Change Your Image
toastie-kim
Reviews
America Unchained (2007)
A personal look at small town America in a big corporate world
America Unchained is a really good documentary from the mind of Dave Gorman (occasional statistical analyst for the Daily Show. He had a segment called "Poll Smoking, with Dave Gorman).
Basically Dave wants to see if it's possible to drive across America from the west coast to the east coast without giving any money to "The Man". That is to not buy gas at, eat food at, or sleep at any big chain gas stations, restaurants and hotels, instead only doing the previously mentioned at 'Mom & Pop' places that are family run or independently run.
It's an interesting look at how small town America is being swallowed up by big time corporations, and a big part of unique American culture is dying off as the public accepts becoming homogenised in greater and greater aspects of their lives.
What makes this documentary good is it isn't political. No corporate names are brought up in criticism to serve an agenda, but only brought up as an example of a place Dave doesn't want to give money to because it's not a 'Mom & Pop' business, and because it is often devoid of charm and character due to the uniformity of the chains. Waking up in a generic room at a Best Western Hotel tells you nothing of where you actually are in the world as a room in New York and a room in Istanbul could be completely interchangeable.
Dave's style is always personal and honest, and you get to see all kinds of emotion from a man who often ends up in very difficult circumstances (sometimes through his own fault) and you feel for him when he gets angry or even starts to break down sometimes. But none of it feels contrived, as someone watching it you're just along for the ride.
It's also only 75 minutes, so it's not too long to become laborious like some documentaries can be.
Highly recommended.
Hoodwinked! (2005)
Nearly walked out ...
Went to see this a couple of weeks ago because I made the grave mistake of liking the trailer too much.
The pace was slow to start with, and just the general story and directing was hard to watch. If it wasn't for the Wolf and Squirrel story (and to a lesser degree, the singing mountain goat), this movie would probably be the worst of the year. It'd be more satisfying if this was just a short animation that focused solely on the squirrel and the wolf. I really couldn't care less about the other characters.
Sadly the best bits are in the trailer. Avoid, unless you like sitting uncomfortably.
Death of a President (2006)
Ignore most reviews, and SEE for yourselves
A lot of these reviews seem to be by either US Americans who have yet to see this film, and are so insecure about their patriotism they have to come on to IMDb and slate it, or seemingly by people who made up their mind before watching it and refuse to change their stance after doing so.
The point of the film is NOT some perverse fantasy about killing the current President of the United States of America, George Walker Bush Jr. People who say otherwise either haven't seen it or are wanting to purposely misguide you.
It is a drama in the style of a documentary (one that would air on television rather then a cinema screen) that looks at a possible run up to an assassination of the president, as well as how the investigation might be handled afterwards with the involvement of Dick Cheney (who would take over the Presidency if George Bush was assassinated).
The drama does not dwell or linger on the death of the president at all, in fact apart from Bush being crammed into his presidential car by secret service and whizzed away at high speed, that is all the viewer sees. You then find out about his death from mock news reports. Hardly a sordid gratification from a 'perverse' director.
The drama is convincing as a documentary by realistic interviews with decent unknown actors playing their roles just right without hyperbole as could quite easily be the case.
Without spoiling exact plot points, the drama makes a point in how the government may be more interested in finding a suspect and making the evidence fit the profile because it is more politically advantageous then actually running an investigation to find out exactly what happened, and draw suspects that way. Considering the current climate where seemingly the Geneva Convention is open to interpretation, and restrictions on Habeus Corpus, this suggestion is not far fetched in the slightest.
It aired on 'More 4' in the UK, a channel from Channel 4 television, and I'd imagine it would air on an American network at some point, or maybe a limited screening at cinemas if the US networks lose their bottle.
So for my US brothers and sisters, consider what I've written, and go SEE it and decide for yourself. That's what the freedom as a US Citizen entitles you to do.