Although La Palma had a very good story line and the build up to the devastation was great! What made it very disappointing is the end when the huge wave made impact. It’s like the build up was there but just didn’t deliver on what was suppose to be ‘the worst tsunami the world will of seen’. The aeroplane scene where the tsunami hit was so unrealistic along with the damage that the wave caused - there’s no way the aeroplane would be still intact never mind any survivors. The damage of the airport was just that of a bombed scene not tsunami. I think the producers must of got sideblinded by making it look more apocalyptic rather than wave damage.

A straightforward interview of the director as he talks about each of his films in turn. Every director should do a documentary like this.

If you enjoy watching filmmakers discuss their thoughts, influences and inspirations behind the movies they make, you will most likely find something to appreciate in this candid discussion with Brian De Palma, a director who has reached the highest of highs and the lowest of lows. De Palma is very frank and candid, which is refreshing compared to many of the "politically correct" interviews attributed to these types of documentaries. It's fun to see brief audition reels from CARRIE and George Lucas' STAR WARS which occurred simultaneously. It's interesting to hear him talk about a difficult actor with whom he worked on one of his films during the mid-70s. And I loved hearing about the relationships he enjoyed with fellow directors Lucas, Steven Spielberg, Martin Scorsese and Francis Coppola as they were all coming into power around the same time. It's fascinating to see the influence Hitchcock had on his films - and the comparisons made are certainly striking. If you like behind the scenes stuff like this, I definitely give this a recommendation, particularly if you are a fan of De Palma's work. - Jeff Marshall, Movie Blogger (Facebook)

Brian De Palma is refreshingly frank here, completely unafraid to speak his mind on his career and those he's worked with. The result is a documentary that never feels like a puff piece.

He's more entertaining than his movies. Probably need to be a ciniphile to appreciate. Doubles as a history of the rise of the new talent of American film making. Should be required at every film school

If you're into career retrospective storytelling with the occasional film clip, this is the documentary for you. De Palma sits in a chair and talks shop for almost 2 hours. That's it. And it's awesome too. Listen to him talk about Body Double alone. Riveting.

Really the best documentary of all time.

I don't love this director's films, but I loved this film. He's so unguarded, honest, and intelligent in his assessment and analysis of his own work. I found it riveting -- and I rarely say that about anything. It's certainly not for everyone, but I think if you're a "student" of film or interested in filmmaking this won't disappoint. To me---a rare and precious treat. Not generally much a fan of Noah Baumbach but if I ever met him it's this film I'd thank him for.

The central irony of this extended interview with De Palma is that he's really only directed a handful of good movies - The Untouchables, Mission: Impossible, maybe a couple more. He himself admits he works from the outside in, and too often it shows. Still, this is an interesting profile, stuffed with anecdotes and clips from a wide array of movies, not just De Palma's.

Brian De Palma didn't make himself available for Kent Jones' excellent Hitchcock/Truffaut (2016) because he wanted to reserve his comments about Hitch for this film (about himself). For the record, he feels that he is the only true and legitimate heir to the master. He also felt that Hitchcock (and indeed no other director) made any good films outside of their thirties, forties, and fifties. Such bold (and bullshit, think of Bunuel) statements make this documentary interesting â" it is entirely De Palma talking about his movies, interspersed with relevant clips. Not unlike the Hitchcock/Truffaut book, we get extended treatment of some films (Carrie, Scarface, The Untouchables) and only passing references to others (flops and more recent films). Directors Noah Baumbach & Jake Paltrow extract the choicest of trivia/gossip/insights about the films which probably means that those who haven't seen them won't quite grasp everything. Nevertheless, De Palma's thoughts about film as an artform and as a business are engrossing, even if you start to wonder how reliable he is as a interviewee. The absence of any counterpoint is noticeable â" after all, he makes a few references to being attacked because his films often include violence toward women but then neglects to introspect about his decisions or to even defend himself. He is essentially let off the hook. And unfortunately, De Palma's oeuvre is not one that always rewards critical scrutiny â" there are some bad commercial choices in there. It would be fun to have such intimate access (as Truffaut did with Hitchcock) to a better director. Still, it's fun for the film buff.

