Photo: jcolman, Creative Commons, Flickr
One of the things that bothered me in the run-up to the invasion of Iraq in 2003 was the lack of debate over the merits of the invasion.
I have a list of about 100 movies I've never gotten around to seeing so I know all about putting things off. But even I managed to make time for this 20 minute fast-paced video about stuff.
It sounds like a weird premise but that's literally what it's about. Our stuff. Where it comes from. Where it goes. And why that matters. Cynics will appreciate that there is no emotional or ethical appeal to save our planet, just straight facts in a conversational tone. You will learn a lot in 20 minutes. Trust me. I hated An Inconvenient Truth. But this is the kind of thing everyone would want to see:
Disclosure: This isn't really a disclosure but I just wanted to point out that you're not really doing anything else for the next 20 minutes so just watch it. By the time you come up with something else to do (or say you're gonna do), 20 minutes will have passed.
In the Valley of Elah is a new film from Paul Haggis (director and writer of Crash, writer of Million Dollar Baby, among others).
I should say at outset I am ambivalent about Haggis’s work. In previous films, he tends to write “on the nose,” choppy, emotionally overwrought scenes that shove their message directly at the audience. Crash had some great performances and moments, but breathlessly raced from one emotional payoff to the next in a way that flattened everything. And the plot of Crash was wildly improbable.
Blue State is a movie about a guy who so completely devotes himself to John Kerry’s 2004 campaign because of his hatred of George W. Bush, that he swears to move to Canada if Bush is reelected.
In fairness, An Unreasonable Man offers both perspectives on Ralph Nader; the “wicked”-ly naïve megalomaniac that cost Gore the 2000 election, and the idealist who stands up to government even in unfashionable times. It is not shocking that more screen time is given to the latter.
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