Real Movie Review-Movie Reviews, Movie Quotes, Movie Trivia

Director: Michael Moore

Starring: Michael Moore

Michael Moore is back and using his well-known bombastic style to lambaste the capitalist system in general, and the Wall Street robber barons in particular. Moore’s main gripe this time out is the Washington 700 mil corporate bailout package. He talks about who got it, how they got it, what they did with it, and he has a few impressive points to make about it, though the film would have been better if it had focused a little more narrowly on that area instead of trying to pass judgement on the whole Capitalist system, which is better tackled in a 200 page thesis than a two hour movie..

Using his usual but always entertaining formula, Moore mixes humour with poignant stories of little people being crushed by the economic crisis, along with stories of the faceless grey system villains. Moore stays away from tackling many of these executives by name, perhaps because none of them talked to him or threatened endless legal action if he used any ambush interview footage. These leads to a drawback in this Moore effort. Perhaps as a victim of his own success, the only faces for these villains are those of hapless security guards and low level managers. The big guys know better than to even let him in the door and thus achieve everlasting celluloid infamy. At any rate, all of his leads to a slightly triumphant finish, again in accordance with his Moore formula style.

Not as funny as some of his past projects and a little light on the content, as well, but the Moore formula and style is in clear evidence. Fans will welcome his return and forgive any shortcomings, and those who are not fans, well, I don’t imagine that they will shell out their dough to see and hear the rants of a fat commie pinko anyway.

Director: Morgan Spurlock

Starring: Morgan Spurlock

The documentary genius of Morgan Spurlock returns! In his first effort since the brilliant look at fast food, Super Size Me, Spurlock is about to become a dad, and decides he has to make the world safe for his offspring. The best way to do this, he determines, is to track down western public enemy #1, Osama Bin Laden. This premise is handled quite lightly, though this feature has less appeal than Spurlock eating MacDonald’s ninety times. Still it is another wonderful film that eases us into an uncomfortable subject and then offers an engaging introspective view of it. The film clocks in at less than 90 minutes and offers enough animation and cheesy CGI, that the whole thing looks just a little cheap, but is still entertaining and compelling.

Finding the most wanted man in the world, seems like it could be a tricky goal, but undaunted, Mr. Spurlock sets out on his task. His plan is simple. Just visit countries where he may be and ask people if they’ve seen him. Hmmm, why hasn’t western intelligence thought of that? Anyway, Morgan visits several Muslim and middle-eastern countries, and talks to people. Some are people of power and influence, while most are average citizens. Besides the inquiry into Bin Laden’s whereabouts, he asks them what they think of the terrorist leader, the United States and of their own circumstances. The results are interesting and range from chilling to amusing.

“Where In The World Is Osama Bin Laden?” plays like ‘political science light’ and will should make the rounds of grade twelve classrooms for the next few years. It is light enough to be fun and serious enough to offer a little insight, but with a feature like this, its best to keep in mind that its not difficult to give the viewer any message that the filmmaker wants to give.

Director: Guy Maddin

Starring: Darcy Fehr, Ann Savage,

Art house, and film festival sweetheart, writer/director Guy Maddin (The Saddest Music in The World) has put out a visual poem about his hometown and one of the coldest cities in the world, Winnipeg. It has a pretentious and surreal black and white dream-like style, and elevated language that reminded me of the works I had to read for University English classes, but soon the film shows a playful and damn funny side that lightens up after its ostentatious opening.

There is no plot here, to speak of and the film is alternately ridiculous and repetitive, but also becomes increasingly funny. Guy Maddin wants to have some fun as he tells us about his memories of Winnipeg, both past and present. He talks about his quirky family before moving on to touch on hockey, the railroad, back lanes and plays with little snippets of history, some of which is partially true and others are just little Maddin jokes. In the end he comes back to his family and his own ideas and light-hearted opinions of Winnipeg. The film is often repetitive and there is a painful dance segment that made m want a nap, but still the charming narrative and tongue in cheek humor makes up for it.

My Winnipeg is an unusual film that is more of a mockumentary than anything else, and has found some support on the North American art house circuit, and with critics. As for me, it was better than I had expected. It is a poem set to film and if Robert Frost were alive today and decided to allow a movie to be made about one of his poems, I have no doubt that he would choose Guy Maddin to make the film and that it would look and sound like My Winnipeg. It’s not for everyone, but then, neither is Robert Frost.