This is a very, very simple straightforward documentary in how it's structured, it's almost like an extended version of one of those "so and so breaks down their however many most iconic films." Yes we do get footage of De Palma's various films and others that inspired him in addition to personal photos but the film is mostly a camera trained on director Brian De Palma as he discusses each of the films and occasional music videos that he has directed. We track his high lows with him and hear about the difficulties of being an ambitious, uncompromising director in Hollywood. Baumbach's direction doesn't really add anything special to the film but his ability to keep things very simple prevents the film from being jarring as we don't get random cuts to a profile shot of the subject and the structure of the film feels smooth and consistent. The most enjoyable films to hear about were The Bonfire of the Vanities (1990) and Carrie (1976), one of his biggest failures juxtaposed with one of his biggest successes. Hearing about the pain he experienced from the reception of the 1990 film is rather sad as it provides insight into how difficult it would be to come off of a huge success in The Untouchables (1987) and then fall flat on your face. He discusses Sissy Spacek's audition for Carrie, "She blew everybody else out of the water", with admiration and it's nice to know that Spacek's brilliance was acknowledged from the moment she inhabited the character. Mission to Mars (2000) is also spoken about as he regretfully acknowledges that he let a production of such a gargantuan size get away from him, another difficult admission from a respected director. Brief allusions to his personal life are made as he references his romantic and professional partnership with Dressed to Kill (1980) star Nancy Allen, divorce from Gale Ann Hurd and daughter Lolita. His inspirations, chief among them Alfred Hitchcock and fellow Movie Brats Spielberg and Scorsese, receive the respect they are due and De Palma's love of split screens in later films is compared to those found in iconic Hitchcockian thrillers. Vertigo (1958), the film that I frankly have never understood all of the fuss about, receives a reverential review and the Passion (2012), his lesbian exploitation thriller with clear Hitchcock influences is the final film to appear on-screen. It is nice to see a director who is almost humble in that he admits the huge influence that other directors have had on his own oeuvre. I was unfortunately unfamiliar with both Blow Out (1981) and Snake Eyes (1998) and the film significantly spoils them so just be aware of that going in. With both of these film De Palma had to choreograph big action set pieces and cast major stars in the leading roles. He goes pretty in-depth when talking about the difficulties in producing the dramatic spectacle that is the climax of Snake Eyes but his clear enthusiasm for his line of work shines through and it's fun to hear him talk about how he and his crew solved many, many major problems to make the film a success. Less time is spent discussing films like Femme Fatale (2000) and the Dancing in the Dark music video he directed for Bruce Springsteen but I'm sure there is information to be found out there where De Palma delves into the production process used on both of those lesser known entries in his filmography. I was quite satisfied by the film even when considering it was a dry 107 minutes with little other than De Palma's upbeat reminiscences but I've seen a lot of documentaries do worse with a whole lot more and the fact that this film hits it's targets is ultimately good enough. I hope Baumbach moves on to make just as laser focused but slightly more out of the box documentaries as this film serves as a nice first entry as a documentarian. It is also interesting to consider what impact making this documentary had on the previous year's While We're Young (2014) which focuses on the ethics of being a documentarian and the difficulty of mining authenticity out of your subjects, if it's as difficulty as that film seems to think it is then Baumbach has done a fine job.

Any lover of films and particularly De Palma's, will find his candid stories and explanations about his innovative films very fascinating.

Any fan of De Palma's movie should check this documentary out. It's basically De Palma sitting down and going over each one of his movies. I had no idea he made so many films before Carrie.

De Palma is a deceptively simple documentary film: Director Brian De Palma sits in front of a fireplace for nearly two hours and talks about his life and career. If you love movies, it's time well spent.

Itï¿ 1/2(TM)s is a standard documentary, not anything more, but if youï¿ 1/2(TM)re a huge fan of Brian de Palma you will love every second of it.

It’s always fascinating to watch/listen to filmmakers talking about their craft. I admit, I’m not that crazy about De Palma’s filmography, but at least he’s somewhat honest about his sleazy aesthetics.

A confident documentary about misunderstood director, Brian De Palma, this piece goes in depth but doesn't explain more than it could have. The pace is not exactly what you call spaced and comfortable, but there's a lot of archived footage and explanations of his past decisions. A master who could have been portrayed even better than here.

A documentary about a film director; and while he's not one of my favorite directors, I'll take it. After all it's not like anyone's going to make a documentary about Zack Snyder.

Film docs don't get much better than this. All DePalma, talking about his many films. The ups, the downs, the victories, the failures, funny stories, compromises with producers, influences - it's all here. If you like his work, you'll love this film.

I guess I should probably watch a De Palma movie now, huh?