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BOWLING FOR COLUMBINE Documentary or Fiction? The first misconception to correct about Michael Moore's The Big One is that it is a documentary. It's not ­ Moore doesn't make those. As was proven after the release of Moore's debut, Roger & Me, the director uses real people, places, and circumstances, then stages events (see Harlan Jacobson's piece in the November/ December 1989 Film Comment for more details). Reality ­ a fragile commodity in any "fact-based" motion picture ­ takes a back seat to what will play well on a movie screen. As a result, it's best to consider Moore's films...

The first misconception to correct about Michael Moore's The Big One is that it is a documentary. It's not ­ Moore doesn't make those. As was proven after the release of Moore's debut, Roger & Me, the director uses real people, places, and circumstances, then stages events (see Harlan Jacobson's piece in the November/ December 1989 Film Comment for more details). Reality ­ a fragile commodity in any "fact-based" motion picture ­ takes a back seat to what will play well on a movie screen. As a result, it's best to consider Moore's films as entries into the ever-growing...

did anyone just see this crap?

<p>OSCAR producers - already biting their nails over the possibility of postponing the ceremonies in the event of an Iraq invasion - are also struggling to prevent Hollywood's big night from turning into one big fat anti-war rally.</p> <p>Tinseltown insiders say the Academy wants to head off leftist political rants that might turn off the TV audience -and give major agita to advertisers who have ponied up more than $75 million to buy advertising spots on the show.</p>

Moore's book was originally shelved by US publishers A satirical anti-war attack on President George Bush and the US political machine was the surprise winner of the top prize at the British Book Awards. Stupid White Men, by author and filmmaker Michael Moore, took the Book of the Year award. Moore's book beat Roy Keane's bestselling autobiography, one of the fancied favourites, as well as Booker winner, Life of Pi, and Ian McEwan's Atonement. Moore's triumph was boosted by a strong telephone vote from the public, who were invited to participate in the awards for the first time this year....

Director hits out at Bush, thanks France PARIS: Michael Moore's controversial documentary Bowling for Columbine won the best foreign film category at France's Cesars movie awards, and the US film-maker used the occasion to deliver a scathing attack on US policy toward Iraq. “Thank you (France) for having the courage to stand up and say no” to US threats to attack Iraq, Moore said to cheers from the audience. “One of the best definitions of an ally, of a friend, is that your friend is the one who can tell you when you're wrong,” he said. “So thank you for...

I've long loathed Michael Moore's politics, but I've always cut him some slack (believe it or not). I've defended him in the press, in that Wired article for which I was interviewed. I've refrained from gratuitous name-calling (with one exception which I later retracted) and I've made it a point to read the entirety of his writings and to give him credit when he's right. Those days are over, not because I no longer believe in those methods but because I no longer feel Moore deserves their application. I now realize that he is a very interesting psychological case study....

Tim Blair: The awful truth? It's a crockDecember 30, 2002CHILDREN'S television is quite an art. It's not just a matter of throwing together simple tunes, basic storylines and bright colours. Successful children's TV also requires the presence of a large, formless creature, an entity usually combining equal elements of human and bovine. The cow-beast is crucial. So it is with Bowling for Columbine, Michael Moore's Cannes-winning documentary on the wrongs of guns, capitalism, and America, now screening in Australia. The simple tunes and basic storylines are in place. Moore himself plays the Dorothy the Dinosaur role, clumsily loping about in...