Al Gore's global warming documentary!

Hadn't heard anything about it until just now, but the trailer for An Inconvenient Truth looks like they've juiced up a topic most people seem inured to these days.

Hard to say whether people will actually go out to see it in a theatre, though apparently it was well received at Sundance. Here's an early review and also the film's official website...

Since I'm the only vote so far, you can see how I feel...

The trailer is decent. I like the combination of comedy (some of it unintentionally funny), music, and animations. Its like they are advertising it as a "lite" lesson on global warming. I'll go see it.

I'll vote also, but it won't hide your pick, because I agree. I certainly believe the scientific community in their consensus that global warming is caused by human activity, but I'm not sure how it is being used in the media's campaign to amp up public fear about everything to make us more docile. Overall though, I believe we should opt for the better safe than sorry approach to this issue.

Just realized today Gore does an introduction to Carson's Silent Spring on the newer release of her text. Its still a couple years old, but it does make me interested to see this documentary.

It looks like it could be a good film, but the reception it has received so far reminds me oh so much of Fahrenheit 9/11 and its standing ovations etc. Could this be another high grossing but ultimately insubstantial documentary that tries a little too much to make its point known? Probably.

Either way I'll try and catch it when it hits theaters if its anywhere near here.

Seen the trailer twice already. It looks interesting, but I'll take it with a grain of salt.

Here's the theatre line-up:

24-May CA Hollywood Arclight
24-May CA Santa Monica Monica
24-May NY New York Lincoln Square
24-May NY New York Sunshine
2-Jun CA Berkeley CAL
2-Jun CA Irvine University
2-Jun CA Los Angeles Century City
2-Jun CA Mill Valley Sequoia
2-Jun CA Palo Alto Century Cinearts
2-Jun CA Pasadena Playhouse
2-Jun CA San Francisco Embarcadero
2-Jun CA San Jose Santana Row
2-Jun CA Sherman Oaks Pacific Galleria 16
2-Jun DC Washington D.C. E Street
2-Jun DC Washington D.C. Georgetown
2-Jun IL Chicago Century Centre
2-Jun IL Evanston CineArts 6
2-Jun IL Highland Park Renaissance Place
2-Jun MA Boston Embassy
2-Jun MA Brookline Coolidge Corner
2-Jun MA Cambridge Harvard Square
2-Jun MD Bethesda Bethesda Row
2-Jun NJ Voorhees Ritz
2-Jun NY Brooklyn BAM Rose
2-Jun NY Huntington Cinema Arts
2-Jun NY Kew Gardens Kew Gardens
2-Jun NY Malverne Malverne
2-Jun NY Pleasantville Jacob Burns
2-Jun ON Toronto Cumberland
2-Jun PA Philadelphia Ritz 5
2-Jun TX Dallas Magnolia
2-Jun TX Plano Angelika Film Center
2-Jun WA Seattle Guild
2-Jun WA Seattle Pacific Place
9-Jun BC Vancouver Tinseltown
9-Jun AZ Scottsdale Camelview 5
9-Jun CA Campbell Camera 7
9-Jun CA Laguna Niguel Rancho Niguel
9-Jun CA Oakland Piedmount
9-Jun CA Pleasant Hill Cinearts Plesnt Hill
9-Jun CA Sacramento Tower Angelika
9-Jun CA San Diego Hillcrest
9-Jun CA San Francisco UA Stonestown
9-Jun CA Santa Barbara Fiesta Five
9-Jun CA Santa Cruz Del Mar
9-Jun CO Denver Esquire
9-Jun FL Boca Raton Mizner
9-Jun FL Delray Beach Delray 18
9-Jun FL Ft. Lauderdale Gateway
9-Jun FL Miami South Beach
9-Jun FL North Miami Intra Costal
9-Jun FL South Miami Sunset
9-Jun IL Chicago Esquire
9-Jun MD Baltimore Charles
9-Jun MI Royal Oak Main Art
9-Jun MN Minneapolis Uptown
9-Jun MO Frontenac Plaza Frontenac
9-Jun ON Ottawa Bytowne
9-Jun OR Portland Fox Tower
9-Jun QB Montreal AMC Forum
9-Jun TX Houston River Oaks
9-Jun VA Arlington Shirlington
9-Jun VA Fairfax Cinema Arts Fairfax
16-Jun CA Camarillo Paseo Camarillo
16-Jun CA Del Mar Flower Hill 4
16-Jun CA Huntington Beach Huntington 20
16-Jun CA La Jolla Village
16-Jun CA Orange Stadium 20
16-Jun CA Rancho Mirage The River
16-Jun CA San Louis Obispo Palm
16-Jun CA Ventura Century Downtown
16-Jun CA Westlake Westlake Village
16-Jun CT Hartford Crown City Cinema
16-Jun FL Tampa Sunrise @ Old Hyde Park
16-Jun HI Honolulu Varsity
16-Jun IN Indianapolis Keystone Art
16-Jun MB Edmonton Princess
16-Jun MI Ann Arbor Michigan
16-Jun MO Kansas City Tivoli @ Manor Sq
16-Jun NC Chapel Hill Chelsea
16-Jun NC Durham Carolina 3
16-Jun NC Raleigh Colony 2
16-Jun NM Albuquerque Century 14
16-Jun NY Albany Spectrum 7
16-Jun NY Clarence Eastern Hills
16-Jun OH Cleveland Cedar Lee
16-Jun OH Columbus Drexel Gateway
16-Jun OH Mariemont Mariemont
16-Jun PA Pittsburgh Manor
16-Jun TX Austin Arbor
16-Jun UT Salt Lake City Broadway 6
16-Jun WA Bellevue Lincoln Sqr
16-Jun WI Madison Westgate
16-Jun WI Milwaukee Oriental
23-Jun AZ Tucson Catalina
23-Jun AZ Tucson El Con
23-Jun CO Boulder Village 4
23-Jun KY Lexington Kentucky 2
23-Jun LA New Orleans Canal Place
23-Jun MA Dennis Cape Cinema
23-Jun MA N. Falmouth Nickelodeon
23-Jun MA Oak Bluffs Island
23-Jun MA W. Boylston W. Boylston
23-Jun ME Waterville Railroad Square
23-Jun NV Las Vegas Suncoast 16
23-Jun NV Reno Riverside
23-Jun OH Holland Super Cinema
23-Jun RI Providence Avon Cinema
23-Jun TN Memphis Ridgeway
23-Jun VA Richmond Westhampton 2
23-Jun VT Burlington Roxy
30-Jun AR Little Rock Market St
30-Jun CO Colorado Springs Twin Peak
30-Jun MA Great Barrington Triplex Mahawie
30-Jun NC Asheville Fine Arts
30-Jun NY Ithaca Fall Creek
30-Jun SC Charleston Terrace
30-Jun VA Norfolk Naro

