If you see one movie this week or month, watch Food, Inc., a 90-minute documentary on the disaster that is the American food industry. Nora wrote a great post about it this morning, but I went to a screening this afternoon and wow, all the issues became even more real to me. I’ve read Fast Food Nation, Skinny Bitch, snippets of Michael Pollan, and am pretty much a vegetarian for it (and even then I’m not safe), but seeing the industry exposed for what it really is on screen was truly impactful, which is why I’m urging all of you to see this movie too! I don’t know how anyone could not rethink their eating habits after seeing a chicken today compared to one 20 years ago.  Chickens are fed so many hormones that they’re three times the size of a free range, full-grown chicken of yesteryear. They’re also grown to such a large size in 49 days compared to 3 months, the previous norm. Tyson and the other three poultry manufactures who make up about 90 percent of the market share are pumping these chickens with hormones so they can cheaply produce as many as they can to make loads of money. I could go on and one about every point in this film, but there’s one other thing that really struck me. I originally assumed that the industrialization of the food industry was somewhat of a good thing for farmers, a republican issue, but it’s not. In fact, government subsidization enacted by both parties has had more negative affects on farming than anything. Farmers are slaves to these multi-billion dollar companies who produce bigger, faster and fatter foods. They can’t save seeds, they have to invest their own money to process their product in a certain way and they get paid nothing for their efforts. The government, including the FDA, EPA and congress is also run by many of the very same people who previously held high ranks at these monopolistic companies. The money is running the show. Nora also mentioned one thing that jolted me as well. I haven’t had fast food in probably five years, but I do remember trying to identify the putty-looking pieces in McDonalds burgers back in the day. It tasted like meat, but certainly didn’t look it. Well, that stuff I learned is actually a SPAM-like substance added to 70 percent of fast food hamburgers to serve as a meat filler. It’s cleansed with ammonia to combat traces of deadly E.Coli found in industrially-produced beef. Um, seriously? Why don’t they just serve up a shake of bleach on the side of those fries? One thing I wished the film went into a bit more was the fact that beyond diabetes the U.S. is seeing more cases of autism, ADD, allergies and depression in children, and what we eat can be linked to such problems. There are ways we can change the industry and that’s by taking our own eating habits more seriously. Shop at farmers markets, buy local, eliminate foods with high fructose corn syrup, etc. Little steps taken by amass of people can make a difference. Anyway, enough preaching!  Just go see this film!
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If you see one movie this week or month, watch Food, Inc., a 90-minute documentary on the disaster that is the American food industry. Nora wrote a great post about it this morning, but I went to a screening this afternoon and wow, all the issues became even more real to me.

I’ve read Fast Food Nation, Skinny Bitch, snippets of Michael Pollan, and am pretty much a vegetarian for it (and even then I’m not safe), but seeing the industry exposed for what it really is on screen was truly impactful, which is why I’m urging all of you to see this movie too!

I don’t know how anyone could not rethink their eating habits after seeing a chicken today compared to one 20 years ago.  Chickens are fed so many hormones that they’re three times the size of a free range, full-grown chicken of yesteryear. They’re also grown to such a large size in 49 days compared to 3 months, the previous norm. Tyson and the other three poultry manufactures who make up about 90 percent of the market share are pumping these chickens with hormones so they can cheaply produce as many as they can to make loads of money.

I could go on and one about every point in this film, but there’s one other thing that really struck me. I originally assumed that the industrialization of the food industry was somewhat of a good thing for farmers, a republican issue, but it’s not. In fact, government subsidization enacted by both parties has had more negative affects on farming than anything. Farmers are slaves to these multi-billion dollar companies who produce bigger, faster and fatter foods. They can’t save seeds, they have to invest their own money to process their product in a certain way and they get paid nothing for their efforts. The government, including the FDA, EPA and congress is also run by many of the very same people who previously held high ranks at these monopolistic companies. The money is running the show.

