Home > The M.O. > Archives > 2007 > June
June 2007
‘Sicko’: so obvious, yet so alarming
Following his cinematic diatribe against the Bush administration with 2004’s ‘Fahrenheit 9/11,’ Moore decided to focus his attention on a problem that seems less divisive and even more obvious.
More than a year ago, Moore put out a request on his Web site asking Americans for their personal horror stories in dealing with insurance companies and health management organizations. Within a week, he received more than 25,000 e-mails. Compelled to act as the voice for those who are so often unheard, Moore set out to make ‘Sicko.’
Instead of putting himself and the hunt for his movie’s antagonist at the center of his story, as he has done in his previous documentaries, with ‘Sicko,’ Moore wisely chooses to focus on his subjects’ stories. The result is a movie with more heart, and while still relying on his smug, tongue-in-cheek attacks on those in power, more substance than style.
As the narrative bounces from one story of a woman denied coverage because she is declared too young to have cervical cancer to a once upper-middle class family that has gone bankrupt because of medical expenses, Moore seems genuinely disheartened by the state of health care in our country and the fact that Americans would allow their fellow citizens to suffer so gravely, all for the sake of the almighty dollar.
Overwhelmed by their tragic stories, Moore takes the audience through the history of how we as a country reached the sad state of affairs in which we find ourselves. Not surprisingly, Moore found an easy villain in Richard Nixon and his former assistant John Ehrlichman, using rather sinister-sounding archived tape of the two discussing what would become Nixon’s national health care plan. After Ehrlichman easily persuaded President Nixon to pass legislation allowing large companies to make enormous profit off of Americans’ illness and attempts at preventive procedures, the main corporate culprit being Kaiser Permanente, insurance companies and HMOs instantly reaped the financial whirlwind, accumulating millions while Americans paid the price.
Instead of using the rest of the film to diagnose more precisely how this private system came to be, Moore decides to investigate the national health care systems of Canada, Great Britain and France. Using anecdotal stories told through the rosiest of lenses, Moore depicts Canadian, British and French citizens living in an idyllic wonderland of socialized medicine. While eschewing attempts to give a complete picture of these Western nation’s health care systems, Moore makes it quite clear that other countries give medical help regardless of a patient’s ability to pay, ensuring that truly no citizen is left behind. In his most heavy-handed bit of grandstanding, Moore even takes volunteer workers from New York’s ground zero to Cuba to prove that even citizens and tourists in a communist regime can receive quick and free medical care.
As is his wont, Moore’s work as an artist does not endeavor to show both sides of the story. He does not speak to the fact that funding nationalized health care for a country of 400 million people is much more difficult than doing so in a country the size of France; nor does he speak directly and thoroughly to the issues of taxes in Europe or the wait times in the Canadian system.
But Moore does not pretend to have the answers in ‘Sicko.’ In this, his most mature and least self-important film (he does not appear on camera for the first 40 minutes), the director who has found fame (and infamy) as a provocateur, simply speaks with an unbridled sympathy. He has looked into the heart of a system that would rather save $500,000 than a human life, and he is horrified and saddened that the country he loves would so blatantly ignore its own. After viewing ‘Sicko,’ I imagine you will feel the exact same way.
No matter your politics, there is no denying that we live in a country with a system that is broken seemingly beyond repair. The question now becomes, can we fix it, and if so, how?
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Larry King talks to dead people
[from ContactMusic.com]
“No, this is Ringo… He’s got your name wrong, Ringo, on national television. We can’t cut it, it’s live,” McCartney said. The moment of brevity reminded many fans of the Beatles’ early U.S. TV interviews - when the bandmates poked fun at reporters. Starr later poked fun at King when he told the host, “He’s (McCartney) still the most melodic bass player on the planet,” prompting the newsman to ask, “What does that mean.” The drummer shot back, “It means he’s melodic!”
Hey, Larry, stick a fork it in, you’re done.
To watch part of the train wreck of an interview, check it out on YouTube.
Partial clip here…
Photo (c) Associated Press
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Last night at the Alamo screenings: maybe you can go
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Led Zeppelin reuniting (if only for a show)
A source said, “Page, Plant and Jones spoke and agreed to do the memorial concert. They are waiting for a definite date.
