Fingers Crossed For Michael Moore's Capitalism: A Love Story
Michael Moore's Capitalism: A Love Story trailer, you guys:
PAPER PLANES! 2007!
Well, at the very least, this trailer is much better than the last trailer, right? For one thing, the movie has a name now, which is really useful when advertising a movie, and also (BONUS!) makes you seem like less of a self-involved narcissistic nightmare who is selling a movie on his involvement alone in some kind of distracting cult-of-personality which definitely undermines any serious political point you might have been trying to make. It is also just in general a much less coy trailer. And of course Paper Planes! 2007!
The thing is, I am hopeful for this movie for one reason: I do not understand the financial crisis. Is that embarrassing for me? Maybe. I've tried to understand it. It's confusing! I'm still working on it. The financial page of the New Yorker is sometimes helpful (that's right, NEW YORKER!) but this thing is so complicated (doy-oy-oy) and far-reaching, and I still don't really know what a credit default swap is.
The danger, of course, is that Michael Moore is going to spend very little time explaining what is actually going on in this strange world, and a lot more time doing what Michael Moore does ("let's get an ice cream truck and drive through the Chicago Stock Exchange"), which can certainly be entertaining (and annoying), but definitely makes a muddle of what he is trying to say. And if I'm not even clear on the specifics of the issue that provides the backdrop for the point that he is now muddling, then I will not get anything out of this.
So, as with most movies on which we must base all of our pre-judgments on a short, carefully selected collection of clips, it is still very much up in the air!
PAPER PLANES! 2007!
Posted by Gabe at 9:30 AM in Trailer
Tags: Capitalism: A Love Story | Economic Crisis | Michael Moore
There is no joke in this comment, I just really can't stand this over-confident, pseudo-intellectual douchebag.
Score = 15
I came to be the asshole that says the same thing. I consider myself independent but pretty much liberal right now, but this dude=major ugh. I guess it's all Good For Him that he gets the message out. However, the way he does it is not winning anyone over; it's just making people who agree with him go "See?! Why don't other people get this?!" and people who don't like him go "This dude is such a smug asshole who cherrypicks arguments." So he pretty much just helps create the divide.
I know this won't be a popular opinion here, but go ahead and downvote me. I'm not here to make friends.
Score = 16
I'll be your friend! I am liberal as they come and Michael Moore turns my stomach. Plus, I like friends! (I can't stand Bill Maher either. He's a misogynistic solipsist. I said it! I even used the word "solipsist" today, and it's not even 10 am!)
Score = 16
I'm a non-American liberal, and a hearty amen to both of those. Problem is, other countries never hear from the sane, sensible voices on either end of the American political spectrum. Just the ones with the God-complexes (Maher, Moore, Coulter, Limbaugh etc).
Score = 5
I'll upvote you, because you said exactly what I meant. I'm left-leaning too, but when this guy shows up, it's like your ugly, annoying, ex-girlfriend just walked into the party you're at and starts waving and shouting your name. It's mortifying.
Score = 8
well maybe you shouldn't have gone to europe for two weeks...hmm?
Score = 32
Yeah, I'm pretty liberal too, and I'll third (fourth?) this. Michael Moore is the Ann Coulter of the left--both of them are more interested in being shocking than in the politics aspect. Which is frustrating, because it makes anyone who agrees with them look ridiculous and easier to ridicule. Oh look at you, you're saying the same thing as the dude who went with a camera crew to AIG to make a citizen's arrest.
Score = 1
I've never understood why anyone would watch a Michael Moore movie. Why deal with all the blatant misinformation, the spliced together videos, the sympathetic-yet-really-condescending interviews with "regular people", the lies, and the "everyone please look at me!" attention whoring Moore fills his movies with to learn...that you were completely right on this issue. No one goes into a Moore movie not completely certain that they agree with him and considering all the screwed information, no one ever would, so what's the point? He's just Left Rush Limbaugh.
Score = -3
I like Michael Moore. He's funny. What are you basing your MM hatred on? Did you watch TV Nation? Did you read any of his books? Was "Bowling For Columbine" a terrible film? Did "Fahrenheit 911" not need to be made? "Sicko" just about MM's ego?
I'll watch this film. I'm a fan.
Score = 3
I like Michael Moore. He's funny. What are you basing your MM hatred on? Did you watch TV Nation? Did you read any of his books? Was "Bowling For Columbine" a terrible film? Did "Fahrenheit 911" not need to be made? "Sicko" just about MM's ego?
I'll watch this film. I'm a fan.
Score = -1
I like Michael Moore. He's funny. What are you basing your MM hatred on? Did you watch TV Nation? Did you read any of his books? Was "Bowling For Columbine" a terrible film? Did "Fahrenheit 911" not need to be made? "Sicko" just about MM's ego?
