I Am
I Am
| 11 February 2011 (USA)
I Am Trailers

I AM is an utterly engaging and entertaining non-fiction film that poses two practical and provocative questions: what’s wrong with our world, and what can we do to make it better? The filmmaker behind the inquiry is Tom Shadyac, one of Hollywood’s leading comedy practitioners and the creative force behind such blockbusters as “Ace Ventura,” “Liar Liar,” “The Nutty Professor,” and “Bruce Almighty.” However, in I AM, Shadyac steps in front of the camera to recount what happened to him after a cycling accident left him incapacitated, possibly for good. Though he ultimately recovered, he emerged with a new sense of purpose, determined to share his own awakening to his prior life of excess and greed, and to investigate how he as an individual, and we as a race, could improve the way we live and walk in the world.

Reviews
Race Dowling (racedowling)

It started out OK just long enough to suck me in, then it went down the path of pseudo-scientific new age idiocy (aka woo) as bad or worse than "The Secret." Real science is not going to lend legitimacy to your pet beliefs. Non scientists need to refrain from trying to make their unscientific beliefs sound scientific, because they always come off as naive, ignorant and stupid to anyone with more than a high-school understanding of science.How do I know it's woo? Here are some selected quotes:"Studies show that ..." Were these studies performed under controlled test conditions and were appropriate tests of significance used? They don't say, so the answer likely is "no.""The science tells us that ..." No, it doesn't, unless you can show exactly how it does. Prefacing an unproven assertion with the word science only fools the naive and ignorant."Quantum entanglement ..." If you aren't showing me the math, you obviously do not understand quantum physics, stop bringing it up."The human heart can predict the future." Really? How exactly does the heart violate causality?

... View More
Michael McAleer

Fully recommend this film. Warning: if watched with an open heart could change your life forever and make you happier than you've been since you were a child. Big business better watch out .... we're waking up and we'll be coming for you soon ...... Parents show your teenagers this film, the utmost education you could provide for them.My only question is why does this film feel like the complete truth make such total sense to me and yet a couple of days after watching it I feel like I'm losing my mind - supporting a simple experiment that has mutated into an evil society making us all sick? I should feel healthy but society tells me I'm mad .... Guess I'll find out whose right soon enough.

... View More
carlupq

If you want to get into the head of today's improperly-labeled 'intellectuals' (more like socialist propagandists), this is as good a way to do so as any I've ever seen.Let's start with one of the 'profound' quotes thrown out as some sort of brilliant observation: "An ocean, a rain-forest, the human body, are all co-operatives." False. While they are inexorably LINKED, they are in NO WAY anything close to the definition of a co-operative. Does the rain-forest make demands of the ocean, and the ocean act on those demands(or vice-verse)?! Obviously NOT! The co-operative label is clearly used improperly in order to promote a false notion that humans must therefore subjugate themselves to some all-powerful governing body. Never-mind that we are thinking individuals and water/trees are 'dead' for all practical purposes."The redwood tree doesn't take all the soil and nutrients, just what it needs to grow." Neither do you or I take ALL of ANYTHING - we BUY what we CAN. However, neither does the Redwood give a rats ass about other Redwoods, or anything else whatsoever - they take care of themselves and only themselves, where humans are the most charitable creatures on Earth."A lion doesn't kill every gazelle, just one." Apparently I make two pot roasts every night just to throw one out?! Seriously, who out there is cooking two meals every night and chucking one in the waste bin? Who are the people that actually hear this nonsense and just buy it without question? While there are examples of excesses, these are the outliers (exceptions) - not the norm. Ours is still the most efficient system on earth."We have a term for something in the body when it takes more than its share, we call it: cancer." Wow - we had the cure for cancer all along and just didn't know it - POVERTY AND STARVATION!'I Am' is a mockery propaganda piece mislabeled as a documentary, unless you want to call it a documentary of the worst in propaganda - that would be spot on. Please - if you give Tom Shadyac or his production/distribution companies one dime for this drivel, do us all a favor and move to Cuba where the citizens are, by Shadyac's very definition, healthy and as cancer-free as anyone can be in their poverty stricken and starving awesome co-operative! (while the greedy political power mongers get pretty bad cancer - Fidel Castro & buddy Hugo Chavez and the like)As for myself, I'll take our time-proved personal liberties and free market system any day over the historic and present-day atrocities perpetrated by such silver-tongued power-hungry collective governance cheerleaders.

... View More
Kane20

I saw I Am at a screening a few weeks before it came out in theaters. After the film, Tom Shadyac himself entered the auditorium and answered any questions we viewers had. I Am is one of the best documentaries I have ever seen. Well, I can admit that it could have been better in terms of a movie, but the subject matter is great, and Tom Shadyac is totally correct.Tom Shadyac has mostly been known for directing comedies, such as Ace Ventura and Bruce Almighty, and making money from the successes of his movies. He was behaving more or less like many people with that much money do, especially filmmakers - just grabbing for money. However, after suffering a terrible bicycle accident resulting in a concussion and a very near death, Shadyac began to realize the true values in life, and how his wrong capitalist lifestyle had been. As a result, he made this documentary. Now, there have been many statements, speculations, documentaries, etc. on problems with our world, but Tom Shadyac's is different. He actually goes deeper looking for a common cause for all of these other problems.Humans have evolved and formed a society based on competition. As a matter of fact, we base our lifestyles, customs, etc. too much upon competition - making money, the economy, fighting, etc. However, other animals - fish, birds, deer, you name it - have taken a more natural way of life - cooperation. Tom points out evidence to this in several natural scenarios, typical stuff, yet with an element to it that I have never really noticed before. He shows us a few examples such as some schools of fish and a group of deer, in which essences of democracy and cooperation are clearly evident. We, humans, like I said before, have come to value competition more than cooperation - money, work, etc. I'm not saying, and nor is Tom, that we should stop being competitive altogether and become totally cooperative. All we're saying is that we need to also value cooperation more, and establish a better balance between competition and cooperation/love.Wow, I am pretty bad at explaining this, especially since it has now been a long time since I saw the film. However, I do still remember it - well, mostly the overall message. It really can't be fully explained - it must be seen. Yes, this documentary is a must-see for everybody - every single person, from every culture, every race, every region, etc. - who has any access to movie theaters, or some means of watching movies. There is some ridiculous stuff in the film, mostly concerning science, etc., but even so, a lot of the film is good, and the deep message of it is strong and important. Even if you end up hating it, just go see it anyway, and just listen and watch. Then, afterward, start acting upon what you just saw - even the smallest actions have an effect, on everything.What's wrong with the world? A lot of things. What's right with the world? I Am. You are.My Rating: **** (out of ****)For more reviews, visit my website: http://robertsreliablereviews.blogspot.com

... View More