Bowling for Columbine

Rating:
Summary: Good
Review: Most of Moore's detractors are mostly misguided in their criticism, seeing deception where there is none. That said, *do* take this film's claims with a grain of salt. Moore is just as concerned about entertainment as education, and does occasionally sacrifice one aspect of his work for another. And course, seen purely as entertainment (or even agitprop), the film is excellent.

Love him or hate him, Moore is undeniably good at what he does.

Rating:
Summary: Shockingly informative
Review: "Bowling for Columbine" is one of those documentaries that's measured but not dry, alternately amusing and frightening. More entertaining than your usual "All About Bears" documentary by a million miles, and scarier than the latest Halloween vid. What exactly drives our citizenry to mayhem and murder, while gun-totin' Canucks keep their cool? Why does Windsor have an infinitesimally tiny fraction of the homicide rate seen in geographically nearby (but socially parsecs away) Detroit? O Canada! geocities.com/singlepayerweb

Rating:
Summary: Sigh..
Review: Sigh... Oh, how this documentary depressed me. Don't get me wrong, it wasn't the subject matter. It wasn't that the filmmaker's skill was lacking - in fact, it was brilliant. It wasn't the lack of research - this was one of the most well-documented movies I've ever seen. It wasn't that I disagreed with the ideas.

What depressed me was that once you've explained something this well, and people STILL don't get it, you might as well throw in the towel.

"Well, yyyyyyeeeeeaaaahhhhh, but you know, facts can be manipulated, and stuff..."

Rating:
Summary: Left Wing Dreck...
Review: Nobel Prize Winning Poet Czeslaw Milosz wrote a classic study of intellectual lying and the liars who lie them: THE CAPTIVE MIND. This is a powerful book concerning intellectual and moral duplicity that "well intentioned" writers of the ilk of Michael Moore consumately practice. (I know Moore is a writer because he is wearing a hat in BOWLING FOR COLUMBINE that says so). Of course,some scenes in this truculent player-hater political mockumentary are powerful. Indicitment sequences showing Moses/Charton Heston addressing NRA "mobs"(after framing
an NRA Covention with kick-ass excerpts from THE OMEGA MAN where--as Last Man On Earth--Heston fights off hordes of vampiric mutants infected by AIDS-like virus)have all the pursuasive subtlety of a knee to the groin. His entire project reeks of condescension and tunnel vision(less/ness). Here is POLITICALLY CORRECT's Bill MAHR'S Star boy with the whole stage to himself. 8mm shots of the ICBM plant; a B-52; and NORAD Command Center seguing into collages of innocent bodies of civilians killed during botched CIA coups or post-WW II American military actions seeringly proclaim: GUNS ARE BAD!(Moore forgets to post 5th Commandment:Thou Shalt Not Kill...because his agenda demands formation of "Godless consciences".)

Having briefly worked in the most violent middle-school in Houston,Texas(Dan Rather pronounced it the most violent in the United States on his CBS Nightly News)I can attest this: Mr. Michael Moore--while not totally full of crap--has produced precisely the quantum of Hollywood Dreck allowing people like himself to think they have contributed to preventing the very thing that their adament OPPOSITION to prudent and proper(self-) CENSORSHIP of violence...either Prime time Programming or American combat fatalities in Iraq emblazoned like sports'pool box scores...both fosters and cossets.

Moore and the Hollywood highsiders who acclaim him, need to promote another film that truly identifies rank evil and promiscuous violence foundationally underpining THE CULTURE OF DEATH{which Moore's BOWLING FOR COLUMBINE pathetically satirizes and--by its condescension--ironically galmorizes). The film is THE SILENT SCREAM. It graphically shows abortion of a fully developed infant in the womb. There are 46,000,000 victims of the Silent Holocaust(1.5 mililion; 1/23 seconds for the past 30 years).Let Michael Moore and his TV-liberal/salonistas try a satirical update on Jonathan Swift's MODEST PROPOSAL: D&C'ing for WASHINGtine. Or maybe "A Partial Birth is Worth Moore..."
BOWLING FOR COLUMBINE is left wing dreck. If it entertains you fine.The CD is musical treasure too(for the visually challenged: like the blind guy,Moore just had to show fondling his rifle)...(1 &1/2 stars)

Rating:
Summary: Fear and Loathing in the USA
Review: I brought this DVD home with a fair amount of trepidation. I'm not always a big fan of Michael Moore's. I admire much of his work, but he does occasionally come off as just a wee bit sanctimonious and holier-than-thou. While more or less a liberal myself, I dislike "knee-jerk" liberalism at least as much as "knee-jerk" conservatism. In fact, it probably disturbs me more since it often weakens the case for causes I find extremely important. I call it "Big White Liberal Guilt". Unfortunately, Moore does sometimes wander into that camp.