Nora also mentioned one thing that jolted me as well. I haven’t had fast food in probably five years, but I do remember trying to identify the putty-looking pieces in McDonalds burgers back in the day. It tasted like meat, but certainly didn’t look it. Well, that stuff I learned is actually a SPAM-like substance added to 70 percent of fast food hamburgers to serve as a meat filler. It’s cleansed with ammonia to combat traces of deadly E.Coli found in industrially-produced beef. Um, seriously? Why don’t they just serve up a shake of bleach on the side of those fries?

One thing I wished the film went into a bit more was the fact that beyond diabetes the U.S. is seeing more cases of autism, ADD, allergies and depression in children, and what we eat can be linked to such problems.

There are ways we can change the industry and that’s by taking our own eating habits more seriously. Shop at farmers markets, buy local, eliminate foods with high fructose corn syrup, etc. Little steps taken by amass of people can make a difference.

Anyway, enough preaching!  Just go see this film!

I’m pretty sure I posted this a few months ago, but it’s worth revisiting.

If you haven’t seen this Vice Guide to North Korea on VBS give it a watch. The filmmaker snuck in to document life, if that’s what you want to call it, in creepily controlled North Korea. The visuals remind me of a 1940s war film not real life.

I find it interesting how I pick up on these stories more from news sites that solely exist on the Web (VBS, Current) than I do in mainstream media. Granted, I’m online all the time, but still.

This filmmaker is extremely lucky he did not get caught crossing the border as evident of today’s reports.

Any Given Sunday was like a sports commentator covering the same story over and over – the film was entertaining, but the message was beaten to death. The story begins on the field of a Sharks game coached by long-time Miami Coach Tony D’Amato.  An aging, but beloved Joe Montana-like quarterback, Jack “Cap” Rooney (Dennis Quaid) is injured, creating an opportunity for Willie Beamen (Jamie Fox), an unknown third stringer to shine. Beamen ignores the plays and runs the game his own way and no one cares, except Coach D’Amato, because the losing team starts winning again. Then the obvious happens – Beamen becomes a big sports star with a head and ego too big for his body. Meanwhile, Sharks’ owner Christina Pagniacci (Cameron Diaz) runs the team like a Fortune 500 company while making morally questionable power plays to prove she can fill her daddy’s shoes. At the center of it all is Coach D’Amato who loves the opportunistic battle for the win on the field, but hates what it’s become – a circle jerk power struggle. From the onset, Stone creates an environment where you can’t deny the comparisons between athletes and gladiators, a field to a Coliseum, and the money hungry team owners to the corrupt royalty of ancient Rome. Stone practically beats you over the head with these analogies with cuts to battle scenes from Ben-Hur and an appearance from Charlton Heston, the original Judah Ben-Hur, as the sports commissioner. Despite the pushiness of the gladiator message, there are some really great dramatic scenes between Pacino and Fox, and the film overall is one of the better modern sports films I’ve seen. Stone once again demonstrates that selfish and aggressive pursuits of money, power, and politics can push the human spirit to dark, lonely places.
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Any Given Sunday was like a sports commentator covering the same story over and over – the film was entertaining, but the message was beaten to death.

The story begins on the field of a Sharks game coached by long-time Miami Coach Tony D’Amato.  An aging, but beloved Joe Montana-like quarterback, Jack “Cap” Rooney (Dennis Quaid) is injured, creating an opportunity for Willie Beamen (Jamie Fox), an unknown third stringer to shine. Beamen ignores the plays and runs the game his own way and no one cares, except Coach D’Amato, because the losing team starts winning again. Then the obvious happens – Beamen becomes a big sports star with a head and ego too big for his body. Meanwhile, Sharks’ owner Christina Pagniacci (Cameron Diaz) runs the team like a Fortune 500 company while making morally questionable power plays to prove she can fill her daddy’s shoes. At the center of it all is Coach D’Amato who loves the opportunistic battle for the win on the field, but hates what it’s become – a circle jerk power struggle.

From the onset, Stone creates an environment where you can’t deny the comparisons between athletes and gladiators, a field to a Coliseum, and the money hungry team owners to the corrupt royalty of ancient Rome. Stone practically beats you over the head with these analogies with cuts to battle scenes from Ben-Hur and an appearance from Charlton Heston, the original Judah Ben-Hur, as the sports commissioner.

