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Reviews
What We Do in the Shadows (2014)
Sometimes the scariest thing about being a vampire is doing the dishes
This fly-on-the-wall mockumentary is a refreshingly silly take on a genre that desperately needed sending up - vampires. If you thought vampire movies had reached saturation point, think again, because What We Do In The Shadows manages to lend it a thankfully comical bent. Taika Waititi and Jermaine Clement lead a solid cast of Kiwi actors playing a small group of inept but lovable bloodsuckers living in a flat together in Wellington. When a freshly turned convert starts bragging about his newfound vampire status while out clubbing, things start going wrong for the troupe, who until then had only to contend with minor problems like what to wear on a night out when your wardrobe is 400 years out of fashion, and how to go clubbing when nobody will invite you in the door. Vampire gags come thick and fast and there's enough of a solid plot to keep the movie entertaining. It even gets a little bit tense in places when the flatmates start to fall out over the new convert's bad behaviour. All in this is a very funny film, with more than a few classic one-liners. A great date movie to check whether your lover-to-be can handle a little dark humour. Highly recommended.
Zeitgeist: Moving Forward (2011)
An important film offering a radical solution to imminent global meltdown
Zeitgeist Moving Forward is the third documentary from Peter Joseph. His previous films, Zeitgeist and Zeitgeist Addendum exploded him into public awareness on a global scale with a reported 40 million combined downloads. So what's the big deal? Zeitgeist MF is essentially a documentary with a super-political (beyond politics) agenda - the transition from today's current, - and according to the film 'failing' economic paradigm - to a new 'resource based economy' that does away with money and politics altogether, replacing these 'out of date' concepts with a new money-less society where the world's resources, plus the manufacturing of food and goods are constantly monitored, and linked to an omniscient central computer hub which automatically synchs and optimises their distribution.
The idea is that this vastly more efficient system is the only sustainable way to support a burgeoning population whilst maintaining a high (if not far higher) standard of living for all the world's people plus a clean, green, stable environment for all.
The fear of the film, which drives the need for such an alternative is that attempting to act within the current economic paradigm is tantamount to doing nothing. A vastly more radical systems approach to society is needed, where the scientific method, instead of 'opinion' becomes the new touchstone for decision making.
The film argues that the world is in a deep crises that is about to get much worse. Technological unemployment is on the increase with no new 'services sector' there to mop up jobs lost to automation, the population is exploding exponentially, the volatile 'gambling cartels' of Wall Street create artificial bubbles and the resulting depressions with increasing irregularity which will only be made worse by purely automated computer trading, pollution is rife, top soil is disappearing, the oceans will be empty by 2030, resources are being depleted far more rapidly than they can be restocked, and the end of cheap energy will result in global chaos, war and mass destruction.
Phew. Hard to argue with the facts when they are laid bare for you to look at and study at your leisure (all sources in the film have references like in a scientific journal which you can cross-reference and check for yourself).
All in all, ZMF brings home a number of disturbing realities to the audience. More importantly - it actually provides answers. A way, literally - to move forwards. If you are a member of 'the Movement' a global group of hundreds of thousands of individuals who believe in the vision of Jaques Fresco (founder of the Venus Project - the basis of the entire theory that ZMF is a proponent of) then a lot of this is old news to you.
If, however, Zeitgeist is news to you, and you are a member of the mainstream population who is tired of the toothlessness of democracy, or the mindless lack of humanity of communism and fascism, you may want to watch this film very closely indeed.
If, however, you drive a Jeep, like expensive handbags and couldn't care less what happens to billions of people worldwide, then don't bother. You'll never get it anyway.
This film takes Zeitgeist firmly away from conspiracy theorists, Zionists, 9/11 truthers and all the rest, arguing that they are focused on the symptoms of the world's problems, not the underlying cause. They also offer no answers. Amazingly, Zeitgeist Moving Forward does.
If you can handle the well-meaning, but slightly cheesy ending, you'll do well to watch this film, at a theater if you're quick, or for free over the internet (this is one film you can download without breaking any laws).
Possibly one of the most important films you'll ever watch.
The idea is that this vastly more efficient system is the only sustainable way to support a burgeoning population whilst maintaining a high (if not far higher) standard of living for all the world's people plus a clean, green, stable environment for all.
The fear of the film, which drives the need for such an alternative is that attempting to act within the current economic paradigm is tantamount to doing nothing. A vastly more radical systems approach to society is needed, where the scientific method, instead of 'opinion' becomes the new touchstone for decision making.
The film argues that the world is in a deep crises that is about to get much worse. Technological unemployment is on the increase with no new 'services sector' there to mop up jobs lost to automation, the population is exploding exponentially, the volatile 'gambling cartels' of Wall Street create artificial bubbles and the resulting depressions with increasing irregularity which will only be made worse by purely automated computer trading, pollution is rife, top soil is disappearing, the oceans will be empty by 2030, resources are being depleted far more rapidly than they can be restocked, and the end of cheap energy will result in global chaos, war and mass destruction.
Phew. Hard to argue with the facts when they are laid bare for you to look at and study at your leisure (all sources in the film have references like in a scientific journal which you can cross-reference and check for yourself).
All in all, ZMF brings home a number of disturbing realities to the audience. More importantly - it actually provides answers. A way, literally - to move forwards. If you are a member of 'the Movement' a global group of hundreds of thousands of individuals who believe in the vision of Jaques Fresco (founder of the Venus Project - the basis of the entire theory that ZMF is a proponent of) then a lot of this is old news to you.
If, however, Zeitgeist is news to you, and you are a member of the mainstream population who is tired of the toothlessness of democracy, or the mindless lack of humanity of communism and fascism, you may want to watch this film very closely indeed.
If, however, you drive a Jeep, like expensive handbags and couldn't care less what happens to billions of people worldwide, then don't bother. You'll never get it anyway.
This film takes Zeitgeist firmly away from conspiracy theorists, Zionists, 9/11 truthers and all the rest, arguing that they are focused on the symptoms of the world's problems, not the underlying cause. They also offer no answers. Amazingly, Zeitgeist Moving Forward does.
If you can handle the well-meaning, but slightly cheesy ending, you'll do well to watch this film, at a theater if you're quick, or for free over the internet (this is one film you can download without breaking any laws).
Possibly one of the most important films you'll ever watch.