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AlexanderHiden
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Food Matters (2008)
Biased film full of nonsense not backed up by science. Do not waste you time!
Like most food documentaries, Food Matters is incredibly biased. All the "experts" seem to have a unanimous opinion that pesticides, GMOs and pharmaceutical companies are the root to all evil, we can however, according to the people in the documentary, change this by eating healthier foods. And do not forget your supplements that is continuously mentioned as a part of a healthy diet in the film!
Conspiracy theories explain why studies on supplements (they mostly talk about vitamin c) usually do not show any benefits; the government is hiding the studies! The music can be described as mysterious and I am getting the impression that they want me to think; "Wow, I didn't know that, this is so scary!".
They have some good points like that doctors hardly have any education in nutrition and that people should spend more money on food. They also mention that we should eat more healthy foods like vegetables, and have about one sentence mentioning exercise being good for our health. The rest however, is pure nonsense, that cannot be backed up by science.
Statements like "cooked food reacts as a toxin in our bodies", and "superfood makes you live longer" are mentioned. They do not mention that in some foods cooking actually remove the toxins and that there is no evidence that "superfood" is any healthier than regular healthy food like your everyday fruits and vegetables, the difference being that the "superfood" is a little bit more expensive and can be bought on their website.
They also state that the drug companies cannot get any money if people are not sick, so we should buy vitamin supplements on their website instead! I do not want to defend drugs or pharmaceutical companies in any way, but if you want to improve your diet to become more healthy, you should focus on eating more healthy food like fruits and vegetables (it does not have to be the "super" goji berry), not supplements.
To summarize this I believe this documentary to be pretty bad considering that it is very biased, not based on science and they continuously seem to try to scare people into thinking that they will die if they do not start to consume supplements. If you want to improve your health and learn more about food there are far better documentaries out there.
Steve Jobs (2015)
Surprisingly good!
Not another Steve Jobs movie I thought to myself. Is there nothing else people can make movies about? With the film being Oscars nominated and all I reluctantly went to see it.
Already after 5 minutes I found myself (to my pleasant surprise) loving it. I remember thinking; "wow, this is actually really good, I thought it would be dull"!
Steve Jobs' relations with old colleges and family is the main subject of the film. With conflicts reaching their climax backstage during product launches. Jobs really was a complicated man, and an asshole, which eventually leads to the beautiful ending dealing with the relationship with him and his daughter.
The whole cast's performance was astounding! The film is beautifully put together with amazing directing, cinematography and editing, and I think the soundtrack worked perfectly.
This is most possibly the best movie ever made about Steve Jobs and the one of the better dramas of 2015.
Marley & Me (2008)
Dull movie about the life of a normal family with a crazy dog.
Marley & Me, directed by David Frankel, largely known for "The Devil Wears Prada", seemed to be to be a perfect easy-going late night comedy to watch with the wife.
The newlyweds John (Owen Wilson) and Jenny (Jennifer Aniston) decide to move to Florida, and like a great deal of couples wind up getting a dog before having a baby. The dog, that was supposed to be funny with his crazy behavior, mostly stressed me out.
I've seen some good reviews of this film claiming that it is a refreshing, true to life comedy. I would say it is a dull movie about a normal family, with normal life problems and a crazy dog. They have everything but are still not pleased.
After one hour we did not bear to watch anymore, I skipped to the end, and it ended exactly like I thought it would.
You might think 2 out of 10 is too harsh, but if something that is supposed to entertain you bores you to a point that you can not even finish it, deserves a lower score.
Blackfish (2013)
Breathtaking, emotional documentary you can't stop watching!
Distressed 911 calls saying that a whale has eaten one of the trainers while we see underwater footage of Orcas and trainers opens up for this documentary made by Gabriela Cowperthwaite. These are the calls from the day when Dawn Brancheau was killed in February 24, 2010 in SeaWorld of Florida. How could this happen? What went wrong? What is to blame?
The structure of the film is superb, beginning with the recent attack in SeaWorld and then going back 4 decades to see where it all began from the capture of the whales, following how they were treated, investigating attacks from the past, eventually leading to an understanding why this could happen.
It is explained to the viewer that Orcas in captivity suffer from psychological and emotional stress. The people in the film contradicting this mean that Orcas have a better life and live longer in captivity, because they get access to medical care and always have food and shelter available. This is obviously false. It is the same old arguments used by people in favor of animal captivity. Apparently killer whales in the wild have double the life span. It is also explained by an expert that after scanning their brains, it shows that Orcas have parts of the brain that humans do not. And especially when it comes to emotions, the Orca's brain seem to be more advanced.