Did anyone else catch Al Gore's appearance on SNL's opening skit last night?

It was an alternative future scenario, where Gore had actually been elected in 2000, and was reporting from the White House on his first six years in office. It was (a word perhaps not easily associated with Al Gore) hilarious...

Actually, there's a thread in the Water Cooler forum that includes the a video copy of the SNL skit...

Your poll question is too vague...yeah...

Does Global Warming exist? Yeah. Is it as bad as many make it out to be? Certainly not.

It's a complex issue, that isn't going to get teased out in a cursory documentary thread poll, but don't worry, I'll put you down for Option 3...

But I do have a position on this, though

2-Jun IL Chicago Century Centre

I'm excited.

Exactly. That's why I said I'd take the documentary with a grain of salt. Its not that global warming isn't affecting us, just not in the way I think they are going to discuss it in this film. However, Gore has been a huge environment advocate for decades, so he could pull together a slightly smarter, more involved discourse round Katrina than the trailer let on.

This looks like it could be quite a good film. I am there, first thing next week.

June 16th. I'll attend.

Turns out they are tearing down the (very nice) indie theater in Tampa for midrise condos. Ugh. I'm not sure if it will be rebuilt on the first floor or relocated, if at all.

Is it a good afterschool special? Is it political bolstering? Activism? Or humanism?

The first five reviews are already in, and they're all over the place: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/inconvenient_truth/

Yes i believe in Global warming. Yes it's a bad thing since my home will be covered in ice in 30 years because of it.
This looks like a decent Documentary and ill catch it if it ever comes to a cinema near me.

Ouch on those first reviews. Mixed indeed. I wonder if this is due to a split in ideology or because of the actual merit (or lack thereof) of the doc.

I doubt you'll be able to determine anything about the actual quality of this doc based on corporate media reviews - they've got too much at stake in ad revenues to report any inconvenient truths. Ditto for any environmental group reviews, but for just the opposite reason. This is one you'll need to see for yourself...

Hey! Edmonton's in AB, not MB.

The trailer looks quite effective, but I'm sure the film will be as one-sided as Moore's films. Still, I do "believe" in the global warming theory, so maybe I'll catch this...

Anyone who's read this far in a global warming documentary thread, may be interested in reading about a relatively recent large scale society that lived with a completely sustainable system for over 250 years.

Japan's Edo period from 1603-1867 was one of strict political isolationism. They used only their local natural resources, local agricultural produce, and local skills to provide everything a population of 30 million people needed. Remember, this is on the tiny, rocky islands of Japan, and the Edo period can hardly be considered the dark ages - as a matter of fact, a great deal of Japan's classic art, literature, and theatre was produced in this period.

Japan's sustainable society in the Edo period (1603-1867) is a short essay detailing daily life during this period.

Often, we think of any sustainable societies as tree-hugging small communes of goat herders - but here we have a rich civilization of tens of millions. I found the essay to be an eye-opening alternative view of a possible future.

(Also, if you found the above essay interesting and you'd like to read more, there is a complete online English translation of the book upon which it was based -
Chapters 1-8 and Chapters 9-14)

Here's another copy of Al Gore's appearance on Saturday Night Live:

http://www.ifilm.com/ifilmdetail/2727144

Chief Justice George Clooney.

That was pure fun right there. Nice to see the SNL crew is writing funny material again.

Exxon's counter attack is getting underway...

Cool.

I actually thought the trailer was really silly, but I do want to see it.

Another psoitive review in for Truth. I'm looking at the wide approach still, and thinking this is going to be particularly non-political. Don't know why, but that's the feeling I got from the trailer. I feel the people saying its an education tool or probably most on the spot. It feels a little like a movie a science teacher would show to a freshman class, albeight a well made one (like Powers of Ten, heh). It'll be vigilante and call for immediate measures, but I'm going to venture it'll be far better than, say "The Corporation" when it comes to finger pointing or even being bearable to sit through.