I’ll start with the one I like the least.  Waiting for Superman is very entertaining, beautifully shot, and highly manipulative.  Not surprising because Davis Guggenheim is best known for An Inconvenient Truth, which I liked but would not classify as subtle!

Actually, Waiting for Superman reminded me of Bowling for Columbine, in the sense that Michael Moore threw out a lot of narrative dots but didn’t really connect them.  Waiting for Superman is certainly engaging as it shows kids from around the country trying to get accepted into high-performing charter schools where there are many more applicants than seats, but the film is fueled by what I consider to be a major deceit.

The fact that these charter schools are outliers is glossed over.  Most charter schools do not perform at significantly higher levels than public schools, so the net result is that director Davis Guggenheim gives us a reductive look at the problems plaguing education in America.

Go see it.  Decide what you think.  Join the discussion about public education.

My favorite recent documentary is The Tillman Story.  This is a terrific film.  It’s rated R for language, but this is a colorful family with a penchant for salty language.  The film examines the life of NFL player Pat Tillman who left football to enlist in the military and went on to fight in Iraq and Afghanistan before he was killed by friendly fire, a fact that was initially covered up by the military until his family – especially his mother – fought relentlessly to learn the truth.  Tillman’s mother is one of my new heroes.

The Tillman Story inspires me – makes me want to go out and make a good film about a tough subject.  That also goes for Inside Job.

Charles Ferguson looks at the causes and effects of the recent financial meltdown.  We all know it was a mess, but Inside Job provides a lot of context to what many of us consider dry and complicated issues, and Ferguson does it with surprising clarity and creativity.

Inside Job is sure to make a bunch of people angry – those would be people who have benefitted disproportionately from recent financial policies and practices as well as the rest of us who have paid for the excesses of others.  The film is extremely well-crafted.