BootDigest Such a frustrating disappointment

AniInterview Sorry, this movie sucks

JinRoz For all the hype it got I was expecting a lot more!

Humaira Grant It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

keelhaul-80856 How this movie is rated 8/10 I'll never know. For some unbelievable reason, the USA gave Michael Moore a platform as some visionary film maker, and boy does he run wild with it. Some things Moore has pointed out about US foreign policy make sense. That is about where it stops. He makes fun of a bank for giving away guns to new customers, as if this is horrible! Who cares? Tons of people own guns in America, and practice our 2nd Amendment rights, and lawfully/safely, I might add. Moore is in some fruity love affair with Canada, and thinks we should follow them, and he parades around with dishonest interviews and hypocritical views. He stands around, angrily asking K-Mart and random stores, why they sell bullets and guns. Like, seriously??? It is K-Mart's fault that some idiots took some guns from their parents or wherever and murdered people like psychopaths? I would have told him he is a moron and walked off. People are killed from cars constantly, poisons, cigs, alcohol, knives, hammers, big pharma, accidents, etc. For some reason, the only people to blame are gun owners when a small amount of idiots(with no morals or trained by a stupid society) hurt someone. Moore is nothing but a fat, brainless loser masquerading as a master of cinema and political commentary, which he fails at on many levels. Again, I can agree with some of his criticism of US warmongering, but his gun control hard-on and self-righteous, sissy baloney dream for the USA(which was born out of revolution and violence anyway) is just too much to take. Plus, if he and Rosie O'Donnel donated their body fat, they could use 400 tons of lard to feed the starving children. This "documentary" is for low-IQ people who fight from a keyboard and teleprompter, who worship at the gun control lobby, yet depend on men with guns to keep them safe, secure their resources, and disarm their political opponents. Designed for brainwashed robots who think that disarming regular citizens and pretending we can sit around like Canada or Switzerland will solve everyone's problems, instead of standing firm and teaching actual morals and Constitutional values.

atnorton-88245 First, Michael Moore is an extraordinary documentarian, making an adventure out of every topic he tackles, rather than a series of talking heads. Bowling for Columbine tackles gun violence in the U.S. with simple, open-ended question: Why the U.S.? What is it about the culture and history as well as access to guns of the United States that makes this country such a dangerous place to live with so many gun deaths compared to all other industrialized countries? His answer is not a simplistic one - it is not simply that we have a 2nd amendment and people misinterpret it as so many anti-gun folks might say. Canadians own about as many firearms and yet they don't have nearly the rate of gun-related deaths. Although many will view this film as anti-gun, I think the film is much more sophisticated than those who feel threatened even by the question "why" understand the film? Moore, in fact, does not come to any hard and fast conclusions, perhaps other than that we in the U.S. live in a culture of fear and there are historical conditions, including racial segregation and economic conditions that we as Americans have not come close to fully addressing. This documentary is a must-see for anyone concerned about the number of gun related deaths and injuries and even for those who believe the 2nd amendment protects a person's right to bear arms, but feels that no "right" is without some reasonable restrictions.

