SpuffyWeb Sadly Over-hyped

ChanFamous I wanted to like it more than I actually did... But much of the humor totally escaped me and I walked out only mildly impressed.

Bessie Smyth Great story, amazing characters, superb action, enthralling cinematography. Yes, this is something I am glad I spent money on.

Yash Wade Close shines in drama with strong language, adult themes.

Amy Livingston (alivingston-16543) All you will hear from this film is everything that you don't want to know. But Michael Ruppert said it anyway. It's easier to not give a damn to everything that he's saying and everything that's happening anywhere. But he has shown that it might not be good idea if you aim to live and not just exist.

Roland E. Zwick Ever get the feeling that the world is spinning out of control? That human civilization is hanging by the slenderest of slender threads? That we're all teetering on the brink of a very steep precipice? (Feel free to insert your own doom-and-gloom metaphor here, if you'd like).Well, if so, you may just want to go hide under your covers or jump into a hole and pull it in after you (or at least make yourself a good, stiff drink) after you've seen "Collapse," as starkly pessimistic a look at humanity's future as you could ever hope – or not hope – to see. If nothing else, this film could do wonders for Prozac sales.It takes awhile to even figure out what "Collapse" is really all about. That's partly because the subject of Chris Smith's documentary, Michael Ruppert – investigative journalist, author, lecturer, self-taught energy expert, corporate whistleblower and overall Voice of Doom - is so freewheeling and free-ranging in the extended rant he delivers for the camera that we often have trouble tying all the loose ends together into a coherent whole. But danged if his "crazy," "conspiracy-theory" view of how the world actually works doesn't begin to make sense and to take some sort of root in our psyche – leaving us both depressed and scared out of our collective wits by film's end.Ruppert lays the blame for most of the world's ills directly at the feet of Big Oil, or, more accurately, on our insane dependence on a substance that is part of virtually every product we use in our daily lives and that, ironically, is even necessary for so-called "green" technologies to function. This, of course, has led to a great deal of corporate and governmental corruption which Ruppert outlines for us in graphic detail – not to mention all the wars fought over it.But Ruppert's tirade has only just begun. He explains in detail the derivatives-based cause of the recent worldwide financial collapse and shows how the entire global economy is little more than a massive, ultimately unsustainable "pyramid scheme" that is doomed to collapse of its own weight, sooner rather than later, bringing all of us down with it.And if that isn't white-knuckle-inducing enough for you, Ruppert then predicts the end of a paradigm, comparable to the one, he says, that destroyed the dinosaurs, only this collapse will be economic and social in nature and strictly one of mankind's own making. Much of this he blames on the huge spike in human population beginning with the Industrial Revolution and the concomitant rise in our use of fossil fuels (thus the tie-in to his earlier rant). And as the earth's finite resources, particularly oil, begin to peter out, the end will come for our modern, technology-driven civilization.He predicts that the FDIC and the Federal Reserve will inevitably become insolvent, which will lead to worldwide chaos and the destruction of whole societies. This movie is entitled "Collapse" for a reason, and Ruppert pulls no punches in laying out his darkly foreboding – nay, apocalyptic - view of what we face as a species, which is the complete collapse of civilization as we know it. Indeed, towards the end, he goes so far as to describe this as nothing less than the "extinction event" of human society.His sense of resentment and frustration is palpable as he chronicles how, like a modern-day Cassandra, he foresaw the current economic crisis years before it happened but was not only totally ignored by those with the power and the purse-strings to do something about it but derided as a "conspiracy theorist" for his efforts at spreading the news. The proof is in the pudding, he would argue, so he feels no need to debate his point-of-view anymore. His eyes well-up with tears as he thinks about where we're all headed, and he consoles himself with trying to enjoy the little things in life - composing and playing songs, taking walks on the beach with his dog, etc. - as the world comes crashing down around him.He does provide some "survival tips" towards the end, mainly centered on finding one's own piece of arable land and cultivating it with the help of a local community of likeminded survivors. Somehow that's small comfort to those of us who wouldn't know a turnip from a tulip. (For a pop culture reference point, the picture of the world he creates is a bit like the one in "The Walking Dead," only minus the zombies).The only real solution, according to Ruppert, is to ride out the coming holocaust as best one can, then go about the business of rebuilding civilization from the ground up.And on that happy note…have a nice day!

