ABCs at the Movies: The Doubles Round!

[oilgun]

From IMDb:  When I first glimpsed the title to this documentary, I must admit that I was indeed a little taken aback. I never knew George W. Bush had a brain. 
However, "Bush's Brain" shows that Georege W. Bush does indeed have a brain working for him; it just happens to be within the head of another individual. The premise of the film is that Karl Rove may be this generation's Senator McCarthy. Rove is to pro-war activities as Senator McCarthy was to communism, both real or imagined, in the early 1950's. By equating genuine questions by everyday citizens about the legitimacy of the war in Iraq with not being patriotic, Rove has set up a dynamic where intelligent discussion of foreign policy is difficult, if not almost impossible. Bush is shown as being co-ruler with Rove, or should I say Rove is co-ruler with Bush?

[southendmd]

Tagline:  Between Iraq and a hard place.

IMDb:  In today's post-9/11 world, director Robert Taicher searches for the rationale behind the war in Iraq, exploring the failed policies of several administrations in an expertly crafted full-length documentary. What he presents is a raw, provocative look into America's "War on Terror" and its effect on our society, our credibility, and most importantly, our security. As America fights the wrong war at the wrong time, comes a riveting eye-opener. The right film at the right time.

[memento]

IMDB: When Massachusetts becomes the first state to recognize gay marriage, a constitutional amendment immediately emerges that would take that right away. Now, seasoned lobbyists and rookie activists are in the battle of their lives. The holy grail of gay rights is within reach, and their fight to save marriage will change forever how people - including them -- view same-sex relationships. Civil rights history begins a new chapter in Massachusetts, and Saving Marriage is there on the scene as the drama unfolds.

[oilgun]

IMDb:   Welcome to Terminal City, a decaying world where the citizens wallow amidst a mind-boggling profusion of discarded consumer goods; a ruthless world where television is exploited to its fullest to sell yet more needless junk to eager consumers; a bewildering land where the unreal is real and the real, unreal. Alex Stevens is hurled into this bedlam where he finds himself pitted against the maniacal Ross Gilmore, Mayor of Terminal City, and the evil Bruce Coddle, agent of Gilmore's Social Peace Enforcement Unit.

==Comment==
With Jello Biafra!!

[southendmd]

Starring Bill Ayers as himself!

IMDb:  It's the mid 1970s and the Weather Underground Organization (WUO), a radical (and violent) offshoot of the Students for a Democratic Society, explains to leftist filmmakers the difficulties and experiences of being underground and wanted by the federal government.

Director Emile de Antonio

[memento]

IMDB: "Welcome to America." Behind today's cold statistics and political rhetoric on illegal immigration lie basic human needs and desires for economic opportunities that don't exist south of the border. But for many who manage to make it to the U.S., the American dream is all too often a cruel and empty illusion. For three particular families, the harsh reality of life in the United States turns out to be not at all what they expected; their route to a better life is littered with prejudice and injustice, and an almost crippling hardness. The only alternative for some is to turn to crime, entering a shadowy world where right and wrong, perpetrator and victim blur into a surreal cloud of fear and desperation. Dreamy aspirations all but gone, what remains is a nightmarish struggle for survival.

[oilgun]

I could find the movie poster for some reason.

IMDb User Comment:  This is a very good movie, but not the classic it wants to be. It's funny and tragic, although not too informative if you've read a newspaper with any regularity over the last eight years. In short, there are no surprises.

Josh Brolin gives an excellent performance as W., and the supporting cast is generally superb, although Jeffrey Wright, Richard Dreyfuss, and James Cromwell particularly stand out. Thandie Newton is hysterically funny as Condie Rice, but it's an SNL-type parody, not an emotionally honest performance.

The film is obviously meticulously researched and carefully considered, which is why the sequences that are clearly either utter conjecture or merely political finger-pointing stand out by a mile.

Bush -- whom I personally despise for his offensive combination of idiocy and self-righteousness -- is treated with fairness and sensitivity. The effort here is obviously to fashion him as a tragic hero; a man who genuinely wants to do good but simply doesn't grasp how hard that is, especially when surrounded by the likes of Karl Rove and Dick Cheney (who is, very specifically, the villain of the piece, as he is in life). And it generally works. I found myself feeling bad for the poor guy.

However, while trying to make W. a sympathetic character, Stone pushes his theme -- "It Was All To Prove Himself To Daddy" way too far. He overplays his hand, including a mood-breaking dream sequence near the end. There simply has to be more to George W. Bush than that..... doesn't there? The film ultimately plays much, much better when Stone relies on actual transcripts and information gathered by experienced reporters, and those sequences, whether they are cabinet meetings, press conferences, or more personal moments, snap and zing.

==Comment==
Opens today!  The reviews have been so tepid that I won't even bother seeing it.  I think I'll see Mike Leigh's SO GOOD IT HURTS which also opens today.

[Fran]

From IMDb:  At Global, Progress is our product. If you believe good old "Uncle Sam," the poorest bastard in the world is going to know what that means. Used as a metaphor to skewer world politics and the travesties that surround it, this clever satire asks the question: what if the world were a corporation and everyone who worked there each represented a country? When the destruction of a prized trophy in the boss's office mimics thoughts of the Twin Towers and being fired is likened to war... the result will anger many, while others simply nod their head in agreement. No matter what your politics, you cannot deny the controversy inside "Global, Inc."

[memento]

IMDB: William Pitt the Younger, son of a famous politician father, becomes the youngest Prime Minister England has ever known, wins an election on the promise of peace and prosperity, yet ironically ends up as the presiding spirit of an interminable war with Revolutionary France. Both his health and his private life suffer from the strain...

[southendmd]

IMDb:  A documentary on Al Gore's campaign to make the issue of global warming a recognized problem worldwide.