Borgarkeri A bit overrated, but still an amazing film

TaryBiggBall It was OK. I don't see why everyone loves it so much. It wasn't very smart or deep or well-directed.

Yash Wade Close shines in drama with strong language, adult themes.

Matylda Swan It is a whirlwind of delight --- attractive actors, stunning couture, spectacular sets and outrageous parties.

juneebuggy Thought provoking and unsettling documentary, which profiles Canadian photographer Edward Burtynsky as he travels to China to explore the profound environmental impact of that country's industrial revolution.I think I would classify this as "horror" actually, it's very disturbing and makes me wonder why I bother with my little bit of recycling with the state of things in China.Not much of a "profile" on the artist, he's just there taking pictures and doing the odd voice over. Came across a bit long winded and dry in places too, and oddly filmed in black and white in sections which I found distracting.The ship breakers scene in Bangladesh stands out as does the brick by brick (by hand) levelling of entire cities, in order to make way for shipping lanes and the Three Gorges Dam. That was pretty horrifying due to the scale involved. I have seen other (better) documentaries on these subjects and as I said this really doesn't profile the artist at all. 06.13

TheBlueHairedLawyer I love pollution, and polluting things on purpose. There's nothing more wonderful than seeing the silhouette of a smokestack at sunset, or the smell of coal, or the sound of heavy manufacturing.I was really hoping that this would be in favor of pollution, and ended up really disappointed. As usual, it's subtle but still typical anti-pollution propaganda, environmental extremism at one of its lowest points.I'm sure my review will be voted down by countless people, especially with my point of view on pollution, but I've never cared about the planet and I would at least like some free speech on the matter.As I should have expected, it had the typical enviro-message of alarmists everywhere: "the planet is certainly doomed and it's all your fault unless you help get rid of pollution".Typical.My advice (if you still want it), if you want to be a smart person, whether you're against pollution or not, watch A Plague on Our Children, Gasland, Beyond Pollution and Lois Gibbs: the Love Canal. Afterwards, watch The Great Global Warming Swindle, Mine Your Own Business: the Dark Side of Environmentalism, Not Evil Just Wrong and Fracknation. It's the best way to see points of view from both environmentalists and eco-sinners with the least amount of biased information. Don't watch this, it's just a load of hippie extremism.

Roland E. Zwick Edward Burtynsky is a Canadian photographer who makes art out of the least "artful" objects imaginable. Everyday items such as crates, boxes, metal containers, etc. - items which most of us perceive as utilitarian at best and dismiss as being utterly without aesthetic merit - are instead converted into glorious objects d'art by Burtynsky's camera. He achieves this result by focusing on the recurring colors and geometric patterns that are apparently ever present in the industrialized world - for those perceptive enough to spot them, that is. Even heaps of compacted trash can become objects of beauty when seen through Burtynsky's lens (but didn't we already know that from "Wall-E"?). He is particularly interested in photographing areas like mines and shipyards where Man has already made incursions into nature - which may explain why at times even the people in his pictures (i.e. the workers in those places), with their uniform clothing and robotic movements, become part of the industrial landscape."Manufactured Landscapes," a documentary about Burtynsky's work, has much of the feel of a "Koyaanisqatsi" about it as it dazzles us with its richly variegated kaleidoscope of images and patterns. Indeed, director Jennifer Baichwal and cinematographer Peter Mettler capture the essence of the original photos in purely cinematic terms, as their own camera records Burtynsky and his assistant running photo shoots at a factory in China, a dockyard in Bangladesh, and the construction site at the massive Three Rivers Gorge Dam project in China. With their fluid camera-work, the filmmakers match point-for-point the beauty of Burtynsky's images. In fact, the movie opens with a stunning eight-minute-long tracking shot of a Chinese factory in which hundreds of similarly dressed workers toil away in perfectly symmetrical and color-coordinated rows.The movie does less well when Burtynsky gets around to articulating the "themes" of his work, which, quite frankly, come out sounding confused, contradictory and decidedly half-baked at best. But it is as a purely aesthetic experience, highlighting image and form, that "Manufactured Landscapes" resonates most. In the case of Burtynsky, perhaps, a picture really IS worth a thousand words.

NetflixZZZZ Mesmerizing, breathtaking and horrifying, this hauntingly beautiful film is the "Apocalypse Now" without fiction. Slow in pace, quiet in mood, it gives good glimpses of the poisoned patches of Earth that may well be signs of an inevitable doom.There is no doubt in my mind -- the nature is plagued and we are the disease. Greed, the very essence of humanity that drives evolution and progress, has turned us into something like cancer, on its way to consume the host and die with it...Manufactured Landscapes is quite an unforgettable viewing experience - at least I'll never regard my toaster and iron the same way again.