Movies, TV shows recently released on DVD


by Paul William Tenny

morgan-spurlock.jpgIt's a real shame that 30 Days doesn't air on one of the big four network where it could be seen by so many of the people that need to see it. You see this isn't just entertainment, it's also educational. We see people transformed in virtually every episode as they experience things they've dismissed and disliked all of their lives without ever understanding them. That it happens so often has kind of spoiled us and left us, or at least me, unprepared for an episode where an anti-gay, anti-civil rights woman spent 30 days living with a gay couple that were raising kids, something she vehemently opposes.

Despite seeing plainly that these two guys were fantastic parents and that their kids were just like her own and anybody else's for that matter, all she did was dig in with her hate and ignorance and in the end came out even more disgusting than she went in. It was a pretty big shock since that's really not the norm for this show, but I guess it more accurately reflects reality than the ones where people come to their senses.
Perhaps the episode I found the hardest to watch was when series creator Morgan Spurlock along with his girlfriend themselves spent 30 days trying to live on minimum wage. For me personally, seeing the laid-off programmer spent 30 days working at a call center in India was also very enlightening. That really opened my eyes as I imagine it did for many people. It's real easy to become righteous and angry about out sourcing until you see how the people getting those jobs are living, and if you've never seen that episode, let me end this by saying that describing what they do as "living" is a bit of a stretch.

No, it's a huge one actually.

That episode is the second of the DVD set featured below, along with one on immigration where a xenophobic anti-immigrant advocate lives with a family of illegals for 30 days and once the dehumanizing anonymous hate peels away, it's actually sad and difficult to see them part ways. While this guy gets to go back to his life, they still have to living their lives hiding in plain sight.

Do yourself a favor and check out 30 Days -- it's airing new episodes on FX this month -- you'll be very glad that you did.

Television


Movies

Though I've seen neither, I'd like to pick up Vantage Point and War, Inc. VP shows us a Presidential assassination attempt from the perspective of a handful of different people, in sequence, I guess just for the hell of it. It didn't get good reviews and didn't blow open the box office, but it could make for amusing evening fodder on a slow weekend.

War, Inc. was written and directed by John Cusack, according to Wikipedia, this was an informal sequel to Grosse Point Blank. He's a hitman who gets sidetracked from his target by a hot girl, blah blah. Probably funny, and I love John Cusack so who knows, maybe more weekend fodder.

Next week there is a damn fine selection of TV shows, including one I need to get ASAP: the fourth season of Stargate Atlantis. Woohoo!
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