There are two films about Dock Ellis. One, an animation by James Blagden, is called Dock Ellis & the LSD No-No. The other, a new documentary by Chris Cortez, is called No No: A Dockumentary. The former is a very funny short about the moment that gave Ellis eternity in baseball history and American culture: pitching the impossible while totally tripping. The other is a serious, feature-length film that looks at Ellis's youth (he was raised by a stern and hardworking father), his discovery of his gift (he could throw balls at very high speeds), and his first marriage (to the most popular hottie at his high school). We then learn about the impact that the death of his father had on him, his resolve to become a professional baseball player, his outspokenness about American racism, his taste for flashy cars and clothes, the rollers he wore during practice, his admiration for Muhammad Ali, his heavy drinking, his many drugs, and the all-important day he broke with the continuum of reality by pitching a no-hitter while colors and stars were exploding in his head. This part of the documentary uses the same interview as Blagden's short to tell the story of the all-American miracle but it is nowhere near as funny. In fact, it sounds a bit tragic. After that peak, Ellis does more drugs, drinks more and more, divorces, remarries, hits Reggie Jackson in the face with a baseball, and finally crashes and retires in 1980. Then Ellis enters drug treatment, cleans up, and becomes a bit of a bore; this last part of the documentary feels long and is, unfortunately, dull. There is just no way around it: Ellis was a much more interesting person when he was drunk and high than when he was sober. What all of this shows is that the universe has no god, and that good and evil have nothing to do with its structure. by Charles Mudede