Becky and I went to see the new Michael Moore movie SiCKO at the AMC theaters in Highlands Ranch, Colorado on Sunday night. The Fandango website at SiCKO describes the movie as follows:

“Filmmaker Michael Moore diagnoses the malady afflicting America’s health-care system and talks about why millions of Americans are still without adequate health coverage and treatment.“

The Review
SiCKO is controversial film maker’s Michael Moore’s latest documentary on the state of the Health Care Industry in the United States. I’m not a big fan of Michael Moore. He’s a comedian and a political activist who is a bit nuts for most people, including myself, but he definitely gets people talking about issues that we are normally all asleep to unless we’re one of the millions of Americans dealing with it. When it comes to Health Care in this country it is something the vast majority of us can relate to.

I’m somewhat of a conservative individual since I try to follow the teachings of Jesus Christ and admit that I fail most of the time. One of my relatives who is more on the other spectrum when it comes to politics was surprised that I went to see a Michael Moore movie, but I have talked with a number of people about this film already, including friends and relatives and my reason was simple. I think the health care in this country is totally screwed up. I’m sure that many of you can agree.

Millions of people have family members that have to take low paying jobs just to get health insurance. That sounds like a form of economic slavery to me, but apparently it’s okay with most of my Conservative friends. That is until they reach their 70’s and have to work at a 7-11 to get health insurance. Millions more have no health insurance coverage and the rising costs of health care are destroying companies like Ford, General Motors and other large corporations.

Lawsuits were not addressed in this movie, but that’s a big issue related to health care costs for sure. It’s hard to sue the government for services that you get for free. Try suing the Fire Department for not arriving to your home on time if your house burns to the ground. The film does assert that those who are against government health care programs don’t seem to have a problem with government controlled fire, police, our military and other government subsidized and performed services.

Michael Moore blasts Republicans and Democrats in this film and accuses them of taking legal bribes to keep millions from getting quality care. Not to mention people with pre-existing conditions that limit people from getting covered. Not everyone can qualify or afford health insurance in America and wait until you have a claim denied and realize the real problems this movie is addressing.

SiCKO is a very well done film, regardless of what your political views are because it does make you think about the issue of health care. Michael Moore, regardless of whether you like him as a person or not has done a great job pointing out the problems with the health care industry. However, I don’t think that he offered a viable solution to this problem. I figure you could do it on a State by State basis instead of on a National scale, but he never interviews or offers anyway to carry out this mission.

Nor did he explain the cultural differences between government employees in America and the rest of the world. He showed doctors in England and France being paid very well for their expertise and loving their jobs with the motivation of helping their fellow citizens, but he didn’t show how many government employees in America love their jobs and serving their fellow citizens.

In fact, I left the film totally fired up that we need to get a new radical government Health Care system in America and then I had a massive reality check when I had to go to the Colorado Department of Motor Vehicles and watch 70 dis-illusioned people sitting around waiting for 7 disgruntled, angry people who hated their jobs to help them. One lady came out and yelled at everyone that if we lost our numbers they had better get in line again and that the computers were down. We even had an appointment for our kid’s au pair from Paraguay to take her driver’s license test the second time. They were only a half-hour late for the appointment to administer her test and she failed for the second time, which was our third trip to the DMV.

Our new kids au pair wasn’t a bad driver, but she kept failing for some reason and I realized it was the angry government workers who were administering the test and having to treat everyone like a number. I couldn’t blame the employees entirely since our fine State of Colorado shut down the other facility in Castle Rock after a vandalism took place, didn’t reopen a new facility, and has never staffed the one in Parker properly to handle the growth of Douglas County, but I’m quite sure the same problem would happen with health care. If our government can’t handle passing out driver’s license tests without completely frustrating the public I’m not convinced they could tackle something as large as a health care crisis.

So, I walked next store to a private driver’s education place, paid $40, set an appointment for the next day and she passed her test after missing one point out of 20 that she could have missed. Good thing we had a choice or we would be making another trip to get her driver’s license at the State run DMV.

Nevertheless, our advice is to put your prejudice of Michael Moore aside and go see this movie, but keep in perspective that just complaining about a situation doesn’t solve it. Becky and I both thought it was definitely Worth The Trip or even a Don’t Miss It, but you can certainly wait for the rental to watch it. It’s definitely one you will want to see when it comes out on video or at the theater.

John – *** Worth The Trip
Becky – ** Rental

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Auto Agent – John Boyd:The Cool Car Guy

John is an auto agent with JFR & Associates in Denver, Colorado. He can help you save time and money on any make or model, new or used, lease or purchase – nationwide! Call or email John about your next vehicle! jboyd@coolcarguy.com

Becky and I took the kids to see Transformers at the AMC theaters in Highlands Ranch, Colorado on Independence Day. The Yahoo movies website at Transformers describes the movie as follows:

“The Earth is caught in the middle of an intergalactic war between two races of robots, the heroic Autobots and the evil Decepticons, which are able to change into a variety of objects, including cars, trucks, planes and other technological creations.”

