Moore's Movie Slammed
 

Dollar: Hitchens on Michael Moore's Latest "Documentary" (June 22, 2004)
The Left's Christopher Hitchens (columnist for Vanity Fair) on Michael Moore's latest movie: http://slate.msn.com/id/2102723/?GT1=3584#correct

The money quote:
Moore's movie is "a spectacle of abject political cowardice masking itself as a demonstration of 'dissenting' bravery."

On Moore and his admirers:
"To [Moore], easy applause, in front of credulous audiences, is everything."

On Moore's 'history' of Iraq:
"We are introduced to Iraq, 'a sovereign nation.' (In fact, Iraq's 'sovereignty' was heavily qualified by international sanctions, however questionable, which reflected its noncompliance with important U.N. resolutions.) In this peaceable kingdom, according to Moore's flabbergasting choice of film shots, children are flying little kites, shoppers are smiling in the sunshine, and the gentle rhythms of life are undisturbed. Then?wham! From the night sky come the terror weapons of American imperialism...I don't think Al Jazeera would, on a bad day, have transmitted anything so utterly propagandistic. You would also be led to think that the term 'civilian casualty' had not even been in the Iraqi vocabulary until March 2003..."

On debating Moore:
"...I think we can agree that the film is so flat-out phony that 'fact-checking' is beside the point. And as for the scary lawyers--get a life, or maybe see me in court. But I offer this, to Moore and to his rapid response rabble. Any time, Michael my boy. Let's redo Telluride. Any show. Any place. Any platform. Let's see what you're made of."

On Moore's documentary standards:
"But if you leave out absolutely everything that might give your 'narrative' a problem and throw in any old rubbish that might support it, and you don't even care that one bit of that rubbish flatly contradicts the next bit, and you give no chance to those who might differ, then you have betrayed your craft. ... At no point does Michael Moore make the smallest effort to be objective. At no moment does he pass up the chance of a cheap sneer or a jeer."

Thanks for sharing! :thumbsup

My pleasure!

The Vanity Fair Critique is excellent. You should read the entire thing.

yeah it got slammed in Caans with the Palm D'or.

yea but opinions are like assholes...they usually stink...:2 cents:

good tactic. discredit it, put it down, talk about how its full of lies, maybe some people wont go see it now.

supress the truth. the people cannot think for themselves.

rofl

Yeah.. The critics didn't like it.. :1orglaugh

http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/Fahrenheit911-1133649/

http://images.rottentomatoes.com/ima...fied_fresh.gif

Fresh: 33 Rotten: 9

79% Loved it.

"[Moore's] most disciplined and powerful movie to date."
A.O. Scott, The New York Times

"The movie's conclusions -- true or otherwise -- and highly emotional interviews with bereaved parents and injured soldiers will have a big impact on audiences around the world."
-- Ian Youngs, BBC

"Say what you will about Moore's politics, but he knows how to make a good movie."
-- Willie Waffle, WAFFLEMOVIES.COM

"...see if you don't cringe when you see Bush talk to the media about being dedicated to fighting terrorism and segue into "Now watch this drive!" as he tees off."
-- John Venable, SUPERCALA.COM

"The result is a scary, funny, moving and angry film is perhaps the most devastating item leveled at a sitting U.S. President since the days of Watergate."
-- Peter Sobczynski, CRITIC DOCTOR


"Right now, in the summer of 2004, Fahrenheit 9/11 is an absolute good."
-- Eugene Novikov, FILM BLATHER

"...neither a great director or a great thinker, [Moore] has managed to make a film that is tough and true ? if not in the particulars, in its grave and profound progress."
-- Philip Martin, ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE

"Makes you want to go straight to the White House and punch everyone in the gut. "
-- Kevin N. Laforest, MONTREAL FILM JOURNAL

"In pure filmic terms, Fahrenheit 911 is a second-rate documentary, but it is first-rate entertainment and top-notch muckraking."
-- Mark Keizer, BOXOFFICE MAGAZINE

"...if there is one movie that you will see this year, make sure that it's Fahrenheit 9/11."
-- JoBlo, JOBLO'S MOVIE EMPORIUM

"Not just a scathing indictment against the President.. but a deeply patriotic movie which reminds us of the principal tenets which makes a true democracy so great"
-- Edward Havens, FILMJERK.COM

"It's angry agit-prop - a brilliant blame game - and its real effectiveness as muckraking propaganda may be reflected by the outcome of the November elections."
-- Susan Granger, WWW.SUSANGRANGER.COM

". . . an explosive and heart wrenching piece of cinema . . ."
-- Mark Salisbury, PREMIERE MAGAZINE

