Sean Hannity Tagged Articles at Cinematical
Tribeca Review: Al Franken: God Spoke
Filed under: Comedy », Documentary », Independent », Tribeca », Theatrical Reviews », Politics », Michael Moore », Cinematical Indie »
In 1992, filmmakers D.A. Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus documented Bill Clinton's presidential campaign, resulting in a still-noteworthy chronicle of political contending titled The War Room. Twelve years later, co-directors Hegedus and Nick Doob (who was cinematographer for The War Room) followed the race of 2004, only this time their subject was interestingly not one of the candidates. Al Franken: God Spoke, which presents a year in the life of the title comedian/author/radio talk-show host, is a humorous, but more importantly illustrative, documentary about the weight of the media -- especially the comedic media -- on the last presidential election.
Franken, who got his break on Saturday Night Live, is one of today's most influential political humorists, and, along with Jon Stewart and Michael Moore, he represents liberal America's unfortunate dependence on jesters instead of kings. The film opens with the publication of his latest book, which attacks the Bush administration and conservative individuals such as Ann Coulter and Bill O'Reilly, then goes on to present the beginnings of his show on Air America Radio and observes the ensuing war between him and the right-wing media, particularly O'Reilly and Sean Hannity at Fox News and Rush Limbaugh. During an early scene, he tells a classroom of students, "I take what they say and use it against them." This practice is nothing new, yet somehow in a time when kids get their news more from comedy shows like The Daily Show than from newspapers, it makes someone like Franken an important political figure.
Sean Hannity may sue filmmakers
Filed under: Documentary », Politics », Michael Moore »
Director Peter Greenstreet's documentary This Divided State, which covered the controversial plan to
bring Michael
Moore to the ultra-conservative Utah Valley State College in Orem, Utah, has raised the ire of Sean Hannity, who was brought to the college in response to Moore's
scheduled appearance. Hannity says he plans to sue the filmmakers due to this footage, which, quite frankly, makes him
look like a complete jerk (actually, "jerk" isn't the right word, but I'm trying to keep this family
friendly). You can also watch the first 26 minutes of the documentary on the official web site. While the clip shows Hannity being cheered by huge numbers of
conservative students and being asked questions by the handful of liberals in attendance (who are often shouted down by
the crowd), there's nothing especially "political" about it. Its intent seems to be an indictment of Hannity
himself, but what it really reveals, to me anyway, is the sorry state of political discourse and what happens when
emotions take over and people begin to block out differing opinions entirely. And, needless to say, that happens at
both ends of the political spectrum.
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