Rating: 
Summary: Outstanding.
Review: This is a brilliant movie about nature's indominability. It's characters are far more interesting than any fictional characters could be. One of the best movies I've seen and a welcome addition to my small library.
Rating:
Summary: Brilliant movie that defies definition
Review: This is not a documentary, this is not a portrait, this is an act of genius weaving the passions of four dedicated creatures into a story about human vision, the destiny of souls and maybe a glimpse into things divine. Very few contemporary works of art (any medium) are both so wonderous, profound and accessible, extending beyond the world of individuals. It's simplicity almost tricks you (your intellectual guard is down) into wonderment. Reminds me of Billy Collins' poetry or a great Spauling Grey monologue.
Rating:
Summary: Errol Morris is a genius!!!
Review: This movie is incredible. Watch it. When is this guy going to get an Oscar? We love you Errol!
Rating:
Summary: One of the best documentaries ever
Review: This quirky, off-beat and ultimately poignant documentary explores the obsessive lives of four men and the complex relationship between passion and futility. In the end, it's an elegy-- not just for Errol Morris's parents (to whom the film is dedicated), but for humanity whose destruction almost seems rooted in the very nature of our dreams and aspirations. Heavy stuff-- and it's all dressed up quite inobviously amidst what is on the surface very funny, even ridiculous. This is Morris at his subtlest-- GREAT film and GREAT filmmaker-- buy now!
Rating: 
Summary: Field guide to the nerds
Review: Well, not really. This is, however, a field study of men passionate about some self-taught, arcane body of knowledge. It really does come across like those nature shows where the camera has intruded into the lives of wild animals. (Yes, the subjects are all men. Why no women might be an interesting conversation, but irrelevant here.)One of the subjects is in fact a fan of an exotic "mole rat", a social mammal with a distinctly non-mammalian society. He studies that animal almost the way the movie studies him. Other analogies emerge - the roboticist wants to create societies of robots much more like the mole rats' than like human societies. The gardener is another creator, sculpting menageries from living plants. The lion tamer is likewise intent on understanding and shaping the living beings with which he interacts. He, like the mole rat researcher, tries to understand the mind that lives in a very non-human brain. The editing of this movie is patchy and quirky, but that is part of its charm. There's no action here, no plot, just four real characters. They are characters much larger than life. They are passionate about what they do, and their joy in their chosen fields is unmistakable. Maybe that is the movie's point - to prove that such joy exists and to give it a human face, four times over.
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