Youre late!!..
http://www.T-Nation.com/tmagnum/readTopic.do?id=2232551&page=1#2282807
since this thread was bumped I actually downloaded it as I could not find it showing anywhere in Aus, I am going to buy the dvd the day it is released. Great fucking doco, all i can say.
I know im late, but my friend only just downloaded it. im in australia too.
I feel like watching it again >_>
Seems like an interesting watch.
Though the trailer seemed to infer that the synthol bloke’s freakish bubble arms were due to steroids.
To those who have watched, does the film clear this up?
Correct me if I’m wrong.
i saw it for free off some site. it was stream, no download. =P
it wasnt bad, a good look into the darkside and also a lesson in moralities and the nice guy finishing last, aswell.
[quote]SimonSays wrote:
Seems like an interesting watch.
Though the trailer seemed to infer that the synthol bloke’s freakish bubble arms were due to steroids.
To those who have watched, does the film clear this up?
Correct me if I’m wrong.[/quote]
no, there is no mention of synthol. However the majority of people I go to gym with or talk to about gym who have seen the film all agree he is portrayed well in the movie. He does talk about why society fears steroids and other things to do with steroid use. I wouldn’t use the word hate but I did dislike him until this doco
[quote]jtg987 wrote:
SimonSays wrote:
Seems like an interesting watch.
Though the trailer seemed to infer that the synthol bloke’s freakish bubble arms were due to steroids.
To those who have watched, does the film clear this up?
Correct me if I’m wrong.
no, there is no mention of synthol. However the majority of people I go to gym with or talk to about gym who have seen the film all agree he is portrayed well in the movie. He does talk about why society fears steroids and other things to do with steroid use. I wouldn’t use the word hate but I did dislike him until this doco[/quote]
For what it’s worth, I met gregg valentino (he of “The Man Whose Arms Exploded”) at the arnold this past year and he was RIDICULOUSLY nice. As in, while he was talking with one convention-goer he saw me waiting for a picture and paused for a moment to take the picture with me. While taking the pic he was very very friendly - “you enjoying the arnold? Where ya from? oh, westchester! I grew up in yorktown. You guys enjoy your weekend now, be safe. That is ONE BIG MOTHERF-CKER!!” (indicating my training partner who’s about 6’3" 360) Just one of the friendliest guys I’ve ever met, a pleasure interacting with him.
Yeah, and go see BSF*, I saw it in nyc this past june, I enjoyed it as well. It’ll probably be preaching to the choir given this sites audience, but just very well done and left me personally wanting more, not wishin it had ended earlier. Even without the steroids issue it was just a well-done look at an average american family, I wrote in to jackass on elite and told him my favorite parts were teh ones that interacted with his family.
anyone else feel kinda bummed when they took down arnolds pics?
it was kind of heartbreaking too see that
also when the dad refused to acknowledge the fact his kid was on anti depressants, it seemed to me that he already knew that it could have been them instead of steroids.
the last part was when the mum couldn’t understand why they needed to workout and why they wanted steroids, that hit home cause my mum doesn’t get why I want to get bigger, stronger and faster. She pretends to be interested in why I lift but in reality she can’t come to grips with it
so jackass is naked in this movie right?
I have it on my Netflix queue also.
So do I, but it doesn’t seem to be available. Did the DVD not come out yet? Anyone know when it’s out?
[quote]OctoberGirl wrote:
I have it on my Netflix queue also.
[/quote]
[quote]Damici wrote:
So do I, but it doesn’t seem to be available. Did the DVD not come out yet? Anyone know when it’s out?
[/quote]
Sept. 30 if I’m not mistaken.
Can’t wait.
[quote]SimonSays wrote:
Seems like an interesting watch.
Though the trailer seemed to infer that the synthol bloke’s freakish bubble arms were due to steroids.
To those who have watched, does the film clear this up?
Correct me if I’m wrong.[/quote]
Repost of my official review as posted on flixter.com, hope it helps (Note: there are 3 other reviews posted at the “War on Testosterone” thread also):
Regarding filmmaker Christopher Bell: If you are anti, you’ll say he is pro; and if you are pro, you will say he did not go far enough. Bell’s alleged “moral dilemma”, (that his/our so-called “heroes” were flawed for using PED’s/Performance Enhancing Drugs) often comes off as childishly simplistic and overwrought, merely an affectation to advance the plot.