The best part of this documentary is how emotionally gripping it is, presented in interviews with former trainers, Orca researchers, killer whale hunters among others and with footage of the Orcas. Scary scenes where trainers are being attacked and emotional ones showing heartbreak both from the whales in form of cries when they are separated from their families and from people that have lost family members in the attacks.
This film really moves you. Other than being well-produced and containing animations presented beautifully it is also an important eye-opener to the fact that it might not be OK, morally to keep smart animals (or any beings) in captivity. Both times I was watching this film my eyes were fixed on the screen. This documentary is golden!
In Organic We Trust (2012)
Well-made, informative and interesting, unfortunately getting unbearably boring half way in.
This documentary starts out really good. First explaining in detail what organic food means and then questioning and criticizing it, which I thought was really interesting, but then, about half way in, it takes a turn for the worse. It goes from interesting, informative and questioning to really uninteresting and boring.
We must eat healthier food, big companies are evil and sell us unhealthy food, the food system is wrong and the small amounts of pesticides that is still left on conventional food are dangerous (even though the person saying this admits that there is no evidence on that, yet, and we were just told that pesticides are also used in organic produce). I agree with some of those things but I thought I bought a documentary about organic food?
It continues with the message that kids needs to learn more about real food and that the school lunches have to be healthier and that we should start to buy local organic food from food markets. Lastly encouraging the viewer to grow their own mini organic farm in the backyard (because everyone has their own house with garden
)
But there are already better documentary going into these last subjects. I do not understand why the filmmaker does not continue researching about organic food. Is it healthier for us? Is it better for the environment? Is it more nutritious? Does it give a better life for the animals? Does it really taste better? Is it sustainable? Is it a healthier choice for the farmers and will it give them more profit? Yes, a lot of these questions are mentioned especially in the beginning of the film. But I do not understand why the filmmaker does not continue on that trail the whole film with interviews with experts and more studies and animated diagrams and stats about ORGANIC food.
If you are interested in learning more about organic food, I would recommend that you watch the first half, then turn it off.
Milk? (2012)
Refreshingly unbiased documentary about the milk controversy
A bowl of milk with cereal letters showing the names of the filmmakers opens this documentary about milk. It begins with the filmmaker Sebastian Howard describing milk how it was seen in his early days, a perfect food that can satisfy both thirst and hunger at the same time, and apparently everyone agreed it was good for us. But is it? That seems to be the premise of this documentary. The filmmaker then goes to the streets, asking some "ordinary" folks about their opinions of milk. Most people seem to be brainwashed to believe that milk is a super food! A wholesome food that is vital for our bone health! This part also contain the most stupid (and probably the funniest) comment in this documentary, "what else are you going to drink if you're not drinking milk?" - Random dude on the street.
A bunch of farmers are interviewed. They spit out claims about studies showing how wonderful milk is. I would think twice about trusting any person saying that his/her product is healthy for you. I especially like a quote from one of the farmers, saying that dairy products are great nutritious foods but also admits that he may be biased because he actually does work with dairy production. I concur. There are however several so called experts being interviewed. Some of them are convinced that milk is great food, some are sure that it is quite the opposite, deadly poison. I personally think in the question if milk is healthy for you or not is answered in one quote from the film, "in many of these controversies the truth is always somewhere in the middle".
There are two people I really dislike. One of them is Robert Cohen, writer of the book "Milk: The deadly Poison". This anti-milk guy wearing various pro-vegan/vegetarian shirts pop-up now and then with the most ludicrous remarks that almost makes me want to run to the closest supermarket and devour some milk. The other one is Michael Schmidt, a raw milk producer, he describes milk as liquid love, seeing milk as something not only healthy, but even holy or religious full of love. If milk is liquid love, then sperm or vaginal juice must be the healthiest most loving liquid ever! Where can I buy a bottle!? While Robert gives vegans a bad rep, this guy makes me wanna quit consuming dairy products altogether. I guess the filmmaker chose to have these two gentlemen in his documentary to show that there are stupid people on both sides.
I really liked the montages in the film, short clips with just one statement from everyone being interviewed contradicting each other with dramatic background music. The last montage ends with a glass being filled with milk, eventually pouring over. This could represent the feeling of all the contradicting statements going over our heads. A good way to show how controversial the belief of milk really is.
This documentary is OK, not very good, nor really bad. It is very unbiased, which I think is nice and refreshing considering that most documentaries usually are extremely one-sided. Because of that the documentary may however make you feel even more confused about milk than you were before the film, just like the filmmaker himself seems to be in the end. I did miss some more animations with stats from studies. And there might have been too many interviews with farmers, considering that we are mostly talking about if it is healthy for us or not. But definitely worth the watch if the controversy of milk interest you.