Despite the pushiness of the gladiator message, there are some really great dramatic scenes between Pacino and Fox, and the film overall is one of the better modern sports films I’ve seen. Stone once again demonstrates that selfish and aggressive pursuits of money, power, and politics can push the human spirit to dark, lonely places.

One of the last lines in Salvador is delivered by James Woods screaming, “ YOU DON’T KNOW WHAT IS HAPPENING IN EL SALVADOR!”  In nine convicted words, Oliver’s Stone’s purpose is emphasized with exclamation. Salvador reveals America’s involvement in a civil war that wasn’t there’s to fight. Sound familiar? In El Salvador, the complex dispute involved left-wing rebels fighting for social-rights and the right-wing military who viewed protests as an act of communism. In the 1980s, the U.S. Reagan administration provided aid to the military, but blatantly ignored the army’s corruption and murder of innocent, unarmed, mostly peasant men, women and children. Nearly 75,000 people died as a result of this ignorance. The film follows Richard Boyle (James Woods), a wild, gonzo-like photojournalist who arrogantly decides to pursue the story El Salvador to gain credibility. At this point, he has no emotional tie to the war and really is just looking to get good pictures. After his friend, Doctor Rock (Jim Belushi), bails him out of jail, Boyle cons him into a road trip to El Salvador in what he describes as a utopia, yuppie-free world of easy women and drugs.  The back and forth between Woods and Belushi, who is terrified at the idea, is quite entertaining, but the comic relief is silenced early in the film by an encounter with Salvadorian militia. The whole tone of the film changes from light to serious and Boyle’s experience as a war journalist turns on as he says to his friend, “whatever you do, don’t lie on the ground.” From here, the real story begins. What Stone does right here is that he doesn’t compromise the story with political correctness or a Hollywood spin. He plays it very straight - no fancy camera work - just flat two-shots, close-ups and wide-angle shots. We often read or hear about horrible tragedies overseas, but the reality is even more devastating when experienced visually. Stone shares horrific events that happened during the war including El Playon, a dirt mountain covered with mutilated bodies; the death squad assassination of Archbishop Oscar Romero; and the brutal rape and murder of four American missionaries shot point blank and left in a ditch - all very hard scenes to watch, but even harder scenes to let go. The acting in this film, particularly by Woods and Belushi was superb. In the beginning Woods’ character has purely selfish motivations, but like all good protagonists, he transforms as his natural instinct to “do something” kicks in.  In the end, however, he’s still a sleazy guy, but you respect him knowing he too is outraged by the situation. The performance won Woods an Academy Award for Best Actor in 1986 - the same year as Platoon. When Salvador was release in 1986, the majority of Americans, with the exception of the U.S. government, were unaware of the daily brutality occurring just south of the border. This movie, although a fictionalization of events, brought the story to Hollywood, educating, what some believe, more people than any media report or television documentary to date. As captivating as the film itself, are the behind-the-scenes stories on the actual making of the film are told in Into the Valley of Death a documentary available as an extra feature on the special edition DVD. Apparently it was a nightmare of a shoot -the film’s technical advisor was murdered in El Salvador, there was major tension on the set between Stone, Woods and Belushi, and Woods nearly died – just before a crucial scene he discovered a blank in a gun that would have killed him had the trigger been pulled. If you haven’t seen this film, put it on your list.
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One of the last lines in Salvador is delivered by James Woods screaming, “ YOU DON’T KNOW WHAT IS HAPPENING IN EL SALVADOR!”  In nine convicted words, Oliver’s Stone’s purpose is emphasized with exclamation.

Salvador reveals America’s involvement in a civil war that wasn’t there’s to fight. Sound familiar? In El Salvador, the complex dispute involved left-wing rebels fighting for social-rights and the right-wing military who viewed protests as an act of communism. In the 1980s, the U.S. Reagan administration provided aid to the military, but blatantly ignored the army’s corruption and murder of innocent, unarmed, mostly peasant men, women and children. Nearly 75,000 people died as a result of this ignorance.

