Thelightbulb

I'll start by defending myself for actually watching this; someone else made me watch it! This isn't so much a review, but more of a warning. DON'T WATCH IT! The plot if you read the back of the DVD sounds quite promising. A writer's (Christian Slater) fiancé is kidnapped and he finds himself being chased by violent thugs (led by Cuba Golding Jr) who believe he has some diamond that his fiancé stole from them. Nothing groundbreaking about the plot, but OK, could be a good Saturday night action film. Alas no! What we get could be reasonably described as a cheese fest. Appalling acting, an awful plot, dismal effects and shoddy camera work.

Perhaps the most depressing part about this film is watching the death of the careers of two previously promising actors. Christian Slater and Cuba Golding Jr, both have successful films behind them, but both have had a recent string of turkeys, and this should just about finish them off. However to be fair, they are probably the best thing about this film, as the supporting cast are well out of their depths.

At one point in the film, it feels as though it might just save itself in becoming a sort of spoof of action films. The fight scenes and dialogue are so bad it is hilarious. The people watching it with me were laughing harder than we have done with some comedies. The trouble is, the film isn't meant to be funny.

I think this film has one use, to show it in film school to aspiring actors, directors, cameramen etc and explain this is how not to do a film.

Going into this film I didn't really know what to expect. Michael Moore can sometimes be his own worse enemy in being too radical for his own good. Since the failure of Moore to use Fahrenheit 9'11 to get Bush out, his influence and popularity seemed to be falling away. Sicko was a brilliant and eye opening documentary but it almost failed to hit the radar.

The stock market crash of 2008 really makes this film. Originally this was going to be a direct sequel to Fahrenheit 9'11 and another attack on George W Bush. Had that happened I suspect this film would have gone straight to DVD. However unregulated capitalism and an unbelievable amount of greed and corruption changed the world in 2008 and this gives Moore his ammunition.

What we get is Moore back to his best. You will laugh, you will cry and you will get angry at what you see. Moore isn't trying to win an election for the Democrats this time. They too become a target for Moore's anger, especially over their decision to bail out the bankers, who should have lost everything and ended up serving prison time. "Capitalism a love story" is at its best when Moore is chasing down those on Wall street who created this mess, and there are several nice homage's to "Roger and Me" throughout the film as well. The film also excels in interviewing some of the victims of the financial deregulations. We see people who have lost their jobs and their homes from getting dodgy mortgages and suspect loans. We are shown how broken and humiliated these people are. One family is paid $1000 to clean up their house and get rid of the furniture, ready for the bank to take it over and sell it on.

But what really makes this film stand out is what Michael Moore discovers about how those at the top feel about the other 95% of the population. Even if you are not a Moore fan, you will blink hard at some of the discoveries he made about large corporations and banks and how they see the rest of the population. Cue again, heart broken families and leaked shocking memo's written by those at the top.

This film needs to be seen by everyone, not just liberals. It is not a direct attack on Republicans etc, but an attack on how greed and corruption can take over capitalism when it is not properly regulated. Ultimately the film become poignant with Michael Moore's closing words. Is this really his last film? Maybe he now feels this film says it all and there is nothing more he can say and do.

Yes this is Michael Moore at his very best; funny, angry and hard hitting. Without a doubt his best film so far.

Grizzly Man is an extraordinary documentary film that explores the life and death of bear obsessed Timothy Treadwell. Having spent every summer of the last 13 years of his life living amongst grizzly bears, Treadwell along with his girlfriend Amie Hugvenard was mauled to death by a rouge bear near to the end of their trip. Director Werner Herzog trawled through over 100 hours of footage that Treadwell had recorded of his bear experience during the last four years of his life, and met his family and close friends in order to understand as much as he could about Treadwell.

The result of Herzog's research is a film that is occasionally amusing, but often a deeply tragic and disturbing portrayal of a man who's obsession with bears was an escape from his disconnection with society. Herzog's film shows not a man who was a wildlife film maker in the mould of David Attenbourgh, but a man who crossed a fine line in nature to the point where he believed he could live amongst bears as one of them. A man who seemed to genuinely believe there was a secret key to the bear world and that he had found it and could safely co-exist with them. Tragically he was wrong And yet while undoubtedly the documentary shows Treadwell to be a foolhardy obsessive perhaps close to mental illness, there is an innocence and earnestness about him that makes you fail not to like him. Herzog does his best to be non judgemental about Treadwell, getting mixed opinions about his life's work from friends and critics alike. We can see that while Herzog clearly does not agree with Treadwell's romantic view on nature being gentle and sweet, he nevertheless respects Treadwell's passion and convictions about his work, and ultimately concludes that his life and death had an important purpose, if not quite the purpose of the bear protector as Treadwell envisaged. Instead Treadwell left a legacy of a man no-one will ever be able to fully understand, a man who wanted bears to love him as much as he loved them, a man who sought love from nature that he could not get from the civilized world, and who can say he failed? The only problematical issue with this film is the absence of Treadwell's companion Hugvenard. Her family refused to appear in the documentary and she remained a silent and largely unseen companion on Treadwell's footage, as he liked to maintain the image that he lived alone with the bears. Without any material in order to explore Hugvenard, Herzog largely ignores her although in exploring the death of the two it is clear that Hugvenard was exceptionally brave, and loyal to Treadwell to the very end. Indeed the exploration of Treadwell and Hugvenard's death is one of the most profound pieces of film making I have ever seen. Having shown us Treadwell's love for the bears, it's hard to deal with the fact that he was killed by the creatures he so loved. Footage of Treadwell clutching his childhood teddy bear just days before his death moved me close to tears. We are fortunately spared the recorded sounds of Treadwell's death in the documentary, but we do see Werner Herzog listen to them on some headphones. His reaction to this and the way he speaks to a close friend of Treadwell who was entrusted with the tape of his death, is incredibly moving and disturbing.

If ultimately Timothy Treadwell's life was not a triumph, then this documentary certainly is. It tells the story of a troubled but remarkable life that if he had lived we would never have of known about nor understood. Instead Treadwell would have remained to many a source of amusement, and his inner depths unknown to all but a few.