“And no one can quite believe it, but during discussions about the concert, they all gave the green light to a tour if it all does well and they don’t all fall out.
“It has been hoped-for and denied for years. But this is the closest they have ever come to a reunion tour. The feeling is that this is going to happen next year.”
If it happens, I imagine it would be the largest-grossing tour in the history of music. We shall see …
Image of Robert Plant at the Austin Music Hall in 2005 from Matt Rourke/AMERICAN-STATESMAN.
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Alamo Drafthouse trailers
In honor of the final week of the original Alamo Drafthouse, we are highlighting a few of their most memorable trailers from years past, taken from their YouTube account.
If you talk during the movie, Ann Richards will take you out…
Master Pancake Theater takes aim at ‘Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome’…
At Open Screen Night, the Alamo will screen anything you bring. Anything…
Blast off with the Hoff, only at the Alamo…
Celebrating the Oscars in true Alamo fashion…
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Tâm, that was a good lunch find
The small family-run eatery, which features traditional Vietnamese cuisine, is in a nondescript strip mall off North Lamar Boulevard, just north of U.S. 183. Since the café specializes in delicious sandwiches, we figured we’d try a couple. We were duly impressed with both the char-grilled pork sandwich and shredded pork sandwich. All of the Vietnamese sandwiches ($4-$6) come with mayonnaise, pickled carrots, cucumber, cilantro and jalapeños. But those fearful of mayo or jalapeños need not fret. The mayo simply adds moisture to the wonderfully crisp French rolls, while the fresh jalapeños offer just a bit of spice to kick things up ever so slightly.
In order to range outside of the standard sandwich fare, we also ordered the Vietnamese green papaya salad with beef jerky and the Bánh Xèo, a crepe filled with shrimp, pork and bean sprouts. Oddly, the two appetizers came out after the sandwiches, but we bashed on undeterred. One of the owners had given us a slight wink when we ordered the papaya salad and with good reason - the sauce that dressed the salad and which saturated the bottom of the plate was quite spicy. While it required the accompaniment of a couple of glasses of water, the flavor complemented the crisp papaya and jerky well and did not ruin the flavor of the dish. The crepe was a little more perplexing, even beyond the shelled shrimp, what with the very egg-y crepe concoction that left quite a bit to be desired.
The confusing crepe notwithstanding, we had a wonderful meal that was enough for three or four people and only cost us $25 after tip, with drinks included. The service was attentive and gregarious, as the owner demonstrated how to shear our crepe with chopsticks in order to eat it. While I almost never find myself in that part of Austin, I will be happy to find the time to make it up that way again for more Vietnamese sandwiches and more experimentation with flavors.
Tâm Deli & Café
8222 North Lamar Blvd.
512.834.6458
10 AM - 8 PM
Closed Tuesdays
Permalink | Comments (1) | Categories: Food
Ghostland Observatory to play Surprise Anniversary Show at Emo’s
The dynamic duo is riding high following a critically acclaimed set at the Sasquatch Music Festival in Washington state and is preparing for a huge summer. In addition to playing Lollapalooza in August, the charismatic Aaron Behrens and the amazing Thomas Turner will be playing three shows in three separate states the weekend of ACL, with a show Friday night at Red Rocks in Colorado, Saturday night in San Francisco and Sunday night back home in Austin.
Purchase tickets here for the Emo’s show. It is sure to sell out fast.
Listen to Ghostland Observatory on Soundcheck360.
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Antone’s Record Shop 20th anniversary sale
As part of its 20th anniversary celebration, the landmark record store is offering 20 percent off of all used jazz LPs, CDs and 45s.
Antone’s Record Shop (map) Hours: 10-10 Mon-Sat / 11-8 Sun
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At the movies: ‘The Foot Fist Way’
I don’t know if I’d go quite that far, but there was definitely a similarity in the two experiences. Both movies are extremely low budget films, written with an incredible ear for dialogue and feature very naturalistic performances.
As I mentioned yesterday, Oswalt introduced the film even though he had nothing to do with the production. He’s just a fanboy who had been given a DVD of the movie a month ago by Will Ferrell. Ferrell and his producing partner Adam McKay have purchased the rights to the film and plan to release it as-is in late February or early March next year and hope for it to take off via word-of-mouth a la ‘Napoleon Dynamite.’