The Review
Transformers is a wild ride into science-fiction that is non-stop action and totally off-the-wall excitement. I have to confess that we took the kids to this movie and they were all too little, even though Corban who is 7 knew all the characters and I didn’t know any of them. Conroy thought it was awesome and so did Corban, even though there are a number of adult situations, a tremendous amount of violence and a few teenager moments that were definitely over their head. In fact that was the benefit is that the situations were over their heads, especially one scene where Becky and I cringed that we had brought them to this movie.

This is one movie where we should have listened to the rating where it said that it was rated “PG-13 for intense sequences of sci-fi action violence, brief sexual humor and language”, and trust the rating that is totally true. However, as I mentioned those situations flew right over the kids heads, they didn’t get any of the situations, closed their eyes at any kissing, and the two boys loved it.

Bianca on the other hand tried to talk us out of taking her to it, so that she could play with her friends on the block and she apparently had seen the preview and thought that a movie about giant robots from another world looked totally stupid. Becky felt the same way and didn’t really have any idea what she was in for, but went along for the family experience, which was not a good idea. I should have just taken the boys for a glimpse into their future adolescence and met the girls for pizza.

Okay, so that pretty much sums up Transformers. If you’re a female you can pretty much skip this movie since odds are pretty darn good that you’ll hate it and if you’re a male between 7 and 45 this is definitely a don’t miss it (with caution for kids under 13 of course), especially if you like cool cars, giant robots from another world and to see things blow up.

John – **** Don’t Miss It
Becky – * Don’t Bother

The Kids Review
Corban – **** Don’t Miss It
Bianca – * Don’t Bother
Conroy – **** Don’t Miss It _________________________________________________________________________ Auto Broker – John Boyd:
The Cool Car Guy John is an auto broker with JFR & Associates in Denver, Colorado. He can help you save time and money on any make or model, new or used, lease or purchase – nationwide! Call or email John about your next vehicle! jboyd@coolcarguy.com

Becky and I went to see the new Robin Williams comedy License to Wed at the Colorado Cinemas in Castle Rock, Colorado this week. The Yahoo movies website at License to Wed describes the movie as follows:

“Newly engaged Ben Murphy and his fiancée, Sadie Jones, plan to live happily ever after. The problem is that Sadie’s family church, St. Augustine’s, is run by Reverend Frank, who won’t bless Ben and Sadie’s union until they pass his patented, “foolproof” marriage-prep course. Consisting of outrageous classes, outlandish homework assignments and some outright invasion of privacy, Reverend Frank’s rigorous..”

The Review
License to Wed is a bit of a cheesy romantic comedy with few laughs and a somewhat shallow story. Many of the situations are not very believable and it’s definitely a chic flick date movie for sure. If you’re trying to decide between this and Knocked Up go and see Knocked Up instead.

This isn’t a bad movie, but it’s not a great movie either. Robin Williams gives you his character “well done” instead of “medium rare”, so by the end of the movie you’ve kind of had it with his jokes. It’s a bit like Meet The Parents, but not nearly as funny and that may be the problem with the movie. It’s as though it’s been done before, only now with a third-party thrown into the mix to assist the couple in figuring out if they are compatible. Robin Williams character has a sidekick fat little kid who is nothing short of annoying as well.

I didn’t hate the film, I thought it was pretty funny at times.  However, some of the best jokes were on the television commercial and in the previews which was pretty stupid on the part of the Studio since it took away from the film. Becky liked it much more than I did and she thought it was Worth The Trip, of course that’s expected, since we disagreed on Transformers that we saw on Saturday.

John – ** Rental
Becky – *** Worth The Trip

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Auto Broker – John Boyd:
The Cool Car Guy John is an auto broker with JFR & Associates in Denver, Colorado. He can help you save time and money on any make or model, new or used, lease or purchase – nationwide! Call or email John about your next vehicle! jboyd@coolcarguy.com

Becky and I took the kids to see the new Pixar movie Ratatouille at the AMC theaters in Highlands Ranch, Colorado on Saturday. The Yahoo movies website at Ratatouille describes the movie as follows:

“A rat named Remy dreams of becoming a great French chef despite his family’s wishes and the obvious problem of being a rat in a decidedly rodent-phobic profession. When fate places Remy in the sewers of Paris, he finds himself ideally situated beneath a restaurant made famous by his culinary hero, Auguste Gusteau. Despite the apparent dangers of being an unlikely – and certainly unwanted – visitor…”

The Review
Ratatouille is a fresh new Pixar film with great characters and a fantastic story. This movie was a blast and very funny. Ratatouille is really a hoot and it’s fun for all ages. It’s not just a kid flick, Becky and I ended up seeing it twice, once with the kids and the first time on opening night with a bus load of teenagers and adults from the Vacation Bible School we helped earlier in the week. Everyone loved it.

At the beginning of the film is a short skit about an alien abduction that was a riot, so make sure you don’t show up late. The bottom line on this film is that Pixar has done it again and created a real winner with Ratatouille. We’re giving it a Don’t Miss It rating.

John – **** Don’t Miss It
Becky – **** Don’t Miss It

The Kids Review

Corban – **** Don’t Miss It
Bianca – **** Don’t Miss It
Conroy – **** Don’t Miss It _________________________________________________________________________