a.v. boy

Zowie Bowie (a.k.a. Duncan Jones) has completely knocked this one out of the park, to use a baseball metaphor. He has conceived and directed this art-house science-fiction masterpiece, which I'd rank right up there with all my favorites. I'll happily go see whatever he decides to direct next.

(To give this some reference point, my favorites tend towards the dark and thoughtful and include Blade Runner, Silent Running, Dark Star, 2001, Iron Giant, and Gattaca, in no particular order and for various reasons.)

This film surpasses them all for existential musings, corporate malfeasance and the most understated zinger of an ending. Pay _real_ close attention at the very end.

The acting is excellent. Kevin Spacey is superb as the voice of Gerty 3000, as is Sam Rockwell as the excessively flesh-and-blood Sam Bell. The science part is pretty good, mirroring some very real strategies for mining the moon. And, I just can't say enough about the story. Rock solid sci-fi for real old-school sci-fi fans of dark fiction.

I've already reviewed this film, somewhere below, but after reading some totally ignorant snipes here and elsewhere, I feel really moved to add this to it:

God bless Lila Lipscomb. She and mothers and fathers like her are the moral conscience of this nation, and have every right to be. Part of the movie may be opinion-driven (although well-backed with absolutely damning facts), but the part with Lila Lipscomb is absolutely, 100% documentary -- her words, her voice, her (and our) tragedy.

It's a crying shame to see her so cavalierly belittled and dismissed in public by Bush functionaries and partisans. How dare they? Worse, they engage in outright lying about the subject, calling her variously a fraud, an unwilling victim of Moore, or a simple-minded patsy. None of which is true!

Mrs. Lipscomb has been interviewed numerous times in the press since this movie's US release, and absolutely confirms that a) she WANTS her and her son's story told, b) Moore is a gentleman and a "softie" and was not exploiting her, c) she was offered on multiple occasions editorial veto power on her segments (which she saw no need to exercise), and most importantly d)she thinks the movie is patriotic.

Not only that, she has made public appearances with the film at benefit showings for various groups and at premieres, and speaks quite movingly and eloquently. This is no dummy, folks! This should be as much proof of legitimacy and support as anyone should need, even Rush. (Why does he keep lying?)

As Americans and as Patriots, we all owe her our heart-felt sympathy for her loss and thanks for her son's service. We also owe it to the country to make sure that we don't reelect what Moore has helped publicly expose as perhaps the most dishonest, corrupt, and evil "Commander in Chief" that this nation has ever had.

And, aside from all that, it's STILL a great movie! Absolutely riveting.

Moore does two excellent things in this movie.

He shreds George W. Bush & Co. in joyously vicious lampoonery. I'd have laughed if I wasn't already crying. Well... I guess I laughed anyway.

And, he lays out the case against Bush, the Bush family, their friends and supporters in exquisite detail. He does a job that would do any skilled government prosecutor proud. Better than the 9/11 Commission, the Warren Commission and the Watergate Commission rolled into one. Never mind swaying an election, he lays out a pretty good case for impeachment and hanging. Seriously.

Unfortunately (for me, anyway) he does one more powerful thing which I didn't exactly "enjoy". Moore provides a powerful emotional catharsis for the loss and pain of 9/11 and Iraq. I sobbed. Who knows, maybe it did me good to get it out of my system and I should send him a check for the therapy session. I'm still a bit teary the next day. Luckily though, the scenes that set me off were actually quite short and not everyone had my reaction. Most of the packed house (at 5:50pm on a Sunday!) seemed to have had a clearly enjoyable time.

Oh, people? Leave your small children home. This movie is totally inappropriate for them. At the very least they'll be loudly fussy and cranky and disturbing to the other patrons during the quiet and emotional scenes. At the worst, they'll have nightmares for years.