Buy it!

Would you recommend it? Definitely. In fact, I think most of us in the Western World are so in the dark about water, I think this documentary should be required watching.

Technically any good? While it does come across as very heavy-handed and preachy and doesn’t try too hard to present any opposing view points (though it does try), the facts it presents are undeniable and incredibly disturbing. It’s downright scary how much power big business has over the water in the ground. And just think about how important water is to commerce–as a result, water ends up being the number 3 commodity behind oil and electricity. Yeah. I didn’t know that either. Another fact it presents is that humans account for just 10% of the water use in the world. The rest is split unevenly between agriculture and business–the majority of which goes to business.

How did it leave me feeling? Angry, for two reasons. First, because no one seems to be aware of or have a problem with these giant companies using and controlling so much water. Second because the film pretends that a few isolated victories against these corporations means that we can stop them. Protests have stopped some companies from essentially stealing water, but Coca-Cola, for instance, is a huge company. They didn’t lose that battle in India, they just put their resources someplace else instead of wasting time with a bunch of protesters. So, I could have done without the corny, “speak truth to power” BS and stuck with the fear-mongering since that’s what is needed.

Would you sit through it again? YES! I want to go over the facts presented again and try to pick up on things I missed the first time through. This docu is jammed with interesting stuff and interesting people.

Seriously, watch this movie!!

Buy it!

Positive Experience/Entertaining? Geh… kind of. I guess. But annoying as hell, too.

Technically any good? ARG! NO! It meanders all over the place and is frustrating at every turn. The characters in the movie do everything against logic yet somehow (duh, because the writer wants it) they are able to get away with their rock-stupid choices.

Seriously, at almost every point of this movie, there is a character that is doing something ill-advised, illogical, or downright STUPID and yet, fate (the writer) allows things to generally work out for the characters in the end.

I think the film was trying to be some sort of fable, but ends up being very uneven and contrived.

The acting was perfectly reasonable, but no amount of good acting could undo the rest of the flaws of this film.

How did it leave me feeling? FRUSTRATED. I had to have one of my venting sessions afterwards because it was just a mess. I really like Tom Tykwer as a director–I loved Run Lola Run and enjoyed Winter Sleepers quite a lot. However, The Princess and the Warrior was just annoying as hell to sit through.

Buy it!

Positive Experience/Entertaining? Definitely! It put a human face on these people we know only from the news.

Technically any good? Everything was very solid. The acting was incredible. The script was tight and the story was believable. The only “however” I have here is that the title suggests the movie is actually about the Queen of England. It really isn’t. It’s only about a part of her life. As such, I found it disappointing.

Maybe it was because I was alive and paying attention during the time period the movie takes place and as a result I didn’t need the review of events the film puts its viewers through. That’s not to say it wasn’t a nicely done review, I just wanted to know more about her life. I mean, of all of the incredible things Queen Elizabeth II has lived through, they picked how she dealt with (former) Princess Diana’s death. It was an interesting period, but surely, World War II, or the Falklands, or even the build-up to the Iraq War would have made for better cinema.

How did it leave me feeling? Definitely happy that I saw such wonderful performances from Helen Mirren and Michael Sheen, but ultimately disappointed that we didn’t get more of a history lesson. I won’t even go into how it was definitely a pro-British-Royalty propaganda movie. (Talk about white-entitlement issues! SHEESH!)

Final Rating? NFI – NetFlix It. Worth seeing for the good acting, but ultimately, I don’t think it’s really that worth seeing.

It’s Documentary Thursday at reviews.thepete.com, when I post a pocket review of a documentary on a given topic that interests me. One thing to bear in mind is that not all documentaries deserve the name “documentary.” However, not all documentaries have to include a British-accented voice-over and a big-money distributor to be worth watching.

Watch or buy it!

Positive Experience/Entertaining? Definitely a positive experience, but I think the filmmaker was a little overzealous with some of the shock treatment-style cinematic devices he uses in this film. This is another in an ever-longer line of “opiniontaries” that generally try to come across as a documentary but ultimately are just trying to put forward their own agenda. Not that this is that different from what other “more acceptable” documentaries do.

Technically any good? This film is incredibly effective. Moving at a quick pace, this film picks you up, carries you along, smacks the crap out of you (and your belief systems) and then drops you off at the side of the road like a cheap prostitute. I’ve heard from friends and strangers that this film changed their lives. I can’t say it changed mine, but it did have an effect.

Over the years I’ve watched a LOT of so-called “conspiracy documentaries.” They all claim to have the answers and the truth and the warnings about the coming “New World Order” blah-blah-blah. I watch them because they are hilarious and, creepily enough, sometimes accurate. Zeitgeist takes the best, most believable of these conspiracy theories and rolls them into one film.

For that reason, I think this is the most effective film to watch if you’re growing dissatisfied with the way the world is run. Zeitgeist does a good job of explaining where our culture comes from and where it is likely going (though I didn’t find myself agreeing with it all the time).

Sadly, it gets mired in 911-related shock tactics that made me wonder if the filmmaker realized how hypocritical he was actually being. Like most opiniontaries, this one gets a few things wrong and the film’s use of what Naomi Klein calls “The Shock Doctrine” as a cinematic technique has the power to undo the rest of the good the film does.

How did it leave me feeling? Definitely educated. After growing up a news-junky and then spending the last seven years exploring the world of conspiracies (for a novel series I’ve written), I do have to say that I have no idea what to believe about our past, present or future. And this film doesn’t help make things clearer.

It does point out a lot of evidence that suggests our civilization is largely built on lies told by power-hungry people who want to control everything through the control of money.

Gotta admit, the film has a point.

Final Rating? GSN – Go See Now – BUT WITH A WARNING: While Zeitgeist is a genuinely powerful and effective movie, it does rely on many of the same tactics it criticizes the “ruling elite” of using to control the masses. It’s important to watch ANY documentary with a clear and critical mind. And most importantly, when you’re done watching it, do some research. Read up on some of the things you’ve been told about.

If nothing else, by presenting such a radically negative view of Western Society, documentaries like this remind us to think for ourselves. Even if you don’t agree, it’s important to consider what other people say. Zeitgeist, I think, nails a lot of things on the head, but it’s not for the faint of heart.

Click the poster image above to go to the official site where you can watch the movie and its sequel (I’ll be reviewing it next week), or buy copies of both on DVD.

Buy it!

Positive Experience/Entertaining? Well, I’ve got to say no, not really. I know it seems silly to even review a film like this, but hey, I watched it, might as well write about it. But no, this was not a positive experience.

Technically any good? This is your standard, bad b-movie, designed to entice dumb teenage boys to watch in the hopes of finding some nudity and there is a bit of it, so that’s nice for those of us who enjoy seeing topless women. Of course, one of them gets raped, so you might want to bear that in mind.

Aside from the rape scene, the film is generally what you would have expected to see on MST3K since it’s pretty much on the level of Hobgoblins (and even shares a cast member). The acting is as flat as you’d expect, though I never blame the actors. The story is damn near non-existent, though I have to say it’s more coherent than what we’ve got going on Battlestar Galactica, so there is that.

How did it leave me feeling? Achy neck from shaking my head so much. Even as a dumb b-movie, this isn’t one I’d recommend. I also found it kind of weird that while we see a topless woman get raped, during the healthy, nice sex scene between consenting adults we see later on, there is no nudity. Kinda sad if you ask me. I always prefer to see boobs in a positive situation.

Final Rating? DNS – Do Not See. There are loads of better (read: more fun) bad b-movies out there (even with nudity) if you’re interested in doing your own MST3K-style DIY quipathon.