Reviews

When I viewed the synopsis of this film in my Netflix queue I was pleased to see that someone was looking at the events surrounding the man-made and totally preventable Deepwater Horizon oil rig tragedy perpetrated by BP in 2009 in the Gulf of Mexico. My anticipation was short-lived when I saw that the director of the film was Joshua Tickell. I was not a fan of Mr. Tickell's previous energy-centric film, Fuel. But, rather than rehash that mess, I suggest you read my review here on IMDb. If you sort the reviews by 'Hated It' you'll find it.

Overall, I am impressed with Mr. Tickell's effort with The Big Fix. It tells several stories. First and foremost, the lengths corporations will go to in order to maximize profit and minimize exposure when things go terribly wrong. The destruction of the Deepwater Horizon was avoidable yet BP broke numerous safety rules which allowed it to happen and then lied about everything related to the cleanup; that, to this day, is not complete. Tickell does an excellent job in laying out the case against BP and what they did to the entire region.

The film also tells a powerful story that we are hearing all too frequently about the connection between politics and big oil. The influence of lobbyists and the revolving door between high office and lobbying is a story that should be told often.

Mr. Tickell strays in a few areas. Minor but mildly irritating is in his completely unnecessary time-killing narrative on Huey Long. It was pointless and didn't fit in at the beginning of the film. If he wanted to contrast Governor Long to Governor Jindal or any other Louisiana politician he opened that possibility up when he spoke of the true interests and ownership of modern day Louisiana politicians. But rhetoric about how Long was such a great guy wrapped around stories of Louisiana being treated like a colony just didn't fit.

Also, Mr. Trickell seemed pained to lump President Obama in with the collection of corrupt soulless individuals running the country today. He points out, correctly, all of the oil money received by various politicians, how evil the Koch brothers are and all the other Liberal talking points we have grown to expect. But, when it came to Obama he seemed to want to make Obama out to be a sympathetic character. As if Obama is trying to change the world but all these forces have plotted against him. No mention of the money Obama received from big oil and BP in particular. This could be because Mr. Tickell feels compelled to include Hollywood in his films and the brief appearance of Peter Fonda and Amy Smart satisfied that requirement in this film. Hollywood is still unable to speak with one voice against this President and at least from his films, Mr. Trickell is going along with the sentiment of that crowd.

Mr. Tickell is getting better as a story teller. He can be faulted for his political bias but it stayed mostly in check in this film; unlike "Fuel" which was painful to get past. In "The Big Fix," he picked an outstanding subject that more people need to be aware of. He does an excellent job imparting his perspective of the region. I recommend it and even with the few blemishes noted above, it is worth seeing a couple times.

Having been a longtime resident of the virtual world of Second Life I looked forward to see how a feature length documentary would treat Second Life and those that are a part of it. Too often in the past, the media has taken quick peeks at it and have featured the bad. Unfortunately, Jason Spingarn-Koff followed along with past media treatments and gave us yet another ugly-side-only look at SecondLife with content that could have been fit into a 10-minute Dateline segment.

The media treatment of Second Life is that it is filled with adulterers, pedophiles and con artists. Sure, there are many of each in Second Life however the average person is someone who enjoys chatting with friends, going to virtual clubs and exploring incredible spaces built by some of the most talented people in the online world. Do we get to see any of that? No. Besides most of the footage being extremely dated (how long was post-production?) way too much time is wasted exploring the fate of the few subjects portrayed and not enough on what is promoted as the premise of the film -- living in the virtual world.

Mr. Spingarn-Koff squandered a wonderful opportunity to explore the parallels and those things that are unique to each world. The content played into the hands of those who think any encounter online is evil and anyone who talks to you in the virtual world is either a loner or a criminal. Extremely disappointing.

When I read the synopsis for this film I was pleased to see that someone was going to present the side of the bio-fuel crowd. Most of the 'energy' documentaries out there have focused on global doom-and-gloom, supply and demand issues without offering true alternatives beyond the usual suspects. Any mention of bio-fuels included brief mentions of ethical farming, and ethanol being energy negative. It would be helpful to see a full 100+ minutes on bio-fuels.

No chance of that happening. The film jumps from a bio of Mr. Tickell to an indictment of the oil industry, a couple minutes on cancer rates near oil facilities, an indictment of the most recent President Bush and President Reagan, praise for President Carter and of course praise for the Kennedys and another reminder that the country would have been utopia if only Bobby Kennedy hadn't been shot.

Interspersed with all this political preening is a lesson on the inventor of the diesel engine and reminders that Europe is great and the United States is hell on earth.

Mr. Tickell's attempt at promoting bio-fuels was substandard, at best, and a demonstration of how one person can be little more than a shill for the industry, at worst. His personal story is interesting and his overall belief of the damage inflicted by the oil industry is spot-on. Unfortunately, that is the only element of this film that was well presented.

He pressed all the right buttons to draw in the environmental extremist crowd (eco-celebs, all but blaming Darth Cheney for 9/11, etc...)but then failed to present his case for bio-fuels. "The Europeans do it so we should to," seems to be his mantra. Well, that and the fact that bio-fuels smells like french fries. When he credits the Prius as being the primary reason Toyota is the number one car company in the world, you can only shake your head and wonder who is feeding him so-called facts.

He presented information as if he knew his Sundance award would be a slam-dunk since he had clips of Julia Roberts and Woody Harrelson in the film. Between his selectivity in presenting conjecture as fact for both sides of his argument and his screen presence as a mascot for the biofuel industry, Mr. Tickell squandered what could have been a meaningful film on a topic that is of critical importance to everyone on the planet.