NA 221 Films

At the top of Episode 221 John brought up three films, all of which fall into the category of "DON'T READ ANYTHING ABOUT THESE FILMS IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN THEM"

Soylent Green is an underrated classic from the greatest period of American filmmaking (the early 1970's).  This is one of those films that if you don't know anything about it, then you are in for a treat.  If you have NOT seen the film then DON'T read any of the above link or watch the trailer below...just get it and push play.

Trailer

Fight Club is a fascinating film on several levels, the first one being: "How did this film get made?"  The idea at the center of the climax is destroying the record of American debt so that everyone gets to start back at zero.  Other themes include what it means to live an actual, meaningful life when you are stuck in the deep end of a consumer culture that only wants your money.  This film has also inspired pages and pages of writing about the underlying philosophical ideas within the film.  A good starting place for reading on this topic is here.

Trailer

The Manchurian Candidate is an unquestionable classic!  The 2004 remake is quite respectable as well and even works Gulf War Syndrome into the plot in a very organic way.  The original has plenty of conspiracy rumors attached to it, especially since the film was released in October of 1962.  In the following few years there were several assassinations of major political and social activists (Medgar Evers, JFK, MLK, RFK) by "crazed, lone assassins", or possible Manchurian Candidates. 

Trailer



The above three films are also tied together in that they make you wonder what kinds of subtle ideas the directors (and screenwriter, producer, actor, etc.) included in the films.  Nothing on a film set is going to happen by accident (save for a bit of spontaneous dialogue).  Especially with a film like Fight Club that has so many digital effects and complicated camera setups.  These films were also all financed by major Hollywood studios, which further begs the question of: "Why was anyone allowed to make a film that has brainwashed assassins killing political figures or anarchist organizations blowing up multiple buildings?".

Richard Fleischer (director of Soylent Green) was and "old studio" director, which means he showed up to work at a studio and directed whatever was assigned to him.  John Frankenheimer started as a director in the days of live TV and then moved into feature filmmaking in the late 1950's.  His films do vary in quality, the best of them are mainly the ones that were adapted from novels (like The Manchurian Candidate).  David Fincher (director of Fight Club) is certainly on board with the themes of No Agenda, which is obvious with just a cursory glance of his music video turned feature film list of credits so far...especially when you put his upcoming film into the mix: The Social Network (the story of Facebook).

At the end of the show, Adam and John also mentioned the fiction film Chinatown (another classic American film from the glorious 70's) and the documentary Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired.







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NA 220 Film

It pains me to post it, but John brought up the film Twilight and how the plot plays out as a metaphor for the business world.

In case you successfully avoided it until now, here's the trailer:





Salt and The Mothman Prophecies also came up right at the end of the show...as well as Mel Gibson.  A quick IMDB search of Mr. Gibson reveals a hilarious (I'm guessing non-Illuminati) film coming up for him, enjoy the films description!

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The Histoy of the "Oil Cabal" (part 2)

The "Oil Cabal" keeps coming up on No Agenda due to their coverage of the Gulf...so I'm posting part two in this video series a little earlier than I had planned. 
Part two of this series examines what happens when competing "Empires of Oil" duke it out in true capitalist fashion. After seeing the power of Rockefeller's Standard Oil in part 1, we get to see how Shell Oil and Royal Dutch merge and then go to war with Standard. Elites vs. Elites. At the same time, we see how the substance known as oil begins to transform everyday life for us slaves.

Here is Part II (the other parts will be posted on a once a month basis):




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NA 219 Film

Reefer Madness came up in the context of the upcoming California Proposition 19.  It was originally titled Tell Your Children, and if you haven't seen it...well here you go (it's around 68 minutes long):





If you have seen this then you might be interested in catching up with an updated, campy, musical version that Showtime produced a few years ago called Reefer Madness: The Musical.  Here is the Trailer:





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Sweet Misery: A Poisoned World

Adam and John have been covering the "Salt Wars" more recently, however this topic is so new that I'm not sure there has been time for anyone to make a documentary.  This film explores Aspartame (which came up again on Episode 218) and it's negative effects on human health. 

Here is the film:



Also mentioned in Episode 218 was the documentary Cocaine Cowboys.  Aside from just being a jaw-dropping, awesome film, it is also unique within the world of documentaries in that it also has a sequel, Cocaine Cowboys II. 

Trailer:



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The Power of Nightmares (Part 1)

Adam Curtis has been working through his own brand of documentary films for years now. This is the first one I saw and it is still my personal favorite. He walks through the steps that would be called "Shadow Puppet Theatre" on No Agenda. His premise is that those in power have figured out that The Power of Nightmares is good for keeping us slaves in line. The more we're scared, the more we will seek leaders that PRESENT themselves as strong and powerful men (and it is usually men). The problem is, those in charge seem to have forgotten that they created the nightmares and are now acting as if the nightmares are all real.

The Power of Nightmares: The Rise of the Politics of Fear
Here is Part I: Baby It's Cold Outside:



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Ayn Rand on Film

For this weeks selection, we're going back to 1949.  The Fountainhead was directed by King Vidor and adapted by Ayn Rand.  Gary Cooper is at the top of his game as Howard Roark, the uncompromising architect who refuses to conform to societies rules.  It's no Atlas Shrugged, but it will do until that film comes out (supposedly) in 2011. 

Here is the Trailer:


UPDATE (8.02.10): IMDB now has a cast list, a release date and says that Atlas Shrugged is in post-production.

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