moviemattb Around the 2000s, I've always been interest in watching the "Indiana Jones" because I've never watch them or own them on tape during the 90s. Now I am a fan of the series, that includes the fourth one (in my humble opinion); there was another version of "Raiders of the Lost Ark," that I have came across on the internet and started to learn on how another version was made as it wasn't made in Hollywood. Instead, it was made by the three guys from Mississippi as they remade this movie for the course of seven years, and has now become a cult classic. I've never seen the fan film, but I have been desperate in wanting to see it; the fan film is now available on DVD, and hoping to get a copy of it one day; just had to get it on their website: www.raidersguys.com or their Facebook page. Also, I have a copy of the book which it features the same title as the documentary, and I really loved it as it reminds me of a Richard Linklater movie that I loved "Boyhood." I imagine if Linklater makes a movie out these guys that made the fan film. With that said, I was really amazed by to hear their story as the filmmakers had to go in depth with by interviewing the three guys that worked on the fan film Eric Zala, Chris Strompolos, and Jayson Lamb. They also interview their family and friends as well as Harry Knowles from Ain't it Cool News, and filmmaker Eli Roth who was well known for "Cabin Fever" and the first two "Hostel" movies. The documentary does not only gives us about their experience on making the fan film, but sharing about what their childhood is like where they share about their parents getting a divorce, and the downfall of their friendship. Of course, they get reunited as they become themselves again as everyone was extremely positive on the fan film they made, and meeting Steven Spielberg for the first time as he also loves their fan film and how it inspire Spielberg too. The documentary also features Zala and Strompolos with the help of Lamb as they are working the airplane scene that they couldn't do, since they were kids during that time. When you watch the end credits of the documentary, you do see the airplane scene where on top is the fan film, and on bottom is the actual movie with Harrison Ford and Karen Allen in it. "Raiders!: The Story of the Greatest Fan Film Ever Made" is an insightful and fascinating documentary of the greatest fan film ever made; I've watched this four times on Netflix, and it does get better as I watch it. I still want to see their fan film, if I ever get a copy it and I would love to own this documentary on Blu Ray (which is now available). If you haven't see it, check it out, I strongly recommend this documentary. If you don't have a copy of the documentary, then feel free to watch on Netflix. I am giving this documentary a powerhouse 10 out of 10.

peefyn I've been following these guys for many years, just after the internet starting buzzing about them. I am glad that they are finally getting all of this recognition, and that they were able to "finish" their film.This documentary does a neat job summing up the journey they have been on, with both its highs and its lows. It also manages to balance between the two narratives it is following, one being the process of making the film itself (starting when they were just kids), and the other one being the process to getting to finish the final scene of the movie.It's the story of the old film that is the interesting one, while the filming of the airplane scene feels it's mostly in the documentary to justify the topic being relevant. I'm sure they knew this on some level, as the focus on the airplane scene is more towards the guys themselves than it is on the actual filmmaking they are doing.It's typical of the genre, and maybe it's needed to fit a modern day audience, but I wish that they didn't lean so much on the drama of it all. I'd much rather watch a documentary giving the story to me straight, instead of trying to build so much excitement. That said, this movie does not do that a lot, but enough that I got slightly annoyed at it.Other than that, I think they handled the subject well, and it gave a good glimpse into the brilliant fan movie, and the resilience of youth.

Matthew Kresal 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.

www.ramascreen.com 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 --