Henriette Mantel Movies

The life and career of one of America's most tenacious consumer advocates and political activists is brought to the screen in this richly detailed documentary. Born in a small town in Connecticut, Ralph Nader was raised to believe the words of his father that "you can fight city hall," and Nader made a nationwide reputation for his willingness to take on the wealthy and powerful. After receiving a degree from Harvard Law School, Nader first became a household name in 1965 with his book Unsafe at Any Speed, in which he detailed the auto industry's willingness to sacrifice safety in the name of greater profits. The book so outraged General Motors that they hired investigators to dig up dirt on Nader and make trouble for him; the plan backfired when Nader sued for invasion of privacy and walked away with a 425,000-dollar settlement that he used to set up an activist group to investigate both public servants and private commerce and how they live up to their responsibilities. However, Nader's long career as a incorruptible watchdog was tarnished in 2004 when Nader ran for president in a campaign that attracted a great deal of attention for a third party candidate -- and was blamed by many Democrats for drawing enough votes away from Al Gore to allow George W. Bush to walk away with an extremely narrow victory. An Unreasonable Man was directed by Henriette Mantel and Stephen Skrovan, the former of whom worked as a member of Nader's staff in the '70s. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

The first season of Michael Moore's television show The Awful Truth consists of 12 episodes and is a sound introduction for those unfamiliar with Moore's guerilla style of social-conscience filmmaking. After his original show, TV Nation, was canceled by NBC, Moore moved to Bravo, a more accommodating network that would allow him to proceed with his ideas. Each episode of The Awful Truth is 30 minutes long, opening with a monologue by Moore and leading to a journalistic exposé of some social wrong typically perpetrated by a large corporation. Much like he did in his documentaries Roger & Me and The Big One, Moore often ambushes his targets, surprising them and forcing them to speak candidly. This candor helps produce the scathing edge that has made Moore's projects so popular. Among the highlights of the 12 episodes are Moore and crew busting a giant health insurance company that tries to avoid paying for an organ transplant to save a man's life, confronting homophobic and hate-spewing Rev. Fred Phelps in a pink RV christened the "Sodomobile," and sending an Awful Truth mascot chicken into Disney World to expose the deplorable working conditions of the employees in costume. Some people may be turned off by Moore's leftist politics and his labor-friendly attitude, but most will not be able to deny his sincere efforts to hold corporate crooks responsible for their actions. The DVD version of The Awful Truth contains a biography of Michael Moore and several amusing outtakes from the filming of the show. ~ Ed Atkinson, Rovi

The Brady Bunch Movie pays tribute to the 1970s TV show while poking gentle fun at it. The Brady family, led by father Mike (Gary Cole), still live in their suburban, split-level home and are still throwbacks to the era that spawned them. Eternally perky wife Carol (Shelley Long) is the perfect homemaker, while the kids' behavior is as wholesome as their loud, time-warp pastel clothes. Meanwhile, the greedy, selfish modern era swirls dangerously around them, embodied in next-door neighbor and real estate agent Ditmeyer (Michael McKean), who wants to buy the Bradys' property and turn the neighborhood into a giant mall. But no amount of money or prodding can persuade the Bradys to give up their home. Director Betty Thomas contrasts the overlit sitcom look of the Brady house interiors (faithfully recreated from the series) with real locations and natural grit for the modern L.A. scenes. The result is a satire that deftly spoofs the idea of staying true to old-fashioned values without ever passing judgment on those values. ~ Don Kaye, Rovi