Trumbo
"After failing to cooperate with the House Un-American Activities Committee in 1947, successful screenwriter Dalton Trumbo was blacklisted in Hollywood. This documentary details Trumbo's life through personal letters, interviews and archival footage. Well-known actors such as Joan Allen, Brian Dennehy, Paul Giamatti, David Strathairn, Donald Sutherland and others lend their voices to readings of Dalton Trumbo's personal letters." - Netflix

This documentary was more interesting than some I've seen with the various actors reading Dalton Trumbo's letters, some of which were pretty funny. We all know something about the blacklisting of Hollywood writers and others, but the way it is presented, from the point of view of the Trumbo family, I found more informative than what I've seen before. Trumbo tells us that the moment you hear your name is on a list of suspected communists, you need to try to sell your house and liquidate all your assets before the word gets out and the property value plummets.

There were film clips from Trumbo-written films, like Spartacus (the scene where all the slaves claim I'M Spartacus, I'MSpartacus). If you have a Netflix subscription, you can watch this movie on their Instant View feature via your computer.

Capitalism: A Love Story

Michael Moore's latest movie about corporate greed. It's makes some excellent points. I was glad that he didn't blindly champion the Democratic party - he pointed out where they have shown their true colors as political hacks every bit as bad as the Republicans. One of the issues he brought up was how little airline pilots are paid. They really do have crappy salaries, so low that the younger ones qualify for food stamps, and we trust them with our lives. Captain Sully testified before Congress about how little experience pilots get and how low paid they are. He talked about a program called Pennies for Pilots, but I'm not sure it's a real thing or something catchy he made up.

I know some folks are going to be angry at me, and I'm not saying capitalism is all bad, but I did come away with the impression that it promotes greed as the goal. Just because a person can think of ways to exploit the masses by offering them easy home loans that become unsupportable, it doesn't mean it's the right thing to do.

What is Michael Moore's antidote to Capitalism? No, it's not Socialism, it's Democracy! According to him, the election of Barack Obama was the revolt of the masses against capitalism.

This was intriguing: Michael Moore: "I refuse to live in a country that supports capitalism."
Wow! I'm thinking, is Michael Moore going to leave the country? Nope. He's 'going to do something about it.' This involved trying to make a citizens arrest of folks on Wall Street including trying to wrap yellow crime scene tape around the banks. He does get a little carried away sometimes.