About the just-released “Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room,” Rolling Stone‘s Peter Travers says:
It’s scarier than The Amityville Horror, as scandalous as Fahrenheit 9/11 and loaded with more conspiracies than The Interpreter.Alex Gibney’s riveting documentary is a rape story, with the public trust as the victim …
There’s even gallows humor: After a speech praising Enron, Lay reads a written question from the audience: “Are you on crack?” Nah. The drug of choice here is hubris.
There may be a touch of hubris in the film’s PR dept. as well:
John Gorenfeld says the PR firm handling the new movie about Enron all but ordered him when to write his review. – Dan Gillmor
: : : More below : : :
Check out the “friendly” reminders that blogger John Gorenfeld got from the movie’s PR people:
After mailing me a review copy of Enron: The Smartest Guys In The Room, the PR shop pushing this film, Special Ops Media, repeatedly nagged me to inform them (along with other bloggers, see postscript) “asap” as to when I am going to review it, and when I am going to tell them about my plans to review it:
John – This is just a reminder that your review of the film needs to be posted this week or next (before April 21).
John — let me know what is going on with this asap
John — I made it clear from the outset when the review needed to be posted (see the emails below).
“They’re not paying me enough to put up with this!” I thought, feeling a twinge at the thought of my $15,000 “consultant fee” before remembering I’m not Corey Greenberg and am not, in fact, being paid at all to write this blog. Whew!
Of course, the first thing I noticed was that they sent him a review copy. Hot damn! How do I get on those lists? Quit complainin’, dude!
John adds in the postscript:
Post has been rewritten a bit. I fully disclose this, lest I become the subject of an emergency conclave on blogger ethics.
Guess that “going woozy” remark fits me too. Not just “The Adventures of Chester.”
Darn tootin’, Chester.
Atta boy, Chester. Unlike that whiner John.
Oh, that movie. My daughter and I have to go to Seattle this week for a doctor’s appointment, but we plan to treat ourselves afterwards. We hope we can get in to see the new Enron flick, which is playing in Seattle. It’s in “limited release” for now.
Catch this screenshot I took of the movie’s interactive Web site:
It’s a fun Web site. Requires the Flash plug-in.
Movie fans at IMDb are giving the documentary a 8.2 — that’s very high. Here are samplings of the movie reviews:
Salon’s Andrew O’Hehir says:
This movie about America’s biggest corporate collapse is part of a new breed of film, more agitprop than documentary.– – – – – – – – – – – –
Someone more dispassionate than I might argue that there are further similarities between talk radio and lefty agitprop movies (I hesitate to call them documentaries): Both could be seen as making valid points about the nature of power in America — the oligarchic power of the elite establishment or the quasi-fascistic power of big capital, as the case may be — that become dangerously clouded by ideological zeal and the quest for entertainment value. …
More reviews via MetaCritic:
Delivers a polished and well-researched look at America ‘s largest corporate bankruptcy with a laser-sharp focus on the personalities, practices, and fates of the top executives behind the Enron meltdown.
Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt
Spellbinding.
Portland Oregonian Marc Mohan
With this amoral business environment, it’s not a question of if there will be another Enron, but when.
The Hollywood Reporter James Greenberg
Not only a great cautionary tale, it’s a civics lesson that should be seen by every concerned citizen.
New York Daily News Jami Bernard
Is a movie worthwhile if it makes you sick? Absolutely, in the case of Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room.
Washington Post Michael O’Sullivan
It’s a story of jaw-dropping chutzpah, grim, mostly hindsight-based humor and more stomach-churning drama than you could find in 10 screenplays.
Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern
Gives us the same sort of perverse pleasure that’s been a staple of “60 Minutes” over the years — watching world-class crooks tell world-class lies.
Check out more reviews at MetaCritic.
Back to the big question: How do we bloggers get our mitts on some review copies of new movies? Gotta find out … gotta … ideas welcome!
Will we complain about some reminders from the PR people? Are you kidding? Come on, John!
I just had to delete 3 emails. One from Peru, one from Ivory Coast and one from Nigeria.
All of them wanted help investing millions of dollars.
But at least they didn’t insist I get back to them.
I wonder how you get on those lists too. I might be more interested in books and music than movies. But that’s just my taste.
Do you know anything about Alex Gibney?
Alex Gibney. Busy guy, according to my movie Bible, IMDb:
Has produced 16 ventures, directed 7, written 7.
He wrote and sometimes produced/directed a few like this:
Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room (2005) (written by)
The Trials of Henry Kissinger (2002)
… aka Procès de Henry Kissinger, Le (France)
The Sexual Century: Sexual Explorers (1999) (TV)
The Sexual Century: The Sexual Revolution (1999) (TV)
AFI’s 100 Years… 100 Movies: Love Crazy (1998) (TV)
“The Fifties” (1997) (mini) TV Series
The Pacific Century (1992)
is what PR is all about. Don’t worry about it. Of COURSE they want you to do it their way, on their schedule. That’s their job. They made a little investment in you and they’re supposed to get maximum return out of it. Try travel writing sometime if you think this is bad.
yeah. They put in time and effort, not to mention money, to get these review copies out. They want a return, just like anyone else.
Check out the falling E for Enron.
It is falling backwards. Any student of semiotics would tell you
that this is a symbol of great failure.
Too bad they didn’t hire a smart design company to
create their logo. The compapny was stupid from the very
beginning.
Living in Ca. the whole Enron crime really hits home as when we had our phony electric shortage and also the reason for Gray Davis’s supposed mismanaging of the energy shortage.
