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ceymooney
Reviews
Star Trek: Nemesis (2002)
bummer
be advised that these comments come from trek fan and a lover of science fiction in general.
i like all the trek movies EXCEPT this one--it's awful. yep, i've said it. awful. it's twice as long and moves half as fast as an episode of TOS. no matter how giger-esqe they make this one look, it can't distract you from the painful boredom of sitting thru this feature-length headshot. the noteworthy quality of this flick is the sustained, high-tension atmosphere through the whole movie. spike lee often holds his audiences under such weight, but he also holds their attention throughout one of his movies. the folks who made nemesis do not.
Palestine Is Still the Issue (2002)
excellent flick; the most important side of the story
i know that many do not like that this movie is one-sided, but where you stand determines what you see. in discussing the israeli occupation of palestine and all the other elements of this conflict, actually tackling the occupation itself is the most important element of the conflict to include.
pilgier does it a gain by going straight to the heart of the matter and raising all the tough questions; in israel, these types of discussions are commonplace, but in the u.s., unfortunately, the most important parts of the story are taboo. discussion of the situation from which the violence grows are taboo. you can't discuss the israel/palestine conflict without tackling the reason for the season...the israeli occupation. as every story has a few dozen (at least) sides to it, if you're gonna pick one side to cover, pick the one that addresses the root causes of the subject matter. pilgier has done it again.
equal time would be something like this--ordinary palestnian life under military occupation--12 hrs/day, 7 days/week. but this is a good start.
The Hidden Wars of Desert Storm (2001)
finally a context
this film assembles the context for the last gulf war, the current gulf war, and the relation of the post-balfour west to iraq.
the battery of interview subjects assembled is massive, from former diplomats to gulf war combat vets.
there are about 3 hours of material crammed into this one-hour film, which can be a bit much all at once; as any good war documentary should hidden wars provides the viewer with the most relevant details that make sense of the current conflict.
if the causal elements and context were included in current events discussion and coverage, films like these would not be necessary; until then, a movie like hidden wars fills in all the blanks. excellent work.