N
nbk
Guest
I saw the flick today, so I thought I'd write up my impressions, since you all are waiting with baited breath in anticipation for what I have to say.
I woke up this morning and found out that the movie opened today at my usual theater. I donned my brand new ARMY.CA t-shirt and took the subway downtown. Got in to the theater and it was packed. I've never been to a film on opening day, but this one was completely jammed. I was lucky to get a seat, but I had strangers on all sides of me, which is a first for going to this huge theater (the Paramount, John and Richmond).
Anyways, the flick started, and it was pretty good. The first part of the movie talks a lot about the Bush/Saudi royal/bin laden connection, as well the 2000 election, and a look at Bush's first few months in office, and what he did morning of 11/9/01. This first part had a lot of good points in it. What Moore does, is present the facts and fill in the spaces that are not explicit with his own personal opinions. There are some parts which were genuinely boring however, and slowed down the pace a lot. Moore does not have nearly as much on screen time as Bowling for Columbine, for better or for worse (probably better for most of you).
One problem that I had, was how little he talks about the oil pipeline through Afghanistan. He does not make enough connection between Bush's "ignorance" to the threat pre Sept 11, and how much he benefits from colonizing Afghanistan, which would have been a powerful point if he chose to concentrate on it, but instead he goes off on an uncomforting tangent about the US military.
During the second half of the film he straddles the tightrope between criticizing the war, and criticizing the US soldiers themselves. Of course with Moore's girth, the tightrope bends a little too far towards the "making soldiers look evil" side, although he redeems himself a bit at the end of the movie, explaining how it is the administrations fault that the soldiers are over there, and he really wants the american boys back in the states where they are safe. He also spends a LOT of time on one perticular woman who lost her son in early April, and those scenes are full of many tears, and in my opinion, do nothing to help his point of exposing Bush's lies about the war. These scenes are really just to appeal to the more emotional members of the audience, and hopefully get them riled up with emotion.
All in all, the movie was just okay. It was not great, but was not bad. He could have done it a lot better I think. There is so much more he could have talked about, so many more facts he could have exposed, but he had to go the cheap route and play on the audience's emotions. However I think most people would watch those scenes and roll their eyes. Its unfortunate her son died, but lots of people die in a war and her son was in the military. She has every right to be mad at the terrorists and bush as she shows in the movie, but why include this in the movie, for any other reason then to try and tug at the emotions of the audience?
There were plenty of really funny moments, and the best line belonged to a Taliban leader of all people, who was giving a press confrence in the US before 9/11. A female journalist asks him a question about oppressing women in Afghanistan and...well you gotta see the movie, his response made me laugh out loud, but half the audience got angry with it. hahaha those wacky talibans. Bush had some pretty hilarious lines too, as well as other members of the bush administration. The audience was laughing a lot during the movie.
Moore says in many interviews that the movie is very biased. He presents the facts, and gives his personal opinion about them. If you don't like Moore, you will not like this movie probably. I'd say, go see it, but don't expect to be blown away. If you have been paying attention to whats really going on in the world, the movie wont drop any big bombshells on you. But it could be a good update on the real world for some. Looking back on it now, it actually goes pretty easy on the bush administration.
If anyone has any other opinions about the movie, *After Seeing It*, then I'd love to hear them.
I woke up this morning and found out that the movie opened today at my usual theater. I donned my brand new ARMY.CA t-shirt and took the subway downtown. Got in to the theater and it was packed. I've never been to a film on opening day, but this one was completely jammed. I was lucky to get a seat, but I had strangers on all sides of me, which is a first for going to this huge theater (the Paramount, John and Richmond).
Anyways, the flick started, and it was pretty good. The first part of the movie talks a lot about the Bush/Saudi royal/bin laden connection, as well the 2000 election, and a look at Bush's first few months in office, and what he did morning of 11/9/01. This first part had a lot of good points in it. What Moore does, is present the facts and fill in the spaces that are not explicit with his own personal opinions. There are some parts which were genuinely boring however, and slowed down the pace a lot. Moore does not have nearly as much on screen time as Bowling for Columbine, for better or for worse (probably better for most of you).
One problem that I had, was how little he talks about the oil pipeline through Afghanistan. He does not make enough connection between Bush's "ignorance" to the threat pre Sept 11, and how much he benefits from colonizing Afghanistan, which would have been a powerful point if he chose to concentrate on it, but instead he goes off on an uncomforting tangent about the US military.
During the second half of the film he straddles the tightrope between criticizing the war, and criticizing the US soldiers themselves. Of course with Moore's girth, the tightrope bends a little too far towards the "making soldiers look evil" side, although he redeems himself a bit at the end of the movie, explaining how it is the administrations fault that the soldiers are over there, and he really wants the american boys back in the states where they are safe. He also spends a LOT of time on one perticular woman who lost her son in early April, and those scenes are full of many tears, and in my opinion, do nothing to help his point of exposing Bush's lies about the war. These scenes are really just to appeal to the more emotional members of the audience, and hopefully get them riled up with emotion.
All in all, the movie was just okay. It was not great, but was not bad. He could have done it a lot better I think. There is so much more he could have talked about, so many more facts he could have exposed, but he had to go the cheap route and play on the audience's emotions. However I think most people would watch those scenes and roll their eyes. Its unfortunate her son died, but lots of people die in a war and her son was in the military. She has every right to be mad at the terrorists and bush as she shows in the movie, but why include this in the movie, for any other reason then to try and tug at the emotions of the audience?
There were plenty of really funny moments, and the best line belonged to a Taliban leader of all people, who was giving a press confrence in the US before 9/11. A female journalist asks him a question about oppressing women in Afghanistan and...well you gotta see the movie, his response made me laugh out loud, but half the audience got angry with it. hahaha those wacky talibans. Bush had some pretty hilarious lines too, as well as other members of the bush administration. The audience was laughing a lot during the movie.
Moore says in many interviews that the movie is very biased. He presents the facts, and gives his personal opinion about them. If you don't like Moore, you will not like this movie probably. I'd say, go see it, but don't expect to be blown away. If you have been paying attention to whats really going on in the world, the movie wont drop any big bombshells on you. But it could be a good update on the real world for some. Looking back on it now, it actually goes pretty easy on the bush administration.
If anyone has any other opinions about the movie, *After Seeing It*, then I'd love to hear them.
