'll get a sense of respect and wonder because you've realized that they managed to accomplish what many of us can only wish for.I think one of the many fascinating things about this docu is that directors Jeremy Coon and Tim Skousen were given so much access into the lives of Eric Zala, Chris Strompolos and Jayson Lamb, even the darkest moments in their past when at one point their friendship fell apart. If anything, what's most inspiring about this 'RAIDERS!' docu is to see these guys from when they were kids all the way on till they've become grown men and have their own families, how over all those years, they still had that dream and passion lingering on the back of their heads and they act on it and see it through. While others would probably give up because of life happens, in their case, yes life happens for them as well, and the roads haven't been easy either, they have families to feed and think about as well, but they found away to support each other and to realize this dream and to ultimately finish their film.The docu jumps back and forth from the gradual process of shooting the explosive airplane scenes to the interviews with talking heads or people closest to them, to old archive footage and the outtakes revealing that only by some luck or miracle that the house at which they shot their fan-film did not burn down. This goes to also show that making a fan film, let-alone a full on feature film is never a walk in the park, it's a long and hard collaborative process, you work with people who may have different opinions and approaches, you see how this particular project impacts these kids, their friendships, their relationships, their personal struggles and their reconciliation. This shot per shot remake of "Raiders Of The Lost Ark" is nothing short of a labor of love, the result of following through on one's passion no matter what haters may say. Absolutely remarkable, worth a standing ovation.-- Rama's Screen --

'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