The film follows Richard Boyle (James Woods), a wild, gonzo-like photojournalist who arrogantly decides to pursue the story El Salvador to gain credibility. At this point, he has no emotional tie to the war and really is just looking to get good pictures. After his friend, Doctor Rock (Jim Belushi), bails him out of jail, Boyle cons him into a road trip to El Salvador in what he describes as a utopia, yuppie-free world of easy women and drugs.  The back and forth between Woods and Belushi, who is terrified at the idea, is quite entertaining, but the comic relief is silenced early in the film by an encounter with Salvadorian militia. The whole tone of the film changes from light to serious and Boyle’s experience as a war journalist turns on as he says to his friend, “whatever you do, don’t lie on the ground.” From here, the real story begins.

What Stone does right here is that he doesn’t compromise the story with political correctness or a Hollywood spin. He plays it very straight - no fancy camera work - just flat two-shots, close-ups and wide-angle shots. We often read or hear about horrible tragedies overseas, but the reality is even more devastating when experienced visually. Stone shares horrific events that happened during the war including El Playon, a dirt mountain covered with mutilated bodies; the death squad assassination of Archbishop Oscar Romero; and the brutal rape and murder of four American missionaries shot point blank and left in a ditch - all very hard scenes to watch, but even harder scenes to let go.

The acting in this film, particularly by Woods and Belushi was superb. In the beginning Woods’ character has purely selfish motivations, but like all good protagonists, he transforms as his natural instinct to “do something” kicks in.  In the end, however, he’s still a sleazy guy, but you respect him knowing he too is outraged by the situation. The performance won Woods an Academy Award for Best Actor in 1986 - the same year as Platoon.

When Salvador was release in 1986, the majority of Americans, with the exception of the U.S. government, were unaware of the daily brutality occurring just south of the border. This movie, although a fictionalization of events, brought the story to Hollywood, educating, what some believe, more people than any media report or television documentary to date.

As captivating as the film itself, are the behind-the-scenes stories on the actual making of the film are told in Into the Valley of Death a documentary available as an extra feature on the special edition DVD. Apparently it was a nightmare of a shoot -the film’s technical advisor was murdered in El Salvador, there was major tension on the set between Stone, Woods and Belushi, and Woods nearly died – just before a crucial scene he discovered a blank in a gun that would have killed him had the trigger been pulled.

If you haven’t seen this film, put it on your list.

For  3 Films, 1 Director, 1 Week I watched Salvador, Platoon and Any Given Sunday. In Platoon, combat takes a soldier’s psyche to very a dark, lonely place. Salvador asks do we have the cultural understanding to fight another’s battle and even if we do, should we? Any Given Sunday looks at the power struggles within a militant, money-whoring sporting organization and likens athletes to raging gladiators. The overarching idea tying all three films together is that humanity’s limits are severely tested in a waging war. Say what you will about Oliver Stone, he’s a very controversial director, but his vision as a filmmaker exists in personal experience, which is why these films were particularly provocative. In Hollywood, war and violence is glamorized for entertainment purposes.  Tell me what’s real about a vigilante with a red bandana running through the jungle with a machete ready to axe one crazy SOB after the other and loving it? It’s a fantasy. Stone’s point as a filmmaker is that we’re never going to learn anything from past mistakes if we gloss over the reality with a Hollywood ending.  We need to experience a story realistically, especially if it’s unsettling and uncomfortable, or we’ll never give the problems of the world a second thought. Well, guess what, Oliver Stone succeeded - I’ve been thinking about these films all week. Individual reviews to follow…
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For  3 Films, 1 Director, 1 Week I watched Salvador, Platoon and Any Given Sunday.

In Platoon, combat takes a soldier’s psyche to very a dark, lonely place. Salvador asks do we have the cultural understanding to fight another’s battle and even if we do, should we? Any Given Sunday looks at the power struggles within a militant, money-whoring sporting organization and likens athletes to raging gladiators. The overarching idea tying all three films together is that humanity’s limits are severely tested in a waging war.

