AboveDeepBuggy Some things I liked some I did not.

BoardChiri Bad Acting and worse Bad Screenplay

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.

Benas Mcloughlin Worth seeing just to witness how winsome it is.

Nooshin Navidi I gave this documentary high marks only because of its chilling story and message and not necessarily for its production value (though it was still engaging.) In the tradition of other films in the genre like Erin Brokovich, Silkwood, Norma Rae, etc., this is another disturbing account of innocent lives destroyed by corporate greed and corrupt motives. Only in this case, art, education and the First Amendment are on trial along with the victim. Respected science teacher and artist, Steve Kurtz, wakes up one morning to find his wife, (dramatization played by the great Tilda Swinton) dead next to him in bed, with the cause of death quickly determined to be heart failure. The paramedics who arrive on the scene notice the art-show-related chemicals and science-lab paraphernalia and alert the FBI which leads to Kurtz being arrested for "bio-terrorism". It's a surreal nightmare for Kurtz who never even gets a chance to properly grieve the sudden loss of his wife. But things don't end once the "terrorist" charge is cleared due to insufficient evidence. Since his art show was conceived as an exposé to educate/inform the public about genetically-modified food, the powers that be (industry/companies) must make it go away. Helped by an ambitious prosecutor in search of career advancement and fame, the charge is swiftly changed to something that would stick: Mail fraud. Absurd? Not when powerful industry is involved and would stop at nothing to protect their interests.Tilda Swinton is wonderful here in the few dramatization scenes she's in. This is a film that was missed by many, but should be seen by all.

James Horak The Amazing Application of the Docudrama Genre in, Strange Culture (2007) (or, government exploitation of event to circumvent expectation of human rights in the fulfillment of social contract.)The making of, Strange Culture, establishes a genre form within a genre, so elegantly does it apply both a storyline and it's backing with factual event but incorporates the "director's cut" inside to the making at the same time. Although a feat not for the faint of heart, the production carries its flow in a highly clarifying manner and with the very warmth of both actors and those they portray, seemingly caught up in a labor of love. Even more astounding when the viewer begins to realize the concerns at hand are wrought upon the innocent by a monstrosity that has come to be made in and by the aftermath of America's single greatest outrage, 9/11, exploited to mindlessly move this society closer to a police state. The government's case against one man becomes solely a pursuit against both the academic world, the world of art and the rights of all to know from whence and by what manner their very food source comes; even the pseudo science employed in tampering with it genetically. A wake-up call we all need that touches upon every right we increasingly only presume to have. That a group of learned professionals, utilizing their own artistic talents, scholarly knowledge base and friendship as colleagues could put together such a talented art exhibition so incredibly poignant to the social and health concerns of their audience would obviously draw the concerns of the powers that be, the kind of elite that own Monsanto. In the end we do not know the designs of this most dubious actionable effort of government against its people was early-on instrumented. We do not know this, but we come to suspect it. The laudable performance of the talented and hauntingly beautiful Tilda Swinton, the superb choice of casting Thomas Jay Ryan in the lead role, and the participation and obvious concern of Peter Coyote are wonderful extra attractions. Writer/director, Lynn Hershman-Leeson, has done far more than a successful job. To attest to this is the placement of a scene in which a group of grad students in a class are asked, "does anyone know about the McCarthy Era?" When no one replies, we immediately know the utter importance of this film.JCH

tedg I came to this because its folded. It is consists of some unsophisticated notions about "them" corrupting food, some art about it, deliberately folded into the artifacts, a documentary about the making of that art, a profile of the artist, outside the documentary, a story of how "they" interpret the art as a murder plot and a documentary of that story.And it has Tilda Swinton whose presence usually signals something profound.But the film is too clumsy to do its work. You can roughly get the facts. Its another case of an event that becomes caught up in forces no one controls... that finds its way into film by way of combat with similar forces. Those forces come from story threads, conventions, urges that this filmmaker is as helpless to control as the protagonist.There's one interesting idea here. The character played by Tilda is the artist's wife, Hope. She is the genius of an art collaborative, who is not an artist herself in the sense of creating. She is the "explainer," who makes the collaborative work by providing the story hooks into what these guys do.The story is triggered by her death. The authorities arrive and without her storyweaving ability, put together their own conspiracy about a conspiracy. This film could have used her.This film could have been "The Lives of Others," with the Bush FBI in place of the Stasi.Still, even if the film fails it is far, far more powerful a message than Moore could put together.Ted's Evaluation -- 2 of 3: Has some interesting elements.

Seamus2829 At long last. A short,but compelling documentary that blows the lid off of two issues that have been making news of one kind or another: genetically modified foods (or GMO's),and the shoddy treatment of creative artists, in the guise of Homeland Security's usual draconian tactics. One element concerns an artist that was getting an art piece ready for an exhibition, that brought to light the concern of GMO's in our food. The artists wife suffers a heart attack & dies. When the artist phones the police for assistance,they arrive,finding the materials for the exhibit,along with some Arabic writing, and assume that the artist is some kind of a bio terrorist,and promptly arrests him. What follows is will break your heart & anger you. The screening I attended had a member of the ACLU present to answer questions that related to the incident (the court case is still pending).