It would be an insult to call “The Cove” the dolphin and porpoise version of a “Save the Whales” documentary. It is a documentary thriller filled with wildlife education, thorough journalism and top-notch espionage as much as it sheds light on an environmental/animal rights issue as deserving of our attention as anything else. Read the rest of this entry »
Renowned guitarist Slash helps open Sacha Gervasi’s documentary on the band Anvil saying they helped inspire the metal movement in ’80s rock, but he also ends it by noting that despite Anvil never achieving the fame expected of them, that they’ve stayed together — which a lot of bands can’t say they have. That’s the spirit of Gervasi’s film, which goes beyond the trials of a band still after a dream 30 years in the making to show the people that really make the experience worth it. Read the rest of this entry »
The American public is no stranger to the MPAA ratings system and its inherent flaws. Everyone has his or her own opinion about the level of censorship that goes on in Hollywood and what is appropriate for what age group and so on. But you don’t really know what it’s about until you watch Kirby Dick’s documentary “This Film is Not Yet Rated.” Read the rest of this entry »
I saw this back at Columbia, Missouri’s True/False film festival in February 2009. Now it’s Oscar-nominated. I wrote up a short review at the time.
The Western world concerns itself with issues like that of bias in the media. In Burma, journalism is illegal. The impact of “Burma VJ” is pretty straightforward. These VJs, living under a militaristic government, risk their lives to get footage of the crimes against humanity in their country–the killing of Buddhist monks, the extreme crowd control–and smuggle it out so the world can see (as well as back into Burma to counteract the government’s propaganda). Read the rest of this entry »
Robert Kenner’s documentary “Food, Inc.” sounds like something you’ve heard of before. When Eric Schlosser’s book “Fast Food Nation” first woke America up to the horrific way that fast food meat is processed and Morgan Spurlock’s documentary “Super Size Me” exposed the deadly health concerns of too much fast food, most Americans began to associate fast food with unhealthy food. The organic food movement began to take off and most well- educated Americans began to take what’s in their food more seriously. But it hasn’t been enough — “Food, Inc.” breaks down why in this highly educational investigative film. Read the rest of this entry »
