You are here: Home / Archives for Reviews / Films

Films

The best documentaries, feature films and shorts.

Peak oil, adapting for big changes ahead

By February 22, 2012
Vintage Pump

Peak oil. What changes might it bring and what mind shifts may we have to make to prepare ourselves to face these challenges, both in a practical sense and psychologically? This is the basis for Peak Moment TV Conversation' 351 with Energy Bulletin co-editor Bart Anderson. With the possibility of such dramatic change to how we live, how we interact with the world, and even how we think and view things, what do we need to do to make this transition easier? School's in Anderson urges … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Films, Reviews Tagged With: , , , ,

From the vault: Review, Soylent Green

By February 21, 2012
Soylent Green smog

Admit it: you love Soylent Green. Whenever it appears on any late-night television schedule, fans of the cult film have to watch. Not because it’s a good movie. With its cheesy “futuristic” music and leading man Charlton Heston’s faux tough-guy dialogue, Soylent Green is an easy target to lampoon. But its impact – and its message – continues to be surprisingly durable. Apocalypse bites The year is 2022. Scarcity – of every resource – is a fixed fact of life for the 40 … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Films, Reviews Tagged With: , , ,

The Grey, a peak oil flick quick take

By February 16, 2012
The Grey.

John Ottway has the job at the end of the world. He's a sharpshooter who protects oil rig workers from animal predators lurking in the wilderness surrounding a remote Alaskan oil facility in the new film, The Grey. When Ottway (Liam Neeson) and some of his co-workers workers board a light plane for Nome, he finds out quickly that his knowledge of wolf behavior will come in handy. The plane crashes and he and the handful of survivors face an ultimate battle of survival with no fuel, food or GPS … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Films, Reviews Tagged With: , , ,

Young couple finds freedom in simple living

By February 14, 2012
Smith and Strober

Peak oil isn't all about Saudi Arabia depletion curves and what's for lunch at the annual ASPO conference. In fact, may folks still don't know much about peak oil. I didn't know about it until recently. My casual online search for ideas about how to simplify my home led me, via Peak Moment, to so much more than I could ever have imagined. I found an episode about a couple who were simplifying, which was my introduction to Peak Moment, and also to the issue of peak oil. More than 200 … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Films, Reviews Tagged With: , , , ,

Peak kitsch: “The Crisis of Civilization”

By January 31, 2012
Carbon Man

An ongoing issue in the peak oil world is how to tell the story of declining non-renewable resources in a way that's accessible to a wider audience, while remaining credible to experts. To reach out without dumbing down. Most experts on energy and the economy have already made up their minds on the financial crisis, global warming and peak oil and no one documentary is going to shake the faith of these stalwarts. But the public is a different story and there's plenty of room there for … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Films, Reviews Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Review of Growthbusters: Hooked on Growth 

By January 24, 2012
Growthbusters

Does growth always mean prosperity? To people who have been paying attention to economic and environmental trends in the last decade or two, much of the basic information in the film Growthbusters: Hooked on Growth won't come as a surprise. We know our farmland, fisheries, timber supply, atmosphere and economy are all in decline. And we may see that driving all of these trends is the relentless expansion of human population, now over seven billion. Who you gonna call? What Growthbusters … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Films, Reviews Tagged With: , , ,

2012: Peak preparedness or plutocratic pepper spray?

By January 6, 2012
Rap News screenshot

The popularity of prophecies from the Mayan calendar and alien invasions to financial collapse, oil crash and nuclear war in the Mideast all suggest that 2012 is the year that the industrial world has picked for its own final reckoning. And if you believe Robert Foster in the latest episode of Rap News #Occupy 2012, this could be the year when humanity gets the ultimate thumbs up or down. Will the global #Occupy movement succeed in overthrowing corporate control of the economy and … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Films Tagged With: , , ,

When down is up: Review of “The Power of Community”

By December 22, 2011
Cuba gardening

It's only a few years old, but The Power of Community: How Cuba Survived Peak Oil by Faith Morgan and The Community Solution studio has already become a classic documentary in the peak oil world. This short (53 minutes) award winning 2007 documentary packs a punch in telling how, in the wake of the collapse of the Soviet Union, Cuba lost over half of its oil supplies very quickly, essentially making it the only culture in the world to have experienced what amounted to a direct peak … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Films, Reviews Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

A different kind of ecotourism

By November 29, 2011
YERT

Twelve months, fifty states, three rules. No more than one shoebox of garbage can be compiled each month, including recyclable materials. No incandescent light. Approximately twenty-five gallons of water per day, per person. This is the basic premise behind Mark Dixon’s inspiring documentary Yert: Your Environmental Road Trip. Hitting the road Dixon, along with couple Ben and Julie Evans, embarked on a year-long road trip in 2007 to explore every state in search of extraordinary … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Films, Reviews Tagged With: , , , ,

Take shelter

By November 3, 2011
Michael Shannon

“I’m afraid something’s coming – something that’s not right. I can’t explain it. I just need you to believe it.” Curtis LaForche, an excavation worker in a small Ohio town, has a troubling secret. He feels brown, gelatinous rain coating his skin. He sees roiling, funnel clouds on a bright, sunny day. Swarms of black birds darken the sky and plummet, dead, to earth. Earthquake tremors shake the ground under his feet. His problem is that none of his family or friends can see or … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Films, Reviews Tagged With: , ,