We all have a competitive streak in us. Some take it out through traditional methods like baseball or football; others through dodgeball, sumo wrestling or mixed martial arts. And some pack grocery bags.
If you’re unaware of the competitive sport of grocery bag packing, then you must have been living in a cave for your entire life. I take that back. Even Osama bin Laden follows grocery bag packing. In the new documentary Ready, Set, Bag! (also known as Paper or Plastic?), filmmakers Alex D. da Silva and Justine Jacob explore the exciting world of such a sport, where the low rungs on the grocery store totem pole compete to prove that they are the best bag packers in the world. The movie follows several state champions and their journey to the National Grocers Association’s Best Bagger competition.
Read the full article »
A touching and at times disturbing documentary about Hurricane Katrina, Trouble the Water is an Oscar-nominated film that shows footage taken by citizens during and after the flooding of New Orleans. While the movie doesn’t tell us anything we don’t already know, it does give a rare personal glimpse at the human toll, psychologically and otherwise, of the hurricane.
The economy. The economy. The economy. No subject is more talked about or important these days than the economy. So, it’s only natural that liberal filmmaker Michael Moore, having already taken on gun control, Republicans and universal healthcare, select the economy as the topic of his latest movie, the aptly titled Capitalism: A Love Story.
Nominated for an Oscar for Best Documentary Feature, Food, Inc. provides a compelling look at the food industry and the consequences its actions have on American lifestyles. While the picture provides some insightful facts, it lacks the shooting gun to put it on the same plane as similar movies such as Super Size Me.
Those outside the fashion industry may not know her name, but Meryl Streep played a deliciously cold character loosely based on Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour in The Devil Wears Prada. In The September Issue, a documentary by filmmaker R.J. Cutler, the real Wintour is examined and the work that goes into the most important fashion magazine issue of the year revealed.
Each year, there are documentaries of all kinds: funny, emotionally personal, political, anti-business, environmental and more. The few that really hit home, however, are the ones that reveal massive tragedies few in the United States know about. Crude is one of those documentaries.
