June
29
Sicko Watch: Moore Aims Marketing at Core Demo
Michael Moore sent out another letter to his diehard fanbase begging them to come see Sicko (a movie that will finally sell itself, as it is hugely entertaining, something that is lost in all the political hue and cry):
Today is the Day for "Sicko" June 29, 2007Friends,
This is it! Two years in the making! The day that our new film, "Sicko," arrives in theaters all across North America! Click here to see where the nearest one is to you.
After you go, let me know what you think. Oh, and send us a photo or a video from your cell phone to show us what it looked like at your theater. We'd love to post a photo from each of the 440 movie theaters showing "Sicko."
To read more about the movie, you can go to MichaelMoore.com.
Here's what this morning's review in the L.A. Times said: "It's likely his most important, most impressive, and most provocative film." Okay, what do they know? I prefer to trust the assessment of E! Television Online: " 'Sicko' - the best movie ever? Maybe." Maybe? MAYBE?! When will they ever give me a break?
It's been a weirdly funny week. First Larry King bumped me for Paris Hilton. Then today, when CNBC invited me to the floor of the New York Stock Exchange for an interview, the stock exchange said I was barred from the building. On top of that, Tony Blair is gone, Cheney says he's no longer answerable to anyone's elected government, and I simply don't want an iPhone. Just another week in America.
Hope you enjoy the movie!
Yours,
Michael Moore
Check out MoveOn.Org's Sicko promo email on the jump:
Dear MoveOn member, This weekend's going to be huge. Just since yesterday, tens of thousands of MoveOn members have lined up to see Sicko, the new movie that could change the way America thinks about our health care crisis.We're going to have a great time—want to join us? (We're already getting reports of sold out theaters, so get your tickets early.)
You don't need to be a health care wonk to come. Sicko's a great movie—entertaining, moving, and funny. When I saw it, I couldn't believe a movie about health care could be this good.
And the reviewers love it, too—in fact, it's one of the best-reviewed movies of the year. Here's a taste of what they're saying:
1. "Sicko is Moore's best film: a documentary that mixes outrage, hope, and gonzo stunts in the right proportions; that poses profound questions about the connection between health care and work; and that throws an unforgiving spotlight on what is, in both senses, the elephant in the room."–New York Magazine
2. "Sicko is the...most broadly appealing of Mr. Moore's movies [and], perhaps improbably, the funniest..."
–New York Times3. "[Moore] leavens his serious comedy with absurdist anecdotes. Funniest is that of the young woman, made unconscious by an auto collision and rushed to the hospital, who awakened to learn that her insurer had denied reimbursement for the ambulance because it wasn't 'preapproved.'"–Philadelphia Inquirer
4. "Filmmaker Michael Moore's brilliant and uplifting new documentary, Sicko,...never talks down or baits the audience."–Fox (!)
5. "Sicko is a movie whose time has come...In an era when the mainstream news media have lost the public trust to Jon Stewart and The Colbert Report, Moore's brutally comic take on matters of life and death is just the ticket...the weight of evidence Moore marshals for taking the profit motive out of medicine is overwhelming. In a summer of dumb, shameless drivel, Moore delivers a movie of robust mind and heart. You'll laugh till it hurts."–Rolling Stone6. "I am not a devout Michael Moore fan by any means...[But] Sicko is a beyond brilliant, nonpartisan exposé on American politics that should be mandatory for every student in America...Yay for digging into the roots of our current fiasco. Yay for Michael Moore."–E! Online
7. HMOs, big health insurers, and drug companies are already attacking the movie. They're eager to preserve their billions in profits—even though that means denying us affordable health care. But this weekend could mark the beginning of the end of that system—a tipping point moment when Americans call for something better.
It's not often that you can fight for progressive policies with a movie ticket and a bucket of popcorn. Bring your friends, and join tens of thousands of other MoveOn members at Sicko this weekend. And if you're coming, let us know here:
Here's where Sicko is playing near you this weekend:
Pacific's The Grove Stadium 14
189 The Grove Drive Los Angeles, CA
Phone: (323)692-0829
Friday: 9:55 AM, 10:45 AM, 1:00 PM, 2:05 PM, 5:10 PM, 7:15 PM, 8:00 PM, 10:15 PM, 11:00 PM
Saturday: 9:55 AM, 10:45 AM, 1:00 PM, 2:05 PM, 5:10 PM, 7:15 PM, 8:00 PM, 10:15 PM, 11:00 PM
Sunday: 9:55 AM, 10:45 AM, 1:00 PM, 2:05 PM, 5:10 PM, 7:15 PM, 8:00 PM, 10:15 PM, 11:00 PMMore theaters...
Hope you can make it. And thanks for all you do.
–Noah, Laura, Joan, Eli, and the MoveOn.org Political Action Team
Friday, June 29th, 2007P.S. You don't need to wait until you see Sicko to take action. Blue Cross is spending $2 million dollars in California to stop healthcare reform this year. Click here to join the It's OUR Healthcare! Campaign and tell Governor Schwarzenegger and the Democrats not to let Blue Cross stand in the way of quality, affordable healthcare for all Californians:
Sources:
1. "The Treatment," New York Magazine, July 2, 20072. "Open Wide and Say 'Shame'," New York Times, June 22, 2007
3. "Moore's 'Sicko' shows U.S. health care in critical condition," Philadelphia Inquirer, June 29, 2007
4 ."'Sicko' Shows Michael Moore's Maturity as a Filmmaker," Fox, May 20, 2007
5. "Sicko," Rolling Stone, June 13, 2007
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Why would you want people to see this movie "Sicko?" Why are you supporting socialized medicine?
