Ed's Review Dot Com

Back Allie Productions, Cedar Creek Productions, Motto Pictures

Buck Brannaman, Robert Redford

Buck Brannaman was the inspiration for “The Horse Whisperer”. This is a documentary about the real thing. He is shown to be a complex figure in this Sundance Audience Award winner for Best Documentary by Cindy Meehl. Buck had a horrible childhood, but through his experiences with an abusive father, he became aware that people who treat horses badly to “break” them are just as cruel. His attitude has always been one of mutual respect with love and gentleness to work together with the animal. We humans are putting them in a strange situation and expecting them to trust us. We should learn to give them a chance to learn trust and mutual respect, and the results are much better. He also learns that the methods of dealing with horses can be a mirror to how we treat our fellow human beings.

This documentary is very touching and quite interesting. Buck is an amazing person who has been offering seminars on horse training for years. His methods are sound and work well. We watch him at work, and see his wisdom first hand. I really enjoyed this documentary and seeing Buck at work. Although not a horse person myself, I was fascinated by the way he treats the animals and the success he has. Very much like Caesar Millan, the Dog Whisperer from Discovery Channel, Buck often finds that he’s not teaching the horse, he’s teaching the human. We can learn a lot from Buck even if we never get close to a horse. I highly recommend this film to those who like documentary films. It’s a very good documentary and interesting from start to end. The deleted scenes on the disk are also very good and could certainly be included in the film.

There is one part where Buck is very harsh with one of his clients. In the deleted scenes, it shows how he talked to her later and soothed her feelings. Without this scene, Buck looked a bit like a jerk in that scene. I’m glad I saw the rest of the scene. Also, there is a scene in the movie where Robert Redford talks about Buck and his horse on the set of “The Horse Whisperer”. This is really funny, and shows how Buck is the real deal and his horse showed up the horse actors tremendously. Watch for that.

Buck is a great documentary. One of the best I’ve seen this year, and well worth watching.

EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog

Participant Media, History Films

Brian Stelter, Bill Keller, Gay Talese, David Remnick, David Carr

Andrew Rossi, in this documentary, goes inside the New York Times offices to examine how one of the worlds most revered daily newspaper. He was able to have unprecedented access to view all the problems and promises for the future inside the Times. Blindsided by many things, they’ve been hurt on every side. Classifieds went to Craig’s List and Ebay, Job hunting was done via Monster.com, not by looking in the help wanted ads. Newspapers were basically a loss leader (sold at less than cost) in order to bring in the advertising revenues that disappeared when large corporations developed their own web sites. Then there’s the speed of CNN and other 24 hour news channels, not to mention Facebook and Twitter. Things have changed rapidly, and newspapers have failed all over the nation, one after another. Then the absolute forbidden question. What would happen if the New York Times failed?

This is an interesting documentary that covers in depth, the changes in how we get our news. Times have changed in the modern world, but yet there are ways to adapt that may save the Times. This is well worth watching if you’re interested in modern media, and where they are coming from and where they are headed. It’s a very serious documentary, but well done. It’s not done in jest and there’s really no comedy. It’s a serious topic and handled in a serious way. But it’s still powerful and very absorbing once you get into it. A must see for anyone interested in the media.

EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog

Representational Pictures, Sony Pictures Classics

Matt Damon, William Ackman, Daniel Alpert, Jonathan Alpert, Sigridur Benediktsdottir, Ben Bernanke, Willem Buiter, George W. Bush, Brigadier General John Campbell, Satyajit Das, Jerome Fons, Barney Frank, Timothy Geithner, Alan Greenspan

‘Inside Job’ is a no holds barred documentary that provides a comprehensive analysis of the global financial crisis of 2008, which at a cost over $20 trillion, caused millions of people to lose their jobs and homes in the worst recession since the Great Depression, and nearly resulted in a global financial collapse. Through exhaustive research and extensive interviews with key financial insiders, politicians, journalists, and academics, the film traces the rise of a rogue industry which has corrupted politics, regulation, and academia. It was made on location in the United States, Iceland, England, France, Singapore, and China.

Starting in Iceland with a major financial meltdown that no one seemed to see coming, it shows how the US economy changed from the 50’s and 60’s when the banking industry was tightly regulated, through the deregulation which allowed bankers to run wild. This is not an entertaining documentary. It is based on a lot of research and goes into the cause and effect in great intricate detail. Matt Damon narrates the entire film, and shows us interviews with those who would agree to be interviewed for the film. There are a lot of ironies in how a few “fat cats” were allowed to bet against themselves in a way to make themselves rich by outright cheating people, in many cases taking their entire life’s savings. Causing huge government bailouts, for the most part these guys did nothing illegal, and got away with it until now. It’s a sad picture, but very detailed and filled with facts.

This is not an easy watch, but if you are interested in finding out how this all came about, this film does not seem to me to be spouting a preconceived agenda of twisted facts and lies. It appears to be really straight on in showing what actually happened based upon the truth. It makes you very angry while watching it, but the purpose is to to inspire rebellion, but to educate people who are interested in how the whole mess started. I was vaguely aware of the events that happened without really understanding them.

