Filmmaker Michael Moore seems to swoop in when real life couldn’t get any worse. Whether he was giving us inside information about the real reasons behind the Iraq war in “Farenheit 9-11,” or taking on the issues behind gun control and violence in “Bowling for Columbine,” to scaring the Health Care industry in “Sicko,” where there’s a prickly issues, expect this guy to be there with a film crew.
So, when we experienced the Global Financial Crisis and the beginnings of the “Great Recession,” started seeping through the biggest Economies in the world, bringing Wall Street and Main Street to their knees, it seemed as though we’d never really see firsthand what really happened. Not talking heads. Not anchorpeople. Just stories about real Americans who were affected by this crisis and were facing foreclosures, job losses, pension losses and more.
Michael Moore is here with “Capitalism: A Love Story,” that is being hailed by Arianna Huffington as a “Must-See.” She even says that the film is not partisan. Huffington says,
“Which is why — although you can bet many will try — Capitalism: A Love Story can’t be dismissed as a left-wing tirade. Its condemnation of the status quo is too grounded in real stories and real suffering, its targets too evenly spread across the political spectrum. Indeed, Jay Leno, America’s designated Everyman, was so moved by the film he insisted that Moore appear on the second night of his new show, and told his audience that the film was “completely nonpartisan… I was stunned by it, and I think it is the most fair film” Moore has done.”
The film opens tomorrow in New York and Los Angeles, and on October 2, 2009 in theaters across the country. I’ve already bought my ticket.
I will definitely see this film – call Mr. Moore what you will – the guy presents a whole whack of good arguments in each of his films, even if they are slightly simplified for mass consumption. I wish more folks asked the obvious questions like “Where’d the money go?” I’d certainly like to know!
Michael Moore’s “Capitalism” Opens in Los Angeles: An Inconvenient Review
With his media mogul producer and capitalist-friendly marketing Moore is receiving “more” reviews than he bargained for.
Michael Moore’s new movie “Capitalism: A Love Story” is being co-financed and distributed domestically by Overture Films, which is part of John Malone’s Liberty Media. Liberty, reports Joe Flint of the Los Angeles Times, also owns satellite broadcaster DirecTV, and recently took a stake in Sirius XM.
If the idea that Michael Moore has teamed up with a media magnate weren’t ironic enough, Malone’s company Sirius XM was the subject of the financial documentary “Stock Shock” which highlights the company as one of the most manipulated stocks in the market. Investors in Sirius XM lost over 95% of the value of their shares in the company when it nearly went bankrupt earlier this year due to alleged illegal naked short selling, and some contend, internal corporate greed. John Malone was touted as the satellite company’s white knight for saving it from ruin at the 11th hour with a loan of several hundred million dollars, but not everyone agrees.
“Stock Shock” interviewed disgruntled investors like Michael Hartleib, founder of SaveSirius.org, who insist that Malone virtually swindled the company away from shareholders when he was awarded a 40% stake in the billion dollar company for the last minute loan. Hartleib asks, “How was this management team able to steal forty percent of our company without we, the true owners of this company, having a vote or a seat at the table? How was Mr. Malone given forty percent of our company for free?” Many journalists are asking, “is this the producer Michael Moore hand picked?” Newsday’s John Anderson comments that Moore provides “enough convenient logic to bury the Federal Reserve.”
“Stock Shock” is a new release on DVD and is available at Amazon.com or stockshockmovie.com.
site best