Smartorhypo Highly Overrated But Still Good

Pacionsbo Absolutely Fantastic

FirstWitch A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

pointyfilippa The movie runs out of plot and jokes well before the end of a two-hour running time, long for a light comedy.

popcorninhell You know, I got to hand it to Joe Cross, the enthusiastic Australian stockbroker turned lifestyle guru who spearheaded this 97 minute infomercial. He instinctively knows that the best way to prime his audience is through personal stakes and dramatic results. Thus instead of going the sane, unsexy route of weening out of bad habits to slowly lose excess weight, Cross puts his body through a 60-day juice cleanse while driving across America, confronting ordinary citizens about their diets. Why; probably because its easier to hock his "Reboot with Joe" program to those looking for quick and easy solutions.It's easy to buy into it. The rotund sufferer of chronic urticaria we meet at the beginning of the film has the easy-going personality of a lazed step-father being asked for $20 bucks. Even as he looses the weight, he massages the soft sell with a canned genuineness and an easy to digest chipper attitude. "I was fat, and there was no one to blame but myself," he says in a moment of reflection. He liquefies his veggies and goes all in. "Don't taste half bad."As the film wears on, Joe faces off against the litany of excuses people have for eating what they eat. "I only got so long on this earth, I might as well enjoy it," is the common refrain though my personal favorite answer to the question, "why do you eat all this junk?" has to be, "Because I'm sixteen." Everyone in frame seems to know they're not doing the right thing. To Joe these people are addicted to food and lack the willpower to seek solutions. The solution in his eyes is of course a "reboot" that will reprogram the body to readily take in micronutrients and macronutrients. "If all the world's major religions fast, then they must be onto something." I'm no nutritionist so I'm not going to make any bold claims. Lest to say, there's probably more to a healthy lifestyle than Joe Cross's musings and a few choice doctors stating the obvious. This is where Fat, Sick & Nearly Dead gets into serious trouble. Thanks to clever editing, Cross's self-evident truisms seem to meld into doctor testimonials with no actual data to backup anything. Nowhere is this more evident than when Cross's third act guinea pig Phil Staples goes into the doctor's office with him and he prods the doctor with leading questions like, "What will happen if Phil continues to eat like he does?" and "Is Phil healthy enough to go on a fast?" Notice he never asks "Should he go on a fast." The film also ignores the social aspect of its project. Joe's example, as amazing as it looks on TV, probably has more to do with him being able to spend 60 days consuming less calories than Gwyneth Paltrow starring in a Calista Flockhart biopic. The rest of us, you know, have to work for a living and need the caloric intake to make sure we don't collapse on our wheelbarrows and in our cement mixers (I'm assuming my readership are interminably sarcastic bricklayers). We also often live in food deserts, suffer from malnutrition, succumb to social and peer-pressure such as indulging in a Fourth of July cookout etc. Yes, it's ultimately you choice but your choice is informed by the world around you. And if you need any further proof that a 60-day juice cleanse may not work for everyone, check out Phil's article, "I Was the Poster Boy for Weight Loss...Then I Gained 200 Pounds".Lack of data, lack of comprehensiveness and the nagging suspicion that you're being sold something you don't need, like a canister of turtle wax. That is Fat, Sick & Nearly Dead in a nutshell. The fact that it's so laser-focused on creating and maintaining a brand may just be its only saving grace because it least it doesn't have that far to fall. It simply wants to make what it does look great and I suppose it succeeds in those modest ends. It's ultimately a D+ doc; C- because I'm embarrassed to say I dusted off the old juicer after I saw it.

Ersbel Oraph This is a rip off Super Size Me. Hysterics. But in a sick way, good news. It means that men start to care about their own health. The bad news is that it goes the same way as the general direction for women: depression and eating disorders labeled as "I take care of my body".And if you take a moment to think it's all the S&M Christianity has ever offered: exercise is a way to punish the body. Even the producer says "we have to take him away from any temptation". Like with the anti vaccines nuts, the nutrition nuts do not have much science to back them, but they do have guilt in seemingly unlimited quantities. And the same way, as the diseases we vaccinate for are hard to notice, the same way famine is hard to notice. So food is bad. Pleasure is bad. The alternative is not happiness, the alternative is a dark place which will lead you to some sort of invisible paradise.Contact me with Questions, Comments or Suggestions ryitfork @ bitmail.ch