First of all, 4 out of 5 Americans are satisfied with the health care system, so it is really a non-issue (this will likely be the reason the movie flops).
Second, collectivized, totalitarian provision of goods and services by a centralized government which redistributes wealth based on "need" is itself the most sickening thing an American could ever support and you should be utterly ashamed of yourself for it. People are not born with any "right" to health care, nor any "right" to any other product of the human mind which depends upon the willing, voluntary cooperation of another human being.
The answer to your "problem" is this: get rid of the governmental over-regulation, the restrictive licensing, the state supported tort threat, the unionism, and all other legislative and regulatory phenomena which are essentially conferring a monopoly to those currently in the business. This will promote competition, competition drives quality up, prices down, and everyone wins. Monopolies discourage competition (indeed, sometimes deliberately destroy it), drive quality down, innovation down, prices up, and everyone… EVERYONE… loses. (By the way, that is the answer to ANY problem in the free market, not just health care, so re-read it. And learn it. Spread the word.)
Use reason and logic, for once in your life. And while you're at it, use them all the time, too.
Posted by: Sheila Levine | June 29, 2007 at 11:01 PM
I believe that "Sicko" will be the first Michael Moore film to hit Tulsa, Oklahoma in "real time." I have plans to see it tomorrow night.
I must say that all of the hullabaloo over the film is amusing. Here are a few quotes:
New York Magazine: Moore’s best film.
L.A. Times: [Moore’s] most important, most impressive, and most provocative film.
E! Television Online [“not a devout MM fan“}: 'Sicko' - the best movie ever? Maybe
New York Times: the...most broadly appealing of Mr. Moore's movies
FOX: 'Sicko' Shows Michael Moore's Maturity as a Filmmaker
You might wonder why all of this is amusing to me.
First, Michael Moore made an extraordinarily important film, in 1989, called “Roger & Me,” depicting the closing of GM production facilities in Flint, Michigan. Since Oklahoma still had a functioning General Motors Auto Plant, at that time, Moore was seen as a traitor…one step shy of a commie…MAYBE.
A film critic named Pauline Kael criticized the film for exaggerating the social impact of GM's closing of the plant. Kael said:
“Michael Moore’s muckraking documentary Roger & Me is scathing and Voltairean. I’ve read that Michael Moore is ‘a satirist of the Reagan period equal in talent to Mencken and [Sinclair] Lewis,’ and ‘an irrepressible new humorist in the tradition of Mark Twain and Artemus Ward.’ But the film I saw was shallow and facetious, a piece of gonzo demagoguery…”
But, Ms. Kael, the film I saw was calling for corporate accountability. Maybe, just MAYBE, if you had listened back then, along with everyone else who is so happy to jump on the boat today, we would not have a health care crisis today. Accountable corporations offer health care to employees whom they keep employed. (See Dr. W. Edwards Deming's 14 points - and YES Deming really DOES have the answer).
I have yet to see “Sicko” but I’ve seen many of Moore’s films, maybe even all of them. While “Sicko” SHOULD be his best film, the artist gets better with time - MAYBE, all of the Moore films I’ve seen are exceptional. I would like to propose that it is far more likely that many Americans, and most of the main stream media, are just now catching on.
I am not a fan of the Democrats. They have let this administration wreak havoc upon the entire Earth. And I am not particularly a fan of Hillary Clinton, now, but I was at one time. Why? Because she proposed universal health care for all Americans during her husband’s first term as president. She was practically drawn and quartered over it. The hatred that emerged for her, from that event, still staggers my mind.
You’ll notice that Obama is picking up where she left off. I’m sure that there is a Clinton/Obama ticket is in the future of the democratic party. Hillary was an “uppity woman” back then but no one will challenge Obama because he “turned out so well” for someone of an underprivileged race. Heck, maybe it’s time we started talking about health care for ALL Americans.
--
http://www.myspace.com/timbrewolfforpresident
Posted by: Timbre' Wolf | July 02, 2007 at 09:42 AM
I can't wait to see Michael LardAss Moore's
next movie on Universal Food Stamps!
I aggree with him! We should all just sit down and have the government provide everything for us! A house, food, health-care, entertainment.
Government programs TRAINED lots of people in New Orleans that the government will provide all of your needs and you won't ever need to do anything for yourselves....then when they should have
evacuated the city, they sat on their asses waiting for the government to come and get them!
Welfare programs ruined the lives of so many in New Orleans! Too many years of
Democrats training people to be dependent
on the government instead of being independent....and now, after all this time, there's still people there WAITING
in New Orleans for someone to come and build them a new home!
MICHAEL MOORE SHOULD MOVE TO A SOCIALIST COUNTRY IF HE LIKES SOCIALISM! The government isn't hear to provide healthcare to anyone!
Posted by: TommyMun | August 17, 2007 at 09:42 PM