‘The Foot Fist Way’ (a literal translation of Tae Kwon Do) tells the story of Fred Simmons (Danny McBride), a tae kwon do instructor in a small North Carolina town, whose 15 minutes of martial arts fame passed him by about 15 years ago. After discovering that his fake-tanned, silicone-enhanced, opportunistic wife has cheated on him with her boss (and seemingly every man at her office), Simmons sees his life head down a self-destructive road fueled by his myopia and complete lack of self-awareness. The aging instructor unleashes his torment in a series of hilarious attempts of redemption that make the self-serious, overweight, mustachioed Simmons a lovable loser very much in the vein of Ricky Gervais’ character in ‘The Office’ or Cliff Claven in ‘Cheers.’ As Oswalt said following the movie, Simmons seems to take to heart the major tenets of tae kwon do (courtesy, self-respect, perseverance, integrity and indomitable spirit) but filters them through his simple-minded, self-involved worldview, the result of which makes him a perfect fool.
McBride, who helped pen the script with writer/actor Ben Best and director/actor Jody Hill, obviously knows this Southern-fried lovable loser character intimately. The trio’s love of the local dialect and the pacing of the characters’ language and delivery make the movie a charming gem. One can easily imagine Stiller or Ferrell wanting to play the McBride character (and they have, to varying degrees, with Stiller in ‘Dodgeball’ and Ferrell in ‘Talladega Nights’), but their interpretation of the character would come off over-the-top, hack and disingenuous. But McBride, along with Hill and Best, knows this character and empathizes with him; the makers of this film live in the world of these types of characters, making their portrayals come across as comic and endearing, but lacking the self-satisfied sneer of mockery and disdain with which Ferrell and Stiller approach such roles. Instead of playing a role as caricature, McBride develops a real character.
His work has not gone unnoticed, as, according to Oswalt, ‘The Foot Fist Way’ has made the rounds in Hollywood and is currently riding a wave of tremendous buzz among those in the comedic film world. In fact, Oswalt recently sat in on a production meeting for Stiller’s 2008 film ‘Tropic Thunder,’ and among those in the meeting were Owen Wilson, Jack Black, Robert Downey Jr….and McBride. But McBride is not the only one from the film enjoying positive feedback from the industry. Best, McBride and Hill are currently back in the Southeast shooting a pilot for their new HBO series ‘East Bound and Down,’ a show about a pitcher who enjoyed one inning of World Series fame before seeing his career disintegrate, sending him shamefully back to working as a P.E. coach at his former high school.
Keep an eye out for ‘The Foot Fist Way’ next spring, along with ‘East Bound and Down,’ as this trio of Southern boys look to become the next hot thing on the comedy landscape.
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Patton Oswalt pimps ‘Foot Fist Way’ at Alamo South
I will be heading over to the Alamo South Lamar tonight at 10 to check out ‘Foot Fist Way,’ presented by Oswalt. Patton is in town as part of the Ratatouille Comedy Tour and it actually presenting that film at the Original Alamo at 7 p.m. But, as I am not one for animated anthropomorphic cinema, I will be checking out the underground ‘Foot Fist Way.’ Although Oswalt had absolutely no hand in the production, he is apparently a huge champion of the indie film. The folks at the Alamo paraphrased Oswalt’s sentiments (for the young and impressionable out there) this way on their Web site:
“Another film to look out for is ‘The Foot Fist Way.’ … I watched this yesterday morning and nearly laughed myself into a kidney stone. I’m not sure how that works, but the film’s (freakin’) funny. Danny R. McBride, Ben Best and Jody Hill have crafted a low-budget, Southern flavored ‘The Office,’ if Ricky Gervais’ character taught tae kwon do — badly. I don’t want to spoil the surprises, the cringe-inducing moments of hilarity, and spot-on dialogue… .”
Sounds like something the kids at the ‘Ratatouille’ screening will probably need to avoid. Just another send-off at the Alamo from one of their favorite guests, and a testament to the importance of the theater on Austin’s cultural landscape.
Patton Oswalt presents ‘Foot Fist Way’
Alamo South Lamar
Ticket Info.
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Feed your book jones
For times and directions, check out Literacy Austin’s site.
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