Say what you will about Oliver Stone, he’s a very controversial director, but his vision as a filmmaker exists in personal experience, which is why these films were particularly provocative.

In Hollywood, war and violence is glamorized for entertainment purposes.  Tell me what’s real about a vigilante with a red bandana running through the jungle with a machete ready to axe one crazy SOB after the other and loving it? It’s a fantasy. Stone’s point as a filmmaker is that we’re never going to learn anything from past mistakes if we gloss over the reality with a Hollywood ending.  We need to experience a story realistically, especially if it’s unsettling and uncomfortable, or we’ll never give the problems of the world a second thought.

Well, guess what, Oliver Stone succeeded - I’ve been thinking about these films all week. Individual reviews to follow…

OSCAR NOMINATED FOR BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE

The American government failed the victims of Hurricane Katrina. Most of us all know that by now, yet the magnitude of the failure really hits hard after watching Trouble The Water, an Academy Award nominated film for best documentary feature.

New Orleans Ninth Ward residents Kimberly Rivers Roberts and her husband Scott, like many others in the neighborhood, couldn’t afford to leave their homes when Katrina hit. Awaiting the storm, Kim took her newly purchased video camera and documented the whole horrific experience. The resulting footage of the storm is mixed in with archival news segments and verite cinema revealing a story of survival, government indifference and a personal story of redemption as Kim and Scott move beyond their troubled pasts into one full of opportunity.

The film began with jumpy, amateur home video footage that gave me a bit of a headache at first, but once that passed I was completely mesmerized by the story, which is a must-see for so many reasons. It a good reminder of the strength that lies in community and most importantly that everyone in this world has a voice that deserves to be heard.

For more information on screenings nationwide visit this link.

OSCAR NOMINATED FOR BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT

The U.S. has been Polio free for nearly 50 years yet Academy Award nominated The Final Inch is a documentary short that tells a different story revealing the fight against Polio in the developing world as one of the greatest non-military volunteer efforts in history.

Polio today is a disease of the poor. It occurs from drinking water contaminated with fecal matter and once infected, a child is crippled for life. The film follows a “quiet army” of volunteers who go door-to-door, slum-to-slum to provide free vaccination to any child willing to open their mouth to two droplets of the vaccine. However, each encounter is not easy. In most marginalized Muslim enclaves, children are hidden from vaccinators as American-made medicines are not to be trusted. It’s an uphill, complex battle influenced by politics, public health and poverty yet the volunteers continue tirelessly.

The filmmaker highlights the problems in India, while mixing in stories from several American Polio survivors reminding us that the disease has left a very painful mark on our country. While emphasizing that health is a human rights issue deserving of global attention, the film demonstrates that there are ways to help without pushing American values and interests on a culture uniquely its own.

Thoughts on filmmaking - Part One in a 1,000,000 part series

Sometimes a movie is just a movie- pure entertainment and an enjoyable escape. Yet, in the best ones you find a message that’s very poignant even among an absurd plot line.  I’m observing this through this month’s filmography study of Woody Allen.

Most recently, I’ve watched Stardust Memories, Interiors, and The Purple Rose of Cairo. Stardust and Purple Rose were similar as they both relied on fantasy, intellectualism (more in Stardust) and humor to reveal the underlining point. In Purple Rose, Cecila (Mia Farrow) lives day-by-day in a rut with her cheating husband in NJ during the Great Depression. She goes off to the movies to escape (hmm, might know a little something about that) and remarkably the character jumps off the screen and into her love life. She soon meets the real actor and they fall in love and she has to choose between the real actor and the fantasy. Her choice leads to the most real moment in the whole film and you’re left with the understanding that life is not like the movies and a big happy ending is never guaranteed.

