The 11th Hour – Leonardo diCaprio, Leila Connors Petersen and Nadia Connors present An Inconvenient Truth on steroids. Although it took awhile to really get going (with a “dramatic” intro that was more of a yawner than a screamer), this film mostly lives up to the idea (well, my idea) of being everything Al Gore’s stake in the “look at me I’m a good guy now that I’m not a policy-maker” pile could have been. It takes aim at both industry and government, and more importantly at the generally-accepted human idea that we have the irrevocable right to exploit the planet as we see fit.

For such a straight-up, hammer-you-in-the-face film, it tries a little too hard to end on a positive note (fancy eco-buildings will save us!) – but I suppose they didn’t want to be held liable for mass suicides following each screening. Plus, put David Suzuki in anything and I’m happy (the soundtrack from Sigur Ros and Mogwai didn’t hurt either).

War on Democracy – This is John Pilger’s latest film, which documents the United States’ legacy of systematically deposing democracies in South America and imposing murderous (but U.S.-friendly) dictatorships in their stead. Dude is an important journalist, responsible for a lot of groundbreaking stories, but this film contains a lot of propagandizing, complete with sound and film editing that implies whether the current scene depicts “good” or “evil.” (Picture a colourful, happy street of cheering Chavez supporters accompanied by bongo drums, followed by a dark, monotone, blurry pan of the White House accompanied by a throbbing ‘bwowooooowooooowoooooh’). All propaganda leaves a bad taste in my mouth – regardless of aim – so it was hard to get into this one. At least Michael Moore movies are funny (occasionally). Plus if you’re already familiar with the stories of Chile, Venezuela and Bolivia, you’re not finding anything new here. Too bad – I like the title!

Year of the Dog – OK, so putting Molly Shannon (you may know her as Mary Katherine Gallagher on Saturday Night Live) in the lead of any movie doesn’t exactly pique my interest. And the marketing for the movie suggests anything but a potentially-insightful, thoughtful movie. And maybe that’s because it’s not insightful at all – I can’t totally tell. I’m very samrt!

To most people, this tale of woman, her dog, and her reaction to the state of the world around her will be seen as that of an unstable woman looking for a place in the universe. But I saw it more as a tale of one person’s completely sane and ethical reaction to a world that is so completely unsane and callous. Regardless – it’s sad one, so clean off your makeup before viewing!

In other news, my bid to replace Roger Ebert was recently rejected.

Pound for pound, i think it is one of the best constructed and compelling examples of vegan-outreach i’ve come across since i withdrew my support for the animal-exploitation industry those many, many moons ago.

I encourage vegans and meat-heads alike to poke through the index and check out Colleen’s thoughful and concise responses to a variety of myths and ideas about animal-exploitation issues. Or subscribe to it through shitTunes.

And of course, for those who haven’t, i encourage you to sit through all 3 parts of Earthlings currently up on ShitTube or check out the official Earthlings site here.

I’m not confident that i could just ride it out and hope for the best. Not at all.

Now G7’s Great Eastward Expansion has been completed, and I sit here in Halifax, NS. What the hell am I doing out here you ask? Well, mainly fielding calls from the immediate neighbours to G7’s Winnipeg office, in which I am asked to come back and put an end to the 18-hour drunken sex orgies they have to hear coming out of the Albert Street office thrice weekly.

(I did speak to Chris, and he promises to stop renting those DVDs.)

Anyhoo, as a new Haligonian, I will point out that I would like to please see the sunlight soon. Also, that there are a great number of events happening here this week around the Atlantica Conference happening Thursday through Saturday. If you haven’t heard of Atlantica (which I hadn’t until I got here), it’s basically a mini-NAFTA for the Northeast. You can read more about it on the Stop Atlantica site. Events scheduled include a town hall meeting tonight (Wednesday), and workshops, demos, a critical mass, and more throughout the week. Get the full dealio on the Resist Atlantica website. (Even though I am, as a rule, skeptical of any event which notes that “costumes are encouraged”. I am also a prick.)

Also of note! (a little late on these, I know …)

Caítlin has been rallying the troops to prevent the deportation of Lordorice Djountso and her daughter Imelda from Northen Ireland back to Cameroon. And by all appearances, the battle has been (almost?) won. Although small victories like this may seem like a drop in the bucket in the face of the plight of refugees worldwide, Chris Hedges would contend that it is individual acts of compassion and justice that ultimately defeat hate and war. And I tend to agree.

And … call it vindication, call it petty infighting, just don’t call it actual political action – Punk Voter turns out to be truly useless after all. Not so fun when the celebrity is over is it Mike? Nope, didn’t think so. Hope the war-loving democrats enjoyed the million dollar boost they got from the punks!

Lastly – John Pilger, douchebag-exposer extraordinare, has a new film, it’s called War on Democracy, and it opens in the UK this weekend. Check that shit out.

Although there was some debate over whether he could better the original film (Siu Fai Mak’s Mou gaan dou (Internal Affairs)), I think he came through with shining colours to create what was hands-down one of the best films (yes, films) of the entire year. The only travesty here is that the entire cast – most notably Leonardo DiCaprio – did not walk away with the coveted golden statue as well for their outstanding portayals.

Despite what others may think.

DISCLAIMER: The content of this post doesn’t necessarily reflect the views of the author. This post may be formulated for purely (and apparently failed) comedic purposes. Although the author may not have vehemently hated the aforementioned movie, he may also not have felt the adoration for said movie that may be displayed in this post.