Negatives
* This isn’t really a movie so much as an audio book someone
inexplicably decided to film.
* The cavalcade of celebrities is impressive, but also
distracts from the message of the speeches they are reading.
* Many of these celebrities are blatantly trying to show off
their acting chops, but some of these pieces might have benefited from a more
subtle interpretation.
* Most of the celebrities didn’t bother to memorize their
speeches, and so were constantly looking down at their lines in a manner I found
distracting.
* I accept the necessity of having to dramatize any speeches
made before the age of audio recording, but it is unnecessary to re-record
speeches of already gifted orators like Malcolm X.
* Amerocentric—the film ignores the international aspect of
many of these movements, such as the 8 hour working day, or woman’s suffrage.
Positives
* I learned a lot.
* The selected readings were very well chosen, and very
powerful.
* Despite the fact that this should be really boring, it’s
actually not half that bad.
* Well-paced.
The Review
In spite of all its flaws, a very
powerful and moving film. And very informative.
But I probably would have gotten just as much out of it if it had been
an audiobook instead of a
movie.
4 out of 10 stars (The message of the film gets a 10 in my
book, but the rating is based purely on watchability, and not on the message of
the film.)
Link of the Day
Noam Chomsky: Apathy and Anarchy 2/9/93And on a completely different note... From cracked.com 7 Scientific Reasons a Zombie Outbreak Would Fail (Quickly)
In a previous post, I wrote that I couldn't get into The Walking Dead because I just couldn't suspend disbelief about the zombie apocalypse, and this article sums up my views nicely. Whenever I watch The Walking Dead, I just can never quite figure out where all the zombies are coming from and why they always manage to overrun everything.
No comments:
Post a Comment