Pinball documentary

doesnt matter if he does or doesnt...........he probably doesnt......but if selling one more copy (the one copy i buy) can help in any way to get his name out there more........or help in anyway......then that makes me feel good.......

i wanna get it only because its on blue ray and my friend is in it........plus its knowledge about pinballs.....maybe ill see a couple of pictures of games i never saw/heard of before....all for what......about $20 some bucks?

i wouldnt let a release date, or anything like that sway me.....just because they held it back for a year......so what......im not gonna lose sleep over it.......my friends locally are the same way about video games for xbox and ps3.....they break down when a release date gets pushed back......big deal....im still gonna wake up for work tomarow and not worry about it.....eventually itll come out...


its like when you see kids selling lemonade.......morally you should buy a cup, not for the lemonade....just to teach kids business, etc.....
if my buddys in the movie.....ill buy a copy.......its not like there are a million other pinball videos out there anyway.......


another example........i had a dent in my car, and the local dent guy/detail supplier said he would pull the dent out....after he did he didnt charge me.......so i said ok...umm....ill buy a bottle of wax......whatever deal or special you have this week........not because i needed the wax (didnt need it at all, it its still unopened), but becuase he did me a favor and i know he will make a small something on the wax (and he wouldnt take any money).....(and because he wouldnt take a case of beer)

i know im going on and on.....but if my buddy did me a favor selling me games at a good price ......then hell ya, ill buy a copy of his movie.....
 
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I understand where you're coming from. It may seem like I have a more passionate viewpoint about it than I do. Ultimately I don't care one way or another, but now at least I understand why they didn't screen this documentary for the community first and foremost: because it makes fun of them. Some people may appreciate the humor - I can appreciate it, but I also have to assume the producers didn't let the people they interview know it was going to turn out like that (for example, they probably did a whole sequence of interviews of all the pro pinball players, and what ended up in the movie were the goofiest ones, dancing around the machines while they played ballet music in the background, making them look like mental cases - and yea, let's point out that one of the guys lives with his mother... that's relevant) if I took pinball competition seriously, I might be upset that my entire field was marginalized for laughs. I guess I think maybe some of those people might not like that, but then again maybe not?

However, most documentary filmmakers screen their movies first to the people and community they represented. When Spike Lee and Harry Shearer did their movies about the Kartina aftermath, they both held special screenings for the locals. It's just one of those respectful things documentary filmmakers normally do, that was noticeably not happening in the case of Special When Lit, and I guess, I understand why now. Pinball 101 was screened for the community. So was Tilt.

So ultimately, yea I am happy another movie has been made about the hobby. But I think the filmmakers were more out exploit the community than promote it, and for that I'm happy to not give them any money because I don't want to encourage that kind of hit-and-run filmmaking. Just my 0.02.
 
........... On the other hand, "Special when lit" is why I got into the hobby.
A friend & I, who were avid pinball players in the late 1970's & early 1980's saw the movie at a screening about a year ago. It rekindled a long lost interest & now we both have three machines each....
Still looking for that elusive Eight ball deluxe.
 
I just got done watching special when lit last night. I didn't think it was as horrible as a lot of the comments are making it out to be. Granted there are some parts that are a bit on the extreme side like the hoarder with his gut hanging out and the nerdy pinball guy with his camera. Other than that I thought the interviews were good and over all it was a pretty decent movie. Not one I am going to watch again but I am glad I watched it.

Also....Do people really play pinball like that? Dancing and kicking their legs and bodies all over the place??? Watching these "pros" play was like watching a mix between dance dance revolution and pinball.
 
mitchschaft said:
But then you're taking something physical away from me that was mine.

:D
Click to expand...

I see what you're saying.

So if you sneak into a movie or a Broadway Musical without paying, that's not stealing, right? Because you don't have something physical in your hand?

How about if you went to a hair salon and sneak out without paying. They were just cutting your hair after all, not really selling you a physical "something".

How about if you use a coin trick to get free credits on a pinball game? You're not stealing the machine, so it must not be theft, correct?
 
drwicket said:
Also....Do people really play pinball like that? Dancing and kicking their legs and bodies all over the place??? Watching these "pros" play was like watching a mix between dance dance revolution and pinball.
Click to expand...

Roger Sharpe and Rick Stetta are very animated. Most good players I know have a more dramatic stance but not the kind of movement of those two. But in an intense game you do see some movement by players.

Think of a pro tennis player vs the people in the park. The pro really wants to win and is going "all out". That's why they grunt, dive, etc.

As people already said, instead of showing what those guys can actually do on the pinball table, which is amazing, they focused on how they look while playing.
 
quses said:
Yea, I know they were milking it to get some awards and stuff, but they snubbed the pinball community in the process and wouldn't even screen it at the pinball shows - I took offense to that. Plus, many of us wanted to buy the movie, and they kept promising to make it available for more than a year. It was frustrating. If you create something about a community, and then deny that community the right to see it, that's going to tick the community off.