I'll watch this film. I'm a fan.
Score = -2
Yes, I meant it three times.
Score = 2
The scary thing is a lot of traders don't even understand what a credit default swap is. This article helped me piece it together a little...but yeah, I still don't really get it.
http://www.portfolio.com/news-markets/national-news/portfolio/2008/11/11/The-End-of-Wall-Streets-Boom/?page=0
The people who made Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room should have made this movie. I'm tired of these fucking stunts.
Score = 4
http://vimeo.com/3261363?pg=embed&sec=
This video was really, really helpful for me.
Score = 0
"The most feared film maker in America." Yikes. I might actually see this one, I just hope Moore doesn't try and inject some kind of abstract, hyper-simplistic solutions to the whole thing, because this is basically the biggest mess ever, stretching back over a long line of decisions that started under Jimmy Carter. Everyone, from presidents, to MYSELF has a hand in this.
Score = 3
I was gonna try and make a joke about how he's the most feared filmmaker because I don't want him sitting on me because obesity, but I just don't have the will. meeeeh.
Score = -5
My favourite part of the trailer is the "almost like an intelligence operation" line. Moore's going to give us a clear and simple explanation of the crisis: evil spy conspiracy! And I thought LeChiffre was killed at the end of Casino Royale.
Score = 1
i once tried to work out how credit default swaps worked with a friend...suffice it to say there were a lot of arrows and then the document just became lots of circles, dashed lines and confusion. we thought we had it...but then decided when we looked at it again that it couldn't be quite right. we gave up.
and michael moore...while he picks topics that should be discussed...alienates people by being so extremely liberal and in your face that he loses out on making great points.
Score = 1
So by using Paper Planes as the theme song is he supposed to be evoking the Pinapple Express trailer? 'Cuz that's what I got.
Score = 5
Isn't that song about white people coming in and fucking up the neighborhoods because they make it too expensive to live in and push everyone else out in the ghetto? That's what I was told. Which made me really appreciate the irony that her original following was a bunch of hipsters.
Score = 8
actually no it isn't. maybe try listening for yourself sometime
Score = 1
Wow! Calm down colin! I didn't mean to upset a SUPERFAN!
Score = -2
not exactly...i think it fits perfectly considering the words shes singing...plus trailer houses usually do these so chances are he didnt even pick the song...
Score = 0
I think they're trying to evoke "Slumdog Millionaire"? I dunno. "Paper Planes" has been in 3 movies so far...it's becoming the pop "Lux Aeterna".
Score = 2
I agree with a lot of what's being said. I'll still probably see it, and enjoy it moderately. But, yeah, not gonna win over any robber barons with this one. Oh, and Bill Maher is a pig. He threw himself drunkenly at my wife in a bar in Adams Morgan. Also, credit default swaps explained for all you left-leaning NPR listeners.
Score = 6
I dunno, is capitalism really the bad guy here, Michael Moore? Because I feel like capitalism is the thing that we are all trying very hard to fix.
Score = 2
capitalism is the problem.
we should just let the system bleed out because everything is screwed already anyways and we kinda need a fresh start.
i'm hoping it all comes crashing down and we end up like mad max.
i've been collecting shreds of blown out semi tires to make sweet-ass modern primitive sandals, so i'm basically set.
Score = 2
I think most of us can agree that, no matter what our politics, Michael Moore can be kind of a douche. However, anytime a citizen's arrest is attempted I am listening. I think videogum should start a citizen's most wanted list.
Score = 4
Michael Moore = the left's Glenn Beck. Even when you agree with him on something, the way he says it makes you wish you didn't.
Score = 5
Totally, Che, totally...
Score = 5
People agree with Glenn Beck? About anything? Huh.
Score = 4
glen beck = the left's che
Score = -1
glen beck = the left's che
Score = -1
Joking aside, he probably WILL give a clear explanation for people like Gabe about credit default swaps and sub-prime mortgages and shit. In columbine and 9/11 both he took time to explain everything clearly with cartoons, ken burns montages, and condescending history lessons.
Score = 10
A credit default swap is when one financial institution packages bonds or loans, and another institution buys them, but receives a payoff if the bonds or loans fail i.e. aren't paid back. So what happened last year was that a lot of mortgages (and I mean a LOT) were "subprime" or basically shitty mortgages given out to people who couldn't pay them back. These were lumped in giant pools of mortgages that were good or so-so and sold off around the world as investments. Typically you assume some mortgages will fail - but not all. What happened was tons of these mortgages failed, and the people who bought the CDSes were amazed to find that part of the CDS package they bought (or most of it) was these ultra-shitty subprime mortgages. The banks knew they were playing a dangerous game, but it made them tons of money in the meantime with little oversight. We were then stuck with the bill.