"The conditional humanity that marred much of Bowling For Columbine is here, but [the result is] powerful, maddening and heartfelt."
-- Mark Palermo, COAST (HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA)


"Its politics notwithstanding, the art of Fahrenheit 9/11 is extraordinary."
-- David Levine, FILMCRITIC.COM

"It?s less about catching officials off guard than about showing how the nation?s number one official is permanently off guard."
-- Ben Kenigsberg, EAST HAMPTON INDEPENDENT


"What I look for in a Moore film is not an objective study, but passionate commitment, honest outrage and biting sarcasm. In this case, two outta three ain?t bad."
-- Dan Jardine, APOLLO GUIDE

"Like him or not, once you see it, you?ll have to admit that the guy has balls."
-- Stefan Halley, HERO REALM

"If Fahrenheit 9/11 feels like a work in progress, that?s only natural?by film?s end, you get a sense that it'll never be finished until George W. Bush is too."
-- Ed Gonzalez, SLANT MAGAZINE

"Moore portrays Bush as a thicko hick who spent 42% of his first eight months in office on vacation."
-- Annette Dasey, TELETEXT (UK)


"If Moore is formidable, it's not because he is a great filmmaker (far from it), but because he infuses his sense of ridicule with the fury of moral indignation. Fahrenheit 9/11 is strongest when that wrath is vented on Bush and his cohorts."
-- J. Hoberman, VILLAGE VOICE

"The film doesn't go for satirical humor the way Moore's Roger & Me and Bowling for Columbine did. Moore's narration is still often sarcastic, but frequently he lets his footage speak for itself."
-- Roger Ebert, CHICAGO SUN-TIMES

"A brisk and entertaining indictment of the Bush Administration?s middle East policies before and after September 11, 2001."
-- Mary Corliss, TIME MAGAZINE

"To dismiss Fahrenheit 9/11 as "Anti-American propaganda" is doing the movie, the issues, the troops, and the country a grave disservice."
-- Jurgen Fauth, ABOUT.COM

"The director has always been at his strongest on the cusp between anger and humour, but there are simply too few such inspired episodes here."
-- Stephen Dalton, TIMES OF LONDON

Ferociously, cathartically funny."
-- Peter Travers, ROLLING STONE

"What's remarkable here isn't Moore's political animosity or ticklish wit. It's the well-argued, heartfelt power of his persuasion."
-- Desson Thomson, WASHINGTON POST

"[Moore's] most disciplined and powerful movie to date."
-- A.O. Scott, NEW YORK TIMES

"... a powerful piece of filmmaking by Michael Moore."
-- Richard Roeper, EBERT & ROEPER

The French want to believe it.

As long as it's anti-Bush, it's a masterpiece as far as the panty-waisted French are concerned.

Any book that is anti-American is an instant best-seller in France. That is a proven fact.

Those aren't real critics.

BBC=anti-American to the bone

Roger Ebert is a fat bleeding-heart wimp

NYTimes=proven to be anti-Bush and existing pretty much only for that reason, just like the LA Times, truth be damned.

It got praised in france while being viewed by democratic actors and actresses, well theres a big surprise!:321GFY

this was pasted days ago, as i said then ;). No doubt there will be valid criticism of Michael Moore's film, this however is not it.

history will record michael moore as the aldous huxley of our time

and in the meantime he is getting paid

whats not to like

lol

hah idiot

I think it causing a lot of pro Bush people to get very concerned.

They must be highly motivated to whatever they can to discredit Moore and his movie.

By democratic I assume you mean people who still believe in democracy? You're right, democratic people do hate a fascists like Bush. :1orglaugh

lol

Quoting Vanity Fair whilte rying to discredit the BBC and the NYT. lol, Bush apologists get more and more pathetic by the day.

Being "slammed" by one person is not exactly a fair representation.

Moore has his beliefs, accurate or otherwise, and has already had standing ovations for his film and will probably collect awards for this movie.

The man is a movie maker - an entertainer - and worked his ass off to make this based on his beleifs. There is nada wrong in him expressing his views - US politicians do this every day, both from left, right and anyplace in between, - so what's the fuss?

Perhaps part of the fuss is because he criticizes Bush - hell, if that's all he's guilty of, the man deserves a medal. Bush has placed himself in the firing line to be criticized and this comes not only from within the US, but from most of the population on this planet.

