Bowling for Columbine

Rating:
Summary: Excellent documentary that makes you think
Review: Bowling for Columbine is an excellent documentary by Michael Moore that discusses the issue of gun control. Many people might not like Moore for his beliefs or the way he goes about getting his ideas to the public, me included, but there is something very thought provoking here. Moore asks repeatedly,"Why are more Americans killing each other?" He interviews countless numbers of people showing both sides of the spectrum; those for guns and those against. This documentary does deal with a very serious subject, but Moore is able to inject humor into with his dry wit using certain camera angles and impeccable timing. One of the most effective parts of the movie is Moore's interview with Charlton Heston, who gets caught up in his own web of excuses. It is startling to see that Heston has no response, or not a good one, for most of Moore's questions.

The Bowling for Columbine DVD is very good. It includes numerous extras some of which are very good. There are several interviews with Moore on different talk shows as well as an interview about Moore's controversial acceptance speech at the Oscars. It also includes several featurettes, the theatrical trailer, and a photo gallery among many more extras. While not everyone will agree with Michael Moore, he does know how to provoke people into thinking about subjects that they would rather not. For an informative, humorous, emotional documentary, check out Bowling for Columbine.

Rating:
Summary: everyone should see this film
Review: I think everyone should see this movie because of the effects of what gun violence and other acts can do. he talks with Marilyn Manson and his point of view. He also interviews James Nichols, brother of Terry Nichols and friend of Timothy McVeigh who the 2 blew up teh oklahoma city building. James Nichols is a wacko. There's a bit with Chris Rock in here. Moore goes after Charlton Heston. they show live footage of the Columbine shootings which some people may find disturbing. it sets a good point across and Moore deserved that award

favorite slogan

"I loves my guns"- cartoon man with his gun

Rating:
Summary: Dare to change, and talk your mind.
Review: This movie is a big eye opener to people who think America is the only land of opportunities. What u also need to understand is , that it is also the land of gunshots, and psychopaths.... also psychopaths in the making.

which country in the world has a six year old shooting another six year old. Which country in the world has a charlton heston fighting for gun promotion. This is a comedy, and this comedy can happen only in america.

If anybody is willing to open up and understand the dark side of life in america, and educate yourself, and stop the violence and not support the heartless dumbwits like charlton heston, watch this movie, and also pass the message to your friends to watch the movie.

America is a great country but it will not be so for a long time, if the citizens dont make a change.

Hats off Michael moore

Rating:
Summary: Guns
Review: Moores "documentary" is a resounding success. Bill Hicks would be proud. The world is a less scary place because of this film. Keep opening eyes Michael...

Rating:
Summary: Watch at least once....
Review: Hmm...when I first saw this I was excited because I thought Roger and Me (1989) was one of the most thought provoking documentaries I had ever seen. When I came out from the theater with my friends, they were talking about how brilliant it was. Being 18, and raised in a very liberal environment in the Boston suburbs, I was agreeing with them for the longest time, but then I watched it a second time with new information and realized that while making its point (to me anyway, WAY too many people writing here certainly missed it...), there was something bothering me.

You have to admit that Moore is good at what he does. He always does an excellent job of setting up his scenes and shots. Whether you agree with his opinions or not, his view, as portrayed by the camera, does a great job of seizing you. He does prey on the unwittingness of others, and i'm sure that Moore would not want to be the victim of his own tactics. But sound splicing and video editing? Moore what is this? Its false advertising, that's what it is. This movie is a semi-documentary, if that...that's what bothers me about this movie.

The cartoon (with NRA and KKK, and such) I thought was a over the top. While being very funny (clearly the brain child of the creators of South Park), many of the facts are distorted. Yet other scenes such as with Nichols, who, I'm sorry to say, is still not familiar with Ghandi, and with the kids ditching school in Canada were, I thought, the most imortant. People who have been writing reviews of this have either been apparantly so enlightened by this movie that "OMG!!! 5 stars...this is genious! Guns are terrible!" or ranted that "Moore sucks, GUNS UP!" Well, this movie is NOT about guns. It's about Americans as human beings, and why we don't (as a whole) have as much regard for life as say, Canadians or the French. That's what this film is attacking. I guess you could say that its attacking our culture, but that didn't bother me. People are either so far to the left or so far to the right that they can't see this movie for what it is.

