Title that makes no sense? Subject I had not heard about? Documentary? Surely Cropsey is not for me. Quite the contrary.

Cropsey is a documentary by Barbara Brancaccio and Joshua Zeman, who grew up on Staten Island. As kids (though they did not know each other at the time) each were familiar the urban legend of Cropsey,  an escaped mental patient who kidnapped and murdered children. He varies from story to story, sometimes having a hook and other times wielding an axe. On July 9, 1987 a young girl named Jennifer Schweiger is kidnapped. After Andre Rand is arrested as a suspect, it seems like Cropsey may not just be an urban legend. Rand was on orderly at Willowbrook, a mental institution for children who were mentally ill, or handicapped. In 1972, Geraldo Rivera did an investigative report on the facility, exposing the horrible treatment of the patients (and employees) and their living conditions. Ultimately, the facility is shut down and the building left abandoned. After sometime, some of the employees (Rand included) returned to live in the underground tunnel system of the facility. Several children in the area had disappeared in the 70′s and 80′s. When Schweiger goes missing, a group called Friends of Jennifer is formed. The group and police comb the area and find nothing. Rand, who is known to camp in the area, is arrested and is clearly out of his mind. A photograph of him in custody shows him drooling and completely gone. Because of his arrest record, many people immediately consider him guilty before he is even put on trial. Another search of the area is conducted, and suddenly Jennifer’s body is now found in a shallow grave near Rand’s camp. This oddly suspicious discovery seals his fate (he is still serving time today). Jennifer’s body is only one of the missing children to have ever been found. Cropsey presents evidence, interviews and case information all in attempt to determine whether Rand was innocent or guilty, and if so, if he acted alone. It also follows his trial some 20 years later of another girl whose body was never found, but he was accused of kidnapping.

Obviously, the subject of children being abducted and murdered is quite disturbing and this film is just that. From the facts of the cases themselves to actual footage from Geraldo’s expose, there is nothing very comfortable to watch here. Yet it is extremely compelling. Essentially what we have is two filmmakers attempting to find out if a tale from their youth is actually true. Within this is the possible implication that a town may have convicted an innocent man, simply because it would provide some closure to a highly disturbing series of events. There is a lot of evidence to argue either side, but not enough to clearly indicate Rand’s guilt or innocence (despite his incarceration).

This is an excellent film that will fascinate true crime fans. It is well put together and complimented with haunting music. Take a viewing of this film and choose what side you believe.

Catfish caught a lot of flack for being a fake documentary, an allegation the filmmakers deny. Whether or not it is real, is irrelevant. If it is, great. If not, then it was an excellent choice by the filmmakers to shoot it in the style of a documentary.

Brothers Nev and Ariel Schulman, as well as Henry Joost share an office in New York. They are photographers and filmmakers (Henry and Ariel directed this film). One of Nev’s photographs is published and he then receives  a painting of it from Abby, an 8 year old girl from Michigan. This leads to a “friendship” via Facebook. Eventually, Rev also becomes Facebook friends with her mother Angela and father Vince, as well as her sister Megan and brother Alex. Soon he speaks to Angela and Megan on the phone and begins a sort of romantic relationship with Megan. She sends him songs, they exchange messages and phone calls. An out of town assignment (and some chicanery) lead the 3 to travel to Michigan to pay visit Megan and her family. More information than this will completely ruin the experience of watching this film. In fact, the less you know about it, the better it will be.

This film is a bit remarkable. What should be (and I feared it was going to be for a second) a rather boring tale unravels into a very interesting, perfectly assembled and intriguing story, true or not. It has poignancy, humor, sadness that will invade you and yet make a smile creep to the corner of your mouth as you sit in that sadness. What’s even more impressive is you don’t even see it coming. Even if you may know the specifics of the “plot,” you cannot resist the humanity.

There are scenes in this film that cannot possibly be fake. Again, the story may be fabricated, and the film may use actual footage or interviews not relating to the story, but there are some very real, very touching moments. There is a scene (and really not that important of a scene at all) where Rev is talking to Abby in her room. There is nothing special at all in this scene, but watching Abby is fascinating. It is a very short scene, but watching her just do what little kids do (jumping on a mattress, speaking like an 8 year old) adds an exponential amount of heaviness to the ever surprising story. There are other scenes like this that evoke a significant emotional investment as the film concludes.

Because this is a documentary, we know as much as the filmmakers do, and never more. This makes the mundane seem almost exciting, as they try to piece together a mystery that would bore the shit out of the CSI crowd.

Very unassuming film. I wouldn’t call it genius, but I can tell you, there was not one thing in it that I didn’t care for. It is just good.

I was just recently looking up information on a movie that is scheduled to come out in 2011 called Never Say Never.  Based on the title, I assumed it was going to be some kind of remake or reboot of the pseudo-Bond film Never Say Never Again from 1983.  Oh boy, was I ever wrong.  Turns out it is a film about the life a career of Justin Bieber.  You know, the seventeen year old pop singer with a music career spanning an entire less than two years?