tomgillespie2002 In the wake of the recent shootings in Virginia by a masked gunman live on air and the seemingly endless mass killings in America taking place in schools, movie theatres and churches, it seemed like the perfect time to re-visit Bowling for Columbine, Michael Moore's breakthrough documentary on gun violence in America. It has been 16 years since the massacre of 12 students and 1 teacher at Columbine High School in Columbine, Colorado, and 13 years since Michael Moore won the Best Documentary Oscar for his extremely provocative and shocking film. The main question is has anything changed? The answer is a resounding no. In fact, gun violence seems more out of control than ever.Starting out tongue-in-cheek, Bowling for Columbine begins by telling a few amusing, almost too-ridiculous-to-be-true anecdotes highlighting America's love of guns. Moore opens an account in a bank, only to be rewarded with a rifle for doing so. and begging the question of just how sensible it is to be handing out guns in a bank. We then learn of a couple of men who thought it would be funny to dress up their dog in hunting gear with a rifle strapped to it's back, only for the gun to fall off and shoot one of them in the leg. These early moments are hilarious as Moore interviews the type of crazy-haired lunatics who should have their own soundtrack of twanging banjos, but serve to set up the audience for something more serious and all the more troubling.Is America's violent history to blame for the amount of gun deaths that occur every year? Most large countries, such as Britain, Germany and Japan, were built on bloodshed and have committed recent atrocities. Is America's love of guns as a way of life the reason for so much violence? Canada is also a gun-loving nation of hunters, but Canadian's leave their doors unlocked when they leave their home. Is it the poverty and mass unemployment? Nope - check out almost any other country with the same social issues but without the same levels of crime. It's when Moore takes a trip across the water to Canada that he seems to have the revelation. He catches a clip of the news, where the breaking story is the introduction of speed bumps. These people weren't being drilled with fear 24/7. Switch on the news in America, and you see young black males being chased down, arrested, and thrown into the back of a police car, or as interviewee Marilyn Manson points out, there are adverts telling you that if you don't brush with Colgate, you'll have bad breath and no- one with come near you.For the majority of Bowling for Columbine, Michael Moore raises some terrifying questions and makes many very good points, all delivered with powerful, ironic montage's, insightful interviews, and a wry humour. But the last quarter descends into a Moore vanity piece, as he puts himself in front of the camera when he should remain behind it. Moore takes a couple of Columbine's survivors to Walmart to campaign against their sale of bullets and brings the press with him. Although it gets the job done, Moore's ever-presence as a kind of working man's hero makes it come across as a cheap publicity stunt. There's also the climactic interview with NRA president Charlton Heston, who Moore lures in under false pretences and then ambushes with questions of gun-control, a tactic that crosses any journalistic boundaries into sheer rudeness and left me uncomfortable. However, Bowling for Columbine is still an extremely powerful film, and is still shockingly relevant over a decade later. Every week, the news seems to deliver a story about yet another massacre and yet a lot of American's still argue that guns are important for self-defence, which is an extremely depressing thought indeed.

Matthew Luke Brady Michael Moore: "If you were to talk directly to the kids at Columbine or the people in that community, what would you say to them if they were here right now?"Marilyn Manson: "I wouldn't say a single word to them I would listen to what they have to say, and that's what no one did".Bowling for Columbine is a documentary about the gun Violence in America is shown as Michael Moore looks for causes and answers from some of America's top opponents of gun control.Bowling For Columbine is one of best documentary's I've seen in a while. It's both unique and interesting with it's powerful look on gun violence in America and the Columbine shooting back in 1999. All this is shown in different type of tones, you got a brilliant sense of humor, a strong statement and the truth. Michael Moore to me is 50/50, I know a lot of people don't like him and not a lot of people do like him. Yeah sometimes he can come off as jerk when it comes to interviews and some of the topics that he focus on, but I got to admit he sometimes comes up with some clever ideas to support he's statement and proving he's point to everyone, even when some may not agree. I don't hate the guy as these much more people out there that are even worse (like Katie Hopkins. If you don't know who she is look her up, she's a horrible human being). Moore is trying to get he's worries out about the fact that you can walk up to a counter of a gun shop and say "Can I have a gun please", and they give it to you and that person may shoot others if it falls into the wrong hands, and I can understand him right there even when Moore can take it to another level of forcing it in people faces which makes him look like a jerk to some.The documentary jumps around to different places and people by hearing their thoughts on the gun problem and the Columbine Massacre. All opinions are mixed and this documentary is like a time capsule of what the people and the whole controversy bullsh*t that was happening back then was like. I always love those kind of documentary's that show you a bit of the past and everybody's thoughts back then, it's just so interesting. The ending scene with Michael Moore interviewing Charlton Heston was both brilliant and it was hard to look away it was that strong. People may not like that scene has Moore is forcing the message down his throat, but I sawed something else then that, I sawed Moore trying to something right even when it might not be the thing but at least he's trying to prove he's own point. Now for the problems: My only little problem with the documentary and it's only a ant size problem and that's when they talk about the Columbine High School Massacre and they talk about what may cause Eric and Dylan (The shooters of the massacre) to start shooting by on that day. They brought up that it might be violence on TV, violence in movies and games and they even brought up bowling as one, but they didn't bring up bullying and to those who didn't know, Eric and Dylan was bullied really bad and they were out cast of the school as nobody really cared for them, maybe that's why they did it, for revenge. The documentary didn't bring that up and I was wondering why they didn't put that in.Overall Bowling for Columbine is a Documentary that's worth recommending and worth seeing.