Bowling for Columbine

[Marcus Telcontar]

Just saw this superb documentary last night. What a thought provoking and interesting movie it was. I'm still digesting it all, but for me, it was one of the best documetaries I have ever seen. I was rather shocked Michael Moore showed people being shot, but still.... it succeeded with me in making me think. Highly recommended.

[Diego Van Derveld]

Saw it with a friend last month. Its pretty decent.

[ReaperFett]

While not always agreeing with Michael Moore, I find him both entertaining and thought provoking.

[JonathanLB]

"pretty decent," LOL. It is going to win Best Documentary at the Oscars this year almost 100% for sure.

It was a great film. I do not share the political beliefs of Moore, at all, but Bowling for Columbine rocks. It brings up a lot of issues that anyone of any party should be able to care about and agree that the U.S. has a problem with homocide rates.

Some people think the movie is about gun control, but people who do think that just haven't seen it and won't give it a chance. The film is not at all about gun control! It's about the incredible number of deaths from homocide every year in the U.S. compared to other countries. Not once does it suggest that the U.S. should ban guns or any other propaganda like that.

I was very impressed with the documentary and gave it 4 stars...

http://www.jlbmovies.com/BowlingForColumbine.shtml

[CMJ]

I'm not sure it'll win Best Documentary Jonathan...the committee that nominates for that category has a bizarre track record, it might not even be nominated.

I have yet to see it, but I've been very impressed in the past by Moore. "Michael and me" was fantastic.

[JonathanLB]

What are you talking about? It has won Best Documentary at basically every single group that has such a category.

I would put $10,000 on it being nominated, more if anyone had it and would be foolish enough to wager it.

The film is a sure-fire winner in that category -- there is almost nothing competing with it. Shadows of Motown was good, but not great. Uneven in parts.

[CMJ]

Jonathan...the most famous example of the Acadmey ignoring a documentary is "Hoop Dreams". That film had even more acclaim that "Columbine" and it wasn't nominated.

Their was major uproar at that one. Hell even the rest of the Acdemy was pissed.

We'll see...I'm of good mind to take you up on that bet. The nominating committee for the Academy seems to LIKE ignoring populars ones.

[Quadinaros]

I have to agree with Reaper and Jon on this one. While I have basically nothing in common with Michael Moore, I still found Columbine to be an interesting and thought provoking documentary. I gave it a solid three stars. I guess I hope it gets nominated for the Oscar, as it is the only documentary I've seen this year.

[JonathanLB]

Moore's beliefs are much different from mine, but I felt it was very well put together, really funny in parts, and kind of sad in other parts. Sad in that our foreign policy is often so terrible and costs us and other people dearly.

I think Bowling for Columbine is his best documentary yet. I'm not a huge Moore buff or anything, but I have seen The Big One and Roger & Me in a history class before, really liked both, but probably would give them more like 3.5 stars because a few of the political messages were just too in-your-face for me, whereas I thought Bowling for Columbine approached the issue in a more apolitical way. That is not to say "not political," but as in not party political -- democrats or republicans should agree that we have a problem when 11,000 people die of homocides every year. I'm a libertarian, registered republican for a while longer (hehe), and I very much support the right to bear arms, yet I still felt the movie well illustrated a problem we have here in the States with what is a disgusting number of people being killed by one another per year. There wasn't anything "political" about it really, it was just common sense: here's a problem, why does this problem exist, what can we do about it, etc.

CMJ, perhaps if they really are stupid, maybe you'll be right, though I doubt it. Certainly everyone else has given props to this film.

The documentary I saw from last year and loved, err, last year as in 2001 (this year being this awards year) was Startup.com. I really enjoyed that. Wasn't perfect, but in retrospect I wonder why I gave it ***1/2 instead of ****. It was pretty awesome and managed to seem like it was really telling a rather remarkable story with a good plot yet it was all real, hehe.