Bowling for Columbine
|
List Price: Our Price: $3.59 You Save: $11.39 (76%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $0.01 (click here) Category: DVD See more DVD releases |
|---|
Canada
Movie Reviews of Bowling for Columbine
Movie Review: AMAZING! REALLY BRINGS THE GAME TO LIFE!
Summary: 5 Stars
While there have been myriad films made about baseball and boxing, the other great 'B' sport - bowling - has all but been ignored by Hollywood. Apart from KINGPIN, the "CITIZEN KANE" of bowl-a-dramas, the most legendary tales of balls and gutters have proven as elusive as a perfect-fitting pair of time-worn rental shoes on Family Bowling Night...until now. At first glance, you probably would not take star Michael Moore for a particularly graceful bowler, but it's truly a thing of beauty to watch this man balling the pins. For Moore, the bowling alley became his Finishing School, for it is there that he learned to master a poise and form that few men of his girth can lay claim to.
But Moore's is just one of the stories this emotionally honest and heartfelt film has to tell; one of the most amusing and unusual episodes is the tale of Burty Bob, "the Human Bowling Ball," who belied convention by hurtling down an alley like a 200lb. projectile and slamming the pins over with his noggin. For Burty, cracking his skull open every Friday night was no sacrifice at all, because it "personalized" the game for him and "upped his chances with the ladies." By far my favourite segment is the moving tale of Doris Little, a Missouri housewife who nearly lost her husband when he was struck by an errant bowling ball as he waited in line for a bag of Cheeto's at the snack bar. As husband Danny lies comatose awaiting medical attention in alley #8, Doris picks up a bowling bowl for the first time in her life and, with five consecutive strikes, proceeds to win the championship for her husband's Mmm-mmm Muffins! team. It's impossible not to become a little misty-eyed when Danny Little miraculously regains consciousness to see Doris and the boys presented with the winning trophy, though the potent odour of the Cheeto's paramedics had been frantically waving before his nostrils may ultimately have played a greater role in rousing Mr. Little from his coma.
Brimming with honest emotion and resounding with the effervescent echoes of a championship season, BOWLING FOR COLUMBINE may well be the most inspiring sports movie since the original ROCKY, and you don't even have to rent a pair of shoes to get in the game.
Movie Review: Moore is a filmmaking genius
Summary: 5 Stars
Well, as far as all the five star ratings go, I don't think that I can add too much to what's already been said. Moore raises more questions than he provides answers to, which was his point. Why DON'T they have the kind of homicide rate in Canada that we do, when there are seven million guns in ten million homes up there?If you draw you own conclusions though, you can see his point. It totally IS the media. I don't mean video games, Hollywood bloodbaths, and Marilyn Manson (which Moore points out are just as frequently devoured in Canada and elsewhere). I'm talking about the NEWS. Government propaganda and how the news media puts a spin on it. I think that we as human beings can differentiate between a violent video game and real violence. It's called human intelligence. But when all we hear on the news is tragedy after tragedy after tradgedy, we come to believe our neighborhoods and towns are more dangerous than they really are. That breeds fear, which breeds violence, which breeds more fear, and the vicious cycle keeps going on and on. THIS is Moore's theme not just in the Canada section, but throughout the film.
Here's another interesting point. Michael points out that the U.S. is capitalist in the extreme. I used to be undecided on nationalized health care, but now I support it. I originally bought in to Jesse Ventura's argument against nationalized health care, which is that when you only get one provider, you get corruption. However, I've changed my mind on that. Nationalized health care works in every other 1st-world, freeworld country: the UK, Canada, Spain, France, Germany... We're essentially a society that says, "If you can bust through college and work your way into the white-collar sector and land a job with a Fortune 500 corporation, THEN you've earned the right to not have to worry about health care."
Moore suggests, and I agree, that it's that kind of Darwinist, survival-of-the-fittest mentality about our country that causes people to snap and commit carnage.
Outstanding work. Every American, heck every human, needs to view this one.
PS Though I disagree with Jesse Ventura on healthcare, he is another one of my social heroes, after reading his book "Do I Stand Alone?" Check out my review of that book.
Movie Review: Don't watch it alone or you miss the real value
Summary: 5 Stars
I want to make two points:1. The real value is in the conversation this will initiate between you and the other people you watch this with.
2. Most don't know what "documentary" actually means.
So on with my review...
This is a wonderful movie. Regardless of whether you agree or disagree with the views provided or the methods employed to express them, if you watch this with a group of people I guarantee this movie will inspire hours of great conversation and debate.
I first saw this in a theatre with two friends - we saw this in Berkeley, CA (very liberal), and our group consisted of a person from rural Wisconsin, a person from rural/suburban Illinois, and a person from urban Detroit. We each have different experiences and opinions related to guns and gun control, and we each definitely had a few new issues to think about after seeing this. As soon as we left the theatre, we started talking and we kept going for at least 2 hours.
