J. Edgar Hoover and the Great American Inquisitions (2001) Review

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(More customer reviews)There is nothing wrong with this documentary as a documentary. It's just that Hoover and the tactics he favored were so awful, unfair, shady, and unjust that I couldn't leave this work in a good mood.
This work consistently proved how conniving Hoover was. Still, it took more than luck to work under eight presidents. Unlike fellow red-baiter Senator McCarthy, Hoover did not have a downfall. The work highlights his bad acts, but is upfront in saying, "America let this man rise to power and stay there." It repeats that the government has at times overstepped its boundaries since the Sedition Acts of the second president. Sometimes homophobic people are the first to shout out, "J. Edgar Hoover was gay!" This work does not fall into that. One interviewee quickly says, "Hoover and Tolson were rumored to be lovers" and then the subject is not brought up again. Sources on the Internet say Hoover will his estate to Tolson and Tolson chose to be buried next to Hoover.
This work has diverse interviewees in terms of race and gender. A few interviewees had classical, Japanese art work behind them. I'm not sure if the documentary makers planned that as a background motif or not.
I do wonder if young students will get bored watching so much old black-and-white footage. Perhaps teachers showing this work could remind viewers that the controversy surrounding Hoover's tactics have similarities to the controversies surrounding the Patriot Act of this decade.

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This scathing documentary chronicles the career of J. Edgar Hoover, director of the FBI for more than 40 years. His lifelong obsession with communists that began with the "Red Scare" of the early 1920s and manifested itself into a mission hell-bent on eradicating anyone suspected of engaging in anti-American activities, be they actors, politicians or protest groups. A masterful propagandist, Hoover took every opportunity given him to create a public atmosphere of outsider paranoia – and his fears ran deep. By the time of his death in 1972, Hoover’s FBI had compiled thousands of individual secret files and completed countless illegal operations.

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Thin Blue Lie (2000) (2000) Review

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(More customer reviews)If you like fast-paced thrillers that rely more on brains than brawn, this one's for you. Based on the true story of a pair of newspaper reporters in Philadelphia during the Bicentennial, it is in the vein of great films like Watergate. Jonathan Neumann (Rob Morrow) arrives in town to find prisoners routinely showing up in court with all sorts of painful bruises. When he questions why, he's told it's "jailhouse lawyering", where prisoners get together and beat each other prior to their appearances in court then claim police brutality, just to get their arrests thrown out. The problem is, from what Jonathan sees, none of the arrests are being thrown out. So he begins to suspect it is something more. In the end, he goes up against the most powerful man in Philadelphia, the former police chief and now Mayor, Frank Rizzo. It is a really exciting and thought-provoking film, with great camerawork,lightning and directing.

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Inside the Actors Studio: Johnny Depp (2002) Review

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(More customer reviews)Johnny Depp has always seemed like a character actor trapped in a leading man's body. He was initially cast as a teen heart throb in the popular television show, 21 Jump Street - The Complete First Season - a role he grew uncomfortable with because he saw himself being transformed into a commodity for a corporation. So, he decided to deconstruct this image by starring in cult filmmaker John Waters Cry Baby (Director's Cut). He never looked back, starring in a number of diverse films that saw him playing a colourful assortment of oddball outsiders, from Dead Man to Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas - Criterion Collection.
Depp finally sat down with James Lipton in 2002 for an episode of Inside the Actors Studio. It seems rather odd that he would get a career perspective so early in his life, but he has assembled an impressive resume which this show skims broadly over. Depp talks about how he got into music, joined a band and how this led to his first acting gig in A Nightmare on Elm Street. Unfortunately, Lipton skips over Depp's pivotal role in Cry-Baby and instead delves into his first collaboration with Tim Burton with Edward Scissorhands.
Depp also talks about how he got the role in Ed Wood and how he approached the character as well as what influenced his performance: a mix of Ronald Reagan, the Tin Man and Casey Kasem. Thankfully, they cover Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas and talk about how he got involved in the project and how he lived with Hunter S. Thompson in order to portray him accurately. Sadly, some of his other films, like Dead Man and The Ninth Gate, aren't discussed leaving you wanting for more. This is certainly not a comprehensive profile but rather a primer on Depp's life and career.

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Johnny Depp is one of the most versatile and intriguing actors working today.Launching his career as a teenage heartthrob, then moving into eccentric roles in films like Edward Scissorhands and What’s Eating Gilbert Grape, he has alternated between independent films like Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas and mainstream blockbusters like Finding Neverland, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and the Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy, leading to the inescapable conclusion that his future is as bright and varied as his vivid, unbridled imagination. In this unforgettable 2002 interview, Depp gives the students of the Actors Studio a rare glimpse inside the method that brought inspiring characters, like the charismatic Don Juan DeMarco, gonzo journalist Raoul Duke, and eccentric filmmaker Ed Wood, to life.

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