EDIT: I just got finished watching the movie. Now I understand why these producers kind of diss'd the pinball community when distributing the movie. The movie basically makes fun of pinball enthusiasts as some kind of geeky, anti-social group of outcasts. There are lots of scenes where it seems they're very subtly being amused AT someone instead of with them... images of weird and eccentric collectors (like the guy with his stomach sticking out from under his shirt), the pingeek waxing about what a great businessman he is (cut to a mostly empty room of people falling asleep at his presentation), a scene where one guy tells a really bad joke and then beams about how funny he thinks it is. A very odd movie that you can tell was made from the "outside" looking in. Still entertaining and lots of great images and interviews. But I don't think it paints the most flattering picture of the community. It's like most of us are crazy cat ladies, but with pinball machines. Maybe that is the case? But I know a lot of pretty normal people who like to collect pinball games whose house doesn't look like it should be feature on an episode of Hoarders. You wouldn't know it from watching "Special When Lit" though.
Click to expand...

I appreciate your point of view but I disagree.

1. Producing a film is very expensive. If they hope for a company to pick it up (read as pay for all the hard work), they can not release it before that and are restricted on when and where they screen it. I understand that it goes against many assumptions of collectors. If there were no opportunity to pay for the porject, it would never happen.

2. The film shows people that are eccentric because they are interesting. Sometimes a close examination can be less than flattering. It's the main reason I enjoy films like this. They take the time to interview a person and you get the whole package, including their flaws.
 
I think what quses was saying is there was a portion of this documentary filmed for entertainment purposes at the expense of the pinball community. I agree with that, however the percentage of that is up for debate.
 
jcasetnl said:
Roger Sharpe and Rick Stetta are very animated. Most good players I know have a more dramatic stance but not the kind of movement of those two. But in an intense game you do see some movement by players.

Think of a pro tennis player vs the people in the park. The pro really wants to win and is going "all out". That's why they grunt, dive, etc.

As people already said, instead of showing what those guys can actually do on the pinball table, which is amazing, they focused on how they look while playing.
Click to expand...

I don't fully agree here. The few 'animated' players like Rick Stetta or someone like Sean Grant are the exceptions. Most top players I watch in competition (PAPA, etc.) are very focused and don't make unnecessary gyrations. The body movement and grunting doesn't have an effect on the ball or timing at all, and can in fact detract from timing. (I know many mid-level players who do get caught up and become animated while playing, unnecessarily shoving the game with each shot, etc., and they would play better if they relaxed and focused.) Body twists and hip pumps are unnecessary unless you are actually nudging the machine, and you can nudge effectively without these movements.

OTOH, the animated players do make for better video, while the calm focused players do not.
 
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jalpert said:
I think what quses was saying is there was a portion of this documentary filmed for entertainment purposes at the expense of the pinball community. I agree with that, however the percentage of that is up for debate.
Click to expand...

I love Special When Lit. I think it did a great job of letting people know about the history, fun, and current state of pinball....with a mix of collectors and players. Of course the weird guys make for a better documentary!!! ...and look - we're a weird bunch, even the more normal of us.

I've met Sam Harvey...I think the film actually portrays him in a likable and sympathetic way. He's a slobby guy with zero social skills...I got cornered in a conversation w/ him once. He has no sense of "personal space" as he was right up in my face, eating while talking, spittling food all over me. The movie, while showing him as an eccentric, portrays him as a guy who's totally happy with his life and hobby.
 
I was watching this last night before I went to bed and my wife came to say good night and saw all the "weirdos" and said I hope you don't plan on turning into a "dweeb" like that :p I did enjoy Tilt a bit more than this but regardless I love anything pinball.
 
Since you met the guy, I can't disagree with you there. I think we can all assume that was an accurate representation of the guy. I think a lot of pinball people were hoping the documentary would put pinballs best foot forward and were disappointed that it didn't. This appears to be a great guy with a passion for the hobby and an asset. Get him a shirt that fits, clean up his place a bit, let him put his best foot forward for himself and the hobby and I don't think you'd get any complaints. That may be who the guy is, but instead of basking in his knowledge, all we see are his stomach and his messy house and it detracts from the movie.

There are a few scenes like that.

RareHero said:
I love Special When Lit. I think it did a great job of letting people know about the history, fun, and current state of pinball....with a mix of collectors and players. Of course the weird guys make for a better documentary!!! ...and look - we're a weird bunch, even the more normal of us.

I've met Sam Harvey...I think the film actually portrays him in a likable and sympathetic way. He's a slobby guy with zero social skills...I got cornered in a conversation w/ him once. He has no sense of "personal space" as he was right up in my face, eating while talking, spittling food all over me. The movie, while showing him as an eccentric, portrays him as a guy who's totally happy with his life and hobby.
Click to expand...
 
downloaded special when lit last night and watched it on my new apple tv (woohhooo!!! :) ). i loved it. i thought it was very entertaining, very funny, and i enjoyed watching for glimpses of pins that i own or that i have played.

great flick. i wish there were more pinball documentaries out there.
 
jalpert said:
Get him a shirt that fits, clean up his place a bit, let him put his best foot forward for himself and the hobby and I don't think you'd get any complaints. That may be who the guy is, but instead of basking in his knowledge, all we see are his stomach and his messy house and it detracts from the movie.
Click to expand...

...but that's the reality of Sam Harvey. Why would the documentarian clean him up? Sam is Sam.
 
Sorry to bring this thread back to life, but "Special When Lit" is currently on the Documentary Channel (267 on Directv). Its on again at 11pm and again September 7th @ 4:30pm.
 
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