And just another reason to hate bushco. Feinstein/Boxer and Davis all sent letters, made phone calls and tried to get in to see Cheney. Trying to get him to do something about the unregulated electric companies here while Cheney basically said CA. people were just a bunch of losers, that we overused our electricity and it was all our own fault. While Boxer,Feinstein and Davis kept trying to say something very wrong was happening and federal government needed to step in and take a look. In other words bushco told us to take a fucking hike.(surprise, surprise…I thought they loved Ca…not)
One of the big reasons why Davis got dumped per republican spin was that he mismanaged the whole energy ‘shortage’ here. Yet records show that Arnie himself met with Ken Lay-in secret in some motel room- during the energy crisis here-several years before he supposedly wanted to run for office- along with some other big shots who were trying to cover up Enron’s crimes…and just one more reason for me to hate the Gropenfurher..
When Arnie did get into office he tried and think succeeded in killing a lawsuit the state of Ca. was trying to get going against Enron to recover at least some of the 30 Billion Enron cost Ca. taxpayers…get at least some 9 Billion back but Arnie said it was time to move forward(aren’t republicans great for saying that when they want to avoid any responsibility) and not burden business with frivolous lawsuits-yeah fuck the Ca. people can’t have Enron be ‘burdened’ now can we? Not that any of this was in the news when Arnie was running around playing at being a reformer and saying he was going to be a ‘man of the people’…instead we had the press here fawning all over the steroid buffoon.
I hope this documentary stirs up public opinion again and shows how monumental Enron’s crimes were and all the people behind Enron who orchestrated their crimes in the name of their incredible greed. Might make people wonder again why none of these people have gone to trial yet? Couldn’t be having any friends in high places now could it?
My senator:
January 27, 2005
Cantwell to Oppose U.S. Attorney General Nominee Alberto Gonzales
Questions torture memo role and Enron connections
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-WA) today announced that she will vote against the nomination of Judge Alberto Gonzales to be the next U.S. Attorney General when it comes to the Senate floor next week.
“The Attorney General of the United States , as the chief law enforcement officer in the land, holds a special independent place in the government. While the President selects the nominee, the Constitution requires the Senate to provide `advice and consent.’ After carefully listening to Judge Gonzales during his Senate hearings and reading his responses to questions, I have decided to oppose his confirmation.
“Given that Judge Gonzales’s office generated legal opinions that counseled the White House it did not have to be bound by domestic and international laws on torture, and he failed to commit to recuse himself on Enron matters prior to confirmation, I cannot support him for the top law enforcement officer in the land.
…..
“It is essential that the person the Senate confirms for this position is independent. I am unconvinced that he has the independence to be the nation’s leading law enforcement officer. As White House Counsel, his office generated a legal opinion on whether the President is bound by domestic and international law on torture, which the government recently repudiated as legally faulty. Such a repudiation calls Judge Gonzales’s judgment into question, judgment that is important for our country’s top attorney. It also suggests he is not independent of the President, which is essential for his new Cabinet role. Further, Judge Gonzales’s changed position on the torture memos in the weeks before his confirmation hearings appears to demonstrate political convenience, not a truly self-reflective change in his thinking on these matters. Had Judge Gonzales recognized the serious problems with the judgments he made on these issues and given convincing assurances that he understands that his new role will require a different approach and a new allegiance to the law, I might have been convinced to defer to the President on this nomination.
“Additionally, Judge Gonzales had substantial ties to Enron while he was an attorney in private practice and then a candidate for the Texas Supreme Court, including receiving many thousands of dollars from Enron and its PAC both in campaign contributions and legal fees. These ties could effect the ongoing criminal investigations of Enron officials. Given the significance of this case and the past recusal of the outgoing Attorney General, Judge Gonzales should have made clear his intention to recuse himself from that investigation.
“Outgoing Attorney General Ashcroft recused himself because of similar political ties to Enron. While I have not been satisfied with the Administration’s Enron investigation to date, at least I knew that the Attorney General Ashcroft acknowledged that his former friendship with Enron could pose problems in the investigation sufficient enough to justify his recusal. I want the same assurances from Gonzales, or at least an explanation of why these former professional and political ties to Enron do not constitute grounds for recusal. Yet in his written answers, Judge Gonzales would not state whether he would recuse himself, and he would not be specific about how his former ties to Enron might impact the Department of Justice’s investigation of that company. What Enron did to my constituents in Washington and countless others across the nation was disgraceful, and one of the most important things the next Attorney General will do is conduct that investigation and bring Enron criminals to justice. Having read Gonzales’s answers to the Enron questions, I am not even reassured that he would believe the investigation to be a priority.”
# # #
Senator Cantwell | Cantwell, Snohomish PUD Reveal New Enron Evidence
Conspiring to keep power off the grid in the middle of an emergency takes Enron’s schemes to a whole new level of corruption.’ The tapes include Enron employees discussing how they were asked to ‘cook the books,’ speculating that ‘everyone knew’ what was going on, and that ‘nothing happened at Enron that Ken Lay didn’t bless.’ ‘If there is any hint whatsoever that the Enron Task Force is being undermined, under-funded, or otherwise hindered, this Senator will not stand for it.’ Size: 5K
hey susan…just more evidence that Enron and buschco are crooks-although that seems to mild a term really for what all they’ve done to the country. Enron had it’s tentacles all over the country and overseas also. I keep coming back to the term Robberbarons.