Stardust Memories was a fantastic film that tells the story of a film director who is adored by many yet feels unfulfilled and burdened by his fame. He reflects on the women in his life - the nurturer vs. the troubled artist - as he analyzes the meaning of life. Obviously, he never gets to the meaning of life in the film, but he touches on something that makes sense - those moments that you never forget. Life has it’s ups and downs, but it’s little things like listening to Louie Armstrong sing Stardust while your lover flips threw a magazine on the floor that makes it memorable. It’s not the fame or the money, it’s the stardust.

Interiors offered a whole new side of Allen that to be honest I’ve never seen. It was dark, heavy and sad, but beautiful. The story focuses on a family - three sisters, the men in their life, a distant husband, and a suicidal mother and wife. I watched it on the plane and luckily the lady next to me cackling to Pineapple Express lightened the experience to a degree. It was emotional, uncomfortable and simply put, a sad story with many layers that made it complex and raw.

All three I’d recommend, but obviously the first two are lighter than the latter.

Everything You Wanted to Know About Sex*… But Were Afraid to Ask is a screwball sex comedy satire based on a self-help book from the 70s. I thought it was silly and fun, but also a bit dated (obviously).  Each short story had a few classic one-liners here and there, which made the overall film enjoyable for me. I’m a sucker for a punchline. I LOVED the short entitled, Why Do Some Women Have Trouble Reaching an Orgasm? where Allen is clearly playing homage to Italian filmmaking with characters right out of a Fellini film. To see Woody Allen of all people dressed in Italian suits, speaking Italian, driving a Ferrari and acting macho was too much in a very good way. I also loved What’s Your Perversion? where a game show allows for speculation to the contestant’s perversion through a series of yes or no questions. 18 to go!
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Everything You Wanted to Know About Sex*… But Were Afraid to Ask is a screwball sex comedy satire based on a self-help book from the 70s. I thought it was silly and fun, but also a bit dated (obviously).  Each short story had a few classic one-liners here and there, which made the overall film enjoyable for me. I’m a sucker for a punchline.

I LOVED the short entitled, Why Do Some Women Have Trouble Reaching an Orgasm? where Allen is clearly playing homage to Italian filmmaking with characters right out of a Fellini film. To see Woody Allen of all people dressed in Italian suits, speaking Italian, driving a Ferrari and acting macho was too much in a very good way. I also loved What’s Your Perversion? where a game show allows for speculation to the contestant’s perversion through a series of yes or no questions.

18 to go!

Saw The Wrestler following a Q&A with the director Darren Aronofsky this week. I enjoyed the film - like many others - but, what made it authentic for me besides Mickey Rourke was the filmmaking. Aronofsky made the conscious decision to film documentary-style using cinema verite, which effectively revealed more in each character, including personal flaws and strengths. In the Q&A, I learned that the film cost six million to make and that the filmmakers only hope of fulfilling production was foreign money as no one in the U.S. was interested in supporting a film with Mickey Rourke. Fast forward years later and the role no one but Aronfosky wanted him to play is getting Oscar buzz and the leading roles are pouring in. I love comeback stories like this - it’s a movie in itself. Aronofsky said one other thing that struck a chord and that was that going into the process he had no intension of producing a film that glorified wrestling. “We were trying to be honest of what we found and what we found was more richer than what we perceived.” That’s a direction I hope to emulate some day.
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Saw The Wrestler following a Q&A with the director Darren Aronofsky this week.

I enjoyed the film - like many others - but, what made it authentic for me besides Mickey Rourke was the filmmaking. Aronofsky made the conscious decision to film documentary-style using cinema verite, which effectively revealed more in each character, including personal flaws and strengths.

In the Q&A, I learned that the film cost six million to make and that the filmmakers only hope of fulfilling production was foreign money as no one in the U.S. was interested in supporting a film with Mickey Rourke. Fast forward years later and the role no one but Aronfosky wanted him to play is getting Oscar buzz and the leading roles are pouring in. I love comeback stories like this - it’s a movie in itself.

Aronofsky said one other thing that struck a chord and that was that going into the process he had no intension of producing a film that glorified wrestling.

“We were trying to be honest of what we found and what we found was more richer than what we perceived.”

That’s a direction I hope to emulate some day.