{"id":1367,"date":"2007-09-07T21:25:00","date_gmt":"2007-09-07T21:25:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/2007\/09\/two-michael-moore-films-in-one-year\/"},"modified":"2007-09-07T21:25:00","modified_gmt":"2007-09-07T21:25:00","slug":"two-michael-moore-films-in-one-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/2007\/09\/two-michael-moore-films-in-one-year.html","title":{"rendered":"Two Michael Moore films in one year!?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"\"<\/a>
Brian D. Johnson<\/a> of Maclean\u2019s<\/i> reports on the premiere of Michael Moore\u2019s latest movie, Captain Mike Across America<\/a><\/i>, in Toronto:<\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s a \u201cconcert film\u201d documenting Moore\u2019s Slacker Uprising Tour through 62 American cities in swing states during the final days of the 2004 presidential campaign. He appeared with performers including Joan Baez, Roseanne Barr and REM. The tour, he says, was an attempt \u201cto save the Democrats from themselves.\u201d<\/p>\n

I decided to attend the premiere, rather than the advance press screening, because Moore would be in attendance, which is always a show. And it turns the film into a kind of 3D concert movie\u2014a big tent rally with the live theatre audience cheering on Mike along with the crowds onscreen.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a little secret project we\u2019ve had laying around for a while,\u201d Moore told the TIFF audience as he introduced the film. \u201cWe shot it three years ago and decided to put on the shelf, because we were just too depressed.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not clear exactly why he decided to release it now, but it\u2019s a bit odd\u2014watching one rousing arena rally after another in a buoyant campaign that we know is headed for a heart-breaking defeat. And no matter how genuine Moore\u2019s motives are, this film won\u2019t do anything to dispel arguments by his critics that his mission is fueled by a super-sized ego. Although the TIFF audience seem to love every minute of the movie, and gave it a standing ovation, I found it unsettling to watch Moore being introduced over and over again, in a Groundhog Day<\/i> cycle of adulation. Also, there is more of Moore the hectoring politican than Moore the sly comedian here. . . .<\/p>\n

Afterwards, Moore engaged in a Q & A, and cited a critic who asked him why he put so much of himself in the film. He said that\u2019s like asking U2 why there\u2019s so much Bono. Moore admitted he wasn\u2019t exactly \u201ceasy on the eyes\u201d and can\u2019t bear to watch himself on the big screen (he sat through the premiere with Canadian relatives).<\/p>\n

Moore also talked about being the target of a massive smear campaign. \u201cIt even comes from Candians<\/a> now, this disinformation campaign about me.\u201d And he said what he left out of the film, for fear of encouraging it, was a series of attempt assaults on him during the tour\u2014ranging from a knife-weilding attacker who jumped onstage to a cup of \u201cscalding hot\u201d Starbucks coffee. (The guy must have ordered an extra-extra hot no-foam latte). . . .<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Of course, what Moore apparently neglected to mention is that it is not merely Canadians<\/i> who are openly criticizing his dishonest methods, but his fellow left-leaning filmmakers<\/a><\/i>.<\/p>\n

And it isn\u2019t only sympathetic Canadians who are put off by Moore\u2019s self-indulgence. Glenn Kenny<\/a> at Premiere.com writes:<\/p>\n

A portion of this Michael Moore picture, then called Slacker Uprising Tour<\/i>, was screened at Cannes as a work-in-progess on the same bill as Sicko<\/i>. It is not apt to supplant Sicko<\/i>, or anything else, in Moore\u2019s filmo. As an intertitle early in the picture admits, the movie is about Moore\u2019s \u201cfailed attempt\u201d to save John Kerry from himself after Kerry\u2019s too-little, too-late response to his Swift-boating. For those who remain highly agitated by the results of the 2004 election, this picture, its upbeat \u201cwe gotta keep fighting\u201d coda notwithstanding, might play as a particularly unpleasant bout of scab-picking (hey, there\u2019s an alternate title for ya). In the final weeks before the election, Moore toured multiple cities in multiple swing states, trying to get out the vote. And this film is, well, a lot of footage from that tour, mostly of Moore addressing mostly adoring audiences. (Advertisement for Myself<\/i> is another potential alternate title.) . . .<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Elsewhere, James Rocchi<\/a> at Cinematical writes:<\/p>\n

Captain Mike Across America<\/i> is easily Moore\u2019s weakest film, a self-congratulatory mess that has nothing to say about the American political process and tells you everything you need to know about the numbing cult of personality that\u2019s sprung up around Moore. It\u2019s not so bad that there\u2019s a cult of personality around Moore \u2014 as I\u2019ve said of Moore before, some Americans are so desperate for someone to speak truth to power that they\u2019ll settle for someone saying anything to it. What\u2019s bad is that Moore seems to be buying into his own myth, now, and here that seems both narcissistic and futile. . . .<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Moore\u2019s weakest film? Even worse than The Big One<\/a><\/i> (1997), which revolved around a promotional book tour? This I gotta see.<\/p>\n

SEP 11 UPDATE: Lou Lumenick<\/a> of the New York Post<\/i> calls the film \u201ca self-tribute documentary that shows how Moore may have played an even bigger role than even Osama<\/b> in getting Dubya re-elected with his 60-city college tour in 2004.\u201d Yowch.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Brian D. Johnson of Maclean\u2019s reports on the premiere of Michael Moore\u2019s latest movie, Captain Mike Across America, in Toronto: It\u2019s a \u201cconcert film\u201d documenting Moore\u2019s Slacker Uprising Tour through 62 American cities in swing states during the final days of the 2004 presidential campaign. He appeared with performers including Joan Baez, Roseanne Barr and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1116,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1367","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nTwo Michael Moore films in one year!?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Brian D. 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