It comes off as more sly wink, with his own smarmy brand of humor, than true righteous indignation. I have extremely serious issues with his portrayals of how “easy” it is to obtain steroids and how to manufacture bogus “legal” supplements. These segments were both misleading and downright irresponsible, particularly in light of the crackdown on those attempting to obtain steroids. There are now a vast number of people doing hard time and some have even lost their lives (the ultimate “unintended consequence”) in this new “war on testosterone”, yet Bell does not once mention this and treats the issue as a lighthearted joke.
I consider this a major fault in this film, an omission that undermines the rest of the content by effectively leaving the viewer ignorant of the serious consequences facing the “little guy” (rather than rich sports/Hollywood figures who can afford expensive legal resources), and avoids taking to task the law enforcement arms who would rather make a “safe” steroid arrest than take the personal risk of going gun to gun against violent armed drug gangsters pushing serious drugs that actually are a menace to society, unlike steroids.
Greg Valentino is brought in for shock value, and again, it is left for the viewer to assume his distorted arms are the result of steroid use, despite the fact there is no other person shown with a similar look (synthol oil), yet the segments with Jay Cutler and Will Harris were cut from the film(?). The segments with John Romano and Dr. Yesalis, who have something constructive to say, should have been expanded over the Valentino footage.
Bell also dropped the ball regarding the Sylvester Stallone incident in Australia, reinforcing the impression that Stallone was physically arrested for “Steroids”, when in fact the compound was HGH, was legally held by Stallone under a prescription, and that Stallone never spent any time in handcuffs or in jail. The beef was strictly an importation issue, nothing more (until the biased media got hold of the story, that is). Stallone’s comments about HGH (“It’s nothing”) and pro-testosterone comments (“Improves the quality of life”…“May be sold over the counter in 10 years”) regarding mature men and HRT are not mentioned.
Let me point out the hypocrisy of actress Suzanne Somers freely championing hormone therapy for women without a peep heard from the media, while Stallone is loudly reviled for doing the exact same thing for men, an outrageous display of the double standard gone wild. Bell’s love-hate relationship with bodybuilding and powersports provide him with a dragon to both ride and slay at the same time in his quest for fame, but it is a shame he feels it necessary to step on both the “innocent and the guilty” in his juvenile tantrum against Catholic style disillusionment (Was it really necessary, for example, to dog Arnold by pointing out the winner of the Arnold Classic had a steroid related arrest history?).
I could go on, but the intelligent reading this will “get my drift”, while the close-minded fanatics cannot be helped anyway. At least he did cover the positive use of steroids in medicine, and included the HIV+ subjects comments, and makes the point that steroid use is no “shortcut”, and users in fact train as hard or harder than alleged “naturals”. The film does more good than harm in the total scheme of it’s subject matter, but is very far from definitive for the general public. The film is vastly superior to the Documentary “The Man Whose Arms Exploded”, which was rife with misinformation and was designed to be an anti-Steroid/PED propaganda piece (Curiously, both films feature many of the same people).
It may be better to simply man-up and produce a blatantly pro-PED piece rather than claim to be evenhanded and fail both sides in the process. Nonetheless, I still highly recommend seeing the film and let the chips fall where they may, although it still leaves the burden on anyone sporting an above-average physique to defend themselves against those who have seen the film and now fancy themselves “experts”, but remain hostile on the subject. Two steps forward, and one step back for “Bigger, Stronger and Faster”…
[quote]ghost wrote:
Damici wrote:
So do I, but it doesn’t seem to be available. Did the DVD not come out yet? Anyone know when it’s out?
Sept. 30 if I’m not mistaken.
Can’t wait.[/quote]
That’s also the same day Iron Man comes out on DVD. Looks like I’ll be buying a few DVDs that day.
[quote]Brown_Lifter wrote:
anyone else feel kinda bummed when they took down arnolds pics?[/quote]
If you were unaware, they were put back up…
i was unaware of that 
what about his face they scraped off the mural?
I just watched it… It has made me seriously think about my previous stand point on the use of steroids… I was previously against but I can’t say I am now, I don’t think I’ll be using though.
The DVD is supposed to have about a hour of deleted footage. One scene is where Mike Bell talked to Jay Cutler about steroids and bodybuilding. Youtube has a few of them posted there.
I think the little clip from the simpsons sums up alot of it.
“Do you want to hear the horrible truth, or do you want me to hit homeruns?”
Good movie though. Had alot of interesting points.