Movie Review: Justin Bieber: Never Say Never

In honour of Canada’s newest national holiday, Justin Bieber’s Birthday, I decided to take in a documentary, specifically, Justin Bieber: Never Say Never - Director’s [Fan] Cut in 3D. 

Don't be fooled; Never Say Never is not a prequel to the 1983 James Bond film, Never Say Never Again. Rather, it's a documentary style look at the rise of teen-pop sensation Justin Bieber, with his sold-out Madison Square Garden performance as a backdrop for the story. However, Justin Bieber: Never Say Never is not so much a documentary as it is a commercial for the Bieber Media Empire. But if Old Spice has taught us anything, it’s that commercials can be legitimately entertaining narratives. 

EIFF Week: The Inside Job

From Academy Award nominated filmmaker, Charles Ferguson, comes Inside Job, the first film to expose the shocking truth behind the economic crisis of 2008. The global financial meltdown, at a cost of over $20 trillion, resulted in millions of people losing their homes and jobs. Through extensive research and interviews with major financial insiders, politicians and journalists, “Inside Job” traces the rise of a rogue industry and unveils the corrosive relationships which have corrupted politics, regulation and academia. Narrated by Academy Award® winner Matt Damon, Inside Job was made on location in the United States, Iceland, England, France, Singapore, and China - Official Synopsis

Everyone knows the buzzwords “subprime mortgage,” but this documentary shows exactly how the financial sector managed to make millions while millions of individuals lost everything. Ferguson takes no crap from his interview subjects, as seen in the trailer. In my screening, there was significant (and quite entertaining) audible disgust heard throughout the film as the web of corruption is slowly unveiled. The pacing is brisk, but slow enough for stupid people like me to understand the intricacies of international finance. The use of colourful graphs helps a lot.

The most satisfying thing about “The Inside Job” is seeing the guilty parties squirm in front of a camera. “I don’t need to answer that” is the most suspicious way you can answer a question like “doesn’t that seem criminal to you?” Iconic of the ineptitude found from government leadership is Frederic Mishkin. Mishkin resigned from his position as a Federal Reserve Governor at the height of the crisis and was asked why he resigned at such a sensitive time. His timid response was that he needed to make revisions to his textbook, and was needed back at Columbia University. When asked if he truly believed that the textbook was more important than the credit crisis, he begins to speak, stops, and looks at the interviewer as if he’s hearing his own words for the first time.

“The Inside Job” is an oddly thrilling and upsetting tale of intrigue, deception, greed and corruption.

EIFF Week: Erasing David

It’s Edmonton International Film Festival Week, and I’m going to make up for missing it last year by seeing as many movies as I can this time around. I’m looking forward to some good documentaries, independent films, and as many Canadian movies as I can stomach.

First up is the documentary “Erasing David” by UK director David Bond.

“David Bond lives in one of the most intrusive surveillance states in the world. He decides to find out how much private companies and the government know about him by putting himself under surveillance and attempting to disappear - a decision that changes his life forever. Leaving his pregnant wife and young child behind, he is tracked across the database state by two ruthless private investigators, on a chilling journey that forces him to contemplate the meaning of privacy - and the loss of it.” - Official Blurb

Everybody likes to think that privacy is important, but every time we skip over an EULA and agree to terms of service, we willingly inching our way towards a voluntary Ingsoc. To access services, both governmental and commercial, we send our information out into the cloud, hoping that the “s” in “https” is security enough to prevent us from being “dataraped” (a term used in the film). So what information about ourselves does the government, big business, and dudes with Google have access to? Everything, apparently.

In “Erasing David” David Bond hires two private investigators to find him in 30 days, givingthem only his name and an eerily over-sized picture to work with. Despite a sequence where he checks his jacket and backpack for bugs/tracers using a spoon, this Bond is no 007. Within the first few days of staking out David’s apartment, they go through his trash and discover, among other things, his credit card number (!), train tickets, and a rough outline of his travel plans. His or his wife’s Facebook page is public (seriously, David?), and from there they glean numerous potential contacts and pictures. Nevertheless, Bond has an engaging spirit, and whether he’s on hold for hours or spiralling into paranoid madness in a grass hut in Wales, he’s an entertaining character to watch.

There’s no moment of great shock and surprise in “Erasing David.” Everything brought forward in the film is something we already knew, could have guessed, or seems reasonable enough. Or at least that’s what we tell ourselves. Hey, the guy that was nailed for child pornography because someone two continents away stole his credit card and subscribed him to a child pornography site? Yeah, that happens, saw something like that in a movie, maybe. Why does this not horrify us!? Why are we not meticulously combing over our credit bills to make sure somebody in Indonesia isn’t destroying our lives over the phone!?

Moral of the story? Buy a damned SHREDDER, people. When I got home from the theatre, I went through every piece of scrap paper in my house. I found my social insurance number, credit card statements, address and date of birth on notes jotted around my computer desk. This is enough for someone to give me a criminal record and ruin my credit, possibly for life.

Track this documentary down and watch it. It’s playing On Thursdsay September 30 at 11:00 AM and Friday October 30 at 11:00 AM. Book the morning off, you’ve earned it. “Erasing David” won’t change your life, but it could change enough of your habits to save you major grief down the road.

Audience Grievance Level: None. It seems like people that show up to a documentary at 10 AM are the sort of dedicated audiences that I like to watch movies with.