I was extremely pleased, therefore, by how intelligent and well modulated Bowling for Columbine turned out to be. Moore's observations are truly thought provoking here. Of course, we expect Moore to be anti-gun, but he makes his case more by the simple observation of American culture and the quiet assertion of fact than by standing on a pulpit and preaching to us.

Moore's concern is real. His attitude almost humble as he makes one troubling point after another. Most intriguing are his observations on the "culture of fear" we've been force-fed in America over the last couple of decades. His door-knocking trip to Canada was a real eye-opener for me, as I'm sure it would be for most US citizens.

He does occasionally show glimpses of that Big White Liberal Guilt I mentioned. His tone toward one or two of the black people in the film has tinges of the condescending, almost parental. But these are extremely subtle shadings that may very well have as much to do with my experience of knee-jerk liberals in general than anything Moore's actually doing in this film.

Overall, Bowlling for Columbine, is a film that should be seen at least once by Americans of all political stripes. It is an important, disturbing, but ultimately inspirational film about the American culture. It's not impossible, the film seems to say. We can make things better for everyone.

Rating:
Summary: Perfection
Review: Michael Moore has really outdone himself this time. When I watched Roger & Me, Moore really pushed the envelope on really touchy subjects. Bowling for Columbine is completely an "in your face - no holds barred" kind of movie. I personally think that Michael Moore is brilliant. His books are amazing as are his films. He asks the questions and talks about the subjects that people would rather sweep under the mat.
In BFC, Moore sets out to explore the roots of why the United States of America is notorious for its astronomical number of people killed by firearms. In doing so, he learns that the conventional answers of easy availability of guns, violent national history, violent entertainment and even poverty are inadequate to explain this violence when other cultures share those same factors without the equivalent carnage. In order to arrive at a possible explanation, Michael Moore takes on a deeper examination of America's culture of fear, bigotry and violence in a nation with widespread gun ownership. It's an amazing documentary that will leave you shaking your head at times.

Rating:
Summary: Awesome Documentary...
Review: This is one of the best documentary I have ever seen. Please do yourself a favor and watch it. There are ignorant people out there that are leaving negative feedback but seriously this is such an eye opener and great film. You will enjoy it and be moved by it. Great job!

Rating:
Summary: A THOUGHT FOR THE REACTIONARIES OUT THERE.
Review: How sad are the raving hateful reviews.

Any and all documentaries can and should be held up to the light and all have flaws...

BUT...

I wonder among those hateful reviewers claiming that this film is all wrong how often do you question what you receive off FOX NEWS or CNN?

When does the mainstream news media ever provide footnotes or evidence?

The same news media like FOX that tells people like you that Iraq had a re-constructed and ready to fire WMD capability. But no doubt all you pro war types bought that hook line and sinker regardless of the fact that neither the government nor the news media presented evidence to back up their b.s.

HS Marks
Manchester UK
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Rating:
Summary: Answer to the question
Review: Black Americans are 13% of the US population but commit over half the murders. Once you factor those out, non-black Americans murder at about the same rate as Canadians.

Rating:
Summary: THIS IS A GREAT DOCUMENTARY!!!!
Review: Wow! This is an awesome documentary. Moore definitely makes a person want to think more about the world around them. I couldn't take my eyes off of this film. The main focus is about gun control but the film also touches on propagandism. He switches and mixes stark , challenging , surprising thought-provoking observations with a bit of humor.
There are so many things I can touch on about this film but it'll make this review too long. So I'll just say that the things that lingers in my mind from this film is the interesting Charlton Heston hot-seat interview , Dick Clark , the focus on Canada's low crime rate , Moore's and two Columbine survivor's accomplishment of getting K-Mart to stop selling bullets , media propaganda , government propaganda and hypocrisy, and the nightmarish surveillance footage of the Columbine attack dubbed over by the emergency phone calls and other phone calls made that day.
"Roger & Me" and now "Bowling For Columbine". Michael Moore is the Bob Dylan of documenters.