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| Topic: Documentary |
3:58 pm EST, Mar 12, 2005 |
Why are Americans so fat? SUPER SIZE ME |
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| Topic: Documentary |
11:15 pm EDT, Jun 21, 2004 |
Different Channels. Different Truths. Control Room, by Jehane Noujaim, an award-winning Arab-American filmmaker who has lived within and embraced both worlds, provides an opportunity to re-examine what is perhaps the most pressing question of international relations today: "is America radicalizing or stabilizing the Arab world?" Without miring itself in shadowy conspiracy theories. Control Room provides a balanced view of Al Jazeera's presentation of the second Iraq war to their worldwide Arab audience, and in so doing calls into question many of the prevailing images and positions offered up by the US news media. Control Room neatly bridges the gap between timeless and timely; timeless because it locates itself in the midst of the ongoing cultural clash between Western and Arab worlds, timely because it does so through the prism of satellite television's impact on how viewers receive information worldwide from news providers, driven by the patriotism of their audiences, to Army information officers, driven by military objectives. Control Room is a seminal documentary that explores how Truth is gathered, presented, and ultimately created by those who deliver it. Control Room |
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'Super Size Me': When All Those Big Macs Bite Back |
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| Topic: Documentary |
9:33 am EDT, May 7, 2004 |
The United States is in the midst of an epidemic of obesity and related health problems, and fast food is bad for you. Morgan Spurlock's attempt to demonstrate the link between these two matters, using himself as an experimental subject, represents an entertaining, and occasionally horrifying, statement of the obvious. The larger issue of the relationship between legal consumables and public health turns on the question of responsibility. Does it rest with those of us who eat, drink and inhale the products that clog our arteries and corrode our livers and lungs, or with the companies who sell and advertise them? Mr. Spurlock's answer, emphatically anticorporate on its surface, is perhaps more ambiguous than it seems. Texas: not only the largest state in the union but also one of the fattest. There is a heartbreaking moment when an overweight girl worries that she will never lose weight because she can't afford to eat two sandwiches a day from Subway. Like the book "Fast Food Nation", the film is as much about corporate power as it is about health. The movie, which opens nationally today, goes down easy and takes a while to digest, but its message is certainly worth the loss of your appetite. 'Super Size Me': When All Those Big Macs Bite Back |
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Eleven Lessons from Robert McNamara |
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| Topic: Documentary |
11:48 pm EST, Jan 22, 2004 |
The subtitle of The Fog of War is "Eleven Lessons from the Life of Robert S. McNamara." These lessons give structure to the film. They are now on my bulletin board alongside my selections from Powell's Rules and Rumsfeld's Rules. 1. Empathize with your enemy. 2. Rationality will not save us. 3. There's something beyond one's self. 4. Maximize efficiency. 5. Proportionality should be a guideline in war. 6. Get the data. 7. Belief and seeing are both often wrong. 8. Be prepared to reexamine your reasoning. 9. In order to do good, you may have to engage in evil. 10. Never say never. 11. You can't change human nature. |
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| Topic: Documentary |
11:44 pm EST, Jan 22, 2004 |
"The Fog of War" is a film that needs to be seen by important people, and now. It is as urgent today as "The Thin Blue Line," which ultimately freed a wrongly convicted man from death row, was upon its release. The greatest difference between McNamara and our current policymakers is not that they are for war and he is against it, but that to them the moral equations are all very simple, and he knows better. It is unfortunate that this film can only be seen in LA, NYC, and DC, as there are in fact "important people" in other cities who should also see this film. Shame on AMC for playing to the whims of the major studios and ignoring the public interest. I wish there were more independent cinemas around the US, and I wish that cinema operators were more like The New York Times and less like Wal-Mart. If you have the opportunity, this film is highly recommended. I am sure that it will be viewed differently by those who lived through Vietnam than by those who did not, but it will prove insightful to both groups. The Fog of War |
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| Topic: Documentary |
1:42 am EST, Nov 25, 2003 |
A documentary on children of the insanely rich. Directed by one of their own, Johnson & Johnson heir, Jamie Johnson. Worth the hour. Born Rich (2003) |
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The Revolution Will Not Be Televised |
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| Topic: Documentary |
11:44 pm EST, Nov 24, 2003 |
On April 12th 2002 the world awoke to the news that Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez had been removed from office and had been replaced by a new interim government. What had in fact taken palce was the first Latin American coup of the 21st century, and the world's first media coup ... This is worth seeing if you have the opportunity. If nothing else, it should give you a sense of how our collective reliance on the "mass media" (which is an ironic misnomer) can distort our understanding and interpretation of world events. The Revolution Will Not Be Televised |
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