Score = 7
Thanks. And thanks to sen_tankerbell, too. (No snark)
Score = 2
Which is what so infuriates me about so called "free market conservatives". They seem to only embrace free market principles when it is convenient for them to do so, but when institutional wealth is threatened by the consequences of risky investments, an inevitable aspect of market fluctuation, the government simply MUST bail them out or modern civilization will descend into some sort of dance-battle armageddon.
Score = 8
The Wall Street Journal editorial page is a pretty reliable example of free market conservatism. They have been pretty consistent in advocating letting the over-leveraged banks go into bankruptcy. Don't confuse corporatists with free-market advocates. That's like confusing Stalinists with Marxists.
Score = 8
That be the most intelligent thing I have read all day. Thank you.
Score = 0
Even I, understands.everything.mogul, do not understand all this Wall Street muckety-muck. And I even read all Matt Taibbi's cuss-filled articles! What's a mogul to do?
Score = 1
I enjoy diagrams and found this one to be quite helpful: http://www.wallstats.com/blog/a-visual-guide-to-the-financial-crisis/
Score = 0
If you enjoy animations this one is even helpfuler:
http://www.vimeo.com/3261363
Score = 1
If you enjoy animations this one is even helpfuler:
http://www.vimeo.com/3261363
Score = 0
I feel the same way about Michael Moore as I do about Sacha Baron Cohen. That is to say, eye roll. Probably, people who find Bruno/Ali G/Borat HILARIOUS are the same people who saw all the Michael Moore movies in the theater (and thought they were killer social commentary). Maybe I should make a venn diagram? To see how much those circles would overlap?
Score = -3
I laughed my ass of at both of SBC's films. I had to walk out of Psycho because it was too over the top and I was growing tired of seeing Michael Moore so conveniently position himself in every scene.
So no. Not everyone who likes SBC automatically "Oooh's" & "Ahhh's" at Michael Moore.
Score = -1
venn diagram, dude. there's overlap, but not entirely. Anyway, I will point out, a lot of people find problems with both characters and it doesn't make Moore or Cohen either entirely wrong or un-funny (although I would argue both are entirely ridiculous! not necessarily a bad thing!). In correlation, a lot of different people probably like feeling vindicated about their socially above-standard views on the world (who, in my argument, would be fans of both). BUT TAKE HEED. I'm just shooting this shit right out of my ass.
Score = 1
Im unable to understand anything if its not taught through moving pictures... So this video helped me understand the credit crisis, and what went down.
http://vimeo.com/3261363
Score = 1
Oh crap. Didn't realize you posted this same thing.
Score = 1
I find this sped-up version quite a great deal more watchable for some reason.
Score = 0
Ugh. I like Roger & Me, but this just looks like self-indulgent shit. PBS's Frontline has done great work explaining the financial crisis, and it doesn't feature Michael Moore. Spend your time there.
Score = 1
HAHAHA!!! "All I wanna do is *bang* *bang* *bang* and *ka-ching!* take your money" I get it!!! Clever!!! (It's not clever).
Score = -2
I don't see what Michael Moore is doing here that is different from what various forms of American media (notably PRI and NPR) have been doing since last September. His MO is just gimmicky populist bullshit. This would have been groundbreaking like 11 months ago.
Score = -1
...I don't dislike Michael Moore that much.
...
Should I hate myself now or later?
Score = 2
Actually, I don't dislike Michael Moore at all. I would even go so far as to say he performs a valuable public service with his films.
Wow. So much liberal self-hatred in this thread.
Score = 7
I don't know if it's liberal self-hatred as much as liberals denouncing an economic populist perspective that is almost entirely absent from American liberalism. It is not an issue of tone or methodology, but one of ideology.
Score = -1
He's a good filmmaker. Hopefully his films intrigue people enough to do their own research, but who know if they do.
Score = 0
i concur.
my husband's family is in indiana and they're incurious republicans who tend to believe whatever the news tells them.
to them, michael moore's movies are painfully liberal, but they've spurred some really good conversations, because he's addressing stuff that really is genuinely new information to them.
yeah, it would be nice if they were spending their time finding unbiased sources for information about the world around them, but they're a little bit busy being super poor, aging quickly, having no health care and working their asses off to put food on their families.
while his methods are suspect and it might be nice if he was a little less self-aggrandizing, michael moore is doing more good that bad, so says i. we have the luxury of being so well informed that everything he's saying is old news to us, and embarrassing in how gimmicky it is, but it's blowing a lot of people's minds, and making people think things through is always good.