This *MOVIE* is worth seeing.
A for point and some of the content. D+ for filmaking.
Gets it point across?: YES
Documentary?: NO
For being labeled a Documentary: 2 stars off
For winning an OSCAR for BEST documentary: 1/2 star off
For destortion and half-truths: 1/2 star off

Bottom Line: Moore's lies and half truths degrade what could have possibly been the greatest documentary ever.

Cowboy Up is the stupidest slogan EVAH...
BUT LETS GO BO SOX!(cubs v. red sox will destroy the world)
I believe...

Rating:
Summary: Worth It
Review: Every American should see this movie.

Rating:
Summary: Must-see viewing
Review: This is a real eye-opener of a film, and it's one that's impossible not to react to regardless of which side of the gun control fence you are on (or which country you view this in). Moore is a gifted satirist, but there's not a lot to laugh about here. Actually, most of the film makes for pretty uncomfortable viewing...and for that, I'm glad. People need to be given a damn good shake so that they take the time to think about gun culture in the US. I certainly hope that this film acted as a catalyst for change in the way some think in relation to guns.

This is a great DVD package. The extras are terrific, with the highlights for me being Joe Lockart's interview with Moore and the "Return to Denver/Littleton" featurette which is very moving.

A must-see for EVERYONE.

Rating:
Summary: Horrifying and Hilarious Documentary
Review: ****1/2 "If more guns made people safer, then America would be one of the safest countries in the world."

This statement, uttered midway through the film by a Canadian citizen, serves pretty much as the guiding thesis for "Bowling For Columbine," the amazing, eye-opening "dissertation" by Michael Moore, which won the Oscar for Best Documentary Feature of 2002. Moore, the well-known left-wing tub-thumper and self-appointed thorn-in-the-side of the American conservative establishment, is clearly a man on a mission. He wants to figure out why exactly it is that Americans seem to have a running love affair with violence and guns. Moore takes on Charlton Heston, the NRA (of which Moore claims to be a member), the news media, and the overall culture of paranoia and fear that seems to hold Americans in its grasp. The director views the Columbine High School shootings in 1999 as the symptom rather than the cause of the problem, the inevitable tragic outcome of a munitions-obsessed culture.

Anybody turning to this film for a "fair" and "unbiased" study of the problem certainly does not know much about Michael Moore and the kind of movies he makes. Moore is upfront and utterly unapologetic about his own left-leaning sympathies and the film will assuredly outrage many on the opposing side of the issue. Yet one thing that even Moore's greatest detractors will have to admit is that he is definitely a man of passion, an individual who sees a problem in the world and who pools his resources and skills as a documentarian to help awaken public consciousness and, thereby, prompt reasonable-thinking people to come up with a solution.

Perhaps, the most astonishing thing about "Bowling For Columbine" is just how funny so much of it turns out to be. Though basically a jeremiad, Moore's film still manages to find humor in the mind-bending absurdity and jaw-dropping irony of so much of what we see on screen. Moore is an amazing satirist, yet in many cases all he has to do is to let the people and situations speak for themselves in order to achieve his laughs. For instance, he starts off his film answering an ad from a bank (of all places!) that offers its customers a gun for opening up a new account. No fictional satirist could come up with better material than that. Why press your issues when your subjects are doing such a fine job of it for you? From that point on, Moore is off and running, taking swipes at not just the NRA but at the defense industry, the Clinton and Bush administrations, welfare reform, and shows like "COPS," which Moore sees as exploiting and enhancing Americans' irrational fear of crime and people of color. In some ways, these are the weakest sections of the film, perhaps because Moore seems to be casting his net a bit too widely, muddling his message and making assumptions that sometimes seem unwarranted and overly simplistic. One appreciates his attempt to come up with some possible wider answers, but, frankly, he is at his most compelling when - for lack of a better phrase - he keeps the gun industry and those who support it clearly in his sights.

Still, Moore makes a compelling case for much of what he is implying in this film - that the culture of violence is all-encompassing in this nation and that incidents like Columbine are just small pieces in an overall much larger picture. Sure there are those who will accuse Moore of being "un-American," of always trying to cast the United States in the worst possible light, of even, perhaps, giving "aid and comfort" to the nation's enemies. Yet, isn't this what a healthy free society needs - someone who is willing to point out a nation's shortcomings in the hope of making it a better place in which to live? It seems to me we need more Moore's - on both the left and the right - to help keep the powers-that-be honest and connected to the concerns of ordinary people.

