Martin's Musings

After the last week and a half of news — heck, the last four years of news — the arrival of the new film The Way I See It serves as a welcome reminder of how things used to be.

Not that we needed it, of course. But Dawn Porter’s documentary provides a bright and enjoyable look back at the Barack Obama presidency through the eyes of former Official White House Photographer Pete Souza. Like Souza’s active Instagram account, in which he trolls the current president* by sharing photos from his predecessor’s term, the film celebrates what we had and makes viewers long for a simpler time when our leader was a more noble sort of person. Continue reading →

After a long, grueling election cycle, it’s good to see a movie that takes our mind off it entirely.

A movie about a leader trying to unite a divided nation, who seeks to free a section of the country’s population, and who must fight against stubborn and backwards-leaning political opponents to accomplish that goal.

One that has absolutely nothing to do with current topics of debate.

If you couldn’t tell, that’s intended to be sarcasm. Affectionate sarcasm.

Steven Spielberg’s Lincoln puts the spotlight on the political scene in 1865, when the President (Daniel Day-Lewis, giving a predictably good performance) waged a tricky political battle in order to end the Civil War and slavery. Doubted by even his most loyal supporters, who told him he could do one or the other but not both, the film shows how Lincoln shrewdly persuaded members of both parties to support the 13th Amendment, and how that lead to the end of the war.

Continue reading →

Election years are always great times for comedy, so much so that the reality is often funnier than any scripted bits that Hollywood can produce.

But what fun would it be if we left all our political humor to the politicians?

That’s right, none.

So let’s give thanks for the new movie The Campaign, which stars Will Ferrell and Zach Galifianakis as two doofus political candidates battling it out in a small North Carolina town for a Congressional seat.

If that premise doesn’t tell you enough about what kind of movie this is, then know this: The film begins with a quote from one-time Presidential candidate Ross Perot.  Continue reading →

God bless Michael Moore.

When he gets going making an argument, there’s just no stopping him.

He’s got such a knack for making persuasive — and entertaining — movies that clearly push an agenda but aren’t like sitting through a thesis presentation.

Films like Fahrenheit 9/11 and Bowling for Columbine presented Moore’s worldview regarding the Iraq War and gun control, and regardless of what you thought of Moore’s arguments, he made them convincingly and with passion.

Now Moore is back with Capitalism: A Love Story, a treatise about how our economic system is flawed and only benefits a small fraction of our country.

Moore benefitted from having the economic collapse happen while he was making the film last fall, and he takes full advantage of the situation. Continue reading →

During a radio interview, a British government official says that a proposed war in the Middle East is “unforeseeable.”

Thus begins the movie In the Loop, a hysterical political farce about U.S. and U.K. relations, and how this simple comment escalates into a possible declaration of war.

To spoil the film would be impossible — I dare say it would be “difficult difficult, lemon difficult.”

There are so many great lines, a ton of great insults, and some splendid profanities that you may need to see the movie a second time to make sure you heard it all (check out the brilliant trailer below for a sampling). Continue reading →