rehaufler Reviews

TV Nation (1994–1995)

Michael Moore, American Hero

[28 March 2004]

This was a fantastic television show and Michael Moore demonstrated incredible courage in the very first episode where he endeavored to relocate his show to Mexico, and showed some of the GE facilities there (note this was an NBC show, and NBC is owned by GE, thus Michael Moore confronted his employer, in the first episode!!). Note that GE is one of, if not the largest defense contractors, and owns one of, if not the largest broadcast network. Can you spell conflict of interest?

Needless to say, this was a very short lived television show.

In each episode, the program was used to show provocative and ironic issues in this amazing country. Things showed are things that those responsible would very much prefer to keep secret. Is this good? I say flick on the lights and chase the rats away. That is what these shows did.

I you were going about your regular day and saw Michael Moore approaching with mike and camera, would you run away, or would you be delighted and wait and stay.

I would guess that much can be said about you depending on this hypothetical choice.

There are many of us that want justice in this country and many who want something else. What that is, I cannot even begin to guess (greed?).

I find that I fall in line with Michael Moore on most issues. I suspect that most Americans actually do, really, most Americans are not loud about their thoughts and beliefs. Maybe they should be. This show will help promote thinking about important and interesting stuff.

Gun control - good and necessary. Where I live, guns are used way too often to kill - it is a constant tragedy. US public education should be good - what kind of person disagrees with this? This is a country supposed to be FOR the people and should be BY the people - heck, that is is the preamble of the US constitution - and it is nowhere near the case.

If you want to contemplate these kinds of issues, pro or con, this is a television series for you.

Fear of a Black Hat (1993)

Wonderful creative effort

[28 March 2004]

This picture apparently was largely the work of the lead character: Rusty Cundieff. Mr. Cundieff wrote, directed, developed most of the "MTV"-like song and dance scenes, and, of course, starred in this film. This was a very good effort and one of my favorite all time films.

This is a parody "mocumentary" of the life and times of an up and coming rap group. This film shows the rise, fall, disintegration, and reuniting of this group.

Note - Mr. Cundieff has also worked with Michael Moore in the past on "TV Nation."

The Good Girl (2002)

Jennifer is too pretty for this movie

[7/10 · 30 August 2002]

The was a pretty good movie. Clearly, the high rating from the young male category is explained by the gratuitous sex scene. My only complaint about this film was that the lead actress was far too glam to be convincing in this part. She should have had worse hair/makeup. Otherwise, she did a fairly passable acting job, not the best in this film though, by no means. The remaining cast did excellent jobs posing as hayseed loosers. Most notable has to be John Carroll Lynch and Tim Blake. I think that Time Blake will never be able to play any other kinds of roles, after "Oh Brother" and this film, he is the archetypical redneck bubba. So familiar to all of us who have lived in such little pitiful towns were all these characters. Many Thanks to Mike White for this nice story.

Minority Report (2002)

Bad Bad Flawed Bad

[1/10 · 30 August 2002]

Contains Spoilers!! The explanation for why this films seems to be getting positive reviews must lie in infatuation with Tom Cruise and "High Techie lookin" movies. This film had serious flaws that I could not overlook. For example, what kind of database would be developed where the programmer would have overlooked the need to lock out known criminals/(former police officer) from the police station entryways; when everywhere else, he is immediately recognized. Ah. Too far of a leap of imagination for me. In addition, how stupid, lame brained does hollywood think that we are? We are basically spoonfed and led by the hand the whole way through the movie. I knew in the first 5 minutes that the old guy was behind all the trouble. There was about as much unexpected occurances in this movie as one finds in a Goosebumps book. Actually, I enjoyed the goosebumps movies better. This movie was almost as bad as the Matrix. What is happening to us? Are we all getting stupider and stupider, so much so that we need dummie movies.

Come-on lets all demand better stuff from hollywood and not go see garbage like this anymore.

Lulu on the Bridge (1998)

Do not watch, it is bad bad bad.

[1/10 · 1 June 2002]

Bad bad movie. Idiotic, adolescent dialog, stupid story, ridiculously sappy, unbelievable. A frightening and sad waste of marvelous acting talent. It is very difficult to make the connection between this and the wonderful "smoke" movies: ("Blue in the face" and "Smoke"). Only for that connection did I watch this waste of time. This may be the all time worst movie I have seen. It is worse than "The Deep End". By the time I got to the plot twist at the end, I could not care at all about any of the characters, I was just glad this horror had ended.