Alternately hilarious and horrifying, harrowing and heartbreaking, "Bowling For Columbine" will make you cry one moment and laugh the next. Moore is a man in total control of his medium, his message, even, perhaps, his audience. That might be a scary, dangerous thought if you happen to find yourself on the opposite side of the issue from Moore. After all, one man's "truth" can be another man's "propaganda." All I can suggest is that, regardless of which side of the political spectrum you fall on, give the man a fair hearing. The right should be so lucky as to have a filmmaker of Mr. Moore's caliber and skill on its team. Perhaps some day it will.

Rating:
Summary: Knee-jerk liberal tripe scapegoatism at its worst.
Review: The epitomy of revisionist history/liberal misinformation at its absolute worst. If you don't like to think for yourself, and prefer an obese ad-hominem dependent socialist telling you that your American culture is evil, and that everyone who owns a gun is suffering from inadequecies not only in the penile department, but also in the ol' noodle, then this movie is for you. Moore's interviewing skills range from patronizing to downright hostile in the blink of an eye, as evidenced in his interview with Charlton Heston for the finale of the film. Honestly, I feel I'm wasting my time even reviewing this mindless drivel, but I'm hoping if I give it a scathing enough review... I weep for anyone that paid to see this, much less enjoyed themselves. I'd take slow death involving needles penetrating my irises until I passed out from the excruciating agony over subjecting myself to viewing this film willingly. Consider yourself warned...

Rating:
Summary: He lied to further his own agenda. It's as simple as that.
Review: I couldn't care less that Mr. Moore is anti-gun. My advice to him would be to protest by not buying or possessing a firearm. What does bother me is his distorting, telling half-truths, his manipulating audio and video to make things appear truthful, and other times just flat-out lying to make others believe what he's presenting as fact.

In the "film", Moore attempts to portray the NRA (yes, I'm a proud, dues paying member) as cold and heartless for coming to Denver after the Columbine shootings for, as he puts it, a "large pro-gun rally". This is misleading. In fact, all rallies, dinners, sporting events, etc. were canceled out of respect for victims' families. The only thing that took place was an annual members' meeting which was required to be held under corporate law. At the same meeting, Moore takes the snipets of a Charlton Heston speech and puts them in the order that he wants. Heston is reading a letter from the mayor of Denver asking that the meeting be cancelled. Heston is shown to reply, "Don't come here? We're already here." Again, this is meant to make the NRA look defiant, cold, and heartless. However, Moore leaves out the part where Heston is saying that there are already scores of NRA members living in the Denver area. "We're already here", refers to them. But playing the speech the way it was originally delivered doesn't make Heston look like a cold-blooded monster, so Moore had to make changes.

The next lie centers on the young girl that was shot near Flint, MI. Again, Moore states "Just as he did after the Columbine shooting, Charlton Heston showed up in Flint, to have a big pro-gun rally." Never one to leave out unimportant facts, Moore fails to mention Heston was in Flint eight months after the shooting for a "get out the vote" rally. Vice-President Gore was also in the area at that time for the same purpose but Moore apparently found that acceptable.

The cartoon comparing NRA members to KKK members is also pure nonsense. The NRA was founded in 1871 (five years after the KKK)by Union officers who were supportive of the rights of black citizens. In fact, eight of the first ten NRA presidents were former Union veterans including President U.S. Grant. Teddy Roosevelt was also a life member.

Finally, the interview with Heston in his home by Moore was particularly underhanded, in my opinion. Moore presents himself as an NRA life member, which helps him gain entrance into Heston's home. Perhaps Heston made a disagreeable comment or two, but Moore still takes advantage of a man in the early stages of Alzheimer's disease. Moore takes advantage of the fact that Heston has a foggy memory of the events by continuing to act as if Heston came to Flint soon after the six-year-old girl was shot. Just like his final act of placing the picture of the girl at Heston's door, the entire visit was a play for the cameras. Moore apparently has no shame.

No one was a bigger fan of Roger and Me when it was released and I enjoyed "TV Nation" when it played on NBC in the mid-90's. Moore showed that he genuinely knew about the topics in Roger and Me which concerned the loss of good manufacturing jobs and corporate greed. He should return to that theme if he has to lie to play the role of gun grabber. Like I said before, Moore is entitled to his opinion about firearms or anything else. It doesn't bother me that he doesn't like guns. His attempts to influence others through lies and deception does.