“Pressure Cooker” Review

Editor’s note: The following is a review from a Critical Writing and Reviewing student at the University of Missouri.

Shot in the inner city of Philadelphia, “Pressure Cooker” follows
three culinarily-talented high school seniors and their kitchen-savvy
classmates as they compete for scholarships to the top culinary
schools in the nation. Erica, Dudley and Fatoumata are unlikely
gourmet chefs. Raised in broken homes, a hulking football player,
peppy cheerleader, and shy African emigrant don chef whites and come
together to create dishes that are as elegant as they are appetizing.

“Waltz with Bashir” Review

Editor’s note: The following is a review from a Critical Writing and Reviewing student at the University of Missouri.

Waltz with Bashir blurs the line between the fantastic and the horrific. In an effort to humanize war, it infuses the elegance of art with the dreadful detail of the mundane. Its story is a beautiful horror, a moving revulsion that attempts to use the artificial to convey things that are far too real.

“Yes Men Change the World” caps off True/False Weekend

The Tough Cats rock out before the screening of "Yes Men Fix the World."

One of the coolest things about the True/False film festival is that it features a vast amount of live music. Attendees of the festival are unable to escape the ubiquitous nature of guitars, fiddles and drum throughout the weekend. Tonight was no exception.

The Closing Night Reception featured three live bands. Prodigal Strings Band and Sour Mash Mug Band jammed out in the lobby of the venue for the reception, the Missouri Theater On stage, the Tough Cats warmed up the crowd for “The Yes Men Fix the World,” the festival’s closing movie.

“Sergio” director Greg Barker receives commendation from the crowd

After showing his film “Sergio” at the Blue Note on Sunday, director Greg Barker took questions from the floor.

The film, which recounts the failed attempt to save UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Sergio Vieira de Mello after a car bomb attack on the UN headquarters in Iraq on August 19, 2003, touched several members of the crowd.

“glastonburykids” Review

Editor’s note: The following is a review from a Critical Writing and Reviewing student at the University of Missouri.

Watch out Johnny Knoxville, you may have competition. But unlike this star of MTV’s Jackass, the boys of Glastonbury, Conn. must endure the negative long-term consequences of seemingly childish pranks and the soul-searching that ensues.

“Crude” Review

Editor’s note: The following is a review from a Critical Writing and Reviewing student at the University of Missouri.

Filmmaker, journalist and photographer Joe Berlinger’s documentary, Crude, added a cinéma-vérité modern examination of the age-old David and Goliath story to this year’s True/False Film Festival. A described “labor of love,” Crude is a heartbreaking and thought-provoking journey through the Ecuadorian jungle, following the fifteen-year-old, and still unresolved, court case Aguinda v. Chevron-Texaco, an epic battle involving approximately 30,000 Ecuadorians who are out to take down the great American oil giant, Chevron, for poisoning the “lungs of the world” through oil drilling.

“The Posters Came from the Walls” Review

Editor’s note: The following is a review from a Critical Writing and Reviewing student at the University of Missouri.

In case you were unaware, Depeche Mode is kind of a big deal.

That said, “The Posters Came From the Walls” is not about Depeche Mode. It is about fans, the myriad reasons one may become a fan and the ways in which fandom manifests itself. The band (although I think these fans would disagree) is incidental.

The film seems at first to just be about extreme fans who seem just a little nuts.

“Mosque in Morgantown” Review

Editor’s note: The following is a review from a Critical Writing and Reviewing student at the University of Missouri.

Similar to other college towns, Morgantown, West Virginia has cultural diversity. A wide variety of cultures and religions mesh as people from all around the country and world come to be apart of West Virginia University as students and teachers. But in Morgantown, the most prominent and documented cultural conflict comes from one building, the Islamic Center of Morgantown, where progressive, moderate and “extremist” Muslims try to balance the diversity of belief within their own religion. The simply named The Mosque in Morgantown is a peephole into this Islamic community and also the first feature by filmmaker Brittany Huckabee.

“Food, Inc.” Review

Editor’s note: The following is a review from a Critical Writing and Reviewing student at the University of Missouri.

The Missouri Theater is packed with people trying to find seats in the large auditorium. The formal decor of the room is contrasted with the St. Louis, blues trio, Rum Drum Ramblers, belting out Muddy Waters Style blues.  Everyone is settled in, the band leaves the stage and after a brief introduction of the film, Food Inc. begins.

“Pressure Cooker” Review

Editor’s note: The following is a review from a Critical Writing and Reviewing student at the University of Missouri.

For any successful dish, the ingredients must work together in harmony. In Pressure Cooker, it is obvious there is extensive chemistry between all of the elements.

The film follows three students in the inner city of Philadelphia: Erica, the cheerleader who raises her handicapped sister; Tyrell, the star football player who carries the weight of the expectations placed on him by his single mom; and Fatoumata, the African import who aspires to make something of herself in America despite a lack of family support. They, along with their classmates, are competing in an annual culinary competition that awards scholarships, including full rides to culinary school juggernauts Johnston & Wales and the Culinary Institute of America. For the kids, it is an opportunity for them to leave the inner city and break out into the world through crepes and chicken.