camileeusa-1 I would like to start with the one and only positive thing I have to say about this documentary. I went out today and bought a Hamilton Beach Juicer and $100 worth of vegetables and fruit. I researched recipes (you'll see at the end of this) and am researching "juicing" so I know how much, long, etc… I'm excited to start this for a number of reasons. First, I've gained a significant amount of weight ever since my depression and anxiety became overwhelming this semester and was given even more medication to alleviate it (not working). Second, it gives me hope that I'll be able to be medication free, thinner, healthier and most of all – free of anxiety and migraines that the lady juicer in this movie mentioned.That's all the sugar I could muster. I thought this documentary was only impressive due to the amount of weight loss Joe and Phil had on a juicing diet. Otherwise, I thought it was a disjointed, uninformative, annoying and a self-promoting movie by Joe Cross – about Joe Cross and how completely amazing, rich, genius and unstoppable he is because, of course, he is a super-human on a levels. I shiver at the thought of meeting him in public and the reaction people would have when I shake his hand and tell him I lost quite a bit too but I learned absolutely nothing from his video about how juicing works (unless you count the cartoons), how long is normal (60 days clearly isn't unless you're morbidly obese), how he could see clearer skin on that lady when I sure couldn't even with an HDMI connection and a 1080p TV and then after I stop shaking his hand, walk slowly away and with my nicest tone of voice say "You are not a hero, nor a movie star and did a terrible disservice with the money your parents jump started your shiny life with, so I beg you Mr. Cross, please take that Australian Beach, your cancerous tan and your extra arm skin back home. And for the love of God and everything that is holy, don't release that new 2012 documentary anywhere where people have some self respect!"Joe never really showed us how to juice at all if you think about it. I had no idea if he was making one or two or 50 servings at a time. I had no idea what to use to juice besides onion, tomatoes and what appeared to be celery or lettuce. Except for a quick roadside stop at the beginning where he blatantly overpaid those "poor American's" selling their homegrown produce to show what a great guy he is (in the meantime degrading the farmers - save the tip for off camera you jerk) and a grocery trip where – well, heck…that doesn't even count it was so uninformative. I never learned where the rest of the vegetable and fruit fiber went or what you are supposed to do about not getting that fiber in our system. Are we talking mulch for the leftover and vitamins for us? Totally devoid of vital information.Don't get me wrong, juicing is a great idea but watch a documentary that has a LOT more information or do the research on it yourself. I'm still shaking my head days later at the utter lack of knowledge. A before and after picture of Phil with a byline on him would have inspired me into buying a juicer and taken far less of a toll on my nerves.I honestly thought I was well into hour 2 when I finally lost my temper and stopped the video only to see that I was 5 minutes from the end and it was at 1 hour, 32 mins. The LONGEST hour and a half of my life. I'm cutting this review short so I can continue watching Food Matters which I can't stand not paying 1000% attention to. THAT movie will change you and your family's lives.

JWJanneck Movies about food and health are in season, many of them droning on about the Western diet, the benefits of proper food, the evils of the food industry and the modern life style, or any combination thereof. To be sure, all of that is quite right, and learning more about it can be educational and helpful in improving one's own dietary habits and consequently one's health.This film skips much of the science, which is dealt with only in short sketches and cartoons (and a look at the Web site suggests that it might be better that way, since the author's view of the science is cartoonish with a distinct New-Agey touch). Nutrition science isn't the topic here.Instead, we are being taken on the personal journeys of the author, Joe, and a couple of other characters who are 'recruited' on the way. And it is the power and realism of those stories that are the source of the impact of this movie. Joe's own story is impressive already --- as he literally slims before our eyes from pudgy to trim by drinking vegetable and fruit juice, it is difficult to imagine anyone struggling with their weight and health seeing this without getting at least interested in his approach. It might have ended there, and be a pretty good piece on the significant impact of your diet on your health, and how a shift of the food habits can have a decisive effect on someone's life in a relatively short period of time.But then there is the story of Phil, a very fat truck driver from Iowa, one of the folks Joe talks to on the road trip he undertakes during his juice fast. Halfway through the movie, we listen to Phil calling Joe to take him up on the offer to help him with his weight problem. Phil sounds desperate and depressed, he sounds like he is not expecting to make many more calls. Much of the second half of the movie is devoted to Phil's journey, from a very fat, socially isolated, depressed Iowa truck driver who could hardly walk, to a much thinner, much healthier-looking Phil who jogs, gives inspirational talks about nutrition to others, and helps his brother change his diet before the next heart attack becomes his last one, just as Joe helped him turn his fate around. That's just an incredible story, amazing to watch, and truly inspirational.Even if you don't have a weight problem, it's still a joy to see real people change their lives to the better on screen. However, if you do have a weight problem, and related health issues, and perhaps have come to believe that that's just the way you were built and nothing can change it, then this movie shows you otherwise. If Phil can do it, so can you. Do you have to do it the way Phil and Joe did? Probably not. Should you research the matter further? Definitely. Should you consult a physician? Probably. You may need to take a slightly different route, but this film shows that there is a path.