Score = 3
Wow, I totally thought that I'd come into this thread with something original to say about how Michael Moore is really not that great, even though I share some his politics. But yeah....so many other people were on it. I used to like him a lot until I picked up the Fahrenheit 911 companion book and found that a whole section was devoted to letters to him from fans talking about how great he was. His message would be much more powerful if he'd let it do the speaking instead of himself. I see people are making a lot of analogies to conservative pundits - here's a different one. He's like Kanye West, who makes great music, but practically ruins it with his actual personality and every time he opens his mouth.
Plus, Moore deceptively edits his work - much of the time, he doesnt' need to do this because the message will still get across, and it devalues what his actual message is.
That being said, I'll still see this movie, because if anything, they're entertaining.
Score = 4
If you want to understand an issue that you don't currently grasp, do not sit around waiting for Michael Moore to explain it to you. You will then only think that you understand it. That might make it easier to be smug about your position, but it will do the world no good.
Score = 4
sadly, no matter what happens, this movie will automatically be nominated for best documentary of the year.
Score = 1
Yikes. So Moore is a Class Warrior now? Yuck. I hate Moore for playing the Finger Pointing Game, which is counterproductive and embarrassing. Corruption and Ignorance are always going to fall somewhere to some degree, unfortunatley. They key isn't to go around saying "Aw, man, rich people are awful! Let's get 'em!" It's to reassess the system that allowed the individuals to be awful. Finger Pointing just makes people angry and... Did I already say Yuck? 'Cause YUCK!
The financial crisis is complicated, and I'm all for more simplicity and transparency. Michael Moore isn't the man to set us all straight, though. Let's all paint, exercise and do some research guys!
Score = 3
If anyone actually wants to know what caused the financial crisis, Michael Lewis' article for Portfolio.com is a good place to start: http://www.portfolio.com/news-markets/national-news/portfolio/2008/11/11/The-End-of-Wall-Streets-Boom/?page=3#page=3
Score = 0
Michael Moore is pretty good at getting stupid people to get upset about important things.
Which is better than the alternative, i guess.
Score = 4
Smart people getting upset over meaningless things? That actually describes our videogum family quite well.
Score = 12
Did they cut the scene where James Franco hides in the trash bin?
Score = 7
I'm not sure Capitalism: A Love Story as a title possesses enough winking self-satisfaction. I would have voted for This is Why We Can't Have Nice Things: A Love Story or This is Why We Have More Nice Things Than We Need: Capitalism!. Come on, Michael Moore, if you don't have people rolling their eyes so hard they have to go to Guantanamo for some healthcare, how do you expect to convince them of your point's validity??
Score = -1
Michael Moore and Sean Penn are both on the political Ugh Train as far as I'm concerned- and you'll find few dudes liberal-er than myself. Not to mention, Michael Moore's bad jokes certainly have a Leno-esque quality to them.
Score = 0
He should've called called it Cheeseburger: A Love Movie. Because he's fucking fat! LOL!
Score = -3
Michael Baby! I love it! Fuck the government and all! but you should have hired me as music supervisor! "Paper Planes" is soooooo not good. I mean, "Pineapple Express" took it. I could have given you some good songs for your trailer like "fire" by kasabian or "lessons learned" by matt & kim, "away from here" from The Enemy UK, etc. to get the indie vote. Just fire your music supervisor, cuz he or she probably thinks jack white is in two bands.
Score = -3
Canadian Bacon is a classic.
Score = -2
And how much money is Moore going to make off this movie...? He will just take it and get fatter. In my early 20s I used to think he was so prolific. He makes me so sick now I cant stand him. I saw Bowling nad Farenheit but got so annoyed with him after I couldnt bring myself to see Sicko. You guys who said he was the ann coulter and rush of the left are DEAD ON!
Score = -4
And how much money is Moore going to make off this movie...? He will just take it and get fatter. In my early 20s I used to think he was so prolific. He makes me so sick now I cant stand him. I saw Bowling nad Farenheit but got so annoyed with him after I couldnt bring myself to see Sicko. You guys who said he was the ann coulter and rush of the left are DEAD ON!
Score = -4
And how much money is Moore going to make off this movie...? He will just take it and get fatter. In my early 20s I used to think he was so prolific. He makes me so sick now I cant stand him. I saw Bowling nad Farenheit but got so annoyed with him after I couldnt bring myself to see Sicko. You guys who said he was the ann coulter and rush of the left are DEAD ON!
Score = -4
Nobody would know condescending and self-satisfaction like a Videogum reader. Not everyone can afford a subscription to the New Yorker. Kill yourself.
After making the citizen's arrest, Moore should've scalped the AIG person and ball-batted them Eli Roth-style. Seriously.
Score = -2
So Gabe, lemme get this straight....you are looking forward to getting your news from a michael moore documentary?? I dont care that your liberal (i am too) but for chrissakes this is what is wrong with americans. fucking read and make up your own opinion....these documentaries and news channels are biased!
Score = -1