BIG BODIES ON SCREEN
( Further Suggestions Welcome... )

This still be a painfully short list, but given the astro product/promo costs and Hollywood's watchful ruling powers, it's amazing sincerely corporate-averse films ever get made at all. Indeed the best are still by outsiders like Michael Moore or resourceful rebels like Warren Beatty (who apparently lied his ass off to the studio suits to get Bulworth made). In any event, these are a few I know of that are both available and in some sense "important ." Help fatten this list and broaden our horizons. Send names, reviews, links to:
biglight@nancho.net.

Click Names for Reviews and Order Info.

Feature Films Bulworth Warren Beatty's incredibly fierce and funny assault on Big Body controlled media and governance. A two-hour crash course in why the truth is a controlled substance in modern politics. Particularly poignant in another bought and paid for election year.. Network Paddy Chayefsky's relentless black satire of '70s network TV not only ages well, the spectacular Big Body rants by Peter Finch and Ned Beatty grow increasingly cogent and electrifying with time. This flick enshrined "I'm mad as hell and not going to take it anymore!" in the pissed/populist vernacular. May we revere and revive that spirit... Rollerball Chilling '70s fantasy/prophesy of the day when Big Bodies totally rule the sports world, too. OK, so you didn't have to be Nostradamus to see that one coming. Pay special heed to John Houseman's silky defenses of the totally safe/sweet/sanitary corporate future... Demolition Man Generally forgettable futuristic shoot/blow/stick-em-up, but good background reflections of the "global corporate wars" (which on the food front left Pizza Hut - or was it Taco Bell, the last man standing). Similar semi-precious subtexts in the Alien and Robocop series, and a lot of other semi-sentient S/F fables. TV Series Max Headroom Legendary Canadian series skewering Big Body media greed with cyberpunk sensibility. Way out of line (and soon cancelled). See especially Episode I on Blipverts (lethal sensory-overload CMs). Documentaries The Big One / Roger & Me Michael Moore's heroic/satiric sallies into hostile Big Body land. Though gaining seductive stature in the tubed universes with "TV Nation" and "The Awful Truth", Moore still seems a populist Don Quixote writ large, and every once in a while absolutely nails an executive PR windmill. Also check out "Downsize This!" and his other assorted seditions at dogeatdogfilms.com Manufacturing Consent Revelatory Meditations on, by and for Noam Chomsky, probably the most eloquent, impassioned and relentless truth-teller of our age. Explains among other things how Big News Bodies divert, disinform and finally disable our minds. Ki & the Powers of Japan Our highly amateur 60' mock-up for a proposed 4-hour series on Social Ki (attention) and Big Body-building. Addresses Social Ki as an existential nutrient, therapeutic healing force, and the basic adhesive & structural protoplasm of all Big Bodies. Available only to potential investors (i.e., it's too ridden with glitches & copyright violations for commercial release).

DISCLAIMER: Re all the amazon.com links -- no, we don't own stock or have a "relationship." (In fact I predict their own promiscuous acquisitions and mad lust for Big Body status will soon implode their whole show. It's already maimed their once fine service.) At the moment, however, they still offer the best range of reviews and reader comments so you don't always have to take our word as gospel. Ideally you might even try reversing the standard neighborhood-abuse pattern where people get their product advice from a patient and expert local shopkeeper and then turn around and order the damn thing from some cretin-staffed monster discount barn. How about pumping Amazon for the skinny and then placing your order right downtown? (If Walmart hasn't already devoured it, that is...)