Some say this movie in not balanced - yes, obviously there is a bias in the movie which should be expected since the movie is trying to convey a message. Still, for all those who knock it as completely skewed, for every issue touched you will find arguments presented for both sides. If your side of the argument winds up being "the loser" in the movie, look forward to debating with your fellow viewers about it :)
Regarding this movie containing fiction or partial facts and being misleading because it is presented as a "documentary", to be blunt, those critics are naive. "Documentary" refers to a style of film-making, it does not mean someone merely films spontaneous reality. Spinal Tap is an example of a documentary film that is completely fictional (but it's still a documentary). Regarding partial truths, what can you expect when a lot of issues are covered in such a short amount of time?
Finally, if "misleading partial truths" or "fiction made to look like fact" is so disturbing that you can't bear to watch the movie, please cover your eyes the next time the US shows "evidence" to the UN of WMD or else you'd be scarred for life :)
Get it. Watch it. Watch it with friends/enemies/strangers. Talk about it. It's great!
Movie Review: Watch it before you condemn it!
Summary: 5 Stars
I'm a bit behind the times so I just saw this movie. At first I assumed it would be an anti-NRA, pro gun control piece of propaganda. If you believe that Moore has made a movie calling for more gun control, we haven't watched the same movie. In fact, you probably haven't seen the movie at all.Yes, Moore is a master of selective editing - he is able to juxtapose statements and news reports to make his point, even though that may mean something that is technically truthful, but just barely. But he also does have some very interesting facts. Yes, there is some hype and grandstanding in the film, but I expect that from Moore. Once you have seen the entire film, even if you ignore the hype and selective editing, it still leaves some questions that need to be answered.
The idea/concern that stuck with me at the end of the film is WHY is American so prone to gun violence? Why is our homicide rate so high? Several theories are given, which Moore disputes by showing other countries with the same "causes" but very different outcomes. Other countries have the same history of violence, the same love of violent movies, video games, sports, music, the same levels of poverty, and the same mixture of different ethnic groups. The most telling statistic was that of Canada - this is a country with many guns, but few homicides. Even when adjusted for population differences with the US, the question still remains: Why can Canadians live with so many guns yet so few homicides, but Americans can't? So Moore himself has shown that gun control isn't the answer, the problem lies deeper than that.
It comes down to fear. After a steady diet on the nightly news of carjackings, armed robbery, terrorist attacks, rapes, murders, etc. it is easy to see why the average American is afraid. Yet is it rational? Not really. Despite what the news might lead you to believe, most of us will die of something more boring and less newsworthy - heart disease or cancer. But fear sells, and in this case it sells guns. After seeing so much evil on TV, it's easy to feel threatened. If you buy a certain product, you won't have to fear anything or anyone. And so the homicide rate stays high...
Movie Review: I Plan on Watching the DVD with a Nice Bottle of French Wine
Summary: 5 Stars
First off, I have actually seen this film. I enjoyed it but feel it lack the cohesive argue of his brilliant first film "Roger and Me" and the work he did on TV Nation.But let's be honest. These reviews that sharply divide between excellent and poor are not about the film's content. After the Oscars, Michael Moore has become demonized along with French wine as the symbol for ideas that threaten the union. Behind all that double speak, it's about the polarization of free speech attitudes.
After the 911 tragedy, the public unaware that its' security was an illusion all along hungered for voice in the woods. Black and White. Good and Evil. They wanted a clear worldview with out messy entanglements that would save them from the chaos. But there is a price all this Homeland security and it seems to require giving up freedoms like speach and rights to privacy. Not to mentioning allowing a right wing agenda to sweep through when normally it would be met with opposition.
The one thing you can't have is people questioning authority. Oh, they will say it's because we are not supporting our troops and endangering them. But if we are engaged in another war at the time of elections will debate of ideas be suspended. I think not. The real reason is for them to be secured everyone has to go along with the flow. They just can't risk an alternate view that might put them in perceived jeopardy. And yet the reasons for war remain unclear and world is still hopped up on worry.
I applaud the Mr. Moore for standing up and not allowing themselves to be bullied by those who want to use public opinion to stifle a dissenting view. In that light, I will add my 5 star review to out weigh those with an axe to grind.
It would seem their little plan has backfired though. The Dixie Chick concerts still sell out. Michael Moore's book is on the bestseller list and he has been approached about starting up TV Nation again.
As for me, I eagerly await the Bowling for Columbine DVD release that I might enjoy it in the privacy of my home drinking a nice French wine. Lord forbid, but in my drunken state and exposure to such leftist ideas, I might even question our leaders motives. Oh my!