Director: Robert Greenwald

Put down your debit card and watch this documentary that reveals how Wal-Mart has managed to become the retail Godzilla that it is today. The argument is compelling in a Michael Moore kind of way, but forget any concept of balance in the filmmaker‘s viewpoint. Director Robert Greenwald would have been more persuasive if he had offered more comparisons between Wal-Mart and other large retailers, but it should serve to be thought provoking for the unconvinced, as self-righteous confirmation for those of us who have already turned against this monolithic monster.

Greenwald starts out by looking at long time retailers who were crushed by Wal-Mart and goes on to examine the company’s anti-union activities and its exploitation of government resources. He goes on to question the company’s behaviors in several other areas, that will hopefully cause consumers to take a hard look at which companies we support with our dollars.

How far will we allow corporations to go before we stand up to say ‘enough‘? How much does it take for us to say that we will no longer participate in the exploitation of workers both in our hometowns and throughout the world? How much money can a corporation take out of public coffers, before we call our politicians to task to account for allowing this? I don’t know.

Director: Davis Guggenheim

Starring: Al Gore,

Former vice president Al Gore created this gripping documentary that looks at the myth, truth and phenomenon of global warming. Gore’s down home charm and gentle humor combined with the most important message ever delivered on film, made this film the most compelling cinema of 2006. It is warm, easy to understand and effective. It won the 2007 Oscar for best documentary, but more than that Al Gore won a Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts in this area.

This whole documentary is basically an enhanced version of Al Gore’s slide show demonstration of the whole global issue, including history, current situation, scientific and political views and solutions. If you knew little about this issue when you pulled this DVD from its renewable, minimalist cardboard case, don’t worry. By the end of the feature, you will be well-informed and convinced of the importance of its message.

An Inconvenient Truth is compelling and hypnotic. It’s run time will be over before you know it. If you are still unconvinced about the immediacy and reality of this issue, please accept the challenge of watching this motion picture and see how you feel when its end credits roll. If you are concerned that it will be too depressing, don’t be. By the end, the message is hopeful, if we can just each pitch in to do our part, we can make a difference. We better.

Director: Luke Meyer, Andrew Neel

Starring: Skip Lipman, Daniel McArthur, Rebecca Thurmond, Kenyon Wells

One of the wonderful things about documentaries is their ability, when done well, to open our eyes to worlds within our own, of which we were completely unaware. Luke Meyer and Andrew Neel have given us just such a feature in Darkon, which tells the story of a group of passionate individuals whose love for fantasy and search for acceptance leads them into a real life version of fantasy role-playing games. The characters are interesting and often filled with an undercurrent of pathos, as are their stories.

Darkon is an unusual but compelling, documentary about adults who retreat on weekends into a world of medieval fantasy kingdoms and battles. The story is told in a straightforward manner, switching back and forth from the subjects’ lives in our modern society to their intricate fantasy game, complete with countries, rulers, alliances and battles, with armor and foam weapons. There is a strange melancholy to their choice to give so much time, effort and emotion to their make-believe world. I watched much of this film with an uncomprehending furrowed brow, as I tried to understand, and make sense of it all, but I was also completely absorbed by it.

Darkon is a wonderful documentary for those who, like me, have an insatiable curiosity about the world around us and how people find so many different ways to interact with it. Many will find this candid glimpse into the lives of rather immature, and socially awkward, gamers to be boring and disturbing. Those with an interest in fantasy role-playing, particularly in a live action setting will find it irresistible. If you have enjoyed previous features like Spellbound and King Of Kong, then this will be just your sort of motion picture.

Director: Rob Stewart

Starring: Rob Stewart, Paul Watson, Patrick Moore, Erich Ritter

First time filmmaker Rob Stewart, has made a breathtaking, unforgettable and important documentary. Not bad for his first feature. Take marvelous underwater photography, amazing passion and a thrilling story and you have a can’t miss feature that was a darling of the film festival circuit. It won’t be what you expect.

Rob Stewart is a shark-loving biologist and underwater photographer who starts out discussing sharks’ importance to the planet, our misconceptions about them and their history which pre-dates dinosaurs. Stewart’s passion for sharks, and their protection, brings him to join with Paul Watson (www.seashepherd.org) on an expedition to battle illegal shark fishing off the coast of Guatemala. What results is conflicts with poachers and organized crime on top of government corruption and double cross. This is one of the most amazing stories that a documentary has ever told and yet it is still intertwined with beauty and horror.

