Ed's Review Dot Com

ArcEntertainment, Victory Films

Sarah Palin, Andrew Breitbart, Mark Levin, Kurt Gibson, Meghan Stapleton, Tammy Bruce, Kristan Cole, Sonnie Johnson, Jamie Radtke, Con Bunde

This documentary, based on Sarah’s book, “Going Rogue” is a biography of Sarah Palin from her childhood up to the point where she ran for Vice President of the United States with John McCain. It covers here attack on the established Republican leaders in Alaska and her years fighting the big petroleum companies, the sudden vicious attacks on her, and the true cause of why she was forced to resign as Governor before the end of her term. It shows why she is the most admired and hated woman in America.

I am really glad this DVD came out. I have heard complaints about how the mainstream media have refused to cover some stories, and completely twisted and blew others out of proportion. A good example is a current event where some nut who hung out with the Occupy crowd took some shots at the White House. This has been kept so much on the down low, and even the President has spoken out that there is absolutely no connection between him and any known radical group. At the same time, we’ve been told daily that Sarah Palin is personally responsible for the shooting of Gabriel Giffords in Arizona when we know absolutely that he had no connection with any conservative organization at all. But the point is, both of these shooters are nuts. But why are we going so far to prove one connection and the lack of one in the other case.

I knew Sarah Palin was hated and despised. But I remember the same kind of personal and hurtful attacks on Ronald Reagan for the same reasons. Attempts were made to convince everyone that she was stupid and incompetent and in way over her head and even dangerous to the US. However, we would likely be far better off today if she had been the Presidential candidate and won rather than the other two guys.

Granted, this is definitely one side of the story, but from the amazing accomplishments she has made working with the democrats, and fighting the established Republican party in Alaska, she was the inspiration for the Tea Party movement before it even existed. Her vision that the “good old boys” who rubber stamped everything was bad for the state, and her experience in the energy department made her decide she had to fight the establishment and the oil companies. The Exxon Valdez spill was the catalyst that made her take the path she did.

I never could find out the reason why she quit early as Governor of Alaska before her term ended. I found the reason in this documentary. There was a logical and reasonable cause that forced her into this decision. It is a quirk in the Alaska law, and an organized attack to get rid of her. I figured there had to be a reasonable explanation, but something we never got from the mainstream media.

This is Sarah’s story, and though I’ve never been a fan of hers (she came out of nowhere to me too!), I have gained an appreciation for why she was chosen and what her accomplishments really were. The first 20 minutes of this film is something everyone should see to know what kind of people we have feeding us the news. It’s despicable that they could say the things they did about anyone at all. A very good film, and brought me greater understanding of the real person.

As a side note. It’s interesting that this film is out almost two months, and the only reference to it in IMDB is “Untitled Sarah Palin Documentary” with no information about it whatsoever. I can’t believe that’s just a coincidence.

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LG, Scott Free Productions, YouTube

Cindy Baer, Moica, Caryn Waechter, Hiroaki Aikawa, David Jacques, Bob Liginski Jr., Drake Shannon, Ester Brymova, Cec Marquez, Christopher Brian Heerdt

Saturday July 24, 2010. The request was put to filmmakers all over the world to film and submit life on July 24th, 2010 and you get over 80,000 submissions and over 4,500 hours of footage. The editors then trimmed this down to a little over an hour and half. What you have left is a montage of events large and small all around the world in a single day. From births and deaths to weddings and vacations, mundane things to world shaking events. Life in a Day is all that but much, much more.

This is an interesting concept for a documentary. It’s very beautifully done, and the music is very soothing. We get a feel for lots of different cultures. Some of it is very ugly, but most of it is remarkably beautiful. They divide the movie up into different segments, noted by a young lady holding up a sign saying something like, “What do you love”, or “What are you afraid of”, and so forth. This takes all the different views of a similar subject and bunches them together to make is seem less chaotic. Starting with those awake in the middle of the night in the wee hours, getting up for work, or whatever starts their day, to the very end just a few moments before midnight when a young lady is telling us that she waited all day long for something momentous to film, and nothing happened. Her ruminations on the ordinary nature of her day wraps it up beautifully. There is no narration and no talking over the film. The characters filmed speak in their own languages, of course, and we get subtitles for the things not in English, but it isn’t preachy or trying to set an agenda. It’s just a gorgeous look at one day on this big blue marble we call Earth. I enjoyed it. I think some other similar films were perhaps a bit better. The Disney Earth Day films for example, are probably better. The one about the babies is also very good. But this is definitely an interesting piece of film work, and well worth watching if you are interested in seeing a single day on Earth.

