In 1992, a siege took place on Ruby Ridge--a remote corner of Idaho--about 40 miles from the Canadian border. The FBI surrounded the crude mountain home of the Weaver family, and the siege lasted for a total of 11 days. The Weaver family consisted of: Weaver, his wife Vicki, four children, and a young man named Kevin Harris. When the siege concluded, questions began to emerge about the event--was the situation unavoidable? Did the use of extreme force exacerbate the situation? Were there ever any alternatives?
The film "Siege at Ruby Ridge" traces the fortunes of the Weaver family beginning with the wedding of former Green Beret, Randy Weaver (Randy Quaid) to Vicki (Laura Dern) in Iowa in the 1970s. The first part of the story sets the stage for the rest of the film and concentrates on the Weaver's religious beliefs--these beliefs involved an imminent Armageddon, heavy reliance on Old Testament doctrine, and strong anti-Semitic theories about government control. The Weavers attended church, but soon found it wasn't strict enough for their beliefs. The Weavers eventually decided to withdraw from a society they found distasteful and moved to Idaho with a solid plan to disconnect from the world.
Once in Idaho, the Weavers become involved with the Aryan Nation, and when Randy is arrested by the ATF for selling illegal weapons, the situation spins out of control.
The film "The Siege at Ruby Ridge" is a riveting treatment of the story. Laura Dern is well cast as Vicki Weaver--the inflexible backbone of the Weaver family--she's single minded, stubborn, and unrelenting. The film indicates that Vicki ruled the family--making most of the decisions. Relatives are alarmed and concerned as the Weavers drift farther into isolation and paranoia, but no one seems able to reach Vicki.
Many questions remain about the siege, and the film tackles the biggest--most crucial question--by playing two different scenarios. The first incident of gunfire is relayed according to the federal marshal's version, and also according to Kevin Harris's version. But one of the main criticisms of the film is that it fails to make several other crucial moments clear. How did the Weavers slide from their insular dogmatic beliefs to rubbing shoulders with the Aryan Nation? What communication--if any--existed between the snipers and the negotiators? Who was in charge of the operation? No doubt this is where a good solid documentary would prove useful. The film remains, overall, a good attempt to convey the insanity that took place on Ruby Ridge. While the Weavers are not portrayed sympathetically (just ask yourself if you'd like them as neighbours), the film effectively depicts the flattening of their family unit by massive manpower, war machinery and the inefficient churning of bureaucracy--displacedhuman
What happened at the Branch Davidian compound in Mt. Carmel, Texas, in 1993? Why did 4 federal agents and 86 civilians lose their lives? The powerful documentary Waco: The Rules of Engagement asks these and many other difficult questions, and the answers are deeply disturbing, even for the most cynical. Using interviews, news footage, testimony before Congress, and infrared photographic analysis, the film relentlessly chips away at the government's story that David Koresh and his followers were a dangerous cult involved in strange sex and drug practices who were preparing to slaughter their neighbors and that they immolated themselves à la Jonestown, rather than give themselves up peacefully. Nearly every element of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms' and the... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Dan Gifford Director(s): William Gazecki DVD Release Date: Released the 09 December 2003 Usually ships in 24 hours
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Samuel Fuller came up with one of his gutsiest "headline shots" for House of Bamboo: Mount Fuji, in CinemaScope, framed between the boots of a U.S. soldier lying murdered on a snowy Japanese embankment. Happily, the movie that follows is no letdown. This brutal gangster film was the first American production to shoot in Japan, and Fuller exploits his locations to the max, up to and including a climactic gun battle around a Tokyo rooftop facsimile of the turning Earth. Officially the screenplay is credited to Harry Kleiner, with Fuller cited for "additional dialogue"; in actuality, the 20th Century-Fox movie transplants the basic premise of the Kleiner-scripted Street with No Name (1948) from an American Midwest town to Tokyo, but otherwise the picture is unmistakably... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Robert Ryan - Robert Stack Director(s): Samuel Fuller DVD Release Date: Released the 07 June 2005 Usually ships in 24 hours
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Bolstered by the success of 28 Days Later, Shaun of the Dead, the Resident Evil movies and the hit remake of his own Dawn of the Dead, George A. Romero returns to the horror subgenre he invented with Land of the Dead. The fourth installment in Romero's zombie cycle (and the first since 1985's Day of the Dead) presents a logical progression of events since 1968's horror classic Night of the Living Dead: Zombies (also known as "stenches" for their rotting odor) are the dominant population, and they've begun to show signs of undead intelligence and gathering power. The wealthiest survivors live comfortably in a luxury high-rise within a barricaded safe zone, ignoring the horrors of the outside world while armed scavengers stage raids in the... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Simon Baker - John Leguizamo - Asia Argento Director(s): George A. Romero DVD Release Date: Released the 18 October 2005 Usually ships in 24 hours
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Horror buffs will surely be compelled to compare and contrast Dominion with Exorcist: The Beginning, two films weirdly linked by film history. Director Paul Schrader shot Dominion only to find studio bosses underwhelmed by its horror aspects, at which point Renny Harlin was hired to direct another take on the subject with the same lead actor, setting, and similar storyline. That became the 2004 theatrical release Exorcist: The Beginning.
As expected, the Schrader version has more tortured religiosity and visual poetry than Harlin's cheesier (but admittedly gripping) re-do. Father Merrin (Stellan Skarsgard) carries his guilt from the Nazi occupation to a remote African archaeological dig, where a mysteriously buried church has been uncovered. Strange stuff... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Stellan Skarsgård - Gabriel Mann Director(s): Paul Schrader DVD Release Date: Released the 25 October 2005 Usually ships in 24 hours
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