I was able to buy the house I live in today due to the predatory lending practices that were prevalent for a short period in the 80’s and 90’s. I was always under the impression that you would need at least a 20% down payment and with the outrageous home prices in southern California, that seemed an impossible task for me. I was shocked to find out I could buy a home with Zero down. I had no idea how it worked or how that was even possible. But buy it I did, and though I had good credit, but no savings, and a decent income, I was able to pay the payments, so far. But I now have a house that’s worth less than what I paid for it, and as I approach my later years, I know I will never be able to afford to continue paying this mortgage forever. If this housing collapse continues, at some point I may find myself in the situation of walking away from my home and letting it fall into disrepair. I watch as this happens to one after another of my neighbors. I never expect home prices to jump back up like they were, but with some luck, someday, I may get out alive and get back what I owe and break even. That’s the only hope at this point. But how did we get into this mess? This film explains that. It also explains the Dot Com boom and bust and how people became instant millionaires and instant homeless overnight. This is a great educational film, and it is excellent for anyone who wants to learn the facts of the current global crisis. The next year will also play out very interestingly. But beware! If you are not interested in learning how the crisis developed, you’ll be bored to tears with this film, as it is definitely like a college class, and not entertainment. But for anyone who is interested, this is a fine award nominated film that covers a lot of info in and hour and three quarters.

EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog

RG Entertainment

Ken Blackwell, Andrew Breitbart, Chris Cox, Chris Edwards, Lee Edwards, Bill Farmer, Steve Forbes, Alison Fraser, Newt Gingrich, Ray Griggs, Mike Huckabee, Allen Icet, Jay Lamont, Tom McClintock, Thaddeus McCotter

This film covers the recent history and the financial theories and how well they have worked. It compares two basic philosophies. Ronald Regan and his theory that government is the problem, not the solution, and that in order for capitalism to work, government must be kept out of our lives and allow people to keep the money they earn. On the complete opposite is that of Barak Obama who believes that the only way to make our country great again is for the government to dig us out. His plan takes the money from those who have it and distribute it to those who don’t. Government bailouts of large corporations will give government the opportunity to make sure they are run properly and fairly. Drawing on presidential speeches, comic animation and graphics, this rousing political documentary examines the U.S. economy from top to bottom, including debates between Reagan and Carter, speeches by John Kennedy, and Richard Nixon. It also covers things all the way back to The New Deal, and the dangers we faced trying to dig our way out of our greatest depression that were relieved by World War II. Kennedy began cutting taxes, but at the time Reagan came into the presidency, the top tax rate was still at 70%.

The guy who made this documentary is not a politician, but he is a businessman who obviously believes in capitalism. As such, I think he gives a very on target assessment of the things that I believe are dead right. We will never succeed with a huge government that interferes with every part of our lives. If we attempt to target the rich, and attempt to take their money, the result will be that those fortunate and very intelligent people will change their efforts to finding ways to shelter themselves from taxes. These people aren’t stupid. Whether it means moving out of this country, or finding clever ways to find loopholes in the tax laws, they will find a way to keep their wealth. But I would much rather they spend their efforts founding companies, creating jobs, coming out with innovative ideas that will keep America ahead. But if force them to spend their efforts in finding a way around exorbitant taxes, they will.

The best way to beat poverty, above anything else, is a job. I truly believe that the only way to get America going again is to provide an environment where businesses can grow. The restrictions, red tape, government committees, and high taxes will just turn us into another third world country. We certainly have lots of innovation to do, if we only live in a climate where the smart people are able to figure them out, instead of putting them into a way to resist government regulations and tax after tax after tax. I really enjoyed this film and only wish it was being shown in schools and universities all over the country. Unfortunately it won’t. But nice try guys. It was a fascinating look at the truths we’re facing at this time, and hopefully it will reach enough people to make a difference.

EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog

Bagman (2009), Rollercoaster Entertainment, An Olive Branch Productions

Kevin Spacey, Kelly Preston, Barry Pepper, Rachelle Lefevre, Jon Lovitz, Graham Greene, Christian Campbell, Eric Schweig, Yannick Bisson, Spencer Garrett

Casino Jack is a fictionalize drama based on the real story of Jack Abramoff who along with a junior partner defrauded native american tribes of tens of millions of money. Jack was a professional lobbyist in Washington who got way too greedy and started to believe “If everyone else is doing it, then it must be okay”. Jack ended up getting in a lot of trouble and spending a good deal of time in prison for his fraud. It’s got everything from scams to theft to murder in this crazy story featuring Kevin Spacey as Jack Abramoff, Kelly Preston as Jack’s wife, Barry Pepper as Michael Scanlon, Jack’s junior partner who eventually turned states evidence against him. Spencer Garrett as Tom DeLay, and Jon Lovitz as Adam Kidan who helped Jack on another of his scams, buying an off shore “cruise to nowhere” gambling ship that sailed 12 miles off the shore and turned on the slot machines. This deal lead the afore mentioned murder.

There is another film called “Casino Jack and the United States of Money” which is a documentary version of the same story. From what I am told, this film is more truth than the fictional account in Casino Jack, but I have not been able to see the documentary yet. From what I saw though, Casino Jack is an interesting film, and Kevin Spacey is very good in the title role. It is probably jazzed up some to make it more interesting like the do in “docudramas” but they did not change the names to protect the guilty (or innocent) in this one, and it is an interesting film. I enjoyed it, and though I’ve heard the names a lot in the news, did not get the whole story of what Jack was up to and what brought him down, (as well as Tom DeLay who also melted down at the same time).

All in all, it’s a fairly interesting film, and though not a Hollywood blockbuster, is a solid story of the events.

EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog

Below is a preview of the documentary “Casino Jack and the United States of Money” if you are interested for comparison.