Tag: Eli B. Despres

REVIEW: The Fight [2020]

Jared Mobarak

If I’m not a civil rights lawyer at this moment in time … then when? Anyone who cares about injustices committed by the Trump administration towards immigrants, women, the LGBTQ community, and other at-risk groups guaranteed civil liberties under the Constitution already knows about the court battles waged during the course of Eli B. Despres, Josh Kriegman, and Elyse Steinberg‘s documentary The Fight. Anyone who doesn’t believe injustices have been committed—or worse, believe the White House’s actions were a response to injustices committed upon “true white Americans”—isn’t going to spend…

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REVIEW: Blackfish [2013]

Jared Mobarak

“This was not a singular event” After hearing about the death of top Orca trainer Dawn Brancheau on February 24, 2010, writer/director Gabriela Cowperthwaite became intrigued by the SeaWorld party line explaining to the media the incident was completely human error. They said it was Branchaeu’s ponytail that did her in—an unnecessarily added appendage for the whale to grab hold of and drag her down. But even if this were truth, could the highly lucrative marine mammal park chain really justify placing no blame on the animal that ultimately took…

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