Monday, July 28 2008
The Recruiter
In The Recruiter, Staff Sergeant Clay Usie says he doesn't have a "pitch." Instead, he asserts, "I go out and look for patriots."
Tuesday, July 22 2008
Wide Angle: The Burning Season
Airing as part of PBS' Wide Angle, The Burning Season examines the complex relationship among Indonesian farmers, global corporate entities, and earth's future.
POV: 9 Star Hotel
The possibility of panicky flight hangs over Ido Haar's affecting documentary, 9 Star Hotel.
Monday, July 21 2008
Heidi Fleiss: The Would-Be Madam of Crystal
Heidi Fleiss: The Would-Be Madam of Crystal is not the documentary you might expect.
The Closer
In The Closer, Kyra Sedgwick's Brenda Johnson often walks a fine line between complex and irritating.
Wednesday, July 16 2008
Saving Grace
In the second season premiere of TNT's Saving Grace, Grace's pursuit of drama took forms that were both overt and effectively repressed.
Tuesday, July 15 2008
The Cleaner: Series Premiere
The first episode of The Cleaner takes its self-appointed contextualizing very seriously.
POV: The Last Conquistador
Methodically and cleverly, The Last Conquistador follows the controversy surrounding El Paso's commmisioned statue of Don Juan de Oñate.
Monday, July 14 2008
China’s Stolen Children
For his remarkable documentary, filmmaker Jezza Neumann spent three and half months posing as a tourist in order to obtain undercover footage of victims, traffickers, and buyers.
Friday, July 11 2008
Generation Kill
The start of HBO's Generation Kill lays out some essential points of focus: the Kuwaiti desert is hot, the firepower is awesome, and the kids in U.S. uniforms are exactly that: kids.
Thursday, July 10 2008
Flashpoint
Flashpoint is not about the crisis per se, it's not about possible terrorism or even about a crazed individual. Instead, it's about aftermath.
Tuesday, July 8 2008
POV: The Ballad of Esequiel Hernández
Much like the corrido that opens it, The Ballad of Esequiel Hernández means to remember Esequiel and the circumstances of his murder.
Monday, July 7 2008
The Art of Failure: Chuck Connelly Not for Sale
Chuck Connelly's story, as recounted in The Art of Failure: Chuck Connelly Not for Sale, is at once fragmented, exasperating, and weirdly predictable.
Tuesday, July 1 2008
POV: Election Day
Many stories are told in Election Day, Katy Chevigny's bracing, insightful documentary on what happened four years ago.
Monday, June 30 2008
Ganja Queen
Schapelle Corby's difference and distance from her cellmates are reinforced throughout Janine Hosking's shrewd and compelling Ganja Queen.
The Human Spider
The Human Spider drops into several cities alongside urban free solo climber Alain Robert, as if each stunt has been conceived at a last minute.
Wednesday, June 25 2008
Weeds
The fourth season of Weeds began with Agrestic burned down and Nancy (Mary-Louise Parker) on the U.S.-Mexican border, aptly liminal.
When I Knew
When I Knew's stories are specific, even as they all indicate the shifting ground of what it means to be gay and then out in the United States.
Tuesday, June 24 2008
POV: Traces of the Trade: A Story From the Deep North
Traces of the Trade: A Story from the Deep North wades into U.S. legacies of race and racism with a mixture of good will, nerve, and occasional naïveté.
Monday, June 23 2008
Hard Times at Douglass High
Absorbing and sharp, Hard Times at Douglass High offers glimpses of students and teachers in various sorts of trouble.
