Though records are still released in limited fashion, the girth that created such a pastime as record collecting has been gone for a long, long time. While the surface implications of what is lost might not be huge to the many people who point out the huge amount of music available on demand these days, those who participated in the […]
» Read moreOne of the most successful methods of political control involves contradictions — mixing the notions of rebellion and conformity to such a fuzzy degree that the energy of the former becomes the tool of the latter. It’s been on a constant rise in our own country with Tea Party activism, which has framed insider conservative politicians as outsiders to the […]
» Read moreWith our current economic crisis and the plundering of America by Wall Street, there are few figures as pivotal – and disappointing – as former New York Gov. Elliot Spitzer, whose highly publicized clueless mistake in retaining the services of call girls robbed his supporters of any possibility of reform. Spitzer’s battles against Wall Street crime were astounding in their […]
» Read moreLet me cut to the chase — if you are having a good day and are feeling in a light, cheery kind of mood, the last thing you should do is go see the new documentary “Inside Job,” as it will put an end to that right away. Such is the price of knowledge, however — sometimes it doesn’t work […]
» Read moreMichael Moore’s new documentary “Sicko” opens with an image that defines practically all sides of the issue of health care in American — a man stitching his own wound instead of going to a hospital. In many ways, this guy is to be admired — most people without health insurance would probably not take the procedure into their own hands, […]
» Read moreThe word “mercenary” seems ancient at this point, like something more appropriate for “Pirates of the Caribbean” than any sober documentary about the Iraq War. As the new film “Shadow Company” shows, mercenaries are still very much with us but remain hidden in modern times thanks to a kind of linguistic political correctness. Filmmakers Nick Bicanic and Jason Bourque have […]
» Read more“The only thing I know is that these are bad people,” George W. Bush says about the detained prisoners at the beginning of the film “The Road To Guantanamo,” and you can believe it. Indeed, it does appear to be the only thing he knows and that one nugget is entirely wrong. Oh, sure, there are probably some bad guys […]
» Read moreAs immigration laws become a hot-button issue, the refrain that illegal immigrants take away jobs from Americans still pops up. There is one particular harangue that implies that undocumented workers are taking away entry-level positions from our young people. Mark Becker’s documentary “Romantico,” which explores the life of one of these workers, poses the question: Exactly how many Americans are […]
» Read moreThe year of the political documentary continues, but what has made this wave so unique is the way in which the media appears on equal level to the government in the critique. Witness filmmaker Michael Moore’s name elicited in the same spewing manner as John Kerry’s at the Republican National Convention, or Robert Greenwald’s new film “Outfoxed,” which targets not […]
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