Good luck Michael - stuff a bullet up the asses of some dumb brains and at least get them thinking as opposed to beleiving every piece of garbage they are told! :thumbsup

PS Just keep it "accurate" - there is plenty accurate material to use! :winkwink:

only hippies go there

BustIt:

When you consider the "French" hosted the Cannes Film Festival, as they do each year, and the audience were not "French", but an assembly of international film makers showing their product, - I doubt you can claim the "French want to believe it". That idea seems to only currently seem to be oozing from the propaganda from the US admin - ie the "French" are our "enemies" bullshit. The "French" don't give a shit generally. Talk about "US haters" - there sure seem to be enough "French haters" in the US - pathetic!

The book is "anti-American" is it??? DUH!! :1orglaugh Grow up!!

LOL

HITCHENS: WE MUST FIGHT IRAQ Sep 25 2002



Notice: 2002

Google his name to see who he is... LOL

Cheers,
Matt

With anything you take anything that is heard with a grain of salt - you formulate your own opinions.

Besides, I would think Moore is more credible than CNN.


:2 cents:

BG

A few of the judges were American and from the rest of the world, it's only held in France.

All replies for the Bush administration are based on misunderstanding or not knowing the right information / all the inormation. That's pretty much the cause for all problems in the world.

Cheers,
Matt

Michael Moores work will come across as anti American to a lot of people, and hence will create some haters. Expect to see a huge amount of haters in the following weeks, most of them patriotic Americans who cant see the wolf in sheeps clothing. :1orglaugh

"All that foreign oil controlling American soil,
Look around you, it's just bound to make you embarrassed.
Sheiks walkin' around like kings, wearing fancy jewels and nose rings,
Deciding America's future from Amsterdam and to Paris
And there's a slow, slow train comin' up around the bend.

Man's ego is inflated, his laws are outdated, they don't apply no more,
You can't rely no more to be standin' around waitin'
In the home of the brave, Jefferson turnin' over in his grave,
Fools glorifying themselves, trying to manipulate Satan
And there's a slow, slow train comin' up around the bend.

Big-time negotiators, false healers and woman haters,
Masters of the bluff and masters of the proposition
But the enemy I see wears a cloak of decency,
All non-believers and men stealers talkin' in the name of religion
And there's a slow, slow train comin' up around the bend.

People starving and thirsting, grain elevators are bursting
Oh, you know it costs more to store the food than it do to give it.
They say lose your inhibitions, follow your own ambitions,
They talk about a life of brotherly love, show me someone who knows how to
live it. There's a slow, slow train comin' up around the bend..."
-- Dylan

Thanks for sharing

Interesting. How about valid *praise*?

Michael Moore=Mad Cow Disease

So I wasn't aware of the voting dynamics at the Cannes Fetival? GROW UP! That wasn't my primary evidence for the French being anti-American.

It is a FACT that the no 1 bestseller in France SHORTLY after 9/11 was an allegation that the NYTC attacks were actually an American right-wing conspiracy. NO 1 bestseller. The French ate it up.

Not long after an (objective) Frenchman (not too many of those) wrote a book that tore that one apart and refuted it page by page. Sold far less, because the French did not want to hear it. The French are Player Haters.

Remember Villepin's response when he was asked if he wanted the US to win the war against Saddam? *No comment* was his response.

In the sense of someone who experimented heavily with drugs, especially while working, yes.

Bush doesn't need an apologist (except that actually he has been too soft), and while I cant' speak for VF, the BBC and the NYT have acquired a terrible reputation for pushing a far-left (read: anti-reality) agenda.

No one concerned with the truth takes the NY Times seriously.--or the BBC.

haha.. this guy is an obsessed clown... he tries to argue every single attack on Bush like a true republican fanatic would do ... with arguments as solid as..

"The president is also captured in a well-worn TV news clip, on a golf course, making a boilerplate response to a question on terrorism and then asking the reporters to watch his drive. Well, that's what you get if you catch the president on a golf course. If Eisenhower had done this, as he often did, it would have been presented as calm statesmanship. If Clinton had done it, as he often did, it would have shown his charm."

Going out of his way to defend Bush on that 5 sec. piece of tape with desperate arguments.. just expose him as an obsses one sided fool... exactly what he blames Moore for...

And for the record...I think Moore is far from perfect..

Lies and liars are repugnant to the pro-Bush people.

Bowling for Columbine established his reputation as a producer of pseudo-documentaries.

(removed the sig , had it set on auto -- i am concerned only with the defense of truth and not with making money)

Actually, I'm just bored.

What 5 sec piece of tape?

BustIt - Your full of shit "The French are Player Haters"
What the fuck are you talking about? Bush is the player in the sense of this sentence? Can I please have what your smoking?

Your full of shit
So is your government...

what he is describing in the quote...