BRONIES: THE EXTREMELY UNEXPECTED ADULT FANS OF MY LITTLE PONY (2012)

As somebody who knows very little about Brony culture or "My Little Pony", I was happy when I saw a documentary called BRONIES on the shelf at the video store.  I love learning about new stuff and I was hoping for a solid introduction into Bronydom.  Unfortunately, not only does BRONIES: THE EXTREMELY UNEXPECTED ADULT FANS OF MY LITTLE PONY have a horrible name, it's also so one-sided that it comes across more like a recruitment film than a honest documentary.  I like feel-good stories, but I also like documentaries that show all sides of a subject, both good and bad.  And one simple Google Search of "brony clop" will show you that not everything is 20% cooler in the Brony universe.

As a mega-upbeat propaganda piece, B:TEUAFOMLP is a fun watch.  It quickly introduces a few My Little Pony fans from different walks of life and different countries.  One guy talks about how he was attacked at a gas station (in his small town) due to the MLP stickers on his car.  Others talk about some of the MLP-based things they create (merch, a laser show, music).  Another is younger and his father doesn't seem to approve of his son being a Brony.  Another guy has Asperger's and MLP brings him out of his shell.  They all travel to different Bronycons and the rest of the film is just them being happy.  I enjoyed watching these people (and the other con attendees) having a good time, but by the end, the constant positivity started to get old.  Then again, I'm a grumpy fuck.

B:TEUAFOMLP might be the happy happy joy joy version of reality, but it's still an entertaining watch.  On a scale of 1 to 10, I'd give it a 5 then bump it up by 20% to a 6. Brohoof, motherfuckers!

LOVE LETTER TO EDIE (1975)

Very sweet 14-minute documentary by Robert Maier (who worked on five different John Waters movies) about the wonderful Edith Massey.  For those of you not fortunately to know who Edith Massey is, she (in real life) worked at a place in Baltimore called "Pete's Hotel" bar.  It was there that John Waters first saw her.  He was instantly smitten by her unique look and personality.  She ended up, over the next 10+ years, appearing in five of his films, including his masterpiece PINK FLAMINGOS.

Even at only 14-minutes, LOVE LETTER TO EDIE packs in a lot of interesting stuff.  My favorite being Edie telling her life story (who knows if it's even accurate) while we watch her and other Dreamlanders (Pat Moran, Mink Stole, Mary Vivian Pearce) reenacting those events or just walking around.  I thought that was really cool and very nice of them to help with this short film.

If you don't care about Edith Massey or John Waters, then LLTE will probably be a bore, but if you are a fan then it's mandatory.  Also, strangely enough, there's two different versions of the film out there.  One looked to be the original (with audio commentary by Pat Moran) and an updated version that tweaked some of the credit stuff and had a slightly better picture.  I personally like the original better.

Recommended.

[Update 09/02/2021: Watched the updated blu-ray. The picture on the main film is much improved. There is also a 15-minute segment with director Robert Maier talking to the camera about how he got started with John Waters and then meeting Edie. He talks about his documentary some, then talks about how after it came out, he moved down the street from Edie and would see her around and hang out with her. Eventually he ended up taking turns with John Waters in driving her to her doctor’s appointments. Overall, it was very informative and sweet. I love the idea of John Waters driving Edie around on errands. That would make a great movie in itself! I also enjoyed hearing about Edie’s cat Lovey who didn’t like to be petted. I hope Lovey had a good life.]

THE ROCK-AFIRE EXPLOSION (2008)

For those who don't know, ShowBiz Pizza Place was a pizza/arcade restaurant back in the 1980's that was geared towards children and advertised as a place "Where a Kid Can Be a Kid."  It had all kinds of stuff like a ball pit, coin-operated rides, arcade games and...The Rock-afire Explosion.  The Rock-afire Explosion was an animatronic band that featured a singing mouse cheerleader, a guitar-playing polar bear, a piano-playing gorilla and others.  It was interesting and I remember seeing them many times as a kid back in the 1980's.  Finally, due to financial difficulties, ShowBiz went under and the Rock-afire Explosion was replaced with the lame Chuck E. Cheese band during the early 1990's.

I've never put any thought into The Rock-afire Explosion band ever...until I came across this documentary and I was thoroughly entertained from beginning to end.  It was a fun trip down memory lane, plus an intriguing look at some unique individuals.

The film starts out with a brief history of Showbiz/The Rock-afire Explosion and some of its modern-day (mid-2000's) fans.  There's more than one introduced, but honestly, the only one they needed was Chris Thrash.  He's an unassuming-looking little dude with a horrible diet (he drinks over 2 liters of Mountain Dew a day!!!), but his dedication and love for The Rock-afire Explosion is truly touching.  I really liked him a lot.  The other main attraction was Aaron Fechter, the guy who actually created The Rock-afire Explosion back in the 1970's.  He's a fascinating individual and a great storyteller.  I'd love to see a full-length documentary on him alone!

THE ROCK-AFIRE EXPLOSION might not be the greatest documentary ever made, but it's pretty cool and it sent me down a YouTube rabbit hole that lasted for hours!  I'd like to see another doc simply about ShowBiz Pizza and why it had so many financial difficulties.

This is waaaay off subject, but seeing people set up private Rock-afire Explosion shows in their houses gave me a ton of ideas for horror movies.  My current favorite being: dude sets up an Rock-afire Explosion show in his house and then due to whatever (spilt blood, Satanists, demon-possessed lightening, etc.), the characters come to life and start fucking shit up like the Woodland Critters in South Park.  That would be awesome!!!