da_lowdown I've read several reviews that can't seem to separate the movie itself, from the film's subject. Here's my approach: I ask myself if the film moved me either emotionally or intellectually. If so, why? Then I write about that. In other words, I write about how the film approached the subject. Did it have narrative momentum? Was it modulated, or did it remain at the same annoying pitch throughout? Afterwards, if necessary, I write about my disdain, or admiration of the subject and his opinions. That's my approache to movies like this one. Some complain about the lack of a counterpoint in this documentary. Well ... guess what ... a documentary's primary purpose is to document (hence the name ' documentary' ). It's not the film's job to always provide a counterpoint, it's the viewers job. Sorry to digress so early in my review. Anyway, to avoid creating any confusion about how I felt about this film, I'll separate my feelings on the movie, and it's subject. MY OPINION ON THE MOVIE If you like Errol Morris movies, you'll probably like this one. It's style is reminiscent to " The Fog of War". It has great narrative momentum. The camera and graphics keep the subject, Michael Ruppert take on Peak Oil, front and center. The editing keeps Rupperts monologue developing at a pace that wraps you into it's near paranoia. At one point in this movie, I started to think, "Holy sh_t! We're all screwed!!!" . This movie got me to thinking about how deeply dependent we are on oil. The steak I had for dinner, the car that takes me to work, the computer I'm writing this review on, all brought to you, courtesy of that thick black gooey stuff that comes out of the ground. As the movie points out, plausibly, oil does not have to run out (hell, there's plenty down there) it simply has to become harder to get to, to start jacking up prices uncontrollably, thus making life tougher for everyone. The film listens patiently, and carefully to an apparently sincere and lonely man crying that the "sky is falling" while we all continue about our business. The underlying tone is urgent, and hopeless. In the end, I felt uneasy.MY OPINION ON RUPPERT AND HIS THEORIES I'll come right out and say it, I think Mr. Ruppert is looking at the worst case scenario only, and nothing else. Yes, the way he says this whole situation will unravel sounds plausible. However, when you pick it apart, there are too many variable he dismisses too easily (e.g. evolving energy innovations). But before we dismiss everything he says too quickly, remember that he along with a handful of others correctly predicted the current global economic crisis. Many of the people that now ridicule him on his peak oil theory, also "poo-pooed" him back then. Then look what happened. On the other hand, Ruppert predicted a global depression. It didn't happen (at least not yet). The worst case scenario did not play out. Perhaps he's pointing in the right direction with peak oil, but overstating it's severity because he has such a dim view of human nature? Geez, I certainly hope so. Otherwise, we really are screwed. Watch this movie with an open mind, but don't be afraid to seek out counterpoints afterward.Regardless of your opinion on the subject of peak oil, you should see this movie. IT might scare you, it might anger you. It will move you, as art should do.

bobbobwhite As others have reviewed this documentary, I will mostly comment on its subject matter. Michael Ruppert showed well that he is a credible canary in the mineshaft for global awareness of humanity's problems that must be corrected for continued life on earth.All of his concerns are true, and some are even worse than he stated, but the very worst problem of all didn't even get a mention from him....that of global overpopulation that is the root cause of all the symptoms of our existence troubles that he did state.To simplify......if the world's population was 20% of what it is now, the maximum sustainable figure, all of Ruppert's concerns for human existence would not be crucial for thousands more years when real solutions to the problems he stated might be available. But, we cry about the symptoms and don't care one bit about the cause so we continue to overpopulate all countries with uncontrolled new births, and are continually overburdened with resultant and mostly unsolvable problems as a result. Air, water, oil, food, and every single other problem of today that Ruppert stated has been caused by overpopulation, but still we cry only about symptoms, as Ruppert does, instead of the root cause of all our global problems....too many people being born with no controls on it and, what is much worse, no gov't or societal thought even being given to it.As a result of that typical human stupidity and shortsightedness we are done, people, it is just a matter of time, and not that much time either, as your own young grandchildren will suffer badly as a result. But, still you don't care, so nothing is ever done about it. We don't deserve any more time on earth if we don't even care enough about protecting our continued existence by working on the cause of all of our problems.