"You'll have nothing and like it!" - Caddyshack (1980) about | advertise | classifieds | legal | myspace | staff | submit for review | support
 
FREE Weekly Newsletter



 
 
     
 
   
 
     
RUNNING WITH ARNOLD
by Pete Vonder Haar
2007, Un-rated, 72 minutes
2007 SXSW SPOTLIGHT PREMIERES DOCUMENTARY FEATURE! To reiterate something I said two years ago in my review of “Fahrenheit 9/11:” documentaries aren’t in the business of neutrality. The very reason they exist is to put forth an agenda and present information supporting it. Just about any doc you’ve ever seen adheres to this rule, it’s just that some (“Hoop Dreams”) are more nuanced than others (“Michael Moore Hates America”).

Add Dan Cox’s “Running With Arnold” to the “others” category. Chronicling the career of Arnold Schwarzenegger from his early days as a bodybuilder in Austria to his current job as governor of California, the film also examines the recall of Gray Davis that led to Schwarzenegger’s election and takes a closer look at the governor’s ties to special interests and his disconcertingly misogynistic past.

Narrated by Alec Baldwin (who, it should be noted, ended up asking that his voice not be used), “Running With Arnold” works best when it exposes Schwarzenegger’s connections to the likes of Ken Lay and the machinations behind the ouster of Davis, itself a blatant power grab designed to possibly swing California over to the red column in the next Presidential election (which is almost too laughable to mention). The section on how California’s recall process came about is also very enlightening, and it never hurts to be reminded of how instrumental California Congressman Darrell Issa was to the recall, using his personal fortune to obtain the necessary signatures.

Presented at face value, the assertions that Schwarzenegger is merely a Bush-like puppet for the energy industry and the allegations about his sexual misconduct are damning enough without Cox’s frequent and exacerbating use of scenes from Schwarzenegger’s old movies or Nazi footage. Yes, he brought it on himself by constantly using “Terminator” dialogue during his campaign, and yes, he has repeatedly voiced support for ex-Nazi and ex-Austrian President Kurt Waldheim, but are the multiple shots of Nuremberg rallies really necessary to get the point across?

Schwarzenegger is enough of a mannequin – he even used Bush’s strategy of “town hall meetings” with hand-picked attendees and pre-screened questions – and his hypocrisy in taking more money from lobbyists than Davis ever did and making deals with companies having direct interest in pending legislation is damning enough without goofy parody.

 
Leave Comments:
UserName:
Password:
If you do not have a UserName or Password, register with Film Threat.
Comment:
Enter the text in the below image in the following space:
All HTML and other coding languages are stripped from the comments, so any added links or special text formating will not be active.
Read more reviews ...
  2009-11-19 - PROMETHEUS TRIUMPHANT: A FUGUE IN THE KEY OF FLESH  
  2009-11-19 - THE TWILIGHT SAGA: NEW MOON  
  2009-11-19 - TINTO BRASS' THE HOWL (L’URLO) (DVD)  
  2009-11-19 - BAD LIEUTENANT: PORT OF CALL NEW ORLEANS  
  2009-11-18 - POISON SWEETHEARTS  
  2009-11-17 - RIVER OF RENEWAL (DVD)  
  2009-11-17 - PLANET B-BOY (DVD)  
  2009-11-16 - 2012  
  2009-11-15 - INSIDE DARKNESS  
  2009-11-14 - GOOD EVENING FOLKS, WE’RE THE PINE BOX BOYS  
  2009-11-14 - ABBY  
  2009-11-13 - PIRATE RADIO  
  2009-11-13 - THE END OF POVERTY?  
  2009-11-12 - BONECRUSHER  
  2009-11-12 - NORTH BY NORTHWEST: 50TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION (DVD)  
  2009-11-11 - PAURA: LUCIO FULCI REMEMBERED VOL. 1 (DVD)  
  2009-11-11 - SUPER 8 GIRL GAMES (DVD)  
  2009-11-10 - UP: TWO-DISC DELUXE EDITION (DVD)  
  2009-11-10 - LOVE AND SAVAGERY  
  2009-11-08 - LUIS BUNUEL'S DEATH IN THE GARDEN (DVD)  
  2009-11-08 - PAROLES ET MUSIQUE (LOVE SONGS) (DVD)  
  2009-11-07 - THE MEN WHO STARE AT GOATS  
  2009-11-07 - CLONES GONE WILD  
  2009-11-06 - THE BOX  
  2009-11-06 - THE FOURTH KIND  
     

Headlines
 

Latest Blogs
TRUTH BEHIND "THE FOURTH KIND"? UNIVERSAL ASKS THAT YOU SEE FOR YOURSELF...
A FRIENDLY REMINDER -- FOLLOW FT ON TWITTER
"HOOTERS" WITH SCOOPERS
SOUND ON SIGHT: ANTICHRIST, FESTIVAL DU NOUVEAU CINEMA & A FEW OTHER THINGS
SOUND ON SIGHT: COPPOLA & THE COVE

NEW ON DVD!
UP: TWO-DISC DELUXE EDITION (DVD)
BALLAST
LUIS BUNUEL'S DEATH IN THE GARDEN (DVD)
FOOD, INC.
BATTLESTAR GALACTICA: THE PLAN (DVD)
UP
NORTH BY NORTHWEST: 50TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION (DVD)
STAR TREK

Film Threat Poll
Does 2012 deserve all the hype and coin it's getting?
1) Yes - it's bringing the world down!
2) It's a giant stink bomb.
3) Cusack and Harrelson should co-star in a gay romance.
In Theaters
BAD LIEUTENANT: PORT OF CALL NEW ORLEANS
THE TWILIGHT SAGA: NEW MOON
2012
PIRATE RADIO
THE MEN WHO STARE AT GOATS
THE FOURTH KIND
THE BOX
THIS IS IT
AN EDUCATION
SAW VI




Site Programming
Site Artwork
copyright © 1985-2009
Gore Group Publications
   
about | advertise | classifieds | legal | myspace | staff | submit for review | support