Sicko, Factory Girl (DVD)

Sicko - A short coversation I had with my mother this morning: Mama - "What movie did you go see last night?" Me - "Sicko." Mama - "Oh, is it a horror film?" Me - "Kind of." Sicko is the kind of thought provoking film that just might terrify you. I never really realized just how bad our health care system is here in the United States. In the last few years, I've become more and more disappointed with our government and the state of our country. In light of seeing this documentary, I admit that I am rather ashamed of our government and health care system. It's a disgrace. I honestly can't believe that third world countries such as Cuba have health care systems that are more or less free. It's a riveting look at the state of our country from director/writer/producer/liberal Michael Moore. This is the best film Moore has done yet. It is less sensationalistic than Farenheit 9/11 (although I enjoyed that as well). It is absolutely not Bush bashing in the least. It's not anti-American in the least. It's pro-bettering America through knowledge and education. It's really a shame that there were four people at this film when I saw it last night. People should be spending their money and time on something like this and getting educated on the topic rather than seeing mind-numbing movies like Transformers and Pirates of the Caribbean and The Simpsons (although I haven't seen it so whatever). I really, really, really hope this film makes an impact in the upcoming election. This movie is emotionally effective as well. There are multiple times when my eyes watered up. It's absolutely disgusting to see a young mother lose their 14 month old child to high fevers because her insurance company would only pay for pre-approved hospitals and the hosptial she went to kicked her out because her insurance wouldn't cover it. How can people do that to other people? I really don't know what is worse: not having insurance at all or having it and having your claims be denied for bullshit reasons? Moore takes everything a step farther when he shows the despicable way rescue workers at Ground Zero were treated after the disaster because many of them were not officially employed by the government or were volunteers. This is a movie you absolutey have to see. Then Moore visits other countries with impeccable health care: you pay nothing, you have little wait time at hospitals, you get medication for cheap, cheap prices. These countires (Canada, Britain, France and even Cuba) want to help their people. They do preventative care. In Britain, they even pay YOU for your transportation costs to get to the hospital! Things need to change in our country and I really hope this documnetary will educate viewers and, hopefully, have an impact on the future of our country.

Grade: B+

Factory Girl - This seems to be a growing trend. There's a movie that I just can't wait to see and after months and months and months of waiting, I finally see it and... it's a terrible, disappointing mess. This is how it was with Factory Girl. This film is just cliche after cliche after cliche. The characters are all two-dimensional (I'm sorry but Andy and Edie are far more fascinating in real life than they appear to be in this terrible after school special-esque movie). The script is uninspired and falls flat most of the time. To be fair, Sienna Miller does an absolutely wonderful job with the material she was given. But, unfortunately, it's not a lot to work with. One of the major flaws in the movie is that there are really no characters that you can actually like. Characters kept calling Andy Warhol's artwork superficial, and really, this movie is just superficial. No character is ever developed enough to care about them. I should probably give props to Guy Pearce while I'm at it because I imagine it's very hard to try to portray someone like Andy Warhol who is now more than an icon than a man. However, the choices in this movie left him feeling more like a parody than a person. The film takes the easy road more than once with the depiction of drugs that look like an After School Special and predictable dialogue. There are the obligatory walks through Central Park to show they are in New York and even a shot of the Eiffel Tower which just yells, "Hey, we're in Paris now!" The casting of Hayden Christensen as a Bob Dylan esque character (Billy Quinn!) is just completely bizarre to me. The thing that bugs me most though is the way this film portrays Edie who I've been fascinated with for years. It's a shame that this may be some people's only introduction to her life because it's really not worthy of her (or Warhol for that matter). They both deserve much more than this. All of these characters who are endlessly fascinating and all of these experiences and the way they shaped the art culture of the 60s is an interesting story. There is a riveting film in there somewhere. Factory Girl just isn't it.

Grade: D+