The Tillman Story (2010), Metropolis Refound (2010), The End of Suburbia (2004), Red Belt (2008)

The Tillman Story

Pat Tillman, a safety for the Arizona Cardinals famously left a multi-million dollar football deal to join the U.S. army in the aftermath of 9/11. Tillman served in both Iraq and Afghanistan, and it was while stationed in the latter country that he was killed in 2004. Originally reported to have died in combat it later came out that Corporal Tillman was killed by friendly fire and that this fact had been covered up. This documentary covers the efforts of Tillman's friends and family to bring the truth about his death to light.

Some have argued that this film is too political, but I'm not sure how it could not be. The nature of the cover up and the use of Tillman's image as a symbol and recruiting tool to be exploited by people Tillman apparently didn't much like, well...

Grade: B+

Metropolis Refound

Story of how the only known copy of the complete version of Fritz Lang's 1927 silent German epic Metropolis was discovered in film archives in Argentina. Okay that's neat that they found the complete film, but we don't need a documentary about this. Even at 45 minutes this is too long.

Grade: D

The End of Suburbia (2004)

Works as a kind of companion piece to the superior Collapse. The idea of suburban living, now so entrenched in the American ethos is an unsustainable one. An inefficient use of space with neither the virtues of city or country living, the suburbs are too spread out and too removed from food production. In the aftermath of peak oil production the viability of the suburbs will plummet, and they may well become the slums of the future. A bleak outlook, but backed up by some knowledgeable sounding experts, and also by the fairly obvious fact that oil is not an unlimited resource. The film is low budget (also Canadian) and hurt a little bit by the fact that host/producer Barrie Zwicker is not a natural in front of the camera and that he is best known for his work involving 9/11 conspiracy theories. Most of the films Eisenhower era suburban footage is taken from the same Redbook Magazine promotional film.

Grade: C+

Red Belt (2008)

This really surprised me, but I should have known better its Mammet. Chiwetel Ejiofor is a former solder who now runs a Jiu-Jitsu studio and tries to live his life under a very strict code of ethics. After an accidental shooting at his studio and saving an over the hill action star from a fight at a club Chiwetel is caught up in a number of situations involving the movie star and his producer, his two brothers-in-law, a cop, a loan shark, a fight promoter, a women lawyer and rape victim, and a rigged tournament. It doesn't really sound all that good but it is, surprisingly subtle in that Mammet way. One of the most powerful closing scenes I have witnessed in some time.

Grade: A-