Rob Stewart and Paul Watson are my newest heroes. Their courage and commitment alone, makes Sharkwater worth viewing. Viewers with a social conscience and ecological concerns shouldn’t miss this one and viewers who enjoy tense real life adventures won’t want to miss it. Like the trailer says, “It’s part Jacques Cousteau and part Michael Moore”.

Director: Ricki Stern, Anne Sundberg

Starring: Brian Steadle

The Devil Came On Horseback is a relentless hard-hitting documentary about the horrible conflict in the Darfur region of Sudan, as seen through the eyes of an impartial military observer, former Marine Captain, Brian Steadle, who doesn’t feel impartial for long. The result is engaging, and is almost as hypnotic as it is powerful and disturbing and kinda made me feel guilty for not doing more to help. It was a darling of the film festival circuit, but has seen little commercial promotion.

In 2004, retired but young, Marine Captain Brian Steadle accepted a six month contract as an unarmed military observer supervising the ceasefire to a two decade long civil war in The Sudan. Soon after his arrival, he realizes that government backed thugs, known as the Janjaweed are executing a campaign of rape, murder and torture, against civilian villages in the Darfur region of the country. The film starts out with some background of the area, and its issues, and then watches and listens, as Steadle uses pictures, video, and narration to describe, and illustrate his experiences during the horrifying, and frustrating period. Next, Brian returns home and tries to tell America, and the world, what is happening in The Sudan.

The Devil Came On Horseback tells a troubling tale that is uncomfortably close to the Rwandan story from all too few years ago. It packs a punch, and I hesitate to speculate on who will ‘enjoy’ it. It is similar in tone and content to such films as The Killing Fields and Hotel Rwanda, and much like last year’s documentary feature, Shake Hands With The Devil, which focused on Lt. Gen. Romeo Dallaire’s experiences in Rwanda. This is a powerful project that should be seen.

Director: Mat Whitecross, Michael Winterbottom

Starring: Riz Ahmed, Farhad Harun, Waqar Siddiqui, Afran Usman, Shahid Iqbal, Sher Khan,

The Road To Guantanamo is a riveting mix of dramatic re-enactments and interviews with the ‘Tipton Three’, three British citizens captured with Taliban forces in Afghanistan shortly after 9/11. The dramatic scenes here come across as chillingly authentic, though from time to time, it does slip into scenes that feel like a TV re-enactment. This is offset by the mesmerizing tale of three men that went through a harrowing experience that is beyond even our own imaginations.

The three principal characters here, are each portrayed by actors in the dramatized film portions, and appear as themselves during interspersed interview segments. The first is Asif Iqbal (Afran Usman), who traveled from Britain to Pakistan with three friends to get married. His friends were Ruhel (Farhad Harun), Shafiq (Riz Ahmed) and Monir (Waqar Siddiqui), who went missing and is believed to have been killed in Afghanistan. The three friends decided to take a side trip to Afghanistan where they were lost ,and misled, into a warzone, where they end up being taken prisoner as suspected Taliban members. This is where their incarceration starts and the story really begins.

I knew nothing of these three, before this film and it is an eye-opener about the confused and dangerous state of 2001 Afghanistan, and about the treatment of prisoners taken in the War on Terror. The end result is gripping and terrifying, and will be enjoyed by politically aware movie viewers.

Director: Daniel Gold & Judith Helfand

Here we go, again! For those who have remained unconvinced about the matter of environmental collapse due to global warming, after An Inconvenient Truth and The Eleventh Hour, Everything’s Cool is another documentary that tries once more to break through the corporate shield of doublespeak, to convince the American People that our world is, incredibly close to the precipice of collapse, during the lifetimes of our children, or grandchildren. It is effective, funny and compelling, but, unfortunately, will likely only be seen by people who already recognize the truth.

The focus of this feature is not really to examine the science behind our understanding of global warming, but to shine an exposing light on the conspiracy of misinformation perpetrated by pseudo-scientific organizations funded by oil companies, who also make sure to sufficiently back politicians as to assure their support. The film talks to those who have been silenced by a government that doesn’t want to hear the truth (and even keeps government representatives, as well as the public, from hearing the whole truth), looks at areas already ravaged by global warming, including finishing with a look at the Hurricane Katrina disaster.

This is an entertaining, but disturbing, look at the most serious issue of this, and any other, time. Who will it reach? Everything’s Cool is yet another ringing alarm bell that our global house is on fire. The question is not that global warming is happening and threatening all life on our planet, but how can we convince those who have stuck their heads in the sand to emerge and join our voices in demanding that governments act, and act now.