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| Movie Review: What Would Jesus Buy? Alternate Title: Shopapocalypse Now
Story: Performance artist Reverend
Billy (Billy Talen) of the Church
of Stop Shopping Now is a man on a mission. He wants to take
the maniacal consumerism out of Christmas and bring back the gifts of
time, love and peace that he believes the occasion requires. He and
his band of followers go on a cross country pilgrimage directly into
the heart of the sinner. He goes to malls, Wal-Marts, Starbucks and
his ultimate destination on Christmas Day, Disneyland. He refers to
Mickey Mouse as the Anti-Christ. While the messenger is entertaining and the film
has many laugh out loud moments, directorRob VanAlkemade
delivers hard hitting points such as our out of control consumer debt,
third world children working in sweat shops in order to keep us in 50
cent socks and the destruction of Main Street in America. He says that
our country has become a nation of consumers not producers. He firmly
suggests that we buy products made in America and buy from local producers
so we support our neighbors. For everything you need to know about the Reverend
Billy go to: http://www.revbilly.com/ Acting: This is a documentary therefore this category
does not apply - but our Reverend Billy does do some terrific acting/preaching.
Predilection: I like quirky films.
Critters: Three dogs (one chihuahua with an amazing
wardrobe).
Food: Not much time to eat while trying to change
the world.
Sex Spectrum: No sex - we are too busy shopping.
Blatant Product Placement: Oodles of products that
probably do not want to be associated with this film but I did detect
an Apple laptop that was donated by Tekserve (the store where I buy
al of my own Apple products).
Soundtrack: Very, very funny.
Opening Titles: The opening sequence is a loud, garish,
consumer nightmare of American's indulging in those awful consumer madness
sprees.
Visual Art: The segments of the film are divided
into very funny visual headings.
Theater Audience: Just my new movie buddy and me.
I think everyone else was out shopping.
Weather: Very cold on this crusading road trip to
Shopapocalypse
Sappy Factor: 0
Quirky Meter: 3
Squirm Scale: Watching Americans mindlessly consume
is very disturbing.
Drift Factor: I paid attention throughout.
Predictability Level: High
Tissue Usage: 0
Oscar Worthy: No
Big Screen or Rental: Rental would be fine.
Length: 90 minutes
LOBO HOWLS: 6
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