Honestly, the only things I knew about this kid before writing this article what that he was a singer and that he was popular with squealing pre-teen girls.  The mind- boggling bit about this film is that it is a documentary/biopic about his life and career.  There are only two reasons I can think of for making a biographical film about a boy this early in his life.  Either he has some sort of terminal illness that he hasn’t told anyone about yet and is not long for this world, or the producers and promoters in charge of this project realize that he is a flash-in-the-pan pop star and need to make a movie quick before his marketability is lost and Bieber fades into obscurity and alcoholism.  Don’t believe me?  Well, the movie is also coming out in ‘Real D’ 3D for no other reason than to insure that all the kiddies (excuse me, all the parents of the kiddies) will have to pay $12.00 a pop to watch this pointless fiasco.  No, this venture doesn’t have the stink of “Cash Grab” radiating from it at all.  Honestly, what has he done his life that so damn amazing that it must be captured for ever and always in movie form?  Pop singers like him have been chewed up by the recording industry and spat out like cheap bubble gum for decades.  He never had to cut off his own arm with a pocket knife to escape from a canyon like Aron Ralston.  He’s no Charlie Wilson, or Julia Childs even.  I will concede that, through the tiny amount of research that I have done, Justin looks like a gifted musician with a lot of potential.  Hell, at some point in the future he may become the greatest singer/songwriter in the history of mankind, or he could discover the cure for AIDS or male-pattern baldness. (anything is possible)  But, at this point in his career, he’s just a mouthpiece for a record label that’s squeezing as much money as possible out of excitable tweens with horribly bad taste in music.  The only thing that’s even remotely different from the legions of garish pop musicians that have come before is that he was discovered on You Tube.  Seriously, that’s it.  If you’re so much of a sheep that you’re excited about seeing this film (in unnecessary 3D, no less) then you diverse to be separated from your money, but anyone that can think for himself or herself is going to stay far, far away from this trite piece of trash, and rightfully so.

If you think Inception is a film likely to start many a discussion after viewing, you should check out Zeitgeist. Then share your opinion of it with someone. Especially if you are of the opinion that the film is accurate, and that Jesus may have never existed. That discussion is sure to go beyond a mere critique of the film and perhaps even incite violence.

Zeitgeist is a documentary conspiracy theory film. That being said, it does not ask your opinion, it tells you what’s what, as perceived by the filmmaker Peter Joseph. It is sectioned in 3 parts: The Greatest Story Ever Told, All the World’s a Stage, and Don’t Mind the Men Behind the Curtain.

Part I deals with Christianity and claims that it is ultimately not “real,” but rather comprised of things that come from other religions, astrology, astronomy. It demonstrates this by comparing certain events (Jesus’s resurrection, the fact that he was born of a virgin, etc) to events in other theologies that have similar if not the same beliefs of their respective deities or saviors.  It states things like the story of Jesus is taken from the Sun (in fact the narrator keeps using the phrase “Son of God” to accentuate this) and how the 3 stars of Orion’s belt (Three Kings) align with Sirius, and point toward the Sun, on the 25th of December. On this date, the Sun starts to shine more, thus the birth of the Sun/Son. The basic idea of this section is that Christianity, and therefore Jesus, is a myth.

Part II tells us the the 9/11 attacks were an “inside job.” It explains that the attacks on the World Trade Center were facilitated by our own government and that quite a bit of evidence and questionable facts were purposely ignored. For example, it is stated in the film that the towers were designed in such a fashion that they could withstand the force of planes crashing in to them, and that their structural collapse matched exactly that of a building that would have been commercially demolished. Furthermore, Tower 7, was never hit by a plane, and yet it collapsed as well. We hear from several civilians that were interviewed that there were explosions in the basements of the towers before the planes hit, suggesting that they were rigged with explosives. The basic idea of this section, is that the Government orchestrated certain acts of terror to allow us to become frightened and let the government pass any law it wants under the guise that it will protect us from terrorist attacks. In addition to that, that we will be less cautious about them wanting us to go to war, which then segues in to Part III.

Part III explains that the Federal Reserve Bank controls all. That we purposely engaged in behaviors that resulted in or helped to sustain WWI, WWII and Vietnam as it would make more profit for them. In a particularly interesting part of this section, the film states that there is something called the North American Union in which there basically are no borders that separate the U.S. from Canada and Mexico, and that there soon will be something called an “Amero,” which will become the entire continent’s currency. In addition to that, the North American Union will join together with other Unions and will be a “One World Government,” (which oddly enough, is an event some Christians believe to be a sign of the End Times) and will lead to the implanting of RFID chips in to everyone (another popular Christian belief that indicate the End Times) to track them (these actually already exist and are placed in passports, among other things). Once this occurs, our U.S. Constitution is then irrelevant. The basic idea of this section is that, generally speaking, the Government has plans that are in motion that we do not know about that could be quite devastating to our current way of life, and that in fact, we are not as free as we think we are. That we are brainwashed by media.

Now, I don’t subscribe to any particular religion. I don’t follow politics or the news as much as I probably should. However, this is quite an intriguing and somewhat alarming film. The filmmaker certainly backs his claims up with clips of interviews, speeches, press conferences and publications. How accurate they are, I don’t know. For example, in Part I, supposedly some of his claims about other religions are not entirely true. Overall the message is one that I think most, if not all of us can agree with: The Government is a corrupt, greedy and law breaking entity. While the filmmaker refers to Christianity as a myth, I think one could take a less specific message from this analysis and just resign to the idea that religion is mysterious and open to multiple interpretations.

The claims made in this film are certain to piss people off, but are valid concerns and definitely worth listening to, even if only for the 118 minute runtime. Perhaps my favorite part was when it was suggested that there is no law stating that we have to file taxes, and two former IRS agents claim that they had not paid taxes in years, one since 1999.