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Pilot, OWN (Oprah Winfrey Network)

This is an original 2011 documentary on the Oprah Winfrey Network for this season. It’s a serious documnetary, although it’s fun due to the subject, but it’s a serious look at the hard work that goes into the job and what it takes for the men and women who do a lot to make Christmas special for children. It’s moderately interesting, as there’s a lot of info in there, and we really get to know what it takes to be a Santa. I think Jack found out it was a lot harder than he thought. In fact, as we leave him, he’s trying to decide whether or not to do it again. If you’re interested in what it takes to be a Santa, this is it.

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Ad Hominem Enterprises

George Clooney, Shailene Woodley, Amara Miller, Nick Krause, Patricia Hastie, Beau Bridges, Matthew Lillard, Judy Greer, Robert Forster, Mary Birdsong, Rob Huebel

Matt King is a real estate lawyer in Hawaii. His family is descended from Hawaiian royalty, and owns a great deal of land that is very valuable. It has been left to a trust which Matt has sole proprietorship of, even though the land belongs to lots of cousins as well as him. They family is deciding whom to sell the land to, but it is Matt’s final decision. But Matt’s wife Elizabeth (Patricia Hastie) has been severely injured in a power boat accident and is in a coma. Matt is told that there is no hope for her to come out of it, and her advanced directive forbids life support. Matt has two daughters, Scottie (Amara Miller) who is 10 and Alexandra (Shailene Woodley) who is in and exclusive high school. While trying to bring the relatives and children home to say goodbye to Elizabeth before they pull the plug, Alex lets Matt know that Elizabeth was having an affair. Matt tracks it down and finds out it’s a real estate agent who is looking to strike it rich. The whole family is trying to deal with their grief while dealing with all the other issues going on.

This is a really deep film. It’s extremely good, and has a great deal of drama. Matt has a lot to deal with with the pending sale of their inherited property, trying to raise two teen daughters that he hardly knows, and dealing with family and in-laws who want to blame him, as well as dealing with his wife’s unfaithfulness and what that means now that she’s about to die. It is absolutely beautiful with the gorgeous Hawaiian scenery on several islands. It’s also a lot to take in and deal with as we see the emotions from all sides of the multiple tragedies.

I really enjoyed this film. The theater was fairly well full, yet it was quiet as a mouse through the whole film. There is so much power in the messages of this film, that people sat quietly and listened to every word. This is probably the best film I’ve seen with George Clooney, although I did love him in The Perfect Storm. But this one was very, very good. I just heard that the LA Critics awarded this film their best picture nod. There’s not doubt to me that it’ll appear on the Oscar lists as well, as it’s an excellent film, well acted, well directed, and well written. This is a serious drama film, with a touch of humor, but very, very good. I highly recommend catching this one!

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Air Loom Enterprises, Moxie Pictures

Joyce McKinney, Dr. Hong, Kent Gavin, Jackson Shaw, Peter Tory, Troy Williams

Tabloid is a documentary about former Miss Wyoming World, Joyce McKinney who made headlines in England in 1977. Ms. McKinney and a couple hired “bodyguards” abducted a Mormon Missionary with a gun, took him to a cottage and kept him handcuffed for days. When he finally got a chance to make a phone call, he called the police and reported that he had been abducted. This set off a flurry of tabloid reports between competing newspapers in England about the “Manacled Mormon” or The Mormon sex in chains” case. She was allowed out on bail after being captured, and in disguises and with fake passports, fled the country. For decades she obsessed over this guy, and was caught in 1984 stalking his wife and kids again, and rose to prominence once again in 2008 when she had her pet dog cloned in Korea. In this documentary, Joyce gets to tell her side of the story.

This is a bizarre story, for sure. Joyce is definitely a bit demented, and is a colorful character. She reportedly was very upset with the documentary as she felt it did not say what she expected it to, but that in itself is a bit bizarre as she does 90% of the talking. But I suppose in the way it is edited, she could feel that it put her in a bad light. But since she is barking mad, I guess that’s fair. I was interested in this film in a “Jerry Springer Show” kind of way, like we can’t turn the stupid TV off until Maury tells us if the baby is actually that guy’s or not. But there isn’t much here. It’s a weird story to begin with, and there’s really nothing to watch. I feel like after 90 minutes of this, I didn’t learn anything, and I’m no better off than when it started. So in a staring at a car crash kind of way, it’s ok to watch this, but I certainly wouldn’t go out of my way to track it down. It’s just fluff. Nothing to see here, move along.

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