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Reviews
Vaxxed: From Cover-Up to Catastrophe (2016)
LOL! I think everyone else left a 1 or a 10
In fact digging a little more, very few (if any) have reviewed any other movie.
So yes, I understand vaccinations are very political. And yes, of course I have an opinion, but let me try and look at this from the standpoint of a documentary film that was attempting to present a certain issue that concerns us all.
One aspect I really like, is that they tried to answer the question, "if vaccinations are so harmless, then why are there so many parents that keep saying they took their kid for a shot and the kid was screwed up afterwards?" Just too many kids to be coincidental. Especially with sky rocketing autism rates.
The issue of whether autism rates are actually increasing is hare for the layman to figure out. There are stats. Did they change the criteria? How bad is it? Interview footage of people who have worked professionally with autistic kids for a very long time made some good points that is hard to dig out of just stats. Spoiler alert: when even the CDC says rates of autism have sky rocketed, it appears to be very, very true.
They also did a nice job of creating a story line that flowed, especially in the first 60 minutes, as well as presenting the issues and counter arguments quite well. Towards the end it gets more choppy. They dropped in a Nobel prize winner who expressed grave concern about vaccinations and a female MIT professor/researcher that said the correlation between vaccinations and autism seemed statistically quite troubling. And while I understood why some one would want to include such high profile scientists, the short endorsements seemed out of place. And the end of documentary films is often difficult as they try and tie things together. This one as well.
But, overall, it is a great introduction for people who don't know what the concerns with vaccinations are. It came out last year. The stats and arguments feel very current. I would definitely recommend it to someone who wants an introduction to what's all the fuss about. In fact I've all ready recommended it to people. To parents in particular.
And (another) spoiler alert, if you go read up on this on wiki, they'll tell you the producers and writers are all discredited. DISCREDITED!!!! Though honestly, I would say pharma money buys a lot of things, including Wiki articles. Watch the film yourself and make up your own mind. It isn't boring. Of all the documentary films I've watched in the last year, this is one of the better ones.
Daredevils: The Sky Walker (2009)
for TV / great thrill
Dean Walker was an amazing climber and slack-liner. A well-enough filmed doc about a totally fascinating climber, base-jumper, slack liner and free-soloist.
It covers his attempts to slack-line(or high-line) two record breaking spots in Yosemite, but also goes into some background about how he got started with slack-lining, as well as some of the ups and downs in his career and personal life. Interesting perspectives into his family life and break up, getting in trouble for climbing the Delicate Arch which caused him to lose a major sponsorship and resulted in a lot of personal turmoil.
In some ways it was most fascinating because it covers some much of his dare-devilry before he got in to BASE jumping and wing suiting that would eventually lead to his death in May 2015.
He who lives by the sword.
Katinkas kalas (2011)
understated and very witty
I actually can't quite understand why the overall reviews are so poor–it is one of my favorite Scandinavian films. Besides doing a great deal with very little (simple set, few actors), it is extremely effective. Witty, maybe a little harsh on Swedish society, and humor that is dry throughout. It definitely pushes buttons. I can only imagine how much fun they had sitting around writing the script. Everyone is so caught in their roles they are at a complete loss for party crashers in the form of a shiftless twin brother and date that show up at Katinka's party. Mia Mountain's performance as Katinka is outstanding as she tries to maintain her sense of propriety and role in this uptight little world she's built around herself. The house, the job as curator, the deathly boring and servile boyfriend, the holdover childhood friends, and the brother!
Brilliant!!!